open arms. He’s charismatic and confident. I watch a few girls swoon over him, but they keep their distance and I think I know why. Becca doesn’t pick, as she would put it, pansy-ass friends. Claire must’ve pressed her hand.
“Who’s this?” someone demands. His black hair is shaved on one side and he’s covered in colorful tattoos, staring at me from the register. “She’s a little homegrown to be in here, ain’t she?”
I step closer to Max and glare at him. Max slings his brawny arm over my shoulder. “This is Raina. She’s my friend. We treat my friends with the utmost respect, don’t we, Break?” For the first time Max isn’t smiling.
Break nods unwillingly. “I want to tat her if she’s down.” He winks as his eyes slide over me. “Cute and sweet. I’d love to cover that body in my ink.”
Max reaches over and smacks Break in the back of his head. “You can tat her if you show her some respect.”
“Damn, Max. Ouch.” He rubs his head angrily, but he’s not dumb enough to cross a man as big as Max.
Max raises his eyebrow at him threateningly.
“I’m sorry, Raina. I respect you.”
I hug Max’s arm. “How respectful of you, Break. Maybe if you keep it up I’ll let you give me a tattoo. It’s the only way you’ll ever touch my body.”
Max and a few others guffaw at my comment. Break grins at me. “Not as homegrown as I thought. I like her. Come to the back. You have your ID on you?”
“Go on. Break won’t bite,” Max assures me, nudging me toward him.
“Yes…”
“Let me have it and I’ll get you your paperwork.”
I extract my ID from my wallet and hand it to him. He leads me into a small room with a tattoo table and a large glass-framed wall with pictures of past tattoos. They’re extremely well-done. I stare in awe until Break returns.
“Is this your work?”
“It is. You like it?” He smiles hopefully as his eyes slide over my body a second time. “You sure you don’t want more than my ink?”
He reeks of bad boy and sex. His gorgeous face and tattoos cement his persona. His eyes promise me naughty heartache. He’s not like Kent. Kent warned me. This guy doesn’t even have the decency to stop at my chest. “I’m sure.”
It only seems to spur him on. He tilts his head to the side. “How sure are you? Because I could fall for that sweetness.”
I’m falling for you, Rain. I take a deep breath and force a smile. “Pretty sure, because I already fell for a bad boy and he didn’t catch me.”
“Who says I’m bad?” He smiles cockily at me. “I could be not good.”
“Just do my tattoo.”
He surrenders, but not before checking out my legs once more. “Fill this out real quick. Here’s your ID.” He hands me a form and my ID. “So what do you want to get?”
I bite my lip as I fill out the liability form and shove my ID back in my wallet. “I don’t know…”
“You don’t know?” He frowns. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Max sprung this on me.”
He rubs his chin. “Well, what do you want? If you could have anything on your body for the rest of your life, what would it be?”
Kent. And in that moment I know exactly what I want. “Falling.”
“Falling?”
“Yeah. I want falling on my body for the rest of my life so I can remember I fell once and to never do it again.”
He nods slowly. “I can see it on you. Feminine script with a bit of a shadowed backdrop. Maybe on your right shoulder blade? How does that sound?”
“Cool.”
“Let me sketch it real quick and I’ll show it to you. What colors do you want?”
“What do you think?”
“Pink for the script and black shadows around the edges, kind of like it’s dragging you down. How does that sound?”
“Like you’re describing my life, Break.”
He nods with a smile. “That’s tattoos. Telling a story only you know. They get a bad rep, but they’re really one of the most expressive forms of art there is. It’s a commitment to your emotions. That’s why you have to make sure you want it before you get it. You sure you’re not done falling yet?”
I can’t fall anymore. It hurts too much. “I’m done.”
“This good?” He holds up an absolutely astonishing rendition of my thoughts.
The word ‘Falling’ drops and black shadows reach up to swallow the letters, but they stand