So here we go ... a new story. Huge thank you to AWayWithWords who read and edited this for me quite a while ago. All mistakes are mine, as I tend to dabble.
As always all things Twilight don't belong to me, but this story line does.
CHAPTER 1
"Your eight o'clock just called, they will be running ten minutes late," Alice tells me with a click of her tongue ring on her teeth.
"Thanks, Ali, that gives me more time here," I say before going back to shading Rose's tattoo.
"Got big plans for tonight, Bell?" Rose asks me.
"Not sure, it will depend on this guy who's coming in next. If he wants to start working on his tattoo right away, then I will be here for a while. He's a tattoo artist himself, and he called a few weeks ago. He said that he'd seen some of my work, and wanted to come in with his art to see if I was interested in doing it for him. He said it will take a few sessions, as he wants it to cover his entire back."
"Do you know what it is yet?"
"No, not much anyway, but I can assume it will be something with black and gray realism, or portraits, since he mentioned those two things when he called about seeing my work."
"Who is it?" Rose asks.
"His name is Edward Cullen, he moved here from the Chicago area not long ago."
"What shop is he working at, did he say?"
"He didn't say, but I figured I'd ask him tonight. There you go; your vine of roses down this leg is done. Let's get you wiped down, and then you can stand up and take a look in the mirror."
After cleaning Rose's leg, she stands and moves to the mirror. She turns and gives me a huge smile. "Perfect as always, Bell, my pops would be pleased."
"Thanks, Rose. Now remember no wild ass rodeo sex, let that shit heal before you go doing anything adventurous."
"Hey, don't go ruining my mo-jo," Emmett hollers from the other room.
"What mo-jo, you're sleeping on the couch, ass-wagon," Rose states.
"Come on, Rosie," Emmett whines while the others in the shop all chuckle at him.
All of our rooms are open to the waiting area, but have doors if we need privacy. Rose leaves and I close my door to start cleaning my room.
Emmett is my business partner, and brother, together we own Etched Swan. We grew up in Forks, Washington. After high school, I graduated from UCLA with my Bachelors in Fine Arts. I've always loved photography, drawing, painting, and even sculpting. Emmett is younger, and has always loved art, like me, but hated school. While finishing my final year in college, our father was killed in the line of duty as Chief of Police in Forks. Emmett had just graduated and was visiting me in California when it happened. Alice was my roommate, and with her permission he moved in with us after the funeral.
One day Alice decided she wanted to get a tattoo from this hot guy she met. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wanted Jasper's mark on her, so Emmett and I went with her to his shop. Emmett, and I instantly fell in love with ink, and Jasper was great at talking it up. After that day, I started spending all my free time in a shop in Los Angeles and Emmett started there as an apprentice. When school finished, we moved closer to home, and both started working at Stained. Jerry was a great boss, and like a second father to both of us. Jerry taught us both extensively over the three years we were with him. Two years ago he was hit by a drunk driver and killed. His wife, Lillian sold the shop to Emmett and me. It helped that Jerry and Lillian's daughter, Rose was dating Emmett. When we bought it, Jasper and Alice moved to Seattle to work with us. Alice does most of the reception work, and piercing, Rose takes care of the accounting, while Emmett, Jasper and I do the ink. We are thinking of adding another artist, but finding the right fit for our business is imperative to all of us.
My schedule is almost always booked out several weeks at a time, so hopefully the art Edward wants is something I will agree to tattoo. I have him tentatively booked for three six hour sessions. It's not that I can't handle walk-ins, but I tend to be pretty selective of the work I do. I'm glad that Jasper and Emmett don't mind handling most of those clients, because there is something about doing tramp stamps and cutesy things on coeds that makes me want to vomit. This is also another reason I am glad Alice is here. I would likely pierce more than some air-head's belly button if I had to deal with the people she deals with. I guess you can call me bitchy, but at least I own it.
The door opens with a chime, and I glance at my clock. It is five after eight, and I've just finished cleaning and sanitizing my room. Opening my door, I walk out into the waiting area.
"Hi, welcome to Etched Swan, I'm Alice, do you have an appointment?"
"Yes, I'm here to see Bella Swan," the man says.
"Hello, I am Bella," I say and he turns around.
The first thing I notice is his vividly bright green eyes; they remind me of chartreuse green.
He holds out his hand, and I shake it.
"It's great to meet you, Bella, I'm Edward, and I talked to you about inking my design."
"Let's go and take a look at what you have," I say, leading him over to the large workspace room we all share.
He puts his portfolio on the table, and rubs his hands together. "So, this is already exactly sized, and on transfer paper if you decide you want to do this," he says.
