Hold Onto Me

“Hello, my lady,” the one with the brown eyes so cheerfully greeted. “I’m Liam, and this here is my lad Niall.”

The one with the blonde hair’s smile turned a bit impish. “Hey there.”

The one with the longer hair waved. “And I’m Harry. Niall’s been thinking of getting a tattoo lately, and we heard you were a great place to go for your first tattoo.”

My eyebrows rose. “Really?”

Harry nodded. “Indeed. The place we both went hurt like hell, but Niall’s a bit of a wimp, and we want him to have a good experience.”

“Well, I can’t help the pain all that much,” I admitted, and I bit my lip. “Hmm. But I have some pineapple vodka in the back to help get your mind off it.”

Niall’s eyes widened. “Seriously? I could use a few shots right now. I’m a wee bit nervous.”

I looked back over to the blonde one, and I noticed how attractive he was. It wasn’t really something I missed, as they were all pretty attractive, but seeing the way those cyan eyes shimmered, or the light illuminating off his nervous smile, was captivating. He had a perfect jawline, a flawless face structure, and you could see definition in the muscles he had.

Not too much, however, like Gracie’s boyfriend who worked out when he wasn’t sleeping with her or working.

I bit my bottom lip and nodded. “Yeah. I usually only crack it open when I’m closing, but it really helps with first time jitters.”

Harry looked over at Niall with a huge smile. “See? Told you this was the place to go!”

Liam looked a bit irritated, but it seemed more playful than real. “Why weren’t you here when Harry and I got our first tattoos?”

I let out a brief laugh and shrugged. “I’m barely old enough to be here now. I’m surprised you’re allowed to come here, if we’re being honest. I didn’t think a twenty-one year old would be trusted to tattoo someone so important.”

Niall’s nose crinkled. “I wouldn’t say important.”

“Just money makers,” Harry admitted, and I could see how truly sad this made all three of them. “We’re important to some people out there, I suppose, but to those who made you sign the contract, we’re just piles of money.”

“That’s absolutely horrible.”

Liam shrugged. “Yeah, but we’re not really here for all this depressing shit. Niall, tell this lovely lady what you’re thinking about!”

Niall sighed. “Well, that’s jus tha thing. I don’t know exactly what I want.”

“He was telling us on the way over that he was thinking of getting a couple dates put on his ribs,” Liam informed me, when Niall seemed to be at a loss for words. “The date he auditioned for the X Factor and the date we formed, as a band.”

My lips pressed together. “Hmm. Well, I can do that. You want anything above it, below it? Some sort of inspirational life quote or anything?”

Niall’s eyebrows rose as his smile grew. “What do ya have in mind?”

“Tell me some stuff about yourself,” I suggested. “It’s hard to give you a good life quote if I don’t know much about your life.”

“I’m Irish, so I drink a lot,” Niall said, letting out a laugh as Harry snorted from beside him. “I try to be a good person. I like ta laugh and make others laugh.”

My eyebrows knit together. “How about this? Laugh as much as you breathe. Love as long as you live.”

Niall’s eyes widened. “Holy shit! How do ya do that so well? That’s . . . perfect.”

I shrugged and let out a laugh of my own. “I’ve been doing this for a bit over a year now. You’d be surprised how many people come in here wanting words put somewhere on their body, usually a quote from somewhere. I’ve got all kinds.”

Harry’s eyebrows rose. “Alright. Let’s see what you’ve got. Give me something that basically summarizes a long journey of exploration.”

“I climbed this tree to see the world.”

Harry looked as surprised as Niall, and maybe it was because how simple it seemed. Though it seemed simple, it wasn’t. Climbing a tree isn’t all that easy, and it’s a rough journey sometimes. Sometimes, it’s easy, while others, it isn’t. Sometimes you can reach from branch to branch, but then sometimes you have to jump and take risks.

“Something about the world and its power to destroy you?” Liam tried.

“Do not let the world make you hard and heavy. All beautiful things are wild and free.”

Liam turned to the man who had entered initially and cleared his throat. “Is it possible to add our names to that contract?” Liam turned back to me and raised an eyebrow. “If you have the time?”

“I’ve got all day,” I sighed. “You’re the first people to—actually, no. Take that back. One guy came and wanted me to do a scar tattoo.”

Niall raised one eyebrow at me. “What’s that?”

I grimaced. “You give them the tattoo by carving away parts of their flesh so it scars and leaves a permanent mark that way.”

