A heavy hand covers mine. I didn’t even realize was nervously plucking at his shirt.
“You know why that can never be, right? Look at how triggered you are. Those nightmares would only get worse. You’d end up hating me.” His voice covers me like a kiss. He reaches over, turning off the main light. Immediately the fairy lights begin to glow, I’ve never been able to sleep in complete darkness since he rescued me from the forest.
“Let’s get some sleep.” The words float around us. Both of us are cognizant I never respond to his plea. He doesn’t press. I don’t answer because I know down to my marrow he won’t be my ruin but my salvation.
Only he can’t see that yet. I care too much about him and don’t want to risk what we have, pushing him past what his conscience requires of him to press him for more.
So we sleep with him holding me safely in his arms like he’s done from the start.
A couple of days later…
Angel tugs Easy behind him up onto the dais where his biker throne sits. She doesn’t have her own chair, but everyone knows he commissioned one from Rocco, our resident woodcraft artisan.
He pulls her onto his broad thighs.
Snake calls, “Order.” Without a beat, the business of the club is underway.
“Snake doesn’t want you here after the club meeting unless you have some tattoos to do,” Ellie tells me.
“Since when have you become the emissary between us? He saw me just this morning.” I tug my bag higher on my shoulder. I very well could have some tattoos, which gets me even closer to the goal I have to own my own tattoo shop.
The list of things I need in order to make it a success is ever-growing. Attending the Shelby-Love Small Business Administration meeting at the library was eye-opening. Getting added insurance and riders for having a business like mine, along with the health department rules and regulations, is daunting, but I’m determined.
“Since whatever happened between y’all happened and he’s lost his damn mind.” She winks at me knowingly. Once I became an adult, she’s treated me like one. She’s just as protective of me as Angel and her brother, but unlike Snake, she’s not unhinged.
“Ahem. Well, I have some tats to do. I’ll leave when I’m done.” She nods, accepting the lie. I don’t have any appointments. I never do. People just get artwork on the fly or after they’ve seen my work. I’m basically a mobile artist right now.
Usually, I make a little corner for myself, sterilize it, and get to work. Never had a problem, don’t expect one tonight.
My eyes pop up when Angel says, “Puto.” Everyone knows he’s been on edge since Easy didn’t come back as expected a few weeks ago. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when she popped back up at the market festival.
The guy stammers, then things settle back into the norm, except el Presidente’s preoccupied with his new bride.
The crowd seems hypnotized again by the very public claim he’s making this time. His hand rides up her thigh in a very blatant caress. Ellie and I both watch and then choke out a gasp when he brings his obviously wet fingers to his mouth and sucks them clean.
“Ohhhh, that nasty motherfucker.” She gasps, and we both giggle scandalized at his actions.
“That was hot as fuck.” Awe of them makes my words husky.
“You’re not the only one thinking that. Trust.” Nudging me to look to the opposite side of the room, I see a stone-faced Snake looking at me.
Ducking my head, I turn away. I’m so not going there with him. The last time marked me so viscerally I’m still not over it.
“Umhm.” Ellie scoffs softly. “I don’t know who’s more gone — Angel or my baby brother.” Screwing me a shrewd look, she adds, “Be careful, little one.”
Swallowing back the retort at her almost sorrowful look, I grab my bag. Rocco’s nominating Padre to be patched in, and that is definitely an ink-worthy event.
Sitting down at the table in a corner far away from Snake’s hard stare, I sketch out a design for Padre. It has his road name above a cross spearing through a broken skull with a rosary spilling from its mouth.
I remember him telling me he had trained to become a priest before circumstances had forced him to come over here. No oneever goes into detail about why they had to leave their homeland. It’s often too traumatic to want to relive, even in words. One thing about el Diablo — your before doesn’t matter. Once you come here and prove yourself, you’re welcomed into the fold. The family I have found among these rough hewed bikers could only be surpassed by the one I lost.
Snake told me to hold on to memories of my parents. I try, I really do, but the more time passes, the harder it is. El Diablo are my people now.
“Aye,” Pedro, one of Rudy’s guys, towers over me.
“Aye,” glancing up at him for a moment in brief acknowledgment, I finish the design before giving him my full attention. “What can I do for you?”
“What’re you doing after this?” He’s all charm. Recently divorced last year, he sent more than one of the sweet butts over to get my number. He’s made it clear that his intentions are good. Not bad to look at, but he’s at least forty or forty-two. Rumor is he likes them young until they aren’t anymore, then, like his last wife, he leaves them for someone younger. He’s a player. Many girls have been warned off him, but charm wins out.
