Ink (4 page)

Lauren gave Angel a sad smile.  “That’s up to him.”

Angel thanked the nurse and sat back in her spot on the bed.  He just had to wake up.

“That was some interesting shit.”  Law spoke from the corner where he had been sitting and almost scared Angel to death.

“You are a sly bastard Lawless.”

“I’m watching my brother.  Should have been with him.  I’m chewing his ass when he wakes up.”

Angel saw the pain in his eyes.  This man, ice cold, was hurting.

“He’s going to be alright Law.”  Angel believed it.

“He damned well better be.”

Law looked away. 

“Did you know about any of this Law?”  She had to know.

The muscle in his jaw hardened.  “No.  Fucking nothing.” 

He looked back at Ink lying still and pale on the bed.  “We could have lost him Angel.  How could he do that?  How could he fucking do that shit to you?”

Angel slid her feet to the floor and walked to where Law was now standing.  He gripped the window frame so tightly his knuckles went white.

Angel touched his arm.

“Law.”

He turned and his eyes were over bright.

“I don’t have many friends Angel.  Not anymore.”

She felt the pain of loss in that second too.  Ace had meant the world to all of them.  His loss was still like an open wound.

“You have us all Law.  We would all be right here if that was you in that bed.  Just as upset and heartbroken.  We love you.”

Law shook his head. 

“We all do.  Nikki.  Do you question her too?”

He shook his head.  “No, that shit pisses her off.”

“Yeah, well it pisses me off too and you know I’m a hell of a lot meaner than she is.”

His mouth twisted and his head tilted in that way that he did.  “Maybe so Angel cakes, but I don’t need to be on your good side to get off.”

Angel smacked his chest.  “You are a bastard Law.  I don’t see how she stands you.”

He grinned.  Angel’s heart started beating again.  She didn’t know how to handle these strong men being so broken.

“She wouldn’t know how to live without me.”

Angel knew how that felt.  Her eyes wandered back to the bed. 

“I love him so much Law.”  She whispered.

Law, the man that was made of ice, pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her hair.

“He loves you too sweetheart.  He will be alright.”

Angel let herself be held, comforted by this man, a man who loved Ink as much as she did, one that was feeling the same betrayal the same heartache.

“Fuck this.  We know him.  There was a reason for this shit and you can’t tell me he knew about any of this shit.  He was set up and that pisses me off.”

Angel smiled against his chest.  Mad Law was better than that sad Law.

“Then why don’t you get pissed off and figure this shit out?”

He pinched her chin and grinned. 

“I’ve got this shit.”

Five

It had been three days.  Ink had been responsive in some ways, but refused to open his eyes.  Angel was exhausted.

“You need to rest honey.”  Bambi said as she rubbed Angel’s stiff back.

“I can’t leave him Bambi.  I can’t.  I can rest when he wakes up.”

“This is ridiculous Angel.”  Lizzie, her sister demanded.  Lizzie was a nurse and she hadn’t stopped fussing about how Angel needed to take care of herself and Angel had reached the end of her patience.

“Kiss my ass Lizzie.  I know how much sleeping you did when Rider was in the hospital.”

“I wasn’t pregnant!”

“I’m not leaving him.”  Angel demanded.  She was getting tired of everyone treating her like a child.

“You are a stubborn idiot Angel.  This isn’t good for that baby!”

“Why don’t you go then?  You go on and rest.”  Angel insisted as her anger rose.  “This baby is just fine.  She is getting everything she needs and it’s not like I’m doing any heavy lifting.  I am sitting here, just like I would be sitting anywhere else.  What difference does it make to you?”

Lizzie threw up her hands.  “I can stay with him.  You need to sleep!”

“If you guys don’t stop fussing they will throw us out of here.”  Bambi said in a hushed voice.

