This was a bad idea.
I knew it as soon as I zipped up my bag.
Apparently, it was a yearly thing. A tattoo convention in South Carolina that Forbidden Ink attended every year, and this year, I was a part of the shop.
Brandon put my bag in the back of his SUV as Staci piled into the back seat with a pillow and a blanket.
“Are you sure there’s enough room?” I asked Brandon for the third time. “I don’t care to drive.”
“You’re riding with us, Liv. Get over it.” He tugged on my side braid before climbing into the passenger’s seat.
I blew out a deep breath as I watched Parker kissing Emily goodbye. She clung to him like she was desperate for him not to go, and although I could sympathize with the feeling, I had the urge to grab her by her hair and pull her off him.
When Parker climbed into the driver’s seat, I tried my hardest to avoid his eyes. We had become civil over the last week, but I couldn’t stand to look at him after he had just been with her. I knew how irrational that was. He was hers. He was about to marry her. I told myself and my heart that we had no business caring about him, no business wanting him, but neither of us listened.
“Girls get to pick the music,” Staci yelled before jumping in between the front seats to grab Parker’s phone that was already connected.
“Not happening.” Parker tried to grab his phone from her, but she was too quick.
I laughed as Staci flipped him off before she started scrolling through his phone.
“Holy shit.” Staci’s voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it before one of my favorite songs from high school started playing through the speakers.
“Damn it, Staci.” Parker grabbed his phone out of her hands, and she let him. But not before I saw it. Before I saw the words across the screen.
Livy’s Playlist.
My eyes met his in the rearview mirror, the look on his face crushing me, but he quickly looked away. He stopped the song before it even got to the good part and a song I didn’t even recognize started blaring through the car.
As Parker pulled out onto the highway, Staci nudged my arm.
“Holy shit,” she mouthed to me.
I couldn’t take it. The urge to ask Parker what the hell that was about, to ask him what he sees in her. But none of it was fair. Not to him or to me. So, instead of torturing either of us, I buried my face in my pillow and prayed that I could sleep for most of the drive.
“You’re an idiot,” I could hear Brandon’s voice, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
“Fuck you too.” Parker sounded irritated.
I turned my head out of my pillow to look at them. Staci was passed out with her head in my lap, and Brandon looked serious.
He was about to open his mouth to say something else, but then his gaze caught me and he stopped.
“Hey, Liv.”
“Hey.” I stretched my arms over my head. “Where are we?”
I looked out my window, but the rows of trees that passed us by weren’t much help. I rolled down my window a bit, and I could smell salt water in the air.
“We’re almost there,” Parker said while watching me in his mirror. “We’ve got about ten more minutes.”
When we pulled up to the hotel, I poked Staci in her boobs to wake her up. When it didn’t work, I poked her again.
She scared the shit out of me when she snatched my finger without even opening an eye. “Don’t start something you aren’t willing to finish, Liv.”
She popped her eyes open and grinned at me.
“All I did was poke your boob. Are you that hard up?” I laughed.
“The opposite actually, but you should know how easy it is to get turned on with these nipple piercings.” She held her hands over her boobs. She was right, I did know.
“Just put a sock on the door this weekend if you can’t handle it anymore.” I nudged her, and she finally sat up.
“What are you two looking at?” She looked from Brandon to Parker and so did I.
“If you need help this weekend, I’m willing.” Brandon gave Staci what would normally be a panty-dropping smile, but she only rolled her eyes.
“You got your nipples pierced?” This question was pointed at me, and I wasn’t sure what to do other than blush.
“Yes. Staci did it.”
Staci put her hand in the air, and I high fived her.
“Fuck.” Parker ran his hand through his hair, and Brandon laughed.
As Parker climbed out of the car, Brandon turned toward us with a giant smile on his face. “This is going to be one interesting weekend.”
We weren’t in our room for five minutes before Staci was yelling at me to get my ass off my bed and start getting ready.
Apparently there was a meet and greet in the hotel bar for all the tattoo artists and the people who work in their shop. I didn’t want to go. All I wanted to do was bury myself in the soft white sheets, but Staci was persistent to put it nicely. She actually dragged my ass out of the bed by my feet and threatened to undress me if I didn’t get in the shower.
When I got dressed in a pair of black trousers and a white top, Staci was horrified.
“This is a tattoo convention, not a nun convention.” She shook her head.
“I was trying to dress professionally since I am representing the shop.”
“No one wants a tattoo from someone who’s scared to show a little skin. Weren’t you a stripper in your past life?”
I rolled my eyes at her but pulled my shirt over my head. I dug deep into my suitcase and pulled out the dress that I hadn’t planned on wearing. I packed it as my safety net. You know, in case I met the man of my dreams this weekend, and he wanted to take me on a date. Now if that happened, I’d have to go shopping.
So here I stood in a cherry red mini dress that flowed out at my hips and had a dangerously low neckline. Staci was dressed similarly in a black dress that was simple and showcased the whirl of colors that marked her skin.
Actually, that was what made me stand out the most. My lack of tattoos. I ran my hand over my ribs and remembered the day Parker gave me mine. I could remember the feel of his hands working on my skin. I memorized the small scowl he had when he was concentrating. But mostly, I remember the ink that he marked my body with. Every line perfect, every color bleeding into my skin like it was meant to be there.
Staci locked her arm in mine and pulled me through the room with her. The place was packed. There were loads of women. Some were the most gorgeous I had ever seen, and there were some that had clearly spent their years living life to the fullest. Then there were the men. Some were scary looking with large beards and even bigger beer bellies, and some, hell, some were making me thank Staci for not coming down here dressed like a hermit.