Charlotte (Marked Heart #2) (11 page)

14

Legacy

Making her way down the stairs, Charlotte could smell breakfast cooking. The last few days had been interesting to say the least. Between going out with Auggie, visiting his uncle's farm, finding out Trace was a voyeuristic perv and having her favorite stilettos held for ransom, she needed a day to herself. Excited and honestly a bit nervous over her plans for the day, she stepped into the kitchen.

Amila placed a plate of pancakes in front of her the moment she sat down.

"Good morning honey," Amila greeted with a smile.

Drowning her pancakes in syrup, Charlotte replied, "'Morning, I am going into town after I eat, do you need anything?"

Amila gave another smile while shaking her head before asking, "Anywhere specific?"

After a short mental debate, Charlotte shared, "Actually, I'm going down to..." before Emerson walked in.

"Down to where?" Amila asked.

Shaking her head at Amila, she could feel Emerson staring at her as she answered, "Nowhere. Just into town."

Sitting across from Charlotte at the kitchen table, Emerson asked, "If you do not have any specific plans, would you like to come to the foundation with me?"

"No thank you."

Appearing disappointed, Emerson shared, "I am doing my best to make an effort with you."

Giving him a dirty look, she shook her head before focusing on her pancakes.

~

Sitting in the parking lot
of Legacy Ink on fifth street, Charlotte tapped her steering wheel. There were already cars in the parking lot, which she had not expected. She wasn't second guessing her decision, more the timing of it. With most of her back and stomach scared from her mother's drug-induced tirade, she looked forward to it. No one would truly understand how important marking herself was. She even hoped it hurt. She wanted to close her eyes, remember and forget, while finally, in her mind, settling the score. Her mother wanted to make her ugly and she was going to turn what happened that night into something beautiful. But the last thing she wanted was for everyone in town to know about it.

A little bell rang as Charlotte stepped into the shop.
Looking around at photographs framed on the walls with half naked men and women covered in full body tattoos, she spotted a familiar face.

Thinking, 'Damn it', she crossed her arms and glanced away as Penny let go of the guy she was hanging on and greeted, "Hey," in a 'what are you doing here' tone.

"Hello," Charlotte replied before clearing her throat and asking, "Is Kieran available."

"Say girl," said a voice from the other side of the shop.

Making his way towards her was a tanned muscular blonde in a
muscle-t with full sleeve tattoos covering his arms.

"K's out but a... I'll be happy to a... assist you," he assured, sucking air in through his teeth.

Before Charlotte could reply, Penny shared, "He'll be back in about five minutes."

Charlotte took a seat, looked at Penny and said, "Thank you."

Pulling a red chair with chrome legs from against the
wall and turning it to face Charlotte, Mr. Muscles sat down.

"Want some help decidin'?"

Smiling at his attempt to flirt,
Charlotte should have been all over the slick smiling, tattooed bundle of muscles, flirting back. He was ideal. A fast stress reliever and unlike the shoe ransoming jackass, this guy would welcome anything she had to offer. Unfortunately, there was something lacking and as cute as he was, she wasn't into him.

"No thanks, I know what I'm getting," she replied with a kind tone.

"How 'bout a location then?" he grinned, raising his eyebrows at her.

She couldn't help enjoying the attention
as she rolled her eyes thinking, 'Gah that was lame'.

"What's your name sweet thing?"

"Charlotte."

"Jimmy. You from here?"

As she nodded, Charlotte said, "I have been in Spain for the past few years."

"You're Silvia's big sister?"

Curious, she nodded, asking, "You know my sister?"

"Yea, she goes with my brother, Shawn."

Thinking, 'interesting', she said, "Oh, that's nice."

"I guess," he blurted before informing, "I let 'em use my apartment sometimes. Not sure what he sees in her she's such a stuck up little bitch. Well, guess I do know, ya know." Charlotte gave him a dirty look as he laughed before asking, "So you wanna hook up later?"

Without responding, Charlotte faced forward wondering how Jimmy could think telling her that his brother was putting it to her younger sister and then insulting her
would make her want to do anything with him.

After Jimmy gave up, mumbling 'must run in the family', he left with Penny
's 'friend'. Wondering how much longer it was going to take for Kieran to get back, it had been more than five minutes by now, Penny walked up to Charlotte and placed her hand on her hip.

"I don't suppose you could keep seeing me here to yourself."

Standing up, Charlotte replied, "Can you?"

Pursing her lips up into a smile, she questioned, "From everyone, or just my brother?" without giving Charlotte a chance to speak, Penny shared, "Before you act like I'm stupid, I know you were there when I stopped by Sunday."

"I think you're mistaken."

Penny stepped back, flipping her long auburn hair over her shoulder, "But I'm not."

Charlotte stared at Penny, wondering what her angle was as she asked, "What do you want?"

With a light sigh, she answered, "Just don't tell anyone I was here and I'll return the favor."

"What about your cousin? Won't he tell?"

"Kieran? No."

Nodding, Charlotte couldn't help
her curiosity.

"Why does it matter if you're here?"

Appearing disappointed, Penny replied, "Nothing I do is ever right, so... What about you?"

"No big secret here."

"Then why are you and Auggie hiding that y'all are seeing each other?"

"We're not!" Charlotte insisted as she explained, "We're just helping each other out."

"Eww!" Penny blurted making an ugly face.

Charlotte had to laugh, assuring, "Not like that."

As Penny shook her head and laughed with Charlotte, the bell at the top of the door rang.

