Saving jay, p.3
Saving Jay, page 3
part #3 of Breaking Free Series
“You hungry?” I asked my client, Alex, as I wiped the spot on his arm I’d been working on. “I’ll buy.”
“Well, if you’re buying, I’ll take a chicken burrito.”
“Dustin!”
Dustin appeared at the door with cash in one hand and a list in the other.
“Alex here would like a chicken burrito, and I’d like crunchy chicken tacos, please,” I said with an exaggerated smile.
“You got it, boss.” He winked at me before pulling a pen out from behind his ear and adding our orders to his list. “You want drinks?”
“No, I’m good.”
We both looked at Alex, and he shrugged. “Sure, I’ll take a Coke.”
“Coke it is.”
Dustin left, and I pressed my foot onto the pedal beneath me, bringing my needles to life. I dipped them in more red ink. I worked in silence for a while as Alex’s eyes roamed the room around us.
“I saw you on David Bryson’s show last week,” he told me.
I began filling in another rose. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. You were doing that Catwoman piece on some chick’s leg.”
“Ah, yeah, I remember.”
“That shit was sick.”
I paused and backed away from his arm to wipe the excess ink and some blood. “Thanks,” I muttered distractedly as I examined my work.
“So, what made you leave Boston?”
I shrugged before getting more ink. “Just looking for a change, I guess. Ready to have my own shop.”
“Right on. Right on.”
Alex was watching me as I continued shading in the last rose, and I knew what was coming.
“Does your boyfriend live here or something?”
And there it is.
Pausing, I grabbed some green soap and another paper towel to wipe his arm before looking at him. “Nope. No boyfriend.”
I could see the twinkle in his eyes as my answer registered, and I wanted to groan.
“How could a woman as beautiful and talented as you be single?”
I let my arms fall onto my lap, careful to keep my gloved hands and the tattoo machine from touching my legs, and I dropped my head to laugh. I couldn’t help it. I’d heard those exact words so many times that it was a joke.
Why can’t guys be more original?
“What’s so funny?”
I held up my free hand and shook my head. I had a problem with filtering my thoughts, and I had to be careful with my clients. The last thing I wanted to do was offend him. “Nothing. Nothing. I’ve just heard that before,” I said as I resumed my work.
“Well, it’s true.”
Just as I prepared to let Alex down easy, Dustin appeared in the door. “Chipotle, bitches!”
Oh, thank God.
Jay
Later that night, I sat in my home office with Jade’s business card in my hand. I held it between two fingers as I tapped the edge of it against the polished wood of my desk. I’d just finished checking out her website, and I was surprised by what I’d found.
She wasn’t only an amazing artist. She was also well known all over the country. She’d apprenticed with David Bryson, a famous tattoo artist in Boston. He even had his own reality show on MTV.
I had no doubt that she could give me the tattoo that I wanted. I decided to give her a call and make an appointment. Looking at the number on her card, I dialed it on my phone and pressed Send.
A man answered, “Expressions.”
“Hi. I came in earlier today, and I was hoping to speak with Jade. Is she available?”
“Who is this?”
“Jay…Jason,” I said, trying to avoid any confusion.
I heard some movement, and then the man’s muffled voice was shouting in the background.
A few seconds later, Jade was on the phone. “So, the website convinced you, didn’t it?”
I grinned as I tapped her business card on my desk again. Her voice was incredibly sexy.
“Yes, it did. I didn’t realize I was in the presence of a celebrity this morning.” I heard her laugh, and my grin widened as I leaned back in my chair. “I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“I’ll let it slide this time. It was actually refreshing to be treated like a lowly human again. I almost forgot what that felt like,” she said with obvious humor in her tone.
I could definitely relate.
“So, I’d like to make an appointment, if you’re still available.” I licked my bottom lip as I anticipated her response.
I could feel myself growing aroused with each second of silence that passed between us.
She cleared her throat before answering, “Could you come in tomorrow, so we can go over your idea? Since it’s a back piece, I’ll need some time to get the sketch done, and I’ll need to see your back, so I know what I’m working with.”
“When should I come in?”
“Hmm…” she hummed into the phone.
I felt my body responding to the sound.
“How about ten tomorrow morning?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Okay. See you then.”
I could almost picture her smile as I ended the call. I hadn’t expected that a simple phone call could turn me on so much, but I felt myself getting hard from just thinking about the way Jade had looked this morning. The sound of her humming echoed in my mind as I imagined exploring her tattooed body while her hazel eyes watched me. I wasn’t sure what it was that had me so captivated, but I knew I wanted more.
The following morning, I woke up to the deafening silence in my apartment. It was Saturday, and I checked my clock to see it was six a.m.
I rarely slept in anymore. I found that time spent in my bed only reminded me of how alone I was. I supposed that was why I would keep myself so busy. It was easier than facing the fact that I had no one to share my life with. Besides the few friends I had from college and work, I typically stayed to myself. I was now hesitant to trust anyone after years of being betrayed or used by the people I’d called friends. It was easier to keep everyone at arm’s length.
