I have been admiring Evan’s tattoos daily. The intricate work woven all over his arms is pure art. Derrick and I have wanted to get one for so long, but both of us are too ‘chicken’ to do anything about it – until Evan suggested he would take us to his tattooist. It didn’t take Evan long to make a couple of calls and book an appointment. When the rest of the boys heard what we were up to, they decided that they all had to get new tattoos, bringing Isla and Vanessa along with them.
Arriving at the California Bros. tattoo shop in Venice Beach and stepping through the imposing black doors, I was surprised by what greeted us. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. It was funky and beautiful. Vintage-style tattoo art graced the exposed brick walls, black and silver skull embossed wallpaper line the back wall, large silver mirrors also hung on the walls on either side. It was like nothing I had seen before. The interior was just divine.
“They also own the barber shop and micro-brewery next door,” Evan says, knocking my shoulder.
What a awesome concept, but today I was testing out their tattooing skills.
“Welcome Boys.” A Bettie Page looking woman greeted us from behind the reception desk. She was dressed in a red-checkered shirt, her large breasts straining against the buttons, skin tight dark denim jeans with blood red sky-high heels. Her black hair rolled into a 50’s style, bright red lipstick on her plump lips, and her eyes almost looking cat like completing her rockabilly look. She was beautiful. She gave each of the boys a welcoming kiss. I noticed her arms were full with vintage style tattoos; they looked cool.
“They’re addictive,” she says smiling, catching me looking at her artwork.
“We have a couple of virgin’s today, Rachel,” Axel calls out from behind us.
“Ooohhh, fresh blood,” she giggles. Making my heart sink a little.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“Zander is out the back getting things ready with the other boys.”
Watching her hips sway as we follow her to where everything is set up in individual booths, mild panic started to set in. I watched as a tall guy comes out from the back room, his arms covered in tattoos, some on his face and neck as well. His light brown hair was slicked back and his eyes were a sparkling blue.
“Zander, my man,” Evan greets, pulling him into a man hug as they slap each other on the back.
“Looking good,” Zander replies, with a genuine smile on his face as he looks at Evan. “How’s Jake going? Man, it’s been ages since I’ve seen him.” Evan and Zander catch up on the details of his brother’s surfing life and some other random guy things.
My eyes are looking around the room checking out the setup. My heart begins to race just thinking about getting a tattoo. I can feel the sweat sticking to my skin.
“Far out, that man is hot. Seriously, it’s like hot guys attract other hot guys – like magnets pulling them to each other.” I giggle at Derrick’s comment.
I was glad he was here with me because I was shitting myself. Vanessa and Isla had gone into another room with Finn, Oscar, and Christian, while Axel went with Rachel.
“So … you two are getting your first tattoos?” Zander asks
We could only nod our response. Even Derrick looked nervous now.
“They look like they are both going to throw up.” he says to Evan, making them both laugh at us.
Evan’s hands begin to knead my shoulders. “Nothing to worry about, sweetheart,” he whispers into my ear.
“Who wants to go first?” Zander asks, his blue eyes looking at Derrick and me.
“Me.” I hear myself say.
“Good work; now make yourself comfortable on that chair, and show me what you want,” he instructs as his eyes drop down to my chest briefly.
Evan lets out a cough, catching Zander’s attention and glaring at him. Zander’s eyes remain above my chest for the rest of the session.
I hand him the quote that I had printed out earlier.
He looks it over and nods before taking it away, making it up onto the transfer paper. After a couple of minutes he is back. “So, where would you like it?”
Lifting up my shirt, to the man’s surprise, his eyes widen as I point to just under my bra, at the top of my rib cage.
“You will have to take off your bra but keep your shirt on so I can work properly.”
Looking at Evan to gauge his reaction, he nods but doesn’t seem happy about it. Thankfully I hadn’t gone for a white tank top today as I didn’t realize I would be braless. I slowly pull my bra off, through my sleeves, dropping it on the floor with my bag.
Evan’s eyes drop to the black lace material then back to me.
Giving him a quick smile, I jump onto the table.
Zander rolls up my tank top asking me to hold it in place. Pressing the outline onto my skin, he asks me to stand up to have a look in the mirror and see if the placement is correct. Once I am satisfied I lay down again and he starts working on my design.
Derrick holds my hand the whole time; I nearly break his fingers squeezing them so tight. The cut of the needle into my skin is agonising, but I grit my teeth through the half hour job. I’m amazed at myself as I can’t believe that I made it through my first tattoo. I stand and admire Zander’s handy work in the mirror.
