Canvas (The Program Book 1) Page 3

  “I’d be here, we’d all be here, wouldn’t we ladies? He’s much more interesting than what’s on sale at Wal-Mart, right ladies?” the Gran Damme speaks for her group of intimately frustrated ice princesses, they’re frozen fortresses melting and leaving a puddle on my floor.

  Her little minions all chirp their wholehearted agreement, faces flushed, eyes glazed with building fantasies of Mr. TD&I.

  Hands off, witches, he’s mine!

  Possession and jealousy rear their ugly green heads.

  Get a grip Summer! He flirted with you, that’s it. He probably comes on to every woman who crosses his path. A manwhore, that’s what he is, talking his wild fantasies. He probably goes through women like t-shirts, then casts them aside in the laundry heap. NEXT. Not for me, no thank you.

  Nope.

  I’m not interested in his fantasy.

  No naked body painting.

  With him.

  And his gorgeous body.

  He didn’t tell me his name.

  I wonder if he is coming back tomorrow.

  ROCK

  Chapter 3

  What the fuck was I thinking?!

  Asking her to come to the shop when she gets off.

  That would be a colossal mistake! Her here…with these guys…destruction waiting to happen!

  Summer would go running, screaming, and probably call the cops because of our perversions.

  My moment of play and lustful innuendos, Innuendos? That’s bullshit, the only thing I didn’t tell her was how bad I want to fuck her, immediately disintegrated when I walked back into my shop, Inked. Snake and Gringo are in now, the other two techs who work with me, sitting with Bull, their eyes on me as I walk through the door with the tray of coffees in hand.

  I feel like a dipshit now.

  Every one of them have smirks on their faces. Watching me.

  “What?” I grumble as I set the cardboard tray with the coffees on the table in front of the black leather couch in the customer sitting area.

  The shop is nice. I made sure of that when I designed it. Just because it’s a tattoo parlor doesn’t mean it can’t have style, can’t have polish, can’t be upscale.

  It is. All of that. And more.

  I may be a lot of things, barbaric sometimes, rough around the edges (only in appearance), hotheaded; occasionally. But I’m not uncouth.

  The client seating area is plush and comfortable with modern black leather furniture, glass and chrome tables, and brushed stainless steel lamps. The lower portion of the wall behind the couch is hammered metal panels, the upper portion is painted black with prints of some of our best work. I keep my private collection at home. That’s only for me.

  Each of the guys’ stations can be closed off for privacy or left open. Some work takes half a day to do and being closed in could become claustrophobic to some people. Supplies are held in large fire engine red rolling tool boxes, they give the space color and play off the industrial feel of the metal wall. There’s a private room with a door for the client who prefers complete privacy. Or if we need privacy.

  “Nothing dude, chill,” Snake’s got a shit eating grin on his face.

  He’s a good looking guy. Tall, bleached white hair, and covered in ink from his throat to his feet. For some reason, the broads love him.

  He’s got a thing for snakes, why, I have no fucking clue. Ghost, one of his children, is an albino Ball Python, white as snow with black eyes. It’s beautiful and creepy as hell. His other baby, (as he calls them), is a King snake, a monster at over six feet long, black with thin white stripes. He lovingly refers to him as The Emperor. Sick bastard. We all thought he’d found the love of his life when a girlfriend of his would have the snake slither along her flesh during foreplay.

  Some people are bat-shit crazy.

  I might have my own fetishes, but NONE of them include a snake.

  “How’s the little mamasita next door, Rock? Bull told us about the bet,” Gringo, (which is an ironic nickname for the Puerto Rican from the Bronx, because it means white boy).

  “There is no bet,” I glare at Bull.

  “How’d it go with Sugar Tits, or is it Tinkerbell?” Bull smirks at me, then glances at the coffee I brought back. “Is she already giving you freebies, or did you give her a sample?”

  “Shut-up, asshole,” I practically growl at him. “She’s not like that, she couldn’t stop blushing, for fuck’s sake. Some guy was coming on to her, I had to put the little douchebag in his place, the arrogant prick.”