“I’m not leaving him Lizzie.”  Angel’s voice cracked.  “I can’t.  This is all my fault.  I just can’t.  I can’t sleep with him in here hurt.  I can’t.  If I close my eyes all I can see is him lying on the side of the road bleeding with no one there to help him.  Those dreams are more stressful than sitting here.  I can’t see him hurting.”

She stopped talking when Lizzie’s eyes rounded.  She jumped to her feet and pressed the call button.  The nurse came on in a second.

“He’s awake.”  Lizzie said in a happy voice as she wiped a tear from her face.

Angel looked down to find Ink’s hand gently rubbing her belly.  She looked to his face to see his beautiful eyes open.

“Oh my God.  Ink!”  She gripped his hand to her chest.

His lips curved into the smile she so adored, but his eyes clouded with pain.

“Sorry my Angel.”  His voice was raspy, but it sounded like music to Angel.  “So sorry.”

Angel shook her head.  “No sorries baby.  You’re here.  You’re awake.  Everything will be fine now.”

Ink’s brows furrowed and he looked around.  “Love you.”

“I love you so much.”  Tears were back in her eyes, but she didn’t care.

“Need to see Preach baby.  Need you to rest for me now.  Take care of you.”  His voice was still so weak and he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

“You can talk to daddy later baby.  You need to rest now.”

He shook his head.  “Now.  It’s...important.”  He looked tortured.  “Remember how much I love you.”

“I will.  You don’t have to worry about that, not ever.  I know.”

“No matter what Angel.”

There was steel in his voice even in his weakness he was strong and he meant what he said.

“No matter what baby.”

The nurse rushed in and started checking Ink over.  His eyes held Angel’s and she knew her world was about to change.  She didn’t want it.  She refused it.  It wasn’t like he could go get her daddy on his own.  She could refuse.

“Now Angel.”

“I’ll get him.”  Lizzie said and left before Angel could stop her.  Not now, not when she’d just got him back.

Preach entered before Angel could find words.  A grin split his face.  “Good to see you awake brother.”

Ink’s eyes met Angel’s.  Her heart fluttered.  She was not going to like whatever he was about to say.  He lifted his hand and she pressed hers into it as his eyes turned to her father.

“It was Zipper.”  He rasped out as if the words were shards of glass.

Angel’s heart crumbled.  It
was
all her fault.

Six

Ink was glad to be sitting up in bed.  He was so tired of bed and this damned hospital.  They said that he might get to go home in a few days, but with what he had to tell Angel he wasn’t sure that home would be any better.

“When are you going to tell Angel about the boy?”  Spec leaned back in his chair.

“Needs to be before I get out of here.”  Ink sighed.

“It’s not like you cheated man.  She did that.  Not too much she can say.”  Tommy propped his feet on the foot of the bed.

“None of that matters.  She will never believe I didn’t know.”  Ink said.

“Did you know?”  Law leaned against the wall and regarded him with serious eyes.  “Would have been hard on a couple just starting out, finding out you had a kid…”

“No.  I had no idea until about a week ago, well,” he shook his head.  “About a week before we left.”  He rubbed his face.  “Maybe I had thought something about it when Jazz left out back then, but I was too wrapped up with Angel to think much about it.”

“So, you had planned to leave that day even before you found out Zip had fucked Angel?”  Tommy asked in his way of being a jackass.

Ink took a deep breath that felt like it would break him.

“That was the deal.  I get Jazz away and away from Rena.  She said she had breast cancer and wanted to go home to family.  She said the boy had been there.  She agreed to give him to me if I got her home…”

“I’m betting that’s not all she wanted.”  Law chuckled.

Ink shook his head.  “She wanted money.  A hundred grand.  I told her I would find a way to get it to her.  I gave her twenty-five.”

“Angel know about that money?”  Preach asked.

Ink shook his head.  “I wanted her to meet him.  I wanted to meet him myself.  She would understand.  He’s my son.”  His eyes fell on Shadow then to Preach.  “Can you say you would have done anything differently?”

