I shook my head no. Not happening, Marco. You can get a tattoo when you’re thirty.
“Thirty?” Marco scoffed. “I swear each time I asked you, you add two years.”
Ask me again.
Marco rolled his eyes and gave me a quick hug. “I’ll text you when we get back to clubhouse. Don’t get the Mike Tyson special.”
I heard Creed bust out laughing in the kitchen, and I sighed. Be good, and call me if you need me.
Marco nodded and headed to the front door.
“You about ready, woman?” Creed called.
I rolled my eyes and slammed the bathroom door. “Ass,” I muttered as I looked in the mirror. Creed knew I only said a few words, but he didn’t care.
Creed pounded on the door. “I’m gonna be in the car. Hurry your ass up.”
I flipped off the bathroom door, wishing Creed could see it. The man had been driving me insane the past week. He was my shadow who wasn’t very good at blending in.
Slider had suddenly become too busy and had decided that since Creed was in town, he could be my personal bodyguard. The only reason I had been okay with having someone with me at all times before was because it had been Slider. Now, all I wanted to do was knee Creed in the nuts and grab a bottle of wine.
I examined myself in the mirror and sighed. I looked good, but I sure didn’t feel good. I missed Slider, and I had no idea how to tell him without sounding like some needy bitch. He was always on his phone, either texting or quietly talking, and I didn’t want to bother him. Things were tense all over, and I knew what he was doing was important, but it still sucked he wasn’t home much anymore.
I had thought he would have come to the tattoo parlor tonight, but he left over two hours ago, with just the explanation that he had other plans.
I fluffed up my hair, hoping to add more volume and grabbed my lip gloss. I tossed it into my small handbag and gave myself one last look. I had opted for tight dark blue jeans with the Harley Davidson shirt Slider had bought back in Chicago. Meg had sent over a pair of motorcycle boots that were on my feet, and I had a light jean jacket to throw on. In the mirror, I looked like someone I had never seen before, but I had never felt more comfortable.
I flipped off the bathroom lights and was surprised to see Slider walking in the front door as I pulled my jean jacket on. “Slider?”
Slider stopped in his tracks when he saw me, and his jaw dropped. “Fay?” His eyes traveled over my body, and I wished it was his hands instead. “Uh…”
A smile spread across my lips, and I grabbed my clutch off of the table. “Yes?”
“Is that what you are wearing tonight?” he asked and stepped closer.
I looked down, and nodded. “Yes.”
“That’s the shirt I bought, isn’t it?”
I nodded. It sure as hell was, and I knew exactly what he was going to say next.
“You planning on keeping that coat on all night?”
I smirked and shrugged. I had planned on it, unless I got a tattoo, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Keep your coat on,” he said low.
I tossed my hair over my shoulder and just looked at him. If he wanted me to wear my coat all night, he needed to come along and keep an eye on me himself.
“Fayth,” he growled.
“Slider,” I whispered. I missed this damn man, and he was getting pissed at me over a damn shirt.
“That fucking shirt barely has a back.”
I rolled my eyes. It had a back, it was just cut into strips. A lot of them.
“Turn around,” he ordered.
I shook my head. He couldn’t not talk to me all week and then just walk in here and expect me to do whatever he says. The man was insane.
I moved to step around him, but he grabbed my arm and spun me around. He pressed his front to my back, and he buried his nose in my hair. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
My eyes closed, and I sighed.
“I’m sorry, Firecracker. Things are so fucked up right now, I can’t see clear.” He grabbed the front of my coat and pulled the sleeves off. “I’ve wondered what this shirt would look like on you. You looked like a biker’s dream when I walked through the door.”
The coat fell to my feet, and his hands traveled over my back. I sighed again and forgave him for the past few days he had ignored me. This man had quickly become my weakness, and I didn’t even care. I needed him more than my next breath.
“I can’t even remember what I walked in here for. You distract me just by being you.”
I laughed and looked over my shoulder. “Slider,” I whispered.
His eyes locked with mine, and I could feel the air charge with the attraction between us. “Fuck it,” he growled. He delved his hands into my hair, and I spun around. My arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders, and I held on as his lips assaulted my mouth. I gave him everything I had.
“I’ll never get enough of you,” he moaned against my lips.
I held him close, wishing I never had to let him go.
A horn blared from outside, and we jumped apart, both of us looking at each other like we had just gotten caught with our hand in the cookie jar.
“I need to go,” he muttered as he wiped his hands on his jeans. “I just needed to grab something.” I smirked and shook my head. “Well, grab something besides you,” he laughed.
I nodded. He had important things to do, and I was in the way. I ducked my head and stepped around him towards the door.
He grabbed my arm again and turned me to face him. “I’m almost done, Fay. Just wait for me.”
I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Okay,” I whispered.
Slider sputtered, amazed at the new word I could say. If he were around more, I would have shared with him a couple of other words that had decided to start falling out of my mouth.
“Fayth,” he called as I sauntered over to the door.
