Inked (3 page)

Naggie pushed the door open and without saying
anything walked up to the brown bag and grabbed a sandwich out of it. She sat
her skinny ass down on the edge of his desk and tore into the food.

“You finished with the tat?”

She shook her head. “Nah, the guy needed a break.
For as big as he is he is a big baby.” She grinned and took another bite of the
sandwich. “Although I will say that he has been in that chair for a few hours
already. You see the piece I am doing?”

Cadeon leaned back in his chair and crossed his
hands together behind his head.
“A portrait?
Is that
his kid or something?”

She nodded.
“Yeah.
It is
such a sad fucking story, actually. His kid died a few years back from some
rare disease. This is like a small tribute to her, although the thing takes up
the entire width of his back, and you saw how big he is. The guy is built like
a linebacker.” Naggie started talking about the other clients she had tomorrow,
and bitched about the sixteen-year-old that was coming in with her mom to get
her first butterfly tattoo. “I mean, come on, a fucking butterfly?”

Cadeon grinned. A client was a client to him, but
Naggie hated when the young girls came in for what she considered clichéd
tattoos.
 
It was usually butterflies,
flowers, Koi fish, or a Chinese symbol. Although Cadeon liked the more complex
pieces to ink into someone, he didn’t share the same kind of … passion to bitch
about the simple designs like Naggie did.

“So why are you closing early? I can’t remember the
last time you did that.” She took another bite of her sandwich. For as small as
Naggie was she had an appetite that rivaled his own.

“Got a client coming in, and I didn’t want all the
chaos that goes on in the shop to freak her out. This is her first tattoo.”

Naggie stopped eating. She was a small woman with
her nose, eyebrow, and ears pierced. She also had full sleeve tattoos, and a
wicked fucking attitude that had most guys steering clear. “When have you ever
closed shop early because a client was getting their first tattoo?” She
finished off her sandwich and wiped her mouth before leaning back against the
wall and crossing her arm. “Well?”

Shit, what was he supposed to say? She was right.
Cadeon had never closed the shop early, and this was definitely special
treatment for Stella. When he didn’t respond right away Naggie grunted and
hopped off the desk.

“If you want to screw around with some chick, don’t
do it on my chair.” Naggie grinned widely but was already out of the office
before he could answer.

Cadeon didn’t deny that it was a bad idea closing
shop early for Stella, but there was a part of him that didn’t want to have her
any more freaked out. Just hearing the sound of needles working and of the
angry, energized music that played overhead would be enough to have anyone a
little nervous on its own. But of course he was also a selfish bastard, and
there was also another part of his decision to close shop early. He wanted her
all to himself, wanted this first time to be without distractions and he wanted
to have all his focus on her.

“You’re so fucking screwed, man.” Cadeon groaned and
scrubbed a hand over his face. Yeah, he really was, but what a great way to go.

****

Stella finished up some paperwork at the club and
turned off her computer. Even in the backroom she could hear the loud voices
and curses coming through the walls from the guys. They were having a party
since a few of the Nomads had stopped by. The club was filled with club whores,
alcohol, and pot. Stella may be used to this, but she never stayed around. Her
dad may be the President of this biker gang, but that didn’t mean he liked her
being around this shit, and she was thankful for that. This was not her scene
at all.

She grabbed her purse and turned to go into the
bathroom that was attached. The mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom
door let her see her appearance from her foot to the top of her head. She had
left her blonde hair down and it brushed the middle of her back. Not one for
make-up, she had added a little mascara, which had her blue eyes popping.
Why are you trying so hard when you know
nothing will happen?
Stella grabbed her bottom of her shirt and lifted it
up. The thickness of her belly was revealed, and she made a face in the mirror.
She turned and stared at her side where she was getting the raven tattooed. It
was a fairly simplistic design, but she was going for more of the black
watercolor design, than the sharp lines and details of a realistic bird tattoo.
There were no illusions that it would probably hurt like a bitch, but her
excitement and the adrenaline that she felt inside overrode all other
nervousness and emotions moving through her.

She let the shirt fall back into place and headed
out of the bathroom and the office. She could have gone out the backdoor and
avoided the raunchiness she was sure she was about to witness, but her dad had
wanted her to talk to him before she left, and Stella could only imagine it
would be some kind of warning about the male species. Keeping her head lowered
and making her way through the main part of the clubhouse, she steered clear of
the bar and pool table as that was where most of the action was. The scent of
beer, sweat, and cloying perfume clogged her nose. The music was loud as
Aerosmith belted out a song about “Sweet Emotion”, and the almost saccharine
smell of pot filtered around her. Once she was by her father’s door she knocked
on it and pushed it open after he called out for her to enter.

Her dad and The Vicious Bastards VP, Booshie, were
looking over a map spread across the meeting room table. “I’m heading out, and
you wanted to talk to me before I left.”

Her father nodded, slapped Booshie on the back, and
waited until his VP was out and the doors were shut before he started talking.
“
You going
now to get some ink?”

She nodded.
“Yeah, got the design
all ready, too.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out the slip of
paper with the raven on it. She had designed it herself, and although she had
known she wanted some kind of bird as her first permanent design on her body,
she hadn’t known exactly which one. That was until she had the very vivid dream
where her deceased mother had made an appearance and was holding a raven. But
it had been raining, and the bird started becoming blurry. The dream had been
as strange as it had been vivid, and Stella was just going with it.

Scars looked at the slip of paper and made a
grunting noise. “I like it. Where are you getting it?”

She lifted her shirt, turned sideways, and pointed
at her side. “I want the body on my side, and the wings to reach around my
back.”

