Black Ink || Harlena a.u.

17.

H a r r y ' s  P.O.V.

The tattoo shop didn't have as many clients as Lance and I had hoped it would. My mother had warned us, but Lance was ambitious and driven. I guess it's why my mother had taken interest in him. Despite the odds stacked against us, Lance had shown more than once that he wasn't one to give up.

"Harry, I'm gonna need you to finish cleaning the supplies. The last thing we need is a lawsuit for sanitary infractions."

I nodded my head and did as he told. Jane was supposed to meet me here in a few minutes, but I was sure I'd finish up quickly. 

"Hey, did we get the new ink and stencils? Larry told me they were supposed to arrive some time today," I said thoughtfully. The shop where we got most of our supplies from were our go-to. Except, this time, they were late with our order- which was unusual of them considering we were their number one buyers.

Lance sighed in disappointment, "Larry called me this morning. He said it would take two more days. Something about the shipment fucking up half-way."

"Shit," I mumbled. "We don't have enough for two more days-"

"Well we don't have enough to stay out of business for two days," he sighed. "Good news is, we're getting one third of our money back for the delay. The best we can do right now is hope that we get enough customers to make up for yesterday, but not so many that we run out of ink or stencils. That incident fucked us up more than anything."

My head nodded as I remembered losing half our supplies because some asshole broke in. "I've finished with the cleaning. Jane's coming any minute, now."

A grumble came from Lance. "You still with that girl?"

"What's wrong with Jane?" The only thing that pissed me off from him was his disapproval of Jane. Drove me mad.

He shrugged, "She just seems a little insincere sometimes. Like she pretends to be someone she's not." I leaned back in my chair, watching as he put some stuff away with his back to me. "Maybe she just tries too hard with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He didn't answer because it was then that Jane came in through the back.

Her hair was picked up, which kind of annoyed me because I liked it when her hair brushed against her back. "Hey, babe."

She gave me a quick kiss in response before smiling at Lance. "Hey, Lance."

"Hi, Jane." He didn't even try. 

I got up, pulling her in before looking down at her. She was beautiful. "Ready to go?"

"Yup."

"Need anything else?" I asked I grabbed my jacket. Lance shook his head and waved us off.

We got in the car and I hadn't even turned it on when Jane questioned if Lance had something against her. 

"Why do you ask?"

The light from the street allowed me to see her frown, "He just seems so cold towards me. I don't know if it's something I did or..."

My hand reached out. Her hands were always so cold, "Hey. There's nothing to worry about. He just has a tough exterior, that's all."

"You think so?" she mumbled softly. I brought her hand up to kiss the back of it.

"I know so. " Maybe giving her a little white lie would hurt less than the truth.

I drove out the parking lot and towards the diner down the street. Not many people went because they preferred the ones in the city, so it was perfect for a midnight drive.