Page 57 of The Ninth

Duke walked him to the front and came back. He chuckled while standing over me.

“For someone who didn’t want an iPad, you wrote forty-five questions?!”

I laughed, “I knew you were going to say something!”

“Nah, I love it. Those are always extremely complicated and if you had no questions, I’d be concerned. You okay though, shorty? I didn’t ask how your night was.”

“I’m enjoying myself and it was fun as hell.”

“Mmm.”

I laughed as he walked up front, grabbing the next customer. She was all on his arm, laughing when they walked in. As soon as she seen me, her face dropped. When Duke introduced me as “my Devyn,” she didn’t say another word.

The day got away from us quickly. Halfway through, he gave me his card, telling me to order us lunch. Then he checked my phone repeatedly to make sure I kept his card on my Apple Pay. It will be deleted before I go to sleep.

For Duke to be the owner, I was surprised by the amount of people he worked on. The artist here are talented and the ratings are fire. It’s not like he needs to do it for the money. One thing I knew for sure, Duke is super talented.

“That’s it!” he sighed. I smiled as he cleaned everything down.

“You’re amazing at what you do. Why do you take so many clients and you own the place?”

“Because I’m not an owner to own or make money. I just wanted to tattoo and give other’s a chance to as well. Black people specifically. With me looking after my family, I needed to be able to make my own schedule. If I’m not busy, I’m here pretty regularly.”

“I can’t wait to be here all day....”

He chuckled and took his shirt and beater off. I finally got to see the tattoo on his ribs. Someone’s name. Gahdamnnnnn....

“I never told you what my favorite tattoo of yours was. My number one.”

I jerked my head back, “Damn...you really didn’t. I’m sorry, tell me!”

“The dragonflies.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. He went on to say how many people believe when dragonflies connect and tumble through the air, that they’re fighting. When really, they’re mating. That you rarely see one by itself, because they travel in pairs so the male can protect the female. How beautiful it was drawn. All my other drawings had long explanations, but this one just said one word: love.

I’m going to fuck this up...

I’m not falling for Duke. I’m quickly tumbling down a steep hill. Out of all the drawings, I prayed that was his number one. Yearned for him to make the connections I did. To understand when not many others would. Yeah, they may know the meaning but why it meant so much to me to draw it. Duke never failed to make me feel exposed.

“To end the day, I would like you to tattoo it on me.”

“What....”

“You’ve tattooed before, right?”

“Yeah but...you really want me to put that on you?”

“The only time you ask that question in here is when yo homegirl wanna tat her BD name and if a nigga tryna get a ball sack on his face.”

I giggled while shaking my head.

He laid on his side as I stood over him. I tried to play it off, but the emotion was heavy on me. The way he looked into my eyes let me know he knew exactly what I was feeling and why. He knew how sentimental this was and still chose to see it through. I’m seconds away from asking what we are.

Taking a deep breath, I allowed myself to slip into my zone. I wiped and shaved his skin. Cleaned everything down. Opened a new needle and applied new tape. He gave me his phone to play music. I found my playlist before sliding on gloves, going in.

Neither of us said anything as I worked on him. I used black with some bits of green and blue on the dragonflies. His bare skin smelt so good. Just like the soap in his shower. I hummed to the music while moving the needle back and forth on his skin, shading the wings.

Let it run my mood....