And Reina . . . she was my home.
I wason the verge of dunking my face into my coffee cup. I’d gotten two hours of sleep before River had come to wake me up for church. I felt dead on my feet. Fucker needed to stop bothering me in the middle of the day. He had been respecting my sleep schedule, and while I knew all of this shit with the Angels of Hell had him on edge, his VP wasn’t going to be much use to him if I kept getting woken the fuck up before I’d had any real, decent sleep.
We weren’t a fucking military. Fuck, I’d never even been a member. Your boy needed his rest.
“Joey and Ink have our materials safely stored and under the protection of Alejandro,” River began. “I’m working now to get in contact with everyone we put on hold to let them know we have their supply.” I let my eyes slide shut. “Sam, are you even awake?”
“I’m awake,” I grunted, not bothering to open my eyes. River should know me better by now. I wouldn’t fall asleep during an important meeting. Would I rest my eyes? Fuck yes. Sleep? Never.
“Should probably try sleeping at night like normal people, brother,” Link spoke up.
I opened my eyes and narrowed them at him in a warning. “Don’t speak on shit you don’t fucking understand,” I warned him.
Gin opened his mouth to speak, but River interrupted him. “Sam’s got his own reasons for sleeping during the day. Just as he said, don’t speak on shit you don’t understand,” River repeated.
I nodded once at him in thanks for having my back. Because I was ready to wring Link’s neck if he said another stupid thing to me like he had the fucking right to. I outranked him, and it was fucking mandatory he gave me the respect I’d fucking earned in this club.
River hadn’t granted me VP status just because I was his best friend growing up. He’d made me earn that shit.
Link grunted. I lifted my mug of coffee to my lips, sipping at the scalding liquid. “There will probably be a run soon. I don’t know where to yet. Right now, shit is on a first come first serve basis. I’ll need five men for the run. Do I have any volunteers or do I have to assign you like children?”
I kept my hand down, not ready to leave Reina’s side yet. Shit was still too fresh for me. The last time I hadn’t been able to help her, she’d brutally suffered. I needed to be close to her until the urge to keep her wrapped in bubble wrap faded some.
Luckily, River didn’t have to pick since five men raised their hands, but I didn’t think he would have chosen me to go anyway—not unless he felt like he absolutely had to. I knew he understood how I felt about leaving Reina right now.
I wasn’t fucking ready for it. And honestly, I didn’t think she was either.
River adjourned church, and I caught up to Vern. “Yo, brother,” I called, grabbing his attention. He turned to look at me, arching a brow. “Think you can do me a favor?” Vern was our secretary, but he was also a great tattoo artist. Granted, he wasn’t as good as Joey’s VP, Ink, but he was a damn good one, nonetheless.
“Depends on the favor,” he smarted.
I smirked. Leave it to Vern to be a smart ass. It was his fucking first language. English was his second.
“Need a tattoo. Normally I deal with Ink, but I don’t feel like calling him and having him drive up here—not with shit like it is.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, sure.” He gave me his undivided attention. “What are you looking to get?”
“Reina’s name,” I told him. His eyes widened in disbelief. I didn’t blame him. These guys probably thought I was just fucking around with her again like I’d done for years now. “I want it on the side of my neck, visible to anyone who looks at me.”
He released a low whistle. “Shit that serious between you two now?”
I nodded. “Claimed her as my old lady, brother. But shit’s been that serious for years now. I’ve just been a dick.”
He snorted, not disagreeing with me. “Come on.” I followed him down the hall to his room. “Glad you finally manned the fuck up, though. If you didn’t soon, one of us was going to do it for you. Woman deserved better than what the hell you were giving her.”
I clenched my jaw, but I didn’t say anything. Vern might be newer to the club, but he was a truth-speaker. He’d warned us that he didn’t hold anything back, didn’t give a fuck if we might like what he had to say or not.
And I had a feeling when he said ‘one of the men’, he meant himself. Vern wasn’t afraid to go after what he wanted. I knew that much about him. Fucker didn’t care much about whose toes he stepped all over.
I sat on a chair as he set up a station at his desk. He started up a rock playlist from his phone, and that filled the silence as he began to permanently ink Reina’s name into my skin, just as she had permanently settled in my soul.
She wore my mark, and now, I wore hers on the one place on my body it would always be visible.
Reina stepped into the bathroom,rubbing her eyes. I softly smiled. She was cute as fuck when she first woke up.
Without a beat of hesitation, she dropped onto the toilet to take a piss, sighing quietly in relief. I snorted and finished rubbing ointment onto my neck. Talk about a whole new level of comfort between us. “When you’re done, I need to put this shit on your back,” I told her.
She blinked up at me in surprise. “I didn’t even see you there.”