  I start to fume all over again remembering how the peckerhead insulted her shop.

  “Whoa, you playing the knight in shining armor now, Rock? I think you’ve got the wrong get-up for that,” Gringo laughs.

  Gringo is a good guy with a dark past, you can feel it simmering in him when you look in his eyes. He’s two entities, both of them always fighting each other, the angel and the demon, an evil savior. Sometimes we’re not sure which one will eventually win.

  “What’s so chivalrous about wanting to kick some little dick’s ass?”

  “Nothing at all, if you don’t have a hidden agenda. Like wanting to get in sweet cheek’s pants. We all know how you’ve been watching her. Hell, I’m surprised she doesn’t know it,” Gringo continues to bust my balls.

  “Summer. Her name is Summer.”

  Do I sound completely castrated?

  “Nice name, but I like Sugar Tits better. I think she will too,” Bull leans back and links his fingers behind his head, his huge barrel chest spreading out and blocking half the client chair behind him. The boy is massive. “When’s she coming over to meet the rest of us?”

  “She’s not. Ever. So forget it,” I grind out.

  Somehow the fact that all the techs are male has gotten some recreational perks. Very interesting recreational perks. It began with one particular female client who was coming in on a regular basis getting some work done starting with a small piece on her back shoulder. Snake was working on her. On her third visit she got her nipples pierced, after which Snake banged her in the private room. By her sixth visit, she let it be known she wanted all of us. Together. First it was a cock in her pussy, one in her mouth, and one in each hand. The next time, she wanted one in the front and one in the back while she sucked one of us off. She took the fourth cock in whichever orifice was finished in first. We got some referrals from that sweet little piece, and not just for our ink. Even some of the housewives who’ve initially come in for more piercings in their ears, or to get their kid’s name tattooed on their ankle, come to the dark side to live out one of their fantasies of multiple men using the fuck out of that body she’s worked to keep up after having kids. Those have been some of the dirtiest women I have ever put my dick in.

  It doesn’t happen often, but often enough the guys have come to expect it. Unless we call hands off, and only then for a good reason.

  I didn’t even know Summer’s name until now. What reason do I have to keep her from being fair game? Because I’ve been fantasizing about her for almost a year? Because she’s innocent? Because I don’t want them to filthy her up?

  Who am I kidding, I’m just as filthy as the rest of them. At least they’re open about their kinks, I keep mine hidden, a secret.

  Not because I’m ashamed of it. No, to me it requires a certain attraction, a closeness, it requires intimacy. It’s very personal. It’s art and when art is created, the soul is bared. You become raw and exposed, you are at your most vulnerable. It’s more than your clothes that’s shed. Your inhibitions and secret desires are laid open. That requires trust. And honesty. For the masterpiece to be real, nothing can be held back.

  After filling her mind with some of the things I want to do to her, and what I told her was only a taste, she didn’t seem repulsed, not even the slightest bit shocked. No, she seemed intrigued, curious, and very aroused. I know I’d successfully planted a seed of erotic images she is not going to forget. I’m going to make sure she doesn’t. I’ll be in her face,
working her, burying myself deeper inside her mind, until it seeps into every part of her body, she’ll come crawling to me to give her what she’s craving, demanding what I offered. I’ll be there every day reminding her, feeding her fantasies, breaking down her walls and stripping her of her inhibitions.

  I do want her. More than just her body. I want all of her, naked, spread open, bare, everything inside her, her fears, her secret desires, those things she’s run away from, her demons, and what it is she thinks will set her free.

  “You can’t stop me, can’t stop us, Rock. You don’t have the right, do you?” Bull is setting me up. He’s pushing me to say she’s off limits.

  I know what that means.

