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IMANI
“You sure about this, killer?” Kai said, standing across from me with his arms crossed.
It had been two weeks since my killing spree, and things had somewhat returned to normal. Allie’s mother was recovering in the hospital, though she hadn’t woken up yet. And my parents had taken a much-needed vacation down to Jamaica.
I sat, reclined in a large, cushioned black chair with my shirt pulled up past my ribs and my fingers intertwined with Landon’s, squeezing tightly. Donovan, our tattoo artist, cleaned a spot on my ribs, where I’d finally be tatted.
It wasn’t something that I’d always dreamed of, but it was a sign of teenage rebellion.
And ever since I had met these three boys, I had done nothing but rebel. Besides, I was a member of Poison now, and being a member of the most ruthless gang in town meant that I had to play the part. I had already killed someone, who had threatened my mother, but nobody had to know that.
“You ready?” Donovan asked. “This is one of the more sensitive parts of the body.”
“Just do it already,” João snapped, smoking a cigarette and eyeing how close Donovan was to me.
Looked like someone was a bit jealous of another man touching me. Joke was on him—his best friends did more than just touch me every night.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I said, squeezing Landon’s hand tighter.
A light hum echoed from the tattoo gun. I squeezed my eyes closed and braced for intense pain. As soon as the needle hit my flesh, I let out a whimper that I had been holding in since I had made it here.
I opened my eyes and glanced down at Donovan. All night, I had been bracing myself for the pain, but I’d kinda, sorta expected it to be worse than this. Don’t get me wrong; this still felt terrible. But … it wasn’t all that bad.
So, I lay back in the chair as he wiped the blood and ink off my skin for over the next hour. When he finally finished, Landon tugged me off the chair and pulled me toward a mirror, so I could see the tattoo that we all had on our ribs to symbolize us, Poison.
A grayscale poison bottle tattoo with a skull in the center and four roses behind it.
“All right, you guys,” I said, tapping my toe on the tiled floor and smirking at my guys through the mirror’s reflection, “time to admit it. Out of all of us, I’m the deadliest member of Poison.”
Kai stifled a laugh as João straight-up chuckled in my face.
“You have that all backward,” João said.
“I do not,” I defended, pulling down my shirt and feeling freedom.
Absolute freedom.
“My turn!” Ana squealed, climbing up into the big black chair and pulling up her shirt to show her ribs. “I want a tattoo, too!”
Before Donovan could move, João grabbed his shoulder. “You put a real tattoo on my sister, and I will kill you.”
Donovan chuckled and leaned toward Ana. “Why don’t you hold your brother’s hand and squeeze your eyes closed? This might hurt a lot. Gotta be prepared.”
When Ana closed her eyes and grabbed on to João’s hand, Donovan pulled out a box of temporary tattoos he had in a cupboard. He wiped off Ana’s skin with an alcohol wipe and placed the tattoo on her body.
Ana winced and scrunched her nose. “Ow!”
“Is that too much for you?” Donovan asked. “I can stop.”
“No!” Ana said, nervously shuffling her feet. “I want one!”
“All right, here we go.” Donovan placed a wet rag over the temporary tattoo to make it stick. After a few moments, he pulled it away and peeled the white sheet of paper off her skin. “There you go! All done.”
Ana opened her eyes and jumped out of the seat, running toward the mirror. “That was so easy! I don’t know why all you guys acted so hurt. Even I could do it! And it is so cute!”
“What’s your tattoo, Ana?” I asked, crouching down next to her.
Landon and I had ordered a bunch of temporary tattoos to bring with us today to the shop because, somehow, I knew that Ana would be wanting one. She wouldn’t want to feel left out. And while she didn’t get the same tattoo as the rest of us, hers was pretty fire.
