Inked (7 page)

Stella’s face heated, and she looked away. Acting as
though she had done so to get something in her purse, she closed her eyes and
took a deep, calming breath. It wasn’t like Stella was afraid of anyone knowing
what she and Cadeon had done, but she certainly didn’t want to have this “Yup, I
just got fucked” look on her face and have Booshie beat Cadeon’s ass on
principle alone. If this was more than a one night occurrence she wanted to be
the one to talk to her dad and the guys about it. But she honestly didn’t know
if this had just been a quick screw, because right when they had been about to
talk about what had happened Booshie had started beating on the door like he
was the police and had a warrant.

She turned back around and pasted on what she hoped
looked like a genuine smile. “I’m fine. I was just getting ready to pay and
head home. You must have heard something outside, or maybe a car stereo from
one of those kids that ride around with the damn things turned up too loud. Or
maybe it was those cats. Maybe they were fighting or got their tail stepped on
You
know how many strays there are around here.” She shrugged
and smiled wider.” I don’t know, but everything is good in here.” Oh, God, she
was rambling and making herself look guilty. She looked at Cadeon, saw the smug
asshole smiling at her, and narrowed her eyes. When she looked at Booshie it
was to see him staring at her with this confused look on his face.

“You sure you’re okay?
You been
drinking?”

She shook her head and felt her face heat even
further the longer Booshie clearly examined her.

“You sure?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this red in the face, or go on and on about guys
and their stereos or a cat getting its tail stepped on.”

“I’m good. I should probably get going.” Booshie
didn’t move, but he did cross his arms, causing his cut to stretch across his
big body, and glared at her. He was stubborn, just as frustratingly stubborn as
the rest of the MC, and that was one thing that annoyed her to no end. It was
also clear he wasn’t buying her bullshit. “Booshie, I am fine, and can get home
on my own. I live like ten minutes away.” Still he didn’t move a muscle. After
a minute she sighed and let her arms fall to her side.
“Fine.”
She walked over to Cadeon who was leaning against the counter, and looking like
he was far more amused by what was going on than she was. She tried to convey
that she was sorry about this, but he didn’t reveal anything in his expression
aside from continuing to grin at her. “How much do I owe you?” This incredible
evening had ended up being uncomfortable and awkward.

“Don’t worry about it.” He straightened away from
the counter and crossed his arms in the same manner as Booshie had.

“I insist.” What was it with men and their
stubbornness? For a second he just stared at her, and then narrowed his eyes.

“Stella, I said don’t worry about it.”

Maybe it was foolish for her to think, but if she
didn’t pay for her tattoo it almost seemed like this was some kind of
prostitute one-night hook-up, like she had paid for the ink by spreading her
legs. She clenched her jaw and saw Cadeon mimic the act.

“What in the fuck is going on?” Booshie’s loud voice
broke up the weirdness that had bounced between her and Cadeon.

She turned and looked at the burly biker.
“Nothing.
Let’s just go.” She reached into her purse,
grabbed a couple of hundred dollars, and set them on the counter beside Cadeon.
Booshie had already turned and was heading toward the front door, but before
she could leave Cadeon grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him so his mouth
was right by her ear.

“This isn’t over, baby. Not by a fucking long shot.”

She snapped her head toward Cadeon.

“But I could see you two seconds away from
flippin
’ the fuck out. When you’re ready, we will be
talking about what we did, and how I have no damn plans on just letting you
walk away.” He let go of her and grinned this self-assured cocky one that should
have pissed her off but made her pulse increase.

She turned and quickly made her way out the front
door. Well, she supposed that answered her question about what tonight had been
about, and if this was only a one-time hook-up.

Chapter Six

It had been two days since he had given Stella her
tattoo, but he hadn’t spoken to her. He had tried calling her the day after she
left his shop, realizing he had not even told her the aftercare instructions
for her ink. His mind had been pretty chaotic after he had finally had her. His
cock, although semi-hard right after he had come, had been like steel once more
when he had gone to bed that night. But she hadn’t called in back after he left
a message, and he wasn’t about to stalk her ass like some kind of psychopath.
But there was no denying that he wanted her. Cadeon had fucked a lot of women
in the forty years he had been alive, but for whatever reason he wanted Stella
like he had never wanted another woman before. He had thought maybe it was
because she was off-limits, in a sense, and maybe that had been the initial
reason. Cadeon was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted, but with
Stella it was more complicated. He couldn’t explain why he felt this need to be
with her, but after he had finally been with her he felt this deep, proprietary
desire for her. He wanted to protect her, take care of her, and make sure no
assholes messed with her or he’d break their bones.

“
Yo
, Cadeon,” Naggie
called out.

He lifted his head from the stack of papers in front
of him. She had a pair of black gloves on and was getting ready to do some
nipple piercings. “What?” He leaned back in his chair, and the leather creaked.

“I asked if you could order some more 12 gauge
needles.” The girl behind her looked like
Naggie’s
twin with her pixie cut, slender frame, and numerous piercings.

“Yeah, I’ll put a requisition in.”

She nodded, but he didn’t miss the strange
expression that covered her face. He lifted a brow and tipped his chin toward
her client. She pursed her lips and turned around. Cadeon knew he had been
acting weird the last couple of days, but he hadn’t been able to help it. All
he had thought about was Stella, and that he wanted to see her again. Of course
he wanted to fuck her again but it was more than that. He wanted to get to know
everything about her, and wanted to learn things that casual conversation
between them hadn’t revealed in the last few years. But Cadeon had never chased
after a female, and the fact she hadn’t returned his call made it seem like he
would be doing just that if he pursued her more.

