“Well, you know my family is all good. Between the uncles and now Fin and Tony, they could care less as long as we are happy. Your mom is the same way.” He was right and I knew it.
“So, we start tomorrow with our pursuit of Zoey?” I started the truck up and glanced in his direction. The smile spread across his face.
“Yeah, she’s not going to know what hit her.” I backed out the drive and then headed the truck to Mike’s house.
“What fun would it be if she knew ahead of time? Other than maybe give her a chance to run like she did that morning.”
“Touché, my friend. Touché.” Our laughter filled the truck as we drove home.
Chapter Six
Michael
I couldn’t sleep, which was why I was currently working at six in the morning to get this shit sorted. Last night Tony had called to say another young man was found in Queens, the same M.O. as the others, beaten to death. They were having a hard time IDing this one, which meant either he was a street kid, or his family didn’t give a shit. It was sad, all these kids slipping through the cracks. I knew there wasn’t enough agencies that helped when kids got to be fifteen and older, hell, after twelve most people wrote off a kid because they figured they were damaged beyond repair.
It was the gangs who got their hooks into them that caused this problem, and that was where they were going to need to focus. The tats wouldn’t work on anyone under the age of eighteen since they couldn’t be tatted even with a signed parental agreement. So I was going to talk to the guys about adding it to the bangers who were of age. Maybe if I opened up to the older thugs, we could use the ink to track them. With Reese looking for videos and Tony and Fin looking into Hector’s connections, things were sure to heat up.
Plus, we needed to test the locators, they were going to be the clue to catching these assholes, I could feel it. They were amping up the range they needed to be from the ink to pick up the signature. I wasn’t sure how much longer we were going to be able to burn the candle at both ends. Staying up late to work in the shop and getting up early to work on the ink was taking its toll. All of us were beginning to feel it.
My father told us two days ago we should bring the police in on this. I can see his point now, but we had no clue who to go to, fuck, I didn’t trust anyone right now but the ones who worked here. It made sense though, Tony was going to do some poking around in the departments, this case involved several of the boroughs now since they were dumping bodies everywhere, shit, they needed a break of some kind.
“Hey, bro, you’re in early.” I looked up as Sean and Cal walked in the door.
“Ink order came in this morning, needed to get it put away. Got a full day on the schedule, didn’t want anyone coming up short in the middle of a job.” I went back to writing up the ad for the licensed piercer as Sean moved behind me to look over my shoulder.
“Nice. You think there’ll be enough business for a full-time piercer?” He moved to the chair beside me and sat down while Cal leaned on the counter.
“Maybe, but I figure if they can also do ink, then they’ll be able to pick up the slack around here. Business is good and we could use another inker.” I wasn’t ready to tell my brothers about the government’s interest in Bronx Gold. If we could work a deal with them on the special ink, everyone involved would be wealthy. The attorney was looking into it for me, I’d wait till then to share the information. I hadn’t come up with the ink for the money, I’d only been looking at it as a way to monitor people’s whereabouts, like the GPS app for phones. People lose phones, but a tattoo is always there. I’d loved Chemistry, really everything to do with science, and then I fell in love with inking. So it wasn’t a stretch that I would want to put my two loves together.
“Be interesting to see how many apply for the spot.” Sean picked up the schedule off the desk and continued, “Might be nice if we had a woman on board here.”
“Why? You getting tired of hangin’ all day with your brothers?” Cal asked and I turned to Sean and waited on him to answer.
“No, but some of the customers might feel a little more at ease getting their tattoo from a woman, especially the ones a little embarrassed about where they want the tat.” Cal laughed and I smiled at Sean, the man was serious, he’d been like that since we were young boys. He was also the most sensitive about other’s feelings. But I could tell that wasn’t the only thing on his mind.
“What’s up, Sean? Something bothering you?” He looked at Cal and pointed his finger, “You laugh, fucker, and I will kick your ass.”
