more for us | grayson dolan (book two)

thirty six

The minute the six of us walk through Golden Ink, I can feel my stomach turning with random, unwanted nerves. I shouldn't be nervous. It was my spontaneous decision to get a tattoo, and I'm not backing down.

Growing up, I saw just about everyone on the south side with a tattoo sleeve or some kind of body ink. Jake was always covered since his teen years, so it was always in the back of my mind to get one. I want it now more than ever.

"Paul, my man." Jake says while patting his coworker on the back. "My sister here is getting a tat."

"From me?" The man furrows his eyebrows.

"Nah, I would never allow that to happen. I'll be the one doing it. Do you mind covering my next person? Tell them something came up and I couldn't do it today."

"Yeah, sure." Paul looks back at me with a low smirk. "Wow, you're finally getting inked. Your brother has been talking about this for awhile."

"Yup, I figured it was time." I let out a small laugh.

Grayson squeezes onto my hand while glancing around the store. Ethan and Lanie are also checking out a few of the popular designs that are displayed on the wall.

"This place is scary." Lanie lowly whispers into her fiancé's ear.

"Don't be such a baby." He smiles while leaning down to kiss her cheek.

"I think now would be the perfect time to get my ass tattoo." Grayson looks down at me.

"Dolan, how many times am I going to tell you? It's not going to happen." I roll my eyes.

"Would you break up with me if I got it?" He muses.

"No, but-"

"Then I'm doing it." He continues to push my buttons, which he does on a daily basis.

"I lied. I'll dump your ass so hard if you come home with a tattoo on your ass."

"I'm not even going to tell you when it happens. I'm just going to show off my scandalous artwork while we're in the middle of having sex." Grayson manages to say his words with a straight face. "Hey, Paul. Will you tattoo my ass? I'm thinking of getting the Rolling Stones logo-"

"Yeah, not happening buddy." The man rolls his eyes while walking over to the appointment book.

"Would you ever get a tattoo?" Allie asks Lanie while standing next to her.

"Probably not. Would you? I feel like you have the tolerance for it." My best friend chuckles.

"Maybe. But only if Jake does it." The blonde looks at my brother while biting onto her lower lip.

"Okay, you guys can follow me to the back room." Jake says once a pair of black latex gloves are in his hands.

"The back room, damn this is private." I laugh while following his lead.

"I'm taking a lollipop." Allie sighs while grabbing the sweet candy from the bowl sitting on the front desk.

"Good idea. We need a distraction while Stella gets stabbed with a needle over and over again." I hear Lanie say from behind me.

"Get one for me." I yell while Grayson laughs.

"You guys are so dramatic." Ethan groans while wrapping his arm around Lanie's waist. "Tattoos are so sick. I think I should get one now."

"Don't worry, dude. After I get my ass tat, we can get matching ones." Grayson says to his twin, which causes a major eye roll from me.

"You want to get matching ass cheek tattoos? You're nasty." Ethan shakes his head in disgust.