Divorced and Falling for the Tattoo Master

The plan

~ GAVIN ~

Edward's posture stiffened — just for a moment, before he relaxed again. Or perhaps I imagined it, thanks to the smoke and shadows playing across my eyes. He didn’t remember Sienna. Hell, he didn’t even know her name. There was no reason for a mention of her to have any effect on him. His response confirmed as much.

“Who? Dad brain. Jog my memory.”

I was more than happy to — in a way that would make him mad. “Remember that day you got into a fight with some lanky guy at the gym and he floored you-“

“Asshòle!” he hissed, striking the bútt of his cigar against the ashtray.

I shot him an unapologetic grin, knowing without a doubt that he now remembered. For a prideful man like my brother, getting his áss beat in a gym full of people was not an experience he would easily forget.

Even if it was five years ago.

On the day I met Sienna, Edward and I had gone to the gym together as part of our attempts at rekindling our relationship after my time in prison.

We left shortly after his altercation with some guy, and decided to stop by my tattoo shop before heading home. GK Tattoos was still in its early stages and just beginning to earn a reputation. I’d always been a systems guy so it was no wonder that just a year in, the business was already running like clockwork — smoothly and efficiently, without needing my constant supervision.

The plan was to breeze in, see how my workers were doing, and breeze out. But that plan quickly flew out the window when I set my eyes on a gorgeous girl speaking with one of my tattoo artists.

She was all wide eyes and easy smiles, a beam of sunshine wrapped in curves that made it hard for me to look away. And hell, if sunshine wasn’t exactly what I needed to break through the storm cloud I’d been living under. I was somehow also convinced that her body under or on top of mine would heal me in ways that therapy had failed to.

One look, and I was done for — caught, hooked, and already halfway gone, while she went about her business, oblivious of my existence or the fact that she had me in a trance. I pointed her to Edward, barely tearing my gaze away from her as I told him I was going to talk to her.

He called my bluff. She was a total knockout — elegant, polished, and clearly used to being waited on. She either had rich parents or a job that paid more than most people made in a year.

And me? I was fresh out of hell — literal hell — with scars that told stories I would rather bury than explain. In my brother’s words: “If she looks at you for more than two seconds, it would be to diagnose whatever physical or mental illness you’re dragging around.”

I was pissed. I was provoked. I was twenty-four, reckless and stupid enough to take the bait. I was going to prove to Edward — and maybe to myself — that I could still get any girl I wanted. Two years behind bars and another year of bad decisions did not change the fact that I was Gavin fuckíng Kessler.

So we made a bet. If I could f**k her within the month, he would do the one thing I had been asking of him. And if I couldn’t, well, Edward didn’t bother with getting anything from the bet. That’s how confident he was that I would lose.

Which made me even more determined to win — until I saw the prototype of the tattoo she was getting. A male name. Her husband’s name.

And just like that, the bet came to an unceremonious end. Edward tried to convince me that her being married only added to the thrill of the chase, which was probably true. But as a rule, I didn’t fùck married women. So I stayed put and watched in shrouded envy when her husband came to pick her up after the procedure was done. He had all his teeth on display, beaming like the proud owner of some rare artifact, as he walked her out of my shop.

That was the last time I would see her until she walked in again today — body still hot, eyes not as bright. But most notably, divorced, which only meant one thing; she was mine to claim.

“You remember her, right?”

“I do,” Edward affirmed. “Though I’m surprised you still recognize her. Have you been stalking her?”

“No. I could never forget that face — and body.”

“Interesting. So she came back this time to draw her husband’s face above his name?”

My lips lifted in an amused smirk. “Actually, she came to get rid of her husband’s name. Her ex-husband.”

“Holy Molly! What’s happening to marriages these days?” he exclaimed.

“You’re one to talk.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the only reason why you’re still married is because Hannah hasn’t clocked your bullshít yet.”

