I jump out of the chair and land in his lap. Stone laughs with surprise but takes me in for a kiss. My arm is throbbing and hot, but all those feelings fade away when I meet my boyfriend’s warmth.
“I’m so lucky,” I say, my lips on his.
“Careful, babe,” Stone laughs as he repositions my arm. “Let me wrap that before you bump it.”
“Hey!” Billie calls out from the doorway. “I’d say get a room, but you already have one.”
I crawl off of Stone and stick my tongue out at her. “You telling me your clients don’t try to make out with you after the session ends?”
“Yeah, Billie,” Stone deadpans. “Maybe you need to up your game a little.”
Billie flashes us a middle finger. “Or I could have just headed out the door without inviting you to the bar.” She turns but glances over her shoulder. “Red’s buying.”
Stone and I lock eyes. “Want to?” I ask.
He shrugs. “If you’re down. I’m just surprised Red is still hanging out. I get that he stuck around to help while I learned the ropes with Jeremiah gone, but I’m starting to think he doesn’t actually want to retire.”
“I’ll fucking retire when I want to fucking retire,” Red growls as he walks by the door.
Stone and I both burst out laughing. “Come on, babe,” he says, patting my ass. “Let’s get you wrapped up.”
A year ago, back when I was still pining over Milo, I never would have guessed I’d be comfortable just hanging out in a tattoo studio. As soon as Jeremiah got the boot and Stone earned his promotion, though, the team here became a kind of second family for me. Billie took me under her wing, the same as she did Stone, and once I learned that Red was an animation buff, even he warmed up to me.
I glance down at my arm as Stone wraps the latest work in plastic to protect it while it heals. The lines of the Mixie tattoo are still bright and vivid, but they’ve eased into my skin, too. Instead of staring at the ink every time I pass a mirror, it feels like it’s a natural part of me.
Just like Stone. Now that we have each other, it’s hard to understand how I ever lived without him.
We lace our fingers together and head down the street to the bar. The sun is out, warming the crisp fall air. I’ve got on one of Stone’s old sweatshirts, which hangs loosely over my jeans, and his long hair tumbles almost to his shoulders.
“What’s your work week like?” he asks. “You going to be in the studio late?”
I shake my head. “It shouldn’t be too bad. I haven’t picked my team yet for this new project, but I’ll wait until I finalize a script.”
“The commercial?”
“Yeah, for the arts council,” I say, bouncing a little with my excitement. “They said whatever direction I want to take it should be good. I might just work from home a couple days, stay up late and sketch out the storyboards.”
“I’ll cook. Help you focus.”
I look up to him with a smile. “Thanks, babe.”
Inside the bar, Billie and Red are already busy with a game of darts. I’m no match for either of them, but I am getting better. After picking up a round at the bar, Stone helps me practice. He slides up beneath me and traces his hand along my arm as he guides my form.
I send a dart whizzing through the air, and it lands with a thud in the bullseye.
“Watch it, Stone Age,” Billie jokes. “Your boyfriend’s going to give you a run for your money pretty soon.”
Stone shrugs and leans back against the wall. “If it means one of us can beat you, that’s fine by me.”
“Careful, kid,” Red grumbles. “Bad form to beat your boss at darts.”
Billie plucks a few darts from the board. “Technically, I’m your boss, too,” she points out to Red. Caesar picked her as his eventual replacement to take over the shop, which instantly earned the approval of all the artists.
Red frowns. “At least that gives me an excuse for this shit game.”
We go on like that for a while, joking around and throwing darts and talking shop. I’ve been planning to get a flower tattoo by Billie soon, maybe start adding ink to my other arm, and she and I end up in a long conversation about local wildflowers while we hang at the bar. I get so wrapped up in it, I don’t even realize how late it is until Stone appears by my side.
“Hey,” he says. “Can I drag you away?”
