Free Under His Skin by Sidney Bristol Page B

willingness to elder-sit. The truth was, all the family Pandora knew of wanted nothing to do with her. And that was before the tattoos. While Grandma might not be her grandmother, she liked hanging out with her. Even though her memory was like a sieve and she no longer spoke English, she was a kind woman.
    “Here, want to see a picture of this boy, Grandma?”
    Pandora pulled up her pictures and clicked the one Brian had sent her of him with the mountains in the background. He had his sunglasses pushed up on his forehead and a smile on his face.
    Grandma tapped the screen, zoomed in on his chin and gasped.
    “Yeah, he’s hot stuff, isn’t he?” She leaned back into the couch and readjusted the picture until it was a close-up of his face. “I’m not good enough for him, but I like him.”
    Grandma watched her, as she often did whenever Pandora talked at length.
    “I met him when I was eighteen. He was this cool guy, in this awesome local band. I’d seen him around, but until I turned eighteen I couldn’t go in any of the places they played at. I had two jobs. My first job was at a coffee house. This one afternoon, him and his lead singer, Ike, came into the shop. I was crazy about him already. I tripped walking up to their table and spilled hot coffee all over his crotch.”
    She laughed even though it hadn’t been funny at the time. She still felt pangs of embarrassment when she thought about it. Absently she reached up and twirled the Monroe stud in its place.
    “As if that weren’t bad enough, I was also in my first week working at a tattoo shop. I left one job, went to another, and there he is. With his whole band this time. For three days they hung out in the shop. And I acted like a fourteen-year-old girl with her first crush. It’s disgusting to think about.” She sighed, all amusement evaporating.
    Grandma reached over and took her hand. Pandora turned her face to her and smiled.
    “This is the bad part of the story. Sure you want to hear it?”
    Grandma blinked, her eyes owlishly large behind her glasses.
    “If you insist.” She sighed and squeezed her hand. “It’s the last day they’re supposed to be there. I had the shop phone, which at the time was a cell phone. There were three other guys in the band at the time that weren’t cool. They texted me on that phone and told me they were Brian, then texted me all day. Idiot me went back into the piercing room with the lights out thinking I was going to go make out with who I thought was Brian.”
    Pausing, she looked back at Grandma. “I’m probably lucky you can’t understand me. I don’t think you’d like this story very much.
    “Anyways, two of the guys just thought it was a prank and waited outside. They, they actually kept people from going into the back of the shop. The third guy started kissing me, but he was really rough. Pulled my hair hard enough it hurt and bit my lip. I tried to push him away and he hit me. Backhanded me across the face. He said something to me then, I don’t remember what, and that’s when I knew it wasn’t Brian. It was someone else. I was scared. I tried to yell but he covered my mouth until he got one of these glass dildos Robert insisted on selling and he put that in my mouth.”
    She sucked in a shuddering breath and swiped her hand over her face. Grandma squeezed her hand and continued to sit patiently with her. She’d been so scared. She thought she’d been smart, always walking home in well-lit areas, conscious of going only where she knew people. And at her own workplace, where she should have been safest, she was violated.
    “He ripped my clothes and tied me to the chair. I hate the old tattoo chairs, it’s why we only use tables now. I bit the dildo hard enough it broke. My mouth was all cut up. I have a scar on my chin even. He was going to rape me. I didn’t really believe it in the moment, you don’t expect that from people. Anyways, the door opened and one of the other two snapped a