When Sunny’s recovered, the girls decide to make a trip to the coffee shop and bookstore across the street, and we get back to going over what we’re here for: tattoo designs.

There’s been some debate as to where we all want the tattoo, but it’s not like we need to have them in the same place. Alex already has the puck-stick combo on his bicep, Randy’s thinking about the top of his forearm, because he wants it on display, and I’m thinking I’ll go with the inside of mine. Darren and Miller are both considering chest tattoos.

As we sit here, shooting the shit, I recognize that these guys have become my family. And that’s as good as it is bad, because at some point I’m going to get traded again—we all are—and then I’ll have to start over with a new team.

This tattoo is a good way to remember to hold on to these ties.

Chapter 9

Location Relocation

RANDY

Lily and I move to the private room with Hayden after we finish going over the team tats. I’m pretty damn excited to get started on this new sleeve, even though the appointment is a couple of months out. We want to wait until closer to the end of the summer when time in the sun won’t distort fresh color. For now, it’s something to look forward to. And I’m just as excited about Lily getting ink of her own.

Hayden pulls out Lily’s folder. “Ready to see some designs?”

Lily gives me a huge smile before flashing it at Hayden. “So ready.”

He withdraws three sketches, placing them on the table in front of us.

“Oh my God!” Lily claps a palm over her mouth and drops it just as fast. “These are beautiful. I want them all!”

Hayden chuckles. “So you like them?”

“I love them!” Lily hugs my arm. “Do you love them? Aren’t they gorgeous?”

“They are, but that’s what Hayden does.” He and I exchange a look. Seeing Lily get excited about her first tattoo makes me remember exactly what it was like when I started mine. Although, having gone in wanting a full sleeve, I’d committed myself to a lot more time and art right from the beginning.

“Are you drawn to one over the others?” Hayden asks.

“Oh, God.” Lily does this little bouncy thing and runs her hands down her thighs, which are bare since she’s in a dress. “I don’t know. They’re all so perfect for different reasons. Which one do you like, Randy?”

I shake my head. “Nuh-uh. It’s your art. That decision is yours.”

“You don’t have to choose right now. You can take some time to think it over,” Hayden says.

She taps her lips. “I kind of want to get one right now.”

Hayden and I laugh again. Her enthusiasm is hard-on inspiring. Although I’ve been sporting a semi pretty much the entire time I’ve been here with all the piercing talk and Lily giving me her sex eyes.

“You haven’t even decided where you want it,” I remind her.

She presses her knees together and looks up at me, then whispers. “I thought we said inner thigh.”

“If that’s where you want it, but you don’t have to hide it from everyone but me if you want to put it somewhere it can be on display.”

“Why do there have to be so many choices?” Lily complains, but she’s still grinning. “Why can’t this be easier so I can have it now?”

“Why don’t we go over all your prospective locations, and the variables that impact them, and see if that helps you make a decision?” Hayden suggests.

Lily expels a breath. “Okay. Sounds good.”

“So there are a few important things to consider once you’ve chosen the design. Placement is one of them, but so is the size of the tattoo. You can go bigger than this.” He taps beside the design in the middle, then moves his finger to the one on the right. “But you can’t go smaller than this unless we make some modifications. Otherwise we’ll lose a lot of the detail, and the colors can bleed.”

“Right, okay.”

“If you decide you want the tattoo on your inner thigh, would you want it to be pretty small?” he asks, glancing between me and Lily.

She chews on her lip for a second. “I guess? Otherwise it would look kind of strange, right?”

Hayden taps the table. “Well, isolated, it might. If it was part of a series of tattoos, maybe not. But we want to treat this as the only one for now, right?”

“Good point.”

“The other thing you might want to consider is that you’ll likely have to be in your underwear for a couple of hours, and the inner thigh is sensitive for obvious reasons.” Hayden’s gaze stays fixed on Lily.

“I hadn’t thought about that.”

I sure have, ever since that conversation with Lance last week about the artist being up in Lily’s business.

Hayden nods. “If you decide to get it on your hip, or that area, I’d say you might want to go this size—” He points to the smallest one. “—and depending on how low you’re going, sometimes you’re looking at towel coverage.”

“Towel coverage?”

“He means no panties while he’s putting it on.” I try really hard to keep my voice even.

Lily’s hand flutters to her neck. “Oh.”

“Obviously we’d do it in here. And you’d have privacy when you change—”

“And I’m gonna be here,” I bark.

Lily jumps a little, maybe at my tone.

“Sorry.” I mutter.

Hayden gives me a knowing look. “You don’t have to go with the hip if you don’t want. You could put it on the back of your shoulder, or high up on your arm. Depending on how visible you want it to be, you could always get it on the inside of your forearm, or your ankle. I’d say the top of your foot, but with you being a figure skater, that’s not a great place unless you have a couple weeks off to give it time to heal.”

Lily traces the design in the middle. It’s the one she keeps looking at the most. “I might need to think about the placement a little more.”

“Once you settle on a design, I can make up a few transfers so you can see what it would look like in different locations. Then you can decide what you like best.”

“Really?”