Tribal (4 page)

“Please,
Sir,” she slurred again, and I couldn’t deny her any longer.

“Come,”
I demanded and she did.  I felt her tighten around me, she screamed so loudly
I was sure the neighbors would hear.  I picked up my pace, thrusting into
her faster and harder until I couldn’t hold off anymore.  Her body was
still convulsing around me when I let myself go deep inside of her.  I
fell to the side making sure not to put any weight on her.  I kept an eye
on Ash, while getting my breathing back to normal.  Once I did, I looked
over her nipples.  They would be slightly bruised and tender.  I
gently turned her to her side and checked her back. Soft pink skin greeted me,
I inspected the area and everything looked fine.  I reached over to the
nightstand and pulled out the lotion I kept there.  I squirted some on my
hands warming it up before slowly and as softly as possible rubbing it into the
skin of her back, then focusing on her shoulders.

When
I was finished with that, I rolled out of bed and went to the mini fridge I
kept stocked with water and pulled out two bottles.  I went back to the
bed and kept watch over the zoned out Ash.  She loved it when I was able
to push her into sub space.  After about fifteen minutes, she started to
rouse, a small smile curling her lips.

“How
are you?”

“Good,”
she whispered.

I
nodded and helped her sit up against the headboard then handed her the bottle
of water I had already uncapped for her.  “Slow, small sips,” I warned
while she finished the bottle of water slowly. Then laid her back down on her
stomach, reached over and grabbed the lotion.  I gently rubbed it into her
abraded flesh, working out the kinks in her shoulders and checking her
wrists.  I kissed her temple before curling up around her.

I
kissed her lightly on the shoulder.  “You staying tonight?”

“Yeah,”
she murmured sleepily.

“Good,
let me clean up then let’s get some sleep.”

“Mmmkay,”
she replied softly.  I watched her another moment before climbing out of
bed to take care of putting things away and turning the lights off.  I was
looking forward to curling up with her tonight; I had missed her the past week.

Chapter
5

Ash

I
woke up wrapped up in warm arms and smiled to myself.  I loved waking up
like this, with Cris surrounding me, making me feel safe.  I looked over
my shoulder to find his dark eyes watching me.

“You
okay?” he murmured

I
nodded, stretching and feeling the after effects of last night.  I ached
in places and my back was tender, but I loved it.

“I’m
very okay,” I whispered back, “but are you?”

The
smile he had melted and his eyes took on a haunted look then he lied to me.
 “Yeah, I’m good,” he said giving me a fake smile.

I
pulled from his arms and went in search of my clothing.  Ignoring him
calling my name as I quickly dressed.

“Ash,
what the hell is your problem?” he asked jerking on a pair of jeans.

“I
don’t like being lied to,” I told him while yanking my tennis shoes on.

He
sighed and rubbed his face with his hands then looked at me.  “I didn’t
lie. I just—” then he stopped and cursed.

I
nodded.  “I get it.  I’m good enough to play with, but not good
enough to be your girlfriend.  Well, next time you need to play call one
of your old girls and see if they’ll be more accommodating.”

“What
the hell does that mean?” he growled.

“It
means that I will not be your plaything, Cris.  I am not willing to put my
entire life in jeopardy for that.  If you want me, you have to want this
to be real, I won’t take anything less,” I told him then stomped out the door
and climbed in my car.  I made it halfway home before the tears started.

When
I walked in the door, Devi looked at me once then started cursing men and their
stupidity before wrapping her arms around me.

“What
did that dumb fuck do this time?” she growled.

“Why
can’t he trust me?” I sobbed into her shoulder.  “Why is it that every
time we start to get close he pulls away?”

“Because
that man is an asshat,” she spat.  “An asshat that’s about to have my foot
up his ass.”

I
took a step back and wiped my eyes.  “No, I don’t want that, I never
wanted us to cause problems.”

She
snorted.  “Yeah, well, when one of my friends gets hurt by an ass sniffing
prick, I cause problems.”

Then
she smiled at me, and I was scared by that smile.  It was the smile Devi
got when she had an idea that wasn’t safe for anyone involved.  “Don’t
worry about Cris.”  Then she spun away and walked out the door.

Seth’s
head popped around the corner and whispered, “Is it safe now?”

I
giggled and nodded.  “You’re such a wuss.”

“That
woman has lost her fucking mind,” he said.

“I’ve
noticed that lately,” I murmured looking at him.  “Want to tell me why?”

“Nope.”

