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“Ah.” I glanced to the back of the shop, where Andromeda leaned toward a mirror, putting on her makeup.
“Music is good for the soul, boys,” she shouted.
“But why country?” CJ shouted back, grabbing a candy from his candy bowl. “Why not some good old-fashioned metal? That’ll beat the bitch out of your system.”
She slid smiling eyes his way. “Spoken like a man with the emotional depth of a flea.”
CJ’s hand flew to his chest as if injured, but he leaned in toward me. “Her girlfriend probably just realized she’s got shit for musical taste.”
“I heard that!” she said just as the song switched to “There’s a Tear in My Beer.”
“I rest my case.”
Tobias appeared from his office and eyed the scene. “Good song,” he said.
Andromeda just laughed even though he turned it down to a more reasonable level.
Tobes met my gaze. “Got a sec?”
“Yup.”
I followed him back to his office, knowing he probably wanted to ask about today because he was one of the few who knew the truth.
He shut the door and turned to lean on the edge of his desk. “Everything go alright earlier?”
“Yeah, man. No problems.”
“Glad to hear it.” He crossed his arms, suddenly serious. “So, I’ve been thinking... it’s time we get you off that pig thigh and onto a human body.”
I stared at him for a long moment. “Serious? Who?”
“Me.”
“Wait. What?”
He grinned. “I trust you, bro. Your work’s been spot on so far. It’ll be fine.”
“Tobes. I... I fucking can’t.”
“Of course, you can. And you will. Tonight. Now.”
He didn’t give me time to think or argue as he steered me out of the office and to an empty workstation. He’d already worked up a simple but badass design of Hope’s name with a phoenix surrounding it.
He pulled off his shirt and sat in the client chair, offering me his back. “Upper left. It should fit nicely there.”
“Fuck, Tobes. You sure?”
“Jesus, man, I trust you with my life, so quit being a pussy and do it.”
“It’s your skin, asshole.”
We both smiled and he settled in while I got my supplies together because he’d already worked out the design.
I cleaned his skin, got the stencil on his back, gloved up, then dipped the needle in the black ink for the outline. The gun vibrated in my hand as I hit the foot pedal. Tobias lay perfectly still, his eyes closed as if he had all night to take a nap.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Born ready.”
