Read Online Ink by Damien Walters Grintalis - Free Book Online

his new tattoo had moved.
    Ridiculous.
    No, more than ridiculous. Stupid and absurd, all wrapped up in one. When he pulled himself out of the tub, his funny bone screamed in a very unfunny way, and both his tailbone and the back of his head joined in the pain chorus.
    They didn’t move. It was the light. The eyes didn’t move. They can’t. It’s just ink on skin. Nothing more than that. That’s what I get for having an overactive imagination.
    Despite the pain, he laughed again.
    I sound like a nutcase, but I don’t care. Right, Mr. Whatever-the-Hell-Your-Name-is Griffin?
    A long streak of ointment remained on the shiny fabric when he tugged the shower curtain closed, but he didn’t care. He hated the damn thing anyway.
     
    5
     
    “Man, you look like shit.”
    Jason glared at Brian, poured a cup of coffee and leaned back against the counter. The bright lights of the office kitchen sent a dozen sharp-tipped needles into his brain. He raked his hand through his hair and took a sip of coffee that burned, hot and bitter, all the way down. “Thanks for stating the obvious. I feel like shit, too.”
    “You should go home, take some drugs, and get in bed,” Brian said. “Keep your germs to yourself.”
    “I’m not sick. I just didn’t sleep well last night.”
    A polite understatement, but he wasn’t about to discuss the nightmare with Brian. He wouldn’t be able to anyway, not in any worthwhile detail. The hodgepodge of images so vivid upon waking, sweat-soaked in tangled sheets, had faded before he finished his shower. The only things left behind were hazy memories of white walls and flapping wings.
    As far as he could remember, the last nightmare bad enough to wake him up happened over five years ago, when his dad had a heart attack. For almost a week, he’d woken up every night, his head filled with vague images of doctors and nurses with dark gleams in their eyes. They’d left him with a great deal of unease but didn’t make him feel as if he’d been tossed and turned like a madman.
    His body ached and his arm throbbed under the tattoo as if the griffin had dug into the soft parts of his skin with those long, sharp talons—dug in and pulled.
    “Didn’t sleep, huh? How much did you drink last night?” Brian asked.
    “Not a drop.”
    “Sure, whatever you say. With a face like that, if you aren’t sick or hung over, you should be.”
    Jason raised his middle finger in reply.
    “How’s the tat?” Brian asked as he poured his own coffee.
    “Still sore. It’s started itching, too.”
    “Fun stuff.”
    “Yeah, the other night at dinner, I wanted to rip my skin off, it itched so much. It would have made a memorable first date.”
    Brian put the coffee pot down hard and stared at him with wide eyes. He smelled like he’d taken a bath in cologne, then added more on the way out the door. Or maybe not having Shelley and her perfume around made Jason more sensitive to the smell.
    “First date? Look at you. You’re not wasting any time. Do I know her?”
    “Remember the girl from the bar?”
    Brian smiled, wide enough to show teeth. “The hot little blonde? Yeah, I remember.”
    “She and I went out to dinner.”
    “Dinner, huh. That’s all? Did you—”
    “None of your damn business.”
    Brian patted him on the right shoulder. “You don’t have to say a word. It’s plain on your face. Good going. That’s the best way to forget about Shelley.”
    “Whatever.”
    “So who’s next?”
    “No one. We’re going out again this week.”
    “No, no, no. You just split up with your wife, man. Don’t jump into anything. There are lots of women out there for you to hang out with. Don’t limit yourself. Remember Emily, the redhead with the big—”
    “Yeah, I remember her.”
    “I figured you did. She’s kind of hard to forget. She’s got a friend who just got dumped by her boyfriend. How about if I hook the two of you up? She’s hot. I mean, not like Emily-hot, but I’d do