She stood and smoothed her suddenly sweaty hands over the back of her jeans. “But yeah, I was actually thinking of getting one. I mean, look at the guys I’m surrounded by. They are all covered in tattoos, yet I don’t even have one.” Now she was stuttering out her words and felt like some kind of fifteen-year-old girl talking to the first guy she ever crushed on. Three years of knowing him and having very small and “safe” conversations with him clearly did not make this any easier.
But honestly, all she could think about was having him so close, having his hands on her, and knowing she was going to be a nervous wreck when he finally pressed that tattoo gun down on her skin for the first time.
He ran a hand over the back of his head, and she was riveted by the way his bicep tensed and flexed from the movement. “Yeah, I can give you some ink. Just tell me the time and place, and I’ll work my schedule around it.”
Her heart started to work double-time, and she smiled. “What about this weekend?” In her peripheral vision, she saw her dad walk toward her. She turned and looked up at him, saw the nasty scar that started right below his left eye and moved all the way down to where his jugular was. He had gotten that a couple years after she was born, and it was how he had gotten the nickname “Scars.”
She might have been young, but he told her how he had gotten the scar and how her mother died. Stella hated that story, hated thinking that a rival MC had come seeking retribution and her mother had been in the wrong place at the very wrong time. It had cost her life and nearly killed her dad. This life was ugly and violent, but it was all she knew, and all her father and the men in this club knew.
“Hey, baby girl.” Her dad wrapped his big arm around her and pulled her in close to the side of his body. Stella wasn’t a “small” girl by any means and even considered herself on the thicker side. But standing next to any of the guys within the club had her feeling like she was petite. “What are you guys grinning about over here?” her father asked, but his focus was on Cadeon. He may have been the exclusive ink man for the Vicious Bastards, but her father was very protective of her and usually jumped to conclusions before getting all the facts.
“I was actually talking to Cadeon about getting my first tattoo.”
Her dad looked at her, and she saw the flash of surprise on his face. “Yeah?” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “I was wondering when you’d finally get one. Where you thinking about getting it?” He turned and looked at Cadeon again.
“I don’t know. I was hoping Cadeon could help me on placement.” There was a silent moment among the three of them, even though the sound of deep laughter and filthy words came from right beside them.
Her dad looked down at her again. “Well, let me know what you decide.” Scars slapped Cadeon on the back and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. He headed back to the other members by the bar.
“Come on, I’m heading out to my car anyway. I’ll walk you out.” She tilted her head toward the front door, but before she could leave, a few of the guys had to stop what they were doing and say bye too. She had never been embarrassed by the affection the guys gave her, and really wasn’t right now either, but she felt Cadeon watching everything and couldn’t help but feel her face heat at all the attention she was getting.
A lot of people in their small town hated the Vicious Bastards MC. She was known as the “biker bitch princess,” and although she shouldn’t take offense at names like that, she did take offense to people disrespecting her family.
Reckless, Colorado would have been ideal as more of a retirement community than being the home of a bunch of outlaw bikers, but this had been their home before all the “old folks” started making roots here. People talked in a small town, as they usually did, and whenever a Vicious Bastard walked down the street, people tended to stay away. Yeah, they were big, mean, usually dirty from fixing their bikes, and were the most dangerous men Stella had ever met, but if they were treated right, then they treated others like gold.
The picturesque mountain town was perfect for the MC though, and not just because it was out in the middle of nowhere. The club had pipelines set up with adjoining cities in and around Colorado, and they all had to come through Reckless to get their shit to their final destination.