Page 14 of Ink

With only another block to go, Ink revs his engine to come alongside me. The residential neighborhood is otherwise quiet and at this hour; there aren’t any other cars in sight. When he pulls alongside me, I roll down the window to see him better. The tint on his windows is dark and at night and it’s harder to see out of them. Either that or I am in need of glasses and just hadn’t realized it.

When I roll down the window, he motions to me. I decipher that he is telling me he’s going to park his motorcycle. He doesn’t have to, but I appreciate that he doesn’t plan to inform the entire neighborhood of his presence all the way to my front door. I drive the last block and park the truck in the driveway. I’ll be the first person up and out in the morning, so it doesn’t matter that the truck is blocking everyone else in. My parents don’t go out a lot, and when they do they enjoy walking to the grocery store that isn’t too far away, a small little bookstore a few blocks away, and a deli beside the bookstore.

I turn off the engine, gather my purse and hop out of the truck. I expect Ink to already be waiting on me but he’s not. I see him walking up the sidewalk at a distance, and he gives a little wave. I wouldn’t peg this strong, sexy man as the unsure or insecure type, but I guess I can’t blame him. A lot happened tonight—he made himself vulnerable, and even though I hadn’t said anything, I assumed my actions spoke louder than words. He’s important. I care. He needs to understand that when I’m in—I’m in.

I smile and give him a little wave back, and then motion for him to come closer. We’re just a few feet away from the front steps of the porch when we finally stand face to face. He reaches down and takes my hand in his, slowly rubbing the tops of my fingers with his thumb. His hand is rough with calluses from all of his hard work. Goosebumps rise on my arm without permission, mercifully hidden by my coat, hiding my physical reaction to him.

He leans his head down and presses his forehead to mine. We stand in the silence of the night together, our hands laced, foreheads together. I don’t want it to end but I learned early in life all good things must come to an end. He brushes his lips against mine and with a deep sigh pulls away. “I’ll let you get some sleep sweetheart.”

I tilt my head to the side and give him my best coy smile. “Yeah, I’ll see if I can get myself to calm down and fall asleep. It was a big night for me, big man.”

He barks out a laugh and—God love him—he looks around, worried that he’s woken up the neighborhood. “I meant what I said baby, I want you at my house.”

“You say that now but wait till my cosmetics are all over your bathroom sink.”

He gives my hand a little squeeze. “Sweetheart, you can have the whole damn countertop. I’ll throw in the walk-in closet and whatever other space you want.”

My heart does a little skip and I know that this is real. I know the connection we started to build months ago was real, and that there is still a strong connection between us. Now it’s even stronger and will continue to strengthen over time.

“Night baby.”

I slowly go up the front steps and slide my key into the door. As I push the door open, I look over my shoulder to see Ink one last time for the night. He’s right where I left him, his eyes tracking my movements. He gives me a wink, and I push through the door, closing it behind me.

I startle awake. At first, I thought it was Lucia crawling up into the bed to lie with me. She had got into the habit of crawling into my bed around three a.m. and staying there the rest of the night. Most nights I was so tired from being on my feet all day so I just let her stay instead of walking her back to her bed. When I look at the clock, I suddenly remember that she had already crawled into bed. It’s almost three a.m. and I’m tired.

I close my eyes, trying to fall back asleep. My parents sometimes get up in the night and our stairs creaked something terrible. When I hear another noise, this one sounds much closer to me than normal and I instantly panic. My heart rate spikes and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. I reach for my phone under the pillow where I keep it at night. My hand had just gripped around it when the thing that nightmares are made of happens.

A huge hand covers my mouth and pulls me out of bed. My back is flush against a man. I start to squirm and thrash out, my fight-or-flight instincts taking over. His gruff voice whispers into my ear. “Quit your noise and we won’t hurt you or the kid.”

I stop moving instantly and go completely still. Not only was I thinking about Lucia laying in the bed mere feet from me but the fact that the man used the word we. I start looking around the room, it’s dark but with the little light coming in from the window and the fact that my eyes were adjusting to the room, I could make out the shape of someone sitting in the chair I had by the window that I often used to read to Lucia.