I looked over my shoulder. “Yes?”
“You won’t have to wait long.”
I hoped not, because I couldn’t be held responsible for what I would do if he did make me wait. I was not above crawling onto the couch where he slept and having my way with him.
I smiled and walked out the door.
Slider was going to have one hell of a surprise when he decided to spend more than five minutes with me.
God, please don’t make that man wait much longer. My patience was gone, and I was ready for Slider to make me his.
********
Chapter 25
Slider
I watched Fayth climb into the car with Creed and waited ‘til the taillights disappeared before I moved away from the window. My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out to see a text message from Troy.
I’m here. Where the fuck are you?
I should have been there too, but I realized I hadn’t grabbed my gun and ran back to the house to grab it. Be there in ten.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket, stalked to the bedroom, and tossed open the closet door. After pushing the clothes to one side, I turned the combination on the wall safe. The lock clicked into place, and I swung the door open. I grabbed my .45 and an extra clip and slammed the safe shut.
The clothes swayed as I moved them back in front of the safe, and I slid the door back. The bed was a mess, and I knew if I got closer to it, I would be able to smell Fayth’s sweet scent all over it. The past week had been torture not going to her room every night, but I knew I needed to stay focused, or one of us was going to end up hurt, or even worse, dead.
Hammer and Turtle had good luck when they had gone to the bar outside of town. They found out Big A was in contact with at least three of his old minions. Two of whom had been at the bar that night.
All they could tell Hammer and Turtle was Big A had asked them to keep an eye on the Knights and let him know if anyone started sniffing around. Of course, they didn’t dispense this information until Hammer showed them the reason he had that nickname. The guy had
a right hook that felt like you were being smashed in the face with a sledge hammer.
Apparently, the guy who had broken into my house was someone Big A had hired to toss it to scare Fayth back to Chicago. We weren’t sure why he wanted her out of Rockton, yet.
They had also given us the name “Kramer,” but we didn’t know who that name belonged to, or how he came into play.
Tonight, Demon, Troy, and I were meeting at the clubhouse, and then were going to head over to the strip club. The fucking thing was finally about to open and word was Cherry was planning on applying for a job. We hoped we were going to find out more about what was going on with Big A, since she was related to him. We knew this might be a dead end, but we needed to check out every lead we had just to make sure we weren’t missing anything.
I knew Fayth had been disappointed when she found out I wouldn’t be going to the tattoo parlor with her, but King wouldn’t let me get out of going to the strip club. He said he would help keep an eye on the girls, but I was still worried about Fayth.
This past week, I hadn’t been with her as much as I should have been, and I felt guilty as hell. Creed had agreed to keep an eye on her for me since whenever I was around her, I was distracted as fuck.
My phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out to see Fayth had texted me.
I miss you, too.
Well, shit. I squeezed my phone in my hand and wished like hell I could be with her right now.
Soon enough, all of this shit would be over, and I would have Fayth in my arms.
Fucking soon.
********
Fayth
“You actually into that guy?”
I looked over at Creed and rolled my eyes.
We were on our way to the tattoo parlor where we were going to meet all of the girls. I grabbed my pen and wondered what I ever saw in Creed. Not any of your business.
“Come on, Fayth. You can tell me.” He glanced over at me with a huge grin on his face.
I like him. That’s all you get.
“I like ice cream, doesn’t mean I’m going to have sex with it.”
I rolled my eyes again. Your weird sexual preferences don’t matter to me.
“At one point in time, they did, but I’m pretty sure they did only because you wanted to piss your brother off.”
I shrugged and tossed the notepad on the dash. Using Creed the way I did wasn’t really something I wanted to talk about.
“I get it, Fayth. I know I’m not the kind of man you want, but I find it hard to believe that Slider is going to be the guy who can handle you either.”
I didn’t want to be handled. I just wanted to be with someone who liked me for who I was, and not for who I was related to. Slider never cared that Leo was my brother and didn’t give a shit about the things Leo could offer.
“Just make sure he treats you good. You know if he doesn’t, Leo will make sure he does.”
I rested my head against the window and sighed.
I knew what I wanted, and I knew Slider was the man who was going to give it to me.
I just wanted to be loved for me, and nothing else.
********
Chapter 26
Slider
“Are you fucking sure she’s here?”
“Yeah, her name is at the bottom of the list.”
Demon leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head. “You think Hammer would have been smarter and put her name at the top of the fucking list.”
“You do know you just said you assumed Hammer was smart, right?” I laughed and grabbed my beer. “It’s a miracle he was able to read the sheet at all.”
“I could be at home with Marley right now, but instead, I’m sitting here with you assholes watching some chicks shake their asses.” Troy tossed his phone on the table and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Well, it’s fucking official. We are all pussy-whipped if we’d rather be with our women than at a strip club.” Demon laughed and pointed to the door. “Looks like our girl just walked in.”
