Page 104 of Play The Game

When I ask him why, he gives me a smug, haughty smile. I’d be pissed about it but all three of my guys keep sharing these little secretive looks and eventually I give up and just go with it. I’m stupid enough to ask Avery if she knows what’s going on, and she gives me her own smug fucking smile.

“Why don’t you ask your lover?”

I could die.

She screeches with laughter at my blush. “I’m so glad to know that having sex hasn’t stopped you from blushing like an eighteenth-century Contessa on her wedding night.”

So that’s the end of my inquiries.

I wake to pancakes and coffee for breakfast and then Harley drives us all into Haven in the Maserati. Apparently he won a bet about Avery, but I’m too afraid to ask what the hell it was. Blaise sulks in the back with me, dicking around to piss Harley off, but my golden god is above the petty bullshit today. I finally break and ask him why he’s so happy, and he gives me a smug look in the mirror.

“We’re getting tattoos. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to get your insignia on me? I fucking hate that Illi’s had it all this time and I haven’t.”

I blanch, fucking shocked that that’s what’s going on. “You don’t have to. None of you do.”

He gives me a look in the mirror. “I only waited because the others hadn’t been inducted. I’m not waiting anymore.”

Avery rolls her eyes at him, then smiles at me. “We are all doing this. As a family, even if there are needles and bodily fluids involved.”

Blaise roars with laughter at her. “How’s Atticus faring with your hatred of bodily fluids? Does he know he’s going to have to wear a hazmat suit to fuck you?”

I groan as Ash turns to stone next to me, but Avery snarks back before he can come to her defense.

“I don’t want his fluids or any other fucking piece of shit man that walks this Earth. I’m taking a vow of celibacy because you’re all fucked,” she says through clenched teeth, and my stomach drops. Fucking Atticus.

I sigh, wondering how the hell I’m going to help her with this now we’ve agreed to work with him. That’s a fucking headache to think about later. I lace my fingers into Ash’s.

“Do you know where you’re getting yours?” I murmur, trying to distract him from the conversation happening around us. If I didn’t already know, his clenched jaw would tell me everything about his exact feelings toward Atticus.

He stares out the window, a frown over his brow and replies, “We discussed it after Colors Night, we’re all getting the same thing. Well, not Avery. I’m sure you’ll find it suitable, Mounty.”

I nod and rub my thumb along the back of his hand.

Harley parks behind the tattoo parlor and as we all pile out of the car, I rub my arms, the chill in the air biting at me. Ash tucks me under his arm and leads me in.

The guy sitting behind the reception desk nods at Blaise and they start talking shit about how his last tattoos turned out. One of the tattoo artists looks Avery up and down dismissively, obviously used to Hannaford girls and their rich bitch attitudes, and she stares him down like he’s a steaming pile of shit.

Then his eyes flick over to me and he frowns. Ash cuts in front of me and snarls at him, “What the fuck is your problem?”

The guy raises his hands in submission. “Nothing, man. She just looks familiar, that’s all. I thought I recognized her.”

Blaise starts to snicker under his breath, and I sigh.

“Any chance you’re from Mounts Bay?” Avery says, sickly sweet, like poison.

He nods and pulls his chair up, ready to draw up the design. A group of high school girls come in for piercings, and I start getting twitchy at the looks my guys get. Avery rolls her eyes at me but joins me in glaring at them.

When Harley tells the guy they all want the same thing, he cracks a lame joke about boy bands and Ash looks ready to gut him.

Then Harley gets a UV torch out of his pocket and shines it on my face.

The tattoo artist shits his fucking pants.

Oh, goodie.

“You get that it takes a week to heal, right? There are only a few weeks left until winter break, why didn’t you just wait until then? You can’t go to classes with that on your face!” Avery hisses, but they all ignore her completely.

I sit in the corner in a state of shock.