~ GAVIN ~
Today was one of the rare days when I was the one on the other side of the tattoo pen.
The machine buzzed low as my newest artist pressed the cartridge into my arm, his hand steady. I’d known from the first line he pulled — clean and confident — that he had it. Talent wasn’t something you could fake in this business. Not on skin.
At GK Tattoos, this ritual wasn’t optional. Every artist who worked here earned their place by inking me first.
If I was going to let someone stain other people’s bodies under my roof, I needed to see — and feel — exactly what they could do. My clients didn’t pay a premium for basic service.
This new artist was young; the youngest I’d ever considered hiring. Frizzy purple hair. Clothes two sizes bigger. A few tattoos on him, the most prominent one,
