PULSE [H.S]

015

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." — Charles Baudelaire

I didn't sleep much last night.

It's hard to sleep when you have a meeting with the devil on your agenda for the day.

Zayn and I ran outside again, chatting about random stuff. It helped distract me momentarily, like it did last time. I like running with him, and I hope that it happens more often. I don't know if it's smart to put my trust in these people, but I don't have much of a choice. I need people to lean on because navigating this on my own would be impossible.

I pull into the parking lot in front of Inkling at the same time as Pen, who waits for me to go inside. When I get out of the car, she immediately starts telling me about her new shoes, which are nice, but they just look like boots to me. Apparently, they're expensive.

We turn the lights on and get everything set up for the day. I'm thankful to have Pen. She's been a great employee and even better friend. Danny is good too, but he doesn't work as much as us, so I don't see him as often.

My schedule for the day is typical, but I have an appointment scheduled with someone I haven't heard of until right now.

"Who's Ben?" I ask Pen.

She says, "Oh, girl. You had a cancellation, so I put him on your schedule. But trust me, you'll be thanking me. This guy was hot. I mean, smoking. I want you to marry him."

I shake my head. Pen is always doing this, trying to set me up with hot guys. It's like she refuses to acknowledge that Aaron exists. It irritates me that she doesn't take my relationship seriously.

But whatever, I don't mind clients that are easy on the eyes. A little eye candy never hurts anyone.

"Did he say what he wanted?" I ask.

Pen says, "Bat wings, I think. You know, maybe we should switch. I'll take Ben, and you can take Cathy."

"Not a chance," I say. Cathy doesn't sound like a person I want to start my day talking to.

I'm getting my stuff ready when a very attractive man walks through the door. Wow. He's tall, muscular, and has dark hair. I could eat him.

"Ben?" I greet him at the counter.

He flashes me a smile, revealing a perfect set of very beautiful white teeth. He says, "That's me. You are?"

"You can call me Kiz," I say with a smile. I say, "Right this way." I lead him to my tattoo station, and he takes a seat on the chair. I'm starting to think this day won't be as bad as I thought. Pen looks at me, and I mouth 'Oh my God' to her, and she laughs.

He says, "Thanks for taking me so late notice. This place has a very long waitlist."

"Happy to have you," I say. "So you want some bat wings?"

He says yes and points to an empty spot on his arm where he wants it. He has a decent amount of tattoos already. We go over the specifics of the design, and I sketch the wings until he's happy with them, and then I start on his tattoo.

"I'm going to ask you a question you've probably never heard before," Ben says.

I say, "Hit me."

"Why don't you have any tattoos?" He asks.

I hate this question, but for some reason it doesn't bother me when he says it. His voice is smooth like honey, and I'm Winnie-the-fucking-Pooh.

Aaron who?