AllFreeNovel
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Chapter one
BLISS
I want a new tattoo.
Scratch that.
Ineeda new tattoo. I need a thousand little punctures to release the pain, a thousand little punctures filled with ink to immortalize what hurt me.
I sit down on the bench on Water Street and fish through my purse for the cigarettes I only smoke when I’m drinking. I only have two left. Shit. Why do they have to be so expensive? I light one and pull out my phone to check my bank balance. I have just enough left in my account to afford a tattoo if it’s a small one. Payday is still three days away. Or four. It’s hard to remember when I’m this drunk.
“Hey.” A guy stops in front of me. He’s wearing a gray hoodie, black cargo shorts, and dirty sneakers with dirtier socks. “Mind if I sit down?”
“No, but my boyfriend will. He just went to get us a couple of sodas.”
“Bullshit.” The smile is replaced by a sneer. “I saw you come over here and sit down. You don’t have a guy with you.”
“Fuck off.”
“Bitch,” he says, but doesn’t move. The toxic masculinity is strong with this one but before I can get too worried a cop walks by. The guy pulls his hoodie up to shield his face and scurries away.
I’m taking the last draw of my cigarette when I notice another man approaching with the same hungry look. Time to move on. I stand up and immediately grimace. I don’t know why I wore these heels tonight, or this skirt. The shoes hurt my feet and I’m constantly having to pull at the skirt to keep it from crawling up my thighs. I jerk it down for good measure before heading across the street to Artful Ink. It’s my first time in this tattoo shop. A girl with bright red hair looks up from the counter with unnaturally green eyes that startle me until I realize they’re contacts.
“Can I help you?” she asks.
“Yeah. I wanna tattoo.” Despite my best attempts to sound sober, the words come out slurred.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Nope.” First time.
“We’re closing at twelve, so it’ll have to be something simple. If you want, you can check out our designs.” She points to a wall of sample tattoo art.
“I already know what I want. It’s small. Do you have someone who can do it?”
“Everybody’s gone except for the owner. She’s finishing her last appointment if you want to wait.”
“Okay,” I say, reaching into my purse to pull out my last cigarette.
“No smoking in here.” The green eyes narrow.
“Oh…right…” I look down at the cigarette in my hand. “I was just…” My words trail off. I was just what? I can’t finish my thought and feel stupid as I put the cigarette back. None of the downtown businesses allow smoking. On nights like this, leaving a bar means walking through a tobacco-scented haze due to all the smokers huddled outside the entrances. Even if you don’t smoke, walking in or out of a bar on the weekends makes you smell like you do.
I hear deep laughter and turn to see a barrel-chested middle-aged man with a bushy beard heading from the back. The transparent bandage on his upper arm covers a new tattoo on a nearly completed sleeve. Through the film I can make out what looks like a snake. The woman beside him is tall and lean with short platinum blonde hair. She’s wearing a tank top, black jeans, and black boots. She doesn’t notice me as she sees the man to the door. When he leaves, she turns to consult Green Eyes and they both look over at me. The woman in black nods and heads over to where I’m standing.
“Hi, I’m Tandy. Inez says you’re here for a tattoo?”
“Yeah. And it won’t take long.”
“Okay. What did you have in mind?”
“Um…” I pull down the neck of my shirt and point to my left collarbone. “I want a broken infinity symbol right here. I want initials on either side of the break. One set would say BL. The other set would say JJ.”
Tandy takes a step closer to me. “That’s a painful place to get a tattoo.”
“Yeah. I know.” I pause. “But that’s what I want.”
She doesn’t immediately reply. When she does, the question is unexpected. “Have you been drinking?”
