Page 29 of Sugar & Ink
“I know I’m good.”
I laughed. “There he is.”
“Who?”
“The ego.”
He snorted. “Not ego.”
“What then?”
“Confidence.”
I looked back at the wall. Fair.
The man had opened his own business at twenty-one and kept it running for eight years. Confidence seemed earned.
My eyes drifted to the tattoo chair in the middle of the room.
Rome followed my gaze.
Silence stretched.
Then...
“You thinking about getting one?”
I crossed my arms. “Maybe.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’ve never had one.”
“How do you know?”
“You’d show it off.”
I scoffed. “You think everyone with tattoos shows them off?”
“No.”
His gaze swept over me. “You’d hide yours.”
The certainty in his voice irritated me mostly because he was right. I looked down at my hands. “I’ve thought about it.”
“For how long?”
“Years.”
“What stopped you?”
I laughed. “Life.” That was easier than saying Bruce.
Rome didn’t push which somehow made me want to tell him.
“My ex hated tattoos,” I blurted.
Rome’s jaw tightened. “He tell you what you could and couldn’t do often?”
I shrugged. “More than I realized.”
