Nobody spoke, so he grinned. “All in favour?”
The place was filled with a surge of agreement from my brothers, and even Henley, who didn’t get a vote but clearly had an opinion, and wanted to be heard too.
“I guess that makes it official then.”
Caroline shook her head, gesturing to Rocket. “No. Tattoos make it official, or at least that’s my understanding, so if I can try to say this right…Ink me please.”
A roar of laughter followed her words, and Rocket flicked his gaze to mine, waiting for my dazed nod, before he headed off toget his kit from his room. Guess I’m about to get inked with my old lady, and I had no idea how that was even happening, but I wasn’t about to argue.
Caroline
YOU KNOW THAT THING where bravado starts to fade, the longer you’re waiting for the terrifying thing to happen? I expected it to happen almost instantly, but it didn’t. I expected it to fade for sure when Micro approached us, and called that impromptu vote. It didn’t.
You know when it did? When I was sat on the sofa in the lounge, with Rocket beside me, because that was the best seat they had, and he asked me where I wanted it. Where did I want it?!
I turned panicked eyes to Harley, who sat on the other side of me, holding my hand, and glaring at Rocket, like he could make him make it not hurt or something, purely with the power of his eyes.
“Baby?”
“I don’t know where it goes!”
A few snickers followed my words, and a few piped up with ‘that’s what she said’, but we chose to ignore them. I thought I’d want them out of here, but I didn’t seem to even notice them now.
“You get to choose, baby. Many old ladies have it where it can be seen, like on a shoulder, or arm, or even their chest,” he glared instantly at Rocket, and continued, “but this fuckerdoesn’t get to touch you there. A few have it on their thigh, which is less uncomfortable too.”
I squeezed his hand involuntarily. “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it? Oh god.”
“You don’t have to do this, baby. It’ll still count. Hell, I’ll get you a t-shirt that says you’re mine instead.”
No. I wanted this. Needed it, even. I needed to prove my strength, or the strength of my love for him, by taking this step. It was a rite of passage for both of us, for many reasons.
“My thigh. You’re right, it’s more padded, and I can cover it up if I have to be around normal people.”
“Oi, I’m normal,” Micro sputtered, before someone disagreed with him, and the banter began. Grease popped over to join us, sitting on the low stool on the other side of the low table.
“Sure you want this prick doing it? I wouldn’t trust him to stick a fucking post-it note on me.”
“Fuck you!”
“This isn’t the time, dickheads. You upset Caroline, and I’ll get Has to tattoo your new nicknames on your foreheads. FYI. They both begin with a C.”
I giggled, despite everything, because there were plenty of terrible words he could be referring to, and they knew it.
“Actually, what I meant to say was this. Do you want Jay here, Caroline? She’s on her way in anyway, if you want a female presence here. Not that Rocket doesn’t give off a ton of feminine energy anyway, but at least she’s pretty to look at.”
“I’ll fuck you up in a minute,” Rocket gritted out, not even looking at him.
“I’m… if she doesn’t mind, that’d be great, but I’d like Rocket to start now. I uh… I need to pull my jeans down though.”
“Hell,” Harley gritted out, “Grease, grab her a pair of my sweatpants from my room, and a blanket, please.” He handedhis key to him, and I waited for the snarky comment, but instead, he just shrugged and left the room.
“Wow, that’s the first time he hasn’t had a bitch fit about taking orders. And on the upside, he’s gone. So… it’s going to sting a bit, Caroline, but you can handle it, okay?” Rocket was smiling gently at me, even though his surgical style gloves, and the needle pen of death, were ready and waiting to scar me for life.
“What if I can’t?”
He shook his head, that gentle smile still firmly in place. “You can, but anytime you need me to stop, you just say so, okay? We can even do it in small sessions over a few days. It’s your body, Caroline, so you decide.”
Harley reached around me and patted Rocket’s shoulder.
