Page 68 of Ink's Devil

Could there be a good reason why she was there tonight? Could I forgive her?

I imagine myself doing just that. Imagine holding her in my arms.

How would her voice sound when she tells me she loves me for the very first time? Would her hoarse whisper echo the emotion and reverence in mine?

Love?

What a fuck of a time to admit that’s where my feelings were going. Maybe had already arrived. What other emotion would have driven me to step in last night except for an affection so deep I’d do anything for her.

Her blue hair made me look at her twice. Her personality a third time. Her shapely, athletic body kept my eye. Her love for her mom, support for her brother even though he’s an ass, everything about her showed me Beth’s one in a million. I’d have been a fool to turn my back on the woman I’d thought she was.

A dream snatched out of my reach.

It was my perfect woman herself who tore it into pieces.

I huff a mirthless laugh. Always knew bitches were bad news. Best I forget all about her.

Despite my misgivings about the mattress, exhausted after the long night, I lie down and turn on my side, my eyes closing as I tune out the disgusting sounds around me and my traitorous mind conjures up thoughts of riding with the wind in my hair and Beth’s arms tight around my waist. Or, better still, her on her own Sportster riding along beside my Fat Bob, glancing at each other, sharing the enjoyment of being free and out with just nature and our bikes.

Jeez. For fuck’s sake get out of my head woman.

Who’s going to teach her to ride now?

There may be a chance I’ll get out.

Yeah, and I just saw a flying pig through the bars of the too high up and too small window of the cell.

I turn on my other side, but it still doesn’t put a brake on my thoughts. Wishful thinking or not, maybe Beth’s innocent. Maybe it was her brother who got her into something way over her head. Would it be too much of a leap to assume her brother had something to do with the drugs in Pueblo and somehow persuaded her to get involved? If he’d heard word the cops were out in force tonight,last night,I correct seeing daylight brightening the room, he could have set her up. I think back to when I’d so briefly met him. Was he a man to throw his sister under a bus to save himself? Yeah, I could believe that he was. I’m going to fucking kill him if he did, or, as it’s unlikely I’ll get the chance to do it myself, get the club to dispatch him to meet Satan by proxy.

If Beth is the woman I believed her to be, I’ve got a problem. If she’s as sweet natured as I thought, there’s a good chance she’ll sacrifice herself to give me a chance to walk free. That certainly wouldn’t work. Cops cheer when a biker goes down, and they’ve got me, caught red-handed. She wouldn’t free me, she’d only convict herself.

I’ve got to convince her to let me go down.How the fuck do I do that?

I could do my time as long as I knew she was happy and free.Cops can’t stagger across a hint of anything that connects me with her.But how?

I’ve got to cut all ties with her.

No visits. No enquiries. No putting herself in the sights of the cops. It’s the only way I can protect her.

Fuck, but I must have it bad. Even knowing she’s the reason I’m here, and I’m unclear as to her motives, there’s still this urge inside to keep her safe. If I can’t enjoy my life, knowing she can, will make up for a lot. Even if she deserved the punishment, I can better serve it. If she has made a mistake, this is her chance to learn from it. Do my time knowing she’s happy and protected? There may not be much sense to it, but it makes me feel easier.

My club will know what to do.

Suddenly I turn on my back, my arm flung over my face.Am I being a fucking idiot? The club’s not going to throw themselves behind Beth.Not when she’s the reason I, their brother, is inside.

She’s new to the club, and I haven’t led anyone to believe she’s anything to me but a casual fuck. I sit bolt upright.What would I feel if Mace or Liz were in jail when it should be their fuck buddy instead?Christ.Will they blame her?Running it through in my head, I realise of course they fucking will. Instead of protecting or helping her, they might already have banned her from the club. Or worse, sort their own retribution on my behalf. Especially if they think she had anything to do with the drugs.

A drunk farts loudly, a few seconds later the foul stench reaches my nostrils. But even that doesn’t distract me.How can I get the club on Beth’s side?

Ask them, tell them what I want. Hell, I’d probably sound as deranged as I think I am. Especially when I come up with the answer, the one thing I can do to extend my protection to her when I’m not there to do it myself.I claim her.

I almost laugh aloud at the ludicrousness of it. Me, claim a woman? Commit to her for life? If I was a free man, that could be where Beth and I would be heading, but I’d have taken my time and made sure it was right. Fuck knows if she feels the same way, we hadn’t exactly discussed it. In fact, we discussed anything but that, and persuaded each other we were happy with a few fucks. If I claim her it would be in name only. I couldn’t expect her to wait three decades until I get out.

But, if the club know she’s mine, they’ll have to support her. To give me peace of mind, knowing she’s safe and being cared for while I’m locked up, it’s the only answer.

Then what would she do? Act like an old lady? Would they allow conjugal visits in prison? Or would I have to marry her for that? Perhaps I wouldn’t mind putting a ring on her finger if it gave me her cunt to look forward to while I was doing serious time.

My mouth twists slightly upwards, then turns down when I realise the problem. I can’t have the cops looking into Beth, not if I’m right about Connor. Who knows how deeply he’s dragged her into his world? Nope, don’t want the cops to go sniffing around her. They can’t have any idea she was there last night.

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