Page 63 of Apex of the Curve
“Precisely,” I said with a bigger smile.
“Sounds easy, which means it’s probably hard as fuck to do,” he said, and I laughed.
“Easier than you’d think. Hard in that you really do have to get placement just right on the first try. A lot like getting the stencil placed for a tattoo.”
He looked up. “You don’t have any tattoos. How would you know that?” he asked.
“My brother, Copper,” I said. “He took me with him once, lost a bet and I got to pick his next tattoo.”
“Oh, man. I hope you picked something awful.”
I giggled. “I did!” The memory made me laugh so hard I cried. When I finally got ahold of myself, I said. “It was so awful, but it wasn’t very big. It was a pair of cherries, but instead of stems, it had a cock nestled between them, half flaccid and dripping cum.”
“Holy shit, I’ve seen those flash art pieces and just – why?”
“He was being a dick, that’s why! I didn’t expect him to go through with it. I mean, it was utterly ridiculous, but he did, right here.” I tapped the outside of my ankle over my jeans. “I told him he could cover it up, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He kept it, and any time anyone would ask him, he would say his sister picked it and he was so proud of it.” I shook my head. “This little half-mast dick with its little cherry balls.”
Fenris laughed, and laughed with me, then wiping a tear from his eye said, “Well, you’re never picking one of my tats if that’s what I’m going to end up with.”
It spurred another peal of laughter out of me and I shook my head.
“I wouldn’t do that to you unless you really deserved it. Copper was something else,” I said with a heavy sigh. “We went back and forth, you know?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly, evenly. “It was the same between me and my sister, Lacy.”
I looked up and our eyes met, a silent understanding of each other’s pain passing between us and that one look spoke such volumes to me and was probably the most singular expression of you are not alone that I had ever seen or felt.
“Thanks,” I whispered softly, and he must have felt it too, because he didn’t question me at all. He simply ducked his head in a nod, and we went back to our respective creative endeavors.
It was nice – peaceful, sweet, soothing to the soul which was just what I needed right then.
“Got any big ideas on what you want to do tonight?” he asked.
“Mm-mm, no. I figured we would just go with the flow,” I said with a gusty sigh.
“You feel up to people?” he asked me, and I appreciated that he did.
“Maybe tomorrow. I mean, I didn’t know what you had planned for tomorrow, if it involved anyone else.”
“Actually, now that you mention it,” he said. “Yeah, my boy Dump Truck and his girl Little Bird were going to join us on our Sunday ride.”
I perked up a bit at the thought of meeting some of his friends and club.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I mean is that cool with you?”
“Yes! Absolutely! I just get tired after all day of something like this and I don’t know if I would make good company for other people.”
“That’s fair,” he said with a nod. “I get the same way after a long day of farm chores sometimes. Other times, I just want to get out with some people after all day with the goats.”
“Oh, believe me, I get that,” I said with a laugh. As cute as they may be, they were a lot of work.
“So, a quiet night in?” he asked after a bit. “Maybe watch a movie?”
“That sounds absolutely lovely,” I declared.
He grinned at me. “Good deal.”
