Page 12 of Ink

He lets out a low groan that is so feral it sends goosebumps across my skin. Those soft lips of his are on mine before I can even close my eyes. Eyes wide open he looks at me as he devours my mouth. It’s so intense, I close my eyes and lose myself in the kiss. His warm mouth opens and his tongue invades my mouth, exploring. I do the same to him and when my tongue explores his mouth, I can taste his drink and a hint of spice and it’s so erotic that I start to wind my fingertips into his hair.

My hands in his hair spur him on because he wraps one of his arms around my back and pulls me from the chair and onto his lap. My legs are straddling his and when he pushes me down onto his lap I can feel him growing hard underneath me. It’s the realization that we are dry-humping in his clubhouse room that has me pulling away long enough to look at his face and take in all of his features. He’s breathing hard, skin flush, and his pupils are fully dilated. He's so turned on.

I shake my head. “Ink, I can’t do this.”

“What do you mean you can’t do this?”

His voice has a slight panic to it and I feel guilty for causing it. I quickly tell him in a rush to get my words out. “I can’t do this here. This room. It makes me feel cheap. Who knows how many girls you’ve had in here. I didn’t even want to sit on the bed.”

Instead of getting upset, which is what I expected, he smiles at me. It’s one of those shit-eating grins that someone gives you when they know the ending of a story but you haven’t finished it. “Baby, you are a firecracker. Do you think I’d really bring you up here if I’d had tons of sex in this room?”

I just keep staring at him. Is that a rhetorical question?

He laughs. He has the nerve to laugh at me as I sit there. “Baby relax. I swear, I could count on one hand the number of girls I’ve let into this room and I’ve had this room at the clubhouse since I got out of the pen. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

I stand there and take in his features. I believe him when he tells me and maybe that makes me too naïve but something about the fact that Ink has chosen to get back into my life and has come to my rescue more than once makes me believe he does want the best for me and is telling me the truth. His mention of being in prison reminds me of the life that he used to live and brings more of my worries to the forefront. I get out of his lap, slowly making my way toward the door and out of the small room.

“Ah, come on babe. Don’t go. I really did bring you up here to talk about everything that happened tonight.”

I stand a few feet between the bed and the door, but I inch back toward him and sit down on the edge of the bed. He gives me a big smile, probably seeing it as a win that he got me to sit on the bed. “Don’t read too much into it stud. Let’s talk. What’s going on around here? Your house gets broken into so you come here and drink with your brothers?”

He shakes his head in disagreement. “Remember Leon? The guy sitting with me when you strutted in?”

“First of all, I didn’t strut in. I walked in.”

He snorts. “Baby, anytime you walk it’s a struct. People notice. Heads turn. Other girls get jealous because they know you become the most beautiful girl in the room once you enter it.”

I stop my assault of words and try to hold in the smile. It comes off more as a smirk but I continue. “Yeah, I remember him.”

“He does a lot of the home security systems for the guys around here. Lots of computer work too. He put the security system in at my house and the Prez’s and since both of us got broken into tonight, probably within just an hour of each other, he came by to see why my alarm didn’t even bother to go off.”

I take a moment to think. That explains why Rider ran out like a fire was lit under his ass. The MC’s President’s house had a break-in and so did his best friends. I ask the most important question. “Do you know who did it?”

His face turns grim. “Yeah, baby. We know who did it and don’t worry they’ll get what’s coming to them.”

My brow furrows and I mash my lips into a thin line. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t going to turn out well?”

He looks around the room and scrubs his hand down his face. “For the next few weeks, I want you to keep driving my truck. I really do want to start spending more time with you and to meet Lucia. Not only for the fact that I want you in my life in a bad way, but it’ll also allow me to keep an eye on you if there’s any more trouble with the club.”

I groan thinking about all the implications and all the things that he didn’t say. In a low voice that pains me to have to say it to him, because I do care for him, I tell him my truth. “Ink, I don’t want Lucia around that kind of trouble. If you think that the club is about to get involved in anything that can get her hurt, I need to know because I have to walk away.”

Without hesitation he tells me. “I won’t let anything happen to either one of you. I swear it. I’d go back to fuckin’ county before I’d let anyone ever harm you or that sweet little girl of yours.”

I nod because I know that’s true. “I know that Ink, but what good would that do us if you’re in jail?”

“Just trust me baby, I’m not going to jail and you and Lucia are going to be just fine. This club shit isn’t going to affect you. I swear to you right now, that I will always do everything in my power to make sure the shit from the club doesn’t ever affect your little girl.”

We look at each other for a moment—for what feels like eons. I know he believes what he says, that nothing will happen to me and Lucia, but believing isn’t enough. Wanting isn’t enough. I stand, taking a step toward the door.

“Baby. Please. I’m asking you and I never ask people for anything. Just trust me.”

His voice. The sincerity behind it. The pain that I was causing in his eyes as I crept further away. I couldn’t do this to him. But could I take a chance? Follow my heart instead of my head.

Ink

Seeing Carmen begin to walk away from me before we can even really begin is a gut punch. I realize this is probably how I made her feel when I ghosted her. Was this how she felt all this time believing I had ghosted her? When I did ghost her? You’re a real piece of shit—but I can’t think about that right now. She takes another step back and I instinctively follow. I take her hands, relieved she doesn’t immediately pull away.

“Carmen, baby, you’re my firecracker. Trust me. I got you as much as you got me. Okay? I own my mistakes and my faults. I try not to make the same mistakes again and I promise you I won’t walk away from you, from us… again. Just give me time to prove that to you. I promise you that you and everything you care about will be safe. Nothing will touch you. ”

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