Haunted (40 page)

Sabrina was so confident, I wished I had that kind of confidence in myself. I hoped I could be as confident in Devon as she was in Kurt.

The ladies continued to talk boys and I focused on finishing up Karen’s phoenix. The lines moved gracefully along her shoulder blade and onto her arm. When she lifted her arm it would appear the bird was spreading its wings.

“I think we’re done with the outline, Karen! Take a look.”

She stood up, a little shaky so I handed her some Gatorade, and she walked over to our huge three-way mirror.

“Oh, Jaylene. You’ve outdone yourself this time. It’s perfect! I can’t wait to come back and get the color done! I can’t wait for summer!”  

She hugged me and I was careful not to touch her new ink.

“Thanks for coming all this way, Karen. I hope you like it.”

When she pulled back, she had tears in her eyes. “It’s exactly what I needed.”

I handed her a tissue and looked up to see Devon and Star coming in from the back.

“Did you guys want to look before she wraps it up?”  

The guys walked over and whistled appreciatively at her tattoo as I cleaned up all the excess ink and started applying the antibiotic ointment.

“You know the drill, keep this bandage on until maybe right before bed and then gently wash with antibiotic soap. Keep applying bacitracin after that.”

She nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I promise I’ll take good care of it ‘til I come back.”

Once I had the bandage on she went into the dressing room to change. I started to clean up my station, but Star had already donned some gloves and was wrapping up all the plastic.

“Since when do we have a shop boy, Kenz?”  

She looked up at him and laughed. “I was wondering about that. But he’s a looker, he’ll probably help bring in more chicks who want to get pierced.”

Speaking of chicks, Sabrina was staring wide-eyed at the guys. She cleared her throat and elbowed Mackenzie. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends, friend?”   

I would have been mortified to meet these guys with my head wrapped in plastic, but she thought nothing of it.

“Devon and Star, this is our friend Sabrina. She owns a vintage clothing shop here in the Quarter.”

They both shook hands with her and she barely contained her eyelash flutters. Jeez, if even one of my best friends got that flustered meeting Devon, what would it be like for all the women he met while on tour? I had to stop thinking about that. It was non-productive and I refused to let it impose on the time I had with him.

“It is very nice to meet you guys. My boyfriend and I are big fans.”

They both said thank you graciously but blushed a little, like maybe after all this time they were still a little uncomfortable with the fame.

I listened to them chat while I got my station set up for Jonathan, who was due in a half hour. “Guys, I’m going to run upstairs and grab a snack before my next appointment comes in.”

They waved at me and Devon followed.

His arms came around my waist, “I could use a snack, too.” He bit my neck and I squealed and broke away, running up the stairs, him chasing me.

We burst through my door and he caught me up against the wall inside the door. His kisses were hungry and I was so happy to have my hands back on him. I kissed him back with matching enthusiasm. When he pulled away we were both breathless.

“I know you really need a snack, I just needed to do that. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head and slid my hands around his waist, pulling him closer to me. “Don’t ever be sorry for kissing me like that. I love it when you kiss me like that.”

I reached up and bit his neck and he groaned. As I pulled him closer to me, I could feel that this was more than just playing for him. I looked up at him and he gave me a sexy half smile.

“I kiss you like that because I’m like a starved man around you. I can’t get enough. Watching you work today was nice, but I couldn’t focus too much on your hands because it made me think of last night and just how good your hands felt on me.”

I rested my cheek against his chest and he enveloped me in his strong arms. We stood like that for a few moments and I drank it in. I knew what he meant about starving. Now that I’d allowed myself to care about him, to let myself want him, it was all I could do not to tear his clothes off and keep him naked in my apartment forever. That thought made me giggle and he rubbed his chin on top of my head.

“What’re you thinking down there, beautiful? That sounded wicked.”

I looked up and he kissed my nose. “Hmmm, I was thinking about how I could explain your disappearance to the guys. ‘See, he was here Saturday and then he just left. I have no idea where he went.’ And in the meantime, I’d have you naked and tied to my bed where I could look at you and touch you whenever I wanted.”

