I reached back to undo the zipper of my dress when Adam came up behind me and pulled the zipper down his fingers lingering briefly on my skin and I shivered. I let the bodice drop to my waist and did as instructed. I sat in probably the most uncomfortable chair ever as she took cold alcohol wipes to my back.
“Alright Dawn. This is going to hurt a little at first but it should numb out after the first few minutes.” I felt a chill run up my spine.
Weren’t they supposed to put a stencil on my back before beginning?
“You going to free hand?” Adam asked, I could hear the worry in his voice.
“Yeah, I never stencil it’s like a gift I guess.” She laughed melodically and put the needle to my skin.
“One demon and one angel wing.” I said clenching my teeth together.
“That is what I figured.” She laughed. “I saw you notice the ones on my wrists. I take it you have a thing for Celestial power.”
I clenched when I felt the needle hit my skin. She was right though after a few moments the pain numbed away.
“Rose!” A guy called through the curtain.
“Yeah Mike.” The girl said turning off the needle of doom.
“You got a phone call.” He peaked around the corner and smiled at me. I reached up and wrapped my arms around my chest.
“Tell them I will have to call them back. I’m with a customer.” She groaned.
“Alright but you know in twenty minutes he’s just going to call again.” The man she called Mike closed the curtain and she turned on the machine again and picked up where she left off.
Rose. Her name was Rose. So pretty but not fitting for a Water Warden. I had to make sure to keep her name in the front of my memory. With all the beings that I had met here recently I had an issue keeping track of who was who.
I am not sure how long I sat in that chair staring ahead of me as she worked silently on my back. When she turned off the machine I thought that she was just taking a break. Maybe her hand had cramped up and she needed to take a second to let it breath. Or maybe she messed up and my back looked like a canvas of kindergarten doodles.
“That looks awesome.” Adam gasped walking to my right and looking at her work. “You have amazing technique I love the halo and horn you put on there.”
She laughed at his compliment and put some gauze of it and taped it off. “Wash your hair in the sink or under the faucet do not get this wet for any reason at least for a few days. If it starts to itch you can have your handsome friend here put some lotion on it.” Did she just call him handsome? I was going to kick Nick for having this great, awesome idea of his. First Helen and now Rose!
“Yeah, I had to do that with mine.” He laughed. I could tell it was forced but in a way I think he enjoyed this conversation.
“Who did yours?” She asked as I pulled my dress back up and waited for someone to help me with the zipper.
“His name is Tony he does work up in Midvale.” I was still waiting and slowly getting more and more impatient.
“Tony Mendez?” She asked. Again still waiting! I cleared my throat.
“Oh shit, sorry Dawn.” Adam said pulling the zipper of my dress up and returning to his conversation with Rose. “Yeah. You know him?”
“I worked with him when he owned a parlor in Phoenix a few years back. Great guy does awesome art.” I was officially invisible. “Can I see what he did for you?”
“Yeah.” I turned and watched Adam roll up the sleeve of his shirt revealing the beautiful flaming broadsword.
“Oh yeah, that’s Tony’s work. That is just beautiful. Why the hell would you seek me out if you have that?” She laughed.
“Well we aren’t exactly in Midvale. Besides I heard your work was stellar. Judging by the awesomeness of Dawn’s tattoo I would say that I was told correctly.” He was flirting! What the hell was happening?
“So what can I do?” She was flirting back. Great now I was going to have to fight the constant jealousy again. I had just had the realization that was how I felt towards Helen.
“I actually have a rather large project. It may take several days to do.” He said softly.
“I have several days of openings.” I watched her eyes soften and her pupil dilate. She was totally into him.
“I want all four elements on my back. Earth, wind, fire and water; but I want them connected somehow.” Adam was turning on the charm, something I had never seen him do before.
“Take off your shirt let me see what I have to work with. What I might do is take a couple of pictures and come up with some sketches for you. You can come in tomorrow and we can choose something that you like.” She looked at me and smiled. “Where did you find this boy?”
“Choir.” I said dryly as Adam reached the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head.
