Second Chances

Five Years Ago

My heart raced as I pushed open the door to the tattoo shop. Not out of fear, but out of pure excitement.

I was about to get my first tattoo.

The ding of the door announced my arrival to the rest of the store, and a handsome man stepped out from the back.

My neighbor and friend Liam Stevens grinned and rubbed his hands together. “You ready to do this, Chloe?”

“I think so?”

“ ‘I think so’ question mark?”

Okay, I’d lied. I was nervous. But I was more nervous about Liam touching me than the pain from the tattoo needle.

See, Liam was my neighbor, and the thing was, I had a tiny crush on him. But he had a girlfriend, whom he lived with, and I lived with my boyfriend. Nothing had ever happened between Liam and me, not even flirting.

Even though I was happy with Darren, I couldn’t help but notice that my neighbor was good-looking, nice, built, and had tattoos.

Which was how I’d ended up here tonight. When I told Liam at my twenty-fifth birthday party that I’d never gotten a tattoo, he told me he would give me one as a birthday gift. A part of me still couldn’t believe I had said yes, but then again, no one knew I had the hots for Liam but me, myself, and I.

“Did you decide on what you’re going to get?” he asked me. “Do you want to look around before we head back?”

Tracy, Liam’s girlfriend, had several tattoos and had offered to help me decide what I wanted and where I wanted it. She had steered me toward something small and in a spot that was safe, but I had left the conversation, knowing what I wanted to do.

If I was finally going to get a tattoo, I wasn’t going to start small and build up to something because I was scared. I was going to go all out and get exactly what I’d wanted the first time.

I shook my head. “No need to look. I already know what I want.” I pulled out the picture from my purse and showed it to Liam.

His eyebrows rose. “Oh. Wow.”

The image I had was a woman with a lace tattoo that started on her shoulder and trailed down to the middle of her chest, overlapping a breast.

“I know you can’t do exactly that,” I told him. I knew that artists didn’t like to copy another artist’s work. “But I was hoping for something similar. And I know that this is bigger than what you wanted to give me for free, so please let me pay you the difference.”

He looked up from the piece of paper I had handed him and eyed my shoulder. “I need to see your clavicle area.”

I’d come prepared for this. I removed the lightweight sweater I had on and slid the strap of the camisole I was wearing down to my arm. I also made sure to brush my blonde hair out of the way.

Liam picked up the picture and placed it in front of me, like he was visualizing how the tattoo would look. After a few seconds, he nodded his head. “I think this will look good on you. Sexy yet classy. Kind of like you.”

I laughed. “Thanks. If you’re saying I’m classy, then you must have left my birthday party before I got too drunk. There’s nothing classy about climbing into bed and falling asleep before all your guests leave.”

Liam winced but also couldn’t seem to hold in his laugh.

“Yeah, that’s my level of class.”

“Hey, at least you didn’t throw up.”

I was too embarrassed to admit that I had come pretty close. “True. It could have been worse.”

He smiled. “Well, I still stand by the classy part. And if it helps, I said, ‘Kind of like you.’ ”

I chuckled. “Right. I suppose you did.”

He looked back at my drawing. “I can do something very similar to this, but we’re going to have to do this over two different sessions. I would maybe let you get away with it all at once if you had experience, but since this is your first tattoo, we’re going to do it in steps.”

I tried to hide my disappointment. Even though I never had a tattoo before, I knew people who had gotten them. I had speculated I might have to do it in more than one step. I knew it would last forever, but I didn’t want to walk around with a half-completed tattoo.

I must not have hidden my disappointment well because Liam said, “What I’ll do is, do half the tattoo completely today and do the rest the next time you come in. That way, if you change your mind about getting something so big, you don’t have to do it.”

“Okay. That sounds good.”

The bell over the door rang from behind me, and I automatically looked over my shoulder to see who had entered. It was a couple with more than a few tattoos each. I wondered if they could tell that I was a newbie at this whole thing, and I pulled my strap back up and put my sweater back on before they could stare at my plain skin.

“Chet, your appointment is here,” Liam yelled. “He’ll be right up,” he told the couple. He turned his attention back to me. “Let me get something drawn up, and then we’ll start, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.” My heart was beating fast again.

I couldn’t wait.

“We’re finished.”

I opened my eyes and turned my head back to Liam. I had closed my eyes and faced away from him at one point to try to block out the pain. And the feel of his warm body sitting so close to me. I’d had no idea getting a tattoo could be so erotic. But that was probably just because of my neighbor. I’d had to remind myself several times that we were each in a relationship and happy with our significant others.

