Clean Slate: Diva's Ink

by Liberty Parker

  “I can’t lose you or Shyann,” he whispers out.

  “I’ve told you before that you won’t,” I reply.

  “I can’t help but worry, Branson is unpredictable, Emory. He never has the same pattern in anything that he does. It’s why it took so long for us to track him to the fires and knowing that he killed Shyann’s parents is killing me.”

  “I blame the military for that one,” I tell him. “They should’ve informed you all the second he managed to escape. It may or may not have changed the outcome, but at least everyone could have been prepared for him to attack. From what you’ve told me, he’s always been unstable, they should’ve let you guys know that danger to you all was out there lurking around.”

  “The ball got dropped somewhere,” he says.

  “Makes you wonder doesn’t it?”

  “Wonder what, baby?”

  “If the same guy who dropped that ball was in anyway involved in his escape.” Suddenly, he jumps up from the couch and walks out of the room with his phone to his ear. I hope my thought helps them figure out this mystery. Deciding to let him do his thing, I head to the bedroom and grab my nightclothes for a much-needed shower. I need to wash as much of this day away as possible. After a quick shower, I go into the bedroom to see it’s empty, I crawl into bed and am asleep before my head even hits the pillow.

  Marcus

  My woman is smart as fuck! I can’t believe with all the training we all have that we didn’t manage to put that possibility together. My first call was to Jensen, my second was to our Commander and the last one is to Wasp. None of them complained about me calling at this hour due to the topic of conversation. They’ve all agreed it deserves to be looked into, and Wasp still has some friends inside who can gather intelligence and get back with us. Commander Austin is going to see what he can come up with, but he expects to hit the same brick walls he has since this thing started. Wasp tells me that earlier in the day he called in a favor to his friends from the Lost Devil’s Outlaws. Someone by the name of Hawk and Uncle Jed are on their way. Apparently, they’re the best trackers he has ever met and he thinks if anyone can find this cretin it will be one of them. I trust him, and at this point in time what do I have to lose anyways? It’s not like I’m going to question him or who he trusts, because I’m not crossing that bridge, not even with a blindfold.

  Wasp can be one scary motherfucker when you question his authority or what he believes is best for all involved. The only care I have in the world right now is making sure my little family stays safe, and never becomes a victim of circumstances at his hands. I’ve never considered myself a violent man by nature, but I will do whatever it takes to keep all of us safe, even if it means I have to take a man’s life to do so. I’ve taken an oath to protect all, but that doesn’t mean I will not break that if it needs to happen.

  Once I’m done with my phone calls, I head towards the back of the house. I stop and check on Shyann before making my way to our bedroom. She’s managed to kick her blanket off of her, so I replace it and kiss her forehead. She wakes slightly and smiles at me before closing her eyes once again. “I promise to always keep you safe and make sure you know how loved you are,” I say to her before I leave her room. I continue down the hallway and come to a dead stop in my bedroom door. I watch Emory as she peacefully sleeps. She’s one of the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. I take out my phone and snap a picture and quickly make it my wallpaper. I can’t help the pride I feel at what a lucky bastard I am to have her in my life. A man couldn’t ask for a stronger woman to be at his side than her.

  I head into the bathroom and strip out of my clothes, I turn the shower on and step in. Luckily, it doesn’t take long to warm, and I hang my head and let the water wash over me. I need to try and get inside of Branson’s head and figure out what his next move will be. Trying to think like a slithering snake isn’t an easy feat for someone who doesn’t try to harm others purposefully. I think back to all of the people we served with, who he was friendly with and who his supporters were who stuck by him in his trial and even after his conviction. Most of his supporters pulled from him once all the evidence was presented, the proof was overwhelming and there was no denying it was him, especially since he was caught in the act itself. There was one person, one woman, a woman whom he’d happened to be in a relationship that is standing out like a sore thumb in my mind. Krista Black, she was not only his strongest supporter, but she was convinced that he was set up. Love is blind, and no one had their eyes covered more than she did when it came to him. I need to send her name to both Wasp and the Commander, she definitely needs to become a person of interest. I wonder if she’s still in intelligence, you’d think with her placement in the military she’d not have been so stupid or blind where it came to him, and he must’ve been a lot smarter than any one of us gave him credit for, since he was able to pull the wool over her eyes and garner such loyalty from her.

  Ready to end this day, I step out of the shower, pull my boxers on and crawl into bed next to Em and pull her body back into mine. I fall in a deep sleep with her heartbeat lulling me.

  God! This is the best dream I’ve experienced in my adulthood. My hips rise at the heat surrounding me, my eyes open quickly, once it hits my mind that this isn’t a dream at all.

  “Fuck, Emory.” I rasp out. The bliss she is inflicting upon me is affecting my ability to think rationally, and those are the only words I can form. Her mouth is sucking me in, and the tongue she adds to the action, makes me unable to form any type of coherent thought. All I can rationalize is pumping my hips up and down, she takes me deep causing me to moan out in delight.

  She stops long enough to say, “I woke up needing to taste you, it was a need that I couldn’t stop thinking about.” Then she gets back to business, her cheeks hollow up with every pull, then her tongue comes out with every downward descent.