Charlotte turned to find a tall man with short black hair and no shirt standing there. As he crossed his arms, Charlotte took in the full sleeve tattoo on one of his arms and the random ones on the other before settling her focus on the Celtic heart on the left side of his chest.

"What do we have here?"

Pursing her lips into a smile, Penny answered, "Looks to me like you have a client."

Kieran looked Charlotte over, asking Penny, "Friend of yours?"

Glancing at Charlotte, she replied, "A...Yea."

Passing by Charlotte, he walked to the back after saying, "Grab Ms. Roberts a consent form and have her fill it out."

Charlotte couldn't help being irritated and it didn't help that Kieran already knew who she was.

Watching Penny do as she was told, Charlotte had to wonder if Auggie had been there bad mouthing her. Why else would he treat her this way.

When Penny handed her the form, Kieran stepped out of the back, saying, "Why don't you take lunch Pen, I'm booked up for the rest of the afternoon and it's gonna get busy."

Penny rolled her eyes and gave Charlotte a 'he's the boss' smile before grabbing he
r purse from under the counter and walking out.

Stopping Charlotte before she could fill out the consent form, Kieran questioned, "What are you doing here?"

Waving the pen she was holding around, she sarcastically replied, "I'm in a tattoo shop filling out a consent form. Wow, that is a mystery."

"Look, Penny's real sweet and way too trusting. She doesn't need anyone pretending to be her friend."

"I think you have me confused with someone else. I wouldn't have come if I'd known she works here."

With a suspicious expression, he asked, "Sophia didn't send you down here so she could run back to Sarah and tell her that Penny's working here?" before adding, "I know your families are close."

"Hold on there," she snapped before griping, "I'm close with Ren and Sophia just happens to be...her daughter. The only reason I know about this place is because I mentioned wanting a tattoo and your cousin said you've done all of his."

Kieran gave her a curious smile before glancing down at her legs.

His smile grew wide as he said, "Sign the form and let me see your license."

Frustrated that he obviously knew something he wasn't sharing,
she did as he asked.

Once Kieran made a copy of Charlotte's driver's license and filed it with her consent form, he waved her behind the counter.

Sitting on a stool next to a small rolling table, he asked, "Any idea what you want?"

"A white peacock feather on my right shoulder blade."

"That's a simple freehand," he said before informing, "Just to let ya know white ink won't look as clean after a while if you like to tan, it'll yellow and more than likely gonna look like a scar after it heals."

Nodding, Charlotte replied, "I know."

"Is this your first tattoo?"

"Yes."

"What's your pain tolerance like?"

"Extraordinary."

"Alright, watch me and initial that you witnessed me open and place a sterile unused needle on the gun, then take your shirt off and we'll get started," he said, preparing his table.

Freezing where she sat, it never occurred to Charlotte she would have to do that.

Kieran was ready to go when he noticed Charlotte hesitating.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

Holding her head high, she snapped, "No."

Flipping a switch, he set his tattoo gun on the table, offering, "If you're not sure, maybe you should take some time to think about..." before she cut him off, stating, "I want it."

"You rethinking the location?"

Charlotte pulled her lips into her mouth and shook her head.

"If you're worried about me seeing you, I only look where I'm working and usually girls hold their shirt to cover their breasts."

Shaking her head with a loud exhale, she admitted, "I'm not worried about that. If you saw something...would you be able to keep it to yourself?"

Giving her a questioning look, he asked, "You got a third nipple or a head growing out of your back?"

With a slight laugh, she said, "No, nothing like that."

Smiling wide, Kieran shared, "Don't know if Auggs told you but I've been tattooing for my family since I was fifteen. I doubt you have anything I haven't seen before and even if ya did, I'm like a vault. Swear."

Glancing around the shop, Charlotte turned her back to Kieran, pulled her arms out of her top
, so the back of her shirt fell just below the center of her back.

"Is this good?" she asked deciding to think of it like a doctor's appointment.

After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, he answered, "That'll work."

Feeling him draw a rough outline on her shoulder blade, she asked, "So you've been doing this since you were fifteen?"

"Yep," he replied before informing, "I'm gonna do a short line so you know what to expect. Ready?"

Nodding
, Charlotte braced herself.

The vibration from the tattoo gun radiated into her shoulder
blade as the needle marked her skin. Charlotte slowly exhaled thinking, 'perfect'.

"Ya good?"

"Yes," she replied soaking in the pain.

"Can I ask you somethin' personal?"

Taking slow controlled breaths, she replied, "How personal?"

"What happened to you?"

Charlotte's voice was strained as she said, "Nothing."

"Do you need to take a break?"

She gritted her teeth, saying, "No."

"You sure?"

Finding it harder than she th
ought to control her reaction to the pain, Charlotte focused on a small black frame surrounding a Celtic heart with light blue shading that had Liv written at the top. Recognizing it as the same one that he had tattooed on the left side of his chest, she was curious.

With a sharp inhale she all but demanded, "What's with the Celtic heart?"

"Well now, that's my favorite story to tell," he assured before sharing, "Celtic tattoos started out as warrior markings. Intimidating the enemy going into battle. Along time ago, a Celt named Fergus marked his heart for everyone to see. Fergus was a hard core warrior and womanizer. Battles, different women, that sorta thing. Legend has it, a neighboring clan was being invaded. Fergus, who was always up for a good fight, left without hesitation. The battle was won and the neighboring clan was so grateful for his assistance, he was offered... Well, pretty much whatever he wanted."