Then Dallin canceled, using an upcoming expo as the reason behind the last-minute change of plans. I thought maybe Parker or Trey would step in since they were wildly successful at Twisted Ink, too. But Dallin had emailed me with the name of another artist to do the piece. His email had been brief and vague, leaving me scratching my head as I tried to figure out his angle on it. Before long, the why behind it didn’t matter. I was hooked.
Lex Donovan.
Or, as I later discovered, Alexi Faith Donovan, was hands down the most talented female tattoo artist in all of Nashville.
Yet hardly anyone outside of the tattoo world knew her name. An injustice that should have been criminal. A crime I was guilty of as well until a week ago.
My experience with tattoos was minimal, having never gotten brave enough to get one myself. But even as a novice who only admired other’s work before, it took me almost no time at all to realize just how incredible Lex was.
Her art was phenomenal, and after learning who the artist was, recognizing the femininity and sensuality of it was no hard task. I felt like an enthusiast getting to study one of the world’s greatest artists only through textbooks for years and then finally seeing the work at a gallery in real life. It was world-changing.
And then I got to meet the paradox herself, and I was no less blown away by her in person.
She was insanely nice to me when I interrupted her day with my nosey questions and novice take on her world. And it was an oddity, given her appearance, that I would feel so comfortable around her.
Well, mostly comfortable.
There was something about her I couldn’t quite put my finger on yet. Something in the way she watched me when I spoke or the look in her eyes when she glanced up at me while she was tattooing. It was almost unnerving. And not in a bad way, but in a voracious way. I felt like a rabbit, sitting on the edge of a meadow, watching a fox in all her majestic wonderfulness, too entranced to run away in self-preservation, and lost to the allure she cast over me as she neared me. Would the spell wear off and leave the little rabbit the fox’s dinner in the end? Would the rabbit go, accepting its fate, knowing she was in the presence of something greater than herself?
Was I thinking too deep into the entire situation?
Of course, that was my specialty after all.
“What got you into journalism?” Lex asked, glancing up from the back of her client where she was outlining the coy fish that covered every inch and breaking me out of the trance I’d been in watching her work. Her body moved in sync with her brain as she tattooed, curving and bending around her canvas to create the art. It was art in its own way, watching her.
I smiled fondly, “Journalism kind of chose me, much like tattooing did you. I have always been an overthinker type. And as a kid I used to drive everyone nuts asking a million questions about every topic on the face of the earth, and my teachers were so over it by middle school that they made me join the yearbook club.” I shrugged a little with a smirk. “I quickly overwhelmed them and then they pushed me into the newspaper club, which, to be honest, rarely accepted middle schoolers, since high school students primarily ran it. But it did the job, because I finally had tasks that could keep my inquisitive brain busy long enough to keep my mouth shut.”
“You make it sound like curiosity is a bad thing.” Lex wiped some ink off and kept going. “I think it’s an outstanding trait to have, especially in a child trying to figure out the world.”
“I’m still trying to figure the world out.” I joked. “The zest for knowledge is something I never want to lose.”
She looked up at me and her brown eyes held mine for a moment that felt longer than polite before she blinked and gave her attention back to her tattoo. I didn’t know if it was her standard practice or not, but when her client got to her appointment, she almost seemed disappointed to find out that she wouldn’t have solo time with Lex for the tattoo. And then there had been some weird tension to begin with, but it had faded as the hours wore on, filled with small talk between Lex and me, and the buzz of her tattoo gun. At one point, I even thought, perhaps her client had fallen asleep. She had a few other large tattoos, so she was obviously no stranger to the pain.
“Well, that about wraps it up for today.” Lex sat up straight and stretched her neck as she tilted her head to look at the art. “Take a look and let me know what you think.”
Her client, Ashley, stood up, holding the skimpy tie back shirt she wore over her chest as she all but ran to the mirror to look. She gasped as she caught the delicate black outline in the reflection. “Oh my god, Lex.” She covered her mouth with her hand and widened her eyes. “It’s so much more than I could even have imagined. And it’s just the line work. Oh, my god!”