His eyes flashed at me and he reached down to cup my ass, pulling me closer to him. “Oh, chère. I like how your mind works. I’d like nothing better than to be naked in your bed with you.” His eyes searched mine and then looked over my shoulder at the clock. He let out a little breath with an impatient whine mixed in. “How much longer are you going to be?”  

I knew what he meant, but I had to stand my ground. “I’ll probably be another two and a half or three hours. Then Mackenzie is going to cook for us. We have to behave until then.”

He smiled down at me. “I know, I was just checking. And I promise, me and my phallus will do our best not to distract you while you’re working.”

I burst out laughing and swatted at his arm. “Great, now that’s all I’ll be thinking about! I really do think it’s amazing.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned. “I love you, chère.”

Those words would never cease to warm my heart. “I love you, too, you big sexy man. Now this working girl needs to eat something.”

I pulled away from him and opened a cabinet to pull out a protein bar. I offered him one and he accepted. I grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge and turned to ask him what he wanted.

“I’ll just have a water, thank you. So speaking of working girls, you were serious about your stepmom thinking that?” He was frowning so deep he was almost scowling.

I shrugged. “I doubt she would think I’d go that far, but yeah. She really doesn’t think I’ll be able to support myself with my art. I told you she was quite unhappy with my decision to leave my internship.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, but how could she not support you? How could she not see how amazing you are?”  

“I don’t know. It’s just not something in her frame of reference so therefore it’s not possible I guess. It’s fine though. I know I’m doing well and that’s what counts, right?”  

His frown lessened but was still there. “Sure, but I wish she would be more supportive of your dreams. I guess we were just lucky that our whole family was behind us when we started out and they’ve stuck with us ever since. I want the same for you.”

It made me feel warm inside to hear him speak so kindly to me. “Thanks, but I had to accept a long time ago that she and my father weren’t going to agree with my life choices. I could either do what they wanted me to do and not feel satisfied or follow my heart and be happy. So I chose happy.”

He wrapped his arms around me again. I could never get tired of being in the safety of him. “Happy is good. I want you to be happy. It’s going to be my mission to show you all kinds of happy”

I felt like such a sap, but the waterworks were threatening again. “You already have,” I whispered. “You mean there’s more?”  

He laughed, dropping his head back and accentuating his gorgeous neck. I couldn’t resist kissing him at the base of his throat. That got a sigh out of him.

“There’s so much more. But for now, you have work to do, woman.” He smacked at my ass playfully and I scooted away from him.

“I know. I’ll be out in a minute.” I took a moment for a bathroom break. I looked at myself in the mirror before heading back out and was pleased to see that my smile and my proximity to Devon had left a glow on my face.

When I went back downstairs Mackenzie was chatting with Jonathan and Sabrina, who was now blonder than me.

“Hey Jaylene! Long time no see!” Jonathan greeted me with a hug and then stepped back quickly. He was looking way up so I figured he’d noticed Devon.

“Glad you could make it, Jonathan. This is my boyfriend Devon, and this is his friend Star.”

Again with the wide-eyed stare. He stuck out his hand but seemed unable to speak.

“Pleased to meet you, Jonathan," Devon said quietly.

Jonathan nodded back and then looked at me and whispered, “Do you know who they are?”  

I quirked my head at him and deadpanned, “Well, as much as I can. We met in an online dating forum this past week. You think there’s something I should know?”

He looked startled and the others were doing a poor job of keeping it together. “Jaylene, they're in that Metal band, Maggie’s Bones! Haven’t you ever heard of them?”  

I frowned and turned on Devon. “How could you keep something like that from me? How could you?!”  

He threw up his hands and said, “Don’t blame me. Rock star wasn’t one of the options on the employment section.”

I turned back to Jonathan and his expression was priceless. “Guess I’ll have to get my money back.” His eyes were wide and I couldn’t, in good conscience, keep up the shenanigans. “I’m sorry Jonathan, that was mean. Yes, I am fully aware of what this man does for a living.”

He looked confused for a minute and then laughed. “Damn, Jaylene! You are too good at that!”  

