“But the rest of the guys from the team aren’t coming in for at least a couple of weeks.”
Chris shrugs. “I just wanna be prepared. It’s kind of a big deal to be working on these guys.”
He’s got a point. I’ve done Randy’s sleeve, and Chris has put a couple of pieces on Waters, the team captain, but now we’re designing tattoos that are variations on a similar theme, and Chris will be modifying a design that’s already on Waters’ arm. It’s a cool project, and it’ll be even cooler when we have five different pieces on five different NHL players. We’re also pulling in Jamie, the third tattooist in the shop, to work on one of the guys.
“Tenley’s coming by later,” I tell Lisa as I pass the folder of preliminary designs over to Chris.
She glances up. “Really? Does she know who your consult is this morning, by chance?”
I stop leafing through Randy’s folder. “What?”
“You told her who your consult is?”
“Well, yeah…” I don’t get why Lisa suddenly looks all smug.
“You know she thinks he looks kind of like you. Only, you know—” She motions to my face and then the rest of me. “—with a beard and fewer tattoos.”
“We don’t look alike.” I turn to Chris for confirmation.
He shrugs. “I guess I can kinda see it, except you’re all Gumby skinny, and he’s a tank.”
“I’m not fucking skinny,” I snap. I turn back to Lisa, since Chris is no help. “So does Tenley actually like hockey?”
“She likes hockey for the same reason all girls like hockey, Hayden.”
“Which is because…”
“It’s full of hot guys with lots of stamina.”
“I have excellent stamina.”
Lisa rolls her eyes. “You sound jealous.”
“I’m not jealous.” I’m kind of jealous.
She pats my cheek. “I’m messing with you, Hayden. Tenley loves hockey. She knows all the Chicago stats. It’s almost creepy.”
“Why am I just finding this out now?”
“Maybe because you spend most of your spare time with your tongue in her mouth, and she hasn’t had an opportunity to tell you?” Chris offers with a smile.
I don’t bother answering. I just take my stuff to the private room where I’m meeting with Randy.
We’ve learned to do consults with high-profile clients away from the windows, so passing fans, or other clients who are fans, don’t turn a half-hour consult into a two-hour fangirl session, which very well may happen anyway with Tenley coming by later.
Chapter Three
cupcake-wrapper porn
RANDY
NO ONE’S SITTING at the jewelry counter, which doubles as reception, when we arrive at Inked Armor. The shop is quiet apart from the low tones of rock music filtering through the sound system.
“Why don’t you have a look around while we wait?” I tell Lily, who’s hanging off my tattooed arm. Mostly I need her to stop touching me so I don’t get another hard-on. I had to work to contain one the entire trip over here while she talked about how she really likes the idea of an inner thigh tattoo.
It’s my own damn fault since I’m the one who suggested it in the first place.
She lets go of me and wanders around the shop, checking out framed designs on the walls. This isn’t like most tattoo shops in the area. The sign out front reads By appointment only, and stock designs aren’t typical here. Intricate custom pieces in various stages of completion cover the walls. Custom albums labeled with the name of each artist sit on the coffee table. My sleeve is in Hayden’s album.
Lisa, the lavender-haired piercer, comes out of the office and squeals her surprise. “Randy! Does Hayden know you’re here?”
I smile and lift a hand in greeting. “We’re a little early.”
She looks over to Lily, who’s stopped her perusal to check out the female voice associated with the enthusiastic greeting. Her expression is a mixture of mild shock, awe, and if I’m not mistaken, a hint of jealousy. I like Lily in green. A lot.
“Lisa, this is my girlfriend, Lily. She wanted to come along today and maybe see about Hayden designing a piece for her, too.”
“Oh? Awesome!” Lisa clomps across the hardwood floor, her heavy boots a serious contrast to her lavender dress, and extends a hand to Lily, whose lips turn up in a tentative smile. “It’s really nice to meet you, Lily.”
“You, too.”
“Hayden doesn’t have appointments scheduled until later this afternoon, so it shouldn’t be a problem to discuss a design for you.”
“He didn’t do that because of me, did he?” I ask.
“You know what he’s like. He doesn’t want any kind of divided focus. Oh, and Chris is here, too, so you can talk about the team designs, if you want.”
“That would be awesome. Hayden mentioned he had some preliminary sketches worked up.” My excitement over the new sleeve becomes more real now that I’m here, in the shop.
Hayden comes out of the private room where I had my sleeve done. He’s tall and kind of lanky, with full sleeves. His typically serious face breaks into a smile.
“Hey, man! You’re early.” He holds out his hand, and we shake while bumping shoulders.
“Is that okay? You know how it is when the excitement kinda takes over.”
Hayden pats me on the back. “I got you. I’m getting the itch again, but I’m running out of skin to put it on.”
“I’ve got a long way to go before that happens.” I glance over at Lily, who’s migrated to the jewelry counter with Lisa.
She’s not looking at the contents of the glass case. Her gaze is fixed on us, and it’s bouncing from me to Hayden. I motion her over and throw an arm around her shoulder. “This is my girlfriend, Lily. She wanted to come along and maybe talk to you about a design.”
Hayden turns his grin on her and extends a hand. “It’s great to meet you. We can definitely talk ink designs once we go through Randy’s, sound good?”
“That sounds great. Awesome. Thanks. Nice to meet you.” Lily shakes his hand a little longer than necessary, her cheeks flushing as she looks over his arms and the lick of vine crawling up his neck.
Hayden takes us to the private room so we won’t have any interruptions. He’s always super organized—Lisa calls him anal—and he seems to get razzed for it a lot.
He goes into professional artist mode as soon as he flips open the folder. Bright bursts of color decorate the page, and the designs look almost three-dimensional. Hayden’s been working with watercolor images lately, and these are fantastic.
“So I know when we first started talking about this, we thought we’d start shoulder down, but I think that really depends on where you plan to get the team tattoo.” Hayden flips over another page.
“Oh my God! That’s incredible.” Lily grabs my arm with one hand and reaches out with the other, but stops abruptly and looks to Hayden. “Can I touch that? It looks so real.”
A half-grin quirks up the side of his mouth. “Yeah, go right ahead.”
Lily brushes over the design and glances at the naked arm she’s stroking. “That’s going to look amazing.”