I looked down at my ankle socks, then up at him.
“Yes,” I settled on.
“Put them on on top of the ones you’re wearing,” he said. “And don’t put on those shoes with the holes. Wear boots or tennis shoes.”
I frowned, but followed his directions.
It was obvious we were going for a ride, and he knew better than I would what I needed to wear.
Turns out I needed more.
By the time we arrived at the tattoo parlor where I’d gotten pierced the week before, I was freezing my ass off.
It wasn’t that cold out, only forty degrees, but with the wind on the motorcycle, I was shivering by the time we’d arrived, and it’d only been ten minutes at the most.
“I’ll stop by the store and get you more clothes,” he said when he saw the state I was in.
There was a grin in his voice, though, and I bared my teeth at him.
“You’re going to do it, too?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Fuck no,” he said. “I’m going to watch you do the other one.”
I crossed my arms over my chest.
“That wasn’t the deal,” I said. “I do it if you do it.”
He studied my face.
“You don’t understand,” he said. “I can’t do it.”
“Why not?” I asked worriedly.
“I’m fucking offended by needles,” he said by way of explanation.
“You’re offended by…what?” I asked. “How can needles offend you?”
I saw him grit his teeth and I wanted to laugh.
“I don’t like them. They bring back bad memories,” he said, offering no explanation as to what exactly had given him that fear.
“If I hold your hand, will you do it?” I asked, moving closer to him.
His hard body was cold, but he showed no sign that he was affected by it.
I lifted my hand and rubbed his beard, letting my fingers play along the line of his jaw.
He scowled at me.
“Please?” I whispered.
“Will you come home with me?” he challenged.
I smiled.
“Yeah,” I said. “For a little bit, anyway.”
He growled.
“You have to deal with your brother’s place in Uncertain, anyway,” he said. “Use that time to do it.”
I did. He wasn’t lying.
But the mention of having to go through all of my brother’s belongings didn’t make me feel too good.
I’d been avoiding his place like the plague.
In fact, it made my heart ache, the pain just as sharp now as it had been the day I’d found out that he’d been taken from me.
“I…” I hesitated.
“Don’t,” he said, pressing his finger against my lips. “I’ll help, and if you find that you can’t, then I’ll do it for you. Just come home with me.”
“But your sister lives with you…and her man and baby,” I said.
“They do,” he agreed. “But the house is a fuckin’ plantation. There are over eight bedrooms in the mother fucker. You’d be lucky to see them even on the best of days.”
I pinched my teeth between my lips. “They won’t be mad at me for seeing them have sex, will they?”
He shook his head.
“No,” he said. “And to tell you the truth, I’d be relieved. I’ve had so much to deal with these last few weeks. I’m sorry for not calling you. Going back to work, then having to take days off to deal with Emily and Kitt; when Kitt had seizures, it took a lot of my time. I never even thought to call you, and I’m sorry.”
Hearing that he had a reason for not calling me helped.
I didn’t feel so slighted.
“Okay,” I said. “But you have to promise that you’ll let me know when I’m bugging you. And you’ll let me pay some rent.”
“No,” he said. “You won’t pay rent. I don’t even pay rent.”
“You don’t?” I asked, surprise evident in my voice.
He shook his head. “No. Haven’t paid rent ever, actually. That’s why Kitt still lives there. It’s a big house and we don’t pay the rent. I help with upkeep, and my grandfather lets us stay there.”
“Where’s your grandfather?” I asked.
“Retirement home,” he answered. “He has certain needs that Kitt and I couldn’t take care of.”
“What kind of needs?” I asked worriedly. “I can help.”
I could, too.
I needed to feel useful.
If having his grandfather back home would help him, I would offer my assistance.
I was a nurse after all.
“He likes young chicks to take care of him, and Kitt doesn’t count because she’s his granddaughter,” he smiled.
I snorted.
“Oh,” I said. “I probably could help. I’m twenty-eight. That’s younger than him, right?”
He shook his head. “I’ve tried to get him to come home for years. He won’t. I even offered to hire help. He doesn’t want to leave. I think he has a crush on one of the other tenants.”
I giggled.
“I’d like to meet him,” I said, pressing my lips to the column of his throat. “And your sister…while she’s not in a hospital bed or having sex with her man.”
He laughed deeply.
“Good. I think I’ll like having you there, too,” he said, his eyes darkening with something I couldn’t quite make out.
But when I was about to question that look, he turned and grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it open and pushing my butt slightly to get me moving.
I entered the door and immediately shucked my jacket, smiling when I saw the woman who’d pierced me the other day.
“You’re back!” she said with a smile. “I knew you would be!”
Then her eyes fell on Ridley, and her mouth fell open.
I couldn’t hide my smile as I introduced him.
“Daisy,” I said. “This is Ridley, my…”
“Her man,” Ridley said. “Nice to meet you.”
