“Of course it matters. Do you have a girlfriend that you’re not telling us about?”
I laughed. “Is that what this is all about? You think I’m dating someone and keeping it from you and Andy? You’re nuts.”
“If she’s not your girlfriend, then who is she?” Ally asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“Her name is Emma. She goes to school with me, and she wanted to learn how to surf.”
“You’re hanging out with one of them? I thought you were better than that.”
“Oh, give me a break. Emma’s nice. She isn’t stuck-up, like most of the kids at school.”
“Whatever. They’re all stuck-up assholes, and you know it.”
Ally was one of my favorite people in this world, but she was starting to annoy me. I’d never seen this overprotective side of her, and I didn’t like it.
“I’m done with this conversation. Is there another reason you stopped by? Or did you just want to interrogate me?”
“See? You’re already acting stuck-up.”
I ran my hand down my face in aggravation. Ally needed to leave before I kicked her out. “I need to work. Go.”
“Whatever. Just don’t forget the little people when you marry the rich princess.”
“You say ‘whatever’ a lot!” I yelled as she walked past me and out the door.
I walked into the employee room and slipped on my work shirt, glad to be rid of her. I loved the girl like a sister, but Emma wasn’t her business. Ally had always had a bit of a protective streak with Andy, but now wasn’t the time or the place to start acting that way about me.
I spent most of my shift checking in clients and cleaning. I still had an hour to go with nothing to do when Rick yelled for me to come back to where he’d just started setting up with a client.
“You yelled?” I asked as I stuck my head inside the room.
“Yeah, you want to watch?”
“Hell yeah!” I said as I stepped inside the room. I didn’t get to come back and watch the guys work very often, and I never turned them down when one of them would ask me.
“Good. Grab a stool, and sit down.”
I pulled a stool over next to the guy who was facedown on the table with his shirt off. Rick pulled another stool over and sat down on the opposite side of the guy.
“Jesse, this is Wendell. Wendell, this is Jesse. He works here, and he’s hoping to tattoo when he’s old enough.” I raised a hand in greeting. “Hey.” “Hey,” the guy grumbled.
Okay then. It looked like this guy wasn’t up for much conversation.
I got comfortable on my seat as Rick applied the outline, and then he had the guy check it out in the mirror. It was the first good look I’d seen of the guy, and I had to admit that he was scary as fuck. He had a long beard and even longer hair that was tied into a ponytail at the base of his skull. A bandanna covered much of his head. Both of his arms were covered in ink as well as the side of his neck. When he stood next to Rick, he was several inches over Rick’s six feet four inches. Between his size and his appearance, he was one scary dude. We never questioned clientele, but I would have bet my paycheck that he was a biker and not the ride-for-fun-on-the-weekends kind of guy. This guy was the hardcore biker-gang type. There were a few of those gangs just north of us, and we saw them from time to time. They always made me nervous, but Rick didn’t seem to mind them.
“Look good?” Rick asked.
“Yeah,” Wendell said as he settled back onto the table.
It was a cool piece that would take more than one appointment to complete. It was a dragon wrapped around a sword that started at his shoulders and stopped just above his pants line.
I paid close attention as Rick dipped the tip of his gun into the black ink and started the outline. It would take a while to trace it, probably most of this appointment, if not all.
Outlines weren’t that hard to do, so I started to get bored as time passed. Wendell never once flinched as the ink went under his skin, even when it was over his spine. I didn’t have any tattoos on my back, but I knew a lot of customers would complain of discomfort when they had tattoos in that area.
It was the second-worst spot after feet.
Two and a half hours later, the outline was complete. Even without any shading or coloring, it looked amazing. I stood and walked back to the front counter to start closing up as Rick finished with the guy. As soon as he was out the door, I locked it behind him and started shutting off the lights.
“Do you know who that was?” Rick asked.
“Not a clue. Why?”
“That was one of the leaders of the gang a few towns over. He’s bad news.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
Rick gave me a mysterious smile. “I have my ways. Good night, Jesse.”