“I’ll try but it will depend what comes out of your mouth. I’m not promising shit.” One day, just one day without a brawl breaking out in the shop would be super. We were grown men who at the drop of a few words could turn into the teenage boys who fought over the last can of soda or over the bag of chips. Bry usually won those skirmishes, being that he was the biggest and had been since he passed Fin, me, Sean, and Cal by the time he turned ten.
After a second of glaring at Cal, Sean spoke, “I’m ready to meet a woman and have a serious relationship. Tired of one night stands, friends with benefits, seeing a woman for a few weeks, then she decides she’s ready to show you the real her, and you can’t get out of her place quick enough. Not to mention having to go to the city to find someone Fin hadn’t slept with.” Cal wore the same look on his face I had to have on mine. Sean had said more than ten consecutive words but that wasn’t what got to me. We were guys, brothers, and we didn’t talk the feelings shit, joke about our dates, stuff like that, but feelings. Oh hell no. However, he had voiced what I’d been feeling for months and what Reese and I had discussed earlier about Zoey. One night with her, and we’d both experienced something special because that next morning when she was gone, we’d felt the loss. And if I felt like that after I’d had an enormous amount to drink, then being with her again, and sober, should be explosive. Zoey would try to run again or just hide, but between Reese and I, it would be a wasted effort. She’d cost us three months when we’d woken and she was gone, couldn’t even find where she was staying, nothing. It was our own fault for not getting her last name but in our defense, we hadn’t expected it to be more than a one nighter, where everyone involved had a good time. Now, we’d go after her, prove to her the three of us could work, and then tie her to the bed if she didn’t believe us. The thought made me smile, ‘cause I could see her tied, naked, and spread wide for us.
“Sean drops that on us and you are smiling? What the hell is wrong with everyone today?”
Cal’s fist to my shoulder brought me back and I was going to have to stay seated with the hard-on I was suddenly sporting from the thoughts of Zoey tied up. Christ, maybe something was wrong with all of us.
“Hey, nothing is wrong with us. Maybe some of us are more grown up than others.” Great, now I was going to get all pissy.
“When the hell did we all turn into girls, discussing feelings?” The door opened and Falon, Bry, and Reese walked in.
“Discussing what feelings? Mike’s and Reese’s for the chick at the pub last night?”
"Fuck off, Falon.” No way did we need him in on this conversation but there he was.
“What? Like no one else noticed. Please, give us more credit than that. The looks on both of your faces when EMS was working on her was enough. I thought you were going to push her brother out of the way to ride in the ambulance. Which brings me to, how do you know her from Vegas?” He wagged his eyebrows but he wasn’t finished. “And if you don’t want anything to do with her, can I ask her out?” He grinned and looked between me and Reese who had stopped just inside the door with the look of murder on his face.
Bry walked passed Falon and slapped the back of his head, “Bro, some shit you need to keep to yourself.”
“Why does everyone keep hitting me in the back of the head? I just voice what other’s think, get over yourselves.” Falon headed to the back of the shop.
“‘Cause you’re an asshole, that’s why!” We
all looked at Sean and he shrugged with as if it was a given look on his face. The tension two minutes before gone as we all laughed. Everyone headed to the back to get their stations ready for the day to start, leaving me and Reese out front.
“You look ready to punch someone?” I glanced down to watch Reese’s hand un-fist and him wag his fingers.
“I know I have said it a thousand times over the years, but how have not one of you killed Falon yet?” Reese voiced what most asked us after they met Falon but he grew up with it too, so it wasn’t like it was the first time he had the experience with Falon’s lack of a filter.
“Dude, really? You’ve grown up with him. What else has you going already today?” I knew by his sigh I wasn’t going to like his answer.
“Called DSS to see if Zoey was in so we could go down there, introduce ourselves fully, and then ask her to lunch, you know?”
“You need to relax if that has you pissed? Did you talk with her and she said no?” In all the years, I’d never seen Reese so out of sorts.