I
nodded, I had my suspicions and if they were correct I may be one less boss
here soon.

“I’m
getting to work,” I told Seth and watched him skulk away hiding from his wife.

Cris

I
walked into the shop using the back door hoping I could sneak in without anyone
noticing I was here yet.  I couldn’t deal with any more shit today.
 I knew I was fucking things up with Ash, but I couldn’t seem to stop
myself.  I went into my office and shut the door before I sat down in the
chair behind my desk and put my head in my hands.  I don’t know why I
lied, but we both know I did.  No, things weren’t okay.  I was
fucking suffocating, and I had managed to fuck up the one bright spot in my
life.

I
sighed running my fingers through my hair; I didn’t know how to fix this. 
I didn’t know how to fix any of this, the shop was safe now thanks to
Devi.  I hated the fact that she had to swoop in and fix everything.
 I hated that I had become that weak.  It didn’t matter to me that
she had always planned on buying into the shop, things are different now. 
When we had discussed that, it was before Seth.  It was before I lost the
one person I thought I loved, only now I realize I never really loved
her.  I love her, though not in the way I thought; more as my sister.
 Ash, though, I love her in a very non-platonic kind of way.  I just
didn’t know how to open up to her.  I didn’t want her to look at me and
think I was weak.  Needing your best friend to come in and fix your
financial problems and keep your business afloat is definitely not something I
wanted to talk to her about.

I
stood up, or attempted to stand up but the chair came with me pulling at the
seat of my jeans.  I set down the chair, banging it on the floor then
stood up again.  “That fucking bitch,” I muttered before yelling, “Devlin
Shaye Taylor, get your fucking ass in here.”

I
watched as Devi slowly opened the door and sauntered into the room and sat down
on one of the guest chairs across the desk from me.

“You
bellowed?” she asked so sweetly sugar wouldn’t have melted in her mouth.

“What.
The. Fuck?” I growled, she didn’t even bat an eyelash.

She
shrugged and looked me over.  “Thought you might need some help getting
your head out of your ass.  Had lots of ideas on how to remedy that, but
decided on gluing it to the chair, maybe when you get out of that your head
will pop free.”

“You
are fucking insane,” I seethed.

“That
is a distinct possibility, but you, I know for a fact, are an idiot.”

I
growled at her again and she just kept staring at me.

“You
made her cry, Cris, and I will not fucking tolerate that,” she growled
back.  “I put up with a lot of your shit, but I will not sit back and
watch you fucking hurt her.”

“I
didn’t.”

“You.
Are. Not. Allowed. To Speak. Only Listen.”  She eyed me again.  “You
hurt her and I swear to god I will shove your balls so far up your ass you’ll
be tasting your own cum, do you understand me?”

I
nodded, I knew better than to fuck with Devi when she was like this.

“What
I don’t understand is why you’re acting like this?” she murmured. “You two are
good together.  Hell, she puts up with your dumbass, you should be bowing
at her feet.  I do know if you don’t start trusting her, and I mean out of
your bedroom and away from the whips and chains, you’ll lose her.”

I
rubbed my hand over my face.  “I don’t know why I can’t.”

She
laughed at me.  “And Cris, stop lying to her, to me, and most of all to
yourself.”

With
that, she got up and walked out the door while my ass was still glued to the
chair.  “Hey, you going to help me?” I called after her.

“Nope,
I think you need a time out.” She shut the door behind her.

I
ended up having to cut my jeans then rip them to get out of the fucking chair.
 I am sure that crazy woman threatened my staff to keep them from helping
me.  Though, that didn’t stop Max from coming in and laughing his ass off
when he found me.  When I finally made my way into the shop for my first
appointment, I was passed pissed off and was borderline homicidal.  I
glared at Devi but kept my mouth shut out on the floor; I didn’t want to get
into a fight with her in front of clients.  She just stuck her tongue out
at me and continued working.

“You
are lucky I keep extra clothes here,” I growled when I walked past her, she
just laughed at me.  “How is it Seth hasn’t murdered you yet?”

“I
give really good head,” she replied then ignored me.

I
went to work on my only client of the day; it was a piece we had been working
on for six months, and we were nearly finished with.  I lost myself in my
work, filling in pieces of the sleeve I had designed.  When I was tapped
on the shoulder by our new shop helper, I nearly jumped.

“Don’t
do that,” I snapped at the girl.

“I’m
sorry,” she whimpered.

I
took a deep breath trying to calm my still raging temper.  “What did you
need?”

