Dark Ink Tattoo: Episode 2 Read Online Free

he came over.  “They installed it this morning, and left this for you,” he said, handing me an envelope.
    I took it from him. I didn’t dare open it on the parlor floor.
    “That’s, uh, good thing, right?”
    I ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah. Of course.” Unless it’d been bought with Pack blood-money as some sort of perverse apology or way for Gray to make me think I owe him. I folded the letter and put it in my back pocket and scanned our current clients. None of them looked rough enough to run with the Pack, but a lot could change in seven years. So I kept my chin high and walked over to my station – I’d been in such a rush yesterday, I hadn’t put my inks back, and I needed to do some sketches, one of my regulars wanted a tiger on her right shoulder. It was just about the only blank skin that she had left, and it needed to flow with all the other the work she had.
    Jack’s station was on the way to mine. He’d left out a half-drawn picture of the rising sun. It was beautifully rendered, you could almost feel the sunlight radiating off the page, gentle smears of pink and orange. I knew on the right skin, pale enough, he wouldn’t even do any outlining, he’d make it look like watercolors. Jack had some devotees due to word of mouth – Vegas was a 24/7 town, and night-shift workers didn’t want to wake up early on their off days for tats – but not a lot of them, not after 3 AM. I’d offered him more lucrative daytime slots – more lucrative for us both, since I kept a slice – but he’d always rebuffed me in his devil-may-care way.
    I traced a corner of the sun he’d drawn with one finger. I had pale enough skin. And I had space, right over my hip. I imagined Jack touching me with gloved hands, felt things best left quiet stir and – my eyes caught sight of a used condom in his trashcan.
    Because of course there was.
    I brought a hand up to rub my temple. If he was shooting porn here, I would kill him.
    I made my way to my station and gave up on worrying if the Pack could see me, opening the letter as I sat down. It was a crisp sheet of official cream stationary, carefully folded. I unfolded it slowly, and for the first time in weeks got something good in the mail:
     
    Can’t wait to see you tonight.
    M

     

Chapter 4
     
    “I’d remind you that you can stay, but I already know that you’re going, aren’t you,” Paco shouted at me from his living room.
    He’d heard the shower stop – and I came out with an amazingly plush towel around my waist. Paco’s boyfriend had as excellent taste in couches and towels as he did in boyfriends.
    “Yeah, sorry –“I apologized. I had to go, while Paco’s blood was still singing inside me. There were some things I could only do after a fresh feed.
    “Yeah, I know,” Paco said, with a tease.
    I dried myself off and swung the towel out to him. “You missed a spot –“ I said, swirling my hand over my stomach, where his was still sticky with cum. 
    He swatted it away. “I’m waiting for the Oreo’s to give me strength.” He’d retrieved them from where they’d landed earlier.
    “You just like smelling like me.”
    “Like us ,” he emphasized. “Although I’m glad we didn’t make it to the bedroom. I might be too tired to change the sheets. As it is –“he looked at the disarray of couch cushions behind him, “I’m going to be tipping Imelda extra tomorrow.”
    I grinned. “Hey, so –“
    Before I could say another word, he jumped in. “Here it comes.”
    “What?”
    Paco set the Oreos aside and stood, and I appreciated him anew. He’d put on forty pounds of muscle since we’d first met – he’d been a scrawny club kid, and I’d been looking for easy prey, when he’d awakened a different hunger in me I hadn’t known I’d had. Over the years, Paco’d become one of Vegas’s most sought after bodyguards, and now he had a long-term contract with the Fleur de Lis, Vegas’s newest, classiest, casino. From here, with