“You sure?” he asks. His thumb slides beneath the waist of his jeans, and he adjusts it, showing a flash of trimmed pubic buzz.
I roll my eyes. “One-hundred percent.”
“You don’t want to… pierce my dick?” He’s in full-on smug mode now, and he has an eyebrow raised as though he just made the witticism of the century.
“I’m not trained,” I tell him in a matter-of-fact manner. I do my best to sound bored. “I’m sure you can appreciate the… dangers involved if I were to attempt to give you a Prince Albert.”
His lips curl to the side, a little off-center within his granite jaw. “Amen to that! Don’t want to damage my junk, do you?” He pauses for a moment. “Go get training, then.”
I wear my annoyance freely on my face. “Go get training?”
“Yeah.”
“Just go away, Pierce. I don’t want to see your dick.”
His full, endlessly kissable lips pull farther to the side in what I can only describe as the most smug and conceited smirk ever. He’s so full of himself. Why have I gotten myself into this mess? He’s a walking whirlwind of trouble… it seems to seek him out.
“You know,” he says, voice dripping with sarcasm. “That’s not what you said last ni—”
“No!” I bark, glancing quickly toward my client. I pinch the bridge of my nose, and lower my voice, steady it. My client is stewing in the awkwardness. “We don’t do piercings here.”
“You could do this Pierce.”
He grins, I glare.
“I only trust you to do it,” he says. “Besides, you and I both know you wouldn’t mind getting your fingers wrapped ’round my junk again.”
I groan and look away. Why does he insist on calling it his junk? It’s disgusting.
“No, okay? I can refer you to someone who is qualified, though.”
“I don’t want anybody else touching my cock, Penny. Just you. You know it’s all yours.”
The girl on the chair clears her throat. “Maybe I’d better go into the waiting room.”
I nod at her. “Sorry, Maya. This will only take a minute.”
“Take your time, honey,” she says, and she gets up. She looks Pierce up and down. He licks his lips and flashes his eyes at her, and I’m certain I see her knees wobble.
I feel it in my chest: The white-hot burn of unwanted jealousy.
Even worse? He sees it in my eyes.
“Oh, don’t worry, Pen, she’s not my type. You are.”
“Please go away.”
“Come on, sis,” he whispers conspiratorially.
“Don’t call me that. It’s Penny. And I’m not your sister.”
“Stepsister.”
“No! Not yet I’m not.”
Pierce grins. “I read up about it on the internet, the cock piercing, I mean. They say there can be complications, but that it’s unlikely.”
“There can,” I tell him. I’m leaning back on my stool now, and clasping my hands in front of me, elbows on my knees, hoping I look as irritated as I feel. “But it’s unlikely as long as you take good care of it.”
“What happens if I don’t?”
“Infection is most likely, but a relatively low risk. Urine cleans the cut somewhat.”
“How big is the risk?” he asks. His face grows serious. I can’t tell if he’s still messing around or not. Sometimes he’s so hard to read.
“What do you think, idiot? You’re sticking a ten-gauge metal ring through the skin on the base of your penis, and passing it into your urethra. It’s not exactly something the body is used to, so of course there’s a risk.”
“Ah.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “With as much as you like to talk about and use your prick, are you sure it’s one you’re willing to take?”
“That’s why I want you to do it. I trust you. I know you and Tina run a clean shop.” He grins. “Also, you know how to handle my ju—”
“This is Tina’s shop, not mine.” I focus on my vials of ink instead of him. “And she doesn’t do piercings here.”
“What’s the difference? Your shop, her shop… why not branch out? Attract a new clientele.”
Now my patience has officially been torn to tatters. “What is this really about, huh? Do you really want a Prince Albert, or are you just trying to find some new way to annoy me? Especially after everything that happened? You’re going to do this to me now?”
I’m huffing, really on the verge of just losing it, but he just laughs it off. It’s insanely infuriating. He flops down into the reclined chair, let’s out a sigh, and puts his arms up, gripping onto the top edge. It creaks beneath his weight.