Chapter 16

A yawn is a silent scream for coffee.

-Coffee Cup

Ridley

“You’re sure about this?” Peek asked.

I ignored him, going to my happy place.

My new happy place.

It’d definitely taken a turn since I’d met Freya.

Before it’d been mine and Aerie’s wedding day.

She’d been so beautiful.

She’d come down the aisle in a white dress so pure and brilliant that my eyes had instantly been drawn to her.

Aerie was such a beautiful woman. Tall and willowy, she had trouble putting on weight. But the dress she’d worn that day had fit her so perfectly, and the long train that followed behind her had made her look almost ethereal.

So whenever I had a rough day, I’d picture that moment in time, remembering how I felt as she walked down the aisle to me.

But lately, since I’d met Freya, it’d been her.

The first time I’d met her.

She’d been holding a strand of Christmas lights up high, her slightly rounded belly exposed as she reached up high over her head to hang the lights on a hook.

The lights had painted her skin in lovely shades of red, blue and green.

Her hair had been falling out of her ponytail, the white blonde locks lighting up as well, making her look like she had all the colors of the rainbow in her hair.

At one point, she’d been so wrapped up in Christmas lights that she looked like a human Christmas tree.

That was what I was focusing on, and I started to feel guilty.

Aerie had loved that I didn’t have tattoos.

She’d hated them.

And here I was getting one for the new girl in return for her getting her other nipple pierced.

I felt like a shithead.

“Are you sure you are sure?” Peek asked. “You don’t even want to look at it?”

“No,” I said. “Just fuckin’ do it.”

“Hmmm,” Freya said. “I don’t think I want to do it anymore.”

I blinked, surprised that she would say that.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because you’re clenching the seat so hard that I’m pretty sure that you broke it,” she touched where my fingers gripped the chair.

I blinked, looking down at the bars that I was holding on to in surprise.

“Oops,” I said, letting them go.

Daisy patted my hand as she walked by. “It’s okay, Mr. Lee. I’ve had to replace those twice now since I bought the chair.”

I laughed.

“Thanks,” I muttered. “And you’re doing it, Peek. Please just start.”

“This is going to end up being bigger than I previously thought,” Peek admitted. “It’s going to take up quite a bit of your skin back here, if I’m to make it look realistic.”

I growled in frustration.

“Peek,” I snapped, starting to stand.

Freya took my hand and placed her face against the back of my neck.

“Sit down. He’s just trying to make sure I haven’t coerced you into doing anything that you didn’t want to do,” she whispered with a laugh in her voice.

“I know,” I growled. “Sorry.”

My body was warring with itself.

On one hand I wanted to get the tattoo. I’d always wanted them, but I was fucking terrified of needles.

Then I’d gotten the one on my hand and hip, and I’d started to feel this itch.

An itch that went against everything that I used to represent.

Everything that Aerie used to like.

The buzzing of the needle had my heart starting to race, and it took only a few seconds until I felt the first press of the needles to my skin.

Long moments followed where I all but forced myself to stay in the chair, but then Freya pressed her body up against mine, and I turned my head to bury my face into her stomach.

She smelled like flowers, honeysuckle to be exact.

I used to have honeysuckle growing all over my childhood home, as well as the home I was in now.

It was a great flower, very resilient.

I knew because Aerie had me tear all the honeysuckle vines down when we’d moved in. She’d wanted all of the ‘weeds’ gone from the back fence, even though I’d told her that they weren’t weeds. At least not to me.

She’d asked for me to get rid of them anyway, and each and every spring I’d go out there and tear the vines down.

However, each year they’d be back.

I still, even though it’d been five years now, hacked them down each spring.

But smelling that smell right then, I didn’t think I would ever do that again.

Not anymore.

“This is going to look so cool,” she whispered.

I made a content sound.

“Why’d you pick this?” Griffin asked, taking Freya’s attention away from me and to my brother that sat in a straight backed chair in the waiting area.

“Because it fit him,” Freya replied simply.

I wanted to question her more, ask her why she’d chosen what she had, but then I’d know what she gave me.

I was worried if I knew what it was, I’d ask Peek to stop.

I still wasn’t quite sure why I was allowing Peek to do this. It was stupid, sure.

But I wanted to do it.

I had no explanation as to why, besides the fact that it was Freya’s idea.

Freya’s thoughts and design.

Peek had added to her design, and I had let her have at it.