“So what does it say?” Evan asks, curiously looking at the Arabic writing.
الجايات أحسن من الرايحات.
“What is coming is better than what is gone.”
Derrick and Evan stand in silence taking in the words.
“Fuck, Si, that is cool,” Derrick pipes up, giving me a grin.
Evan just nods, handing me a bottle of water.
“You’re up next, let me just clean up and get fresh supplies,” Zander addresses Derrick with a smile.
Ten minutes later it was Derrick’s turn to be in the hot seat. Laying on his back with his shirt pulled up, pants pulled down exposing his hip, he was getting the words ‘Suck my …’ you can guess the rest when your eyes fall to where that sentence finishes. He thinks it’s hilarious, as does Zander.
Meeting up with Vanessa and Isla, all of us tattoo virgins on a high, we show each other what we got. The guys high five Derrick on his tattoo as well. I think some of the boys were jealous of D’s idea. Isla got a cute little feather behind her ear, and Vanessa got blackbirds across her foot. Some of the boys even headed next door to the barber shop to get themselves cleaned up. Once we had all finished, we headed to the California Bros. bar. The other brother, Westin, ran the bar while Ash ran the barber shop.
“Do my eyes deceive me; am I being graced by the presence of Dirty Texas?” The guy, who I’m assuming is Westin, comes bounding over towards us. “Zander called and said you were coming in. Come on, follow me, we’ll set you up.”
Walking through the semi busy bar, out the back to some stairs, we entered a deck area which overlooked Venice Beach. “You shouldn’t be harassed up here. So, are we having the usual, fellas?” He asked, to which they all nodded.
“Ladies? Bottles of champagne, or would you like beer?” He asked, raising his eyebrows because I’m pretty sure he wasn’t expecting us to agree to the beer. He suggested sending up a tasting rack of their in-house beers for us all to try.
Westin’s eyes locked on to Isla’s. “Good to see you again, Isla.”
Making her blush, Isla mumbled a ‘hello’ to Westin.
“Still waiting for you to get back to me about that date,” he states, smiling at her.
“She’ll be busy, Wes. We are off to Europe soon,” Finn answers for her.
My eyes are bouncing between the two men.
Isla’s mouth gapes opened at Finn, before saying, “Ignore him, Wes, he’s just doing my brothers dirty work while he’s not here. Let’s catch up before I go, I’ll text you.” Her smile so bright it’s blinding.
Finn grumbles about it.
Wes’ face lights up.
I was internally high fiving Isla. Good on her; I bet she has no time to date when she has to look after these guys all the time, plus Wes is hot, why not enjoy his company before she goes to Europe?. Finally, the rest of the band joined us for a drink. The beers were pretty good, but we switched to champagne after the first round, then cocktails after that. The late afternoon turned into evening quite quickly. The paparazzi had heard the boys were at the bar and had camped out on the beach trying to get photos; luckily the plants hid us from view. The top area was blocked off from the rest of the patrons so we wouldn’t be disturbed. Zander and Rachel joined us once they had finished their day, as did their brother, Ash. Seriously, this family was birthed by super models.
Evan caught me coming back from the restrooms; pulling me behind a plant, he kissed me like crazy. “I am so hard for you at the moment,” he whispered into my ear, while taking my hand and rubbing it against his jeans. He most definitely was. “Watching you get your first tattoo today was sexy as fuck, but I didn’t like the way Zander looked at you or that he had his hands on you.”
I rolled my eyes at his declaration. We had kept our hands to ourselves while we sat around drinking and talking; and it was hard, especially when I overheard one of the waitresses saying that she was going to try and hook up with Evan again. My eyes were looking at the petite, young blonde, her perky breasts pushing out from under her tight black top, her booty shorts showing off a sweet ass. I noticed Evan’s eyes glance at her a couple of times making my stomach turn, but then he would catch mine, raise his glass in my direction and give me a wink. Bastard.
“It’s the same way I feel knowing a woman you have slept with is walking around here and is trying for round two.”
Evan’s face dropped, he looked at me seriously for a moment, a cocky grin plastering across his face a moment later. “Honestly I don’t remember, but if it helps she’s slept with all the men at the table.”
I let out a gasp. Yeah, I guess that does help.
“The only woman I am taking home is the one standing in front of me,” he says, kissing me again.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I reply, “Good answer, now take me home, Evan.”