Helena Hunting - Inked Armour

In late February the case went to trial. Things moved a lot faster than I expected them to, which was both a relief and a challenge.

Tenley adjusted my tie and smoothed the lapels of my suit jacket. “I think we’re ready.”

I hugged her hard. “Whatever you hear today, please remember all of this happened a long time ago.”

“And I want you to remember that whatever comes out during the trial isn’t going to change anything. I’m still going to be here, trying to remember not to leave my panties on the closet floor.”

I smiled into her shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Never doubt that.” She took my hand and opened the door to the courtroom.

I could have sat through the whole trial and listened to Brett and Damen and Cross give their versions of events, but it wouldn’t change the outcome. The only thing I wanted at this point was justice, in the form of incarceration. It was the reason I was taking the stand.

My anxiety ratcheted up as we were escorted to the front of the room. I recognized a lot of faces: girls who worked at The Dollhouse and managed to move on, others who hadn’t. Some of Damen’s employees were among them, as well. They all sat together, united in their stand against the people who had wronged them.

Sienna sat in the second row on the opposite side of the courtroom. She was hard to miss in the orange jumpsuit. She looked pitifully fragile and small. The scar on her face was more noticeable without makeup. It was likely orchestrated to make people feel sorry for her. She looked at me when I passed, her regret obvious. Damen had knocked her off her pedestal and then some. Beyond being subpoenaed to testify for this case, she was also up on myriad other charges. No matter how much she plea-bargained, she would do time for her offenses. I almost felt sorry for her. In her own fucked-up way, she’d cared about me once, but she’d never been what I needed.

I was the only person to take the stand. Even though I’d been given an idea as to what I might be asked, the questions were still painful to answer. I kept my focus on the front row, where my family was. Cassie, Nate, Chris, Lisa, Jamie, and Sarah were all there, a wall of solidarity and support. In the middle was Tenley. She was the reason I got through it—because once it was over, I had someone worth moving on for.

I didn’t go back to the courtroom after that. There was no need. While the trial lasted weeks, the jury was quick to reach a verdict. All three of them got time behind bars.

Hayden looked up from his station when I entered the shop. “Give me a few. Nate and I are almost done.”

“As in done done?” I leaned over the counter where Lisa was, dropped my purse on the floor, and gave her a one-armed hug.

“You need to check it out,” Lisa said. “Cassie’s going to freak when she sees it.”

As I went to take a peek, Nate put up a hand to stop me, and Hayden batted it down. “I’m shading in her face, you stupid fuck—don’t move.”

“You’re not even working on this arm.”

“Doesn’t matter. You move one appendage, the rest of your upper body shifts.” Hayden’s eyes stayed on the design but he pointed right at me. “You. Stay where you are until I’m finished.”

I took a step back. “Sorry, cupcake.”

The tattoo machine lifted from Nate’s arm as Hayden raised his head to glare at me.

Chris, who had been working on a client of his own, stopped what he was doing. “Did I hear that right? Did Tee just call you ‘cupcake’?”

Lisa stifled a laugh. I went behind the counter and used her as a barricade.

“I thought we agreed you’d keep that to yourself,” Hayden said.

“It was a slip.” Sort of.

“You’d better watch it. No one’s going to be around later to save your ass.” He went back to tattooing Nate’s arm.

“Promises, promises.”

I could see him smiling even though his head was down. His hair had grown out some since the trial ended. It was almost in his face again, as it had been when I’d first met him. I liked it a little longer, so he hadn’t gotten it cut.

He took his time with the last few lines of ink. After he put the machine down, he spent longer than necessary checking it over. “All right. You’re good. I’ll want to have a look at it in a week or two in case it needs a touch-up, but we’re done for now.” Hayden’s satisfaction was evident.

Nate pushed up out of the chair. He was wearing a thin wife-beater; his button-down shirt and tie hung neatly on a hook by Hayden’s station. The first thing I noticed—but tried not to—was the outline of a steel ring at his left pec.

“Is that—”

“A nipple ring?” Lisa finished. “I did that for Cassie’s birthday a few years back.”

“Those two are kinda freaky, aren’t they?”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Her grin said it all.

