Going Deep (Imperfect Love 2)

“Great, if we’re all done with this reunion, how about we figure out who’s getting inked?” Jase says, sounding annoyed.

“I want the nice guy,” I say, pointing to Jax. “It’s my birthday. Livi, you can take the cranky one.” Everyone laughs, and Jase cracks a small smile.

“I might be the crankier one, but I’m still the better artist. Ain’t that right, Dimples?” His gaze lands on Celeste, who scowls.

“Bullshit!” Jax laughs. “I’m older, wiser, and a better artist.”

“Nah.” Jase chuckles lightheartedly. “Just older.” Then he looks back at Celeste and his eyes turn smoldering. There’s clearly a story there.

“I really need to get going,” Celeste announces. Her heels clack against the cement floor as she walks over to me. “Happy Birthday.” She gives me a hug.

“Wait! We’re supposed to go clubbing after this.” Olivia pouts. “Don’t go.”

“I have an early morning meeting.” Celeste moves to Olivia and gives her an air kiss on each of her cheeks since Nick still has his arms wrapped around her waist. “We’ll do lunch this week.”

Then she makes her way back over to Jax and gives him a quick hug. “It was nice to see you again.” She doesn’t wait for him to respond before she’s out the door.

“I’m going to make sure she gets into a cab safely,” Nick says, letting go of Olivia and rushing after Celeste. When I look over to Jase, his eyes are trained on the door Celeste just exited through.

“All right, so who wants what?” Jax asks.

“I want a quote across my upper back, right below my neck,” I say.

“And I want Nick’s number tattooed above my ass,” Olivia adds seriously.

“What?” I shriek. “No way! You’re name isn’t Haley, and you don’t live in Tree Hill!”

Olivia turns around to face me with a huge grin splayed across her lips.

“Oh, thank God, you’re joking.” I sigh in relief. “Don’t do that to me again!”

Olivia laughs. “C’mon, I totally had you there.”

“Honestly, as much as you love that show, it wouldn’t surprise me if you were serious.”

“Kill, you getting anything?” Quinn asks.

“Nah, I think we’ll keep it about the ladies tonight, but I do need to schedule a time to have some more of my sleeve done.”

Nick walks back through the door. “All right, she’s off.” He smiles, but it almost looks sad. Olivia must notice because she goes over to him and asks if everything is okay.

“Yeah, I think so…Celeste wouldn’t say much. She seemed upset she didn’t know Jase worked here, but like I told her, I didn’t even know they knew each other like that. Although, based on the way she hugged Jax”—his gaze lands hard on Jax—“it seems she knows the entire family more than she led on.”

Quinn snorts. “Oh, we definitely know Celeste.”

“Quinn, cool it,” Jax chides.

Nick glances over to Jase. “Did something happen between you and Celeste the night of the party?” You can hear it in his tone, he’s not being nosy. He’s in big brother-slash-best friend mode.

“Nothing worth mentioning,” Jase says coolly.

Nick gives him a long glance then nods, choosing to let it go. He turns his attention back to Olivia. “So, what are you thinking of getting? I remember you once mentioned putting my number above your ass.” He waggles his eyebrows.

“Not happening,” I tell him. “No friend of mine is getting a tramp stamp. Pick something else.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Quinn raises her hand for a high five. “If only I could say that to every other female who walks in here, asking for a unicorn above her ass.”

“Hey, those unicorns helped pay your way through art school,” Jax says.

“I still say a unicorn dies every time one is tattooed above a woman’s ass.” Quinn laughs.

“I’ll go first,” I offer. “I know exactly what I’m getting.”

“Sounds good,” Jase says, “You can come back with me.”

“You better not take your crankiness out on me.” I pin him with a glare.

Jax laughs. “Jase has been cranky his entire life. Well, except for when he was—”

“Enough,” Jase says, cutting him off. His voice is deadly serious, but it only makes Jax grin.

“I want to watch!” Olivia says.

“You might change your mind once you hear that needle.” Killian laughs.

“I gave birth to this guy’s baby without any meds.” Olivia points to Nick. “I’m sure I can handle a tattoo.”

Everyone cracks up laughing, and Jase walks me to the third room on the right. “Write down the quote you want.” He hands me a pen and paper. “Any particular font you were thinking of?”

“Well, it’s from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, so something fun, but not too childish. Surprise me.”

“Okay.” He grins wide. “I think I know the perfect one.”

I hand him back the paper, and he reads the quote out loud. “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”

“Giselle, that’s beautiful,” Olivia says. “I remember when we read the book in our English class. You doodled the quote in your notebook for like a month.”