Page 4 of The Vampire and the Tattooist (The Vampire and Series Book 4)
Hunter smiled as he hit the order button. Done. Now all he had to do was wait for the soup to be delivered. He didn’t like the thought of Gavin not feeling well. He wanted to go and check on him, and he would, just maybe not today.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Shell popped his head round the door. “Matt’s here.”
Hunter smiled and got up. “Thanks, Shell.”
He walked into the reception area and saw Matt, a long-time friend and client. “Back again?” he said as they gave each other bro hugs.
“You know it,” Matt said, grinning.
“Come on through. I’ve got everything ready for you,” Hunter said, leading him into his room.
As Matt entered, he pulled off his t-shirt and sat down on the tattooing chair. Matt noticed that the picture he”d sent over was sitting next to the ink colours and tattooing machine.
Hunter washed his hands, then pulled on a pair of blue gloves before sitting on his stool next to Matt. “So, just checking, you still want this design and for me to freehand it?”
“Yep, perfect,” Matt said.
“How”s the family?” Hunter asked as he wiped over Matt’s skin with an antibacterial wipe.
Matt sighed happily. “The family is great. Jay and Abby are expecting twins. They announced it at dinner last night.”
“Congratulations, I’ll send them something,” Hunter said, grabbing his machine and dipping it in the black ink.
“The whole family is over the moon. It’s been hard for them. They had their hopes dashed so many times that this was the last time they were going to try IVF. The toll it was taking on them was horrible. They waited to tell us until Abby was four months along, but she’s started showing already.”
Hunter grinned and briefly looked up. “I see a lot of spoiling for Jay and Abby.”
Matt laughed. “And the twins once they’re born. I might even get their names tattooed on me.”
Hunter looked at him for a moment. “We could do a nice design, but won’t that be weird having your nieces’ or nephews’ names on you?”
Matt looked thoughtful, something which Hunter was glad about. He went back to inking up Matt’s skin and let him think about it while the machine gently buzzed.
“You might be right. I’ll wait and see,” Matt paused before saying, “Mum said she saw you out at dinner with a cute guy the other day, her words, not mine.”
Hunter felt himself smile. “Gavin. It’s early days, but I have high hopes that we can build something amazing together.”
Hunter had known Matt and his family since play school, and even though they went in different directions after school, they remained good friends.
“That’s great, Hunter. You need someone special in your life. Tell me about him.”
So as Hunter worked, he told Matt all about Gavin, about how they met, what he did, and how amazing he thought Gavin was.
“So you’re learning sign language so he doesn’t need to write everything out all the time?”
Hunter nodded. “Yeah, plus it will help if we ever get any deaf or mute customers in.”
“You’ll have to send me some links so I can learn, as well.”
Hunter looked at him in surprise.
“What? When I meet him, I want to know what he’s saying.”
“I’ll bring him to the bar soon so you can meet him,” Hunter promised.
Just then, Hunter”s phone pinged.
“Do you need to get that?” Matt asked.
Hunter shook his head. “Nope, that should just be a notification of a delivery to Gavin. I messaged him earlier asking if he fancied Italian tonight, but he’s not feeling great, so I sent him some chicken soup.”
“You old romantic, you. I hope your Gavin feels better soon.”
“Me, too.”