"Okay, let's see what you have for me."
He pulls out a board and turns it to show me. The artwork is spectacular, and I am speechless. It's a pair of hands holding ten dog tags with names on them. Around the hands are a set of spread angel wings with sun rays around them. The detail in the feathers, hands, tags, and light source is amazing.
"This is a tribute piece for the team members I lost. I've been back for two years, and I've finally been able to finish this. We were on a mission, and out of the twelve of us, only three came back. These guys were my brothers, and this is to honor them."
"How long did you serve? Wait, there are ten dog tags, but three of you came back," I say.
"Yeah, PTSD got to Riley, and he committed suicide last year. It was hard for him and he couldn't find a way to cope. I was enlisted for seven years, I'd still be in, if they hadn't classified me as disabled," he replies, pulling up his pant leg to show me his prosthetic.
"I'm sorry, for the loss of your team, and your leg. Thank you for your service," I respond. "I'd love to do this for you; can I see the transfers?"
He nods and opens the portfolio again. He pulls out three separate sheets. One holds the right wing, one holds the left, and the other is the hands with the dog tags.
"Can you take off your shirt, so I can check them against your skin?" I ask.
With his back to me, he removes his shirt. I hold up the stencils and see they are a perfect fit. I like that they are in three pieces, I will be able to position them to fit his back the correct way, without having to make a lot of adjustments or worry about the stencil not laying perfectly on each side.
"Do you want to do all the outlines first, or one section at a time?" I ask as he puts his shirt back on.
"I was thinking of having you do the hands first, with the dog tags, and then one wing each of the other two sessions, if that works for you?" He says.
"Yes, I think that would be a good plan. Black and gray realism, right?"
"Yes, that was what I was leaning towards."
"Do you want to start on the hands tonight? If it's too late for you, we can start next Monday, I have the entire day free."
"Can we start now, and if it needs more work we can pick it back up on Monday?"
"Absolutely, as long as the skin is taking the ink and torture well, I see no issue in that. Let's head over to my room, so we can get you prepped and start working on the design."
As he puts his wing stencils back in his case, I ask a few more questions. After the wings are put away, I carry the completed picture and the hands stencil to my room with Edward following me.
Entering my room, I motion to the chair, and close the door, before starting to set up my work table.
"So you mentioned that you worked in a shop in Chicago, are you setting up shop in Seattle?"
"I don't have the desire to work for myself; paperwork is not my thing. I've looked into getting a chair at a few places, but I haven't found the right fit yet."
"I understand," I smile. "My brother and I own this shop together, but we worked here before buying it. The man we worked for died, but he was a great guy. Emmett is engaged to his daughter, and this is what we wanted to do, so Jerry's wife Lillian sold us the business. We were going to keep the old name, but Rose asked us to change it. Her dad had bought out his partner about six years before, and kept the name, but Rose always hated it. You know Etched Swan is looking to acquire another artist, you should sit down with Emmett, Jasper, Rose, Alice and me, to see if we would be a good fit for you."
"Maybe I will," he says with a smile.
"Your art is impeccable, if your tattooing skills are as great as your art, you would really draw a crowd."
"You're the talented one. The guys I worked with back in Chicago had it bad for the 'hot chick' from Washington who could lay down sticker like work."
I smirk. "The hot chick from Washington?"
"Yeah, that article in Inked of your work was pretty phenomenal."
"Thanks," I smile. "I was shocked when they contacted me to do the article. I did some work for a girl who was in Washington filming some teen human-vampire love story. The next thing I know, we have all of these barely legal girls wanting us to tattoo them, along with thousands of older women too. It was a culture shock for sure. I cannot tell you how many times I have been begged to do something related to that movie. For more than a year almost every ounce of ink Emmett or Jasper laid down was related to that movie. Funny thing is, when I did the ink for the girl who started it all, I had no clue that she was."
"Sounds like it kept you busy," he chuckles.
"Busy is not the word for it, we made enough revenue from those tattoos alone to pay off our loan, and completely update and remodel the shop. I have no complaints, except I refuse to do any more portraits of the characters from that movie."
He laughs and so do I.
"Okay, let's get your back prepped and then we can get this stencil placed."
I wipe down his back with the skin cleaner and run the disposable razor over the area to make sure there are no hairs. I wipe him down again and using the drawing as a guide, I place the stencil on his back where he wanted it.
"Okay, Edward, take this mirror, and look to see if you agree with the placement."
He stands, moves to the mirror and turns his back to it. Looking in the mirror, he smiles.
