Permanent Ink (Something to Celebrate #1) (8 page)

“I’d almost be glad if he did get busted.” Crystal shifted on the chair and examined her arm. “Oh, this is going to be amazing.”

“Wait until you see the color,” Ben said. The door to the studio creaked open, and he shaded his eyes from the bright swivel lamps surrounding the table, but all he could make out was a bulky shape. “Hey, welcome. Be right with you.”

“You’re not fucking up that cute girl’s arm, are you?” Grizz’s gruff words boomed through the space.

Grizz.
Shit.

A wave of adrenaline coursed through Ben. It didn’t matter that he was in his own studio, inking his own client. Grizz had been an intimidating teacher, and Ben didn’t know if he would ever get over the feeling of wanting to please him. But right now, midtattoo, was definitely not the time to give in to nerves.

Ben glanced toward his office door again. Blair stood there, a brochure in her hand and a question in her eyes. With a jerky movement, he gestured at Grizz. “I have company.”

Blair craned her neck, and when she spotted Grizz, her eyes widened for a second. “Hi, there.” She hesitated but then popped back inside the office.

Ben suppressed a chuckle and waved at Grizz.

“Hey, man.”

“Hey, son.” Grizz cleared his throat.

Ben grinned and patted Crystal’s knee. “Be right back.” He pulled off his surgical gloves, got up, and walked to the front of the room to give the older man a bear hug. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Told you I’d drive over,” Grizz responded, thumping Ben on the back. “Brought all the paperwork for Ink Fest.” He patted the front of his leather vest, which almost covered his stomach.

“Good timing, because Ink Fest got approval from the mayor yesterday.” Ben pulled out a stool next to the counter. “Make yourself comfortable.” He started to walk back to Crystal, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his mostly blank appointment book sitting next to the cash register on top of the counter.
Shit
. With a casual smile, he closed the book and stored it in a drawer.

Grizz sat down heavily and scratched at his gray moustache. “Thanks. I didn’t think you’d have trouble getting the green light, so I’ve already got some plans in the works for you.”

“Yeah? Still need to get it past the town council, but that shouldn’t be a problem.” Ben put on a fresh pair of gloves. “The color will go quickly, Crys.” He sat down, changed his setup, and dipped into a small cap of orange ink, giving her a reassuring smile.

She winked at him. “Okay, Ivy League.” The smile fell from his face and he shook his head. “Keep that on the DL,” he whispered. Crystal raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything else.

“What’s going on, Grizz?” Ben bent over Crystal’s arm and began to work on leaves, trying to ignore the fact that his teacher was watching. He also tried to ignore the worry that began to creep in on the edges of his mellow mood—Grizz never did anything half-assed and if Ink Fest was going to be his swan song, then he was probably planning something big. Something that Ben might not be able to handle.

Grizz shifted on the bar stool. “Damn. This chair is made for a butt about a quarter the size of mine.”

Ben changed colors again, this time to yellow. He began to blend it into the orange. “Then haul my office chair out. I don’t care.” He paused. “Actually, the woman in there—you ought to meet her. She’s a professional event planner, and I hired her for Ink Fest.”

“Oh yeah? You’re not fucking around then, are you?” Grizz chuckled and headed for the office.

Ben almost called out to Blair but stopped himself. He needed to play it cool. He was her…assistant. And she was his. With a grin, he turned back to Crystal, who let out a cough.

“What was all that about?” she asked in a whisper.

“Nothing. I mean, Grizz doesn’t know much about my background. He never asked, and I never offered.”

They were silent for a while as Ben worked, listening to the muffled voices from the office. Blair seemed to be asking a ton of questions, and more than one time, Grizz’s voice split the quiet with a barking laugh.

A few minutes later, Ben glanced up at the office doorway as Grizz rolled the chair out. Blair was right behind him, a tenuous smile on her face. She stopped halfway across the floor, glanced at Crystal’s tattoo.

Ben winked at her, and then she crossed her arms. Finally, she walked over to the counter and sat on the stool. “I’ll watch from here,” she announced.

Hiding a smirk, Ben nodded and motioned to Grizz, who placed the rolling chair a few feet away from the tattoo area.

“You don’t mind, darlin’, do you?” Grizz winked at Crystal.

“No prob,” she mumbled, tensing up as Ben applied another sweep of color.

