Page 17 of Saint
She laughed and it was the most remarkable thing I’d ever heard. At that moment I vowed to keep her smiling and laughing if it was the last thing I did.
“Now tell me about you, Gavin Lawson.”
“Are you sure you’re ready to hear the truth? It’s not pretty.”
Now I was nervous. How would she react? Would she want this to continue?
“I always want the truth no matter the consequences.”
“Well, I’m twenty-seven, and I’ve owned Forbidden Ink for three years.”
“How did you get into tattooing?”
Here goes nothing.
“I learned in prison.”
“Prison?” she asked surprised, shifting in her seat.
“It’s not what you think, Oya.” I took a deep breath and released it. “I’m going to tell you something no one else knows. No one. Not even my family.”
“Why would you tell me?”
“Because I don’t want this to give you a reason not to give us a chance. So, I’m willing to let you in on my secret.”
“Okay. Tell me what happened.”
“I took the rap for my father.”
Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean you took the rap for your father?”
“Before I went to prison, I was on my way to becoming a priest if you can believe it.” She looked at me wide-eyed. “I know. It’s crazy, right? Not the man I am, today. Anyway, I was seventeen, and I’d already been accepted into the seminary.”
“What made you want to become a priest?”
“When I was younger, I can remember telling my mother, I wanted to become a priest so I could save my father from Hell. He wasn’t the best man. Still isn’t. He lies and cheats on my mother, yet she thinks his ass walks on water.”
I shook my head trying to push away the memories. There had been times my mother would leave for work when I was younger and as soon as she was out the door, my father would have a woman walking through the same door. No shame. No remorse. I wasn’t sure if Reaper and King experienced it, but as soon as I was old enough to realize what was going on, Reaper and King weren’t even living at home.
“One day he called me, frantic, saying he needed help,” I continued. “My brothers were older, and they were off doing their own thing. Both King and Reaper were deep in the mc world at that point. So, of course, I wanted to help him. Always have. Even now I have to force myself to stay away from him, so I don’t slip into old habits of trying to save him.”
“I understand. For years I tried to save Thomas, too.” She put her hand on top of mine. “You can’t save anyone who doesn’t want to be saved. It took me years to learn, but I came to accept it.”
“That’s where I’m at now. Even though my brothers don’t understand, it’s what I need to do for me.” She nodded in agreement. “So anyway, like an idiot, I went to where he was. The worst mistake of my fucking life.”
I hated thinking about what I got caught up in. My father didn’t care about anyone but himself. Seven years ago, he was in his late fifties and still running the streets. Once he retired, he got worse.
“He beat someone over a bad drug deal. Almost killed them. Witnesses said I was the one who was involved, and he didn’t say I wasn’t. According to him, since I wasn’t an adult, I didn’t have a record, and there was no evidence connecting me to the crime I wouldn’t be convicted. I believed him.” I shrugged. “He was my father. Why wouldn’t I? The jury found me guilty of assault with a deadly weapon based solely on eyewitness testimony and sentenced me to fifteen years in prison. I served seven of the fifteen, then I was paroled for good behavior.”
“Oh my god, Gavin. I’m so sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. I was young and dumb. I learned my lesson. Learned it the hard way. Anyway, there was one good thing that came out of it.” She furrowed her brows and I laughed. “Prison is where I learned to tattoo.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Voodoo taught me. He’s Angel’s half-brother. He’s serving life for murder. He took me under his wing, showed me how to tattoo, and the rest is history as they say.”
“At least something good came out of a shitty situation. How did you become a Sinner?”
