I pointed to the front door.
“Fayth and I saw him go out the front door with Creed a couple of minutes ago,” Cyn told Meg.
“Hmm, I wonder what is going on. Lo has been acting weird the past week. Kind of like when he tried to hide the whole Big A threatening Gwen thing.” Meg laid her head flat on the table. “I hoped with Big A being in jail that everything would be over. I was obviously wrong.”
I had felt the same way as Meg all week. Except, I knew a bit more about what was going on. Not only were they still dealing with Big A, they were also dealing with whatever Leo sent me back to Rockton for.
“That’s it, I’m doing it,” Marley announced. “On my wrist.” She thrust her wrist in my face. “A small cowboy hat.”
I looked up at her and quirked my eyebrow. A cowboy hat was the last thing I expected her to say.
“For Troy, because Dad calls him cowboy all the time,” Marley explained.
“I think that’s perfect,” Paige said as she stepped into the back of the shop.
“You do?” Marley spun around and thrust her wrist at Paige. “I’ve always thought about it, but I didn’t know if that made me crazy, or if it would jinx Troy and me.”
“Pshh, that’s nonsense. Lo and I both have each other’s names on us,” Meg said, her face smushed into the table. “Yeah, it’s in my birdcage.”
“Maybe I’ll get something else,” Marley blurted out. “What did you guys all get again?”
Cyn rolled her eyes and pointed at me. “For the third time, Meg is getting a tiny crown, Gwen is getting a pair of scissors, comb, and blow dryer on her forearms, I’m getting the lotus I’ve been wanting, and Fayth is getting a pair of lips behind her ear.”
“Lips?” Paige asked.
I nodded. I hadn’t explained why yet, and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to.
“I think you should get a tramp stamp, Marley. That way, Troy has something to look at when he’s going at ya,” Gwen laughed.
Marley tapped her chin. “You know…no, never mind. I’m not doing that. Troy would only want to do it doggie style then, and while I like that, I need variety.”
“Oh Jesus,” Axel rumbled under his breath.
“What are you getting?” Marley asked Paige.
“I’m going to get a swallow on my wrist.”
“What does it mean?” Marley asked. Marley believed that every tattoo had to have some deep, hidden meaning.
“Uh, well. It means I think it’s pretty, and I want it on my wrist,” Paige laughed.
Marley sighed. “I still don’t know.”
“You sure I can’t have that drink, Axel?” Meg asked.
Axel grunted and shook his head. “Thirty minutes, and then you can drink all you want.”
Darby pulled back my hair, and I held it. “Deep breaths, tell me if I need to stop,” she instructed me.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. The hum of the machine was next to my ear, and she smeared some goo on my neck.
“Here we go,” she mumbled.
The needle pricked my skin and slowly moved over the stencil.
“Doing okay?” she asked.
I gave her a thumbs up, and she continued working on the outline.
“Scale of one to holy fuck balls, how bad does it hurt?” Marley asked me.
“I’d say from the grimace on her face, we’re going to go with a six, possibly seven,” Cyn said, trying to help me out.
“A six isn’t too bad,” Marley muttered. “Okay. I’m doing it. Totally going to do it,” she said, psyching herself up. She rubbed her hands on her jeans and moved her head side to side.
“I’ll get you in ten minutes,” Darby said. “These lips won’t take long.” Darby stopped tattooing, giving me a few seconds of relief. I may have lied when I held up two fingers to Marley before. I felt like my brain was getting rattle around with each stroke of the needle.
“Ten minutes? That soon?” Marley gasped.
Darby shook her head and dipped her needle into the black ink. “I swear to you that you won’t even notice me tattooing you. It’ll just be like a mosquito bite.”
Marley took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’m totally doing this.”
“Thank Christ,” Meg said, laughing. “I was thinking we were going to have to strap you to the chair for a second there.”
“Demon just texted me,” Gwen said. “They were doing auditions at the club tonight, and he said they’ve already had two girls fall off the stage, and he thinks one of them broke their nose.”
