Page 38

CHAPTER 38

KING

POISON ON POISON

After my meeting with Coach Lawson to give him the current update on Willow— she’s doing good, she’s making friends, I think about her every second of every day, fuck, don’t tell him that —I should’ve focused on football or my gym slots but how the fuck could I?

Willow protected me from Elijah. She could’ve left it alone—it wasn’t her problem—but she did it for me .

Did she? Was that part of the game too?

Mind whirling, I drove to my tattoo artist in Second Ward with the guys. I handed the recommendation to Adam, to fix up the tattoo he got for Piper last semester. The shop was off-campus, hopefully to give me the clarity I needed.

I pulled open the door and my tattoo artist glanced over the wall divider.

"King!"

I motioned the guys to the back of the shop where Hali’a sat in her chair, tattooing a Pomeranian on an old lady’s calf.

"She has headphones in, don’t worry," Hali’a said, continuing her work. "I thought you weren’t getting your sleeve finished until after summer?"

"I’m not here for me. This is Hali’a" I motioned to the guys. "Hali’a, this is Ryan and Adam."

"Football players?"

Adam picked up one of the design books. "I’ve been known to play recreationally. At the Y."

"We’re Marrs players too," Ryan said. "King highly recommends this place."

"I’m honored . It’s my cousin’s shop, I’m only in on Wednesdays through Fridays but you can always book on our socials." She started sterilizing the tattoo and carefully wrapped it, still talking. "I have a four o’clock but we could lay some foundation down."

I glanced over Adam’s shoulder at the design book. It looked like she added to it since the last time I came in. "Just a consultation today."

"What am I consulting? What’s the canvas?"

Adam passed the book to me, took off his shirt, and bent down to show the turtle on his back.

"I—uh—" Hali’a clicked her tongue, trying not to grin. "Is the head supposed to be a smiley face?"

"Nope. I was drunk when I got it."

"Yeah…looks like it. What’s your pain threshold?"

Adam grinned. "I’m a football player."

"But are you on King’s level or do we need to do it in sections?"

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.

"Do you know what a cadaver is? It’s a corpse. The ones they use to experiment shit on, like Frankenstein stuff. Here, King’s a cadaver. His pain tolerance is the best I’ve seen and he doesn’t need breaks. Never flinches. Nothing gets to him. What’s the longest one we’ve done?"

I shrugged, flipping the pages of the book.

"Yeah, I’m not King." Adam laughed. "And, no offense, Hali’a. You’re wrong about him."

"No, I’m right. I’ve fixed up more than twenty of his tattoos."

He threw a knowing glance my way. "Shit gets to him. We’re trying to kick him off of it."

"Ooo, what’s King getting into?"

"A girl."

"A girl? " she repeated, shocked. "Is that why you don’t want my cousin’s number? She likes you."

"I don’t want your cousin’s phone number because I don’t want to find another tattoo artist," I muttered. But how much did that make sense? I used to have an iron-clad rule against mixing business and pleasure. Yeah. Sure. That held up so well.

"I’ll take the cousin’s number," Adam said. "We’re setting him up on some dates. He’s getting over this girl."

"Ooo, I have a neighbor too."

Ryan shot a glance my way. "The sculpture major is still waiting for you to call her."

I ignored all of them. If that got back to Willow…she wouldn’t care. She could deal with jealousy, I couldn’t. Which shocked the hell out of me, I’d never been jealous like that. Ever.

"Now that you’re not doing that dumb shit…?" Adam trailed off. "Can I see what the girl looks like?"

I grunted.

"What’s the harm?"

There’s a lot of potential harm.

"Is she a corpse too?" Hali’a teased. "Tim Burton couple."

I flipped a few more pages. "She doesn’t have tattoos."

"Woah. Really?"

"What is she like?" Ryan said. "Kassie wants to know."

"I don’t know." What was Willow like? "She’s—uh—she’s the coolest person I’ve ever met."

Adam leaned back. " What? Cooler than me?"

"Yeah. Way cooler. Even when she’s embarrassed or stumbling over her words, you can’t look away from her. Being near her…it’s like getting hooked up to those heart palpitation machines." I frowned. "What are those called?"

"The AEDs?" Hail’a offered. "The defibrillators?"

"Those. Yeah. She's so talented. You wouldn’t believe how talented she is." I thought about the way Willow could skip over notes in a song, like the rhythm didn’t set the rules, she did. "So beautiful. I could look at her forever and it wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t even come close."

Flipping through the book, I stopped about halfway, and stared at the page.

"Did you cut it off?" Adam asked slowly. "Because it doesn’t sound cut off."

"As long as it’s not affecting football, why does it matter?" Ryan shrugged.

"Are you serious, Ryan? Because King’s an accomplice ."

Hali’a paused. "Accomplice?"

"She has a boyfriend ," Adam replied, an edge to his words. "So, King’s diving into Cheating Land, dick first."

"Woah." Hali’a gaped at me. " King ."

"It’s complicated," I muttered, gazing down at the book. Because it was complicated. It was complicated and twisted and messy and the more time I spent with Willow, the harder and harder it was to look away from her.

How am I supposed to cut this off?

The elderly lady piped up. "Are we done yet?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Hali’a offered her an apologetic smile and rang up her tattoo at the front of the shop. Adam took his place in the chair for the consultation.

I ran my thumb over the design in the book. Hali’a didn’t have an actual appointment until four.

Bad fucking idea, King .

Getting the tattoo was incredibly stupid but losing Willow felt more and more like poison every day. I wanted something to remember her. Which wouldn’t be the antidote. Just poison on more poison.

"Hali’a?" I called over my shoulder. "Do you have any sticky notes?"

"In the back!"

"I’m thinking about getting something done after all."

Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it.

"Tomorrow? Or is it quick?"

"It’s quick," I said and jotted down the message before I stamped it on the inside of the book.

The guys talked about the trip to Austin, but I held open the design book for Hali’a to see.

Her eyes widened when she spotted the note.

I want this one.

I’ll tip five hundred if you don’t say the name out loud.