Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“The toxins contained particularly in the nightshade family can also produce the sensation of turning into an animal.”
-Fez Inkwright, Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Secret Lives of Plants-
Thea
The soft hum of Logan’s tattoo, gun mixes, and melds with the heavy metal song playing over the speakers of the shop.
The smell of the ink and cleaning supplies used permeate the air.
I watch Logan as he loses himself in the intricate design he's doing for the man on his table.
A calm seems to wash over him every time he picks up that gun, a calm that is eerily reminiscent of what I would feel sitting in my tree.
Since Ace had been pulled out onto a job I’d been spending more and more time here.
Unable to be at home, alone. He had vanished, his haunting form suddenly gone from the house leaving me feeling off balance.
Something about his presence alongside the other two made me feel…
safe. Protected. And untouchable. And without him I was feeling far too exposed for my liking.
When I had casually asked Logan about it he grimaced and told me a fire started somewhere on the border of Oregon so Ace had left to fight it.
It had been on the tip of my tongue to ask if that’s what he was really doing or if he was doing his other job.
But since the day he fucked me in his ‘secret lair’, as I’d come to call it, he hadn’t made mention of it nor had Law or Logan.
So I hadn’t asked even though part of me was dying for him to take me again like he did that day.
“I like seeing that smile on your face, Tink.” Logan‘s voice floats above the rest of the shop sounds, and when I catch his gaze, his green eyes twinkle with mischief. “what you looking at over there?”
He goes back to wiping down the fresh tattoo, getting ready to put the second skin on it.
I duck my head, my cheeks burning as I look at the book in my lap.
Ever since Logan had asked if I would let him ink me the thought has grown bigger and bigger in my mind.
And seeing Athena get tattooed? It only made me even more curious.
I never imagined I would want someone to touch my skin and mark me in such a permanent way again, but the more I’ve watched Logan work and seen the way people heal under that needle the more I’ve been curious about my own healing.
So I had snagged a reference book out of the back office, one that was dedicated to flora and fauna. And had been looking at the different plants that would maybe inspire my own healing process to continue, and help keep those chains firmly locked on the closet.
“All right my man, you know the drill.” Logan says with humor in his voice.
The older biker slowly eases himself up off the table, his body, a patchwork of different art styles from over the years.
He rubs his left hand down his gray beard as he takes a look at his upper right arm.
The newest ink decorating his aging body.
“You are one damn good artist kid.” He snorts.
I study the design the best I can from this distance.
Logan is beyond talented. His art has grown exponentially since we were kids, though I’ll never tell him this, but I still think the portrait he did of the four of us will always be my favorite.
When I found it tucked away in storage I had stolen it out, keeping it hidden away in my bag.
The man's eyes catch mine in the mirror, and I flush embarrassed to be caught. But he offers me a warm smile. “It’s good to see you out, Ms. Montgomery.”
I blink rapidly, suddenly confused as to how this man knows me.
Logan watches the whole interaction with a careful tension in his muscles.
Sometimes I see darkness move over my little ray of sunshine.
A darkness that I don’t even think Law or Ace realize he has.
I’ve only noticed it a handful of times, and right now I can see it flash over his face.
“Thank you….” I trail off, embarrassed to have no idea who he is.
I watch as he pulls on his leather cut, the MC emblem obstructed from my view. He chuckles softly. “We never met but I knew your mama. And for what it’s worth, Thea, me and mine have always believed you.”
Years of tension suddenly wash from my body.
Hearing those words from a damn near stranger is different than hearing it from the men that share my bed.
For so long, I had thought nobody believed me about my mom.
I thought her memory and reputation would be forever tarnished, and she would be remembered as something she wasn’t. Even knowing the truth of it all.
Blinking back the tears in my eyes I offer a slight incline of my head, unable to form words.
But it’s enough he sends me a wink, a warm one that makes me feel like I could trust him in the future.