I sat there like that, for three long hours, as everyone talked around me.

The pain of the needles had become just a minor level of irritation against my skin, and soon I didn’t even notice it.

My eyes had drooped, and I was lightly dozing when Peek finally announced that he was done.

“Finished,” Peek sat the tattoo gun down. “Whatcha think, girl?”

Freya got up from her seat that was next to my head and walked around the chair, then stared fixedly at my back.

“Oh,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

I didn’t doubt that it was.

“Whoa,” Wolf said. “That’s fucking freaky.”

That had my interest peaked.

For Wolf to say that meant it really was freaky. He had a plethora of tattoos, and some of them were fucked up beyond belief.

“Let me see,” I ordered.

I pushed up, my muscles stiff, and walked to the triple mirror like the ones dressing rooms had.

Then turned my back and looked over my shoulder.

“Holy…shit,” I murmured as my eyes landed on the newest tattoo on my back. “That’s…amazing.”

I smelled her before I saw her, turning to her in surprise to find her that close.

“Do you really like it?” she wanted to know.

I nodded.

“I’ve been working on that since I saw you that first night. When you helped me hang up my Christmas lights,” she whispered.

“You did a great job drawing this,” Peek said. “I didn’t even have to change or alter much. It’s one of the best pieces I’ve ever done.”

“Are you finished?” Griffin asked. “You gonna add anymore?”

I said “No,” at the same time Freya said, “Yes.”

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “I am?”

She nodded emphatically.

“You are,” she concurred.

“How do you know that?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

The movement had my back pinching slightly, and I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder again.

“Every time you feel like you did something good, you should add another feather,” she explained.

I looked at the new ink on my back.

It was interesting and original; I’d give her that.

One half of my back was taken up.

Wings looked like they practically grew out of my back like an angel, but where an angel would have a full set of wings, the ones tattooed on my back were mangled.

Only a few of feathers remained, but at the very top you could see that perfect feathers were growing back in between damaged ones.

Almost like I was earning back my wings, one feather at a time.

“It’s fucking awesome,” Daisy breathed from behind me. “Do you need a job?”

Peek laughed.

“No, lass, I have three parlors in Texas. I most certainly have my hands full, thank you,” Peek smiled as he looked at my back. “You got a good one, boyo.”

I snorted and turned back to stare at Freya.

However, my words were directed at Peek.

“You should hire her to design these for you,” I said.

Freya’s face pinked.

“Oh, fuck yes,” Peek said. “I got the skills to draw it, but coming up with designs hurts me eyes nowadays.”

Freya’s mouth dropped open.

“I’m not…I can’t…I have no real training!” she informed him.

Peek shook his head and threw his arm around her shoulder.

“Neither do I,” he countered. “I just picked up the gun one day and started working. You get better the more you practice. If you have skill, all you need is the time to improve it.”

“Alright, boyo,” Griffin said. “Get this covered up so we can get the fuck out of here. Being away from Lenore makes my heart hurt.”

“Pussy,” I said, but I was beginning to have that same feeling again. Being away from Freya, these last two weeks, had been hard. Knowing she wasn’t anywhere near me had been torture.

“Y’all keep an eye on Coller?” I asked as I stepped down and went back to the seat.

Peek handed Freya the bottle of ointment and Freya got to work, using her soft hands to rub it all into the skin of my back over the tattoo and the area surrounding it.

My mind started to wander, but what Peek had to say next set my teeth on edge.

“He disappeared into the shadows where we assumed he had his bike parked,” Peek said. “Sent a few of the prospects after him, but they couldn’t locate him.”

Of course they couldn’t.

“That’s not very good news,” Freya murmured. “Is it?”

I refrained from saying just how ‘not good’ it was.

Instead, I sent a silent plea towards Peek, and he nodded his head in confirmation.

They’d help me look out for Freya.

The knot in my belly loosened.

Thank fuck.

“You done, baby?” I asked Freya when she started to move down to my ass. I knew for a fact that there wasn’t any ink down there.

“Oh,” she said, snatching her hand away. “Yes, I’m done.”

Griffin snorted. “Your body makes her lose her mind.”

I flipped him off and stood up, but Peek pushed me back down and covered my back in fucking plastic wrap, of all things. “You’ll need this for the ride back home.”

I didn’t doubt him.

It was already starting to throb.

But it was fucking worth it.