Ridley’s words got her moving, and she came around the counter and offered her hand, first to me, and then to him.
“What can I help y’all with?” she asked. “My shop isn’t the least bit busy,” she swept her hand out. “As you can see, and I don’t have another appointment until later. As long as you don’t want something intricate, I can accommodate you.”
I smiled at her.
Daisy was a cute woman.
She was my age, and also shared a birthday with me. She was about five foot nothing with hair dyed the color of the rainbow and a slew of tattoos covering her porcelain skin.
Her eyes were a deep shade of brown that looked nearly black, and her personality was bubbly.
“I’d like to get the other side done,” I said, pointing to my boob. “And he said he would get his done, too, if I got mine finished.”
I turned my gaze to Ridley only to see his face completely closed off.
He was hiding his nervousness.
Well, might I add.
His poker face was excellent.
“I can do that,” she said. “Take a seat on the table in the room you used last time, and I’ll be back with my things. I’m guessing you want to use the same gauge and style as last time?”
I nodded.
“I do,” I confirmed. “What about you?”
His eyes were studying the jewelry.
“Which ones are the ones I get to choose from?” he asked.
Daisy pointed at a section as she passed, then disappeared into the back room.
“Which one is the one you got?” he asked.
I pointed to a barbell that was in the very corner of the top row.
“It’s smaller than most, but bigger than the rings,” I explained.
Daisy came back around the corner, her hands filled with her supplies.
“I’d sug
gest staying away from the rings,” she said. “Men tend to be more physical. You don’t want to be wrestling around or moving boxes or something and accidentally rip the ring out.”
I winced, as did Ridley.
“My jobs’s pretty fucking physical,” he said. “Shit.”
I smiled at him.
“You could always get a tattoo,” I offered.
He winced.
“Fine,” he said. “What do you want me to get?”
I grinned so widely I probably looked terrible, but it was worth it.
The look on his face made him look absolutely terrified of what I would do to his body.
“I’ve got just the thing,” I said.
“I don’t have any tattoo artists here right now,” Daisy said. “I haven’t done a tattoo in so long that I wouldn’t recommend me, either.”
I smiled.
“No,” I said. “Would you mind me bringing in my own tattoo artist?”
I’d seen Peek. I knew he was here.
And I knew he’d do it for me.
“You better not fuck me over here,” he said darkly.
I grinned. “Let’s get me done, then we’ll call Peek.”
“Fine.”
Chapter 16
A yawn is a silent scream for coffee.
-Coffee Cup
Ridley
“You’re sure about this?” Peek asked.
I ignored him, going to my happy place.
My new happy place.
It’d definitely taken a turn since I’d met Freya.
Before it’d been mine and Aerie’s wedding day.
She’d been so beautiful.
She’d come down the aisle in a white dress so pure and brilliant that my eyes had instantly been drawn to her.
Aerie was such a beautiful woman. Tall and willowy, she had trouble putting on weight. But the dress she’d worn that day had fit her so perfectly, and the long train that followed behind her had made her look almost ethereal.
So whenever I had a rough day, I’d picture that moment in time, remembering how I felt as she walked down the aisle to me.
But lately, since I’d met Freya, it’d been her.
The first time I’d met her.
She’d been holding a strand of Christmas lights up high, her slightly rounded belly exposed as she reached up high over her head to hang the lights on a hook.
The lights had painted her skin in lovely shades of red, blue and green.
Her hair had been falling out of her ponytail, the white blonde locks lighting up as well, making her look like she had all the colors of the rainbow in her hair.
At one point, she’d been so wrapped up in Christmas lights that she looked like a human Christmas tree.
That was what I was focusing on, and I started to feel guilty.
Aerie had loved that I didn’t have tattoos.
She’d hated them.
And here I was getting one for the new girl in return for her getting her other nipple pierced.
I felt like a shithead.
“Are you sure you are sure?” Peek asked. “You don’t even want to look at it?”
“No,” I said. “Just fuckin’ do it.”
“Hmmm,” Freya said. “I don’t think I want to do it anymore.”
I blinked, surprised that she would say that.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because you’re clenching the seat so hard that I’m pretty sure that you broke it,” she touched where my fingers gripped the chair.
I blinked, looking down at the bars that I was holding on to in surprise.
“Oops,” I said, letting them go.
Daisy patted my hand as she walked by. “It’s okay, Mr. Lee. I’ve had to replace those twice now since I bought the chair.”
I laughed.
“Thanks,” I muttered. “And you’re doing it, Peek. Please just start.”
“This is going to end up being bigger than I previously thought,” Peek admitted. “It’s going to take up quite a bit of your skin back here, if I’m to make it look realistic.”
I growled in frustration.
“Peek,” I snapped, starting to stand.
Freya took my hand and placed her face against the back of my neck.