  “That feels fucking fantastic,” I pant out. She hums causing me to nearly detonate right here and now. I grab her hair and pull it into one hand, so I can watch as I disappear down her throat. “You like having my cock buried in your throat, Em?”

  She hums again, and it causes my hips to take on a life of their own. I begin thrusting in and out of her mouth. I begin to fuck her face and she lets go and lets me take control. I grab ahold of the back of her neck with my free hand to hold her in place, I pick up the pace, never burying myself in all the way. I do this until I begin to feel the tingles down my spine. Then I take my hands and place them under her armpits. With a strength I didn’t realize I possessed, I drag her body all the way up mine until her pussy is over my face. “Hold on to the headboard for support, baby. I’m going to be here for a while,” I tell her as I bury my tongue inside of her. She’s already wet and ready just by giving me one hell of a blowjob. I take my hand and spread her open, so I can pay attention to every square inch of her. I suck on her lips and play with them using my tongue until she’s writhing on top of me.

  “Ride my face, Em.” I tell her before burying myself back in my favorite place on her body. I slide two fingers inside of her easily and work that special place inside of her that causes her to lose all control. She does as I ask, and her hips move back and forth, every once in a while, she’ll swivel her hips, looking for that one spot that will cause her to detonate. I twist my hand and cause her to cry out. I suck and lick her clit and I see her hair flying as she throws her head back in a moan.

  “Please, Marcus.”

  “Please what, Emory?”

  “Please, please make me come.” Orders given and received, I go to town and eat her out like she’s the last meal left on earth. She screams out and I can’t wait any longer, I climb out from beneath her and pull her hips back, her hands are still firmly holding onto the headboard. I enter her in one thrust, and she arches her back, her neck suddenly looking delectable. I lean over and nibble on her neck and behind her ear, I know this is one of her erogenous zones, so I take my time and make each nip co
unt. I slide my hand underneath her and find her clit, I put pressure on it as I tunnel my way in and out of her. I’m frantic in my thrusts, using all of my control not to explode, I want her to have another orgasm with me planted inside of her.

  “Oh God, Marcus! I’m fixing to come,” she tells me. I feel her walls tightening on my dick and my balls draw up.

  “Come now, Emory, or I’ll be going without you,” I holler out. And come she does, she comes so hard that she clamps down on me to the point that I can barely get back inside of her. I join her moments later calling out her name.

  “Emory! Fuck I love you,” I say as I collapse on her back. “Best wakeup call I’ve ever received, baby,” I say as I kiss her neck one last time and pull out of her.

  “Any morning I wake up next to you is the best wake up call for me,” she says as we both get up and make our way to the bathroom. We hop in the shower where we clean ourselves up only to get dirty again.

  Chapter 15

  Emory

  When things seem to be at their darkest, trust in love to get you through…

  “Krista Black,” Marcus says to Jensen as we’re in the car heading towards the shop. I open today, and he decided he was going to tag along, my mother has Shyann and is spending the morning at Dillon and Ariel’s with her. We dropped them off before heading this way. Marcus refuses to let either of us out on our own, which is understandable, but still frustrating.

  I tune out his conversation, knowing that later I’ll be told who this Krista person is, if he doesn’t willingly tell me, I’ll ask about who she is. I think back to our morning shower session, and I feel the soreness between my thighs that such pleasure brought to me. I’ve never had a lover that could quite satisfy me the way my fiancé does. I always thought something was wrong with me, but now I know it was the men I was choosing to spend my time with. I look over at Marcus and can’t believe I hid from him out of fear when he first started showing an interest in me. I didn’t hide for long, but long enough for him to prove to me that he was serious about wanting to be with me. I’ve never been happier about giving into something as I am that I gave into him. I had the same mindset as my sister, how could someone like him want someone like me who’s covered in tattoos? I don’t have the piercings that my sister has, but I have just as much if not more ink than her. I was in the frame of thinking that he’d need someone to proudly display on his arm, and I am definitely not arm candy material.

  I won’t ever apologize for who I am though, I love my artwork and display it proudly. The first tattoo I ever got was at the hands of my sister. Ariel was born to tat, her art is beautiful, and I was happy and proud, to have her pop my ink cherry. From that day forward I was addicted, now I proudly wear work done by both of my sisters. Rainey is more of a portrait tattooist, don’t get me wrong she can do it all, but her portraits are something that people travel from far away to have her do theirs. One person even flew from overseas when he saw one of her jobs that a client showed them while on vacation. That right there shows how much in demand she is. She put a picture of our parents on my right shoulder, it is my favorite picture of the two of them, it was taken right after they started dating. It’s a memorial piece dedicated to our father, but I wanted to show my love for both of my parents.

  I have a spot over my rib cage that’s empty and I plan on having her put Marcus and Shyann there. I have other areas that I can have her add any future children that we end up having. I really want the first people I’ve loved, down deep to my bones, to have that special spot, that I had been saving for the perfect design…and to me, that’s them. I plan on having it done right before Marcus and I marry, and surprise him with it on our wedding night.