A dark-haired chick walked through the door, with tight black shorts barely covering her ass and a white t-shirt her tits were trying to bust out of. “Typical club girl,” I mumbled as we watched her stroll over to the bar.
“That typical club girl is your type, brother,” Demon replied.
I shook my head. “Used to be.”
“Ah, you finally get your head out of your ass? I remember not too long ago you giving King and Rigid crap about giving up the club pussy.” Demon nudged me with his shoulder.
“Things change,” I muttered.
“Yeah, you found the one chick that does what none of these other chicks can do,” Troy replied.
“Tell him what that one thing is, Troy,” Demon said, smirking.
“She fucking loves you even when you’re being a dick.”
Demon busted out laughing. “That wasn’t what I thought you were going to say, but that is definitely true.”
Troy grabbed his beer, chugged the rest of it, and crushed the empty can. “Then, what the hell did you think I was going to say? I know Marley puts up with a lot of my shit, but she still manages to like me.”
“About the same thing, just not in the same words. Our ol’ ladies love us, these bitches love the idea of being an ol’ lady and are always looking for the next best thing. Gwen could care less if I was part of the club.”
“So, you need to find a chick who doesn’t care?” I laughed.
Troy threw his crushed empty can at me. “You already found a chick.”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured that shit out and locked her down yet?” Demon asked.
I shook my head and turned to watch Cherry. “We have an understanding.”
“I hope that understanding ends with her in your bed at night.”
“It does.” I didn’t need to tell them that she was in my bed, but I wasn’t there with her.
“Let’s get this fucking show on the road. If we’re lucky, we can head over to the tattoo parlor after this and catch up with the girls.” Demon motioned to the bartender, and we all sat back, ready to get this shit over with.
We were auditioning girls for the stage and for being waitresses. I firmly believed that if either Gwen or Marley knew Demon and Troy were here, they would have their balls cut off. And I’m pretty sure Fayth would feel the same way.
“Cherry Pie” poured out of the speakers and the first candidate wobbled her way onto the stage in way too high heels and her hair piled even higher on her head. Demon and Troy both looked bored watching her slink around on the stage.
We all couldn’t help but laugh when her shoes proved to be more than she could handle, and she fell off the stage, landing on her ass.
Well, if anything, this was definitely going to be entertaining.
********
Chapter 27
Fayth
“How bad does it hurt?”
I held up two fingers and shrugged my shoulders. On a scale of one to ten, it didn’t really hurt.
“Am I seriously the only one who doesn’t have any tattoos?” Marley whined.
Cyn nodded. “Around here you are. Why don’t you let Darby at that virgin skin of yours?” Cyn was sitting in the chair next to mine, her sleeve rolled up, waiting for her guy to start tattooing.
There were four artists working tonight, and Cyn, Meg, Gwen, and I were all getting inked at the same time. Paige was looking at all of the flash art, trying to find the perfect swallow she wanted on her wrist.
Marley had been going back and forth since we got here trying to decide if she was going to get a tattoo.
“Woman, get a tattoo if you want one. Don’t get a tattoo if you don’t want one. Just make up your mind,” Meg called. She was lying on her stomach, her shirt pulled down, and a guy named Axel was working on the small crown she wanted on her shoulder.
“But, it’s just so…permanent,” Marley mumbled.
“Oh Lord, are you sure I can’t
drink while you’re tattooing me?” Meg asked Axel as she looked over her shoulder at him.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“You’re not a man of many words, are you, Axel?” Meg chirped.
Darby, who was doing my tattoo, giggled. “Axel is the silent giant.” She picked up the tattoo gun and held it over my shoulder. “You should feel honored that he's talking to you, Meg. He doesn't even talk to Mabel.”
“The chick up front?” Cyn asked. “How the hell does that work? I mean, Fayth doesn’t talk, but that’s because she can’t.”
“I talk,” Axel growled.
Darby sat up, shocked. “So you do, Ax. You just never seem to talk to clients, or Mabel,” she snickered.
“I’m always up for a good ribbing,” Meg said, “but do you think you could continue this when Axel doesn’t have a needle in my skin?”
“Ax slings ink like no one I’ve ever seen before, Meg. You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Imogen, who was working on Gwen’s tattoo on her forearm, said. “He did my back piece.”
“Oh, I want to see,” Meg called.
“Stay,” Axel barked.
“Easy, Ax. I meant I want to see it after you’re done with me,” Meg replied. She reached behind her, flailing her arm.
“Stop,” Axel grunted.
“I’m trying to pat you. You know, calm ya down.”
Axel grabbed her arm and pressed it to her side. “I’m not a dog.”
“Well, neither am I, but you told me to stay like I was one,” Meg pouted.
“Why do I always get the talkers?” Axel complained.
Darby laughed and shook her head. “You have to realize that Mabel does that on purpose, right? I mean, she gave me the chick that doesn’t talk, and you the one that talks a mile a minute.”
“Hey, I think I should be offended by that,” Meg whined. “Although, Lo says the same thing. Speaking of Lo, where did he go?” She looked around.
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