Mitch walked over to me with a shit-eating grin on his face while I sat staring at my forearm as the ink bled out a bit and rolled onto the table.
“That is one badass piece. It matches mine.” He pulled up his shirt to show me his chiseled chest, which was decorated with one of the most gorgeous pieces I had ever seen, a complete shrine to his love for the work we did. “Doing anything after this?” His low, raspy voice sent shudders down my spine; it had been too long since I’d felt something like that.
I shrugged. “No one is really doing anything from what I know of. I was thinking of heading home, ordering a pizza, and nursing this bad boy. I have a shift in the morning.”
Mitch nodded. “Well, I’m new to town and don’t report to my station until early afternoon. Want to show me around a bit? Maybe grab a quick drink?”
Larry wiped off my arm and winked at me subtly. He knew how long it had been since Joshua had cheated on me and knocked the bitch up; those scars had run deep for a while, but I was finally coming out of my fog.
“Yeah, sure, why the heck not?”
Mitch sat down in the chair next to Larry. “Awesome. You want to head home and take care of that then you can text me when you’re ready? Just let me know where to meet you.”
How is it this easy?
“Okay. Sounds good.”
Larry wrapped plastic around my arm. “You know the drill, Bryn. When you get home, wash, ice, lotion.”
“Yup.” I hopped off the table, grabbing Mitch’s phone right out of his hand.
If he gets to be forward, so do I.
I typed in my number and shot myself a winky face emoji in a text.
“I’ll text you in a bit,” I said while watching the message send.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
I handed Mitch back his phone, hugged Larry, and was on my way home to deal with the burning, angry skin that had just been beautifully inked.