Moving to sit on the edge of my bed, my bare feet hit the cold marble floor, and I sighed as I tried to cleanse my insides of the lingering disappointment. Dwelling on the things I didn’t have never helped do anything but drag me down further.
Getting up, I made my way into my empty kitchen and fixed myself a single cup of coffee. Hitting the switch to my blinds, I held my steaming mug as I watched them slowly reveal the world outside of my floor-to-ceiling windows. The sun reflected off of the glass and polished wood that made up my home.
Besides the few papers I’d left on the dining room table, everything was spotless and in its place. I paid someone to keep it that way just as I paid someone to keep my refrigerator stocked, my suits pressed, and all my possessions in mint condition. It was too bad the things I really wanted could never be bought.
Leaning against my kitchen counter, I stared at nothing as I thought about my appointment with Jade and the tattoo I envisioned getting on my back. It wouldn’t take long for her to figure out the meaning behind it and start asking questions. That was what would happen when you got a tattoo. People would ask what it meant, why you’d gotten it, and if it’d hurt. Tattoos always brought questions, and deep down, I thought I wanted to expose myself and my weakness.
Going to the fridge, I found a bottle of the green juice my personal chef had made for breakfast. I drank it before heading back into my room to put shorts on for my workout.
Exercise was my best stress relief—aside from sex. I’d run until I lost myself in the sound of my breaths and the pounding of my feet against the treadmill. It was in those moments that my mind would fall silent, and all the tension would leave my body. Then, I’d play fast music in the gym’s surround sound and use my anger to lift weights. Grunting and growling, I’d push my muscles and my mind to its limits. By the time I was done, I’d finally feel ready to tackle another day.
After my workout, I showered and got dressed in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a Quiksilver hoodie. Then, I got into my truck and drove to the nearest Dunkin’ Doughnuts. I bought all the muffins, doughnuts, and bagels they had on display, and I had one of the teenage boys working behind the counter help me load them into my truck.
I felt lighter already as I drove toward the homeless shelter, the smell of sweet doughnuts lingering in the air.
I had about an hour before my appointment with Jade, so I spent it talking to people at the shelter, accepting their smiles and handshakes, as I passed out the sweets I’d brought with me. Seeing people who had nothing smile and laugh as they ate their sticky doughnuts made me realize some of their lives were richer than mine.
I parked my truck next to the bright blue Camaro I assumed was Jade’s, and I noticed the same Closed sign hanging in the shop’s door again. I recalled our short conversation from the night before and grinned to myself as I got out. I made my way toward the shop, and I was met by Jade’s beautiful face on the other side of the glass.
She turned the lock. “Morning, handsome,” she greeted me as she pushed the door open.
I smirked as I walked inside, and my eyes scanned the artwork on the walls. “Good morning.”
“Can I get you some coffee?” she asked as she breezed past me and started heading down the hall toward the back.
“No, thanks.”
She was wearing a colorful sundress that was tight on the top but hung lose at her waist before flowing down to her ankles. It was cold outside, but she looked like she was dressed for summer. My eyes were fixed on the large angel tattoo on her back until she was out of sight. I distracted myself with the portfolios sitting on one of the tables in the lobby as I waited for her to return.
“You’re not one of those morning people who doesn’t need coffee, are you?” she asked as she came walking back into the room with a large mug in her hand.
I chuckled and followed her to a table in the corner of the room. “No, I’ve just had my coffee already.”
“Are you sure? Because you look wide-awake, and I feel like a fucking zombie right now. I can’t handle morning people. I seriously think something is genetically wrong with them,” she rambled as she searched through the stuff on the table in front of her.
I took the seat across from her and rested my forearms on the table. “Maybe you just haven’t met the right one yet.”
Jade’s hands stopped shuffling through the papers, and her hazel eyes came to mine. A smirk slowly crept over her glossy pink lips.
“Maybe,” she said before her hands resumed their pursuit of something in the pile of papers in front of her.
I let my eyes roam over the tattoos on her arms, looking for clues to the person they decorated. I noticed flowers and a portrait of a woman on her left arm.
“Aha! I knew I had a blank sheet in here somewhere.”
She walked over to the desk that I assumed was for her shop manager, and she grabbed a pencil.
“So, Jay”—she looked at me and grinned—“what would you like your back piece to be?”
I glanced at the table for a second, deciding exactly how I wanted to explain it to her, before I replied, “I want a self-portrait.”
I waited for her reaction. She looked curious as she came back to sit across from me at the table.
“I don’t necessarily want it to look like me. I just want it to represent me.”
“Okay,” she said, tapping the end of her pencil against the tabletop, as her eyes studied mine. “And how would you like to be represented?”
“I want a man dressed in a suit, sitting on a throne. I want his left side shrouded in darkness with a devil behind his left shoulder along with dark angels, skulls, or whatever you think could represent darkness, evil, and…greed. Then, on the right, I want beautiful things—an angel, doves, things that represent peace and—”
“Love,” she said, finishing my thought.
