by Jenika Snow
Oh God. Just shoot me now.
He grinned this time, flashing his straight white teeth and making all of her erogenous zones jump up and down in feminine excitement. “You know what design you want?”
She nodded, but before she could tell him, he was speaking again.
“How about you come by the shop tomorrow evening? My last client is at six, so any time after that.”
“Okay, thanks.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but he smiled even wider, turned, and headed toward his Harley. Yeah, the man could wear a pair of jeans like no one’s business.
Stella stayed right where she was and watched as he put his bag into one of the saddlebags on the side of his bike, straddled the Harley, and put his skullcap on. When he started the engine, she swore she could feel the vibrations from where she stood, and they traveled right through her body. He looked her way, or maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part, because honestly, she couldn’t quite tell because of his sunglasses.
She didn’t know how long she stood there even after he rode off, but she knew that come tomorrow, she was going to have one hell of a time keeping her hormones in check. With Cadeon so close to her, him touching her in an intimate way, and even though it might not be that way for him… yeah, she was wet right now just from the thought.
Stella was in for one hell of a tattoo session if she couldn’t get herself under control.
2
Cadeon was having a really fucking hard time getting his dick to go down, and since he was on his Harley, that was one uncomfortable fucking ride. He had been thinking about Stella all damn day, going over the things he felt for her, and that said things were not good at all.
What he wanted to do to her since the moment he saw her three years before were filthy, hardcore, and would get his ass kicked ten times over by each and every one of the Vicious Bastards. It was just a tattoo, after all, but then again, it wasn’t.
He would be up close and personal with Stella, and that was dangerous, seeing as he wanted her like he had never wanted another woman before.
He had done a good job of keeping his dick in his pants where Stella was concerned, pretty much keeping his distance. It was better that way, and safer too. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off the president of the Vicious Bastards by fucking his little girl. That right there was grounds for him to go missing… like the six-feet-under kind of missing.
Cadeon pulled his bike into the parking lot of Ipseity and cut the engine. He climbed off, grabbed the bag of sandwiches he picked up at Stocker’s Deli down the street, and headed inside. As soon as he entered his tattoo parlor, the sound of heavy metal music and the buzzing of tattoo guns running along flesh blasted all around him. But if there was fierce and angry music playing overhead, it meant Naggie was either in a foul mood or working on some badass piece.
“Yo, boss,” Ziggy said as he leaned on the counter. His mohawk today was neon-green, and the plugs in both his earlobes matched his hair.
“Sandwiches will be in the back when you guys are ready for them.” Cadeon lifted the brown bag and tipped his chin toward the back room. “Naggie in a pissed off mood or working on something?”
Ziggy pushed off the counter and grinned. “I think a bit of both.”
Cadeon walked the few feet it took to get into the main part of the parlor where all the ink was done. Naggie was seated in front of a big, burly fucker, and even though she was working on his back, Cadeon could see the massive amount of chest hair the guy had as it sprouted out the sides of the table. As if Naggie knew he had been asking what the deal with the music was, she lifted her head and glared over at him.
Yeah, she was in a bitchy mood all right. He held up the bag and pointed to the back room. She nodded, her bleached-blonde pixie-cut hair slicked back and didn’t even move from the motion. Cadeon wasn’t about to talk to her about what the problem was, because when he had been stupid enough to do that before, all it ended up doing was pissing Naggie off more. If she wanted to vent, she knew where he was.
The people who worked in his shop weren’t just his employees; they were like his family too. Reckless may have only been his home for the last three years, but this was the first place since he had been on his own where he felt comfortable.
He turned and walked into the back room, if it could really be called that. The main part of the shop where all the work was done was spacious, but the back room where he kept supplies and where his office was didn’t have much more room than a walk-in closet. He had hours before Stella was to arrive, and although he usually kept the shop open late, he was closing early and sending everyone home for when she came.
Was that the smart thing? Fuck no, because it would mean he’d be alone with Stella, and the things he wanted to do to her were just nasty and wrong, but Christ they would be so damn good.
His dick sprang forward with a vengeance, and the ache in his balls he had to deal with every time he was near her was so uncomfortable that he actually contemplated rubbing one out before he saw her, hoping it would help relax him enough that he didn’t feel the need to throw her over the counter, or worse yet, fuck her on his tattoo chair. Cadeon pressed his open palm to the front of his jeans, right over his cock, and gritted his teeth.
Yeah, he had blue balls from hell whenever he was around Stella, but there was no way to prevent that unless he just stayed away. But that was one hard fucking task, seeing as he gave the club their ink, and she was always there.
“Get your shit under control or you’re going to make shit a whole lot worse for yourself.” Dammit, now he was talking to himself. There was a knock on the door, and he sat in his chair behind his desk before calling out for them to come in.
Naggie pushed the door open and without saying anything walked up to the brown bag and grabbed a sandwich out of it. She sat her skinny ass down on the edge of his desk and tore into the food.
