What To Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection Part Two (158 page)

“Yeah. The doctor wrote her a note excusing her from school the next day, and I thought it would be best if she took advantage of it.”

Karen frowned. “Any word from the school on what they’re going to do to those girls?”

Mina bit the inside of her lip, stifling an impatient sigh. “The principal said he’d get back to me today.”

“But he hasn’t?”

“I’m planning on stopping by his office when I pick Jess up today, if he hasn’t called me by then.” She glanced at the clock on the computer screen. It was almost time for her to leave. “Speaking of which, I’d better go.”

“Don’t you want to see the pictures first?”

“Can you just e-mail me the best – whichever one you send to Eric? I’d like to see what he’ll be adding to his portfolio.”

“Sure. Good luck with the principal.”

Mina groaned. “I hate that he’s dragging his feet about this. How can he act like there’s anything to ‘investigate’ when those girls purposely hurt Jess out of jealousy?” It had taken some prying, but eventually Mina had gotten Jess to admit that the girls’ ringleader was a classmate of hers who reputedly wanted to attend the homecoming dance with Jess’s date. It was almost more than Mina could believe. Jess was beautiful and vivacious, but most high school boys would lack the courage to ask a wheelchair bound girl to a dance. Mina hadn’t met Jess’s date yet, but he had to be sweet – surely not the kind of boy who would fall for a catty bitch who’d assault a girl who couldn’t walk.

“For what it’s worth, I hope those girls get expelled and shipped off to some sort of military school for delinquents. Somewhere frigid, where it snows all year.”

Mina smiled despite her freshly rekindled anger. “Thanks.”

She left the small studio and stepped into the elevator, riding down to the first floor and exiting the building. As she thought of Karen sitting three stories above, choosing which photo to send to Eric, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if it were the other way around and when she arrived home, there would be a picture of him in her inbox, shirtless with his tattoos exposed.

“So how was your first day back at school?” Mina tried to sound casual as she stood at the counter, slicing vegetables with a little more force than was strictly necessary. The sight of the bandage on Jess’s forehead renewed her anger each time she saw it, and she was still charged up from her second meeting with the principal.

“It was okay,” Jess said from where she was sitting at the kitchen table with her homework spread out in front of her.

“Did those girls bother you?” Mina knew she sounded like an interrogative mother, but she didn’t care.

Jess paused for a moment before answering. “No.”

“Really?”

Jess sighed. “They didn’t really
do
anything to me, but I heard them laughing at me – making jokes about my bandage and stuff like that.”

Mina cleaved a red pepper in half and proceeded to reduce it to tiny slivers almost too thin for even a salad. So much for dipping the strips in the mix she’d already whipped up.

“It’s not a huge deal,” Jess said. “They’re not going to be at school tomorrow, since you got them suspended.”

“I didn’t get them suspended. They got themselves suspended when they hurt you. And suspension isn’t a tough enough punishment. They should be expelled.”

“You already said that like a dozen times in the car.”

“That doesn’t make it any less true.” She sighed. Maybe she was taking her frustration out on Jess, who was the last person who deserved it. “Sorry. I’m not trying to hash it all out again. I’m just so pissed.”

Jess flipped a page in her notebook, scrawling something down. “It’s okay. At least you care.”

Mina nodded silently. She
did
care, which was more than Jess could possibly say about the woman she’d spent the first half of her life with: their mother, not to mention most of the foster parents she’d been stuck with for several years after that. The day Mina had turned eighteen had been the second best of her life. The very best had been when she’d obtained custody of Jess. She’d been twenty-one then. She hastily arranged the mutilated vegetables on a plate and sat it on the table beside Jess, along with a small dish of dipping sauce. “I’m going to take a break. Be back in a few minutes.”

“’Kay.”

Mina walked a few short steps, entered the bathroom and closed the door behind herself. Big enough to accommodate a wheelchair, the room was more generously sized than those in most of the apartment complex’s units. Sunlight filtered through a high window, tinted green by the leafy potted plants she’d placed there in lieu of a curtain. She stripped down to her panties (she’d foregone a bra, opting for a top with a soft built-in shelf bra for the sake of her tattoo), draping her cotton shirt and jeans over the shower rod before surveying her left side in the mirror.

Her tattoo was still faintly red around the edges, though she didn’t seem to have bruised much. Squirting a small dollop of antibacterial soap into her palm, she ran her hand under warm water before pressing it to her ribs. Gently, she massaged her side, her soap-slickened fingers gliding easily over her skin. The curves and flourishes of the vines were raised, as were the flowers that blossomed on them. The design stood out vivid and textured against her smooth olive skin. It hadn’t begun to truly heal or even lose its scab yet, but it was already obvious that Eric had done a beautiful job.

Did he think so too? Karen might not have even sent him a photo yet, but if she had, what had he thought when he’d seen it? She cupped a handful of warm water and let it stream over her side, washing away the soap. Taking a clean towel from the small bathroom closet, she patted her skin dry. She loved the tattoo. If only she didn’t suspect that she just might be able to feel the same way about the man who’d done it for her.

“Karen? Is everything okay?” Mina held her phone as she twisted the top off her bottled water. Karen didn’t usually call her at work. Fortunately, she’d just clocked out for her lunch break.

“Everything’s amazing. Guess what?”

Her water bottle cap spun off the table and bounced onto the floor. She stooped to pick it up, and when she straightened in her seat, a peroxide-blond woman was eyeing her from across the room. Ashley. She glared down her button nose at Mina as if talking on her phone while being off the clock and in the small break room was a crime. Unfortunately, lunch wasn’t the only time of day Mina was forced to spend in Ashley’s presence. Ashley was the bank’s newest teller, which meant that Mina usually passed the entire day in the small area behind the counter with her. “What?”

