Damaged & Dangerous: The Sacred Hearts MC Book VI (20 page)

“Here,” Rev turned a chair around so the back faced the
table. “Straddle this and have something to eat.” I did, and squeaked as he
lifted my shirt and tucked it under the band of my bra, up out of his way. My
jeans rode low enough that he had a clear view of my lower back.

“I’m gonna move these down.” He plucked at my underwear, and
I nodded and he tucked them down into the waistband of my jeans. I heard him
suck his teeth.

“Hey Dis! C’mere, Puddin’.” Disney got up, came over, and
stood behind me. I was ravenous so I had a piece of chicken and tried to settle
my creeping nerves over feeling so exposed.

“Shouldn’t be too hard. What do you want to cover it?” he
asked me.

I swallowed, “I don’t know. Never thought about it.”

“You really should be asking Trig, not me,” Disney
commented, “Flowers would be nice, though. Like a drift of them down this way.
Something feminine, something pretty.”

“Yeah, go get Trig, let’s brainstorm.” Disney wandered off
as I worked at finishing my meal. I ate silently as the three of them stood or
sat around behind me talking. Thirteen sat beside me, smiling at me, this
secret little encouraging smile that put me at ease.

“That’d be cool. Hey, Dani?”

“Mmm?” I asked, my mouth full.

“You be cool if we took this back to Thirteen’s room and
busted out the Sharpies?” Rev asked.

“Uhhhh…”

“Please,” Disney made a slightly rude noise, “I’m gay and
Trig and Rev would lop their own dicks off before they’d cheat, or hurt their
Ol’ Ladies. We promise to be nothing but professional.” Thirteen captured my
eyes and the perfect trust I saw in his green-blue eyes had me softly agreeing.

“All right.” We went back to his room.

“Ever get a massage?” Trigger asked, I shook my head. “Well,
crap. Okay, I know this sounds bad, but get naked, get under the sheet and lay
on your stomach, and when you’re set have Thirteen let us in.” I blinked at
them, bewildered, but they were out the door and shutting it behind them.

“It’s cool, they trade in slinging ink under skin; they need
skin to see what they’re doing. This is the best way to preserve your modesty
and they know it.” Thirteen explained softly.

“How come you don’t have any tattoos?” I asked, kicking off
my shoes.

“Just never could settle on anything I wanted permanently
inked under my skin. Too indecisive, I guess.” He lifted the blankets for me to
get under. I lay on my stomach and he motioned for me to get in the center of
the bed. Once settled, he draped the sheet up to my shoulders and folded the
rest of the blankets down at my feet.

“Gonna let ‘em in. I’ll be here the whole time.” He let the
guys in. They were talking about flowers and trees, necklaces and little girls
and all manner of different things. Shading and color and light source and
shadow, all of it in rapid succession to where I just let my fatigued mind
wander rather than follow it.

“Gonna fold down the sheet, you cool?” Trig asked.

“Yes.”

They all sat around me chatting and finally Revelator said,
“Might tickle,” before he started to draw over the spot on my back marred with
Pig-Pen’s name. I closed my eyes. It did tickle faintly but wasn’t too bad. The
four men sat on the bed and the three artists sat around me, arguing jovially
about colors and design elements, and I had to smile. They weren’t seeing me as
a person at all but it wasn’t upsetting or malicious. I really was nothing but
a raw canvas to them and there was something soothing about it. They didn’t see
pussy, tits, and ass. They were just working. Playing around with their craft,
being artistic, and I let them. It put me at ease and before I knew it, I was
fast asleep, Thirteen’s hand grasped loosely in mine.

I don’t know how long I slept but Thirteen was whispering in
my ear, “Dani. Dani, Baby, wake up.” I opened my eyes and stretched, slightly
stiff from being in the same position too long.

“Mmm, what time is it?” I asked, yawning.

