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Luke nodded before chewing on his lower lip like he usually did when he was nervous. “The guy who owns the place, Julian, is really good at doing scar tattoos.” His hand unconsciously went to his abdomen, where his most hurtful scar was.
I took a moment to process what he was saying, and the first question that popped into my head was whether he was doing this for me or himself.
“Luke, you’re not doing this for me, are you? I mean, you know I don’t mind your scars, right?”
He gave me a soft smile before grabbing my hands and turning to face me with his back against the passenger door. “I know. I promise I’m not doing this for you. Scott, ever since I got free, I haven’t been able to look at myself properly without being thrown back into that horrible time. I know you don’t mind my scars, but I do. And don’t worry. I talked to Monica about this last week. She says it’s okay, that I’m not repressing anything. She told me it’s actually a good idea because I’m taking steps towards reclaiming my body, so to speak. My decision has nothing to do with you except for the fact that you gave me the strength to take this step. I promise.”
I gave a sigh of relief before pulling him closer and giving him an awkward hug over the console. As long as he wasn’t doing it for me, the idea did sound pretty damn good. I hated the fact that Luke was scared of even looking at himself, and I was glad he finally had a way to get rid of the scars that were the source of so much pain for him.
“So, what are you getting?” I asked once we were out of the car.
He grinned at me before winking. “That is your actual surprise. You won’t get to see it today, but if all goes well, I’ll show you on Christmas day.”
“That’s not fair! Christmas is a week away. Why do you want to torture me like that? Can’t I take a peek? Please?” I begged, mostly to keep him from getting anxious but also because it reallydidseem unfair.
“Nope. You’re only here because I didn’t want to do this alone. But you’ll have to wait to see it.”
I gave him a mock glare before opening the door to the parlor and waiting for him to step in before following him inside. Honestly, I was glad Luke had brought me with him, even if it was only for support. I was sure this would be an emotional experience for him, and I wanted to be there for him in case he needed me.
“Wow,” I breathed as I looked around. The parlor consisted of a single room that was divided into two with a long wooden screen, the foldable kind. It was clearly a one-man operation, with a single tattoo chair placed behind the screen with a stool and a table full of tattoo equipment. The walls were decorated with framed pictures of various tattoo designs, both in color and black and white.
“Hello, there!” The man who I guessed was Julian walked over from the desk he’d been seated behind.
“Hey. Julian, right?” Luke asked as he extended a hand and shook Julian’s. Julian didn’t look like the typical tattoo artist—i.e. in all the skin I could see, there wasn’t a single tattoo, which surprised me. Wasn’t it like a rule for every tattoo artist to have at least one tattoo?
“I do have one. But it’s in a place I won’t be showing you anytime soon,” Julian said with a cheeky grin, and I scratched my forehead in embarrassment as I grinned. Was I that obvious?
“Don’t worry. I get asked a lot, so I thought I’d get it out of the way first,” Julian said with a smile and chuckled. He was in his early thirties, I guessed, but his cheerful attitude made him look younger. The blond curls that framed his face only made him look even more like a kid, and his blue eyes sparkled as he led Luke over to the tattoo chair.
“So, Luke. I got your email with the tattoo ideas, and I drew a few designs so you can pick your favorite. Once you do that, I’ll draw a stencil, and we’ll get to work. It’s a big tattoo, so you can divide it into two sessions if you wish. I can draw it today, and then you can come in tomorrow to get it colored, or we can do it all today. It’s up to you.”
“I think I’d prefer to do it all today. Oh, and this is a surprise for my boyfriend, so could you maybe make sure he doesn’t see the designs, please?” I rolled my eyes at Luke as he gave me a cheeky smile.
“Of course! I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name?” Julian asked as he turned toward me.
“It’s Scott.” We shook hands before Julian directed me toward the couch in the reception side of the screen. Once I was seated, I could see Luke’s face, but the rest of him was blocked off by the screen.
Once Luke had chosen the final designs—which I obviously did not get to see—Julian handed him a bunch of forms to fill as he headed off to his desk to draw the stencils. By the time Luke had filled the forms, Julian was done with the stencils. He took the forms from Luke and told him to get comfortable in the chair before starting the prep as he narrated what he was doing.
“I’m starting with the wrists because this is your first tattoo, and I want you to get an idea of the pain level before we do your abdomen.”
“Don’t worry about the pain. I’ve had a lot worse,” Luke said casually and his words caused a sharp ache to race through my chest at the truth in that statement. Never again, I promised myself. Never again would I let anything hurt Luke like he’d been before.
Julian gave him a sad smile, telling me he’d seen the scars Luke was getting the tattoos for. “Yeah, I guess you have.”
Julian worked quickly after that, keeping up a steady chatter interspersed with directions and telling Luke what he was doing. Once he had prepared everything, he picked up the tattoo gun and turned to Luke.
“Stay relaxed and don’t move, yeah?”
Luke nodded before turning to look at me. I gave him a soft smile and kept looking into his eyes as Julian started tracing the tattoo onto Luke’s wrist. We maintained eye contact even as Julian finished the linework and started on the shading and watching Luke deal with all that pain so easily only made me realize just how much worse pain he had already been through.
Once Julian was done with the tattoo, he let Luke look it over before covering it up with a bandage. He asked Luke if he wanted to take a break before the next tattoo, but Luke shook his head no, so Julian started working on Luke’s left wrist, repeating the same process. The only reason I was able to follow along was because of Julian’s constant narration of what he was doing, since I couldn’t see anything from here except Luke’s face. It took another thirty minutes before the tattoo was done and dressed.
“How about we take a break now before we start the last tattoo since it’ll be much bigger and will need around two hours or so to complete?” Julian asked as he put the tattoo machine away and got to his feet, stretching his arms above his head as he stood.
“How about we get lunch and then come back here?” I asked Luke, since I knew he’d barely eaten any breakfast in his excitement to come here.
“Sounds good,” Luke said, getting to his feet.
