“You decide what you want yet?” the hip, young, and attractive tattoo artist asked, appearing next to me.
A picture caught my eye. A close-up, graphic picture of a nipple piercing.Rhianna has them, Bianca from high school has them. They would be my little secret.Now I knew what I wanted. “I changed my mind.”
“Yeah, what you wanna do, doll?” Tony, the handsome, tatted-up guy, grinned when he followed my vision. “You wanna get both or just one?”
I bit down on my lip. “I’m sure the pain sucks. What’s better? What do you think?”
“Might as well get both.”
“All right. I’m doing it.”
“Follow me.” He motioned me back and Aaron perked his head up from the binder of designs he was rifling through.
“What did you decide?” He set the binder down and followed us. “Are you getting a butterfly?”
I laughed, my nerves dancing in my stomach. Suddenly, telling him made me sweat. I stuttered. “I-I’m getting my nipples pierced.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He laughed. The asshole laughed loud. Tony turned around with a look to make me cringe, but Aaron ignored him. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.” I stomped harder toward the back room. Tony pointed to a chair and I sat.
“All right, doll, let me get the supplies. Do you want rings or barbells?”
“I liked the picture out front. The rings.” My entire body shook with adrenaline and excitement.
“Nice choice. I’ll be right back.” Tony eyed Aaron, but left the room. In his absence, I swore fumes were coming out of Aaron’s ears.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snarled at me, teeth bared. “Your nipples? Really?”
“Yeah. It’s what I want to do.” I jutted my chin out at him. “You can leave if you want.”
“The hell I’m leaving.” He crossed his arms, his gaze not moving from my chest.
“Then stop glowering at me. It’s making me nervous.”
Tony walked in, ignoring Aaron yet again. “What’s got you nervous, doll? This guy?”
“No. Needles do. Do you use a needle?”
“I use this.” He showed me a clamp of sorts, kind of like a pair of scissors with holes at each end. “I clamp down on your nipple, pinching it quite hard, then I slip this inside it real quick. The harsh pain is quick, I insert the ring and it’s done.” He smiled. “You’ll handle it great.”
“Okay. Do it.” I leaned back in the chair, closing my eyes. Tony laughed.
“First, I need you to lift your shirt to your chin and keep it there. Are you okay with him being in here?”
I opened one eye to see Aaron staring daggers at me. Part of me wanted to say no just to see what would happen, but I chose the other route. He would cause a scene of epic proportions, and I wasn’t feeling that cruel. “Yeah. He’s good.”
“Okay, I’m shutting the door.” The light thump of the wood had my chest heaving. “Shirt up, doll.”
I lifted the small crop top to my neck, both my breasts exposed to the two men. Aaron looked murderous so I chose to focus on Tony’s face. He put gloves on, the sanitized materials on the small tray next to us. He grabbed an alcohol swab, cleaning each nipple. The coldness of it had them both perking up, higher than I had ever seen them.
“Nice. This is good, actually, more to clamp onto.” Tony swiveled in the chair, grabbing the scissors. “This will feel a bit cold and like a pinch, okay?”
I nodded as he used his hand to grasp my breast, the clamp going around my tip and pulling. I flinched. It was cold and painful but when he brought out the needle, I closed my eyes. “I’m inserting it now.”
He did, the white-hot pain instant as the metal circle clung to my body. He released me, making me open my eyes. “One done. Nice job.”
I looked down at my swollen, bleeding nipple, but the ring looked badass. “Hell, yeah.”