Cyn and Paige busted out laughing, while Meg snorted. “I think I would pay to see that.”
“I think Troy is with them too,” Paige giggled. “I asked him if he was going to be raring to go when he got home. He just rolled his eyes and took off in his truck. He didn’t seem too enthused to be stuck with helping Demon and Slider.”
“Slider?” I asked.
“Hey, I thought she couldn’t talk,” Axel said.
“She can only say her man’s name and maybe like three other words,” Meg told him.
It was more like shit-ton of words I could say now, but no one knew that. What I was more concerned about was the fact that Slider was at a strip club right now, and hoping that I didn’t pass out from pain. I was starting to rethink ever getting a tattoo anywhere near my head.
“Yeah, he didn’t tell you that King stuck them with interviewing the dancers and waitresses?” Cyn asked.
I waited ‘til Darby stopped for a second and shook my head. He hadn’t told me anything other than he had things he needed to take care of tonight.
“I wouldn’t be too concerned, Fayth. Demon said Slider looked like he’s about to fall asleep. Gambler just showed up, and they are placing bets on who is going to fall next.” Gwen held up her phone to show me the text message.
I shrugged and tried to act like I didn’t care. Obviously, Slider didn’t want me to know what he was doing, but Demon and Troy were okay with telling Gwen and Marley.
“You okay with me going again?” Darby asked me.
I nodded and closed my eyes as the needle pierced my skin. I strained my ears to hear what the girls were saying and was able to pick up the majority of what they were talking about.
“Demon said they’re going to stop by when they are done if we are still here.” Gwen said.
“Who’s stopping by?”
I opened my eyes and watched King walk over to Meg and look down at the tattoo she was getting. “You’re crazy, you know that, right?” King mumbled under his breath.
“Axel doesn’t like me,” Meg pouted, completely ignoring King.
“Who the hell is Axel?” King demanded.
Meg pointed over her shoulder. “The guy doing my tattoo.”
“You talking his ear off?” King asked.
Meg batted her eyes at King and shook her head. “No more than usual.”
“You got a big tip coming your way, brother,” King said, laughing. “You heard from Rigid?” he asked Cyn.
“Yeah, he’s waiting for Micha to fall asleep. He sounded exhausted the last time I talked to him,” Cyn snickered. “I think that man is finally realizing what I go through every day.”
I tried to focus on the loud buzz of the tattoo gun in my ear, but all I could think about was Slider not telling me where he was going. I didn’t ask him, so he didn’t lie to me about it, but I still felt like he had lied to me.
“Switching to color,” Darby muttered.
I thought about the tattoo I was getting and hoped I wouldn’t regret it later on down the road.
My neck was the first place Slider had kissed me, and that was one kiss I never wanted to forget. Now, I would have a tattoo on my neck, reminding me of that day every single day.
Oh Lord, I hoped I hadn’t just made a mistake.
It felt like Slider and I knew so much about each other, but there were still things he didn’t know. I knew I would tell Slider any and everything about me, but I didn’t know if that ran t
rue for him.
Only time would tell.
********
Chapter 28
Slider
“We about done with this shit?”
“This is the last one before Cherry is up,” Troy mumbled, tossing the notebook on the table. We had seen at least twenty girls audition to be a dancer, and maybe three of them were good enough to possibly go on stage. Demon figured three other ones were good enough to be waitresses, and the rest were shown the door.
The girl on the stage wobbled in the heels she was wearing, and Gambler sat up, ready to watch her fall, and take the money he had laid out on the bet that at least one more girl would take a digger.
“Timber,” Demon whispered under his breath as the girl took one more step, stumbled, rolled her right ankle, and landed flat on her ass.
“Pay up, fuckers,” Gambler gloated. “I told you she was going to fall. I saw her walk in, and she could barely make it across the room, there wasn't a chance in hell she was going to be able to dance on stage.”