  “Sorry, baby, I wasn’t planning on being on the phone for that long,” Marcus says taking my hand and kissing the back of it.

  “No worries, I was lost in thought anyways,” I say as we pull into the back parking lot of the shop. I get my keys out of my purse before we even leave the car, a habit I got into with everything that happened with Ariel.

  “Let’s go get you set up for the day,” he says to me as we exit the car. We head up to the front, hand in hand and I’m shocked when I see two prospects pull up. “Is it really necessary for them to be here?” I ask Marcus.

  “I’d rather have someone at our backs in case something happens,” he says as I unlock the door and shut off the alarm. He locks the door behind us and follows me to put our lunches away in the fridge and helps me gather ink. I go into my station and check on my supplies and begin a list of what I need to bring in so I’m not going in and out throughout the doors to stock up my supplies.

  As we’re gathering supplies, my curiosity gets the best of me and I ask him, “Who’s Krista Black?”

  “She was…is, one of Branson’s biggest supporters. She always protested that he was innocent and being framed by us. Which is the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard, but anyways she was also his lover. I’m not sure if their relationship developed into anything more than that, but if anyone is helping him, she’d be my first suspect,” he tells me. I stop and think about what it is that he just said, and it makes sense. I know that I’d stand by Marcus if he was ever accused of anything that severe and I doubt I’d be able to believe he was capable of causing such turmoil.

  “Makes sense to me, Marcus. No woman wants to believe the man she’s in love with could do such horrific things. I mean, he was the cause of so many people to lose their lives.”

  “He’s not done, which is why I’m grateful that Wasp is taking this threat as seriously as he is,” he says, giving me a pointed look.

  “Okay, I get it,” I tell him. I leave the room and start opening up the lobby, turning on equipment and recounting the money from the previous night. We keep about a hundred dollars in cash in the drawer at all times. If it gets higher than that, we drop it in the deposit box in the back room. One of us goes into the box and takes the money to the bank daily, never the same time or the same sister. We’ve never wanted to form any kind of routine that would give someone the opportunity to rob us. We all made a vow that if that ever occurred, we’d give the money to the assailant, our lives mean more than money ever could.

  Just as I’m wrapping up, I see Carson and Rainey walk through the front door. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days, causing my concern for her to amp up. “Rainey, at some point, you’re going to have to tell us what’s going on with you,” I tell her. Carson gives her a look, a look that’s telling. It seems like I’m not the only one concerned by her appearance.

  “It’s nothing to worry about,” she says, as she makes her way down the hallway. I raise my eyebrow in question at Carson, who shrugs his shoulders at me and follows his woman.

  “What do you think is going on there?” Marcus asks me.

  “I have no idea, but don’t have a good feeling about whatever it is,” I reply.

  I hear the alarm on my phone go off, which was set to remind me when it’s time to turn on the open sign. I hit the switch, and the place comes alive, this is my favorite part of the day. The joy and satisfaction that comes from reestablishing my father and uncle’s shop, my sisters and I worked hard for this, and the hard work has paid off. I look up at Marcus and think to myself…in all aspects.

  Marcus and I go back into my station, and I can hear Rainey and Carson getting into it, and by the sounds of it, it’s definitely not going to end pretty. I hear him say something along the lines of how she needs to open up, and he and Levi aren’t the only ones concerned. That she needs to stop hiding whatever is going on from everyone that loves her. I want to fist bump him, but at the same time I feel like an interloper, and realize that what goes on between them really is none of my business. No matter how much the big sister in me wants to step in, she is grown, and needs the space to figure things out for herself. Marcus’ phone rings and he steps out of the room, a few minutes later I hear the bell chime and go out to greet the first client of the day. It’s Sheila Donavan, a
girl I went to school with and we’ve been working on a floral piece that goes from him to armpit. Today is the day that we’re adding her colors and I can’t wait to see what the final outcome is. I welcome her and bring her back to get started.

  “So, Emory, I know we discussed going with only spring colors, but I’d like to add something in there to make the piece pop, any suggestions?” she asks me, and we sit and discuss color palettes and the best way to incorporate other colors. By the time we’re done, Marcus comes in to tell me he has to leave, and reminds me…once again, that I’m not to leave the building without calling him first and definitely without Carson in tow. I roll my eyes and instead of answering him, I turn my gun on and begin shading. I know the drill, he doesn’t have to remind me every time he leaves the room. I want to remind him that even when I did follow protocol when Ariel was going through her shit, I still managed to get caught in the crossfire, but that day is hard enough on me and I don’t feel like it’s fair to throw that incident in anyone’s face.

  I get lost in my work, it takes three hours to get her piece filled in, and we set up another appointment for me to go back over her outline. Now that it’s colored in, I want the outline to pop a little more with some shading work. But it would be too much on her to sit through all of it today. After she pays and walks out the door, I notice we have a few people sitting on the couch, most are walk-in’s, so I take the first one who signed in and this is how the rest of my day goes. I take one, finish and take another one, my arm feels like it’s going to fall off by the time I take my lunch break.

  Marcus