Her father whistled, but there was a growly note to
it.

“What, Dad?” Stella sighed out the last part and
turned to face him again.

“I want one of the guys to go with you, and make
sure Cadeon keeps his hands to himself.”

Stella rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “Dad, you
do remember that I’m not a little kid anymore, and that I kind of need to do
stuff on my own without a biker always hanging around?” She dropped her hand
and blinked away the fuzziness in her vision from when she rubbed them. “You
need to cut the cord, Dad. How in the hell am I supposed to find someone if you
always have one of the guys chaperone your
adult
daughter?”

“So, what?
You’re trying to date the tattoo guy?”

Okay, she shouldn’t have said that last part because
that totally wasn’t what she had meant, not really anyway. Yeah, she wanted
Cadeon
like she was dying of thirst and he was the last
glass of cold water in the world, but it was more than that. Sure, his physical
appearance was what had initially attracted her, but she heard the way he joked
with the guys, how hard he worked, and how talented he was. He was smart and
badass, and the type of guy she had always seen herself with was one that was
strong mentally just as much as he was physically. “Dad, I’m not trying to date
anyone. I am just going there for a tattoo. You need to lighten up a bit.” She
smiled up at him, because even though he was sometimes overly protective, she
reminded herself that she was his child, and no age would ever change that.
“But I don’t need anyone coming with me, okay?”

It took him a minute to respond, and she could tell
that he wanted to argue.
Scars was
not the type of man
that people said no to. When he gave an order they obeyed. It was the way it
worked,
and always had.

“Yeah, I do need to give you space. But I look at
you and see my little girl.” He handed her the picture back and wrapped his
arms around her. “I just worry about you. I worry that I’m going to lose you
like I lost your mother, and that breaks my fucking heart.” This was not the
conversation or frame of mind she wanted to have right before seeing Cadeon.

Stella wrapped her arms around her dad and rested
her head on his chest. “I know, Dad, but I’ll be okay.” She leaned back and
looked up into his face. “I’ll call you after it’s done, okay.”

He sighed, overly dramatically. “Okay, baby girl.”

She grinned at the way he said that, like it was
some big pain in his ass to let her walk away and be an adult. She turned and
left the clubhouse, and as soon as she was outside everything else faded away
until all she felt once more was that anticipation of what she was about to do,
and who was going to do it.

Chapter Three

Stella pulled her car into one of the empty spots in
front of Ipseity and cut the engine. The front windows were the kind that
people passing by couldn’t see inside, but the ones inside could see outside. There
were some of those block style windows high above the main ones, and although
they were frosted she could see the lights on inside. The OPEN neon sign was
off, and the only vehicle in the parking lot was Cadeon’s Harley. Swallowing
her nervousness about getting her first ever
tattoo
,
and the fact she would be alone with the man she lusted after, she climbed out
of the car and headed toward the front. First she tried opening the door, but
it was locked, so she knocked on the thick glass. The sound of music came
through. A minute passed, and then right when she was about to knock again she
heard heavy footsteps. Taking a step back when she heard a lock disengaging;
Stella swore her heart was about to burst through her chest. The door opened,
and standing right inside was Cadeon, wearing a t-shirt that looked like it was
tailored to form along his hard, wide chest. The jeans he wore were distressed,
but it wasn’t because he’d bought them that way, but because he had worn the
hell out of them. And then there was the silver chain that hung against the
side of his leg and was attached to his wallet. God, the whole sight of him had
a flush spreading along her body at an astounding rate.

“Hey.” He grinned and held the door open for her.

She smiled and stepped inside, and the sound of The
Beatles playing overhead could be heard even though the volume was low. Looking
behind her she watched as he shut the door and locked it.

 
“So, you know
what you want?” He turned to face her.

Once again she was struck by how big he was compared
to her. He had to work out all the time in order to achieve that kind of
physique.

“Stella?”

She felt her face heat and realized she had been
checking him out and hadn’t answered his question.

“You okay?” There was this rough, almost gravelly
quality to his voice. It almost sounded as if he was trying to force the words
out.

She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I, uh—” She reached
in her purse and grabbed the design she had drawn up. “You think you can
recreate this here?” She turned to her side and lifted her shirt over her belly
button and turned, explaining to him that she wanted the tattoo on her side and
back. Her words faded as she saw the way he held the paper and looked at her.
His knuckles were white from how tightly he clenched her design in his hand,
and the hardness on his face matched the rest of his body. Slowly lowering her gaze
down the length of his body, she saw the bulge that pressed against the fly of
his jeans.

Holy
shit.
Am I seeing that right?

She lifted her gaze up his body once more until she
was looking in his eyes. But just as quickly as she had seen the look of heat
behind on his face it was gone, and she felt this cold draft come from him.
Letting her shirt fall back into place, she ran her tongue along her bottom lip
and suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Either Cadeon wanted her, or she was
really losing it.

He cleared his throat and looked down at her design.
“This shouldn’t be a problem. Let me sketch something out.” He looked back up
at her, but then just as quickly averted his eyes and pointed to one of the
chairs in the waiting area. “Have a seat and I’ll only be a minute.” Then he
was striding away from her and disappearing into a backroom.

Stella walked over to a chair and sat down, and
although she grabbed a magazine and tried to look through it, she couldn’t stop
her body’s reaction to the fact Cadeon had most definitely been acting like he
wanted her. That bulge he sported couldn’t be construed as anything but arousal,
and seeing as she was the only one here with him, well, logic told her that had
been for her.