House of Ink 1: First Impression

1, #OffLimits

1,

#OffLimits

Some things are just out of bounds. Off-limits. Forbidden.

Like popsicles in winter, getting the same haircut as your best friend, drinking with an ex, or dreadlocks on a white boy.

Or, you know, sleeping with your boss.

I figured working at a tattoo parlor would be easy. My big sister placed a call to her ex, one of the artists named Ryder, and bam! Here I was spending my nights mopping up the black-and-white checkered tiles and sneaking glances at the owner, my employer, who I was fairly sure was a Norse God of some kind in disguise...

Zander wasn't like any boss I'd ever had.

He glanced up through a few locks of blond hair and caught me staring. Flashed a smile in my direction. Asked, "You okay, Ryan?"

I bit my lower lip, fighting off a blush. "Sure, Boss."

He nodded and ducked back over the slab of flesh he was inking; some goth girl with crescent moons, wolves, stars, and lines of scrolling script marked in black all over her torso. It was just us three here; me leaning over my sketchbook, since I'd finished my work but didn't want to clock out yet, and Zander, bent over this girl, Cynthia, inking pale lines of red into her shoulder to form a tiny cluster of roses.

Outside the large bay windows lining the front of the shop, the sun fell an inch lower in the sky, painting the world in vibrant tones of orange and gold, scarlet around the edges. The sun was setting quickly.

Soon, Cynthia would go, and I'd be here alone with Zander, a rabbit caught in the clutches of a beautiful wolf, just like the ones this girl had marked onto her skin.

Alone, in the dark, with the man I was quickly developing an infatuation with.

I had no idea how I was going to deal with that....