“You finished with the tat?”
She shook her head. “Nah, the guy needed a break. For as big as he is, he’s a big baby.” She grinned and took another bite of the sandwich. “Although, I will say he’s been in that chair for a few hours already. You see the piece I’m doing?”
Cadeon leaned back in his chair and threaded his hands together behind his head. “A portrait? Is that his kid or something?”
She nodded. “Yeah. It is such a sad fucking story, actually. His kid died a few years back from some rare disease. This is like a small tribute to her, although the thing takes up the entire width of his back, and you saw how big he is. The guy is built like a linebacker.” Naggie started talking about the other clients she had tomorrow and bitched about the sixteen-year-old who was coming in with her mom to get her first butterfly tattoo. “I mean, come on, a fucking butterfly?”
Cadeon grinned. A client was a client to him, but Naggie hated when young girls came in for what she considered cliché tattoos. It was usually butterflies, flowers, Koi fish, or a Chinese symbol. Even though Cadeon liked a more complex piece to ink into someone, he didn’t share the same kind of… passion to bitch about simple designs like Naggie did.
“So why are you closing early? I can’t remember the last time you did that.” She took another bite of her sandwich. For as small as Naggie was, she had an appetite that rivaled his own.
“Got a client coming in, and I didn’t want all the chaos that goes on in the shop to freak her out. This is her first tattoo.”
Naggie stopped eating. She was a small woman with her nose, eyebrow, and ears pierced. She also had full-sleeve tattoos and a wicked fucking attitude that had most guys steering clear. “When have you ever closed shop early because a client was getting their first tattoo?” She finished off her sandwich and wiped her mouth before leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms. “Well?”
Shit, what was he supposed to say? She was right. Cadeon had never closed the shop early, and this was definitely special treatment for Stella. When he didn’t respond right away, Naggie grunted and hopped of
f the desk.
“If you want to screw around with some chick, don’t do it on my chair.” Naggie grinned widely but was already out of the office before he could answer.
Cadeon didn’t deny that it was a bad idea closing shop early for Stella, but there was a part of him that didn’t want to have her any more freaked out. Just hearing the sound of needles working and of the angry, energized music that played overhead would be enough to have anyone a little nervous on its own.
But of course he was also a selfish bastard, and there was another part to his decision to close the shop early. He wanted her all to himself, wanted this first time to be without distractions, and he wanted to have all his focus on her.
“You’re so fucking screwed, man.” Cadeon groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. Yeah, he really was, but what a great way to go.
3
Stella finished up some paperwork at the club and turned off her computer. Even in the back room, she could hear the loud voices and curses coming through the walls from the guys. They were having a party, since a few of the nomads had stopped by. The club was filled with club whores, alcohol, and pot.
Stella may be used to this, but she never stayed around. Her dad may be the president of this biker gang, but that didn’t mean he liked her being around this shit, and she was thankful for that. This was not her scene at all.
She grabbed her purse and turned to go into the bathroom that was attached. The mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom door let her see her appearance from her feet to the top of her head. She had left her blonde hair down, and it brushed the middle of her back. Not one for makeup, she only added a little mascara, which had her blue eyes popping.
Why are you trying so hard when you know nothing will happen?
Stella grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it up. The thickness of her belly was revealed, and she made a face in the mirror. She turned and stared at her side, where she was getting the raven tattooed. It was a fairly simple design, but she was going for more of the black watercolor design than the sharp lines and details of a realistic bird tattoo.
There were no illusions that it wouldn’t hurt like a bitch, but her excitement and the adrenaline she felt inside overrode all other nervousness and emotions moving through her.
She let the shirt fall back into place and headed out of the bathroom and the office. She could have gone out the backdoor and avoided the raunchiness she was sure she was about to witness, but her dad wanted her to talk to him before she left, and Stella could only imagine it would be some kind of warning about the male species.
Keeping her head lowered and making her way through the main part of the clubhouse, she steered clear of the bar and pool table, as that was where most of the action was. The scent of beer, sweat, and cloying perfume clogged her nose. The music was loud as the band belted out a song about sweet emotions and lost innocence. The almost saccharine smell of pot filtered around her. Once she was by her father’s door, she knocked on it and pushed it open after he called out for her to enter.
Her dad and the Vicious Bastards’ VP, Booshie, were looking over a map spread across the meeting room table. “I’m heading out, and you wanted to talk to me before I left.”
Her father nodded, slapped Booshie on the back, and waited until his VP was out and the doors were shut before he started talking. “You going now to get some ink?”
She nodded. “Yeah, got the design all ready too.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the slip of paper with the raven on it. She designed it herself, and although she had known she wanted some kind of bird as her first permanent design on her body, she hadn’t known exactly which one.
That was until she had the very vivid dream in which her deceased mother made an appearance and was holding a raven. But it had been raining, and the bird started becoming blurry. The dream had been as strange as it had been vivid, and Stella was just going with it.
