Page 2 of Ink

Apparently, miracles still happened.

“I’ll get it!” I practically shouted as I jumped out of my seat, shoving Rafa down as he attempted to stand as well.

I raced to the door, yanked it open, and was relieved as fuck when I saw my brother and best friend, Onyx, standing on the porch. He wasn’t my brother by blood, we belonged to the same motorcycle club, the Hounds of Hellfire.

Although it wasn’t until we were adults, we’d met through Bridget since his dad was the much younger brother of her father, Pierce. Making my “family” tree even more convoluted, Pierce had once been the president of my MC and married to my dad’s sister, Laina…which was how I was related to Bridget.

It was confusing as fuck to anyone who wasn’t Italian. Or in the family. Even I struggled to keep it all straight sometimes.

Bridget encouraged me to focus on art in college and then suggested that I think about tattooing. I’d worked at a small shop in Atlanta for a while, then landed an apprenticeship with a highly prestigious tattoo studio in Atlanta.

Onyx worked at Silver Ink, the tattoo shop owned by the Silver Saints, when Mac and Bridget introduced us. The manager, Patriot, offered me a job, but I hesitated to take it. I’d grown up around the Saints. Hell, Mac had been the one to teach me to ride. I didn’t want anything I hadn’t earned, but when Patriot, the manager of the studio, saw my work, he talked me into it. Onyx and I grew as close as brothers, so when he decided to prospect with the Hounds of Hellfire, I was happy for him. Even though it meant they stole him away to work at their studio out in Riverstone.

Eventually, though, Onyx convinced me to do the same. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’d ever made.

“Yo,” he greeted. “Bridget mentionedMammaEmilia was cookin’.”

Sunday dinners at any DeLuca house were a “more the merrier” situation, so after experiencing some of mymamma’s—or Aunt Giulia’s—cooking, some of my MC brothers were known to drop by from time to time. The few who knew who I really was.

“Fair warning, themammasare on about marriage and babies again.”

Onyx blanched and stepped backward, but I grabbed his cut and dragged him into the house. “Didn’t mean you could leave,fratello,” I grunted. Then I raised my voice as I shoved him into the dining room. “Heyyy, look who we have here!”

“Reeve!” my mother exclaimed, jumping to her feet and running over to hug him. She was one of the only people who ever got away with calling him by his real name.

“What about you,cucciolo?” she asked when she let him go. “Have you found a girl to give me more grandbabies?”

“Ahhh, no,” Onyx replied uneasily.

She reached up and whacked him on the back of the head, the same as she would any boy she considered to be like a son. “What is it with you boys? Too busy with work or running around like fools to find a good woman and make babies.”

“Now, now, Emilia,” Fonso piped up, his face serious, but his eyes dancing with laughter. “I’m sure they get plenty of practice.”

Mymammagasped and made the sign of the cross.

I nearly rolled my eyes. It had been a long time since I’d been interested in a relationship, and I’d never been a fling kind of guy.

Besides, if any of my single brothers or I tried to bring a one-night stand or “club bunny” to the clubhouse, King—our prez—would have our asses. He’d never liked it, but he’d made it an iron-clad rule once he got married and had a kid.

“Blaze and Courtney will be having their baby in three months,” Onyx offered, referring to our VP and his old lady.

“Hmm,”Mammasniffed. “Well, at least some of those Hounds are doing right by their mothers.”

“Don’t worry,Mamma,” my sister said sweetly. “I’ll give you a whole houseful of grandbabies.”

I frowned at sixteen-year-old Elena, matching the expression of her twin, Gavin. Her father didn’t look any happier.

“Just how are you gonna do that?” I growled.

Her eyes narrowed, and she shot a withering stare at each of us before she snapped, “You can’t keep all the boys away from me forever, Matteo.”

I snorted. “Bullshit.”

“Watch me,” growled Gavin.

Fonso just nodded his head in solidarity. That was the most we were gonna get from him. He let her brothers do the dirty work so he wouldn’t have to be the bag guy with his princess. We’d all been wrapped around Elena’s finger since the day she was born, so I didn’t hold a grudge against him for wanting to stay on the pedestal she’d put him on.

“Language!” Aunt Giulia scolded, slapping me upside the back of the head since she’d been walking past me when I cursed.

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