“Ryder.”
“Ryder Hernandez? The president of the Outlaw Souls?”
“The one and only.” I reached over, took the cigarette from her hand, and took a puff.
Kat snatched it away from me, shaking her head.
“What’s he doing here? Has he come to threaten me?”
“What? Of course not. Jesus, what kind of people do you think we are?”
Kat didn’t answer, just tossed her cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with the heel of her boot.
“He’s here for a tattoo.”
“Then let’s get in there.”
I pulled open the door, letting Kat walk in ahead of me. She plopped herself down on her stool while I headed to the front, just as Ryder walked in.
“Hey, man,” I greeted him. “Come on back.”
Piper had her curtain pulled, and I knew that she was giving a tattoo to a woman that wanted a tribal design that started on her back and wrapped around her ribcage, right under her breasts. It was going to take a while, but it sounded like it would be an impressive piece.
Kat didn’t have a customer right now, so she was playing on her phone. Or at least pretending to be. I had a feeling that her ears were wide open.
“Thanks for fitting me in. I’m so damn busy these days, but I had time today.”
Ryder took off his jacket, and I carefully hung it up for him. It was part of the club rules that the patch could never touch the ground, so I needed to make sure that didn’t happen. He took a seat in the chair and held his arm on the armrest so that I could reach the area where he wanted the tattoo.
“Well, you should probably appoint someone to be your vice president. That would help with the club matters.”
“You asking for the spot?”
“Hell no,” I said, taking a seat on the stool. “I haven’t been in the club long enough for that.”
Ryder smiled as he leaned back in the chair and got comfortable. “You’re right about that, but down the road? I could see you working your way up into an officer position. You’ve got the right stuff.”
From her spot ten feet away, Kat made a huffing noise that I thought was supposed to indicate disbelief. Or maybe humor. I ignored it, but Ryder looked over. I saw him eyeing Kat curiously for a moment, and a completely stupid feeling of possession came over me.
“Anyway,” I drew his attention back to me. “I did a mock-up of what we discussed. Is this what you had in mind?”
I showed him a page in my sketchbook of a skeletal head in black and white clutching a blood-red rose between its teeth.
“That’s it,” Ryder confirmed. “Maybe just a little smaller, because I want it here.”
He pointed to a spot just below the crease of his elbow. I grabbed a pen and drew the outline on his skin.
“That looks great,” he said when I was done.
“Okay. Relax, and we’ll get started.”
Ryder was unphased by the tattoo gun. He relaxed back into the seat and even closed his eyes for a while. I almost thought he might be asleep until he spoke.
“Meet at the Blue Dog tomorrow night at seven,” he said. “We could only get four metal—”
“Maybe we should talk about that later,” I interrupted him. I glanced over at Kat, and she was sitting perfectly still. I didn’t want to think that she’d run and tell her dad or brother what we were up to, but her behavior the last couple of days made me think that she would. If nothing else, just to spite me.
Ryder’s eyes followed mine, and he once again scrutinized Kat. She must have felt his eyes on her because she looked up with narrowed eyes.