I paused and held her gaze before responding, “Yes, and love.”
Eyes moving over the blank sheet of paper, Jade seemed to lose herself in her thoughts before she stood up and said, “Let me see your back.”
Not wanting to disrupt her creative process, I stood up and reached behind me to lift my hoodie and T-shirt up and over my head. Turning around, I showed Jade my bare back, and when I heard a low whistle escape her lips, I turned to peer over my shoulder. She was standing behind me, her eyes taking me in.
“Jesus, man, your body is fucking perfection.”
I laughed at her blatant response. This woman obviously had no filter between her brain and her mouth. Either that, or she just preferred not to use it.
“Sorry. That was inappropriate. I should probably warn you that I sometimes have verbal diarrhea. Shit just comes pouring out.”
I cringed but couldn’t help chuckling as I faced the wall in front of me and shook my head.
“Okay, so you want your entire back covered, right? From here”—her finger traced an invisible line along my shoulders, and I could feel the hair on my skin rise—“to here.” She did the same against my lower back where the waistband of my jeans was resting.
She smelled delicious, like coffee and caramel. I could tell she hadn’t meant for her touch to be seductive, but that didn’t stop it from doing so. The sexual tension in the air seemed to double in those few seconds when our skin made contact.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…” she hummed again like she had on the phone last night.
I closed my eyes, willing my body not to react this time. I heard her moving around behind me, and I watched over my shoulder as she approached with a larger sheet of paper in her hands.
“I’m just going to measure this out, so I know how much space I have.” She pressed the sheet of thin paper against me and began tracing the edges of my back onto it.
When she was done, she took the paper back to the table and began drawing things on it. By the time I put my shirt and hoodie back on and stopped to stand next to her, she already had the outline of a throne sketched in the middle of the paper.
“So, I’m thinking the throne will be right about here.”
She added the silhouette of a man sitting on the throne and then began sketching things around it—roses, skulls, and birds. I stood there in awe as I watched her bring my idea to life in a span of minutes. She was incredibly talented, and I couldn’t wait to see what it would look like when she was done. I stood there, watching over her shoulder, as she seemed lost in her own world.
A few minutes later, she had the majority of the paper covered with outlines of my idea.
“So, what do you think?” She straightened her back, and her eyes scanned her work.
“Wow.” I couldn’t say much more. I was beyond impressed with her level of talent.
Jade looked up at me and smiled. Turning back toward at her drawing again, she asked, “Can I be honest?”
“Please.”
“I don’t like it.”
My eyebrows drew together.
“I think we should put you in a room. Maybe have the walls made of stone, so it looks like a castle. That way, it’s not like the throne is just floating in the middle of your back.” Jade began making darker lines over her original drawing. “I could put a window here,” she said, pointing to the upper left corner of the paper. “I could create a dramatic light coming through the window to darken the other half of your face and make it look real.”
She paused to glance at me for a reaction, and I nodded.
“Everything in the light could be shiny and new. I could put an angel here, next to the throne. And in the shadows, I could make everything old, decaying, and rusted. Then, the devil or dark angel could be behind your shoulder. What do you think?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to envision it.
“If you don’t like it, please tell me. This is your tattoo, so you have to love it.”
“No, no. I like it. I think it’ll look a lot better that way. I’ve seen your work, and I trust your advice.”
She gave me a bright smile, and I couldn’t help but give one back.
“What about a crown?” she asked as she studied her sketch.
“Huh?”
“A crown,” she said, meeting my gaze again. “Shouldn’t you have a crown on your head? Or at least have one somewhere in the picture?”
Tearing my eyes from hers, I looked at her drawing and pointed to one of the posts on the back of the throne. “How about hanging there?”
“On the dark side?” she asked since I’d pointed to the post on the right.
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
We stood there silently for a few seconds, looking at what she’d created.
“Well, I’m really excited about this. I think it’s going to be one of my best pieces.”
I looked down and noticed she was watching me. “I hope so.”
Jade studied my eyes with her own before she seemed to snap out of her daze. “Oh, I guess I should tell you what it’ll cost,” she said as she made her way back toward the desk. “I charge a hundred and fifty dollars an hour, and this will take at least twenty-five or thirty hours. We could do two- or three-hour sessions, depending on how much money you want to spend. I could go longer than that, if you’re up for it. I’ve gone as long as six hours with clients before.” She paused to look at a calendar on the desk. “I could get you in on May fifteenth. Are you available then?” she asked, peering up at me.
I nodded. “I’ll make sure I am.”
Smirking, she wrote my appointment down on the calendar. “Okay, well, I require a down payment to secure your appointment. It’ll be one fifty, and I’ll take it out of your total cost once the tattoo is finished.”
Before she could look up at me again, I had my black Amex card out of my wallet and extended out to her.
“Oh. Okay, great.”
My eyes lingered on the curves of her breasts as she punched a few buttons on the card reader and slid it through.
Taking a second to glance at the card, she smiled and said, “Your signature, please, Mr. Clarke.”
