“Let’s go to that place by the beach,” I suggested.
“The Copper Bar? I guess that’ll be okay. They have daiquiris for two dollars tonight.”
“You ladies going out on a Monday night?” Brie asked as she walked through the curtain that divided the front of the shop from the back. “Oh, to be young again.”
“Come with us,” I said as I took a seat on my stool. Brie was carrying the piercing gun, so I gathered my hair over my right shoulder and tilted my head.
“Please,” she rolled her eyes. “If I went out drinking tonight, there’s no way I’d be able to drag my happy ass out of bed in the morning.”
She chuckled while disinfecting my skin for a tragus piercing. The little piece of cartilage that jutted out over the ear canal was supposed to be one of the most painful piercings you could get, but I didn’t mind a little pain. It was all temporary, and, in the end, I reaped the rewards. This time, I was going to have a cute piercing with a dark blue stud that complimented the aquamarine one in my nose.
“You should come,” Piper chimed in. “You never know. You might meet a man.”
“Oh, nowthat’stempting.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. I couldn’t blame her. Brie had been divorced an astounding four times and vowed that it would never happen again. “Ready, Kat?”
“Go for it.”
I sucked in a deep breath as she counted down.
“Three…two…one.”
I heard the clicking of the gun just as a stinging pain made me clench my teeth. Then, it was done. I knew it would ache for a while. This particular piercing took a long time to heal.
“You’re set. You know the drill. Keep it clean and all that,” Brie advised as I checked out the piercing in the mirror.
“Thanks, Brie. You ready for those drinks?” I asked Piper.
“Let’s do it.”
We left the shop together, getting into my car and heading for the beach. After a long day at work, I was ready for a good time.
Two
Blade
“Are you sure about this?” Alex asked as I wrapped the gauze around my hand, covering from the wrist to the knuckles.
“Absolutely,” I said, finishing up one hand by applying tape and starting on the other. Behind me, I could hear the jeering and shouting of the crowd surrounding the fight circle, while the two men inside were silent, aside from the dull thud that resulted from their blows to each other’s bodies.
“But the odds are four to one against you.”
“I know,” I smirked. “So, you’re going to go put five hundred dollars on me to win.”
“What?” Alex looked at me like I was crazy.
I sighed. He’d always been like this, a voice of reason, as he liked to call it. Personally, I thought he needed to let loose a little, but it just wasn’t in his nature. Sometimes it drove me nuts, but he was family, so I put up with it. And I’d never tell him, but there were times when he was the voice in my head, talking me down from being too reckless.
“Here.” I pulled out the bills that had been rolled up in my pocket, held together by a rubber band. “Put that down now, before my fight starts. We’ll combine the winnings with my payment from the boss and walk out of here twenty-five hundred dollars richer.”
“You sound pretty damn sure of yourself.”
“I am.” I had to be. If I walked into that circle, facing a monster of a man with at least thirty pounds on me, with anything less than full confidence, then I would be doomed before we even began.
Besides, I had no interest in walking away from here a loser.
“Fine, but don’t expect me to push your wheelchair around when The Beast is done with you.”
“Thanks for your pep talk,” I called out after him as he stalked away to place the bet. “Your faith in me helps me to have faith in myself.”
