Blurred Lines by Scott Hildreth Read Free Book Online

felt uncomfortable, I widened my eyes and grinned.
    “Yeah, that’s what they call ‘em,” I responded.
    “Well, he’ll be back here in a few, you probably better sneak out while you can. I need to get this shit cleaned up before he gets back here with lunch. Guess I’ll see you here in a bit,” he said.
    “Okay,” I said as I turned away, feeling as if I was being ushered out, “I’ll see you at four.”
    He followed me to the door, walked outside with me, and leaned against the brick wall as I walked away. Half way to my car, I peered over my shoulder and waved. He stood beside the entrance with his feet crossed, smoking a cigarette.
    Leaning against the building smoking, he could have easily been posing for the cover of a magazine. His hair had fallen into his eyes slightly, and his cigarettes were rolled into the left sleeve of his shirt. With his faded boot-cut jeans and worn sneakers, a cloud of smoke rose from his mouth and disappeared into the air. In a black and white photo, he could have passed for an actor from a movie scene out of the 1950’s.
    I unlocked my car, opened the passenger door, and carefully placed the folded shirt on the seat. After shutting the door and checking traffic, I walked around the back of the car and opened the driver’s door. Standing with the edge of the door cradled in my hand, I gazed up the sidewalk and toward the shop.
    He appeared to be either singing a song or talking to himself. His mouth was moving, and his hands were busy motioning toward the street. One more puff from his cigarette, and he flicked it into the street amongst the others littering the curb in front of his shop. After exhaling his smoke into the air, he turned away and disappeared into the shop.
    Blake was an interesting man. In four more hours, I was going to try and find out as much about him as he would let me.
    I just needed to decide how much about my own life I was going to be willing to part with to lure him in.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    BLAKE
    My life was filled with distractions. My addictions, at least by my own self-diagnosis, were all a result of me attempting to rid myself of the things that lingered in my mind. Never an easy task, the objects and events of my past seemed to not only overtake my thoughts, but become part of who I was.
    I had always felt a joint or a drink was the best way to minimize my recurring thoughts and clear my mind. Now, even though I could declare sobriety as being something I had obtained, the distractions continued, but were in a different form.
    “Listen, I’m not going to have you here fucking with me the entire time I’m trying to tattoo her. I promise, I’m not going to try and fuck her tonight. Hell, maybe never, I don’t know. But tonight? It’s not going to happen,” I said as I pilfered through my drawer full of tattoo machines.
    “Gorgeous bitch like that? Dude, she’ll be sucking your cock as soon as you’re done with the shoulder piece. You and I both know it. She made that late appointment for a reason, she wants you,” Tyler said as he stood from his stool.
    I shook my head as I gazed into the drawer, eventually shifting my eyes in his direction.
    “You can be a prick sometimes. I’m trying to get better. I might end up wanting to do something with her, but it’s going to be a long time, and I’m gonna to do it right. Seriously, I’m getting better,” I tried to assure him.
    “Lemme ask you a question,” he said.
    “Ask away,” I responded.
    “When she came in earlier, was she wearing her glasses?” he asked.
    I nodded my head as I pulled the machine with the knurled brass grip from the drawer.
    “Fuck yes, I knew this was in here,” I said as I admired the machine.
    “Answer the question, Blake,” he said.
    “Glasses? Yeah, she can’t see without them,” I responded.
    “Whatever. Did she have her hair in a fucking ponytail?” he asked.
    “Yeah, she had a ponytail, she’d been at the gym.”
    “You’re a