“Uhm,
your appointment is here.”

I
sighed.  I had forgotten I had an interview today.  “Tell them I’ll
be there in a few.”

“Sway,
you okay if we stop for the day?”

He
nodded.  “Fine with me, we’ve been at it for six hours.”

I
nodded and went to work cleaning him up then wrapping his arm.  “Any
problems, call me,” I told him and left him with Jules at the front desk to
take care of the rest.  Then I went in search of my interviewee.

I
walked around the desk into the waiting room and found Devi sitting with one of
the people we were considering for a position as a body modification expert. 
I was still on the fence about even hiring someone for this, but we had been
getting people calling the shop asking for it.  It was worth looking into,
Haven was highly recommended so I would talk to her and see how it went.

“Ah
Cris,” Devi said looking up smiling at me.

“Devi,”
I said curtly, still pissed off at her.

“Stop
being a baby,” she admonished.  “Haven, this is the shop owner, Crispin,
Crispin, this is Haven.”  She stood up and patted me on the shoulder.
 “Be nice,” she whispered to me then flounced off to the back room.

I
stuck out my hand and Haven reached out, shaking hands I said, “Nice to meet
you Haven.”

“You
too, Cris.”

“You
ready to do this?”

She
nodded, reached down, and grabbed her portfolio then stood.  I led her
back to my office shutting the door and hoping that nothing else went wrong
today.

Chapter
6

Ash

I
walked into Pin’s Ink carrying Cait and keeping a tight grip of Jaks’s hand.
 He had a tendency of running away when we walked into the shop, and a
rambunctious five year old in a tattoo shop wasn’t the best idea.  I
walked up to the desk where Jules and a new girl were standing.  I could
tell Jules was frustrated about something, but then again she’d been off for
months now.

“Jules!”
Jaks screeched and tried to pull out of the death grip I had on his hand.

Jules
smiled down at Jaks.  “Hey buddy.”

“Mommy
and Daddy are taking us to see the big scary fucking mouse,” he proclaimed.
 I turned my head into Cait and giggled, those were Seth’s exact words
this morning when he whined about taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. 

I
heard Jules strangle a choke and knew she was trying hard not to laugh.
 “Really?” she finally managed.

“Yep,”
Jaks said sounding solemn, “Daddy doesn’t want to go but Mommy told him if he
didn’t she’d cut—”

“Okay,”
I said interrupting Jaks, “let’s go find Mommy, huh?”

Jaks
scrunched up his face at me.  “But I was—”

“Oh
I’m sure Jules knows exactly what you were going to tell her, don’t you,
Jules?” I asked giving her a pleading look.  I’d already had a delightful
conversation with him earlier about what balls were, and why Mommy was going to
cut Daddy’s off.

She
took a deep breath trying to regain her composure.  “Yeah sweetie, now why
don’t you go on back into the drawing room, that’s where Mommy is.”

“Thank
you,” I mouthed and headed back to where the office and other rooms were
located, while sneaking glances around.  I didn’t know if I wanted to see
Cris or not at this point.  After this morning, I was unsure about where
we stood.  I liked being with him, he was fun, caring, and sweet, at least
to me.  Only I wouldn’t be lied to, and I was no one’s toy.  I’d
already been there with an ex, and I wasn’t going back.  I liked to play
like any other person, but what Cris and I had wasn’t a one night thing in some
play room.  We were, I thought, building a relationship, and I would be
treated as an equal.

“Mommy,
Mommy,” Jaks screamed. “Let’s go see the big scary fucking mouse, come on.”

I
walked around the corner trying to hide my amusement when I found Jaks tugging
on Devi trying to get her out of the chair.  Also amusing was the look of
exasperation on Devi’s face, probably because of the colorful language Jaks was
using.  I’d tried to curb it, but when he hangs out with Seth, X, Cris, Drake,
Devi, Mags, and many others it soon became a losing battle.  Luckily at
this point, he hadn’t cursed at school yet, at least that we knew of.

“Jaks,
hold on, we have to wait for Daddy,” Devi told him.

“Awww,”
he whined and sat down in the chair pouting.

“Has
he been like this all day?” Devi asked.

“Pretty
much,” I said.  “He didn’t fare well in school today either.”

She
nodded.  “He always gets like this when Seth’s about to leave,” she mused.

“Well
at least this will be the last time for a while,” I said handing over Cait who
wanted her mommy.

“So,”
I murmured glancing around.