“Sit down. He’s just trying to make sure I haven’t coerced you into doing anything that you didn’t want to do,” she whispered with a laugh in her voice.
“I know,” I growled. “Sorry.”
My body was warring with itself.
On one hand I wanted to get the tattoo. I’d always wanted them, but I was fucking terrified of needles.
Then I’d gotten the one on my hand and hip, and I’d started to feel this itch.
An itch that went against everything that I used to represent.
Everything that Aerie used to like.
The buzzing of the needle had my heart starting to race, and it took only a few seconds until I felt the first press of the needles to my skin.
Long moments followed where I all but forced myself to stay in the chair, but then Freya pressed her body up against mine, and I turned my head to bury my face into her stomach.
She smelled like flowers, honeysuckle to be exact.
I used to have honeysuckle growing all over my childhood home, as well as the home I was in now.
It was a great flower, very resilient.
I knew because Aerie had me tear all the honeysuckle vines down when we’d moved in. She’d wanted all of the ‘weeds’ gone from the back fence, even though I’d told her that they weren’t weeds. At least not to me.
She’d asked for me to get rid of them anyway, and each and every spring I’d go out there and tear the vines down.
However, each year they’d be back.
I still, even though it’d been five years now, hacked them down each spring.
But smelling that smell right then, I didn’t think I would ever do that again.
Not anymore.
“This is going to look so cool,” she whispered.
I made a content sound.
“Why’d you pick this?” Griffin asked, taking Freya’s attention away from me and to my brother that sat in a straight backed chair in the waiting area.
“Because it fit him,” Freya replied simply.
I wanted to question her more, ask her why she’d chosen what she had, but then I’d know what she gave me.
I was worried if I knew what it was, I’d ask Peek to stop.
I still wasn’t quite sure why I was allowing Peek to do this. It was stupid, sure.
But I wanted to do it.
I had no explanation as to why, besides the fact that it was Freya’s idea.
Freya’s thoughts and design.
Peek had added to her design, and I had let her have at it.
I sat there like that, for three long hours, as everyone talked around me.
The pain of the needles had become just a minor level of irritation against my skin, and soon I didn’t even notice it.
My eyes had drooped, and I was lightly dozing when Peek finally announced that he was done.
“Finished,” Peek sat the tattoo gun down. “Whatcha think, girl?”
Freya got up from her seat that was next to my head and walked around the chair, then stared fixedly at my back.
“Oh,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.”
I didn’t doubt that it was.
“Whoa,” Wolf said. “That’s fucking freaky.”
That had my interest peaked.
For Wolf to say that meant it really was freaky. He had a plethora of tattoos, and some of them were fucked up beyond belief.
“Let me see,” I ordered.
I pushed up, my muscles stiff, and walked to the triple mirror like the ones dressing rooms had.
Then turned my back and looked over my shoulder.
“Holy…shit,” I murmured as my eyes landed on the n
ewest tattoo on my back. “That’s…amazing.”
I smelled her before I saw her, turning to her in surprise to find her that close.
“Do you really like it?” she wanted to know.
I nodded.
“I’ve been working on that since I saw you that first night. When you helped me hang up my Christmas lights,” she whispered.
“You did a great job drawing this,” Peek said. “I didn’t even have to change or alter much. It’s one of the best pieces I’ve ever done.”
“Are you finished?” Griffin asked. “You gonna add anymore?”
I said “No,” at the same time Freya said, “Yes.”
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “I am?”
She nodded emphatically.
“You are,” she concurred.
“How do you know that?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
The movement had my back pinching slightly, and I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder again.
“Every time you feel like you did something good, you should add another feather,” she explained.
I looked at the new ink on my back.
It was interesting and original; I’d give her that.
One half of my back was taken up.
Wings looked like they practically grew out of my back like an angel, but where an angel would have a full set of wings, the ones tattooed on my back were mangled.
Only a few of feathers remained, but at the very top you could see that perfect feathers were growing back in between damaged ones.
Almost like I was earning back my wings, one feather at a time.
“It’s fucking awesome,” Daisy breathed from behind me. “Do you need a job?”
Peek laughed.
“No, lass, I have three parlors in Texas. I most certainly have my hands full, thank you,” Peek smiled as he looked at my back. “You got a good one, boyo.”
I snorted and turned back to stare at Freya.
However, my words were directed at Peek.
“You should hire her to design these for you,” I said.
Freya’s face pinked.
“Oh, fuck yes,” Peek said. “I got the skills to draw it, but coming up with designs hurts me eyes nowadays.”
Freya’s mouth dropped open.
“I’m not…I can’t…I have no real training!” she informed him.
Peek shook his head and threw his arm around her shoulder.
“Neither do I,” he countered. “I just picked up the gun one day and started working. You get better the more you practice. If you have skill, all you need is the time to improve it.”
Dirty Mother (The Uncertain Saints MC Book 5) Page 16
