Page 29 of Always Love You More

He walks over, and I hand it to him.

“You got any ink?” my father asks.

Johnny nods. “A couple.”

“Well, get another one.”

“I don’t—”

My father holds up a hand, silencing him. “You don’t gotta pay. It’s a perk of the job.”

“All right, thanks,” Johnny says, closing the book and starting from the front.

Big Jim comes over and says he’s all set up. I tell him what I want and wait as he draws it. Then I drop into the chair and let him prep my arm.

My father pulls up a seat, and my mother slides onto his lap, Marcus and Johnny coming to stand beside me.

Soon, the tattoo gun buzzes to life. It presses into my skin and, after a couple minutes, I relax into the pain. I close my eyes, and a sense of calm washes over me. I listen to everyone talk around me, my heartrate finally beginning to slow.

“Okay, kid, you’re done,” Big Jim says.

I blink my eyes open.How is he already finished?

“That was quick.”

He snorts. “Been over an hour.”

Really?

My father looms over me. “Let me see.”

I turn toward him.

His lips pull up. “That’s a good first piece.” Then motions toward the bathroom. “Go check it out.”

When I walk back into the room after seeing the tattoo for myself, Big Jim laughs. “I know that look,” he says. “You already want another one, don’t know.”

“That obvious, huh?”

He starts to wrap my shoulder. “Been doing this a long time,” he mutters. “And people who sit like you do,” He shakes his head. “They never stop coming back.”

Chapter 8

Sam

I’mstartingtogocrazy. School got out almost three weeks ago, and I’ve barely left the house.

Johnny’s been gone during the day, and I’m usually already in bed before he gets home.

It sucks that he’s never around. But it also means that if I want to go anywhere, I have to ask either Carson or my father to take me. The few times I’ve been desperate enough to ask either of them for a ride, they always say no. So, I’m left stranded at home with nothing to do and nobody to talk to.

The sun set a few hours ago, and I’m holed up in my room. I spent the day cleaning the house, cooking and reading in-between. I’ve been trying to go to the library, but it’s too far to walk and, according to my father, I’m not allowed towander around the streets alone. So, I’ve just been reading the few books I own over and over again. Hopefully, Johnny can take me soon.

I’m sitting on my bed, readingJane Eyrefor probably the dozenth time, and the words are starting to bleed together.

I slam the book shut. Then, pushing off my bed, I begin to pace, feeling like I’m starting to lose it. I open the door to the hall, debating if I should go downstairs. I hear the sound of the TV and peer over the banister. Carson is on the couch next to our father, and there are enough beer bottles spread over the coffee table that I know better than to go down there.

Sighing, I head back for my room and lock the door. Shuffling through my purse, I find one of the joints I’ve been saving since the day I stole a couple from Jameson.