Preach looked haunted.  He looked to where his son stood by the window.  He nodded.  “I’d have done the same thing, not the same way.  I’d have leaned on my brothers.  Is the boy still with her family?”

Ink shook his head.  He wasn’t looking forward to this, but he needed to share what had happened.

“We were riding.  Had been on the road for hours.  A black van came up beside us and I slowed to let him pass.  Before I knew what had happened Jazz shoved a blade into my side and jerked hard.  We left the road and I landed hard.  Jazz seemed to fare better than me, but she risked her life to wreck us.  She was up and arguing with Zip.  He was screaming at her, taunting me.  He had taken the boy.  He had forced her to help him.  That bastard has my son.”  He looked down.  “And my fucking wedding ring.”

Ink was furious.  He had no idea what Zipper would do to the boy knowing he was Ink’s.

“We will get that son of a bitch brother and we will get your boy back too.”  Shadow spoke from where he stood by the window.

“Call Valentine and see if he can reach out to a few contacts.  Find me Zipper and that whore Jazz.”  Preach’s voice was as hard as stone.

Choo-Choo nodded and pulled out his phone to place the call to his cousin that had, until recently, been a bounty hunter.

Angel stepped back from the door.  Her heart was pounding against her chest.  She looked down at her phone she held clasped in her hand.  She could help.  It was reckless, but she knew Zip and she knew he wouldn’t turn her down.

She pressed his number and held the phone to her ear.  She wouldn’t leave this to the club, this was personal and she would put that fucker in the ground herself.

It was time she took her place as the princess of the club and earn the respect of the men she cared so much.  It was dangerous, but they did dangerous things every day.  She walked down the hall and out of the hospital. 

Seven

Ink woke up to a dim room and Mina by his bed.  He let his eyes adjust and he listened.  He hated hospitals.  The machines beeped and made constant noise, the halls were always too loud. 

Ink preferred the open road.  He loved the sound of wind and the hum of his bike under him and he loved the sound of Angel in the shower in the mornings.

He let his eyes drift closed.

Angel always woke up ready for him.  She had never turned him away and she always sang in the shower after he loved her.

His heart squeezed in his chest.  He missed her.

“Angel?”  His voice sounded gravely so he tried to clear it.

Mina looked uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?”

“She isn’t here.”  Mina said in a small voice.

“Where the fuck is she Mina?”  She wouldn’t be acting this way if Angel had just gone to the store.

“I don’t know.”

“Get me somebody that does know!  Right now.”  Ink was almost ready to get out of bed when Law walked in.  His icy blue eyes stopped Ink in his spot.

“Gotta take a piss brother?  ‘Cause I know there ain’t another reason you are trying to get up out of that bed.”

“Fuck you.”

Law’s face split into a grin.  “Is that an offer?  Haven’t had any since we got up here, but once in the bathroom and well…”  He shrugged and sent Ink a wink that had him slumping back in bed.

“Sick son of a bitch.  Where is Angel?”

Lawless jerked his head toward the door and Mina stood to leave.  She leaned over Ink and kissed his head.

“She will be fine.  You know Angel.”

He did and right now that scared the shit out of him.

Angel stood in the dim light of an old warehouse and watched Zipper walk toward her.  How had she ever found him attractive?  He was taller than Angel and wiry, but he didn’t compare to Ink.  He made her sick.

“Need to search you sweetheart.  Best if you take off all them clothes.”  Zipper said as he leered at Angel.

“Oh Zipper don’t tease me.  I’m so upset.  I didn’t know who else to turn to.  They all expect me to be so strong.”

She forced her voice to quiver.

Zip pulled her into his arms and kissed her head.

“You know I love you Angel.  There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”  His hand stroked down her back.

“It’s all just so terrible.  He won’t wake up.”  She forced tears into her eyes and looked up into his blue eyes.  They were lighter than Ink’s and had a crazed sheen to them.  It made her want to shiver.

