He cocked his head to the side.“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No,” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.Honestly, after a visit from my mother, it was a wonder that I wasn’t in tears right now.“I want something in sail script, and I was hoping that you had some extra time to fit me in.”
His brows immediately furrowed, and it was then that he realized what time it was.“Did you drive over here by yourself?”
“It’s not that late, Dalton-”
“I don’t give a fuck,” he spat.“You know better, Leandra.”
“But I came straight here,” I assured him.“I didn’t stop anywhere else.”
“I.Don’t.Give.A.Fuck,” he repeated.“You know better than to be on this side of town this late at night.”
“Can we fight about that later?”I huffed.“I’m here for a tattoo.”
Then he said something that really hit me hard.
“I’m not giving you a tattoo, Leandra,” he stated evenly.“I don’t care what it is, I’m not doing it.”
I had to swallow my emotions before I asked, “Why?”
“Because you’re not the kind of person who gets tattoos,” he replied, and it sounded like an insult.“You’re the type that books a day at the spa to ignore her problems.”
That was untrue and also unfair.
“I’ve never been to a spa a day in my life,” I told him.“And I thought that you were going to stop judging me.”
“I was,” he scoffed.“Until you walked in here, asking for a damn tattoo.An inspirational quote, at that.”
“What’s wrong with inspirational quotes?”I asked, my voice getting a bit loud.“What’s wrong with someone wanting something that is meaningful to them, or is there when they need it?”
“Nothing, if they’re not the walking, talking epitome of the perfect blonde with a ten-million-dollar trust fund and no damn problems,” he fired back.“I mean, seriously...why in the fuck would you need an inspirational quote inked into your skin forever?What real-world problems could you possibly have, Leandra?”
That hurt.
That hurt a lot.
“You think that I don’t have problems?”I asked, my voice no longer loud.
“I think you’re clueless,” he answered honestly, and wasn’t that a bitch.
Chapter 8
Dalton~
I knew that I was being rather harsh, but Leandra had no business getting a tattoo and marring that flawless skin of hers.Whatever she was upset about, a tattoo wasn’t the answer.Now, had she mentioned a tattoo a few months ago and had given it some extensive thought, then I’d be all for it.However, in all the years that I’d known her, she hadn’t ever mentioned being interested in getting a tattoo, and she hadn’t even said anything when Rya and Koen had gotten theirs.So, whatever this was, I was not about to help her make a huge mistake.
“You think I’m clueless?”she echoed.“Because I want a tattoo?”
After a few seconds, I said, “Okay, so you say that you want an inspirational tattoo.Do you have a saying in mind already?Do you have a mockup of the design that you want?”
“Well...no,” she admitted.“I was...I was kind of hoping that you’d help me with that.”
Truth be told, if she left it up to me to design her tattoo, it’d be something with my goddamn name on it, and I was fairly certain that she wasn’t here for that.Plus, when it came to inspirational quotes, the saying had to speak to the client, not the artist.I had no idea what Leandra was experiencing right now, so how in the hell would I know what she needed to make her feel better?
I let out a heavy sigh as I shook my head.“Leandra, I’m not about to create a spur-of-the-moment tattoo because you’re feeling impulsive.Tattoos are forever, and so they should be personal.”
“Quit talking to me like I’m stupid,” she snapped.“Do you think that I don’t know that?”
