Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“How’s it going, Rose?” It’s my manager, Brittany. She used to work this front desk position not that long ago, and now she’s an assistant manager. Maybe it’s because she’s been in my shoes that she’s a very understanding boss, though I’ve seen her get tough when she needs to, on rare occasions.
Club Red is a great place to work so long as you don’t mind horny women, and I don’t—especially since I’ve been in that category myself since meeting the Brothers in Ink.
“Everything’s good,” I tell Brittany, giving her a big smile.
“Glad to hear it.”
A few minutes after she passes through, Callie, one of the cocktail waitresses, comes out from the showroom.
“Everything okay?” I ask when she slumps over my counter, resting her head on her folded arms.
Callie lets out a huff. “Yeah, fine. It’s just a rowdy crowd in there tonight, and I needed to come out and catch my breath.”
I give a little laugh at the image her words conjure.
“Can’t say I blame them, though,” she says. “The men are putting some extra spice in their moves tonight. I nearly dropped my tray of drinks twice already!”
“Really?”
“Whew—yes!” She mimics wiping sweat from her brow and then swivels her hips in imitation of the dancers’ moves. “It’s too bad you’re stuck out here and can’t watch them.”
I saw the full show once, and I have peeked in a few times when the lobby was empty. As I recall my reaction to the revue dancers, who are objectively very attractive, I realize that my body didn’t respond with anything close to the sensations it’s been producing when I’m around the tattoo artists.
“I’d better get back out there,” Callie says. “Those poor horned-up women need their cocktails.”
“See you later.” I watch her go, and realize that my yearnings are about as hopeless as those of the women in the audience here. Most of them will never have any actual interaction with the dancers who are performing for them, and I have no business lusting after men who are so much older than me, and so very wrong for me.
6
ZIPPER
“You gonna keep that coffee girl coming here every day?”
“The caffeine helps me get through the afternoon,” Hutch says as he cleans up his station.
Leaning against the entry to his stall, I give him a skeptical look even though he’s not looking my way. “Right, and it’s so hard to bring a thermos from home, or shit—use the coffeemaker in the back room.”
“Forgot about the coffeemaker,” he mumbles. “Anyway, our coffee isn’t as good as the stuff from Island Java, and you don’t seem to have a problem stuffing their cookies into your face.”
Mace wanders up then, and joins me in watching Hutch work. “Face facts,” he says. “You’re ordering coffee to see that little honey, and Zipper, I see the way you look at her, too.”
“And you’re not looking at her?” I accuse.
“Didn’t say I wasn’t. She’s a pretty girl.”
“She’s beautiful,” Hutch says. “And those big fucking eyes of hers…”
I thought he’d been working on a client, but Christian suddenly appears and joins in. “Bet she’d be eager in bed. And ready to take commands.”
Hutch straightens, wiping his hands on a cloth. “So we’re all thinking about her like that, huh? It’s been a while since we were looking at the same woman.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Don’t fucking bring that up.”
He frowns at me, but then his eyes soften in sympathy, which pisses me off even more.
“She’s just a girl,” I say as I turn and head back toward my workspace.
“She’s a woman,” Christian says, raising his voice. “Younger than us, sure, but she’s fair game.” When no one responds, he adds, “Bet we could teach her a lot.”
“You gonna make a move on her?” Hutch asks.
Christian shrugs. “Sure, why not?”
Hutch stands up taller, pushing his chest out. “What about the rest of us?”
“Nothing’s stopping you,” Christian says, before turning to go back to his room.
The expression on Hutch’s and Mace’s faces has me shaking my head. It’s a bad idea. I just thought they were enjoying getting a look at the girl every day; I didn’t think any of them were going to be dumb enough to act on it.
The four of us get on each other’s nerves enough as it is. Adding a woman into the mix will only bring trouble, just like it did before.
But shit, that doesn’t mean I’ll be standing by just watching while they get with her.
7
ROSE
A solid week of deliveries to Brothers in Ink has passed—that’s five days, because I don’t work in the coffee shop on weekends—and it feels simultaneously as though I’ve known the four tattoo artists for much longer than that, and also like I hardly know anything about them at all.
Just like all of that tantalizing ink that disappears under the edges of their clothing, each man is a mystery that I want to explore.