Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 43: 1

Aspen Colorado, ten years later…

Mackenzie stood in the bridal shop watching her bride Alice Carter trying on hr fiftieth dress that day. They had been to every bridal shop in Colorado in the last week, and the woman still wasn’t satisfied. To say Alice Carter was a nightmare bride would be an understatement. Alice looked in the mirror with the staff standing around her fussing over the hem, praying she liked this one.

Alice was a plane woman who thought she was Beyoncé. “I don’t like this one,” she said. Mackenzie rolled her eyes, big surprise. “It makes my arms look jiggly.”

“Don’t blame the dress,” Mackenzie muttered under her breath

“Excuse me?” Alice asked, turning around.

Mackenzie smiled, “I said, bring out the next dress. Please, this one certainly will never do,” which seemed to satisfy Alice as she returned her attention to her reflection.

Mackenzie had been working as an event planner for the last four years, and she had become very good at it. She was now the top event planner in Colorado. She planned everything from bar mitzvahs to elaborate weddings. Most of her business was at weddings. Planning weddings had left Mackenzie disillusioned with love. She had seen too many women only in it for the money and been hit on by so many of her grooms. She could usually tell how long these marriages would last based on their vows. So many of them wanted to write their vows, and they were almost always cheesy and hooky.

She liked to keep tabs on her couples after their weddings to see if she was right about how long it would last. She almost had it down to a science. Mackenzie spent the next four hours helping Alice in and out of dresses while she poopooed each of them. After a long day of getting absolutely nowhere, Mackenzie said goodnight to her client and sat in her car in the parking lot. After a day like this, she needed to relax. She had just the thing too. Mackenzie had heard about an excellent tattoo artist, and she had booked an appointment with him to get a new tattoo. And her appointment was in an hour. She couldn’t wait.

***

Gordon leaned on the counter, his hand over his right side. He could still feel the bruising beneath the skin healing. Melissa had done a number on him two days ago, and while on the surface, he was fine, beneath the skin, he still had some mending to do. Another day and he should be good. It was a good thing he was Lycanthrope of his wife might have killed him long ago.

The chime above his door rang, alerting him that he had customers. He stood tall and put on a false smile. He walked around the corner to the main desk to greet his appointment. Gordon was surprised to see a beautiful young woman. She was dressed in a classy woman’s suit that made her look powerful and influential. Her long blond hair hung in curls down her back, and her make-up made her blue eyes pop. She was tall for a woman with amazingly long legs and curves that could put the backroads to shame.

This woman was a whole other breed from his typical biker clientele. She smiled at him. “I’m looking for Gordon Wilder.”

“You found him. You must be my 4:00 pm appointment.”

“Mackenzie Starr,” she offered him her perfectly manicured hand. Gordon wiped his ink-stained hands on his dirty jeans and then took her hand and shook it.

“Come on back,” he suggested. Mackenzie followed him to the back room, where he gestured for her to take a seat in the tattoo chair. “What were you looking for?”

“I was hoping to get a phoenix rising from the ashes on my side right on the ribs,” she said, taking her seat.

“Ok. Do you have any other tattoos?”

“No, this would be my first.”

do

“My whole side.”

going to

“I can pay.”

is extremely painful. A lot of people tap out. Given this is your first, I would suggest another

“Like where?”

“Take off your jacket and your blouse,” he instructed. She looked at him questioningly. “I want to see the canvass so I

jacket, offering it to Gordon, who hung it up. He then watched as her slender fingers released one tiny white button of her blouse free one after the next until the silk fell open. She shrugged it off, and he had an unobstructed view of those full round

hand over her side, trying to judge the skin. Wow, her skin was soft, and she smelled like orange blossoms. Removing his hand from her person, Gordon cleared his throat and began to gather his supplies. “I’ll draw up a stencil,

shirt now?” Gordon stood there, staring at her with a

and he nodded. “Yeah, go ahead and cover-up,” he said, sitting down at his

been

years. “I started apprenticing in a shop when I was fifteen. Been doing this ever since.”

be excellent. You

it,” he said as he went about his drawing. Gordon was a fast drawer. He was imaginative, and when he put ink to paper, he

shop, or are

it. It’s just me working here,” he said. “What about you? What do you do? You’re a little

planner. I work

your job. Your

event

“Good for you.”

think I could get

in there,” Mackenzie slid off her chair and walked to the fridge. She bent over to

he finished his stencil, and when he showed

at the end

sessions do you

you sit. It could be six hours.

she said, removing her

out on the tattoo chair on her side. Gordon pulled his stool and supply trolley up as close as he could, then he prepared the location and applied the stencil. He ran his hands over her skin a few times, making sure things were the way he liked them; then, he

or nauseated, you tell me immediately, and we will take a break,” Gordon said as he began. If you like,

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