“Relax. You’re doing great,” he whispered and squeezed her arm lightly. “So tell me about these big plans of yours,” he said, nodding at Grizz. “Blair needs to hear it, too.”

“Who said they were big?” Grizz laughed.

“Oh come on, man. I know you.”

“Okay, okay.” Grizz leaned back in the chair, rolling it backward. “You know Starling?”

“Never met her.” Ben dipped into the red, and began work on the last section of leaves. “She’s on the cover of
Tattoo World
this month.” He stopped the machine and looked up. “Don’t tell me you were able to get her to make an appearance.”

Grizz laughed again, the sound rusty and full of mischief. “Nope.”

“Well, why bring her up then?” Ben stared at him.

“Because Starling’s not only gonna make an appearance. She’s going to headline for us.” Grizz laced his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, a grin splitting his round face.

“Holy shit,” Ben blurted out. “I thought she only did the top national festivals.”

Grizz popped open an eye. “It’s true that she hasn’t done a smaller festival in a few years.” He coughed. “But she was the one to approach me. And when I told her that I’d turned Ink Fest over to you, I showed her some photos of your work. She’s interested in meeting you. Very interested.”

Crystal let out a short laugh. “Did Ben happen to be in any of those photos?”

“Yeah, why?” Grizz asked.

“I’m pretty sure I know why she’s interested. Ben’s totally hot.” She turned her head and looked at him. “Not that your work isn’t great.”

He gave her a small smile. “Thanks, I think.” He couldn’t resist a glance at Blair, but she appeared to be engrossed in his designs—she stared at the pictures of flash on the wall.

He wiped Crystal’s arm. Then he reached to grab a mirror from the top of a storage cabinet. “There’s a full-length mirror on the wall, but take a peek. You be the judge.” He held the mirror up and her eyes went wide, quickly followed by a crumpling of her heart-shaped face. “Oh, God,” she said. “It’s perfect. All my nerve endings are on fire, but it’s perfect. Thank you.”

He gave her a wink. “So I’m hot, huh?”

“You know you are,” she snapped out, reaching up to wipe tears away from her cheeks. “But I’m only paying for the tattoo, not the view.”

Grizz let out a loud laugh. “I like this one,” he said and then swiveled around in his chair. “Speaking of a view, Starling oughta be here by now.”

Ben froze in the middle of pulling off his gloves. “What?”

“Yeah, she went over to that diner to grab a snack. But she can’t wait to meet you.” Grizz stood up and walked to the door. “There she is. Crossing the street.”

Numbly, Ben took the roll of cash Crystal handed him and stuffed it in his pocket.

Starling…now? He wasn’t prepared for this. Starling was basically the reigning queen of the tattoo world. She was a pinup model
and
an artist. An amazing artist. He’d only seen pictures of her, but she was absolutely stunning, and she was about to walk into his studio. Not that he was interested in her in
that
way, especially not with Blair sitting ten feet away, but still…he was starstruck.

“Ben, are you listening to me?” Crystal asked.

“Huh?”

“I said, it’s beautiful.” She stood in front of the mirror on the wall, examining her arm. With a quick smile, she grabbed her purse from a side table, and took a step forward. “See ya later, Ben.”

“Wait.” He touched her shoulder. “Sit back down, Crys. I need to cover your tattoo.”

Grizz turned away from the door. “I’ll do it. You entertain the queen, son.” He lumbered across the floor and whistled when he saw Crystal’s arm. “Good work.”

Ben felt his face flush. “Thanks.” He knew that he was good, but getting praise from Grizz always made him feel like a million bucks, even though the old man sometimes annoyed the shit out of him. “You okay with that, Crys?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s cool. Don’t worry. Besides, I want to catch a glimpse of the tattoo star.”

When the door creaked open, Ben walked forward, his heart thumping as he looked at the tall, thin figure silhouetted by the blazing afternoon sun. Starling. Holy shit. She didn’t move for a minute, and he had the uncomfortable feeling that she was staring at him.

“Welcome to Skinnovations,” he said, shading his eyes. Damn, he sounded too eager. “Come on in.”

A whisky-infused laugh filled the room, and Starling glided forward, her sky-high stiletto boots making almost no sound on the concrete floor. “Ben Lambert. Nice to meet you.” She stopped in front of him and God help him, he stared at her for a moment.

She was old.

