AllFreeNovel
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“Nope. Doesn’t need to. My body, my choice. They all have them. Why can’t I have one?”
A laugh tumbles out of her mouth. “A girl also isn’t touching their body for an extended period of time without you present. Have you not met them? They’re cut from the same cloth, and if I remember correctly, there were two major instances in Lake Tahoe when the quiet one was scarier than all of them put together.”
I remember both of those instances—the night I dressed up for the hotel party and the night he came home drunk from my Instagram post—and both resulted in a damn good ending for me . . . after a shit-show, of course. But, I do get what she’s saying. “Look, it won’t have the same ‘wow’ factor if he knows. I need it to be a surprise.”
“Don’t you have to be eighteen without parental consent? That requires a valid license.”
I point at her. “I need you to rid of this negative mom energy. Today, you are my partner in crime. Act like it.” She blinks at my little rant, a knowing smirk in place. I sigh. “I okayed it with my mom. She asked, in great detail, where and what and how big. This is why I need a certain someone to bend the rules and copy your license instead of mine.”
“How do you know he’ll do it, or that he’s free? He stays pretty booked I think.”
“Gabby! You’re supposed to be the fun one. It’s called being one step ahead. I talked to Sayler. Don’t make me wish I had brought her instead.”
She rolls her eyes at me and opens the door, waiting for me to enter the building first. “Bitch. That was below the belt.”
I stroll past her, throwing out an, “Act twenty-one and not forty-one then,” as I come through the door, already taking in the less-than-stellar interior. No one is up front, and you can hear tattoo guns in the back. Gabby comes up beside me at the counter. My hand hits the silver bell, signaling that someone is here.
A few seconds later someone hits the doorway, coming through. He takes both of us in, a smirk appearing. “This looks like trouble.”
I grin at Riggan as he makes his way behind the front desk, then leans over the counter on his forearms. “Smart man.”
“Why are the two of you here to see me?”
“What if I told you I got you a gig?”
He stands upright and crosses his arms at his chest. “I’m interested.”
“For all the juicy deets, you have to give me a tattoo.”
As if he can’t help it, he smiles. “Gotta be legal in the shop.”
I hold out my hand toward Gabby, palm up. “The name’s Gabby. I’m twenty-one.”
His smile becomes lopsided. He glances at Gabby. At the end of an eye roll, she places her license in his hand. After looking at it, his eyes meet mine. “Your parents okay with this?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“Are you serious? I’m paying for it with a credit card. It’ll be on the statement.”
“As much as I’d love to pop your tattoo cherry, I’m serious. You’ve already been put on lockdown once. I’m not trying to have a pissed off best friend.”
“Fine.” I dig through my purse for my cell phone, bringing up my text messages with my mom from earlier. When I get to the start of the conversation, I hand him my phone.
His eyes scan the screen, scrolling every few seconds with his thumbs. At one point he glances up at me with a tilted smile. “That’s what you want?”
“Yep. Do the tattoo and I’ll tell you where you’ll be playing next Friday night.”
He hands my phone back to me. “Where do you want it?”
“Left ribcage, under my heart.”
He nods me toward the back. “We can do the paperwork before you leave.”
A nervous flutter hits my stomach as I follow Riggan toward the back of the building, Gabby on my heels. I’m doing this for me, but at the same time, I hope he doesn’t hate it.
Landon
