One Pucking Destiny (Crane Hockey #4)

Chapter 16

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

BASH

A ri’s phone pings with an alert that our Uber is here. “Let’s go, Cookie Monster. We have some tattooing to do.” The smile on her face is huge.

“Yeah!” a drunken Jaden yells from the pool. “Best bye week ever.”

Cade laughs. “I hope you know you’re never living this one down.”

A few more very unhelpful comments are shot my way from the peanut gallery as they enjoy their dip in the pool. Ari and I are the only ones not in our swimsuits, partaking in cold drinks and sunshine.

I can’t believe she’s making me go through with this. Strike that, I totally can. She’s not letting me win this one, and I can’t blame her. I was talking a lot of smack. Though we both know I’d never make her say yes when she didn’t want to, bet or not.

Yet I’m a man of my word, and I lost fair and square. I’d rather be the guy with a cookie tattoo than the guy who backed out of a bet.

“Let’s get this over with,” I grumble and follow Ari to the waiting car.

She shoots me a smile over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I brought the poker money from last night to pay for it. I’m not totally awful.”

I open the back passenger door and motion for her to get in. When she’s inside the car, I walk around the back and slide in the other side. She confirms our location with the driver, and he takes off.

“I’m not letting you pay.”

“No, let me. It’s bad enough I’m making you go through with this.”

“You keep your money. You won it fair and square,” I lie, seeing that Beckett totally gave her the win. “I have money to pay for my own tattoos.”

“If you insist.” She shrugs. “So I was thinking a chocolate chip cookie would be cute, but I mean, if you want to do a sugar cookie or an oatmeal raisin, that would be fine, too.”

“Chocolate chip is fine.”

I don’t know whether to be annoyed, mad, impressed, or turned on by the woman next to me. She stirs a relentless dichotomy of emotions in me that are constantly dueling. She’s an enigma, and while it’d be ideal for today to damper the fire I feel for her, I have a feeling it’s only going to spark it.

We pull up to the tattoo parlor.

After thanking the driver, Ari all but skips to the building. “I can’t believe they had an opening today.”

“That usually means the place is shit. This tattoo may come out looking like something completely different.”

“Don’t worry. This place is booked out for months and has awesome reviews. I looked through their portfolio online and the pictures they’ve been tagged in on their socials. They’re good. They just had a cancellation this morning. Lucky us.”

“So lucky.” I open the door to the chime of a bell, and she hurries in.

The tattoo artist is a huge burly dude with long hair tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Most of his skin is covered in ink, including several parts of his face.

I sit in the chair.

“Where is this cookie going?” he asks Ari.

“I was thinking.” Her eyes darken as she looks down toward my crotch.

My heart hammers in my chest. I am not tattooing my junk. Is that even a thing ?

She points at a spot on my lower hip. “On this side of the hip, but a little lower so it’s covered with shorts and stuff.”

“If you don’t want it visible with shorts, we’ll have to go a little lower because his tan line is right here.” The guy suggests as if deciding how close to tattoo a cookie next to a penis is a normal conversation.

He pulls my shorts down below the inverted V of my abdomen muscles. “So like…right next to my dick?” I spat.

Ariana chokes back a laugh.

“Pretty much, man. Is that where you want it?” His eyes move between me and Ari.

“Is that where you want it?” I pin Ari with a stare.

She presses her lips in a line and nods.

I sigh. “Yeah, I guess so, then.”

He preps the area, and I close my eyes, not wanting to see Ari. She’s seen this area of my body before, but lying here in this position feels a little vulnerable.

Ari talks with the guy, but I block out the chatter as the hum of the tattoo gun sounds. I attempt to zone out and fall into meditation mode as the sting of the gun burns my skin. Lying here as the artist tattoos my groin with a chocolate chip cookie for a girl I’ll never have has me rethinking my life choices.

Somewhere in the recent past, I messed up.

This isn’t the making of a love story. As much as I want Ari, I need to face the facts that I’ll never have her. I guess we were just a hookup as she likes to remind me.

The guy finishes. “Do you want to see it?”

“Nah, just cover it up. I’m ready to go,” I answer.

He puts the gel ointment and plastic wrap bandage on the area. I pay as Ari requests a ride from the app on her phone. Our ride pulls up, and I give a half-hearted thanks to the tattoo artist.

“Yeah, no problem, man.” He looks behind Ari and me and smiles, not sure what to think of us.

Once we’re inside the car, Ari turns to me. “You’re mad.”

“No, I’m not mad.”

She sighs. “Yes, you are. I shouldn’t have made you do it. I’m sorry. Don’t be upset. No one’s ever going to see it.”

Except every single woman I sleep with from here on out.

I shrug and look out the window. “I’m really not upset. Don’t worry about it.”

“Then what are you thinking? You’re… different.”

“How should I be acting, Ari?” I turn to face her.

She blows out a breath and runs her hands along her bare legs above her knees. “I don’t know, like your normal happy self.”

“Ari, I just got a chocolate chip cookie tattooed next to my junk. Please forgive me if I’m not jumping for joy. But I promise you, I’m not mad. I’m just…” My sentence trails off. “I’m just tired, is all. I didn’t sleep well last night. No big deal.”

She nods in acceptance, and I turn back toward the window. It wasn’t a total lie. I could use a nap.

As soon as the car drops us off, the cheers of the guys can be heard from the pool. They’re entirely too obnoxious, and it makes me smile.

“At least they’re happy about this.” I grin.

“That they are,” Ari agrees as we make our way to the backyard.

“Let’s see it!” Jaden cheers.

As I stand at the edge of the pool, all eyes are on me. Most of the group is in the pool while a few lie on lounge chairs outside of the water.

“Alright, listen up. I’m going to show you once…” Cheers erupt. “But then you’ll never see it again because it’s in a location you probably shouldn’t be checking out. Got it? So open those eyes, boys, because this is your one and only peep show.”

I pull the waistband of my shorts down, careful to keep the goods covered as I flash the tattoo. The team erupts in a fit of laughter, their joy, palpable.

“This is the best day of my life,” Max says.

“I can’t believe you really did it,” Cade states.

“There’s an actual chocolate cookie by your dick, man. You’re going to have to explain that every time you have sex with a new chick.” Beckett shakes his head.

“Believe me. I’ve thought of that,” I answer Beckett before I scan the group. “Have you seen enough? Good.” I pull my shorts back into place. “Hope it was as good for you as it was for me.” I retreat.

Gunner intercepts before I reach the bar and hands me a beer. “That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen. I thought you might need this.”

I take a swig of the beer. “Thanks.”

He puts a hand on my shoulder. “You know, in the future, saying no is an option.”

“Great advice. Next time someone wants to tattoo a dessert next to my junk, I’ll think twice about it.” I roll my eyes.

He half chuckles and walks back toward the row of lounge chairs.

I think I remember the guy at the tattoo parlor saying something about avoiding swimming pools for a while. Then again, maybe the chlorine will wash the ink away, erasing this mistake.

I’m not in the mood to swim, so I grab a few beers and head to my room. My brain is having a hard time making sense of anything right now. At this point, a nap is probably best.