“Spec said Ink has a kid, a son with that skank.  Why would he lie to me like that?  I felt like shit for all those years for what I did with you and he had a kid!”

She felt all the pain and confusion rush over her and her sobs turned real.

“What do you want me to do about all this sweetheart?”

He sounded so sincere, so caring as he stroked his hand down her back.  Up and down, up and down, she was going to lose her mind.

“I don’t know right now.  I want to know what happened.  I want to know why he left with her and if something had been going on all along.  I want to rip her face off and I want to see this kid that’s torn my life apart.”

“Seems like you know just fine to me.”  He sighed.  “Ink and Jazz have been together for years Angel, it never really ended.  He had me sent to another chapter because he knew I wouldn’t keep it quiet.  They never ended it.  You were just his in with the club.  I’m sorry sweetheart.”

Angel’s heart cracked.  It couldn’t be true, of course it couldn’t, but it hurt hearing it just the same.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”  She pounded her fist against his chest.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I couldn’t hurt you that way.  I can’t stand to see you hurting.”  He took her face in his hands and met her eyes.  “I can find her for you and I can get my hands on that kid.  You say the word and I will give them both to you in pieces.”

Angel forced a smile and gripped his wrists. 

“I don’t want to hurt the boy and Jazz is in the wind.  How would you find her?  The club can’t find her, they couldn’t even find you.”

He shrugged.  “You say the word and I’ll have her brought here.  I have people Angel.”  He still held her face in his hands.  He kissed her.  It was soft, but hungry at the same time.  “I have people Angel.  I will do anything you need me to do.  Just ask.”

He was beginning to scare the shit out of Angel.   She nodded.

“I want you to bring them to me.  I have to know.  I want to talk to her.  I want to talk to him too.”

Then his lips were on hers and this time they were hot and needy.  She wanted to vomit, but she had to pretend or this wouldn’t work.  She had known what she would have to do to make this work and she had told herself she could, but now she wasn’t so sure.  She wasn’t strong enough to do this.

When Zip cupped her breast and pressed against her she gasped and tried to pull away.

“Come on Angel.  I’ll give you what you want, but I need you.  It’s been so long.”

She thought fast.  “I know and I want you too, but I’m so tired and the stress of all this has been giving me cramps.  I’m afraid to let you…”

“We need to get rid of that kid anyway sweetheart.  Need to get that fucker out of you.”  He grabbed her ass and pulled her in tight.  Angel started to panic, would he hurt her?  Would he hurt her baby?”

“Please Zip.  I’m not going anywhere.  I want to make it good for you lover.  Let me rest and clean up some.”

Her words seemed to sooth him even as they made bile rise in the back of her throat.

“I could fuck your ass.  I know that fucker has and I bet you like it just fine.  Come on Angel.”

She didn’t know how far she could push him and she would lay down and spread her legs if it meant getting Noah away from Zip, but she didn’t want it to go that far.

“Bring me that bitch and her little bastard and you can fuck me anyway you want to for the rest of our lives, but I want to shower and rest first and I want you to give them to me.  Then I will strip down and let the whole fucking world watch as you make me your woman.”

The crazed look increased in Zip’s eyes and he pulled her in for a long kiss.

“Blow me then.  Blow me and I will have both of them here tomorrow before bedtime.  Strip and blow me.”

Angel started to argue, but she knew the look on his face, he was losing patience.  She had no choice.

She thought of Ink and how much she loved him and how all this was her fault.  She had started this by being a whore and she would end it the same way.  Ink might never forgive her, but she had to get his son back and it didn’t matter how she had to do it.

She let her lips curl into an empty smile and she sent all her love and tender feelings deep into her head.  She closed off all of her feelings and began removing her clothes.  She wouldn’t think about it or she would lose her nerve and the control she held over the situation.  She knew the look of Zip when he had lost control and he wore it right now.  If she backed down he would rape her on the floor and she knew it.    He was crazier than anyone had ever understood.  He had seen glimpses of it when they’d been together, but he had begged her not to say anything and she had kept that promise for all these years, but she remembered.  If she backed down he would snap and she would lose everything.

