belonged with Ghost in a far-off universe she would never understand, and there they would both remain.
Ghost. Given the funk she was in, the last thing she needed was to start thinking about him.
“That is so freaking hot,” Sam said, still shouting to be heard over the blaring country music. “But you get a hands-on demonstration of Brian’s hotness every night, right? Lucky girl.”
“He’s hot because he wants to drive a needle through her nipples?” Macy asked.
“Well, I brought it up to him,” Candace said. “He doesn’t push anything on me, and if I told him no, he’d back off. But I’m having fun letting him try to convince me.” An impish smile curled her lips, an expression Macy never would have imagined seeing on her sweet friend a year ago. Hell, a year ago, she’d have laughed riotously at the thought of even having this discussion. With Candace, of all people.
But her once straight-and-narrow best friend now sported three tattoos, a belly ring, hot pink streaks in her blonde hair and who knew what else. All thanks to her tattoo-parlor-owning boyfriend, Brian Ross. Why Brian and Candace weren’t together on their first Valentine’s Day as a couple was a mystery Macy hadn’t quite put together and didn’t really want to ask about. But if they were talking piercings, then everything must be hunky-dory in their world.
Sam gave a quasi-orgasmic little shudder. “You’ll have to tell me what it’s like. I might think about doing it too.”
Sam was another story. This kind of talk from her didn’t come as any surprise.
“He says it really heightens sensitivity.”
“It can also eradicate it altogether,” Macy muttered, knowing she was whistling in the wind. “It can do permanent nerve damage. Not to mention—”
“That’s what I’ve heard,” Sam said to Candace, but it wasn’t in response to Macy’s warning.
“Yeah, it drives him crazy when I play with his rings.”
“There’s also rejection, infection—”
“Brian knows what he’s doing, Mace.”
Macy subsided, pulling her lips between her teeth to contain the retort. Of course. Brian knew everything. The sun came up in the morning because Brian said it should. Forget simple facts.
“But he might get so excited because it’s you he’s piercing that all the blood will drain south from his brain, and he could really mess up.” It was one of the more sensible things Sam had said.
Candace laughed. “Maybe I’ll spring it on him out of the blue one day when we’re just hanging out at the studio. He won’t have time to think about it much.”
“And neither will you,” Sam said. “That’s the only way I’d have the nerve to do it. If I had too much time to think about it, I’d chicken out.”
“You guys really are crazy. Why even do something if it scares you so much?”
Candace shook her head. “It’s not that it’s scary, Macy. But it’s…intense. It’s a rush.”
“Why do people bungee jump? Or skydive?” Sam said.
“Freaking adrenaline junkies,” Macy muttered. “All the piercing and tattoo stuff, you say it’s all about your ‘self-expression’, but in the end I think it’s simple addiction.”
“For some people, maybe. And it’s fun. We’re not depraved or something because we like it. My thrill is simply different than your thrill.”
“That stuff you did on a horse, Mace? See, that’s crazy to me,” Sam said. “You were a little kamikaze. When I would watch you barrel race, I could hardly pry my fingers apart to peek through them.”
“Agreed,” Candace said.
Macy shot a glare at Sam. “Bad analogy. We all know how that ended.”
Both the other girls clamped their mouths shut, and Macy instantly wished she could take the words back. She covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m just…I don’t know. I love you guys. But maybe this was a bad idea.”
“No, I’m sorry,” Sam said quickly, her rueful expression making Macy feel worse. “It’s not you. That was a totally insensitive thing for me to say.”
“But you know I’m usually not so sensitive about it,” Macy said. “At least not with you guys. Like I said, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You need to get laid.” Candace declared this as if it should be obvious to everyone.
Macy rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s never been a cure-all for me, and you know it.”
“Maybe because you haven’t found someone yet who can do it right.” Candace twirled her barely touched beer bottle between her hands. “It’s too bad Ghost left, huh?”
She hadn’t wanted to think about him, and she damn sure could’ve done without