Fifty-Three
T hat chat with Reacher had gone better than I’d expected. The ‘being unable to ride’ issue was being shelved for now, pending a later discussion, but he promised me he had no plans to push me from the club for that or any other reason.
Next came the subject of Lissa, and again, he was more forthcoming than I’d expected. He’d already put thought into how to resurrect her career, and had taken steps to clear her name. Apparently Has had been secretly working on that with him, and keeping it from me, the bastard.
He’d taken Lissa aside to put the idea to her, while I got things set up in the bar. My brothers had been much more open to the idea of her than they had with Alicia, and as the tattoo stations were being set up, I started to panic. What if she turned me down, now that the moment was here? What if she blew me off in front of my whole fucking club? Reacher had pulled them all into emergency session, to hold an old lady vote, and they’d all fucking said ‘aye’.
It was really happening, or at least it was unless she really wanted out. Could I let her go now? I had no idea.
“Relax, brother, it’s gonna be fine.” Ryder was leaning against the bar beside me, with Tori leaning against him in turn.
“What if she changed her mind?”
Tori laughed. “She’s hooked on you, Ice.”
“Yeah, I can’t for the life of me see why, but some women just have no taste.” I elbowed Torch in the chest, spilling his beer on him.
“Asshole.”
Reacher suddenly appeared with Lissa on his arm. He was fucking touching her. I lunged away from the bar, before a hand dragged me back.
“Easy, brother. She’s yours, and we all fucking know it. It’s your Pres.” I shook free of Has-Been, and made my way over to Lissa.
“You okay, babe?”
She nodded, looking confused. “I… what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
I forced a grin, while my heart was trying to beat right out of my chest.
“Yeah… we were just getting set up to make you my old lady, that’s all.” Please don’t turn me down. I knew then that I’d get down on my knees and beg if I had to, even in front of everyone.
Her eyes widened. “In front of everyone?”
“That’s kinda how it works. We get tattoos, and the club witnesses it. Has wants to do yours, is that okay? Feel free to tell him to fuck off though if you like, I already did.”
She giggled, resting a trembling hand on my chest.
“You really want me as your old lady? Like, this is really happening?”
I glanced around at my brothers, surrounding us like proud family members should.
“Unanimous vote, babe. You’re mine now.”
She threw herself into my arms, and pressed her face into my neck, taking a deep breath. I recognised the behaviour, because she always seemed to think my scent calmed her.
“Is this okay?” I murmured the words into her hair, and she nodded vigorously.
“God yes. Please, I want to be yours.”
Reacher called out for quiet in the room, and declared the ‘old lady ceremony’ as underway, because he wasn’t one for big speeches, and what else did we need?
I guided Lissa to the chair Has-Been was waiting beside.
“Where you having the tat, babe?”
“What will be tattooed on me?”
Has sniggered, and I flipped him off. “It’ll say you’re my property, Lissa. Mine.”
She raised her eyebrows. “And yours?”
“It’ll declare you as my old lady.”
“But not my property?”
Has burst out laughing, and Ryder punched his shoulder.
“Wait ‘til it’s your turn, wise-ass.”
“No, little vixen, but you know I am, so will you sit in the fucking chair so we can get this in progress?”
She sat down, and started unbuttoning the prissy blouse she’d put on with her skirt. She’d dressed smart for her chat with Reacher, like she was working in her therapist capacity. It was hot as fuck, the whole prissy thing, and yet I couldn’t wait to tear those clothes off and fuck her, until I overwrote every fucking eye touching her right now.
“Has… you touch her anywhere you don’t need to for the ink, and I’ll ram that tattoo gun up your favourite hole, and tattoo you in a way you’ll never forget.”
“Whatever, dickhead. So, love, where am I sticking it?”
She’d undone more buttons than I’d expected, and she lowered the cup of her bra.
“Here.”
Lissa
“ W hat the fuck!” Ice had just sat down, and he was back up already, reaching down to cover me up again with my blouse.
“Ice, I can’t have it anywhere visible when I’m working, but I want it where I can see it.”
“He’s not touching your fucking tit, and these bastards aren’t all spending the next hour or two staring at it!” He was so cute when he acted possessive.
“Fine, then how about here?” I placed a hand on my upper thigh, and watched a torrent of emotions play out on Ice’s face before he finally offered me a single jerk of a nod.
“Fine.” His teeth practically chewed the word up on the way out.
Tori stepped forward, and grabbed my arm.
“Let’s go find something to wear that won’t flash your underwear at everyone, while Ice sits there having some kind of shit-fit.”
In the end, in her room, she found a pair of leggings for me and together we cut a large piece out of the thigh, to offer Has-Been a body canvas to work on, while hiding all of the parts of me that I didn’t want to show off, any more than Ice did.
“Thank fuck for that.” Ice was up and striding to me from his chair, while the biker who’d started his tattoo looked thoroughly pissed off.
“My body is yours, Ice, and I fully expect you to take advantage of that once we’re inked. No matter how much I fight and protest.”
He rested his forehead against mine.
“Don’t give me a boner right now, you twisted little vixen. Rocket doesn’t need to have that waving in his face as he works on me.”
He led me back to the chair, and I sat down, helping Has-Been to elevate my leg and angle myself so he could tattoo my upper thigh. Ice was bare chested, with the other guy applying his tattoo on his left pec. He reached over to grasp my hand, and watched me the whole damn time they were working, looking like he didn’t feel a damn thing, while I winced, and whimpered, and tried deep breathing to cope with mine.
Has-Been was doing a beautiful job, and kept offering to let me take breaks, but I wanted it done. He smeared something over the burning patch on my thigh once he’d finished. The tattoo itself was about four inches square, and was beautiful. As well as the wording, ‘Property of Ice’, there was a club logo, and he’d incorporated shards of ice around it, to tie it in to his name.
Ice’s tattoo was bigger, and declared my name in big letters with the words ‘old lady’ underneath, and the club logo.
“Congrats, you guys! Let’s raise another drink to the happy couple,” Ryder yelled, as they all raised probably their eighth or ninth damn drink in our honour. As Ice helped me up from the chair, crouching down to admire my tattoo, I glanced around the room, and noticed two people were missing. Reacher. And his old lady. Or rather, the woman his club had refused to allow to be one.
Ice stood up, and dragged me into the kind of kiss that told me exactly what he wanted to do to me, and the room was filled with all kinds of hooting sounds and cheers. Then someone yelled ‘get a room’, and Ice moved his lips to my ear.
“I’m desperate to be inside you, Lissa. I gotta overwrite Has’s touch. You’re mine, get it?”
I nodded, nuzzling his neck, before I sank my teeth into his flesh, making him utter a sharp curse.
“Fuck this.” He grabbed my hand, and started walking, waving as he walked past his inebriated brothers.
“Have funnnn!”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
“That doesn’t rule out a damn thing, man.”
“What’s your point?”
I didn’t know who was speaking, but it didn’t matter. Ice wanted to ‘claim me’ again, and I couldn’t wait.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he grabbed my hair, and pulled my face to his.
“You have until the count of ten, and then I’ll hunt you down, and fuck you into a coma, got it?”