Peek turned to her and gave her a leering grin. “Would you like to?”
Rolling my eyes, I moved until my arm was around Nikki’s neck. “She’s spoken for, big guy. And I’m fond of Nikki’s eyes,” I said looking pointedly at an innocent looking Alison who had the grace to look chagrined.
A few months ago, Peek had been working on a client, a young female who was getting one of the most-hated-by-Peek tattoo’s ever, a butterfly, when the young client had grabbed Peek’s crotch.
Alison, having witnessed the incident, flipped. Then threw the girl and her half-finished butterfly out the front door.
I’d been the one to take the call when the girl had called to report the apparent ‘assault,’ which were actually just a few scratches on her face.
“I can’t help that that girl was a dumbass who thought it was appropriate to grab a man’s, a married man’s, crotch,” Alison said stubbornly, before tossing a glare in her husband’s direction.
“I can’t help that me package is irresistible!” Peek said in his Irish brogue.
Nikki laughed, covering her mouth to contain her giggles before turning laughing eyes on me.
“You ready to get that tattoo done, Owl?” I asked softly, ignoring the two bickering people to our sides.
She nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s time.”
Chapter 6
If she even looks at me I’ll fuck her face up…with my killer glare, and hellacious cold shoulder.
-Nikki to Lennox
Nikki
“Hello?” I answered my phone. I sounded tired.
I’d literally been in bed for less than four hours, tops, and I was dying to go back to sleep.
“Nikki?” Lennox whispered softly. “Where are you?”
My eyes blinked open tiredly, and I rolled over to look at the clock.
“In bed,” I moaned. “Why?”
“Uhh, because you were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. You told me you switched with Damon, and neither you or Damon is here, and Joslin’s on a fuckin’ rampage,” Lennox said hurriedly. “She’s telling everyone she can that you’re not here yet. I’ve been stalling, but you need to hurry!”
“Crap,” I whispered, jolting up out of bed. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Pulling a brush through my hair as I went to the bathroom, I hurriedly pulled on clothes and rushed through my morning routine that would normally take forty five minutes, condensing it down into five.
Which meant my hair was curly instead of straight like I usually styled it.
It meant that my makeup was non-existent and my clothes were wrinkled because I’d had to pull them out of a pile of clothes on the foot of my bed that my cat loved to knock down when she could. And it also meant that I was wearing the wrong colored tennis shoes, because I couldn’t find my work pair.
I was sure I’d get reprimanded for it, but if I’d known ahead of time that I’d get written up for it and nearly lose my job, I would’ve called in sick.
My phone rang again, and I nearly panicked.
I was religiously late.
To everything.
Birthdays, work, parties, dates.
If it had a possibility for me to be late, I was late.
Luckily, it was just my sister, Noel.
“Nik-Nik, can I borrow your car? I have to have the brakes fixed on mine, and I need to drive to Tyler for school,” Noel said pleadingly.
I rolled my eyes. “As long as you fill it back up with gas, and bring it back in time for me to drive home from work later.”
“Deal,” she said. “I’ll come get it from your work in about ten minutes.”
I closed the front door to my apartment behind me and started to hurry down the hall to the stairs. “Make it fifteen. I’m running late.”
She laughed. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“Watch it,” I teased. “See you later. Be careful today.”
With that, I hung up and started to run down the stairs.
I was going to be later than I’d said.