  We always get a feel for the women who want to use us, get her comfortable, reply to her suggestion tactfully. We are professionals even though we may be tattooed and pierced tough looking guys. We play with her if she expressed an interest, they always let you know with either a look, or a touch, she might even verbalize it. Then with a stroke of a finger on exposed skin, just enough to make her tingle, but not enough for sexual harassment, we get her fires stoked before we call a second one of us in to gauge her reaction to make sure it’s still what she wants. We can see it in her eyes, in the flush of her skin, ready, eager, needy, and hungry.

  Sometimes a woman will tell us she wants us to fuck her, and make it hard and dirty.

  She wants to be called a dirty slut. And dirty she’ll be.

  A woman hungry for you, needy for you, is the biggest fucking aphrodisiac. And getting her off like she’s never gotten off before in her life? THAT is the blue fucking ribbon, the brass ring, the goddamn holy grail, and it feels so damn good each and every time. That feeling is enough to get a man addicted.

  But Summer is different. There’s something about her, I have no doubt she’s not naïve, she’s too strong, but she’s guarded. She was a fortress against that little douche Steve, strong and impenetrable. With me she was still guarded, but she cracked open that door and let me peek inside, hinting that she might let me in.

  I just have to earn it.

  Now I’ve been forced to make a move on her before these vultures close in and set her up for a gang bang. Today was the first of the games that need to be played between she and I. With each one she’s going to let down another guard, open another lock, break down another barrier to that sacred place inside her. That’s where I want to go. Her secret garden, that place no one else has ever been. I don’t want anything else but that, my nirvana. My heaven. Even though I’m going to burn in hell, today, tomorrow, someday soon I will see Summer’s heaven.

  I’m not going to get there if I take these guys along.

  “Would you just forget about her, Bull? She’s off limits.” I walk over to get the coffees on the table I brought in. “Here,” I hand them out, “take your coffee and shut-up.” I give Bull his, then Snake and Gringo.

  Bull pulls the top off and throws it in the trash, then takes one long slug off the hot beverage. Fucking Neanderthal. Snake and Gringo pull the tab up and drink theirs a little more civilized.

  “Off limits, huh?” Snake questions between sips, staring at me over the top of his paper cup.

  “Yes, she’s wound, uptight, guarded,” at least I’m being somewhat truthful.

  “Uhuh,” he murmurs and takes another slow sip.

  “What?” I snap.

  “We don’t think that’s the reason, Rock,” Gringo states, smirking at me.

  “Why don’t you fill me in on the reason you think it is then?” Leaning a shoulder against the wall, I try to turn things around and put it back on them.

  “Look, dude,” Gringo was never one to pull punches. He lays it out black and white, tells it just like he sees it. He’s going to call my shit. “You like the girl, and that’s cool. Just say it. But we think she’s pretty damn hot. And,” he shrugs his shoulder in that smooth and confident fuck it way of his, “if what you’re offering her is not reciprocated, or if her interests should happen to be elsewhere,” he grins a slick evil grin, “then we should, by all means, fulfill her interests. Don’t you gentlemen agree?”

  “Absolutely,” Snake smirks, flashing his laser whitened smile. It fucking dazzles against his skin and white hair.

  “Fuck yes,” Bull slams his fist down on his thick leg, his grin so broad it wrinkles even his shaved scalp.

  SHIT.

  I push myself off the wall.

  These men, these are the only people I trust with my life.

  But right now, I want to punch each one of them in the face.

  We served in the Army together. Snake was a sniper, keen, sharp, and laser focused. Bull was Special Forces, when he fixated on his mission, there was no stopping him. Gringo and I were PSYOPS. They taught us how to fuck with your mind. Then The Program recruited us. When things got too ugly, I left for my own sanity and salvation. If there is a God, I hoped there’s still time left for me to cleanse the blood from my hands and my soul.

  After some time of soul searching and being lost and trying to find a place I could be at peace, I came here to this small town, Riverbend, population twenty thousand, small enough to be quiet, big enough for me to melt into the cracks. I wanted to be left alone in a sea of strangers. The boys, Snake, Gringo, and Bull had their own battles to face after they got out of the service, and after the shit with The Program. We once again gravitated towards each other, found a place we could call home, and settled into small town life, but our way and on our terms. Right now it works, tomorrow, well, it’s not here yet.

