CHAPTER 40
Adam
I t's here. The day is here and she's ready.
Today will be painful but I know she can take it.
After insuring that Eve is fully pliant and too tired to fight me on my plans for today, we eat breakfast and get dressed.
She asks repeatedly how she should dress for the plans that I have, and I know that she's only fishing for details.
I get what I need from the nightstand drawer and put it in my pocket being sure to keep it from her view.
"What was that?" She reaches for my pocket.
"You've already had my dick twice today, love. It's not even noon yet. Do you really need it again?"
She glowers at me. "What's in your pocket, Adam?"
I jerk her roughly into my body, pressing my semi-hard length against her stomach. "You never have to beg for it, Love. If you want my pants off, just say so. Better yet," I grab her hand and put it on my zipper. "The entry point is here. Just take what's yours."
She laughs and tries to pull out of my hold.
I just hold her tighter and whisper in her ear.
"I. Love. That. Sound." Her laugh adds years and quality to my life.
I kiss her temple and release her. "Let's go.
" She lets out an irritated groan and I kiss her forehead.
A kiss for whatever response I get from her.
At first, I fought the urge to touch her.
It was so strong, and I didn't quite understand it.
Now that I know she truly is mine, that she has always been mine, I deny myself no part of her.
I touch her, I kiss her, I get inside her anytime I want.
Grandpa tried to explain it to me. To tell me what it would be like. He undersold the experience.
I pick up the cloth from my bedside table, stretching is between my hands, and walk toward Eve as I hold it up at eye level. Her eyes narrow as she slowly backs away from me. "No...way. No. You're not blindfolding me."
"I am."
"You're definitely not."
I expected this response. I prepared for it. I drop one side of the blindfold so that I can raise my shirt, revealing the dark purple splotches enveloping my body. "I think Cal and Cotton have some equally impressive color schemes if you'd like to see them as well."
Her entire body sags as she takes a step toward me and closes her eyes.
I tie the blindfold around her eyes and lean down, placing a soft kiss on her lips.
She gasps and I know we won't be done with the blindfold after today.
I grip her ass in both hands, lifting her as she wraps her legs around my waist. Her breasts are heaving in my face.
She's turned on. She was scared of the blindfold but now she's excited by it.
This day is going to be even better than I thought.
I carry her down the stairs to find some of the guys in the living room clearly in the thralls of a Star Wars marathon. They all look up briefly and then do a double take. Everyone except Cal and Cotton, that is. They're used to the weird shit I do for Eve by now.
"Good morning, Killer." Cotton addresses Eve.
Eve flinches at the greeting and sighs heavily. "What will it take to erase this transgression?"
"Transgression? Is that what we're calling serial shooting incidents now? Transgressions?" I expected a funnier retort from Cal, but he disappoints until I realize that he now has the attention of every player in the room. He hit the mark.
"She shot you?" Jason asks Cal.
"She shot all three of us." Cotton answers as though Eve does shit like that all the time.
Eve buries her face in my neck, just now realizing that there are more people in the room than just Cal and Cotton.
Pride and possession surge through me every time she comes to me for comfort.
I'm her safe place. Me, the sinner with blood on his hands.
She trusts me and seeks me out when she's in need.
Squeezing her tightly and kissing her hair, I carry her out without another word.
They're all surely wondering why she's blindfolded. This could not bother me less.
As I park the car in front of our destination, Eve swivels her head around like she will suddenly be able to see through the blindfold. "We're here, love."
"And where is here?" She asks with apprehension threading her tone.
"You just have to trust me. You're going to love it, but you can't take the blindfold off until we get inside her room."
"Her?"
"Yes. She's the best in the city. There's some debate about a guy in the same shoppe being better but I disagree, and I only want a female."
"You want a female?" There's jealousy and anger in her voice now. Well, I fucking love that.
I stroke her face and explain. "I'm only going to allow another female to touch you, Love.
" There's no way in hell that I could stay still while another man put his hands all over my woman.
I've never met a man who could resist a body like Eve's, and I know he would be touching her more than is strictly necessary.
Ultimately, I don't want to get his blood on Eve's skin.
I get out of the car and come around to her door, leading her by the waist and her arm into the shoppe.
The shoppe has a classic rock vibe. Very Eve.
The guy at the counter looks to be about 20 years old and he's covered in tattoos.
He sports multiple piercings and a look of disinterest on his face.
"We have an appointment with Grace." He doesn't respond and just looks at the appointment book in front of him.
He looks like he just swallowed tar when he asks, "Adam and Eve?"
"That's us," I tell him, threading as much menace into my tone as polite society will allow. He immediately sobers and points to a door in the back.
"She's ready for you in there. Just knock."
I lead Eve over to the door and tell her to knock.
She does so hesitantly. "Come in." A raspy voice calls from inside the room.
Eve feels around for the knob, and we walk inside.
"Ah. Adam and Eve. Not exactly what I expected.
Impressive." I know by the inflection in her voice and the expression on her face that she's referring to our looks.
We've been told more than once that we're an impressive-looking couple.
I'm sure that people see us and think that the other's appearance is what attracted us to one another.
It isn't. In fact, my appearance seemed to repel Eve in the beginning.
She saw something in me that she knew she should stay away from.
I just wasn't willing to allow that to happen.
I, of course, immediately recognized how gorgeous Eve is but I see beautiful women all the time.
