Chapter 1
Karli
Thisiseasilythemost fun I’ve ever had on Christmas. Chasing around scared little boys with needles? A hoot.
I’m kidding. They aren’t boys, they are men, and I’m not chasing them around, only doing what I was told and pretending to be a tattoo artist. Emphasis onpretend. My equipment is nothing but a container of old sewing needles–some are quite big–and a bottle of fake ink I made with black food dye. But for some reason, the Bentley brothers are buying it.
“I don’t think those needles are clean, Lennox,” one of the brothers says. Trent, I believe. He’s got a deeper voice than the other two, and he’s also the only one with a beard. I like a man with a beard.
“Of course they are, right Karli?” Lennox looks down at me.
I raise a brow. “Are they supposed to be?”
“Yes, they are supposed to be!” A different brother yells.
“Fine,” I grumble, picking up my stack of needles. “So picky.” I turn away, biting back a smile at the hushed voices of Lennox’s brothers pleading with her not to go through with it.
I drop the needles by the sink in the kitchen and turn on the water, letting it run over nothing.
“This is hilarious.” My best friend Juliet says, joining me by the sink, helping me “clean” the needles. “I can’t believe they really think you’re a tattoo artist.”
“I know. I might have to take up acting.” I chuckle. “What should I do next?”
She purses her lips. “How about the dishes?”
“Hey.” I nudge her with my hip. “I’ve gotten better.”
“I know, I know.” She looks over her shoulder into the living room. “You better get back in there before Lennox lets them off the hook.”
A couple of weeks ago Lennox’s brothers made a bet about her dating life. Understandably, she was annoyed. So, she pretended to be engaged to a guy she just met and when he “broke it off” last night, she guilted her brothers into getting tattoos with her and recruited me to help.
I’m always on board to help those in need. Maybe because Iwasthat person.
I still am that person. Though what I lack is complicated.
I carry my container of needles back to the living room. “They’re as clean as they’ll ever be,” I declare.
Each one of the brothers turns pleading eyes on their sister like she alone has the power to save them from me.
“Michael wants to go first,” Lennox offers her oldest brother up as a sacrifice.
Michael begs Juliet to save him, but not even his fiancée grants him a compassionate thought as she cheers him on from the kitchen.
He sinks onto the chair. “At least it’s not a bat this time, right?” he says to me.
I glare at him. One time. He caught me sleepwalking one time but somehow finds a way to bring it up every time he’s at my apartment with Juliet.
I’m going to enjoy this.
Michael flinches as I wipe his skin with a sterile wipe. Then I take my time, digging through the container until I find the biggest needle in there.
How far do I have to go to sell this thing?Lennox never gave me a code word for when the charade was over.
Michael might be getting a very interesting “tattoo” today. I open my jar of “ink” and dab the needle inside. I bring the needle to Michael’s ankle.
He grips the armrests of the chair until his fingers turn white. “I’m only doing this because I love you, Len,” he says.
My hand freezes, the needle less than a millimeter away from his skin. What would it be like to have someone love you enough that they risk getting tetanus from a stranger to prove it?
