She smiled and rolled her eyes, waving me off. “I’m not surprised. This piece is a feature piece on the shop itself as well as on you,” she motioned to me before placing her hands in her lap, all prim and proper. “My plan when I had originally gotten the okay to do it with Dallin, was to interview him, then shadow for a few appointments, get some up close and personal photos of his work, throughout the process, and then do a feature shoot here at the shop and in a studio.” She grabbed her laptop bag off the floor and pulled a tablet out, flipping the cover off and showing me a cover of Inked Magazine. It was an edition from a few years ago that I recognized because the woman on the cover was one of the most successful women in the tattoo industry. “After he switched and told me I’d be following you, I dove deep into researching ways to highlight not only your strengths as an artist, but also as a woman. And this is the vibe I was going for. Something fun yet powerful.” She bit her bottom lip and waited for a reply, like she was afraid I’d veto the entire thing.
“I’ll admit, I’m impressed.” I leaned back in my seat, as my head spun with the details she shared in such a short amount of time. “And intrigued.”
“You’re one of the most sought-after tattoo artists in all of Nashville, and you’re a woman. Those two titles rarely pair up in any industry, but especially in one that would rather the women be the canvases and models, instead of the designers.”
“You did dive deep into the research.” I praised her and she blushed a little as her shoulders sagged in relief.
“I never do anything half-assed. And if I’m being honest, which I always am,” she giggled at herself and I smirked, “I’m truly looking forward to this piece far more now that it revolves around you and this angle than when it was about Dallin.” She held her hand up. “As great as he is, which as Reyna’s friend, I know he’s great. Even so, I like this far more.”
Pieces started fitting together as I found out that Hannah was a friend of Rey’s. As much as I loved the wife of Dallin, Trey, and Parker, she was still a cute little vanilla girly girl in public, and the pairing made sense.
“Well, I’m at your mercy then, I suppose. Interview away.” I held my arms out and crossed my leg over my knee.
Hannah smiled brightly and flicked through some pages on her tablet and then pulled a voice recorder from her bag and held it up. “Is this okay?” I shrugged, giving her the go-ahead, and she turned it on and set it down on the table next to her. “Okay, so how about we start with how you decided tattooing was the medium of art you were interested in?”
“Geesh.” I thought back and smirked. “It wasn’t so much that I decided on tattoos, as much as it was tattoos chose me. My dad is a tattoo artist. A damn good one, too. And when I was a kid, I used to love watching him tattoo and wanted so desperately to get one of my own. He, of course, had the opinion that my skin would never, ever feel the sting of a tattoo gun if he had anything to say about it.”
Hannah listened intently, like what I was saying was the most interesting thing in the world, and I hated how it warmed my frigid heart to feel important in the moment. “Let me guess, Daddy’s girl?” She asked knowingly.
“Very much so,” I admitted. “And he was going to preserve me as the sweet little innocent baby girl as long as he could.”
“Uh oh,” she grinned, “So you rebelled.”
“Hard.” I shook my head, remembering those years when my dad and I butted heads over what my future would look like. “One night, when I was fourteen, I snuck down into his studio after bedtime and tattooed my leg, intent on proving him wrong.”
“You did not!” She gasped with wide eyes, looking thoroughly scandalized. “What did you tattoo?”
“A rainbow.” I fiddled with a ring on my finger. “It’s the one tattoo from my early years that I never went back and touched up or covered.”
“Can I see?” she asked, biting her bottom lip.
Keep your shit together, Lex.
She was a fucking good girl, and she meant nothing sexual by it, but there was no way I could resist corrupting her and overlook such a sexual mannerism.
I nodded, and she walked over to me with that stargazing awestruck look on her face, I raised the frayed edge of my cut-offs to the spot where my leg and hip met and watched her face as she saw the squiggly, black-lined rainbow with little puffy clouds on each end.
“No way.” She whispered and flicked her big green eyes up to mine and my entire body heated like some schoolgirl. “That’s so cool.” She went back across the room to her chair, and I smoothed my shorts back down. “Did your dad find out?”
“I didn’t plan it very well because we were going on vacation the next week and two days in, he saw it while I was in my swimsuit.” I shook my head. “He was so mad, he refused to even speak to me for two days. Which was unhinged because we were best friends, so that silence did far more than any screaming or discipline could have. After some self-reflection and a few really long late-night conversations on it, he concluded that he exposed me to that life, and he could either nurture my interest in it, or I could do shady back-alley style tattoos on myself as I honed my skills. And neither of us wanted me to look like some bathroom stall, graffitied with messy work. So he started teaching me and I ended up in this life.”
“Wow.” Hannah sighed, mystified by it all. “That’s incredible. Does he still tattoo today?”
“He does.” I nodded, “He owns a big-name shop in Las Vegas, and has big name clients.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Why don’t you work there?” She hesitated and cringed slightly. “If you don’t mind me asking. I should have prefaced this whole thing with you are more than welcome to tell me to get lost at any point if you aren’t comfortable.”
I waved it off. “There isn’t much in life that makes me uncomfortable at this point anymore, Hannah. Don’t worry. My dad is wildly successful and talented, and with that comes a gigantic shadow to stand in. And I didn’t want to always live the life of following him, never making it for myself. So eight years ago I packed up and moved, first to LA, and then a few years later I moved here to Nashville, and I knew pretty much right away that this was where I was supposed to be.”
“Incredible.” She licked her lips, blinking rapidly as she focused on her task. “How long have you been here at Twisted Ink?”
“Five years.” I crinkled my nose. “I never planned to stay in one place this long after leaving Vegas, but the thought of leaving now makes me anxious. So I’ll stay a little longer, I think.”
Hannah was about to say something when there was a knock on the door, and Paisley appeared. “Sorry to interrupt, but your five o’clock is here.” I caught the pointed look on her face as she mentioned my next client, reminding me of the awkward situation I was about to find myself in.
“Right. Thanks.” I stood up, hating the way I was actually kind of bummed to have the private interview interrupted when an idea came to mind. Considering the warning I had been given about being on my best behavior around Hannah, I should have shut it down instead of speaking my idea into reality. I just wasn’t ready to end our interview.
Hannah stood up and looked from Paisley to me and back.
“Well, do you want to see what a coy fish on a spine looks like?” I asked, and her eyes rounded excitedly.
“Heck yes!”
Paisley and I chuckled as I motioned for her to follow me out to the reception area to chat with my next appointment.
I never allowed spectators during appointments outside of the client’s personal entourage, but I was far from ready to end my time with Hannah.
Even if I had no fucking clue why I was entertaining the innocent little church girl any longer than I needed to.
Chapter 4 – Hannah
Iwas sweating. Thank god for clinical strength deodorant, or I was pretty sure Lex would have kicked me out for stinking up her studio.
She was majestic and regal in every way possible, leaving me feeling like a mere spectator amongst greatness the entire time I was in her presence.
Yet I wanted it to never end.
When I first received the assignment to interview Nashville’s hottest tattoo artist, I felt overwhelmed and completely out of my comfort zone. Luckily for me, my very best friend Reyna was married to not one, but three of the biggest names in the game. So, of course, I phoned a friend and got the inside connection for the piece.
