The Rules of Dating(20)

“No.”

“Good. I would’ve felt crappy if you’d gotten it.”

“Is she okay now?”

“Yeah. We waited a full twenty-four hours on day three to make sure she was over it. But she went back to preschool today.”

“Thank goodness. I can’t imagine how horrible that must’ve been.”

“Yeah. Real sexy to be covered in vomit for two days straight, right? That’ll make you change your mind about dating me.”

“Actually, the fact that you’re such a good, hands-on dad is one of the sexiest things about you.” Agh. Speaking without thinking again. Given that I had no desire to date someone with a kid, I didn’t quite understand why him being a good father was such a turn-on. But it was. Still didn’t need to share it, Billie.

“Well, that’s a great note to head to work on. I’ll take that compliment and run with it. Unfortunately, I’m running a bit late, so…”

I waved him off. “Go! Go.”

Colby looked over my shoulder, and I turned to find his friend Holden had suddenly appeared. I’d almost forgotten he’d booked the first appointment of the day.

“Whaddup?” Holden said.

“What are you doing?” Colby asked.

“I’m actually headed over to Billie’s.”

Colby’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing there?”

“You know that tat I have of Hailey’s name?”

Colby’s brow lifted. “Yeah?”

“I’m finally getting rid of it. Billie is going to cover it up for me.”

When Holden booked the appointment, he’d mentioned he wanted to remove an ex-girlfriend’s name from his lower abdomen. We’d decided to have him look through some of my designs first since he didn’t have a clue what he wanted.

“Isn’t that practically down by your dick?” Colby groaned. “The one you said you got so she’d see her name when she was going down on you?”

“That’s the one. Down by the V…not the dick, though.” Holden laughed.

“Trust me,” I said. “There’s a big difference between ‘practically down’ by someone’s dick and actually on someone’s dick. I’ve tattooed both, so I should know.”

Colby’s eyes widened. “You’ve tattooed someone’s dick before?”

“I have.”

“That’s awesome.” Holden laughed. “I wanna see pics, if you have them.”

I’d expected Colby to laugh, too, but his face was stone cold. He didn’t look happy about any of this. Not the V nor the dick.

Colby cleared his throat. “Well, you two have fun. I’ve got to get to work.”

Holden and I watched him walk away for a few seconds before he followed me into the shop. Once the door closed behind us, he turned to me. “What the hell was that all about?”

I played dumb. “What do you mean?”

“Colby looking like he wanted to murder me.”

“Really?”

“You didn’t notice?”

“Notice what?” I blinked.

“The look on his face when he found out what you were helping me with!”

“I wasn’t paying attention to his face,” I lied.

“Well, I was. I know my friend. He did not like the fact that you’d be touching me. He must like you, Billie. Colby hasn’t been into anyone in a long while.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It must be your imagination.”

“He likes you,” he repeated. “He mentioned that you guys hung out the other night, too, right? So don’t tell me I’m imagining things.”

Feeling my face heat, I pointed. “Mind your beeswax, and get in the chair. We got work to do. I have a fully booked day.”

Holden dropped the subject of Colby as we looked through the drawings I’d put together based on our last consultation. He settled on a series of musical notes intertwined together as they flowed from the mouth of a bird and wrapped around two drumsticks. It would be a little challenging to fully cover the name with the art he wanted, but I knew I could figure it out. I hadn’t screwed up a tattoo yet and wasn’t planning on starting today.

Holden settled into the seat, and I got going on his ink. I usually didn’t like to talk while I was working, but Holden was chatty. I’d been sort of half-listening to the stuff he said about the music scene. But when he changed the subject to Colby, my ears perked up.

“You know, Colby used to be the biggest player of all of us,” he noted.

I pretended like I wasn’t fully invested in this particular topic of conversation, careful not to look up from what I was doing. “Is that right?”

“Yeah. Well, not in high school. But pretty much the second half of college until…well, until Saylor.”

“What was the deal in high school?” I asked.

“Colby was in love with his high-school girlfriend, Bethany. But she decided it would be better if they went their separate ways after graduation since they were going to different schools. It wasn’t exactly his choice, so that first year, he was obsessed with finding out what she was doing—and with whom—while she was away.”

I struggled to gobble up every word through the sound of my needle.