Page 80 of Psychotic Nightmares

“Umm,” I look between my arm and leg, “I dunno.” I shrug.

“Arm.” Dante says from the doorway. “Trust me, you would want to show off Julian's work. I do.” He flexes his arm where the cerberus tattoo sits. “He didthis one too.” He strokes the cherry blossom and Chinese dragon tattoo I picked. To my disappointment, he now has on some grey jogging bottoms.

“You did?” I gasp, facing Julian who is popping ink into little pots.

“I did. He wouldn’t let me change a thing. Said someone special picked the design. I guess that was you?” He chuckles.

“Yeah.” I bite my lip. “So what are you doing for me?”

“It’s a surprise.” I try to take a closer look at the colours. I see a mix of oranges, yellows and red. They remind me of flames.

“Uh-uh.” Dante’s fingers lift my chin to face him. “No peeking,gattina.” I glare at him playfully. “If you keep trying to look, I will just have to distract you.” He hands me a fresh cup of coffee.

“Keep pumping me with drinks and snacks and I guess I won't look,” I smirk. “I need to regain some energy.”

“You’ll spoil your dinner.” He tuts. “But, I can distract you another way.”

“Hmm, how.” Julian pulls down the sleeve of the robe, leaving me half naked on the table. Then starts to clean the spot where he’s about to tattoo.

“Stay still, treasure.” Julian picks up the tattoo gun and a buzzing sound fills the room. “No matter what.” The tone in his voice is playful as he smiles at Dante. “Now, don’t look.”

I take a sip of my coffee as he starts, I thought it would hurt more, but instead it feels good.

Really good.

It reminds me of that one time…

“Why do you have so many tattoos?” I ask Mr Stalker, he has just taken his shirt and pants off for them to dry after being caught in the pouring rain.

Yet he still keeps the fucking mask on.

God, what I wouldn’t do to see what's under there.

I handhim a towel and put his clothes in the dryer, noticing his legs are covered in tattoos, everything from a large scorpion on his left thigh to smaller random patterns on his right. I try to take a closer look, but they’re soon covered by the towel he wraps around his waist.

“Spoilsport.” I pout.

“Do you want the honest truth?” He lifts me in his arms and sits on the sofa with me in his lap. “I don’t want you to judge me, treasure.”

“I won’t.” I lean back against his chest, purposely lifting my top up to feel his skin against mine. “I promise”

“Getting tattooed is my form of self harm without actually harming myself.” He sighs quietly behind his mask. “Tattooing hurts, but not as much as slicing or burning, it’s a welcoming pain that leaves an artistic scar.”

“Oh,” I nod. “That makes sense.” I stroke over his shoulder and down his arm to his cerberus tattoo, the only one on the upper half of his body. “I never really thought about getting one, but lately I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

“Yeah?”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t know what to get though. Or where to get it.”

“I know exactly what you should get.” He slides a gloved hand up my calf, “maybe one day I can take you to get one.”

“Maybe.” I breathe, focusing on the light massage he’s giving me. “That feels so nice.”

“Lie on the sofa, treasure. I’ll give you a proper massage.”

A welcoming pain. I understand now.

We all sit in silence, letting Julian concentrate on his work. Everytime he goes to get more ink or wipes away the falling blood, he places light kisses over my neck or jaw. I finish my coffee and the sliced apple Dante brings in for me once my stomach starts rumbling, and now with nothing to focus on, I start looking around the room. It’s bare, no decorations at all. The only furniture is the chairs, table for the equipment, and massage table. I find myself slowly turning to watch Julian work.