Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
I drew in a deep breath. I could do this. I could be with another man. I could allow Ink to call the shots.
I trusted him.
Ink suddenly stood up and moved towards me. Every pair of eyes in the room followed him until he was standing right in front of me. He reached up and cupped the side of my neck, and using his thumb, he tilted my chin back to cover my lips with his.
“You might be my old lady, baby, but you’re still in control of your own life,” he told me, somehow knowing what I was afraid of without me even having to say the words. My breath hitched in my throat. “And if anyone fucks with you, they have me to deal with,” he loudly announced, though his eyes never left mine.
With that, he reached down and grabbed my hand in his, leading me over to the chair he had been sitting in previously. He sat down and pulled me down on his lap so that I was straddling him. His hands gripped my hips, his thumbs moving under my shirt to rub lightly on the skin there. I shuddered in his hold. “You ready to wear my name on your skin, my girl?” he asked me, letting those green eyes meet mine.
I swallowed thickly. “Today?” I asked him, my voice hoarse.
He nodded. “Today,” he confirmed. “I’ll ink you myself,” he assured me at my nervous look. His eyes flashed dangerously. “No other man is coming near your fucking body, baby.”
Joey snickered. I shot my brother a dark look for finding the situation amusing. He only shrugged at me as he tightened his arms around Elaina’s waist. “It’s not the end of the world to wear his name, Sis,” Joey told me. “Let him do this. He’s already proven to you that he’s not going anywhere.”
I looked back at the man holding me. Looking at him, you’d never know that he was three years younger than me. Life had hardened him, and he had earned more respect than any other man I knew, my brother included. I knew Ink would never let me down, but I was still nervous.
I was terrified I was giving Ink too much control.
“Easy,” Ink soothed. “I can see those pretty little thoughts running rampant in your mind, Jessie. I’m not here to control. My name on your neck is just a reminder to you that I am yours just as much as you are mine. I’m always yours to call on.”
Oh, my heart.
“Okay,” I whispered. “But in return, I want my name on you as well.”
He grinned at me, and that grin melted my soul, made me swoon in his lap. “I’m definitely okay with that, my girl.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips with mine. Then, he tapped my ass. “Up,” he ordered.
I stood up. He grabbed my waist in his hand as he looked over at my brother. “Need my tattoo shit out of the storage closet,” he told Joey.
Joey pressed a quick kiss to Elaina’s lips before he allowed her to get up. Whiler winked at me. “Always knew you’d stop running from him eventually, girly. Glad you finally came to your senses.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Kiss my ass, Whiler.”
He barked out a laugh. Ink led me back to my room. “Go put your hair up, and clip up whatever won’t go into your bun. I need full access to the back of your neck.” At my hesitation, he reached up and cupped my cheeks, soothing his lips over mine. “Remember, I am yours, Jessie—yours to call on. But you’re mine, too, baby. It works both ways.”
“This is nerve-wracking for me,” I reminded him. “I don’t like being controlled.”
He brushed his thumbs over my cheekbones. “Never going to control you, baby. I just want you to let me in—let me take care of you. You’re not alone. You never have been.”
My chest squeezed in my chest at his sweet words. Drawing in a deep breath, I steeled myself and walked to my bathroom to put my hair up as he had requested. I could hear Ink talking to my brother as I was clipping up all of my little stray hairs. Elaina leaned on the doorjamb of my bathroom. “Are you sure this is something you want, Jessie?” She frowned. “I don’t want you to do something just because Ink is pressuring you.”
I looked over at her. “Ink and I may fight, Elaina, but I know that he’ll never hurt me where it counts.”
“But do you feel pressured?” she asked me, real concern shining in her pretty, blue eyes.
I shrugged. “So, what if I do?” I asked her. “I agreed to be his old lady last night. I agreed to him inking his name into my skin. I’ll be fine.” I clipped up the last piece of my hair. “I’m always fine, Elaina.”