The girls pause, and so do Crash and I. The flickering light that says Tattoo and Piercing catches everyone’s attention. This place is new. The town has been in an uproar over it. They’ve been saying this place will bring the wrong people into town, and they’re furious it’s only open once everything else is closed. Haven has just turned eighteen, and she eyes the place longer than Frankie does. One of her feet twists one way then the other while her toe stays on the hot pavement.
She looks nervous. Then her eyes dart around, catching us behind her.
“Frankie, I suggest a big tattoo on your forehead,” I tease my sister. “I’ll pay you to be my sponsor,” I add, referring to my bull riding sponsors. I have to go out of town tomorrow and will be gone a month in the circuit doing shows each weekend.
“They don’t have the guts to get anything,” Crash continues with our teasing.
Haven doesn’t even have her ears pierced. I’m not sure if it’s a parent thing or if it’s because there had been no opportunity in this town.
“I suggest cute little studs in your ears. If you’re feeling really brave, you can do the top of your ear. That will get the old ladies going at church.”
She rolls her eyes at me and straightens her back, walking in. The door doesn’t have enough time to close before I’m following in right behind them. We don’t know this guy; he could be a creep. I plan to stay and escort the girls out like the proper gentleman I am.
Crash and I take a seat on the two-seater couch. The girls look around the shop. My eyes never leave Haven, and it doesn’t go unnoticed that she has stopped at the belly button and nipple rings.
Standing up, I head toward the girls just as a guy with a lip piercing and a man who looks like he just started an outline of a sleeve comes out from a booth.
“Haven, your earrings are over here,” I tell her, smiling at the glare she gives me.
Her lips purse, making them slightly darker than when she’s smiling. They almost look like she’s puckering up for a kiss, but I know better. Don’t want to make that mistake again. My balls hurt for a week after she kneed me.
Her glare grows, and I can’t stop my lips from stretching over my face as I think about her soft ones on mine.
Turning from me, she looks at the guy behind the counter and points to the nipple rings. “I want that.” Her voice is strong and determined, making me chuckle.
I step into her space, my hand resting on her lower back as I lean into her so only she can hear me. “You don’t have the guts.”
The man plucks the tray from behind the glass. Once Haven pays, he begins walking in the direction he came from. “This way.”
I follow behind Haven, refusing to let her out of my sight. “You’re not coming in,” she tries to tell me, stopping just in front of the small room’s doorway.
“Like hell. We don’t know this guy, and I promised your mama I would always watch out for you.”
I’m dead serious. I keep all my promises, and I didn’t make her mother this one lightly. We both glare at each other, our arms crossed.
“I don’t have all night,” the guy says from inside the room, sounding annoyed.
Haven must see that I refuse to back down. A heavy breath leaves her. “Fine,” she grumbles as she stomps into the room.
When the man tells Haven to lower her dress and sit up straight, I have to hold onto the padded seat she’s sitting on in order to not jump over it to get at the guy.
“It’s a nipple piercing. My dress is going to have to come down.” Her hand brushes over mine, reminding me this isn’t the place. She moves her straps down her shoulders and then pulls the fabric down painfully slow until her bare chest is on display. Holy fuck, my hard-on is instant, and I hate that someone other than me is seeing her like this.
Trying to act like a gentleman, I force my eyes up and stare at the piercer, whose hand is marking her nipple with a blue felt-tip pen. I have to bite the inside of my cheek until I taste metallic. I hate everything about this.
“If you back out, I won’t hold it over your head,” I tell her softly, not wanting her to do this to only prove a point to me.
“I’m not doing this because of you, Danger,” she scolds me.
I watch as her perfect pink nipple gets clamped.
“Let’s do this.” Her voice is cheery and excited. Swallowing hard, I remind myself she’s eighteen, and can do whatever she wants now.
A smile tugs at her lips and then disappears. My eyes fly from her beautiful face to her nipple as the needle begins to pierce it. I feel like I’m going to be sick. My body sways as I become lightheaded, my vision going spotty before I enter a deep fog.
I’m confused at what happened when I come to and Haven’s angelic face is hovering over mine. Her dress is back in place, and all I can think is thank fuck she didn’t go through with it.
“Are you okay?” she asks, and I hear the guy cough into his hand, calling me a pussy.
Ignoring him, I tell her what she’s already thinking. “I know what you’re going to say. This was a bad idea.”
She tilts her head at me before the worry on her face disappears.
“I guess you’ll never know,” she taunts me.
I can’t help myself and look at her rack. There is no evidence telling if she went through with it at all.
“Did you get it done?” I ask, standing up and getting my bearings.
She smirks at me and winks. “I’ll never tell.”
“You’re coming OVER for dinner tonight. My mama insists.” Haven’s sweet voice brings me out of my memory. Her brow cocks, having caught me checking out her tits.
“Ever wonder what it would feel like to have a full handful there?” I toss out, turning before she can notice the hard-on I’m trying to cover up.
“Six o’clock,” she says to my retreating back, seeing right through me, I’m sure.
Five
Danger
“Beach party tonight?” Crash asks me. We’re sitting on a bench at our town’s marina. Most of the boats are small, nothing like the other towns where you can practically see the money falling off the lavish toys.
Two girls step off a boat, slipping their wetsuits down to their waist and exposing the bathing suits underneath.
“Didn’t think you had time for us anymore,” I respond. Crash is my best friend, but we hardly see each other. He’s too busy building his small empire in Oakport Beach, and I’m gone half the year with the rodeo circuit.
“I’ve got time tonight.”
I pause, my eyes still on those girls. I can’t help but compare them to Haven. Their bathing suit tops scream that they want attention, the way their eyes flirt toward us show that they only want a good time and don’t care who that good time is with. I like that Haven is modest. It builds upon her beauty and personality.
“Can’t tonight.” I shrug, bringing my attention back to my best friend.
“Why?”
Looking out into the water I see a large sailboat in the water. We don’t normally see those in these parts. The last person to own that size of a sailboat here crushed my sister’s heart. This town wouldn’t think twice about running him out once again.