Chev was getting in my ass.

– Give me a hand here.

– Just a sec, I wanna finish this.

– A sec my ass, get the fuck over here and give me a hand.

I got up and walked across the shop, the copy of Fangoria folded open to an article about a new wave of bootleg Eastern European ultrahorror DVDs.

– Put that down and hold this.

I lowered the magazine, looked at the girl lying frozen on the table, her shirt pulled up, one tit untucked from her bra, tension in every muscle of her body a thin stream of tears running from her eyes, flipped him off and took hold of the Glover Bulldog clamp locked on the tip of the girls nipple, stretching it taut for the needle.

The girl banged her heel on the table.

– Dont pull on it, dont pull on it.

– Im not pulling on it.

She squirmed.

– Youre sooo pulling.

– I am not, youre moving.

I looked at Chev.

– Did I pull on it or did she move?

Chev turned from his kit, a large needle between the fingers of his left hand.

– Just hold it steady, both of you.

The girl froze.

I looked back in my magazine and read about a scene in a movie called Amputee where a guy has his eyes gouged out and his toes are amputated by the bad guy and sewn into his empty eye sockets.

– Im holding steady.

The clamp vibrated slightly as Chev ran the needle through the girls nipple and she jerked.

I peeked at her over the top of the magazine.

– Not too bad, huh?

Part of a smile crossed her face and she shook her head.