Goodnight, Beautiful.

“If you go through with this, you have no idea how fucking impressed I will be.”

“Really?” Shirtless, Bristol examined the stencil on her ribcage. Inside her chest, she could feel her heart pounding; she was surprised it hadn’t jumped out of her chest. “How bad is it going to hurt?”

Daniel sat in a chair opposite of the artist as he filled tiny plastic cups with black ink and pulled an outlining needle out of its packaging. Lacing his fingers with Bristol’s, Dan licked his lips. It was best to be honest. “It’ll be painful but, your pain tolerance is pretty high. Besides, it’s small.”

“Are you ready, Bristol?” Turning around, Mike sanitized his latex-gloves. She nodded and let out a deep breath before squeezing Dan’s hands. He could remember his own anxiety before his first tattoo.

It should be a breeze for Bristol, he thought, she was one tough bitch. Bristol held her breath as Mike dipped the tip of the needle into the black ink. As he began to outline the design, Bristol loosened up her grip on Dan’s hand. It wasn’t as bad as she thought—until Mike went over a rib.

Seeing the look of discomfort on her face, Daniel pushed a lock of hair off her forehead. He placed a lingering kiss on the heated skin. Her cheeks were becoming flush and she was mentally cursing out her big ego. She should have just gotten it on her damn hip like Dan had suggested. But once the artist and a bunch of his buddies said she should get it on her ribcage, there was no way Bristol could back down. She had to prove she was just as tough as they are.

Readjusting the towel held in place by her bra, Mike stopped to re-ink the needle. “I’m halfway done with the outlining. Then all I have to do is shade and that takes no time. There isn’t that much.”

Letting out a pain-filled laugh, Bristol turned her head to look at Danny. “Ti odio. This hurts like a mother-fucker. How the hell did I let you talk me into this? We better be together for a long time, or else I am going to be pissed off for a long time.”

It took a total of forty-five unpleasant minutes until Mike was finally done with her first tattoo. The shop was fairly empty and when Bristol stood up, a few of the artists applauded her courage. A large smile spread across her lips as she stood in front of the full-length mirror.

Her skin was red and sore and she could see tiny needle marks in the design. Daniel came up behind her—his shirt was too removed, he was next—and placed both large hands on her shoulders. He lightly massaged them, smiling back. Bristol’s smile was always infectious. “Do you like it?”

“Are you kidding?” Bristol looked into the mirror and right into Daniel’s eyes. “I love it. And, the best part is, we match!” She ran a French manicured finger around the sore and red skin. The nautical star which was now on her body forever, matched the ones Daniel had inked on his chest.

After getting her new ink bandaged and putting her shirt back on, Bristol took a seat on the small leather couch at the front of the shop. Daniel made her wait while he got inked. Although the Bulls had won over her birthday, she still let him get whatever he wanted. She knew what it was of, but he wanted her only to see the finished product.

Crossing her legs, she picked up a magazine, absently flipping through it. Her phone went off in her purse, a short vibrate signaled a text message. She figured it was Kris wondering if she was coming home later. With Allison now in Philadelphia full-time, Bristol had just about moved all her things to Daniel’s.

Flipping her phone open, Bristol muttered a word to herself. “Shit.” Pressing the ‘read’ button, Bristol only skimmed the message. She wasn’t in the mood to reply.



No, Bristol thought, she wouldn’t be having dinner with just Danny. Since the blow up in Pittsburgh, Bristol had distanced herself from Danny. The only time they’ve spoken to each other in almost a week and a half was when she was with the boys. Just because things weren’t well between she and Danny, there was no reason for her to take it out on Caelan, Carson and Cameron. They loved her and she loved them.

The guilt of what she had done was still lying heavy on her heart and Bristol almost wished Daniel had broken up with her. It would make this a little easier. The couple would be moving into their new town-home on the coming Sunday. It was Wednesday night and Bristol was almost done packing her things at Kris’s.

Although he was sad to see her leave his place after such a short time, Kris always knew she wouldn’t be living there long. Bristol was ready to start a new live of her own, and so was he. With Allison now there, he no longer had to play referee and officiate possible blow ups. When the guys found out she and Dan were moving in together, they began harassing the couple and asking when they should be expecting an engagement announcement in the mail. In typical fashion, both told the men to fuck off and mind their own business.

Besides, they were just moving in together. Marriage wasn’t in the minds of either Dan or Bristol. Picking up her phone, Bristol responded to Danny’s message. It was the least she could do.



Five minutes had past and it really wasn’t a surprise when he didn’t respond back. Tossing the magazine on the glass table, Bristol crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the clock on the wall behind the desk. They had only been there for about an hour and a half. When she saw Mike wipe Dan’s chest clean, Bristol stood up and walked over to the chair. Her heels clacked against the wood floor and she sat in the same chair Dan had while it had been her turn.

“Looks good, doesn’t it?” Dan looked down. He was proud of all of his tat’s but this was by far his favorite.

Bristol nodded. It was weird seeing an imprint of her lips tattooed on his left peck. While they were in the car headed to the shop, Dan made her kiss a McDonald’s napkin with red lipstick on. The artist did a phenomenal job tracing the kiss off the napkin and it looked realistic—not cartoon-ish.

“It looks really good. Maybe for my second one I’ll have you do the same thing but, indeed, I’ll get it done on my left butt cheek. That way, you’re always kissing my ass.” She smiled sarcastically while Dan leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers for a smooth.

“Your sense of humor just cracks me up.”