I held up a hand to stop her. I had no desire to hypothesize about any other metal Nate might have. “And I’m good with that.”

Nate and Hayden had gone to the three-way mirror to check out the finished ink.

“When’s your next session?” Lisa pulled at the neck of my offthe-shoulder shirt, peeking down my back at the mostly finished design.

“I have no idea.”

I’d been in Hayden’s chair four times in the past eight weeks; two more sessions and I’d be done. He was taking his sweet time with the shading because it needed to be perfect, and he still didn’t want to work on me for longer than two hours.

I had a feeling he was prolonging it intentionally. It was the place Hayden felt most comfortable sharing what happened during his appointments with Beatrice, so I wasn’t in a rush to lose the time with him. With only two sessions left, I worried how we would achieve the same connection elsewhere.

Lisa clicked the mouse and pulled up Hayden’s schedule. “How’s next Friday night work for you? He’s got two hours blocked off at the end for no reason I can see.”

“That’ll be two weeks since the last session, which is perfect. He has no reason to say no.” Although he was pretty damn good at coming up with one if he wanted to.

Lisa slotted me in.

“All right, girls. Hayden gives the okay to look,” Nate called out.

He angled his arm to give us an unobstructed view of the art. The likeness to Cassie was remarkable. The pin-up version of her was both demure and sexy.

“It’s gorgeous. Cassie’s going to love it,” Lisa said.

Nate smirked. “I’m banking on that. It’s been a pain in the ass keeping it bandaged so she can’t see it. I woke up twice last week to her sneaking a look in the middle of the night.”

“What a shocker,” Hayden said drily. “Let’s cover that up. No friction for at least a few days, Nate. I don’t want to have a two-hour touch-up session.”

“I’ll tell Cassie to be gentle.”

“Dude, really? Don’t you have a censor?”

“Have you taken Tenley back to see the house yet, or are you just partial to the garage?” Nate needled him.

Hayden turned around, ready to fire off another dig. The color of my face was likely the reason he didn’t.

Nate dropped back into the chair. “By the way, if you were thinking to take Tenley there to see it, tonight or tomorrow would probably be good.”

Hayden raised a brow but didn’t look at Nate. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Nate nodded, watching Hayden smooth the cellophane over the tattoo and secure it with medical tape.

Obviously something was going on, but whatever it was, neither of them seemed inclined to talk about it while Lisa and I were hovering over them. I was glad Hayden and Nate had grown closer over the past months, but I didn’t like not being in the loop.

“So,” Nate said as he pushed his arm carefully through his sleeve, “when is Jamie starting your pin-up?”

“Uh . . . I, uh—we haven’t talked about it—” Hayden stammered.

Lisa coughed to cover an expletive.

“Pin-up?” I asked.

“Oh, shit,” Nate said quietly.

“Would someone care to share?” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

Lisa was the one who answered. “Hayden’s been toying with the idea of getting another tattoo for a while. He has a design in mind, but he and Jamie are still working on placement, so nothing’s come of it yet.”

“Why haven’t I seen it?” I asked.

This was the second time I felt that I was missing something since I’d come into the shop. Even Lisa knew about the prospective tattoo.

Hayden rocked back on his heels. “I wanted it to be perfect before I showed it to you.”

“Is it perfect now?”

“Not quite, but I have a copy in my filing cabinet at home. You can have a look later.”

“Sure.” I backed off, aware there was more to this with the way Lisa was twirling the end of her hair and Nate was overly interested in his tie.

Nate tried to pay Hayden, but he refused to take the money. It was after nine by the time Hayden finished cleaning up his station. His first client the next day required one of the private rooms, so he took me with him to set up. I sat down in the tattoo chair and played with the recline lever while Hayden gathered ink and the various implements required for the session.

“So, I was thinking.” He dropped down on the stool beside me. “Maybe you want to go look at the house tonight?”

“So I can see the inside this time?” Cassie hadn’t stopped with the little barbs about that.

“That’s what I had planned.”

“I’d like that.”

“Though if you want to spend a little extra time in the garage, I wouldn’t be opposed.” He rubbed at his bottom lip, trying to hide his smile.