Chapter Three
"Why did he have to do that?"
That was the question Emily repeatedly asked herself on the way home. There was no way in hell that he could find beauty in her marred back. She didn't want to go back to the shop.
So many times had she fallen for men who were just being friendly. With her usual bad habit of looking too deep into their kindness, she would fall for them only to be rejected. She wasn't going to let that happen this time. Or rather, she would try to fight her feelings to prevent it from happening.
She hated the way she felt now.
"Why me? Why does this always happen to me? I hate having crushes!" she thought to herself.
She convinced herself right then and there that Luke had a Barbie girlfriend and that she was one of the girls outside. He was just being friendly, as were her crushes before him. She was mortified about being turned on by him. She just wanted to go home and bury herself under her covers.
***
Emily spent all of Sunday and early Monday feeling very depressed. She still hadn't gotten over how easy it was for Luke to make her so wet. She sat in her room forcing her thoughts on him being a playboy, with gorgeous women always around him. She had to get through this one way or another.
"They all think I'm hideous. Why should I be afraid anymore?" she assured herself.
What more could they say to her that hadn't already been said by strangers? It was clear to her now. All she had to do was put a brave face on, and walk in there with absolutely no positive expectations. The time of her appointment was quickly approaching. She got up and got ready to leave.
Emily walked quickly towards Twisted Ink, hoping she wasn't too late. She spent the past day worrying about Luke and forgot to do her laundry. She did manage to find something to wear, but it was not the usual style she went for. She wore a black tank top which hugged her curvy figure with black leggings to match.
The scar wasn't too apparent, and she ran out of the house not really caring anymore if it did show. When she arrived, the front room was empty, just as it had been the last time. She didn't call out for Luke this time.
She wanted to take a look around. On the wall were a few black and white photos which caught her attention and she walked up to them. They were mostly of Ethan and Luke. They seemed very close and she smiled at how happy they looked around each other.
"Heeey!!"
Emily spun around, surprised at the sudden interruption. It was Luke. She was so occupied with examining their family photos that she didn't hear him approaching. His gorgeous smile made her heart flutter. She was too surprised to say anything and felt guilty that she was late, yet wasting time being nosey.
"Oh hi!" she said softly.
"I heard you come in, sorry if I startled you."
"No don't worry about it... I'm sorry for being so late... I ...wasn't feeling very well."
"Oh... well ...you can come back another time, if you're not feeling well."
"It's alright." she said smiling. "I'd like to get things started as soon as possible."
"Are you sure? It's not a big deal."
"No I'm alright...I was hoping to see your designs today."
"Oh, yeah! I actually made you a custom design yesterday. I was staring at the pics I took for a while, and I wanted to make you something beautiful. I was going to show it to you as soon as you got here. It's really feminine and I think it would look great on you."
"Really?" she asked, feeling a little happy that he had put some effort into a custom design.
"Come on, I'll show you." he said, once again beckoning her to the back room.
Once in the room, he went straight for a large sketchpad resting on the metal table. He flipped through the pad and found the sketch that he was looking for. He went up to her and held the drawing up for her to see. She was speechless. On the pad were a flock of monarch butterflies spiraling against a few lotus blossoms. The drawing matched the movement of her scar perfectly and the violet and blue colors he used greatly appealed to her. She was touched.
"Wow... that's really beautiful!"
"Usually, if I were doing a large custom tattoo I would make the drawing a dragon or a tiger, but I thought that would probably be too harsh on your body. You need something that suits your personality. When I thought about you, pretty butterflies came to my mind." he said, returning the pad to the table.
"It's not finished but I just wanted to run it by you to see whether you liked it."
"I love it!" she exclaimed with the biggest smile.
"Cool, well can you turn around for me?" and he drew closer to her.
Emily turned towards the mirror and saw herself. She looked down at her feet, embarrassed to see herself in the tight tank. Her love handles were poking out from the sides and the low cut front exposed the top of her bountiful breasts. Luke stood behind her and she took a quick glance at the mirror. He was a few inches taller than she was and she could see him looking down on her right shoulder.
"May I?" he asked, hands reaching for the straps of her tank yet not quite touching them.
"Oh, sure." and she braced herself for the effects of his touch.
He brushed a few stray curls off her shoulder and lifted the straps of the tank and bra. He slid them down her shoulder slowly, exposing the top of the reddened scar.
"You smell really nice." he smiled, showing off his dimples and soft pierced lips.
"Thank you." she smiled and looked into his blue eyes through the mirror.
She felt that trickling between her legs again and wanted it to stop. Luke's fingers trailed along her shoulder for a moment and then paused over the area above where her scar began.
"I'd like to start with a butterfly over here. It'll extend over to your normal skin...and the level of pain might change as I go over the scar. Let's see how things go and we'll take it from there okay?"