“You know, Falon isn’t the only O’Malley with assholishness in him. If you would let me finish.” I grinned and waved my hand as if to say go on. “She wasn’t there. So I asked for the one chick that was with them, only had her first name, Cora. She got on the line and I tell her that we were checking on Zoey to make sure she was alright. I waited for the woman to shut me down but she was a talker, said Zoey was kept overnight at the hospital.”
“What for? Did she say?” Zoey had looked fine when they wheeled her out of the pub. Now I was kicking myself for not following the ambulance. Reese had to be feeling the same if his hands going through his hair was any indication.
“No, so that’s why I came in. Can you leave for a bit so we can swing by the hospital and if she is already checked out, we can swing by her brother’s house?”
“I got time before my first appointment but, Reese, we don’t know the brother’s address.” I was running the names of people who would know the address when Reese reminded me he was thorough and never left nothing for chance.
“Got it. Tony had done a check on her, remember? Checked the file, the address was in it.”
“What the fuck we waiting on?” I stood and yelled I would be back in a bit. When I heard the affirmatives from the back, I followed Reese out the door.
Zoey
“Ms. Marshall, the doctor will be up shortly to sign your release papers and I will come back to get you.”
“Thank you, Nurse Williams.”
“Do you have someone picking you up?”
“Yes, ma’am, my brother will be here shortly.” I sat on my bed fully clothed and waited. I had been since seven that morning. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and back to my brother’s house. I hadn’t gotten more than two hours sleep because my brain wouldn’t shut down, going over every detail of the visit from Ms. Maddie. Karma had it in for me, there was no other explanation to how my life, in less than three months, had turned so complicated.
“Good. Lie back and rest, I’ll be back as soon as you are released.” The older nurse who had come on duty that morning walked out and I leaned back on the bed and shut my eyes, I could use the rest.
The mattress on the bed was soft as I was laid gently across it, naked from being stripped of my clothing no sooner than we entered the room. The mattress dipped beside me as Mike laid down, his head propped on one hand while the other made a slow glide of just fingertips down my cheek, neck, between my breasts, stopping to smooth over my stomach before making the journey back up to settle on my breast. His hand caressed, squeezed, and he rolled my nipple between his fingers. All the while Reese was working his way from my right foot, kissing and nipping a path till he reached my inner thigh. He skipped over my center only to work his way down my other leg. Each hand’s touch different, yet the same as the trail left in their wake set my skin on fire.
I was lost in their touch. I’d had sex before but this felt different, as if I meant something to them, which was crazy. It was to be drunken sex with two men in Vegas, where it stayed, and then after I would go on with my normal life. But deep in the recesses of my mind and the effect the men had on me, I could have it all if I just let go, if only for one night.
So I did just that as I pulled Mike’s face to mine, our lips meeting. His tongue pushed in and he laved every crevice as if he couldn’t get enough. I know I couldn’t as I bit his lower lip and ran my hand down my body, rubbing over my mound, sliding my finger until I hit the hard nub that tingled with my touch, sending a shiver through my body.
“Goddamn, baby, that’s fucking hot.” I’d barely heard Reese’s words as Mike moved from my lips to take my breast in his mouth, sucking, nibbling, and laving the sting with his tongue.
My back arched when Reese worked his way back up my leg and instead of passing over my hot, pleading pussy, he stopped, one hand joining mine to rub my clit as his tongue touched my lips separating them, licking through the juices dipping from my core. His other hand placed on my hip to hold them from bucking while he continued to fuck my pussy with his tongue.
Mike raised from my breast, touching my face, pulling my attention back to him.
“Open your eyes, Zoey. Watch us as we taste you. Imagine Reese’s dick replacing his tongue, stretching you, filling you, mine sliding between your ass, settling on the entrance you told us that no one has breeched, pushing in till there’s no space between us, only skin touching skin.” I stared into his green eyes and what reflected back, scared me, the unbridled desire burning into mine. I promised myself then, that if I survived everything those eyes showed, I’d never ask for anything again and I would leave Vegas forever changed, that I knew for sure.