I smiled guiltily and the others just shook their heads. “Couldn’t resist. Alright, shall we get started?”  

I brought out the drawing for his tattoo. He wanted to get a Traditional style American Eagle tattoo on his forearm. It was good sized so it took me some time to shrink it down on the copier until it would fit. Jonathan was busy talking to the guys and didn’t mind the wait a bit.

“I’m a huge fan. Me and my buddies from the base saw you play two years ago before we deployed to Iraq. What a great show!”  

Devon and Star thanked him and asked about his military service. Jonathan shared that he’d already served two tours in Iraq and now he was back stateside for the time being. He made it through relatively unscathed, physically at least. But the last time we met he shared with me some of the not-so-visible scars. He was still having night terrors at that point but was getting counseling on base and was able to do his job.

Devon was playing guitar again and Star and Mackenzie had disappeared behind her privacy curtain. Sabrina walked over to check out what I was working on before she took off for the day.

“That’s going to be a great tattoo, Jonathan.”

He smiled in appreciation. “Thank you. Jaylene has done most of my tattoos. Been waiting to come back and see her again.”

Sabrina bent down to whisper in my ear. “If I’m not mistaken, I think Mackenzie is piercing that poor boy back there.”

I giggled and peered over at the curtain. I could hear them talking softly and laughing. I looked at Devon and he was shaking his head, looking in the same direction. Sabrina gave a wave and shouted her goodbye to Mackenzie before heading out the front door. Then we heard Star shouting.

“Ow, shit, honey! That fucking smarts!”  

I heard Mackenzie’s voice down low and then the unmistakable sounds of smooching.

“Hey Kenz? I don’t think that’s sanitary to be doing back there.”

She pulled back the curtain just a bit. “It’s sanitary! He’s fine.”

I distinctly heard him say, “I’ll be fine when you’re done. Ow!” More smoochy sounds and grunts of pain. “Sugar Honey Iced Tea! That hurts like a bitch!”  

Devon looked back at me with his eyebrow raised. “You want to make sure she’s not impairing your drummer?”  

He shook his head. “Uh uh. If I look I might be scarred for life. He’s my best friend, but I don’t need to see what she’s piercing right now.”

“I heard that, fucker,” Star hollered and I heard Mackenzie giggling and more kissing.

I went back to working on Jonathan, anxious all of a sudden to be done working so I might be able to do some smooching of my own.

“You’re just about done here, Jonathan. Let me just put in the last bit of shading.”

It had taken me just under two hours and it looked pretty damn good. He was smiling from ear to ear.

“Thanks so much, Jaylene, for fitting me in. I really wanted to get this done at the beginning of my leave. I’m meeting up with buddies later on Bourbon Street. We decided to spend the weekend here.”

We shared with Jonathan our local knowledge of where to go and where to avoid and he appreciated the advice. After I cleaned him up and let him take a look he was very pleased with his new ink. I wrapped his arm and gave him the instructions. He pulled me into a hug before he left. Then he sheepishly looked over at Devon and cleared his throat.

“Hey man, if it isn’t too weird, could I have your autograph?”  

Devon told him no problem and I showed him where some of my shop postcards were. He signed one for Jonathan and one for one of his buddies.

Jonathan shook his hand and thanked him. “Hey, you take care of this lovely lady, now. She’s the best.”

Devon smiled back and looked over at me. “She is that. Enjoy your tattoo.”

Jonathan nodded. “I’ll probably see you in six months or so! Hey, let me know if you’re ever in Texas, I’ll come see you!”  

I waved at him as he left and turned to look back at the state of my shop.

Devon was still playing softly in the corner and he seemed so comfortable it made me feel all warm and squishy inside. I was getting a lot of that feeling around him and it was nice.

Mackenzie pulled back the curtain and out came Star with two very angry looking nipples now pierced with silver hoops.

“What the hell did you do to him,” I asked Mackenzie.

She was beaming and he was smiling right back at her. “He wanted them. I just did my thing. You know how it is.” She winked at me and I felt my cheeks redden.

Star frowned at me and sputtered, “You!? Really?”  

I shrugged. “I can’t turn down a dare, Star. Ever.”