“Don’t take away my eye candy, Phillip,” Maureen complains behind me.
“I thought you’d popped your clogs, old man.” As I say the final two words, all I hear is Kas’ voice in my head.
Shaking the thoughts away, I follow my grandad over to his seat and pull up my own.
“So, what’s new in the tattoo world then?”
I chat away about the clients I’ve had this week, along with the designs I’ve done. He listens to every word like I’m telling him the world’s secrets. He’s always been the same. Even when I was a kid and talked more shit than I can imagine, he always listened to every word, savoured every memory with me.
“When are you going to book me an appointment?” he asks, just like he has since the day I expressed my interest in my chosen career.
“Not gonna happen, old man,” I joke.
“Why not? You know I want to die with your ink on my skin.” My stomach twists at his mention of death. I hate that it bothers me so much. He’s still relatively young but the idea of being left all alone in the world has always scared me. I guess it’s just how it is when you’re brought up by grandparents—you’ve got to accept that it might happen sooner than you’d like.
I think of Kas and how she lost the only parent she’d ever known long before her time, and my heart aches for her. She’s too young to have been forced to deal with that. It’s one thing having a parent die, but to overdose?
I blow out a breath, a move that my gramps doesn’t miss.
“What’s up, son? You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“It’s nothing,” I argue.
“Waaaaait,” he says, a shit-eating grin appearing on his face. “Is it a girl?”
I open my mouth to respond, but apparently I’m too slow, because my slight pause gives him all the answer he needs.
“Oh, it is.” He rubs his hands together in delight while I silently groan. “I’ve been waiting for this day for so long.” The delight on his face makes my heart drop. He wants nothing more than for me to find a nice young lady to settle down with—his words, not mine.
“Yeah, it’s to do with a girl, but,” I say in a rush before he gets carried away with himself, “it’s not like you’re thinking.”
“No?” he asks, disbelief written all over his face. “Enlighten me. I’ve got all day.”
Knowing that there’s no way out of this now, I sit back in my seat and reluctantly give him the basics of the situation with Kas.
“Well, that’s quite a story,” he says after a few seconds of silence once I’ve finished. “You need to talk to Zach. She’s clearly not going to do it.”
No shit.
“I know,” I agree. “I’m heading there next.”
“So… is she pretty?” he asks with a twinkle in his eye.
I roll my eyes at him. “Gramps, she’s ten years younger than me. She’s basically a kid.”
“And yet, she’s not. She’s an adult, and as far as I’m concerned, age is just a number. You’re only as old as how you feel.”
“Around her, I feel as if I’m ancient,” I mutter.
“Nonsense.”
“She’s Zach’s sister. She’s off-limits,” I say, much like I did earlier—which he chose to ignore.
“That may be so, but I’ve not seen that look on your face when you talk about her for a lot of years. It would be a shame to see it go to waste.”
“And, I think that’s my cue to leave.” I push to stand, ready to say goodbye, but as I get closer, he snatches up my hand, making me look at him.
“Stop being so scared. History doesn’t always repeat itself.”
I open my mouth to ask how he knows that, but I know it’s pointless. I’ll just get the same words he always says.
Stop writing things off before you’ve even given them a chance.
“Yeah, I know,” I say weakly, hoping it’ll get him off my case.
“Be honest with Zach. He’ll appreciate hearing it now rather than later.”
“Thanks, Gramps. Same time next week?”
“You got it. Unless you’re otherwise engaged, of course.” He winks, and a small part of me dies at what he’s suggesting.
“Bros over hoes, Gramps. Bros over hoes,” I mutter as I make my way out, much to his amusement.
I say goodbye to Maureen, who gives me a knowing smile—I’m assuming from having eavesdropped our entire conversation.
“She sounds like a firecracker, Spike. They’re always the most fun.”
With colour staining my cheeks, I make my way out of the building and toward my bike.
I guess there’s no time like the present than to go and tell Zach all of his sister’s secrets. I guess only time will tell as to which will cause me bodily harm first.
As is almost always the case on a Monday, Rebel Ink is in darkness as I pull up in front of the building and kill the engine.
I look up to the flat above, but I don’t see any movement. A little bit of hope trickles in that he won’t be here and I’ll be able to get out of this.
I know it would make me a total pussy, but Zach’s a perceptive little fucker, and I have a feeling he’s going to see through me. I might have managed to resist so far, but fuck if I’ve not had plenty of less than admirable thoughts about his little sister, especially when her all but naked body was pressed up against mine.
“Fuck,” I mutter, pushing my key into the lock and letting myself in.
My cock swells as I think about that white lace lingerie set she was wearing last night. I assume it was meant to make her look innocent, much like the school uniform the night before. But fuck, the way she moved… that was anything but innocent.
I clear my throat as I begin to climb the stairs to his flat. I need that image