“Time for you to look.” Revelator was grinning, a long
mirror in his hands. Trigger handed me a hand-held mirror and I positioned it
over my shoulder. The guys held the long mirror over the bed and I gasped. The
entire left side of my back from my shoulder to my ass was a tree, the branches
sweeping up and onto the rest of my back, jagged and black; stark, with no
leaves covering and no flowers either, but in a drift at the tree’s bottom were
gorgeous lilies and a myriad of other flowers. But what caught my attention was
the locket hanging from one of the tree branches, swaying in a mythical wind,
the face of the locket open and inside a facsimile of my grandfather’s smiling
face.

“Oh my God… It’s beautiful! But how did you..?” Thirteen
held up one of my photo albums.

“Sorry,” He stated simply, but I could tell by his smile
that he so wasn’t, and I wasn’t either. It was gorgeous. It was also
huge.
My whole back had pretty much become the canvas for it.

“You wouldn’t sit for it all at once. We’d do all the
outlines in one sitting, then give it time to heal, then do the shading, let it
heal, then do the color a section at a time. Depending on how well you sat,
you’d be looking at five, maybe six sessions, less if you can hold still and
don’t need breaks. I don’t think it will be as bad as you think. Getting a tat
is a lot different when it’s something you want and no body’s holding you
down.” Rev said.

“You’re a smart girl. If we show you the equipment and
explain how it works logically, I think that would help and go a long ways,
too.” Trigger said.

I stared at the image they’d painted on my skin with
permanent marker.

“When can we start?” I was convinced. I loved it. I really,
really loved it, and I could and would do it. I would erase every last trace of
Pig from my body with an overlay of something beautiful that commemorated my
grandfather, who meant so very much to me.

“Tomorrow night, if you want. Not going to lie, it’s a big
decision. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I said, marveling at the image.

The four of them exchanged looks. “Okay. We’re going to bed.
You two have fun.” They left me with Thirteen, who closed the door behind them.

“I like it,” he said truthfully.

I smiled, “Can we please finish what we started in the
workshop?” I asked. He grinned.

“Absolutely.”

Red-XIII…

Her request made me instantly hard the rest of the way. I’d
be lying if I said the sight of all that smooth skin, of her sitting up in my
bed, sheet grasped coyly to her chest, hadn’t gotten me at least halfway there
already. God damn she was gorgeous and god damn, did I ever want to be inside
her.

I stripped my shirt over my head, grasping it at the back
and pulling it off in one fell movement. Her eyes shone, traveling over my
shoulders and chest with a liquid heat, dimming for a second when she reached
the stain of a bruise in the center of my chest.

“Dani,” I said softly and her eyes snapped to mine, the
smile I gave her reigniting the warm fire, the need in her expression. I
stripped the rest of the way in record time and when I came to the bed she
reached for me, the sheet dropping to pool in her lap. She knelt up and met me
in my descent, our mouths meeting in the middle, the kiss everything it had
been in the workshop and more. She molded her soft, almost too thin body to the
front of mine, her arms twining around my neck and shoulders, and I put a knee
on the edge of the bed. She scooted back and I went with her until we were both
just kneeling on the mattress, kissing, taking our time. The heat between us
increasing to a steady boil.

I broke my mouth from hers and lay on my back, and without
missing a beat she straddled my hips, her upper body dipping low so our mouths
could meet once more. I smoothed my hands over all that damned satiny-smooth skin
of hers and as we kissed, unconsciously rocked my hips, sliding my shaft
against her hot, slick lips. Dani broke our kiss with a frustrated cry and
pushed herself up.

“Condom?” she asked, breathless.

“Fuck no,” I growled, and she didn’t argue. She rose up on
her knees and reached for me, guiding me into her body. She lowered herself
agonizingly slow, until I caught her wincing. I put my hands on her hips and
gripped her firmly.

“Stop,” I told her gently, “You feel fucking amazing, Babe.
You ain’t got to take it all. I told you that.”

