She smiled and passed me two sheets of paper. “He needs to fill out all the usual forms, and I should probably have you pay me something small. A few bucks we can call rent in case anybody ever questions us.”
“Of course!” I took the paperwork and handed it to Slayde. “Whatever you need just let me know.”
“I’m only thinking about it because it’s that time of the month.” My mouth dropped, and she laughed. “When I do my bookkeeping, I mean. Although it makes me as cranky as PMS.”
I laughed too. “We’ll be out of your hair in less than ten minutes. I’m just doing something small.”
She stood and walked over to Slayde, checking out the boxing gloves on his bicep. “That’s some good work. You a boxer?”
“Ex.” He glanced up as he filled out the forms.
“I’ve seen this before.” She pointed to five dots on his right hand.
His eyes flickered to hers, but he didn’t answer.
Wren didn’t say any more, and I took his hand in mine. “Ready to get it done?” He glanced up, and my smile held all the love I felt for him.
He looked down and shook his head. “Yeah, I’ve got this all filled out.”
“Come on then.” I pulled his arm, and he handed the forms back to Wren, who now eyed him with suspicion.
Once we were in the back, I spoke softly as I prepped my workspace. “Sorry about that. You know how it goes. Everybody wants to talk about their ink.”
His lips pressed together and he put his hand on my cheek. “This one is for us. It always will be no matter what happens.”
I held a piece of tracing paper on my palm. “Outline it for me so I can be sure they match.”
He took the black felt pen I had and quickly outlined the small heart. I took it and held his hand. “Mine is on the left, so yours should be on the right.” Holding his palm flat, I wiped it several times with an antiseptic pad before transferring the design to his palm. “Now it’s just a matter of filling it in.”
“You know I’ve done this before, right?” He grinned, and I laughed.
“I don’t know why I do that.” Shaking my head, my long purple ponytail danced around my shoulders. “I guess it’s a habit.”
He reached out and caught the ends of my hair, wrapping a lock around his finger. “Better hurry up or Rook’s going to be pissed.”
Leaning forward, I kissed him quickly before getting started. In less than ten minutes we were done.
* * *
Slayde went straight to the supply closet when we arrived at the gym, then headed to the men’s locker room. His new ink only needed a small Band-Aid. It was tiny and I was a light touch, so it wouldn’t take long to heal. Still, I made him wear a surgical glove while working.
Rook was at the juice bar when I finished with my last client, and he was pissed. Only it wasn’t at us. The tanker had arrived in port, and the gym had been slammed all day with sailors taking advantage of the complimentary membership.
“Fuck, how long are these assholes in port?” He’d stormed into the juice bar speaking under his breath.
“Just a few days,” Mariska said, making notes in her recipe book. “I’ll make you a cucumber and ginger-root smoothie. It’ll help you relax.”
“They don’t speak the language, they take breaks on the equipment, and they leave towels everywhere.”
“Your Type A is acting up,” my friend teased. “I think they’re nice.”
I ducked under the bar, hoping to diffuse the situation. “Why don’t you take off? We can handle these guys.”
He glanced at me. “I might. Tammy’s been doing double classes, and I feel like we haven’t seen each other in a week.”
My lips pressed together as I tried to hold back my laugh. “Dude. Go home and fuck your wife. You know that’s why you’re so tense.”
Everything went quiet for a beat. Mariska held her breath. Then Rook exploded with a laugh.