Ok so I hadn’t noticed any changes in his face but there was a definite change in his body. His abs were more defined his biceps appeared larger and he had more muscle tone than the last night that we had spent together. I had to choke back my shock and I put my fingers to my lips to control the amount of drool that was falling out.
“You don’t look like a choir boy.” Her eyes were wide as she had him turn around. I watched her size him up, her eyes lingering on his ass her eyebrows raising and she smiled. OH JESUS! I was going to die right here in this tattoo parlor. “Yeah we have more than enough room to work with here.” She reached up and touched right between his shoulder blades. I could do a good six to seven inches in height if you want. Let me get my camera and I will snap a few shots. She left the area.
“Seriously.” I said my eyes widening. It had been hard maintain no reaction to his body changes. I still felt that it was written all over my face.
“What?” He asked shrugging.
“This.” I pointed at his chest. “This is well this is different.”
“So what you are saying is Heaven does the body good.” He joked blowing me a kiss.
“Most def.” I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. However I had to when I heard her coming back to the space.
“Alright stand facing the curtain and give me like two minutes to get my shots.” Adam did as told there were a few clicks and she was done. “You can put your shirt back on now.” I know she didn’t want him to. Her voice may have said one thing but her eyes said something totally different.
“You have a bathroom I can use?” He smiled at her.
“Yeah it’s just around the corner.” She put the camera down and looked back at me.
Adam left the curtained space leaving me and Rose alone.
“Thank you.” I said trying to sound appreciative. In a way I was the girl gave me wings!
“I should be thanking you. That is one hell of a man you brought in here.” She said waving her hand in front of her face. “They don’t grow that in the cities around here.”
“He’s a good guy.” I tried to sound uninterested but inside I was harboring images of ripping her pretty pierced face off its skull.
“Is he single?” She was rubbing hand sanitizer from her fingers to her elbows.
“As single as they come.” I tried not to sound venomous. I had to sound casual. We had just recently decided that we were casually dating. I already knew what that entailed.
“If I give him my number do you think he will call?” She was just making casual conversation with me.
“Yeah. I can almost guarantee that he will.” I forced a beaming smile.
“Great.” She sang. I wanted to punch her but I couldn’t everything was going as planned. If she felt anything in my presence she wasn’t letting me know.
When Adam returned she did just as she said, she walked up to him and touched him on the arm asking if he had his phone on him. She used the excuse that she was giving him her number so he could call about the tattoo. Of course throwing in that he could actually ca
ll her anytime and maybe they could go out and have drinks or something. Little did she know that he was only eighteen which made me laugh. We said our farewells to Rose. I thanked her again for the fresh ink.
“If you want anything else you know where to find me. You have the ideal skin for this. I think that tattoo is going to look amazing.” She gave me a hug making sure not to touch the tender spots and we were off.
“You could have been a little less obvious.” I groaned when the summer air hit us.
“What you jealous or something?” He teased as we crossed the street and walked down Commerce towards our apartment.
“A little.” I sighed. I hated sounding defeated, in this case though I felt like my heart was going to come out my throat.
“That’s cute.” He said softly.
“How is that cute?” I demanded feeling a tinge of anger.
“It’s how I felt when I saw you and Aaron together.” We were far enough away from the tattoo parlor that he reached over and took my hand in his. “With Wesley it was different. I knew you loved him, it was all over your face. I couldn’t be jealous of that. Aaron just wasn’t fitting for you. So imagine my relief when you told me that it was just a Claim.”
“I didn’t know Adam.” I squeezed his hand. The night felt amazing on my skin. Even though my back was tender for the most part it felt wonderful.
“How could you know? I pretty much kept it to myself till prom.” We crossed Commerce and headed down Ervay.
“You hungry?” My stomach had started to rumble as soon as we left the parlor.
“I could eat. What you thinking?” He looked around at the shops along the walk.
“I was thinking we could order a pizza or something. Being in Harrisville the one thing that I missed was pizza.” I swooned at the sound of a piping hot cheese pizza.
“That sounds like a plan.” I heard his stomach growl and we both laughed.