PULSE [H.S]

014

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." — H.P. Lovecraft

Inkling is my happy place.

It's always a good distraction from everything else going on in my life. When something is going on in my life, it's usually bad.

Danny gives me a smile as he walks past me, saying, "Peace out, girl scout."

Pen waves at me from behind the front counter, saying, "Girl, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

I say, "I know. Sorry, I've been busy."

"Busy learning how to kick some ass?"

My stomach churns at the thought of the gym. I say, "Yeah, but it's hard when I'm built like a gummy bear."

Pen laughs, "An adorable gummy bear."

I look at my list of clients for the day, groaning when I realize it's a fully booked day since I had to reschedule a lot of people earlier in the week. But that means lots of tips, so I can deal with it.

I quickly chug a cup of coffee before pulling a chair up next to Pen and saying, "So, what's the news?"

Pen grins cheekily, saying, "I hooked up with that Irish lad."

"Niall?" I ask, shocked. I knew they were flirting when he got his tattoo, but I didn't think it would go any farther than that. I try to hide my worry. I wish I could warn her to stay away from these people.

Pen explains, "We got drinks after I tatted him up, and then he came back to my place. And holy shit, girl, he was good in bed."

"Wow, I'm surprised," I say. "Not that he was good in bed, just that it happened at all. You don't usually go out with clients."

Pen shrugs. "He wasn't really a client, more like a favor to you. So thank you, Kiz, for introducing me to a man with an amazing tongue—"

I cut her off, cringing, "Ew, Pen. I don't need to know what his tongue did."

I pull up our website, updating a few links and releasing the schedule for next month. The stats on it look great. Pen's TikTok has really attracted a lot of traffic.

"I'm sure you can imagine," she laughs.

"So was this a one-time thing?" I ask her.

She says, "Probably. Have you hooked up with Harry yet? Or Zayn? Or Clove? God, they're all so hot."

I choke on my second cup of coffee, actually managing to spray some of it out of my mouth and onto the table, which I now have to clean up.

I look at Pen, eyes wide, and say, "I have a boyfriend."

"Aaron?" she scoffs. "He hardly counts."

I furrow my eyebrows, feeling defensive. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She puts her hands up like she's surrendering to me and says, "Nothing, geez. I didn't mean to get you all worked up."

"I'm not worked up. He is my boyfriend. I don't know why you would say he barely counts," I argue.

She sighs, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

I bring my attention back to work.

My first tattoo of the day was a girl who wanted a panda bear peeking through some bamboo on her shoulder. It was a cute tattoo, which I enjoy doing. It's better than doing scary ones like skulls and shit.

My phone buzzes as I'm cleaning up after the panda bear client leaves.

I pull it out, and it's an unknown number. The message reads, I'll be at your place later.