Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 10

not a woman."
    Michael smiled at me. "It's normal, you worry. And God knows Austin didn't help any. But Gabriel and I will take care of everything if something happens to you. You know that."
    "Yeah, I do," Zach stood, giving Michael a hug, "I'm late, I gotta go."
    "Take it easy."
    Zach smiled at him, but there was no feeling behind it. He was wary and tired. He needed another spark in his life besides his child or he was going to burn out.
    ****
    A bell jingled as Zach pushed open the large doors to Adam's , a tattoo parlor where he worked in the mornings. There were already a few people waiting in the seating area around the front counter and the buzz of tattoo guns signaled the day had already began.
    "Hi Jill, busy day?" Zach walked to the receptionist, nodding at the people waiting.
    "Yeah. You have a scheduled industrial, bridge and double nipple. Those are already here. Two walk-in. One for a consultation and one for a nose stud," Jill said, flipping through her notes.
    "Cool. Scheduled first, then consultation and leave the nose stud for last. I have a full schedule today, right?"
    "As always, honey. You're a popular needle man." She smiled showing off her venom piercing, the tongue kind, not that her lips were ring-free. Their Jill was the best advertisement a parlor could want, and most of her piercings and tattoos had been done at Adam's .
    Zach smiled at her, "The walk-in?"
    "The two flipping through the photos." She pointed to the left where a young woman and a man sat on one of the upholstered benches pushed against the salon wall.
    Walking over there, Zach thrust out his hand and introduced himself, giving them a timeline for their appointments and suggested they take a walk since it was better than sitting and waiting for over an hour.
    Then he walked over to those waiting for their appointments, greeted Jack, who was a regular, and took the girl who wanted the industrial to the back with him.
    "Hey, Zach," Adam greeted him as he walked past his working station, the closest one to his piercing area.
    "Busy today?" Zach asked, showing the girl where she could sit.
    The parlor was essentially a big open space, but the working area was separated from the reception section by a big wooden counter and open shelves riddled with pieces of art and no longer used equipment.
    Stations however, did have the option of being closed off by ceiling high, thick curtains, depending on the wishes of the clients. Zach's station was the last one and was more a room than simply a table with working space. Instead of a curtain it was closed off by a wall with a window in the middle of it and had a set of double doors which stayed open unless they had a big project or an extensive modification.
    The window was used for easier communication but had a pull out cover if the client wanted privacy.
    "It's a rush as always. I have a friend coming later. A rock star wanting his first tattoo." Adam smirked at what seemed like a private joke.
    "Someone I know?" Zach asked almost absentmindedly as he prepared his working surface and took out the disinfecting supplies.
    "'Guessing Game,'" he said, "I don't know if you even listen to music anymore, but they've been around for a few years. Hit it big last spring."
    "Never heard of them," but the girl in his seat obviously had because her eyes got big and glazed.
    "You know who they are?" Zach asked, and she nodded quickly, gripping at her seat.
    Adam laughed on the other side of the window, working on the shoulder tattoo. "Noah is an attention whore. Everyone who's bothered to turn on the TV in the past year has heard of him."
    "Yeah, well, I'm not one of those people," Zach said and sat down on his chair, pulling up closer to the girl and appraising her ear.
    "You'll meet him today," Adam said with a much more subdued tone.
    "I bet you would like to stay here until he comes?" Zach grinned at the girl patiently sitting there while Zach measured the bars she'd picked out with Jill.
    "Yes!" It was more a squeak than an answer and she blushed, forcing an honest grin out of Zach.
    The procedure was standard considering how many of them he'd done over the years. Zach talked her through it, made sure she really wanted it and disinfected everything twice just to make sure. This was something he always did since the first piercing he'd had done got infected. There wasn't a better learning curve than personal experience.
    As soon as Zach started working, time started slipping by him. After the