Inked in the Steel City Series(9)
Mina smiled despite her freshly rekindled anger. “Thanks.”
She left the small studio and stepped into the elevator, riding down to the first floor and exiting the building. As she thought of Karen sitting three stories above, choosing which photo to send to Eric, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if it were the other way around and when she arrived home, there would be a picture of him in her inbox, shirtless with his tattoos exposed.
****
“So how was your first day back at school?” Mina tried to sound casual as she stood at the counter, slicing vegetables with a little more force than was strictly necessary. The sight of the bandage on Jess’s forehead renewed her anger each time she saw it, and she was still charged up from her second meeting with the principal.
“It was OK,” Jess said from where she was sitting at the kitchen table with her homework spread out in front of her.
“Did those girls bother you?” Mina knew she sounded like an interrogative mother, but she didn’t care.
Jess paused for a moment before answering. “No.”
“Really?”
Jess sighed. “They didn’t really do anything to me, but I heard them laughing at me – making jokes about my bandage and stuff like that.”
Mina cleaved a red pepper in half and proceeded to reduce it to tiny slivers almost too thin for even a salad. So much for dipping the strips in the mix she’d already whipped up.
“It’s not a huge deal,” Jess said. “They’re not going to be at school tomorrow, since you got them suspended.”
“I didn’t get them suspended. They got themselves suspended when they hurt you. And suspension isn’t a tough enough punishment. They should be expelled.”
“You already said that like a dozen times in the car.”
“That doesn’t make it any less true.” She sighed. Maybe she was taking her frustration out on Jess, who was the last person who deserved it. “Sorry. I’m not trying to hash it all out again. I’m just so pissed.”
Jess flipped a page in her notebook, scrawling something down. “It’s OK. At least you care.”
Mina nodded silently. She did care, which was more than Jess could possibly say about the woman she’d spent the first half of her life with: their mother, not to mention most of the foster parents she’d been stuck with for several years after that. The day Mina had turned eighteen had been the second best of her life. The very best had been when she’d obtained custody of Jess. She’d been twenty-one then. She hastily arranged the mutilated vegetables on a plate and sat it on the table beside Jess, along with a small dish of dipping sauce. “I’m going to take a break. Be back in a few minutes.”
“’Kay.”
Mina walked a few short steps, entered the bathroom and closed the door behind herself. Big enough to accommodate a wheelchair, the room was more generously sized than those in most of the apartment complex’s units. Sunlight filtered through a high window, tinted green by the leafy potted plants she’d placed there in lieu of a curtain. She stripped down to her panties (she’d foregone a bra, opting for a top with a soft built-in shelf bra for the sake of her tattoo), draping her cotton shirt and jeans over the shower rod before surveying her left side in the mirror.
Her tattoo was still faintly red around the edges, though she didn’t seem to have bruised much. Squirting a small dollop of antibacterial soap into her palm, she ran her hand under warm water before pressing it to her ribs. Gently, she massaged her side, her soap-slickened fingers gliding easily over her skin. The curves and flourishes of the vines were raised, as were the flowers that blossomed on them. The design stood out vivid and textured against her smooth olive skin. It hadn’t begun to truly heal or even lose its scab yet, but it was already obvious that Eric had done a beautiful job.
Did he think so too? Karen might not have even sent him a photo yet, but if she had, what had he thought when he’d seen it? She cupped a handful of warm water and let it stream over her side, washing away the soap. Taking a clean towel from the small bathroom closet, she patted her skin dry. She loved the tattoo. If only she didn’t suspect that she just might be able to feel the same way about the man who’d done it for her.
****
“Karen? Is everything OK?” Mina held her phone as she twisted the top off her bottled water. Karen didn’t usually call her at work. Fortunately, she’d just clocked out for her lunch break.
“Everything’s amazing. Guess what?”