Well, not
old
, old, but a hell of a lot older than she looked in pictures. Fine lines radiated from her heavily made-up eyes, making them appear hollow. Her jet-black hair was swept up into a vicious topknot, and a dozen or so small rings hung from each ear. Tiny V-shaped tattoos covered her full lower lip and as he watched, her mouth curved into a knowing smile. He broke eye contact then.

“Nice to meet you, too,” he managed. He should say something else, shouldn’t he? Something complimentary, but not kiss-ass. He shouldn’t tell her that he had a poster of her in his office, which he did. Or say that she looked
nothing
like it, which she didn’t. “I’m…it’s a pleasure to…know that you’ll be involved in Ink Fest,” he said finally, reaching out to shake her hand.

She ignored it and walked forward, wrapping her spidery arms around his shoulders. “My pleasure,” she said in a voice that had to be courtesy of about a thousand packs of cigarettes.

He stepped back, nodding at her. “Good. Good.” He walked backward a couple of steps and leaned on the counter, his arm bumping into Blair’s hand. “Sorry,” he muttered, shifting his elbow.

“No problem.” She gave him a weird look and then glanced back up at Starling, her face completely composed. Expectant.

Ben stood up straight. “Starling, this is Blair. She’s the event planner for Ink Fest.”

“Hello,” Blair offered.

“Hi, hon.” Starling gave Blair a quick glance and then put her hands on her hips, which were mostly exposed by the leather low-rise pants she wore. A tattoo of the sun circled her pierced belly button and above that, her giant rack rose and fell under a red satin bustier.

Shit. The people who’d been in the Lovin’ Cup this afternoon would be gossiping for days. Not that Ben wasn’t proud of tattoo culture, but unleashing Starling on Celebration would be…he cleared his throat. “So what do you think of the town? Good place for a tattoo festival, huh?”

Starling gave him a slow smile. “I don’t know about that, but it’s cute. All the little old people running around in their Buicks—and the diner? Super cute, but my food was so-so.”

From the back of the shop Crystal cleared her throat. “What did you have?”

Starling walked toward her, but her eyes were on Ben. All of him. “A salad. Iceberg lettuce and some mealy tomato wedges. Dressing out of a packet. Kind of sucked, actually.”

Ben winced as Crystal shot off the tattoo chair and went eye to eye with Starling. They were about the same height, but Crystal outweighed her by a good forty pounds. And Crystal wasn’t fat, which made Starling…a stick insect. He watched them carefully as they stared each other down.

Finally Crystal spoke. “Tomatoes are out of season right now. Iceberg is what people here prefer. And if you wanted decent dressing, you should have ordered the scratch-made vinaigrette, not the fat-free crap.” She gave Starling a sharp nod and flung her crocheted purse over her shoulder, stomping forward.

She paused at the counter to give Ben a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek. Wiping lipstick away from his cheek, she regarded him with a warm smile. “Thanks again. I’ll follow Grizz’s instructions and take care of it.” She gestured toward her bandaged biceps and walked out the door.

There was silence for a moment, and then Starling whistled. “I’m assuming that was your girlfriend?”

“No.” Ben folded his arms, completely aware of Blair’s warm body mere inches behind him. “Crystal’s not my girlfriend. She owns the diner.”

“I think you fucked up, Starling.” Grizz let out a loud laugh and heaved himself up from the stool behind the tattoo chair. “And Ben don’t
have
a girlfriend.”

Ben groaned inwardly. Was Grizz trying to
pimp
him? Well, it wasn’t going to work, no matter what kind of power Starling thought she had. If Ben had a shot with Blair, there was no way he was going to screw it up, even if Ink Fest could be his big break.

“I don’t have time to help him with the no-girlfriend problem,” Starling responded. “I’m leaving tomorrow to guest in a friend’s studio in Texas. Do a couple of conventions, too. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun tonight, does it?”

Ben hesitated for a split second. “Of course not. Both you and Grizz are welcome to hang out.”

And Blair.

Damn. He opened his mouth to fix his blunder, but before he could say anything, Starling laughed.

“Niiice,” she said, drawing out the word. “I always love a good party. You’ll have to peel my ass off the floor tomorrow morning.” She walked forward and sat on the edge of the tattoo chair, crossing her long legs like skinny pretzels.

Blair let out a little cough, and Ben turned his back to the counter, casually resting his elbows on the surface. He glanced at her, but she was looking out the front window, her expression blank.