"You put it exactly where I was thinking."
"Awesome. Shall we get to work?"
"Yes," he states, walking back to the chair.
I watch as he straddles the seat and leans his chest against the back of the chair. If he hadn't shown me his prosthetic, I would never have known that he has one.
"This will take about four hours; just let me know when you need a break."
"Will do," he says.
"You okay with some music?"
"Yes, I like a little of everything," he answers.
I push the button on the wall that pipes in the music playing in the waiting room. Alice chooses it, so it is always an eclectic variety of tunes. Picking up my machine I start working on the tattoo.
Before I know it two hours have passed, and I sit back and stretch.
"Edward, I am going to grab a bottle of water, do you want one?"
"That sounds great. Where is the restroom?" he says, also taking the time to stretch.
"Let me wipe this down, we can both stretch our legs and I'll show you where it's at."
I quickly wipe his back down and place a piece of cling wrap on it.
"There you go, all clean and even covered so you can put your shirt on if you want."
"I'm good," he says.
"Follow me," I say.
He follows me out of the room. We go back to the workspace room, where we have a lounge area and restrooms.
"The men's room is over there," I say pointing at the door.
He makes his way in and I sit down next to Rose.
"Whatcha doing, Rose?"
"Just waiting for your brother to finish covering the piece he just did. We are going to head over to Five Point for dinner. How much longer do you have to go?"
"A couple of hours, but it's going well."
"That's great. I'm going to go check on your oaf of a brother. Alice and Jasper already left, so once we leave I will close up the shop for the night, so you're not disturbed."
"That is fine. I will see you tomorrow, my house, for dinner," I tell her as Edward comes out of the bathroom.
"See ya, Bell," she says heading for Emmett's room.
"Do you want a bottle of water or something else?" I ask.
"Just the water, thanks. I will probably grab a sandwich after we are done though. Know of any good places around here to grab something?"
"Yeah, Five Points isn't far from here, they have damn good food and are open until two o'clock in the morning," I say, grabbing our waters and heading back toward my room.
We get back to work, and before I know it, the piece is finished. Glancing at the clock, I'm shocked to see it is already a little after midnight.
"Well, Edward, I think we are done," I say, clicking the music off. "Let me get this cleaned up and you can take a look."
I wipe him down and can't help but smile at how well it turned out.
He makes his way to the mirror, and I can see sadness but also a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Let's get that covered up," I say after a few minutes.
"Your work is impeccable, Bella. This looks better than I expected."
"Thank you," I say as he walks back to the chair.
I wipe the tattoo down again with cleaner and coat it in a light layer of ointment before covering it in cling wrap. I tape the edges and then pat his shoulder. "All covered. I'm guessing you know the aftercare info, but this is the instruction sheet, and a jar of the ointment I want you to use. If you have any concerns, the shop number is on the form, and I wrote my cell number on it for you, too. I would cover it while you sleep and try not to lie on your back."
"Thanks," he smiles. "Here is the down payment on the whole tattoo," he says, handing me eight-hundred dollars.
"Not a problem, I'm glad you chose me for this piece," I tell him honestly, as I put the money away.
"So, where is this Five Point place?" he asks.
"It's just up the road a bit. I am heading there myself to get some grub when I leave. If you want to give me a few minutes to clean up around here, I can show you where it is," I offer.
"That would be perfect," he says with another grin.
After my room is clean, I make sure everything is off, set the alarm and lock up the shop.
"Do you want to follow me?" I ask.
"Sure, I'm parked over here in the lot," he points.
"Me too," I say as we walk that way together.
There are only two vehicles in the lot. My truck and his car, parked about six spots apart. I make my way to the beast, and he chuckles.
"What?" I ask.
"When I parked, I thought that was an abandoned vehicle."
"Hey, now, don't hate on Big Red, he's a good ole boy."
"Does he really run?"
"Yes, he runs very well. Rose likes to tinker with him, and she keeps him running smooth as silk, thank you very much."
"I thought Rose was your accountant?"
"Rose is a lot of things, and one of them is an ASE certified mechanic. Now do you want to follow me?"
"Yeah," He says.
"Don't worry, I won't lose you," I laugh.
Hopping into the truck, I cannot help but backing out of my space and giving Big Red a little extra gas, to show Edward what he can do. I laugh out loud when I see his eyes in the rearview mirror after the smoke clears from my peel out. With wide eyes, he pulls out of the lot behind me as I continue to giggle.
A/N: So, there is at this time not a posting schedule, but I am working on chapters. Please leave me some love, and let me know what you think. Kasi~