She pulled her shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor.  She knew her breasts were swollen and Zip loved tits.  She reached for the front clasp of her bra and slowly slid it open.  The straps slid down her arms and the pretty pink scrap of lace fell to the floor.

“I love your tits Angel.”  Zip reached out and squeezed one hard enough to make her gasp.  His mouth was on her then and she hated the way her body responded to him.  His hand tugged at her pants and his fingers dove into her panties.

“Always wet for me.  Bend over and I’ll fuck you the way you like it sweetheart.”

His fingers were making her dizzy and she hated herself for it.  “That’s not the deal Zip.”  But her hips bucked against his hand.

“Cum for me.  Call my name and coat my hand and then I’ll let you suck my dick.  I want you to cum for me.”

Angel knew she could, knew it wouldn’t take much for him to pull an orgasm from her, but she refused to get pleasure from the bastard, instead she quickened her breath and the rhythm of her hips.  Her moans grew louder and she squeezed her inner muscles and screamed his name, but it was all an act.  She wouldn’t give him her pleasure.  Never again.  She might betray Ink by letting Zip touch her, but she would never give him what belonged only to Ink.

“Good girl.”  He said as he pulled his hand out of her pants and licked them.  “You taste so fucking good Angel.  Now strip and get on your fucking knees like a good girl.”

She hated him.  She would cut his balls off if she could, but right now she would play the part.

She shoved her pants down.  The stretchy waistband made it easy and she hooked her panties and took them down too.  She kicked off her shoes and socks and left her phone in her back pocket. 

She pushed all her feelings away.  She had stripped at the club, just for the fun of it.  She tried to imagine Ink watching her instead of Zipper, but that just made her more miserable.  She let her feelings melt away.  She made herself wooden and lifeless.  Her body was just skin and bones, nothing mattered, but Ink and that child.  She would do anything for Cat without thought.  She knew Ink would feel the same way about his son.  She owed him this much.

“Fuck.  You are even sexy with that fucking kid in your belly.  Next one will be mine.  I’m gonna fuck you all the time.  You can give me kids Angel.  I want to watch them suck your tits while I fuck the shit out of you.”

He was rubbing himself as he talked and Angel wanted to retch, but she reached for him instead.  She pulled at his belt and made short work of his pants.  When they were bunched around his knees she dropped to hers and looked up at him with a small smile on her wet lips as she reached for him.  The quicker she could get this done the better off she would be.

She used her hands at first, but he grabbed a handful of hair and forced her to take him in her mouth.  She hated it, but knew she had no real choice.  This was for Ink and Noah.  This was a woman taking back what this bastard had tried to take from her.  She sucked him ruthlessly letting her teeth drag along his shaft.

“Careful sweetheart, fuck.”

Angel knew by the way his hips pounded into her mouth that he wouldn’t last long.  She hated this man.  She hated the taste of him, the feel of him, but she would do anything for Ink.  Ink.  Ink. 

She chanted in her head.

All too soon she felt the first hot jet of cum shoot down her throat and then Zipper pulled out of her mouth.  He spewed his seed all over her face and tits. 

“You are fucking mine now Angel.”

She licked her lips slowly.  “Not until you give me what I want.”

He nodded and blinked, the madness leaving his eyes.

“You can clean up here.  There’s a room back there,” he pointed to the far corner where Angel could make out a hall.  “Go back to the last room on the left, that’s mine.  Clean up and sleep sweetheart.” 

He helped her stand and started to reach for her clothes, but she rushed to grab them first.  He gave her an odd look, but she smiled and stood on her toes to kiss him.

“Thank you Zip.  I could always count on you to take care of me.”

He nodded in fast jerks of his head like a child who was eager to please.

She turned and made her way toward the hallway.