“Tyler,can you please stop hitting your brother?” Jade’s mom voice rings out through the shop as she speaks into the portable baby camera monitor that she and Asher set up in the playroom. To be so completely fair, she did decide to bring a four-almost-five-year-oldanda two-almost-three-year-old into the backroom-turned-playroom of the tattoo shop and then turned her back.
What else was the poor kid to do when the three year old took his toy?
“We need a TV back there,” she mutters and I can’t help but laugh.
“Oh, how the times have changed!” I say joyously. “Don’t you remember when Tyler was just a baby and you swore up and down that babies watching TV would stunt their growth and you made us all promise to never let them watch it.”
“Yeah, and you saw exactly how that turned out.” Jade wipes off her client’s arm. “No one listened to me, and you know, it’s necessary in some situations.” She looks at the monitor again, and growls. “Like right now. Rory is fucking jumping on Tyler now like they’re in a wrestling match. I’m so sorry, I’ll be right back.” She pulls her gloves off and runs to the backroom.
“She’s kind of a badass, huh?” I say to her client, standing next to them to keep them happy and engaged. I know Jade offers a discount or books extra time when she has to bring the boys, but I’ve always offered to watch my godsons whenever she needs.
Today is annoying because we both had the same timeslot today, my client’s just late.
“Yeah, she is.” The girl nods, and looks down at her tattoo. “Super talented too.”
“That’s why I poached her from the business department at the college and made her see the light of the tattooing world,” I say dramatically, winking. The doorbell rings and I hope to fuck it’s my client.
Wait, if she doesn’t show up, I can go into the backroom and play with Tyler and Rory.
But when I turn, I’m greeted with the absolute delight of seeing Asher walk in alongside my husband.
That’s right, bitches. I locked it down. Til death do us part.
Actually, scratch that.
His ass is stuck with me until eternity burns.
I run past the reception desk and jump into the air just as Ty drops his backpack to catch me.
The moment my body meets his, he turns me around in the air. My black hair fans out as he spins me and I laugh. I colored the blonde in black about two years ago. It was time for a change. A new look, a fresh start.
Now I just look even more badass. If that was possible.
I tuck my face into his neck and breath in the familiar smell of his cologne.
“It’s been a long two days,” I say, huffing his neck like I’m trying to get high.
“I know, baby. I know,” he whispers softly, patting my back gently. “At least you got to sleep in our bed. I had to share a room with this big oaf.” I feel him tip his head towards Asher, who scoffs. “I’ve missed you.”
“You were gone two days!” Asher says exasperatedly. “Not a month. Now, where’s my wife, I need to see her.” Ty and I pull back enough to watch Asher storm through the shop towards the backroom and hear a familiar cry of, “Asher!”, “Baby girl,” and “Daddy!” being yelled from their two little mini-mes.
“He complainedallday. ‘Can we go now? How much more do we have to do? Why are we even doing this, we’re happy where we are.’ Just incessant.” Ty smirks, turning his attention back to me. “As if he doesn’t think the expansion was his idea.”
“How’d it go out there?” I ask, sliding down so that my feet touch the floor, but I don’t step back.
Asher and Ty sat down with Roxie and I last year and had this whole adorable powerpoint and presentation about how great the shop is doing, how we’re on budget and our profits are great. So great in fact, that they had enough money to look into expandingFrom The Ashes.
Jade and I immediately jumped up and were–are–so proud of them, but my mind immediately went to how this might break the four of us up. We’re a little family, the four of us. A completeunit. And if we open another tattoo shop, one of the guys would need to move wherever they opened it to get it set up.
We’ve all been in close proximity daily. They’re so much in my business it’s not funny, and vice versa.
That night, when Ty and I went home, I told him why I was worried. That I am so fucking proud of them, but it also made me feel… uneasy.
And you know what that gorgeous hunk of man said?
“Oh no, baby. We’ve already talked about that. Asher and I will go up before open and hire a manager, and hand select a few artists. Everything will be run through us, but this is more like a franchise. Asher and I will have to take a few trips here and there, probably a lot more to start off, but no. Neither them, nor us, are going to be moving.”
When tears started falling down my face, he gently took my face in his hands and smiled.
