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He doesn’t hold out his hand to her but instead offers a kind smile. He knows of her aversion to touch, especially from people she doesn’t know. “It’s good to meet you.”
“You too,” Rella says, barely audible.
“It’s your choice to make if you’ve already got something in mind, but if it’s okay, I’ve got an idea for a design,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “I don’t have anything.”
Nodding, I pull a piece of paper from my pocket and hand it over to Taza. “Just like that. No alterations.”
“Can I see it?” Rella turns to look at the sketch I handed Taza, but I turn her back to face me.
“Not yet. I don’t want you to see it until it’s finished.”
“Where will it go?”
“On your back. It’s kinda big, so it’ll take some time to finish. We’ll stop and finish it another day if we need to.”
“Okay.”
I step closer to her and lower my voice. “You’ll need to take your bra off. I
left one of my shirts on my bed. It’s big and will be easy to keep off your back. Go to my room and change.”
After a brief hesitation, she leaves the room. While she’s gone, I grab a few bottles of water out of the canvas bag and put them on the table. We’ll be here for a while, and I don’t plan to leave Rella’s side, so I want to be prepared in case she needs something to drink. Next, I situate the chairs the way I want them. Taza is quiet as he transfers the design to the transfer paper.
When Rella walks back into the kitchen, her arms are tightly crossed over her chest. Her wary gaze alights on Taza before she walks to me. I gesture to a seat.
“I’m going to braid your hair and put it over your shoulder so it doesn’t get in the way.”
Her hair is so thick and long, it takes me several minutes to braid it. I try to forget how soft it feels between my fingers as I do so.
“Everything’s set,” Taza announces, resting back in his chair.
I grab the last thing in the bag and take the seat I put in front of Rella. Her eyes widen when she sees Boo.
“I took him before I left earlier to talk to Taza. I figured having him might help.”
She smiles. “Thank you. It’s childish now, but having Boo when I was a kid always helped when I was afraid of something.”
Something like pride fills my chest, knowing I’m the one who gave her that comfort in the form of a stuffed rabbit.
She grabs Boo and pulls him to her chest, hugging the toy tightly.
“I’m going to pull the back of your shirt up now. Just pretend like he’s not here and keep your eyes on me, okay?”
She takes a slow shaky breath and nods. Leaning forward, I grab the back hem of her shirt and slowly lift it. She stiffens the higher the material gets and her face pales, but she doesn’t look away from me. I tug the shirt until it’s resting over her shoulders, exposing her entire back.
“Emo told me you don’t like to be touched, so I’ll be as careful as I can be with minimal contact,” Taza states calmly.
Rella nods, the movement jerky. The muscles in her jaw harden when she clenches her teeth as Taza presses the transfer paper to her back. She visibly relaxes when he peels it off.
Rella doesn’t know it, but this is just as hard on me. The pain she’s obviously going through is torture. And I fucking hate thinking about Taza touching her, even if it is at my request.
She jumps when he turns the tattoo machine on, then flinches when his hand rests against her back to steady it. I scoot my chair closer to her until my legs are on the outside of hers and her knees are almost touching my seat. She squeezes her eyes closed and clutches Boo like he’s a lifeline.
My chest feels hollow at the fearful look on her face, and I want to call the whole thing off. But then my mind conjures up the visual of the cuts on her thighs, and I strengthen my resolve. If I didn’t think this could truly help Rella, I wouldn’t put her through this, but I believe once the initial shock of someone touching her wears off, it will. It may mean her body will end up covered with color like mine, but that’s a shit ton better than it ending up covered in scars. This pain will end with something beautiful.
I cup her cheek and lift her head with my thumb. “Open your eyes, Rella,” I rumble thickly, too many emotions running through me at once.