  Live for today, tomorrow will take care of itself, it’s not guaranteed.

  Today, I want Summer.

  I want her heat to burn me. Scorch me with her brightness. I’ll bring her into my darkness, let her walk amongst my shadows, there I’ll peel her layers and bare her soul.

  I glare at the three of them as their eyes are fixed on me waiting for me to deny it.

  I let out a heavy breath.

  “She’s not like that, why can’t you get that through your thick skulls.” I try to deny it as I hedge around the truth.

  “Come on, Rock, just admit it already. Say it, it’s easy, I LIKE SUMMER,” Gringo taunts me.

  “Fuck you, asshole,” I push past him and shove him with my shoulder.

  Snake laughs. “Alright, then let me ask you this, if I went over there and asked her out, knowing where it’ll end up if she says yes, are you gonna have a problem with that?”

  I stop walking. I don’t turn around; I’m not going to let them see my face.

  “Rock. Are. You. Going to have a problem with that?” Snake persists.

  Why do they want her? Why her? There are so many other broads that come in here, that they see outside of here, why fucking her?

  The same reason you want her, dumb ass.

  She’s untouchable, wild yet reserved, untamed yet poised. She’s beautiful. She’s unspoiled.

  We should all leave her alone. Even me.

  Especially me.

  Images of Summer sprawled out naked with Snakes, Gringos and Bulls cocks in every one of her openings pisses me off.

  And it turns me on.

  I want to dirty the fuck out of her.

  “Yes,” the word finally pushes out between clenched teeth. “Yes, I would have a problem with that.”

  Son-of-a-bitch, what did I just do?

  Snake slaps my back, “She’s off limits then. We’ll respect that, all of us, right?” he turns to look at Gringo and Bull.

  “Yeah, we will,” Gringo agrees with a devilish gleam in his eye.

  Bull is not happy, “Alright, yeah, yeah. For now, dude. You don’t have forever. If you can’t make it to home-base within a reasonable amount of time, all bets are off,” he grumbles. “Then I’m going after her with a vengeance.”

  I have never wanted to beat the shit out of Bull as badly as I do right now.

  “You didn’t even know she was alive until this fucking morning! What’s your
problem?”

  He shrugs offhandedly, “I don’t know, got a real strong sudden interest in the girl. She is hot, I’ve always known that, we all did. And if you like her so much, there’s got to be something special about her. Don’t worry, I’ll behave, be a real gentleman. Until your time’s up,” he grins. “Then it’s game on. We can give her something she never even dreamed of before. Like I said before, it’ll be a win/win, Rock, you’ll still get to taste her.”

  “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  This is the last thing I wanted, being forced to push the girl. I had no intentions of even approaching her. Now, it’s on. I’ve got to play their game and get her to fuck me. And fast. If I don’t, then one of them, probably all of them will get their hands on her. And their cocks. Just for the thrill of the hunt.

  ROCK

  CHAPTER 4

  Seven o’clock in the evening after finishing my last tat, I’ve got my head buried in the supply room taking stock inventory. There’s about another hour left of paperwork to do before I can go home and turn everything off. After I left Summer, the morning had been spent doing books and renewing licenses, fielding calls from inquisitive pussy’s asking if it would hurt, and one guy crying about how he needs to get his girlfriend’s name removed from his arm after he’d caught her in bed. With his father.

  I wanted to laugh and take the kid out to get him shit faced.

  “Rock,” I hear Snake call my name.

  I return the clipboard to its slot on the shelf, then head to the front of the shop. The main room is empty, but I know none of the guys have gone home, the music’s still on along with some of the lights.

  “In here,” Snake’s voice comes from behind me.

  Turning, the private room’s door is cracked open a couple of inches with Snake’s face right in the middle. He’s got a wicked grin from ear to ear.

  “Rock, a couple of ‘clients’ had a special request.”