Her fire is what drew me in. Her soul is what ensnared me.
"Hello, Grace. It's nice to meet you in person. This is my girlfriend, Eve."
"It's nice to meet you, Eve. Are you going to let her remove that blindfold now?"
Handing Grace the sketch, I motion for her to put it away.
She takes it, grinning and shaking her head.
I sent her a picture of the drawing weeks ago, but I wanted her to have the full-size picture to work off of.
Once she has the paper set aside on her worktable, I remove Eve's blindfold.
She blinks rapidly, adjusting her eyes to the light.
The room is brightly lit. There's rock n roll memorabilia all over the walls and, like the tattooist herself, the style in the room is eclectic.
"Well Lady Eve, are you ready for this?"
Eve looks like she's walked into the 5th dimension and she's going to have to fight her way through a clan of aliens. "Uhh, ready for what exactly?"
I allow Grace the space to respond. "The new and improved you, of course." Grace says as she flips the tattoo gun back and forth in her hand.
"Oh hell no." Eve exclaims as she backs toward the door. I grip her hips, pulling them into mine, and I nuzzle her neck. She's pushing on my chest when I say "You. Shot. Me." Quietly into her ear.
"Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." She whines softly before nodding in defeat. "I never want to hear another word from you about the shooting incident for as long as we live."
Grace is watching us go back and forth in quiet amusement. She doesn't seem to be phased by the announcement of a shooting incident.
"I'm definitely telling our kids."
"No deal. Absolutely not. If I do this, it's dead.
It never happened." She isn't getting this tattoo unrestrained unless I agree to her terms, and Grace doesn't strike me as the type to comply with forcible tattooing.
I'll have to find a workaround later on because I'm definitely telling my daughters what a badass their mother is. Cotton will know what to do.
"Deal."
Eve puts her face in her hands and fakes a dramatic sob. Quickly composing herself, she straightens and takes three deep breaths. "Okay. Do I get to see a book or something? How do I pick it?"
Grace has absolutely no decorum. She guffaws at Eve's question. She's laughing so hard that she can't sit up straight in her seat and nearly tips over. I'm not amused, and Eve is just confused.
"I already have the design, my love. I've given it to Grace and she's confident she can do it justice."
"No, no, no, no, NO! The tattoo is the deal. There was no agreement stating it could be the tattoo of your choice."
"You agreed to my terms. You didn't ask for full disclosure. Grace already has the design, which means it was built into the deal weeks ago."
"Son of a BITCH!" Eve's fists are clenched at her sides and she's stomping the ground in the sexiest tantrum I've ever witnessed.
I lean into her and ask, "Does this mean I get to spank you when we get home?"
She groans and gives another fake sob performance. "Okay. Okay. Fine. I can do this. I can do this." She's hyping herself up like the badass she is.
Quietly, so that only Eve can hear me, I tell her "I brought your medication. Do you want to take it?"
Her eyes fill will tears and so much love that I don't deserve but that I will take all the same.
She shakes her head and rises to her toes to kiss me.
"I love you, Adam." I know that I will revel in the sound of those words from her lips until my dying breath.
I love you, Adam . It feels like an undeserved miracle every time she says it.
Eve takes on a demeanor of pure determination and asks Grace how she wants her.
Grace asks her to remove her shirt and positions her face down in the chair.
I pull out the pair of ear buds that I bought for this very occasion, and I hand them to Eve.
She takes them and I can't see her face, but I can sense the affection wafting off of her.
She's impressed by my attention to detail.
"I'm getting one too" I tell her, and her head pops up while Grace is still doing her prep.
"You are? Do I get to pick it?"
I laugh in the way that only she can make me do and say, "No. He already has my design too. There will be some similarities between the two tattoos though."
Her smile falls, and she seems suddenly wary. "Are you going to leave me in here?"
She wants me here with her. She needs me .
Damn, that feels good. "No. Mine won't take as long, so he isn't here yet, but Charley will be here later to do my tattoo right over there.
" I point to a chair in the corner that I asked them to bring in specifically for this session.
Truth be told, I need Eve far more than she could ever need me, and I want to be together when we put the past behind us and make plans for the future.
I settle into the chair near Eve's head and hold both of her hands as Grace works out the sketch on her back.
Eve has her earbuds in, and I can hear The Rolling Stones sing Paint It Black through the small speakers.
My girl loves her rock n roll. The Eagles, the Stones, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd. It's all she listens to.
The sketch is intricate and takes longer than I expected to transfer onto Eve's back, but Grace finally finishes it up and is ready to start with the gun.
I want to discuss the irony with Eve of how she used a gun on me yesterday, and today, I've arranged to have a gun used on her, but I don't want to interrupt her playlist. She's much calmer than I could've hoped for.
She doesn't seem at all concerned about the pain but more about the permanence of the situation.
When Grace starts in with the needle, Eve doesn't even flinch.
It's not surprising since her body is a map of the pain that she has endured in her life.
Her mind doesn't remember the trauma, but her body still felt the pain, and from the looks of the carving on her back, this tattoo gun is nothing close to the pain she's experienced in her past.
Just thinking about the atrocities that have been inflicted on her turns my blood to lava and makes my mind swim with intoxicating images of sweet revenge. I'll find out who did this to her, and they'll beg for death just like Paul did.