The good thing was that I felt relatively certain Liam had no idea about my internal struggles. Thankfully, the tattoo pain was a great cover for desire.

He handed me a mirror. “Take a look.”

I held up the plastic-framed glass and gasped. “Oh my God, it’s beautiful.”

The tattoo started on my shoulder and draped down over my collarbone. That was where he had stopped, and now, I wasn’t sure if I wanted the rest of it tattooed on my skin. It was stunning the way it was.

Also, I wasn’t sure if I could handle the tattoo going all the way down to my breast. If Liam touched me there, I might just combust. Or faint from trying to rein in my lust.

He grinned. “I’m so glad you like it.” He touched my chest. “Next time, we’ll finish the rest. It’ll start here and stop right about—”

I sat up from where I had been reclined in my chair before his hand could end up on my boob, just like I had feared.

His brow furrowed in confusion.

“Sorry. I was getting a kink in my back.”

“Oh. Sorry. You should have said something.”

“It just came on. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

He chuckled. “I’m fine. But I do need to put some ointment on it and cover it up. Do you want to lie back again or sit up?”

“I’ll sit. Go ahead.”

I should have lain back down because when he moved closer to cover up the new ink, his face was inches from mine. As he looked down, I watched as his tongue came out and licked his lips. It was a completely benign action with most people. But I had to look away again before I started thinking about him using that tongue on me.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Come on, Chloe. That was the opposite of what I was supposed to be thinking about.

His hand left me, and I heard the wheels of his stool as he moved away from me.

“Are you okay?”

I opened my eyes. “Yeah.”

“If the pain is too much, you can take some pain relievers.”

I put a smile on my face. “I think I’ll be okay, but if it gets to be too sore, I’ll do just that.”

“Great. Let me get you the aftercare instructions, and then I’ll walk you out.”

I tried calling Darren on my way home to tell him to be naked and ready. I had once read that flirting with others was good for relationships. Look but don’t touch. I didn’t know if I completely agreed with that—it depended on how serious the flirting was—but I could see what the article meant. I had gotten turned on from being around Liam, but I was taking all that desire home to my boyfriend.

Too bad he didn’t answer.

When I got back to our house, the front door was unlocked, and the lights were on, but no one was home. Darren’s car was also in the driveway.

I looked out the window to Liam and Tracy’s house. I could see lights on over there too.

Darren had to be over there if he’d left the house looking like he was still home. He must have popped over there to hang out with Tracy since I was at Liam’s tattoo shop.

Darren and I had only been living in our house for less than three months when Liam and Tracy moved in. With both couples being new to the neighborhood, the four of us had become friends, and it wasn’t unusual for one of us to be at the other’s place.

It worked out anyway since I wanted to show Tracy my new ink. Originally, she had planned on going with me earlier, but she’d had to work.

I knocked on the front door and pushed it open before I heard an answer. I wasn’t worried about finding Tracy in the middle of changing or anything if Darren was already over here.

But neither of them was in the living room or the kitchen. I was just about to head to the backyard when I heard a sound coming from the hall.

I pivoted and headed in that direction instead. Liam and Tracy had a two-bedroom house, and the door to the bathroom and the main bedroom were both open, but the guest bedroom door was closed.

That’s odd.

A vision of a true crime documentary flashed in my brain, and I froze.

After a few seconds, I shook my head at my overactive imagination. There wasn’t a serial killer in there.

But just to be on the careful side, I gently turned the knob on the door and slowly pushed it open. If there was a murderer, I wanted to be able to see them before they saw me, so I could run back home, lock the door, and call 911.

Fortunately, no one was getting killed.

Unfortunately, two people were having sex.

Tracy and Darren were both naked with Tracy on her hands and knees. I had a clear view of Darren’s penis in Tracy’s vagina.

I must have gasped or something because both their heads jerked in my direction.

I met my boyfriend’s eyes and shook my head. Then, I spun around and sprinted for the front door.

Upon my exit, I ran right into Liam and almost fell off the front stoop.

He grabbed my arms to steady me. “Hey, hey, hey. Are you okay? Did something happen with your tattoo?”

I realized I had tears on my cheeks. I hadn’t even known I was crying.

I shook off Liam. “I’m fine. My boyfriend is fucking your girlfriend though.” I stepped around him and jumped to the ground. “Try not to kill him, please. I don’t want to see you end up in prison over his worthless ass.”

With that, I marched home and started packing my stuff.