We locked gazes, her cornflower blue eyes something to
really behold; wide, and so big and beautiful. She wiggled her hips and I
sucked in a deep breath and with the sweetest, purest smile, she rolled them
just right. Fuck, man, I knew I was damned. Damned to want her and only her for
the rest of my fucking life, and I would gladly go straight to hell for her. I
let my head fall back to the pillow and I moaned. Good Christ she felt
incredible! Hot, wet, velvet heat, so pure, so sweet, clenching tight, her
beautiful pussy gripping my dick as she drew off me, milking me for everything
I was worth.

Dani collapsed forward, her hands on my chest, down low
where there was no bruising. She looked down at me, her black hair loose and
tousled around her face, in a wash down her back, cloaking her shoulders. She
looked like some sort of Goddess, like the Goddess of crows, made flesh.
Something mythical and fantastic, and she had me so damned firmly under her
spell.

She loved me hard, she was all in and it was amazing. Still,
it was hard not to notice the fine trembling in her lithe frame. She was
getting tired so I swept my hands up her body, cradling her before I put some
of my strength to use. With a wild and surprised cry from my girl, I spun her,
putting her beneath me. While her riding me was fucking beautiful to watch and
felt incredibly good, it just wasn’t going to put me over the edge.

The sudden movement on my part had hurt more than I’d like
to admit. I guess I wasn’t fully healed yet, but I couldn’t and wouldn’t care.
I pulled out of her and she gave me a dirty look. I laughed.

“Turn on your stomach for me?” I asked.

With a look like she was about to mutiny if she didn’t get
me back inside she complied, getting up on her knees. I shook my head and
guided her with gentle hands into the position I wanted, her on her stomach,
flat
on her stomach, legs together. I nudged them apart, my hands on her ass,
just enough to get myself situated and, with a triumphant smile, slipped back
into her warm and welcome body.

Dani cried out and I bowed my head. I loved this position. I
was so long I could do it easily but it kept me from going too deep, still it
felt like she took all of me this way. Her soft thighs stroking my shaft near
the base when I thrust. The head of my cock and a decent amount of my length
buried and getting the attention that would get me off inside her. Bonus? I
seemed to be stroking right over her g-spot, because the feral sounds of
passion pouring from her throat damn sure told me I was hitting
all
the
right buttons.

I kneaded her delectable ass with my hands, my eyes roving
the artwork inked onto her back and I had the random thought that I was glad
she’d chosen this design. I really didn’t think I would ever get tired of
looking at it. It was really beautiful.

“Oh God! Thirteen, I’m gonna come!” she cried, her voice
high and breathy, and I smiled. Oh God, indeed. She jerked, her beautiful cunt
putting a stranglehold on the head of my dick before her pounding orgasm swept
me into a damned frenzy of one of my own. I shouted and buried myself deep
before coming myself, glad that her orgasm riding her would ease things.

“Mmm!” She jerked beneath me and I pulled back a bit.

“You all right?” I asked breathlessly.

She hummed in satisfied pleasure and nodded. Her face turned
to the side so she could breath, her eyes were closed and her expression was
pure, relaxed bliss. I smiled and braced myself on the bed, leaning over her. I
drew back my hips and withdrew from her body and she shuddered, moaning out in
pleasure.

It made me laugh, a slightly prideful sound, and I leaned
down and kissed the back of her shoulder that bore no ink.

“Like that?” I asked her softly, a whisper against her warmth.
She nodded, completely wordless and boneless beneath me. I pressed soft kisses
to every bit of her soft skin while the dew of sweat cooled on our bodies. She
giggled and jerked a bit when I made it to the back of her knee. I spent some
time there and her giggles quickly turned to moans and groans of approval.

Shit, my turnaround this go around was fucking amazing. I
was getting hard again already.

“You good to go some more so long as you don’t got to move?”
I asked her.