Gambler held out his hand, and Demon slapped a twenty in it. “You think we would have learned by now,” he muttered.
“Next!” I called as the girl hobbled off.
Cherry was sitting at the bar and fluffed her hair while she stood. She tugged on her shorts and smoothed down her shirt before she sauntered up on stage. “Haven’t seen you boys in a while,” she purred.
I motioned to the bartender to clear out the room and all of the girls scattered out the door.
“Oh, I see how it is, you boys want me all to yourselves.” Cherry made her way down the stage, and Demon put his hand up to stop her.
Troy curled his lip. “Is this chick for real?”
Cherry stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Oh, I see. You boys want a show first.” Cherry fluffed her hair and bent over, her ass in the air and slowly stood, running her hands up her legs.
“For the love of God, make it stop,” Troy shouted as he stood. His chair skidded backwards and slammed into the wall. Gambler had a hand over his eyes, and he was shaking his head.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. We had become a sad bunch of men who didn’t want to watch strippers. “You might want to keep your clothes on,” I called to her. “I don’t think Troy’s eyes can take any more.”
“We have a few questions to ask you, Cherry. Come have a seat,” Demon said, motioning to the chair Troy had been sitting in.
Cherry stepped of the stage and strode over to the chair. “I figured you guys would want to see what I can do, not talk to me.”
“We’re more interested in what you know,” Demon explained, resting his arms on the table.
Cherry’s eyes darted between Demon and me. “I need a job, that’s all I know.”
“You know more than that, and you’re going to tell us,” I insisted. Cherry had nerve walking into a strip club owned by the Knights and thinking she could act like she owned the place.
“Well,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, “I guess you’ll have to ask your questions, and I’ll tell you if I know the answer.”
“I can’t decide if she’s actually clueless, or if she has cajones the size of China,” Gambler commented while he surveyed Cherry.
“I’m going to go with a little bit of both,” Troy muttered.
“Is there actually a job here for me, or are you guys just being assholes like those bitches you guys date,” she hissed.
Gambler made to stand up, but Demon grabbed his arm and held him back. “You might want to choose your words very carefully when you talk about the women in our lives,” Demon sneered. “That also goes for the women in our brothers’ lives too.”
Cherry rolled her eyes and smacked her lips. “I’m suddenly forgetting everything I know. I think it’s time for me to leave.” Cherry stood, and Demon nodded at me.
I moved quickly, grabbing Cherry by the arm and twisting it behind her back. “You’re hurting me,” she shrieked.
I knew I wasn’t hurting her. Hurting people was one of the things I knew how to do well, and the way I was holding her, anyone could break free from if they truly wanted to.
“We just have some questions for you, Cherry. You’re the one who has the attitude,” Demon replied. “Besides, I remember seeing you in this position before when you didn’t heed King’s warning the last time you were at the club.”
Cherry growled and tried to jerk her arm out of my hold. “King should have been mine,” she snarled.
“Obviously, King saw things differently,” Troy said with a shrug.
“You’re that bitch’s best friend,” Cherry spit out. “You’re just as bad as she is.”
“I’d like to take that as a compliment, and not an insult.” Troy moved in close, inches away from Cherry’s face. “You know why I’m taking that as a compliment?” Cherry shook her head. “Because if I took it as an insult, that would mean you were also insulting Meg, too, and Demon told you not to do that. I’d hate for you to find out the reason behind Slider’s name.”
The blood drained from Cherry’s face, and she swallowed hard. I tighten the grip I had on her arm, and she arched her back. “I don’t know anything,” she gasped.
“I find that hard to believe. You have to know something, otherwise you wouldn’t have strutted in here the way you did,” Gambler said.
“I swear. I’ve only talked to Alfonso three times since he’s been in jail.”
“Alfonso?” Gambler scoffed. “I can see why he goes by Big A.”
“It was my grandfather’s name,” Cherry bit out.
Gambler shrugged and laughed. “I feel bad for your grandfather now, too.”
