“You’re funny.” She crossed her arms, and I knew she was about to press for another history lesson when there was a knock at the door.
“Alyx, you in there?”
“Oh, it’s Wraith. Now it’s a party.” I smirked.
Alyx opened the door, and there stood Wraith with an unfamiliar redhead at her side. “I found this one wandering around downstairs.”
“Oh, my God, Red!” Alyx flung her arms around the unfamiliar woman standing in my doorway wearing a pair of torn jeans, black shirt, and fuck-load of tattoos. She was like the female version of Ink…only with red, curly hair, and green eyes that made you think of a black cat strolling down a dark alley at midnight.
I pushed myself up from the chair, grabbed the crutch, and steadied myself.
Alyx hugged the girl. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“Hey, when a girl gets an invite to join the Kings at a barbecue, she accepts.”
Wraith leaned against the doorframe, her C-cup breasts snug in the skintight blue shirt she was wearing. “You shouldn’t let this one roam the halls with Manic out there.”
The redhead turned. “Would Manic be the guy who just molested me with his eyes on our way up here?”
I rolled my eyes. “That would be him, yes.”
Red looked my way. “You must be Neon?”
Confused, I glanced at Alyx then back at Red. “You know who I am.” It wasn’t a question.
Red opened her mouth when Alyx stepped up. “Red is a very good friend of mine…from my life pre-American Street Kings, that is.”
“Okay.” I cocked a brow, picking up on a vibe that Red being here had little to do with Alyx, and more to do with me.
“Red is a tattoo artist.”
I smiled. “I can see that.” Judging by the amount of ink on her skin.
Alyx’s gaze swept up and down Red’s body. “Your tattoo collection seems like it has grown…a lot.”
“Well, that’s what a girl does when her best friend jumps ship with a motorcycle crew.”
I snickered. “Jump ship with a motorcycle crew…funny.” Apparently, I was the only one picking up on the joke. “Anyhow, I’ll just leave you two kids to catch-up.”
I skipped with the crutch across the room on my way out when Alyx called, “Um…Neon.”
“Yeah?”
“Your hair.”
“Oh, shit. Fuck. Um, yeah…we should probably…”
Alyx smiled. “Yeah, probably.”
Something told me this was going to be a long-ass day.
6
Ink
Fucker was sleepingwhen I got here, his head hanging down, chin against his chest. It seemed way too fucking comfortable—something I’d made sure would not happen again. Seemed like he had been busy while I was gone too, his wrists cut and skin broken from trying to get free.
I dropped the bag I brought with me on the table and started to circle him. I’d wake him in a little bit. For now, I just wanted to look at him hanging from the ceiling like a fucking dead animal. There was piss on the floor beneath his feet, and the stench was horrid. Yet it didn’t stop me from relishing the sight of him so helpless and completely at my mercy. I wondered what it would feel like, the moment when I finally decided it was time for him to breathe his last breath—when the tick of the clock would echo his last second on earth. As much as I looked forward to that moment, I wasn’t ready to let go of the rage, of the fury that demanded I inflict pain. A lot of fucking pain.