She nodded, her arms tucked beneath her, hands holding her
hair back from her face. So fucking trusting, so fucking beautiful. I smiled
and kissed my way to her foot. I planted a kiss to one sole and then the other,
and kissed and licked and nipped my way back up the other leg. Dani’s eyes were
closed, her face serene as she relished the little touches and the attention I
lavished on her, and I loved that.

My girl wasn’t much of a talker during sex, which was fine
by me. Her reactions were more than enough, fucking priceless, such a turn on.
I straddled the back of her thighs and pressed into her slowly. She pressed
back onto my cock, her hips rising subtly off the bed, and she moaned. The
sound went straight to my blood, and I closed my eyes. I took her much slower
this time, took my time, loved her more gently until both of us came with much
less intensity, sure, but for what felt like much longer.

I was spent. My girl was spent. There just wasn’t any more
room for a round three in there. We’d loved one another just that thoroughly.

Dani…

They’d pulled Thirteen into a room in the back near the
media room the next morning after breakfast. They called it the council
chamber. I pretty much assumed that was the equivalent to the Suicide Kings and
their war room. I drifted out to the shop and picked up where I’d left off on
Revelator’s wedding set for his woman, when a slight flicker of movement out of
the corner of my eye made me turn. I damn near came out of my skin.

“Sorry.” Reaver looked apologetic and, as silently as he’d
entered, glided over to the chair that Thirteen had occupied while I worked. I
watched him, the ring I was crafting forgotten in my fingers.

“Got bored.” He lifted a shoulder in an inelegant shrug. I
blinked.

“How are you still alive?” I blurted.

He crooked a grin and bowed his head, smoothing his hair
down in front. He looked at me.

“What do you think?” I frowned.

“If I had any idea, I wouldn’t be asking.”

“Touché, fair enough.” He nodded and then looked at me, “It
was pretty stupid, actually. I got married, but no one that was there bothered
to tell the EMT’s my name. They looked at my driver’s license and checked me in
to the hospital under the name on it.” He made a distasteful face.

“Dragon and Doc talked about it, Doc issued a phony death
cert in my old name and they kept it quiet. Used my ‘death’,” he put the word
death in air quotes with his fingers, “as leverage, both to get the girls to
agree to go to ground and in hopes that if The Suicide Kings believed I was
dead that they might back off.” He twisted his lip wryly.

“Yeah not going to happen, you’re going to have to kill them
all,” I said succinctly.

He got a wicked gleam to his bright blue eyes and a slow
grin curled his lips, “With pleasure,” he stated dryly and I felt the first
fingers of icy dread tick down my spine. He must have read it in my posture,
seen it on my face, because his smile got a little broader.

“I thought you were one of their cabinet, why aren’t you in
there?” I asked in a bid to change the subject. He shrugged.

“Had to make everyone believe. I didn’t mind giving it up,
it never really suited me anyhow. Especially now that there’s Hayden.” He
slipped his phone out of a pocket, and showed me a picture. She was small
against his front, head tipped back as he kissed her. The photo tastefully
black and white. They were surrounded by glass and metal but I couldn’t tell
where they were. It didn’t take a PhD to see that they were completely and
madly in love with each other.

“She still doesn’t know,” he said softly and withdrew the
phone. “I want this over more that I can say. She’s down south, being looked
after,
safe
, but every day away from her…” he shook his head.

“When you meet the right woman it stops the rage and the
pain, and she’s the right woman for me. I don’t know that she’ll take me back
after this one.” He slipped off the chair and stretched, his white tee riding
up, the edge of a long pink scar riding over his ribs and down towards his
stomach on his left side. He lifted his shirt so I could see.

It was bad, the scar tissue puckered where the bullet had
gone in, two long scars radiating out from the site and a couple of more
puncture looking scars higher up between ribs. Likely from chest tubes or
something.

“How is your recovery?”

“Doc says I’m real fucking lucky. Should do just fine.
Almost out the other side of this thing. Ready to get back in it.”

“Why’d you come out here?” I asked.