Before I knew what happened, I found myself straddling Reese, they’d switched places somehow, it’d been so fluent, verifying this wasn’t their first time sharing a woman.
“Lean forward, press those perfect tits toward Reese. He made a meal of your pussy, now let him suck those nipples while I get this forbidden hole ready.” The dirtier he talked the more turned on I became. Bolder, as I leaned forward, one hand holding me from falling all the way, the other offering my breast to Reese.
“That’s it, sweetheart.” Reese’s eyes stared into mine as his mouth opened over my breast, his approach different, less gentle as he sucked hard, rolling the nipple with his tongue, his left hand grabbing and squeezing my right breast, his right hand sliding between us, aligning his cock at my entrance, his hips pushing up, the head of his cock entering, stretching me, my cream easing his way, my walls clenching, sucking him in. “Sonofabitch, hurry up, her hot little pussy is going to make me blow before we even start.” Reese’s voice was strained as I watched the muscles in his jaw tightening as he gritted his teeth.
“Fuck yeah, knew when we saw her moving on that dance floor that this body was made for us. Ride him, baby, and I will ride you.” Cool gel ran down my crack, Mike’s finger stopping it at my back hole, rubbing in circles, and coating me. His finger entered, stretching the virgin hole, a second finger pushed in, the twinge of pain fading the more he prepared me. By the time the head of his cock pushed through the ring of muscle, I was pushing back, meeting his thrust as Reese pushed up into my pussy.
So lost in what they were doing to me that the voice crying out “Harder, more, faster” didn’t even sound like my own. My body tightened as the orgasm hit full speed, racking my body. “Yes,” I yelled and clamped down on them.
“Fucking good!” Mike yelled behind as he thrusted in, the heat of his release coating my insides.
“That’s it, right there.” Reese’s cock bottoming out on his final thrust, the warmth pouring into me as his body shook underneath me.
They cleaned me up and settled on each side of me on the bed. Cradled between them, I’d felt safe, cared for, and I knew that was crazy. I’d leave as soon as they fell asleep. I closed my eyes and as I dozed, my last thought had been, no condoms.
“Zoey, is something wrong?”
My eyes opened to Ranger leaning over me as he shook my shoulder.
“What?” I stared back at his concerned face.
“You were moaning and then you rubbed your stomach and your face is flushed.” The older nurse was on the other side of the bed, holding my wrist and taking my pulse.
“I’m fine, please, I was only resting. Am I discharged? Can we go home now?” Christ, I needed a cold shower after reliving that night. And there was no way I was sharing any of that with Ranger.
“Yes, sure we can go if you’re ready.” Ranger frowned and turned to bring the wheelchair closer to the bed.
The nurse leaned closed and whispered for my ears only, “Thinking about the baby’s daddy, hon?” She winked and moved to take the chair from Ranger. “Ready?”
“Definitely.” I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Fainting in the bar, sex dreaming in the hospital, which thank God it was only the nurse who guessed that one and not my brother. But how much embarrassment in less than twenty-four hours could a person take? Never been more glad in my life as I watched the hospital grow smaller as Ranger drove us home.
Chapter Seven
Zoey
Mrs. Honeychil was waiting for us when we pulled up, I should have seen that one coming but I didn’t, stupidly I figured I would have some time to come up with an excuse, darn, this was so not going to be good.
I loved the older woman like no other, but sometimes she reminded me too much of my mom. I missed her, damn it, and thinking about how she would react to my situation scared the shit out of me. Hence, when I saw Mrs. Honeychil standing on the front steps waiting, my blood ran cold. She was going to be disappointed in me, I knew it.
Pierced and Inked (KO Ink Book 2) Page 5