“What bullshít, Gavin? Hannah lives in one of the best houses in Massachusetts, the rock on her wedding ring would leave a big dent in the skull of anyone she chooses to punch, she vacations with our daughter every quarter. What more could she want?”

“Maybe that you stop cheating for a start?”

“Coming from a man who probably had a threesome yesterday,” Edward replied, a poor attempt at deflection.

“One, I didn’t. Two, I’m a single man, Edward. I can have ten people in my bed because I didn’t make any vows to anyone. That’s the difference between us.”

“Last I checked, I didn’t make my vows to you. So maybe you should mind your business.”

I raised my hands in mock surrender and brought my glass of whiskey to my lips, taking small sips.

“So this ‘unforgettable’ client of yours… what did she want?” he asked a minute later when the tension had dissipated.

“Well, she wanted a coverup tattoo of some strange flower but I gave her something even better.”

His brow lifted in curiosity, prompting me to continue.

“I put my name on her.”

Edward looked at me for a long while. “You’re joking,” he blurted.

“If you say so,” I replied with a shrug. It had been ages since I felt the need to prove anything to anyone.

My brother searched my face for a while longer before reaching the conclusion that I was serious. “Why the hell would you do that, Gavin?”

“Why not? She’s no longer with her husband so I simply updated her tattoo to the name of her new man.”

Inking my name on Sienna was not a premeditated thought. While covering up her old tattoo with the flowers she requested, the crazy idea dropped in my head. A sane person would have laughed it off but I was anything but sane.

When the session was over and I looked at my name drawn in my favourite font on her pretty waist, I had no regrets; it looked fuckíng good. Plus she was going to be my girl after all — she just didn’t believe it yet.

Edward’s expression danced between disbelief and disappointment. He probably expected some grand and dramatic reason, but there was honestly none, just intrusive thoughts that refused to remain only thoughts.

“You’re sick, man,” he said finally.

“She already told me that.”

“I would have loved to think you’ve had your fair share of dealing with law enforcement to be pulling pranks like this. What if she sues you?”

“Well, she wouldn’t.”

“Why? Because she’s so ‘charmed’ by you, she would happily be branded with your name like a designer handbag?” Edward scoffed sarcastically.

“Maybe. But also because I offered her six million dollars.”

I smiled at Edward’s lack of reaction. Six million dollars was definitely not a lot to him or me or anyone who bore our last name. Still, it was a lot of money to give someone for no reason at all.

“I can see your businesses are making a lot more bank than I thought,” he chided.

“What can I say? I’m an astute businessman.”

“I have to agree.” Edward laughed, taking his time with his cigar before speaking again. “So what’s your plan with the girl?”

“Her name is Sienna,” I informed him, feeling a strange obligation to protect her individuality. I was also going to add that she was no longer a girl — five years had fleshed up her slender frame and turned the spring in her steps to purpose, but that would reveal I might have been paying too much attention to her today.

“Whatever, man. Six million dollars… what’s in it for you? I mean, our bet is clearly off the table.”

Obviously, our bet was off the table. I was in a way better place than I was five years ago; there was nothing I wanted that Edward could give me. And Sienna? The Gavin who needed the sunshine she radiated was dead and in his place was a Gavin who had accepted that sunshine was an illusion. You simply lived in the darkness long enough to function perfectly in it.

So what’s in it for me?

Her body.

Sienna had the most beautiful body I’d ever cared to look at. So beautiful, I could still remember it five years later. I wanted to see that body bare, and give it the worship it deserved. I wanted to take her to my Rage room and watch that body react to every tool in it until she was begging for me to stop. I wanted to f**k that body until it went limp from pleasure and pain. And I wanted to do all these with my name on it.

Even as I thought about it, my còck twitched vigorously in my pants. It couldn’t wait to be buried in Sienna. In her pússy. In her áss. In her mouth.

“Well, the plan is the same as the first day, just this time, without your doubt,” I smirked at him as I said that part, “and a silly bet. I want to fùck her as soon and as hard as possible.”