“It’s okay, Richard. Believe me, between bikini shots and me running, the tattoo photos were the best ones,” she said sincerely.
He smiled and applied more needles to her skin. “I don’t really watch TV.”
“Oh, then you didn’t get to see me running in slow motion!” Stella sighed. “Apparently it was Must See TV.”
“I just felt like we were adding to your pain.” Richard didn’t look at her when he spoke.
“Richard, my pain is so all-consuming, I can’t even tell the level of it. No worries.”
“Okay.” He went back to his tattoo. “But, you’re okay?”
“I’m trying, Richard,” she answered honestly and quietly. “There’s just so much that I’m not in control of. I do appreciate that I’m not on the news every day unless I’m being paid to be there. And the cameras have finally left the lawn.”
“It was that bad?”
“Yes, it was that fucking bad.” She was incredulous. “It was horrific.”
“I’m afraid I missed that,” he shrugged and furrowed his brow in concentration.
“Well, it was really intrusive for a while, but since my interview after the trial, things have died down a bit.”
“That’s good, right?” He wiped her arm with a dry cloth.
“Oh, yes. Sometimes I can go out to eat and run without feeling like it’ll be on the news. I’ve appreciated getting a little semblance of normal back for sure.” That wasn’t totally accurate, but she was hoping for normal.
Richard’s eyes glazed over a bit as he focused on her arm. After what seemed like hours, he leaned back on his stool. This tattoo didn’t hurt as much as the tattoos on her back. She figured it was because they were on bone and not muscle. She was certainly racking up the body art—her mother would be so pleased—but they each meant so much to her. The only tattoo she regretted was “the big one,” the one she got after Jamie “died.” The problem with that one was that now that she knew the reason she’d gotten it was a lie, it left her feeling unsettled, and the hole that was added to it didn’t help any. Though it was still a pretty fucking accurate depiction of what she felt at the time.
“Let’s see,” Stella said as Richard sat back and examined his work.
He held her left hand, helping her get out of the chair. Stella looked at her bicep in the mirror. It looked good. On her right bicep, in black ink, it read:
Hell is empty, all the devils are here
That one statement encompassed how she felt at this moment in her life. Everything she feared was swirling around her and it was just a matter of time before she became a casualty of her circumstances. It scared her and liberated her. It made her love George more fiercely, but made her want to run from him even faster than before.
Stella smiled at Richard. “Thanks, it’s perfect, as usual.”
Richard pulled her into him. “You know I didn’t have anything to do with those pictures, right?”
“It’s fine Richard, really. Those are yours to do with whatever you want.” She pulled back and looked in his eyes. “Seriously, no worries. I had bigger issues to deal with.”
“I know, Stella. It was good to see you. Be careful,” he said in farewell.
Her eyes followed him as he went out back to smoke, then she walked over to Cory at the register and pulled her wallet out of her purse.
Cory put his hands up in a gesture that looked like surrender. “Stella, put your money away. We’re giving you these tattoos for free.”
Stella was shocked. “What? Why?”
“Well, the pictures have given us so much business. It was advertising that we could never have paid for.” Cory walked around the counter and embraced her. “Thank you.”
“Well, you guys are the best and everyone on God’s green earth has seen the tattoo on my back, so it might as well give you some business.”
“Some business?” Cory was bemused. “Your advertising alone paid my salary last month.” He looked at her bandaged bicep. “I hope all your devils are far away from here.”
Stella smiled, it was her fake smile. “Thanks, Cory.”
She emerged from the tattoo parlor with a bandage around her left ring finger and her right bicep. She felt the demons following her. Her tattoo was a current picture of how she felt; she was fighting devils even when she couldn’t see them on a daily basis. Would it ever end?
As soon as she got into her car, she let her emotions take over and tears ran down her face. I’m so fucking tired of crying. After three seconds, she stiffened her spine and started driving over the Key Bridge to meet Patrick and Millie at Café Asia; sushi and Kirin were necessary today.
She was running a little late, but when she opened the door and spotted Millie and Patrick, the nerves started to melt away. Patrick stood up and embraced her; Stella went to Millie and hugged her too. Her emotions were more raw than normal after her time at Skins and Needles and her friends were just what she needed to keep the devils at bay.
Patrick had his hand on her back and guided her to sit across from him at the tiny table they were sharing. He signaled to the server to bring another round. They already had a Sapporo waiting for her, but could tell she’d need another one. “Where’s Billy?” Stella asked as they sat.
“Houston?” Millie’s answer was a question. She looked at Patrick for confirmation.
He nodded.
“Will you share a dragon roll with me?” Millie asked Stella. Patrick didn’t like eel.
“Sure, Mil.” Stella picked up the menu to select her sushi rolls.
“So,” Patrick started, “Jamie’s making his presence back in the ATF known.”
Millie put her menu down and looked from Stella to Patrick. “So what now?”
“We’re going to fight,” Stella answered, determined. “I’m going to fight.
George was standing at the back of a rowdy group of reporters all clambering for the Senator’s attention. He was bored and a little disillusioned by the entire process of being a reporter following the campaign trail. It hadn’t turned out exactly as he expected. His phone dinged. It was Emanuel.
Check your inbox your girl got some new tattoos
He’d asked Emanuel to keep an eye out for Stella while he was gone, and unlike Patrick, he was actually keeping in touch.
Ok
George opened his personal email and the recent message from Emanuel. There were three pictures. The first was of her arm, the cast still on her hand and a fresh tattoo clear on her bicep. The pit of his stomach lurched; she was dealing with this on her own and he was here. Fuck. She was walking Cooper in the park across from their house and had a look of amusement on her gorgeous face. Patrick’s back was in the same picture. Well, I guess she’s not alone.
The next picture made his heart soar and he made an inaudible sound. The picture showed a close up of the ring finger on her left hand, holding Cooper’s leash in the park. The photographer had gotten so close he could read the word inked around her finger, where a ring would usually be—“only.” Directly under that picture he saw the inside of her left hand, where the back of her finger said “you.” He coughed as sentiment almost choked him. She didn’t say how much he meant to her, other than she loved him, but this was everything. She’d marked herself to be his. Forever.
He clicked on Voxer. “Breaker, breaker. Love, are you there?” He walked outside and sat on the curb and waited, scanning through her Twitter feed to see where she was. Sometimes it was the easiest way to see what she was doing. It was 6:30, so she was probably still at work. His phone dinged with a Voxer message.