“You hit the nail on the head. I want you to like me. That,
and I promised to give you this back.” He held up the switchblade he’d taken
back from me after giving it to me the night I’d come here. His eyes were clear
and cold as a winter’s sky, and nothing but a wasteland of frozen tundra peered
out of them. No emotion, just nothing there. Like a wolf would look at you. I
bravely reached out and plucked it from his long fingers.

“I keep my word, Rocket. You can count on us here,” he said
softly. I nodded mutely and took a shuddering breath, a little overcome with
emotion. I hit the switch and the blade snapped free, flakes of dried blood
sifting to my workbench. Pig’s blood. Tears of relief flooded my eyes and I
sniffed. I looked up to Reaver’s emotionless eyes and said the only thing I
could, even though it didn’t even begin to cover it.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” His eyes thawed, warming back up into human
temperature, and he put a hand on my shoulder.

“Almost over,” he said, and I nodded, the ‘I promise’
hanging in the air between us.

“Can’t wait for you to meet the rest of the girls,” he said
with a smile, and the thought earned a smile from me in return.

“I wonder what they’re like…”

He laughed and started telling stories, the heaviness
dissipating with every word spoken, the fear diminishing with every laugh
shared. It’s where Thirteen found me, laughing at something Reaver had said,
and I was struck by something I’d heard the VP say.

“Do you always make friends this way?” I asked.

Reaver gave me a cheeky smile and bounced his eyebrows a few
times, which made me laugh again. I was finding that he was quite the
character.

Hours later I held Thirteen’s hand while Revelator and
Trigger sat across from me, showing me how their tattoo guns went together and
how far the needles penetrated the skin. Doc, who was wearing his cut for the
first time that I could remember, looked on. He had an ‘in memory of’ patch
with his woman’s initials sewn where an old patch used to reside, the edges of
the leather slightly raw to either side of the newer patch, which was narrower
but taller than where the old one had resided.

Doc pushed off the wall and sighed, “I got a better idea.
Ain’t no way she’s going to make it through this without panicking… I can see
it in her eyes.” I looked up at Doc and swallowed hard.

“I’ll make it. I have to. I want it off, gone, hidden or whatever…
I
really
want to do this,” I said. Doc gave me a sad little smile.

“I know you do. Let me hook you up to an IV to keep you
hydrated,” he sighed before adding, “Now, I can’t put you under, but I can give
you a pretty good case of the feel goods and push some fuck-it-all. By the time
the boys get going you won’t give two shits what’s going on.”

I blinked, I had thought about taking one of the Xanex he’d
given me before anything started but this had other possibilities. I nodded
finally. I mean, he was a doctor, a real one. What could be safer?

“Good deal, thanks Doc.” Thirteen smiled at the older
brother and Doc nodded.

“Sweet, let’s do this.” Rev grinned at me, the chip in his
front tooth making it positively endearing.

“Where you doing this?” Doc asked.

“Thirteen’s room, that way we can leave her to sleep. We’ll
get as far as we can, don’t want to traumatize the skin too much in one go, but
we should at least get the outline in, maybe some shading.” Trigger nodded, his
ever present e-cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.

We went back to Thirteen’s room. Thirteen put fresh, clean
sheets on the bed and Rev turned his head this way and that, finally shaking
it.

“Great for after but we’re going to need the massage table.”
They set about making preparations and I sat, Thirteen holding my head and
shoulders while I shook, face buried in his chest as Doc started an IV in my
arm. I really, really hated needles. I’d bounced so nervously when he’d drawn
my blood it was ridiculous, and this was no exception. He introduced things to
the line and pretty soon the world had gone hazy and I truthfully don’t
remember too much after that except rhythmic buzzing, cool air against my skin,
and an ever-growing sting to my back like somebody had gone and slapped the
worst sunburn I had ever had in my life.

True to Doc’s word, I was so high I simply didn’t care about
any of it.