“Yeah, but everyone calls me Blade,” I said, reaching out to shake her hand as she stood.
“I’m Brie. I own Ink Envy.”
“Nice place,” I said, meaning it.
“Is that your portfolio?”
“Oh, yeah,” I handed it over, mildly surprised that we were doing this here instead of in an office.
Brie opened the leather folder on top of the glass case, and I stood there awkwardly while she flipped through the pages. She stopped to stare at some pictures for several seconds and barely seemed to glance at others. She asked no questions, and I had no idea how this was going.
There was a big red curtain just beyond the counter that I guessed led to back rooms where the work was done. I could hear the unmistakable sound of tattoo guns buzzing and the low murmurs of conversation coming from the other side.
Finally, Brie closed the folder and looked up at me. “This is some good work.”
I was relieved to hear that, but I braced myself for her to question the gaps in my employment, starting with the reason I left my old tattoo shop, but she didn’t.
“Now, as a tattoo artist here, you’d really be a subcontractor, with me taking thirty percent off the top. The rest of your earnings belong to you. The clients would be yours, and you have freedom there. I know that this is art, and I’m not going to get in the way of it. Regardless of your appointments, I would like for you to be here during regular business hours for walk-ins, which are Monday through Friday, nine to six. Does that work for you?”
“Really? It’s that easy?”
“Of course,” Brie gave me a small smile. “I think you’re talented. That’s all I really need to know.”
I grinned. This was the easiest job interview I’d ever had. “Hell yeah, that works for me.”
“Good. Just one more thing. I don’t want drugs of any kind here. No buying, selling, or using them in the shop. I don’t want that shit here.”
“No problem,” I said without hesitation. I smoked a little pot on occasion, but I wouldn’t even think to do that at work, and I’d never been interested in trying anything more intense. I’d seen too many people in my life get addicted to everything from crack to heroin.
It wasn’t worth it.
Brie pulled out paperwork, and I signed on the dotted line. Just like that, I was employed. While we were taking care of the papers, the curtain pulled back, and a woman walked out with a burly man following close behind her. There was a large bandage on his shoulder.
“Now, keep the bandage on for two hours and use the aftercare cream,” the woman was saying as they walked past us. She had short, dirty blonde hair and a little too much makeup on for my taste.
I finished signing the papers as she walked the man to the door. Brie called her over to us.
“Piper, this is Blade, our new tattoo artist.”
“Gary’s replacement?”
“Yep.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“It really is. I think we’ve already covered all the appointments he had scheduled, but it’d be nice to have some help with walk-ins.”
“Let’s take him back then,” Brie said, coming around the counter.
I followed them through the curtain and saw the space was divided into three sections. There was another woman bent over a man’s wrist with a tattoo gun in her hand in one of the sections. I couldn’t see much of her, just a curtain of dark hair that was shielding her face.
“That’s Kat,” Piper said, nodding at the woman. She didn’t look up at the sound of her name. I didn’t blame her. I recognized an artist in the zone.
“Here’s where you’ll work,” Brie gestured to the obviously unused workspace. It was pretty basic. A long counter with drawers that probably held the tattoo gun and other supplies, with an adjustable black leather chair in the middle and stool that must have been meant for me. It was a nice setup.
“Here you go, Jack,” a voice said behind me. I turned to see that Kat was finished with the tattoo she had been working on and was talking to the man in her chair. Her back was to me, so I still couldn’t see her face.
“Don’t bother with a bandage,” the man said, but she shook her head.