“Creep” by Radiohead played overhead, and it somehow
matched his mood today. He glanced at his phone that was beside him on the
counter and felt like some kind of hormonal teenage needing his next Stella
fix. But he didn’t reach for it, and instead focused on his paperwork again and
tried to push her out of his thoughts. He wanted her like no one else. But he
wasn’t about to go sniffing around her if she didn’t want him to. That was the
reasonable action to take, but Cadeon had never been a reasonable man.

The sound of the bell above the front door dinging
as it was opened had Cadeon lifting his head. A silent groan left him when he
saw Tally walk in. She wore a micro-mini skirt and a halter top that hardly
covered her breasts. It had first started off with her coming in for some
tattoos over the last year, but Cadeon had made the mistake of fucking her
against the side of the building a couple of those times. After that she
thought there was something going on between them, some kind of exclusivity. It
didn’t matter how often he told her that fucking her had only been about
getting his dick wet. Of course at first he hadn’t been so coarse or
bastard-like when he had said that, but after the fourth time of her trying to
have him fuck her again, he had just come out and told her that he didn’t want
her pussy anymore. But Tally was one of those females that thought her pussy
was the tightest fucking thing and God’s gift to men, and clearly couldn’t
understand that he didn’t want her anymore.

She looked over at him, and her red painted lips
stretched wide over her too white teeth.
“Hey, Cadeon.”
She walked over to him, and the sound of her six inch stilettos clicking on the
tiled floor seemed to drown out the music. She leaned on the counter, and her
tits nearly burst free from the too tight material of her shirt. “Can you
squeeze me in a little ink?” She leaned back and lifted her shirt nearly all
the way to the underside of her breasts. “I want a little heart and rose right
here.” She ran the pad of her finger around her belly button.

“You make an appointment?” Tally might get on his
fucking nerves, but she was still a customer. But that didn’t mean he had to be
the one to give it to her. The last time he had given her a tattoo after he
fucked her he had known she got all fucking aroused by it. She was a needle
junkie, and although there wasn’t anything wrong with that, there was something
wrong with the fact she had been moaning the whole damn time he gave her the
ink. No more would he be the one to mark her up.

She leaned on the counter once more and gave him
what he knew was supposed to be this seductive grin. Instead it just looked
downright uncomfortable, and that was exactly how he felt around her. She was
not much older than Stella, but where his girl had this innocence about her
Tally was just used hard and put away wet. She had seen just as much action as
he had, and she was half his fucking age.

Wait, did you
just call Stella your girl?

“When have I ever made an appointment, Cadeon?” Her
grin widened, and even though he was seated behind the counter, she eyed him up
and down. “Come on, can’t you just squeeze me in? The tattoo isn’t very big. I
bet you could get it done quickly, but make sure you were all sorts of thorough.”
She lowered her eyes, trying to look sexy, but it just made her look like she
was about to fall asleep.

“You aren’t anyone special to this shop, Tally. You
got in those last few times because there were openings. There aren’t any now,
and so if you don’t have an appointment you need to make one and come back
then.” He didn’t break eye contact with her, because he wanted her to know that
this shit that she thought was between them, wasn’t.

She pouted, and he wanted to tell her she looked
ridiculous as fuck.
“Really?
There isn’t anything you
can do for me, nothing that can be pushed back so I can be next?” She made one
of those duck faces, and he curled his lip in distaste. She tried to act like
she was still in high school by wearing clothes far too young for her, and her
overall almost childish personality.

“No, there isn’t anything. Now, do you want an
appointment?”

She huffed out and pushed away from the counter.
“Fine.
What is your next available opening?”

“I don’t have any. You’ll have to book on with
Naggie or Ziggy.” He kept his voice hard and void of any emotion.

“But I was hoping you could give me another one.”
She leaned forward so much that he knew she had to be on her toes. “I miss
you.” She pouted once more. “I keep thinking about those two times you banged
the shit out of me behind the shop. It was dirty, but only in the good way.”
Before he could respond she was talking again. “I know there is something
there, between us, but I understand you’re not the commitment type.”

“Tally—” He growled out her name, but she cut him
off before he could finish.

“I can make you feel ten times as good as any of
those other whores you sleep with.”

He stood so forcefully that his chair slammed
against the wall. He heard the sound of buzzing needles stop, and glanced to
his side to see Naggie and Ziggy looking over at him, and then at Tally. Naggie
knew about what he and the other woman had done, but it wasn’t because Cadeon
had told her. She had walked outside and seen him banging her, but that wasn’t
why Naggie had narrowed eyes trained on Tally. Naggie was not a fan of the
woman, not after Tally had come onto her boyfriend at a bar a few months back.
Drama followed Tally like some kind of lost dog, and no matter where she went
or who she interacted with, that fucking drama was with her and rubbed off on
everyone.

“Do you want an appointment, or not?” He wasn’t
about to be baited into having this conversation. It had been months since they
had done anything, and he would have liked to say he was drunk when he had
fucked her, but he couldn’t even use that excuse. He had just wanted to get his
dick wet, and because of that shit he was now being stuck with Tally hounding
him for something he wasn’t about to give her.

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes on him. It
was clear she was pissed that he wasn’t about to get into that with her. “Fine,
what do you have open with Ziggy this week?”

He brought up
Ziggy’s
schedule on the computer and told her what was available. After she was set up
he told himself he’d have to make himself scarce when she came back. He didn’t
want to deal with this shit again. He busied himself with his work again, and
didn’t look up until he heard the bell ding again at her departure.