Old Ink (Get Ink'd #3) - Ali Lyda Page 0,7
because you clearly have a bug up your ass, and now I’m waiting for you to tell me what’s up.”
“Oh. Right.” Dane relaxed and smiled. “Fair enough. I want to do something big for Chris. We kind of rushed the wedding, you know, because we were eager beavers. And because of filming and his work schedule, we never had a honeymoon.”
I rolled my eyes. “Have you been around the two of you? Your life is a honeymoon.”
Dane laughed and shrugged. “What can I say? I love your brother. Which is why I want to do something big for him. A declaration of love.”
“Ok… so what ideas do you have?”
“So I have a few spots of real estate on my body that haven’t been tattooed yet. One shoulder, one hip, my right calf, and of course, my left butt cheek.”
I scrunched my nose. “You have a tattoo on your right butt cheek? What of?”
Dane turned pink. “It’s that Uncle Sam poster that says ‘I Want YOU!’ and he’s pointing his finger? Javi did it.”
If my jaw could have dropped off my face and crashed through the floor, it would have. “That’s an awful tattoo, Dane.”
“Awfully awesome, I know. But Uncle Sam isn’t what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the limited space I have left—”
“And I’m gathering you want to tattoo something in honor of Christian,” I surmised.
“I want to tattoo Christian. Like, maybe his face? So he’s always with me.” Dane’s gray eyes were twinkling as if waiting for me to explode with excitement, shouting “Hell, yes! Great idea!”
But it wasn’t great. It sounded...horrifying. And while I could admit that Dane probably knew Christian better than I did, I felt confident that having his visage tattooed anywhere on anyone would be deeply uncomfortable.
“Why don’t you look dumbfounded by my genius?” Dane looked floored, and not a little insulted.
I sighed and gave him a gentle smile. “So here’s the thing. I think the sentiment is sweet. But you know how sometimes you buy a gift for someone thinking they’ll love it but really it is a gift for you? This is like that. You’d love the tattoo. But I’m not sure Christian would. That being said, I think you’re on the right track.”
Dane’s face fell briefly before he collected himself and nodded. “What are you thinking?”
“Well,” I tapped a finger on my lip. “You don’t wear wedding rings to work because they catch on your gloves. Christian doesn’t for the same reason, and sanitation and safety and all that. So why don’t you ink your wedding bands? That way you can wear them all the time without the frustration of an actual band getting in the way at work.”
I waited, holding my breath and hoping it wasn’t a dumb idea.
But my brother-in-law beamed. “That, kid, is why we pay you the big bucks.”
“You don’t pay me anything.”
He looked pointedly at my food. “I’m pretty sure room and board at school constitute payment. Unless you want to pay rent?”
I shook my head vehemently, and when Dane laughed, I joined in. Then rubbed his hands together like a villain about to unleash a master plan, leaning toward me. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do…”
My palms were sweating. I sat in my car, staring at the front of Get Ink’d. The shop was so familiar, not just from my time working there, but also from watching the show while at college. But I hadn’t been inside in almost three years, and while I’d seen some of the transformations of the space occur in the episodes, I was nervous to be inside the physical place. How much would be different? How much would feel the same?
That last one was the real doozy, wasn’t it? I’d been mortified after Reagan had rejected me. Even with all this time, I still felt the hot churn of shame in my gut when I thought about it. Not once since giving me my gift that night before I left for college had Reagan reached out. Then again, neither had I, happy to run from the mistake and feeling like the ball was in his court.
But not only had I told Dane I’d help him surprise Chris, I really did need a job, and apparently the shop needed help.
Maybe he won’t be there. Even Reagan takes days off…
Yeah, as if. If Dane was doing something big, Reagan would want to be there to support him. He wanted to support everyone, tending the staff like a shepherd with a flock