Scars looked at the slip of paper and made a grunting noise. “I like it. Where are you getting it?”
She lifted her shirt, turned sideways, and pointed at her side. “I want the body on my side, and the wings to reach around my back.”
Her father whistled, but there was a growly note after it.
“What, Dad?” Stella sighed out the last part and turned to face him again.
“I want one of the guys to go with you to make sure Cadeon keeps his hands to himself.”
Stella rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “Dad, you do remember I’m not a little kid anymore and that I kind of need to do stuff on my own without a biker always hanging around, right?” She dropped her hand and blinked away the fuzziness in her vision from when she rubbed her eyes. “You need to cut the cord, Dad. How in the hell am I supposed to find someone if you always have one of the guys chaperone your adult daughter?”
“So, what? You’re trying to date the tattoo guy?”
Okay, she shouldn’t have said that last part, because that totally wasn’t what she meant, not really anyway. Yeah, she wanted him like she was dying of thirst and he was the last glass of cold water in the world, but it was more than that.
Sure, his physical appearance was what initially attracted her, but she heard the way he joked with the guys, how hard he worked, and how talented he was. He was a mega-package all rolled into one; he was smart, badass, and the type of guy she had always seen herself with was one that was strong mentally just as much as he was physically. “Dad, I’m not trying to date anyone. I am just going there for a tattoo. You need to lighten up a bit.” She smiled up at him, because even though he was sometimes overly protective, she reminded herself that she was his child, and no age would ever change that. “But I don’t need anyone coming with me, okay?”
It took him a minute to respond, and she could tell he wanted to argue. Scars was not the type of man who people said no to. When he gave an order, they obeyed. It was the way it worked and always had been.
“Yeah, I do need to give you space. But I look at you and see my little girl.” He handed her the picture back and wrapped his arms around her. “I just worry about you. I worry that I’m going to lose you like I lost your mother, and that breaks my fucking heart.” This was not the conversation or frame of mind she wanted to have right before seeing Cadeon.
Stella wrapped her arms around her dad and rested her head on his chest. “I know, Dad, but I’ll be okay.” She leaned back and looked up into his face. “I’ll call you after it’s done, okay?”
He sighed dramatically. “Okay, baby girl.”
She grinned at the way he said that, like it was some big pain in his ass to let her walk away and be an adult. She turned and left the clubhouse, and as soon as she was outside, everything else faded away until all she felt once more was that anticipation of what she was about to do and who was going to do it.
4
Stella pulled her car into one of the empty spots in front of Ipseity and cut the engine. The front windows were the kind that people passing by couldn’t see inside, but the ones inside could see outside. There were some of those block-style windows high above the main ones, and although they were frosted, she could see the lights were on.
The OPEN neon sign was off, and the only vehicle in the parking lot was Cadeon’s Harley. Swallowing her nervousness about getting her first ever tattoo, and the fact that she would be alone with the man she lusted after, she climbed out of the car and headed toward the front. First, she tried opening the door, but it was locked, so she knocked on the thick glass.
A minute passed, and then right when she was about to knock again, she heard heavy footsteps. Taking a step back when she heard a lock disengaging, Stella swore her heart was about to burst through her chest. The door opened, and standing right inside was Cadeon wearing a T-shirt that looked like it was tailored to form along his hard, wide chest. The jeans he wore were distressed, but it wasn’t because he’d bought them that way, but because he had worn the hell out of them.
And then there was t
he silver chain that hung against the side of his leg and was attached to his wallet. God, the whole sight of him had a flush spreading along her body at an astounding rate.
“Hey.” He grinned and held the door open for her.
She smiled and stepped inside, and the sound of The Beatles playing overhead could be heard even though the volume was low. Looking behind her, she watched as he shut the door and locked it.
“So, you know what you want?” He turned to face her.
Once again, she was struck by how big he was compared to her. He had to work out all the time in order to achieve that kind of physique.
“Stella?”
She felt her face heat and realized she had been checking him out and hadn’t answered his question.
“You okay?” There was this rough, gravelly quality to his voice. It almost sounded as if he was trying to force the words out.
She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I, uh….” She reached in her purse and grabbed the design she had drawn up. “You think you can recreate this here?” She turned her side toward him and lifted her shirt over her belly button, explaining to him that she wanted the tattoo on her side and back. Her words faded as she saw the way he held the paper and looked at her. His knuckles were white from how tightly he clenched her design in his hand, and the hardness on his face matched the rest of his body.
Slowly lowering her gaze down the length of his body, she saw the bulge that pressed against the fly of his jeans.
Holy shit. Am I seeing that right?
She lifted her gaze up once more until she was looking in his eyes. But just as quickly as she had seen the heat in his expression, it was gone, and she felt this cold draft come from him. Letting her shirt fall back into place, she ran her tongue along her bottom lip and suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Either Cadeon wanted her, or she was really losing it.