The Checklist (Explicit Version)

Chapter 9

   "Aw, Nels," I cooed and pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you."

   She grumbled underneath her breath but wrapped her arms around me, nonetheless.

   When we ended up separating, Nellie expressed that she'd meet me at class because she needed to do some errands beforehand. Since I had two hours until class started, I got dressed and ate some breakfast before heading out to buy some coffee. By the time I was waiting in line to order, class would begin in an hour.

   As I placed my order, I glanced out the window and lingered my eyes on the tattoo shop that employed Myles'. Before I could stop myself, I ordered him a coffee as well.

   There was a high chance he wasn't inside, since he mentioned that he started work at one. But I hoped I might catch him with an earlier client, so I could drop the coffee off.

   Once I held two rippled cups of coffee, I strode outside, just as a cool chill attacked my face.

   I made sure there weren't any cars driving nearby before crossing the street in a slight jog. I tried to focus on the glass door, only to grin when I saw a tattooed woman sitting behind the podium. Holding the cups with one hand, I reached out and opened the door, which rang from my entrance.

   The woman glanced up from whatever she was going on the computer with a bored expression. Her eyes drifted to any exposed skin I had—which wasn't much, considering my jacket was zipped up to my neck.

   "You lost? Or do you wanna tat your virgin skin?"

   "Not lost, just dropping off something," I grinned but quickly furrowed my brows. "Is it that obvious that I have no tattoos?"

   The woman, who looked like she was in her late-twenties, smirked. "Something about you, girl. I can just tell." She leaned back and cocked her head. "What you dropping off? And for who?"

   For a moment, I inspected the woman's black hair. It was short and choppy, but still appeared styled. She also seemed incredibly short, but her height didn't stop her from being intimidating. Because she dressed in a tank top and jeans, I noticed tattoos covering her entire right arm, and some on her left. One that I kept lingering on, however, was the opened cage on her bicep. Birds were escaping and flying on her collarbone and neck.

   "Girl?" Her tone was questioning, which reminded me that I never answered her question.

   Smiling apologetically, I adjusted the cups in my hands. "Myles. Do you know if he's here?"

   Her smirk was whipped off her face. "You're here for Myles?" This time, her gaze became scrutinizing. "Really? He knock you up or something?"

   I choked on spit. "What? N-no."

   The woman didn't seem to believe me. Yet, something settled over her expression. Almost a mixture of interest and amusement. "Well, he's in the back. Probably carving."

   She strode away from the desk when I repeated, "Carving?"

   Her eyes rolled back, but not in a, I'm judging you, kind of way. I could tell when I saw her dark painted lips twitch.

   "Outlining the tat. Customer only got in twenty minutes ago."

   So he was here. I sighed in relief and followed her to the back of the studio. Because the last time I was here, Myles hauled me to the back office, I finally had the opportunity to look around and check out my surroundings. There seemed to be a Dark Scandinavian theme in the open concept room.

   The walls were painted a dark grey, but there were hardly empty spaces. Most of the room had frames in different shapes and sizes filling up the walls. The photos seemed to consist of tattoo sketches, but there were some that had pictures of rock bands I was unfamiliar with. In the front of the studio, there was a floor-to-ceiling mirror that stretched out four feet, which impressed me.