Cherry snarled, and I twisted her arm. This girl needed to learn how to not show what she was feeling. She was going to end up with a broken arm in no time.
“Tell me what your cousin has been telling you,” Demon demanded.
“He told me you killed Nate,” she spit out. “You killed my brother, and you’re sitting here acting like you’re better than me and my family.”
“I know we’re better than your family, because we don’t beat women,” Troy barked. “You ever wonder how Cyn got the shit beat out of her? YOUR MOTHER FUCKING BROTHER!”
Troy’s words hit Cherry one by one, and the blood drained from her face. “He didn’t,” she whispered.
“He did. He fucking did, Cherry. You can believe that your brother was some great guy, but when it comes down to it, he was a cheater, a liar, and fucking coward who beat women.” Troy slammed his fist down on the table.
“My brother wouldn’t do that. He was an asshole, but he would never hit a woman.”
Demon shook his head. “It’s good for you that we’re not asking about that, because you’re not seeing that shit clearly. We need to know what your cousin has been telling you.”
“There hasn’t been anything except for just normal stuff,” Cherry said, shaking her head.
“I want to hear it all, even if you think it has nothing to do us,” Demon demanded.
A lone tear streaked down her cheek. “I really don’t know anything. I swear I haven’t known anything this whole time. He just told my family a couple of months ago that Nate had gone back to Mexico, and he had died in a fight. I swear I had no idea he had tried to hurt Cyn.”
“He hurt her, not fucking tried to,” Troy growled.
Demon held up his hand, silencing Troy. We were all pissed off about the fact that Cyn had been hurt, but we had taken care of that problem by getting rid of Asshat, now we had to deal with Big A. “Just tell me every word he said to you, Cherry, and nothing will happen to you. We know that you have nothing to do with this, but if you don’t tell us what you know, this might not end well for you.”
Cherry looked around and nodded. “Fine, but I don’t think me telling you about him finding a new doctor is really going to help with anything.”
“How the hell does he have a new doctor if he’s in jail?” Gambler asked.
“I
don’t know. The last two times I visited him, he told me I couldn’t stay long because his doctor was also coming.”
“Did you ever see this doctor?” I asked.
“No. I was always gone before he showed up,” Cherry replied.
Demon nodded and leaned back in his chair. “What else did he tell you?”
“He always asked about my mom and me. We really didn’t talk about much. My visits were only ten or fifteen minutes. The first visit he said he was sorry about my brother, and that he was going to make everything right. I didn’t think much of what he said, because he’s in jail. What the hell can he do while he’s in there?”
“Apparently, enough,” I mumbled.
“Look, I swear to you that I have no idea what Alfonso is planning. I wish none of this would have happened, and Nick was still here,” she sobbed.
Troy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “I really doubt you’ve had a complete change of heart in the past ten minutes. You were mouthing off about Meg and Cyn not even five minutes ago.”
“Honestly,” she said, “I don’t like them, but I don’t want them dead. They both seem to get everything they want, while I’m sitting in a strip club begging for my life while wondering where my next meal is going to come from.”
“So, that makes you a raging bitch?” Troy shook his head and sat down at the table next to us.
“Did he ever tell you what the doctor’s name was?” Demon asked.
“No. All he said was he had an appointment with his doctor. I didn’t ask any questions, because I’ve learned not to question Alfonso, even if it’s an innocent question.”
“You think we can figure out who this doctor is?” Gambler asked Demon.
Demon shrugged. “It’s more than what we had before.”
“Am I done?” Cherry asked.
“Is that all you know?” Demon asked her.
“That’s all. I had no idea my brother was an ass, and that Alfonso was an even bigger ass.”
Demon nodded at me, and I let go of Cherry's arm. “Better not be lying,” I whispered.
She glared at me and rubbed her arm. “I don’t have a reason to lie.”
“You also really don’t have a reason to be a bitch to the girls, but you still are,” I replied.
Devil’s Knights MC Box Set 2 Page 64