I watched as Lex brushed off the over-the-top excitement with a small smile and prepped the after care supplies for her client. “Do you think I could get a picture of that?” I interjected before Lex covered the fresh tattoo with the plastic barrier.
“Am I going to make it in the article?” Ashley batted her eyelashes at me, and I chuckled at her obvious attempt to persuade me to make her art appear.
“There’s a very good chance, given how beautiful of a piece it is.” I nodded, and it was all the affirmation Ashley needed, as she twisted her back to me, standing in front of the pretty green ivy-covered wall in Lex’s room. I snapped a few different pictures with my phone and had to force myself to back up and let Lex continue her job afterward, because I could have spent hours looking at the different parts of the tattoo. There was so much detail in the fine line work and I knew when it was all done, with color and shading, it would be a phenomenal piece.
“Stop out there with Paisley to schedule your next session in a few weeks, Ash.” Lex told her as she removed her gloves and washed her hands. I couldn’t help but notice the firm dismissiveness in her tone, even if there was a level of professionalism in it.
“Thanks Lex.” Ashley replied, lingering at the door of the room, quickly glancing between me and her artist. “Uh, actually I was hoping—” Ashley started, and Lex cleared her throat, wiping her hands off.
“I can’t.” Lex cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “I have a ton of sketching to catch up on and back-to-back appointments tomorrow. But thanks.”
I felt like a total lurker, standing in the room while the mysterious conversation played out with the total lack of actual words being used. The tension between the two of them had been high since the appointment started, but I hadn’t been able to figure out what it was from exactly. But I was getting the idea.
“I can give you two a few—” I said apologetically, grabbing for my bag to leave the room so they could finish whatever needed to be said.
“That’d be great!” Ashley gushed appreciatively, moving to the side so I could leave the room, but Lex stopped me with her hand on my arm.
“It’s unnecessary.” She said firmly, staring right down at me before turning back to her client. “Like I said, Ash, I have a ton of work to do.”
“Lex—” Ash chuckled awkwardly, and I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
“Have a great night, and make sure you drink lots of water the next few days while that piece pushes the ink.”
Lex had a dominance about her, it wasn’t necessarily in her tone or her appearance, but it filled the space around her like air thick with power. There was only one other person I’d ever encountered with that same supremacy that just forced you to comply without conscious thought.
And I had fallen in love with him because of it. Brody.
So it was a paradox to be in the presence of it with someone else that was the opposite sex of him, yet just as alluring.
“Right.” Ashley brushed it off like the obvious rejection did not affect her, glancing briefly at where Lex’s hand still held my arm, before turning and leaving the room in a huff.
“That was—” I murmured in surprise.
“I’m sorry.” Lex sighed, releasing me. “I thought we were going to get all the way through the session with no issues. I should have known better. Ashley is never professional.”
“No, no worries.” I shook my head, trying to reassure her, but then my curiosity got the best of me. “Was she trying to ask you out?” Lex’s dark eyelashes fluttered as she snapped her eyes to me. “Sorry. That was unprofessional of me. I can’t believe I said that out loud.” A blush cover my entire face and neck as I once again hoped the floor would swallow me whole and spit me back out on the other side of town. “I’m grateful for the time you have given me today; I’ll get out of your hair.” Grabbing my bag hurriedly, I tried to leave.
“Stop.” Lex’s voice was firm and demanded obedience. Something in me ached to be a good listener and follow along. She tilted her head to the side just the slightest bit as she regarded me, making the blush burn even warmer on my skin. Walking over to the chair I had been sitting in, she grabbed my forgotten tablet off the table next to it and brought it over to me.
It felt like the room got a million degrees hotter with every step she took, closing the distance between us until she stopped right in front of me and slid my tablet into the open pocket of my bag.
