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“How long have you two known each other?”
“Long enough to mark her as mine,” he said, eyes cold.
So, long enough he shouldn’t have been trying to start something with Poppy.
I glanced at the ID again and handed it back to Sarah. “I need you to set up Max’s station and sterilize it after,” I told Aries. “I don’t want my client to wait longer than he has to.”
“Sure,” Aries said, heading for the supply closet.
“Where do you want it?” I asked.
“At the base of my neck,” she said, lifting her dirty blonde hair.
At least she didn’t want it on her tits or ass. After she signed the consent form, I led her to Max’s station. Sarah held Aries’s hand and cried the entire time I worked on her. I had to wait for her to take an absurd number of selfies in front of the mirror before she’d let me bandage her up, but all in all, I only lost about a half hour.
“Go over the after-care instructions with her,” I said, snapping off my black disposable gloves. “I’ve got to finish my sketches for my client.”
“Yeah, no problem,” he said, grabbing Sarah’s hand. “I’ll be back later to clean Max’s station.”
“Aries,” I called after him, but he didn’t stop. He snagged one of the after-care printouts from the counter and pulled Sarah through the door.
I wouldn’t have charged them, but a thank you would have been nice. Not to mention there was no way in hell I wasn’t sterilizing Max’s station since I couldn’t be sure Aries would.
After I cleaned up, I spent another fifteen minutes adding subtle white shading around Lacey’s head on one of the sketches. I had several memorial tattoos of Logan. Some obvious. Some not. I’d leave it up to Phoenix to decide which he wanted his to be.
I held out the finished sketches. I always knew I’d gotten something right when it hurt to look at it. Every memorial I did felt like a punch to the chest. It’s one of the reasons I’d gotten a reputation for doing them well. I could empathize with my clients, but that also meant reliving my own grief. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about Logan, but some days were harder than others. I could count on a nightmare or two tonight and an extra punishing workout tomorrow morning.
I grabbed my phone to let Phoenix know I was ready and found a text from Poppy.
Mind if I stay over tonight?
Wrapping myself around Poppy was a way better option than entering a grief spiral. I felt terrible for ruining our first date, but each orgasm I gave her after had boosted my damaged ego. Holding her all night and savoring her again this morning hadassured me she still wanted me, despite witnessing one of the worst panic attacks I’d ever had.
I’d love it. I’ll be done here around six. I can grab takeout on the way or schedule a delivery
Either is fine since I’m already here. I’m working on something in the studio
Anything I can see?
Definitely
What are you in the mood for tonight?
I texted Phoenix and started setting up my station while I waited for her to reply. It took a minute but then my phone chimed again and again with incoming texts.
I’m really bad at sexting
Like, embarrassingly bad
If I sexted, you’d laugh at how bad I am, and I kind of want you to think I’m perfect
I laughed and called her.
“I’m not any better at phone sex,” she said instead of hello.
“I’ve honestly never had phone sex, so I don’t know if I’m any good or not. I was wondering what you wanted for dinner.”
“Oh,” she said. “Well, now I feel like an idiot.”