If Kory were the blushing kind, her cheeks would have turned pink when she started wondering if maybe he was pierced in places she could only imagine.
The alcohol felt cool against her skin and he turned away from her to grab his needle. She bit her lip and looked ahead, swallowing. “You gonna close your eyes?”
She grinned and glanced up at him. That meant he did remember her, because she always had to close her eyes. That was okay, though, because she could feel his body heat close to her, assuring her through the pain that it was going to be all right.
Chapter Two
KORY SAT AT the outdoor table outside the little café where she and her friends met every Wednesday at noon. Her friends Lacey and Tina were also her roommates, but they realized once they were working and going to school that they rarely saw each other, so they made a plan to meet for lunch—just once a week, because it was all they could afford—and that way they could catch up on anything they might have missed.
“Wait. Let me get this straight.” Lacey tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. Unlike her friend, Lacey was not pierced multiple times. She had two holes in each ear and a nose piercing. That was it…but she did have a couple of tattoos—one on her ankle and the other on her back, and she had plans for more in the future. “You got a tragus? Why? You’re taking the title metalhead a little too far, don’t you think?”
Tina giggled and pulled her light brown hair back over her shoulders. “She’s not doing it for the piercing, Lacey. You of all people should know that.”
Lacey furrowed her brow and shot a glare out of her blue eye at her friend. “I’m beginning to seriously worry about her.” She turned to look at Kory again. “I get wanting to be pierced. I get it. I really do. But this obsession’s starting to worry me.”
Kory rolled her eyes. Tina was right—Lacey didn’t get it. “I’m not obsessed with getting pierced, Lacey, but I will get more piercings. I was calculating it last night. I can still get pierced at least seven times—eleven or twelve if I’m creative—before I have to get pierced underneath my clothes.”
Tina said, “Wait. Don’t you have your bellybutton pierced?”
“Well, yeah, but I’m talking about having to take my bra off.”
Tina snorted. “You haven’t progressed that far in the relationship.” Lacey was fuming. Kory was ready to put her out of her misery when Tina beat her to it. “Oh, come on, Lacey. Where the hell have you been? Kory doesn’t give a shit about being pierced. She’s only going there so she can spend time with that hot tattoo artist.”
“Tattoo artist?”
Kory grinned. “Yeah. Stone Bowman.”
Tina was more like Lacey in that she didn’t have many piercings but she had four small tattoos, and they were all visible, depending upon what she wore for the day. She’d gone to The Iron Maiden for her last tattoo but had been tatted by the other guy in the shop, a guy who went by the nickname Six-pack, but Kory was pretty sure his real name was Russ.
And, for the time being, Tina appeared to be the brightest girl in the group. She furrowed her brows and shook her head, a look of incredulity plastered on her face. “Where the hell have you been, Lace?”
Lacey didn’t like feeling as though she were in the dark, so her quick temper flared. “What?”
“Jesus. Seriously?”
Kory smiled again. She knew why Lacey didn’t know. She didn’t know, because Kory had never actually said anything. Tina tended to be perceptive; Lacey, however, needed a press announcement—and apparently that time had come. Lacey looked pissed, but Kory took one of her hands in both of her own. It got her friend’s attention and took her mind off Tina’s jabs. “I have a lady boner for Stone.” She hated the term, but she knew that would grab her friend’s attention.
Lacey blinked and then tilted her head. She glanced back at Tina and the brown-haired young woman nodded as if to say Told you so. She returned her attention to Kory. “Wait a minute. So you’re telling me you keep getting pierced only because you have the hots for some guy?”
Kory let go of her friend’s hand, but she was laughing. “You make it sound so stupid when you put it that way.”
Lacey picked up her iced tea. “That’s because it is.”
“Lacey Fuhrman! That’s only easy for you to say because you always have men falling all over you.”
“No, that’s not it at all. Seriously, answer me this. Do you think it’s normal to undergo body modifications just because you want to be around a guy?”