All three of them look absolutely mortified, so surprised by this that they didn’t even notice as the man set the paper on the table and began making some changes to it. I didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but I figured I’d have to sign again.

Sure enough, his gaze met mine, and he gestured to the contract. “Just sign by the changes.”

I did it without hesitation, as these three were nothing like I expected. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to expect when I had to sign that contract, but they were nice lads. Genuinely.

“Alright, so you three decide exactly what you want and where, and I’ll start making a sketch of everything,” I said, and I immediately moved over to my work area. It was in the center of the room, right by the chair I would have each of them sit in.

I opened my printer paper notebook and wrote the last letter of their names at the top. Normally, I would put an entire first name, but with the contract, I wasn’t sure if that was okay. So I just went with something people wouldn’t understand.

I started with Niall’s, writing the quote in a rather jagged print. I spaced it out so that the sentences would be two separate lines, the second one centered, but they weren’t so spaced out that it would take up too much room.

I looked over at Niall, who looked very curious as he watched me work. “What dates did you want to get down today?”

Niall’s eyebrows knit together. “April 15, 2010, and July 23, 2010.”

I nodded and leaned back against my chair. “Alright. There are many different ways I can do the date. Do you want numbers, words, roman numerals?”

Niall’s eyebrows rose. “Can you show me what that would look like?”

I quickly began sketching out each date he mentioned as a roman numeral. XV.IV.MMX, XIII.VII.MMX. “I’ve also had people ask me to spell out each word.”

Niall pressed his lips together. “Hmm. I like the roman numerals. I think spelling out each word would take a lotta room.”

“It would,” I agreed. “Usually that’s for when I’m doing dates on someone’s wrist, and they don’t plan to get anything else. So,”—I quickly sketched the numerals in a way to match the print, a bit jagged looking and centered—“does this look good?”

Niall looked at the page and got this huge smile, something I got to experience often. Usually, a person getting a tattoo was a joyous event. Seeing exactly what they wanted on paper made them happier than they were before, and that smile . . . I recognized it, even if it looked different somehow on Niall.

What about his smile was so different? Sure it was a gorgeous smile, and it made his eyes sparkle more than they already were, but was it really that different?

Yes.

“That’s perfect,” he said, and he cleared his throat. “So what do I need to do?”

“You said you wanted it on your ribs, right?”

He nodded. “Right side.”

“Take your shirt off and show me exactly where,” I murmured, and I was surprised at how quickly he followed instructions. Usually, when I told people to remove clothes, they got a bit nervous and took some time. Not Niall.

He had no reason to be nervous, really. His muscles were as sculpted as they appeared, and you could even see some definition in his abs. Very attractive, so much I had to blink a few times and remind myself that I absolutely couldn’t stare.

When he gestured to the area he wanted me to tattoo, I stood from my chair and went to get everything I needed from the back. The gloves, the vodka, the rubbing alcohol, and the shot glass.

Niall looked relieved when I handed him the vodka and shot glass, but he was genuinely scared now. When he smirked at me, I realized he was trying to play off this fear and decided to go with it.

“Want one, too?”

“Getting the person permanently marking your body drunk isn’t the best idea,” I said, but I laughed after I did. “Though I do know this one guy who does all his tattoos drunk. They come out better that way.”

Niall laughed. “You make a fair point. How about we get drinks after then?”

Going with his attempt at diverting his fear headed south very quickly, and not because going out with Niall seemed all that horrifying. It’s just how selfish and dangerous it was that made it such a terrible thing.

I was, for once, relieved I had a way out that didn’t involve being rude. “You know, that sounds awesome, but I actually have this thing.”

Niall snorted. “You can just say no.”

“No, really!” I insisted, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “I actually have this thing I’d rather not admit out-loud. It involves dressing up in horrifying dresses.”

“Are you a bridesmaid or something?” Harry laughed.

I grimaced. “I wish it was that easy. Then it’d be an occasional thing. My friend’s actually a new up and coming designer, and she needs me to wear this dress for her boss—this whole horrifying deal involving uncomfortable amounts of makeup, and probably deathly heels. So I may not live to see past that.”

“Well, you better because I plan to come back here,” Harry said, and he immediately took the chair next to Niall, who, during the conversation, had started downing shot after shot.

Five shots in, he wasn’t drunk, but he was much more at ease.

I took a deep breath and began properly cleaning the area I was going to tattoo. “Okay. Let’s do this.”