Inked (Going All the Way 1)

That was better than acting grumpy around Cadeon, which they had when their relationship had come out in the open.

She watched as Booshie pulled up the sleeve of his T-shirt and turned to the side so Scars and Cadeon could see his muscular bicep. She couldn’t hear what they said, being this far from the bar or with the music so loud. She knew enough by watching Booshie move his hand up and down over his arm that he was talking about getting more ink.

Stella brought her beer to her mouth and took a long drink. Things were going especially well since she and Cadeon decided to give this relationship a go. The guys had given him a hard time at first, but she knew that if she was happy, they were happy.

She heard them say that enough times. Even if they acted like big, bad biker dudes, they had hearts of gold and protected what they thought of as theirs. Her father could be cranky about it at times and give Cadeon a hard time, but she could see on his face that he was okay with what was happening between them deep down.

“Hey, girl.” Diamond, an old lady for one of the more seasoned members, walked up to her and grinned. “You doing okay?”

Stella nodded. Diamond had been with the club since Stella was a little girl, but she hardly came to the actual clubhouse. After raising three boys who followed in the biker father’s footsteps, Diamond was now enjoying the freedom of being on the back of her man’s bike. But the years and a hard life showed on the older woman’s face in the form of deep lines and wrinkles.

“Your man treating you good?”

“You know it. You think I’d put up with bullshit?”

Diamond started laughing and slapped her black leather chap-covered thigh. “Yeah, I know you ain’t some woman to put up with any man’s shit.” Diamond grinned again and reached inside her leather jacket for a cigarette.

There was a loud crash, and Diamond turned to the side. Stella could see the back of her jacket. It read PROPERTY OF RAZOR.

“Damn drunken fools.” There was a round of laughter as the guys kicked away the broken pieces of glass that now littered the ground. Diamond turned back around. “You take care, honey.” And then Diamond was moving toward the intoxicated bikers, ready to give them hell.

Over the last month, things had been running smoothly. She and Cadeon were taking things slow, enjoying their time with each other and not rushing into anything. Yeah, they already had sex—too many times to count in the last month, in fact—but being together physically was one way to show each other how they felt.

Did she love him? Yes, she did a lot, and she knew he loved her too by the way he touched her and told her there would never be another woman for him. Although Tally acted like the jealous ex-girlfriend, she had surprisingly left things alone, but that might’ve had something to do with the fact that when they had seen her at the bar a week after the tattoo shop incident, she was hanging off two guys.

Yeah, seemed she moved on pretty quickly, especially when those two guys she had been all over were brothers and owned their own construction business in Reckless. Tally forgot all about how much she “wanted” Cadeon when a little money was flashed in her face.

“Hey, baby.”

She hadn’t even realized Cadeon moved away from the bar and was standing behind her until she heard his deep voice and felt his warm breath on the nape of her neck. He wrapped his arms around her, kissed her on the side of the neck.

“I think I’m ready to get out of here so you and me can spend some quality time together.” His breath smelled faintly of the beer he had been drinking and the spearmint gum he had chewed earlier, and she instantly became aroused.

She smiled, even though he couldn’t see her. “I think your definition of quality time is not cuddling on the couch.” She turned her head so she could see him.

“You aren’t even the cuddling and spooning type.”

That had her laughing. “No, I guess I’m not.”