“Eric loved the pictures,” Karen said breathlessly.

Mina’s heart fluttered, her senses spiking at the sudden mention of Eric. “Pictures? I thought you only sent him one.”

Karen made a sound of dismissal. “There were at least a dozen shots that turned out great. I sent him the eight I thought were best.”

“Okay…” She resisted the urge to say something idiotic, like ‘what did he say’?

“Have you checked your e-mail lately?”

Mina shook her head before realizing that the gesture was useless. Ashley smirked at her from across the room, as if she’d noticed. She probably had. The nosy girl spent most of her time scrutinizing her co-workers – particularly Mina – watching for something to laugh at or make a snide comment about. “No. I didn’t think you’d have the pictures ready so soon.” Karen insisted on editing her photos to perfection before sending them to anyone. Mina hadn’t thought it necessary for a simple snapshot of her tattoo, but she’d known that wouldn’t stop Karen.

“I finished editing them yesterday.” Her tone softened, a little of the enthusiasm going out of her voice. “I haven’t had a client in over two weeks, so I had plenty of time.”

“Sorry.” Mina knew how badly Karen wanted to take her photography full-time and quit her waitressing job, but photography was a flooded field and drumming up enough business to scrape a living wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, Karen was determined to become one of the best.

“It’s all right. I just got a new client today.” Mina could practically hear Karen grinning at the other end of the connection.

“Oh yeah? Who?”

“A guy who owns a little tattoo studio called Hot Ink.”

Mina nearly dropped the cap again. “Are you serious?” Hot Ink was the shop where she’d just had her new tattoo done – the place where Eric worked, her quickening heart reminded her.

“One-hundred percent. They want me to take some pictures of their artists’ work – you know, to use for advertisements and stuff like that. And that’s not all. Guess what else they asked me?”

“What?”

“If you’d pose for some of the photos.”

“What?” Mina’s voice climbed an octave or two, and Ashley shot her a censorious look from across the room, frowning primly as she stirred an almost microscopic spoonful of dressing onto her salad.

“Eric showed the photos I sent him to the studio’s owner and he thought they were amazing. He wants you to represent Eric’s work.”

Mina took a sip of her water, stalling for a little time to mull it all over. Her, in advertisements? Would that make her a model? She nearly laughed at the thought. At 5’5” and now with a considerable portion of her body covered in ink, she’d never imagined herself as one. “So, he wants to use the photos you took in some ads?”

“No, he wants me to take new photos of you.”

“What was wrong with the old ones?” Mina remembered sitting topless on the stool in Karen’s studio and shivered.

“Nothing. I just told the owner that if he was really serious about using photos for advertisements, he’d let me take some specifically for that. We can have your make-up professionally done, style your hair and all that.”

“He wants my face to be in the photos?”

“Of course. Mina, it’s not just about your tattoo. It’s about you – you know, the person, the whole visual package and the woman behind the ink.”

“Did you think that sales pitch up off the top of your head?”

“It’s not a sales pitch. It’s my vision for Hot Ink’s advertisements.”

“Okay, well, what did you say when he asked you if I’d pose for the photos?”

“I told him I thought you’d be really interested.”

Mina sighed. Of course she had. Not that she didn’t like the idea of Eric ‘loving’ the photos, though she doubted he’d used that exact word, but it was a little weird to think that someone wanted to use her image to advertise their business.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Karen said, “but listen. I know you could use the extra money. No offense – I’m in the same boat, after all.”

Extra money? “You mean I’d be paid?”

“Of course. I mean, it’s not much, just a couple hundred dollars, but it’s something.”

“I’ll do it.” It wasn’t the flash of photo lights Mina pictured as she agreed, but the pretty purple gown she’d seen so recently on a real model. If she didn’t order Jess’s dress soon, it wouldn’t arrive in time for the dance. And so far, she’d only managed to scrounge up about half of what she’d need to buy it.

“Great. How soon can you make it to the studio?”

“Don’t you want to wait until my tattoo heals? It’s still a little red around the edges.”

“That’s all right. I can photoshop that out.”

“Well, the next day I have off work is Sunday.”

“All right. Sunday at…how’s noon sound?”

“Fine, I guess.”

“Great. See you then.” Karen hung up, leaving Mina alone with Ashley’s frigid stares.

Mina ignored her, opening her lunch box and unwrapping the sandwich she’d packed. After a few bites she put down her food and pulled her phone out of her purse. Within moments she’d accessed her e-mail and was skimming through her inbox. Karen’s message was near the top of the list, sandwiched between some spam and a newsletter. She opened it and the turkey-and-cheddar resting in her stomach seemed to turn to stone as she inspected the attached photos.

Karen really had sent Eric eight photos, and only two of them were the tattoo close-ups she’d thought they’d all be. The rest showcased Mina from her head to her hip, highlighting the colorful ink scrawling down her side. Her face was visible from various angles and the photos were…sexy. Her breasts were hidden demurely by the angle and her upper arm, but there was still no denying the sensuality of the pictures. Karen had directed her posing well, and the soft lighting she’d used was more than flattering. And then there was the fact that she’d edited the images to perfection, making sure that Mina’s skin glowed flawlessly and her hair shone. She died a little inside knowing that Eric had seen the photos and shown them to his boss. And then she came back to life, her heart pumping way too fast for someone who was sitting in a chair digesting a sandwich.