He never asked for a break, the brave omega, and I took my time, longer than I usually would, getting every shading right. I had the vision in my head even more than on the flash, and as the bear came to life, my heart went into it. I wanted him to love it as much as I did, and when he looked in the mirror, I held my breath for his reaction.
Chapter Six
Altan
I stared in the mirror, my eyes glued to the new addition to my chest. My bear. My beautiful, beautiful bear. I couldn’t pinpoint any reason as to why, but it belonged there. It was as if my chest had been naked before Sothea permanently put him on my skin.
“It’s…it’s everything.” I reached up to trace the lines, but he placed his hand over mine and brought it down.
“You need to not touch it for a while.”
“Oh. So do I just let it be for a couple of days?” I could do that.
“Not quite.” He talked and talked about aftercare. I heard practically none of it. My mind was focused on his hand holding mine, still not letting go despite the danger of me touching my tattoo, gone. The warmth of his touch was everything.
“Do you have any questions?” He gave my hand a squeeze.
“What?”
“Do you have any questions about aftercare?”
“No, I think I’m good.” And by good, I meant I was going to have to look it up online because I’d retained absolutely none of it.
“I can give you some paperwork that explains it, along with some products you might want to try.”
“Thanks.”
Brent had come in, left a cup of coffee for me and one for Sothea, and made some excuse about needing to get back to the cat before skidooing out. The cat didn’t need him, but I was glad he’d read the room so well. There was something so personal about the tattoo experience. At least there had been for me.
Sothea put a bottle and jar along with some papers in a little plastic bag and handed it to me. The entire time, his sister-in-law sat there with a look on her face I couldn’t decipher. Was she amused? Maybe, but it felt like it went beyond that.
“I need to pay the rest.” I reached into my pocket to grab my wallet and could’ve sworn I heard a growl coming from Sothea. Except that didn’t make any sense. He was a person, not a bear. He couldn’t growl.
“You’re good. The fifty dollars was all of it,” Greta said. “Let me print your receipt.”
“Fifty dollars? The paperwork I signed said that was the deposit. And that the rest of the cost could be up to five hundred dollars before an additional consultation was needed.”
Another growl. What was that?
“Nope, definitely wasn’t for this one.” She typed away at the computer and reached into the desk before handing me a paper receipt. I didn’t know people still printed out receipts.
“I’ll walk him out.” Sothea’s hand touched the small of my back, and I wanted to lean into it to keep the connection going.
The tattoo parlor was getting more crowded now, and even if it wasn’t, he was a stranger. Nothing more, no matter what the feelings stirring inside me said. Maybe this was why people were covered in tattoos. Maybe there was a dopamine hit like no other. That was probably it. I needed not to read too much into this.
He walked me out, and it felt sort of date-like, an old-fashioned date at that. It shouldn’t have surprised me the way it did when he asked, “I was wondering if you’re free for dinner this week?”
My initial reaction wasyes, yes, yes, all the yeses, every day if you want. But I had to keep those thoughts inside because my stupid, freaking coworker had decided to quit. “Um, I can’t. I’m going on a work trip. I’m giving some training. I won’t be here.”
“The week after?” At least he didn’t get turned off by me saying no initially like some alphaholes would be.
I held up two fingers.
“Two weeks?”
I nodded.
“Rain check, then?” Relief flooded me as he extended the invitation.
