Ignoring Roni’s laughter and his warm face, he sat on the couch in the little sitting area at the front. Rooster came in behind him and brought the food over, laying everything out on the low coffee table.
“Once he’s eaten, you can get started,” Rooster said to Roni, grabbing one of the burgers and taking a bite out of it.
“Oh, I heard.”
She could be such a brat sometimes.
Emmett stuck his tongue out at her and opened his nuggets, carefully dipping one into his honey mustard before eating it. Roni finished what she was doing and wandered over, sprawling in the chair to his right and stealing a few fries, and she and Rooster talked about some club stuff.
As soon as he finished, she popped back up and waved her arm. “Come on, babes. This’ll be a piece of cake.”
He knew that wasn’t true, but that was why Rooster was there, even though it would have been nice to get the tattoo as a surprise for him. His friends had offered to hold his hand while he did it so he could keep it secret, but in the end, he knew hewouldn’t get through getting stabbed with a needle a bazillion times without his daddy.
After he slipped into a pair of bright blue shorts that made Rooster smile and Roni laugh, he sat on her chair, pulled up the hem, looked away, and said, “Okay, do it.”
That made her laugh harder. “We have to place the stencil first. Hop back up.”
“Oh, right.” He knew that. Once he wasn’t terrified of being around the rest of the MC, he’d started coming into the shop quite often to hang out with her when Rooster was on shift. He knew all the steps for getting a tattoo and most piercings.
After she placed the stencil on the front of his left thigh and had him approve it in the mirror, she nodded toward the chair. “Okay, now we can start.”
He sat back down and leaned against the cushions, immediately holding his hand out. Rooster dragged a folding chair closer and took it, pressing a kiss to the back of his fingers. “You’ll be okay, baby. You can take as many breaks as you need.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it though,” Roni said, and he whipped his head around to stare at her as she dipped her tattoo machine into the black ink. “Once you stop, it hurts even more to start again. You want to just power through and get it over with.”
“Viper, what the hell?” Rooster barked at her.
She shrugged. “It’s true. Now, don’t move unless you want this to suck.”
Emmett turned back to Rooster with wide eyes, suddenly unsure if he could go through with this. Maybe he could get a thousand temporary tattoos and just reapply them every fewdays. That’d basically be the same as having Rooster’s name inked into his skin.
“What would you think—ouch!” Luckily, Roni had her other hand pressed firmly into his leg below where she was working, so he couldn’t really flinch. He still whimpered and closed his eyes though, the immediate burning sensation just as awful as he’d expected.
“You’re so brave, baby,” Rooster whispered in his ear, petting his head and neck. He stayed like that pretty much the whole time, even though it had to be killing his back to be stretched over him like that.
Emmett loved him even more for it, despite having thought that wasn’t possible, considering how much he already did.
It tookforeverto finish, and he did take two breaks. Once just to catch his breath and then again to drink some juice when he started to get lightheaded. He didn’t look at his leg the whole time, even when Roni wasn’t working. Somehow, he just knew it would hurt worse if he saw the evidence of the pain.
Finally, she finished and sprayed a cool liquid over his burning skin that helped for a second until she wiped it away. “Okay, babes. You were a rock star. Sat like a total champ.”
“Nice job, Em,” Knuckles said from where he was sketching in his stall, grinning at him over his pad.
He sniffled. “Thanks, Knuckles.”
“What about me?” Roni asked, tossing trash away and peeling off her gloves.
“I’m mad at you.”
“What?” She spun around on her chair to stare at him with wide eyes.
“That hurt a lot!” he cried out, then turned and buried his face in Rooster’s chest, letting the tears he’d been holding back fall.
Rooster wrapped him up in his arms and rubbed his back. “You knew it was going to hurt, baby. Don’t be mad at Viper.”
Wiping at his eyes, he peeked over at her and immediately felt bad. She looked devastated. “Emmett, I’m so sorry.”
He let out a slow breath and sat up. “I forgive you. But I don’t want to do that again.”