The man keeps his hand over my mouth. I can feel the cold leather of his jacket or vest on my bare shoulders and my upper back. I try to focus on my breathing. In and out. I can smell the man's aftershave and cigarette smoke. I feel like I’m going to vomit. I can feel adrenaline running through me and I’m hyper-aware of everything around me. Lucia’s even breathing in the bed, the wind blowing through the open window that I know was closed when I went to sleep. The smell of the man squeezing me against him and the stillness of the man now rising before me in the corner.

My heart races. He’s the fucking Jolly Green Giant. The closer he gets to me the more I can see his features. My eyes track him and my neck cranes back, trying to take him all in. He’s tall, taller than anyone I’d ever met and I’m around guys from the MC all the time. He has to be nearly seven feet tall, two hundred and seventy-five pounds, and has a gnarly, jagged scar running from the side of his temple down his cheek, stopping at the base of his chin. It’s made even more predominant by the fact that it is surrounded by a thick, dark beard covering the rest of his face.

If he can feel me staring at it, he doesn’t give any indication of giving one shit, because when I meet his gaze it’s as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. His chest is broad and covered in a black leather MC vest. Instead of seeing the familiar green stitching and the snake of the Mystic Venom, this brutes is laced in blue and red and covered in flames. Above the club’s logo is a patch stitched in red letters that reads: Vice President.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of the MC life but I do know the fact that the VP of another club is inside my parents' house, in the middle of the night, and uninvited, is not something good. No good could come from this and the thought was cemented when he took his big paw of a hand, reaches up, and strokes the bare skin on my arm. Chills break out on my skin and the hairs stand on end. His words only add to the dread I’m feeling.

“Cupcake, you’ve got about two minutes to tell us all about your friends in the Mystic Venom MC and where to find all the ones who don’t live at the clubhouse. And no bullshit either or the girl on the bed leaves with me tonight.”

Ink’s words play through my mind that his club bullshit would never touch me ring out in my mind. Less than six hours later, I’m already chin deep—with my daughter in danger, too.

Ink

I’m the happiest I have been in months. I have Carmen back in my life and not only that, she was mine. All mine. Tonight cemented that fact. I know I have to keep building her trust in me but I had her back and this time I’m not going to let her get away. I know she’s mine and she knows I’m hers. I only wish that we could have extended the night and she could have come back to my house. Now, here I am sitting in my house attempting to sleep on the couch because my door is a makeshift piece of plywood.

I’m too hyped up to fall asleep so I find myself scrolling on my phone looking at social media. I can’t help but creep on Carmen’s picture page. She’s sporadic in posting and doesn’t have a lot on her feed but I look over each and every photo taking her in. Her last post was almost two months ago when the MC had their Valentine’s Day party. It’s a photo of her and Rayleighn together and I can’t help but really look at her. She is smiling in the photo but I can tell her smile didn’t meet her eyes. My instant reaction to seeing the photo tells me that I was behind that look.

I let a deep sigh out and toss my phone onto the cushion beside me. Laying my head back on the couch and closing my eyes I try to remember that I am making up for my mistakes. It is the here and now that matters, and I am going to do better by her. Tomorrow I’d work on her car more and get it going even if it cost me a small fortune to do it without her knowing.

I run my hands through my hair and tug at the strands. It’s been a long day that was full of stress and finally ended with some pleasure. Just as I start to take off my boots and give sleep a go my phone lights up on the cushion beside me. I sink deeper into the cushions trying to relax. I groan when I see Griz’s name light up on my phone. It’s a little after three in the morning and he’s calling me this late for one of two reasons. He’s either completely shit-faced and needs a ride or it’s club business.

I answer the phone. “You better be calling me for something good and not to pick your sorry, drunk ass up. I was just trying to go to sleep.”

“Ink!” he screams into the phone. He isn’t drunk—that I can already tell from the rage in his voice—but he’s definitely upset. “Get your ass up! The MC in Oregon, the Nordic Fire MC, the same fucks who broke into your house and the Prez’s are still in town and they’re out for vengeance.”

I sit up fully alert. “What the fuck? Why now? They’ve had months. Why the rush now?”

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