Logan claps the man on his back breaking the spell loose that seemed to have fallen over the shop.
I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and look down at the roses that decorate the page beneath me.
“Thea?” The man calls out to me just as he is about to the door. “You ever need anything, anything at all, you find me you hear? Or you find someone in my club.” He shifts enough that I can see the Pres patch stamped on his chest.
“Thank you sir.”
He lets out a barking laugh. “Names Axel, pretty sure your man here has no interest in you calling me sir.”
“You can say that again.” Logan mutters under his breath.
Axel lets out another laugh before waiving goodbye and turning fully. Across his upper back reads The Dead Wanderers over a gruesome patch depicting a skeleton army going to war with an army of the living. It sends chills down my spine and feels at odds with how jolly Axel seems.
“Wait! You know Ghost then!” I call out after him.
Axel turns slowly, “Yeah. He’s my VP.”
“I’ve met him a few times, I think he knows my friend Athena.”
Darkness passes over Axel’s face for a moment before he nods.
“Yeah he knows her.” He nods to Logan before he continues along his way.
Logan locks the door behind him. A deepening twilight has settled over the streets of Cedar edge, the street lights slowly waking up and illuminating the sidewalks.
It’s the type of twilight that happens when fall is at war with winter.
It's feisty, cold, counterpart trying to edge its way in faster than it should. .
“Tink?” Logan appears in front of me, a half smile on his face and his eyes dancing.
I take a long, studying deep breath. “How would you feel about doing one more tattoo tonight?”
Logan
For a heartbeat, I don’t process the words coming from Thea‘s mouth. She drags her bottom lip into her teeth, biting down hard, and those perfect cheeks flush a crimson. I watch as she tucks her wild hair behind her ear, and note the embarrassment that seems to move over her body. Even like this she’s fucking gorgeous.
“I know you’ve been working all day so if you don’t want to, it’s OK. ” She stammers out.
The words are enough to shake me from the stupor the question put me in.
My eyes drag down to the book in her lap, and I see the intricate designs of roses and thorns.
“Tink, I’ve been wanting to put ink on your gorgeous body since I saw you for the first time all those years ago.
” I groan, dragging my hand down my face.
“You are going to be my favorite thing to tattoo after this, I just know it.”
She lets out a small giggle, the sound is music to my ears.
“You’ve never tattooed me. How would you know if I’m the favorite one, what if I’m terrible at getting tattooed?
” Her smile stretches across her face, the slight spattering of freckles dotting her nose seem to pop out. It makes me happy, seeing life in her.
I snort, leaning forward a bit until my arms are braced on the chair that she has her feet propped up on.
“First off, you’re not a dude. There’s nothing worse than tattooing some guy who thinks he has the highest pain tolerance in the world.
Second off you’re my favorite everything Thea.
And I’ve been dying to get my needle on that perfect fucking canvas of your body. ”
My eyes drop down to her thighs which seem to be pressed together and squirming underneath that book. I would bet money if I touched her she’d be wet as fuck, ready to be claimed.
Fuck me. This is gonna be the hardest tattoo. I’ve done in my life because I’m gonna have a raging hard on and an urge to fuck her senseless.
“Are you wanting that one?” I jerk my head to her lap.
She nods quickly. “But your version, I want to know, everytime I look at it, that no one else has this. It’s just ours.”
The words are the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard and do nothing to sate the lust burning through me. “Where do you want me to put my ink?” The words shouldn’t sound as dirty as they do, but my voice takes on a dark purr as I say them.
I see her chest rise and fall rapidly and I have a deep well of satisfaction that I’m doing this to her.
Not Law or Ace. Me. And while I love sharing and firmly believe she is what we’ve been missing I can’t help but enjoy this moment.
She clears her throat and stands up, the dress that she’s wearing falling down to her knees, the material sending out a soft swish as it does.
It’s the same dress that Law fucked her in on the back of his work truck.