“Hey, kiddo?” My Dad squeezes my arm, grabbing my attention. “I have something for you. Your grandad asked me to give you this today.” He places a letter on the table in front of me and I furrow my eyebrows when I see my name on the front. “I need to head out early, I have to do a drop off at the construction site of some replacement equipment.I’ll only be away a couple of days; will you be ok while I’m gone?”
I nod, taking a sip of my wine. “Yeah, Dad. I’ll be fine. I only have a couple of days off from work though, will you be back before I have to head back to Manchester?”
“Yeah, kiddo. I’m only dropping off and coming straight back. There’s nobody else who has the HGV license otherwise I would have said no. I’m gonna head to bed sweetheart, you need me, you wake me ok?” He tips his head toward the letter. I give him a small smile and a nod, then watch as he heads back inside.
Half the bottle of wine is gone, and I still haven’t opened the letter. Today has been one hell of a day and I’m not ready to read whatever he has to say. Not yet anyway. Grabbing my phone, I shoot off a text to Griff, the local tattooist at Soulless Ink. I want something new. He’s always booked up months in advance, so I smile when I see his response.
Griff – See you tomorrow at noon Flex.
I grab the rest of the wine and the letter and head back inside. I don’t need to be hungover when I’m being inked. I lock up the house and then down half a pint of water before climbing into bed and falling into a light sleep.
Chapter
Three
“The Newcastle boys really do know how to party.” Knuckles states as he sips on his coffee, then slams his hand on the table, laughing when we all groan in response.
“Jesus Prez. Just because you don’t fucking drink, you really don’t need to inflict pain on us.” Brick grumbles beside me. I’m just as hungover as these guys, but I can handle my hangover. Once my greasy food and coffee kick in, I know I’ll be good.
“If you boys can’t handle your drink then you need to stop drinking so much.” Prez smiles as he makes his way over to the sink, dumping his empty coffee cup on the side. “Griff’s busy today but he said we can use a chair while we’re here. I want a new tattoo. So, pull yourselves together and let's hit the shop.”
Thirty minutes later, Knuckles, Brick and I take the ten-minute ride to the tattoo shop. Every time Knuckles takes a life, he marks his body. Not to celebrate the kill but to mourn another piece of his soul. We’re not good men, we have no fear and we’re not afraid to kill when required. But we all have our own ways of coping with it. Pain is Knuckles way. Pulling up to the shop, we shut off our engines and climb off the bikes. Knuckles and I head inside while Brick takes a breather, leaning on his bike as he lights up a smoke. His glasses on his head, he maylook casual but he’s taking in his surroundings. We’re always on guard especially in another city, having another chapter in the city doesn’t make it any less dangerous. In fact, it makes it more so. We have enemies, we’d be a shit one-percenter club if we didn’t.
“Griff. Man, good to see you.” Knuckles and Griff embrace as he walks out from the back with a client. “Brothers. You good?”
His client gives him a fist bump, then gives Knuckles and me a small chin lift as he makes his way to the counter where a dark-haired chick is stood. She makes no secret about the fact she’s eye fucking us. I slide my glasses on the top of my head and turn away from her as the bell above the door dings and Brick saunters in. He acknowledges Griff and then b-lines for the chick behind the counter. She isn’t my type, but Brick likes them a little desperate, he doesn’t like to work for his pussy. I on the other hand don’t mind a little graft.
“The spare chair is all set up for you next to mine. I’m sorry you aren’t in the other room, but we had a pipe burst in the flat above a couple of days ago and it brought part of the ceiling down. I haven’t had time to get it sorted yet.” As we follow Griff toward the back the bell on the door goes again and I turn around, my heart rate spikes and my dick twitches as I see a short chick walk in, her long blonde hair tied up, loose strands falling around her face. She’s wearing dark aviators hiding her eyes from my view but it doesn’t stop me from checking her out. A short white shirt dress that stops halfway down her thighs, showing off some fucking incredible legs. A dark blue denim jacket that lies open, the edges resting just over the centre of her fucking amazing tits and a pair of white flip-flops making her legs look even fucking longer. I catch sight of a tattoo on the back of her right leg just above the ankle, I can’t fully make it out from this angle, but it kind of looks like flowers. Fuck me, she’s gorgeous. I bite my lip as I watch her stroll toward the counter.
“Sorry sweetie. We don’t take walks-ins.” The dark-haired bitch bites out as she looks her up and down.
The blonde smiles at her. “Actually, I’m here to see Griff.”
The bitch sighs, then leans on the counter, glancing toward my brothers and I as she uses her arms to squeeze are tits together trying to make them look as good as the blondes. She’ll have to fucking try harder.
“Griff is about to go on a lunch break. I get you want to play at being a bad girl, but this isn’t the place for you, I’m sure if you really want a little tattoo then I can recommend some that do small ones and have numbing cream to hand.” She gives the blonde a devilish smirk. Then winks over at us before looking back to the blonde. Waiting for her to respond. I’m interested to see how this plays out, but Griff’s annoyed voice bellows from behind me.
“Mindy. What the fuck are you doing? She has an appointment right now.” Griff walks toward the counter and I see him smile at the blonde she returns the gesture. “I told you I had a booking at twelve Mindy. Why don’t you go take your lunch break now?”
“I’m, no...it’s…” Her cheeks begin to turn pink with embarrassment when my brothers and I smirk at her as she tries to stutter out a protest.
“Not a request Mind. Go grab your lunch.”
Griff dismisses her and turns back to the blonde. He wraps his arms around her and she doesn’t hesitate to do the same. Seeing it pisses me off a little, and a tiny pang of jealousy settles in the pit of my gut. “I’m so sorry, Flex. You should have called us; we would have been there.”
“Flex?” Knuckles whispers behind us. I shrug as my eyes stay focused on the interaction.
Her eyes glisten a little before she straightens her spine and smiles. “I’m sorry. It just didn’t cross my mind. It was all kindof a rush.” I don’t see his reaction, but she shakes her head and continues. “We were given a four-day window or a fifteen-day window. Dad opted for four.”
“You boys want me to grab you anything while I’m out?” Mindy brushes up to Brick and I, Knuckles is safely tucked away behind us. I take a decent step back away from her, but she takes that as an invitation and steps with me, my eyes flicker to Griff and the blonde and I see her roll her eyes at Mindy and then turn back to Griff, they talk in hushed tones as Griff leads her into the back room. My hands grip Mindy’s shoulder and I push her to take a step back. I shake my head and follow Griff and the chick. I hear Knuckles and Brick laughing behind me. I flip them off knowing I’m going to catch some shit later for my reaction.
I have to adjust myself the minute I walk into the room. She has her jacket off and her dress open and off one shoulder exposing a little too much skin. I catch a glimpse of her white cream-coloured lace bra before Griff places her jacket over her, positioning it so he has access to her side but making sure she’s covered.
“Fuck me,” I bite out under my breath as I turn around to the table. I wish I’d told Knuckles to fuck off when he said he wanted a tattoo and Griff was busy. A hand slams down on my back, and I tilt my head a little to see my Prez out of the corner of my eye. “You gonna be ok to ink me with that raging hard-on you clearly have?”
“Arsehole,” I snap.
He laughs as he moves over to the chair, removing his shirt as he takes a seat. I close my eyes and take several breaths as I tune everyone out. I need to have a clear head before I start this shit.
