Sun Poisoned (The Sunshine Series) by Nikki Rae Read Free Book Online Page A

School, so when he first brought me here for Spring Break when I was fifteen and asked if she would be willing to tattoo me if he signed the release forms, she agreed. Cookie did my wings in two six hour sessions so it would be finished by the time I had to go back to school.
    Standing outside of the melon painted building sandwiched between a bakery and a clothing store, I'm kind of nervous. Cookie hasn't seen me since last summer, when she tattooed a tiny silhouette of a black cat on my inner right wrist. She asked to see how my wings were doing, as she always does whenever she sees me, and I showed her, only after she pulled my t-shirt away to look.
    Cookie has her own problem with sharp objects. She doesn't try to hide it; the thin lines decorating her inner wrists cannot be mistaken for anything else. If you ask her, she'll openly tell you when she did it, what she used, and why.
    But she respects my decision to keep it a secret. We're part of this club where only the members can recognize that you belong. There are these unspoken rules.
    I'm nervous about her seeing my scars. She's seen many before, some mine, some hers, some from other people that she's maybe only met once or twice. But she’s the type of person who likes hearing about how people get theirs. I like Cookie, but I’m not that close to her. The only person who knows about the memories attached to the ones on my back is Myles. I’d like to keep it that way.
    I take a deep breath. I didn’t save up all this money when I was working at the bookstore to back down now and buy something practical, like, say, a car, so I might as well go in. Stevie and Jade are already waiting for me on one of the leather couches when I open the door.
    “ Hey, guys,” I take the few steps across the black and white checkered linoleum floor to hug them. “So what's this surprise you wanted to tell me about?” I ask, already tugging at the collar of my trench coat to yank it off. “You guys getting matching butterflies?”
    I told them about this appointment weeks ago; they said they’d be busy, but suddenly this morning they wanted to meet me to get some mysterious tattoos.
    Stevie tucks a thick curl behind his ear only to have the black strand spring free when he playfully slaps Jade on the arm. “You told her,” he teases.
    “ No, it was just a ploy!” Jade says in the same tone. “I knew she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to see that.”
    “ Did I hear Little Miss Sunshine in the shop?” Cookie's voice echoes from down the hall. She emerges from around the corner soon after; her bright purple hair seems to appear before the rest of her. The only blue that remains in her short bob is at the very ends, where a light pastel form of it hangs on. Her septum ring wiggles when she smiles, closing in for a hug of her own.
    “ Hey, Cookie. How've you been?” I ask.
    “ Oh just awesome,” she says as she releases me from her bony arms. I try hard not to let my eyes linger on the three pink lines I notice on her inner bicep, one of the only places not covered in images of cartoon characters like Rainbow Brite, Care bears, and My Little Pony.
    “ I've been looking forward to touching up those wings all week!” she says, her eyes traveling to Jade and Stevie behind me. “And of course, now these two want something.” Cookie steps around me to enclose them in a joint hug now.
    “Okay, so who's going first?” she asks once the hugging is over.
    “ Actually, we have an appointment with Rocko,” Stevie says. “We figured Sophie's would take a while.”
    Cookie mocks offense by sticking her nose up in the air, but then smiles and giggles again. “Well, I guess that'll give us time to catch up,” she says, turning to me.
    Taking my hand, Cookie leads me back down the hall where there's a private room away from all of the open space of the rest of the shop. It's basically a closet with no door, but big enough for her station, which consists of a table that