Finn tilts his head pursing his lips and then turns his attention back to me, “I'm new to all this but why is she getting a tattoo of your patch.”
Charlotte turns to me to explain and to keep it simple I say, “Because you're aunt is my partner and in this lifestyle, when a woman loves a man very much,” I toss a wink at her making her blush knowing that the words haven't been said yet but they're at the tip of our tongue, “the man wants to protect her at all cost. And in this club when they wear the emblem or patch of the club with the members name it offers her protection and extends out to her family.”
I leave out the claiming part. Perhaps that's another conversation when he's much older, but Finn frowns for a moment, “Are we in trouble that we need protection?”
I know Charlotte has been keeping some bits of the lifestyle. And he tries to crack a joke, “I've seen Sons of Anarchy. Is it that bad?”
“Finnick Cole Ashers, why are you watching that show?” She gives Finn a gentle shove.
a smile returns, “Lottie I'm ten, I'm not stupid. and sometimes when it's late at night and I can't sleep I turn on the TV.”
“We’ll talk about this later,” Charlotte scolds him
Memphis gestures to Charlotte to lean back as the buzzing of the machine begins. He laid the stencil down beforehand and she had agreed on the placement. The needle begins to pierce the skin and create the color and design. Finn starts to squirm a little bit. Watching every movement of Memphis, enchanted by how the machine works, piece by piece the emblem starts to show. and I can't help but feel overjoyed.
“Will I ever get one like this?” he questions.
And like a deer in headlights, I freeze. I wasn’t expecting him to ask a question like that nor is it my place to say at the same time. Memphis stops as well waiting for an answer.
“Sweet boy, that’s a conversation for another day but no you won’t have to get one.” Charlotte says, leaning up on her elbows to look at him.
“If you're worried about protection, kid, you're fine. You have the whole club behind you and your aunt. We're not going to let anything happen to y'all.” I promise him. He's not mine but I've grown attached to the little mischief maker. He’s back to staring at Memphis as he continues to tattoo Charlotte. My phone buzzes in my pocket. I’m not expecting a phone call but it can't be overly good as well.
“Yeah?” I answered the phone.
“Keola, we found him,” Joaquin roughly says.
I step away from Charlotte and Finn, going to the other corner of the barn. “What do you mean you found him?”
“The kid. I found him, he popped up on the radar,” Joaquin says again.
I glance over at Charlotte, She's still laying on the table and Finn holding her hand. I growl back into the phone, “Explain quickly.”
“The software that I was running on his image popped up in a run-down neighborhood, possibly an abandoned building.” He sounds like he's walking or pacing.
“Did you notify Jackson or Rawlings?”
“They're leaving it up to you, brother, for what to do.”
On one hand this was better news than we've had before but my senses are also saying that it might be a trap. The Falcons know that we're looking for him and he could be bait or they could be setting up a decoy.
If this was a setup or trap I wasn't going to leave my girl defenseless. And hell my road Captain is the one tattooing her. “If we ride out, Memphis can't go. He's in the middle of tattooing Charlotte right now.”
Anger starts to bubble at this frustrating decision, on the other hand how am I going to explain this to her. “Let's take half of the crew. We’ll take D.R, let's take a couple of prospects including Greer. Do me a favor and go ahead and send out the word to Prez and Jackson.”
“You got it, brother,” he hangs up the phone and I start to curse myself trying to formulate the words that I'm about to tell Charlotte.
As I walk back over to the table she tilts her head to the side and sees the grim look on my face. She starts to sit up but Memphis stops her. Then seeing my face, he pauses on the tattoo.
“What's going on honey?” she questions me.
“Half of us are riding out. Something has come up.”
I swear I can feel her heart drop in her chest. “Just tell me. Are you recovering or rescuing?” her voice started to crack as it shattered my heart. I don't want to see her like this.
“Hopefully recovering, angel,” I take her hand and mine and place a soft kiss on it.
“Fuck,” Memphis grumbles out.