She
sighed.  “He’s interviewing someone for the body mod job.”

I
nodded.

“Haven,
remember I told you about her, she’s the one who did my nipples.”

“Ah
yes, she’s the one you want to hire?”

“Yeah,
but it’s not my call.”

“I
thought you bought in to the place?”

“I
did, but I don’t want to run it.  I just want to make sure my job is
secure.  I don’t want to look for a new shop to work out of.  Plus
Cris is good at running the place, the only reason he’s run into problems is
because the economy sucks.”

I
chewed on my lip.  “I don’t think he shares that opinion?”

“On
me wanting to run the place?  Or that he does a damn good job of it?”

“Both,”
I guess.

“I
know that, but he won’t listen to me, and I am done fighting with him over
it.  I don’t have the time to dedicate to running a shop, nor have I ever
wanted to.  He’ll figure it out eventually.  I just hope I don’t
strangle him before then.”

“Daddy!”
Jaks yells and I turn and see Seth standing in the door way.

“Hey
buddy,” he says grabbing Jaks before he runs into him, “how was school?”

Jaks
gets this scrunched up look on his face “I gots in trouble.”

“Oh?”
Seth asks.

“I
talked when I was supposed to be quiet.”

Seth
nodded.  “Well we’ll have to work on that.”

Jaks
nodded solemnly.  “Now can we go see the big scary fucking 
mouse?  But Daddy, I don’t think he’s scary.  I’ll hold your hand.”

“Thank
you, buddy,” Seth says while choking back laughter.  “I’ll hide behind
you.”

“Okay,
Daddy.”

I
walked out of the room following Jaks and Seth to find Sam and X standing in
the front, I smile and wave hoping I could get away with that.  Only to
have X grab me and pull me into a hug.

“Aw,
it’s my favorite nanny.”

“I’m
the only nanny you know.”

“No,
you’re the only nanny who won’t sleep with me.”

“That’s
because I’m smart.”

“Aw,
you don’t have to be that way.”

I
shake my head at him.  “Hi Sam.”

“Hey
Ash.” I watch as he dismisses me and follows Jules around with his eyes.
 I glance over at Devi and notice she’s watching too.  I shrug, I
have no idea what’s going on with those two if anything, and honestly, I have
enough issues with my own personal life to get involved.

I
turn to say my good byes at the same time I notice Cris’s door open and a
gorgeous woman with white dreads walks out followed by Cris; I couldn’t get out
of there soon enough.

Cris

I
walked out of my office and swept my eyes around the shop stalling when I saw
Ash standing there with X’s arms wrapped around her.  I wanted to go over
there and rip his arm off then beat him with it.  I took a deep breath and
pushed the feeling away.  She had said this morning that we were through,
apparently she’d moved on, quickly.

“This
is where your room will be,” I pointed  a room we had renovated for
piercings, and other body modification work.  I opened the door and showed
Haven the dentist chair, along with the other equipment we had already purchased. 
“I didn’t want to buy more until I decided who I wanted to hire, then let them
order what they wanted.”

“Is
there decent ventilation in the room?”

I
nodded.  “Yeah we had one installed, a few of our candidates do branding.”

“Yeah,
I can do branding, I’m just selective on who I will perform it on.”

“I
don’t blame you there.  That’s a long and painful process, from what I’ve
heard.”  The more I talked to Haven the more I had to agree with Devi,
which in of itself pissed me off, but she seemed to be the perfect fit for our
shop.  She was well trained in multiple areas, as well as piercing.

“It
is, and I want to make sure that they’re up to it, especially since I am
burning their skin with electricity.  I don’t think I can think of
anything worse than starting a branding then them turning around five minutes
later saying that they can’t handle it, or they don’t understand the commitment
and healing it takes.”

“I’d
prefer not to have branding in the shop, but if we do decide to, it will be a
selective process.”

She
shrugged.  “I wouldn’t have a problem either way.”

We
walked back into the shop where I noticed Cyn standing next to X and
groaned.  I wasn’t up for her shade of crazy today.  I walked Haven
back to the front letting her know that I’d contact her soon.  I wanted to
sit down one last time and talk to Devi about the applicants before making a
final decision, but I had a feeling Haven would be it.

I
turned around and found Ash glaring at me, standing beside a pissed off Devi
and an equal mad Jules.  I wasn’t sure what was going on but with the sly
smile on Cyn’s face and those three glaring at me like I just ate the last
chocolate bar in Dallas, I knew it wasn’t going to be good for me.