“Yeah, it’s all good. Someone has to stay awake while this dickhead catches some zees.”
I nodded, waving my thanks as I turned to walk away but then I turned back.
“Wait. Has-Been, you said?” He nodded, quirking a brow at me.
“You’re the other artist, like Rocket, right? You do club tattoos and stuff?”
He grinned, shoving his phone in his pocket.
“You’ve been doing your homework, love. That’s me. I heard you’re pretty good yourself.”
I chewed on my lip, finally settling into the seat beside him, because now we were talking, I felt like I wanted to keep going.
“I haven’t for a few years, but I wanted to get back into it. Henley’s set me up with a sweet art area at his house, brand new airbrush kit, and everything. I’m just… I need to work out where to start, you know? Have to remember how to do everything.”
He nodded slowly, glancing at the guy beside him again, as he carefully angled a little toward me.
“It’s like riding a… well…ride,” he laughed, his blue eyes twinkling at me, “maybe the best way would be to learn the kit first, before you try making actual art with it. It’s all about needlethicknesses, the pressure levels you use, and distance from the page. Oh… but don’t let that stop you drawing. Get back to that in between. Take a pencil and paper with you, sit down and sketch. It’ll come flooding back. You looking to get into inking too? We’d love an extra person helping with that. I dare say you’d be the instant choice for future old lady ink too.”
Whoa. Talk about pressure.
“I mean, I don’t know if I’m any good, so baby steps, I guess.”
He chuckled, leaning his head against the wall, settling in for the long haul, so I did the same. He was easy to talk to, and it meant Henley could have more room on his bed for his rest.
“I’m sure your man would let you practice on him.”
“He did offer, actually. I just don’t know if it’s a good idea. What if I mess it up?”
Has-Been chuckled, and the guy behind him snorted, and jerked in his chair.
“Wha? I’m… I’m awake.”
Oh. It was Rocket. I hadn’t recognised him with his head down, but now he was peering blearily at me it was clear. I waved lamely and he nodded.
“Our man okay in there?”
I nodded, and he settled back in his seat.
“So why’d you fucking wake me, man?”
He was snoring again in seconds, and we went back to our conversation.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Two days it tookfor me to get home from the hospital, and Glory never left my side. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. They didn’t want her to stay, but fuck me, it was everything to me that she steadfastly refused to go.
She helped me into the living room, not that I really needed it, but I liked having her holding me like that. Did that make me a dickhead? I wasn’t sure, but she was taking such good care of me, and it was things like that that really showed me her love. Sure, we’d only had sex once, but it was okay, because what we had was deeper than sex. It was deeper than love. It was pure connection, on a soul-deep level.
“I’ll make a cuppa, then we can watch something? Or do you need to sleep some more?”
I groaned, trying to straighten the pillow behind my back, and realising movement hurt enough that I probably did need her help after all. She leaned forward and rearranged it, while I stared straight at her beautiful breasts, since they were close enough to kiss, or nibble. I pressed my face against them, andshe burst out laughing, slapping the back of my head as she moved.
“Typical. Playing on my emotions just to get a chance to touch my boobs. Men!”
I grinned at her, loving her playfulness, something that had been slowly returning since she came home to me.
“Have you seen them? They’re pretty epic boobs. Want me to stick my face between them? I’ve never motorboated them before.”