Free Inked by Jenika Snow Page A

nodded.
    She followed him, and when they were both seated
side-by-side there was a moment of silence.
    “How about I start?”
    “Okay.” She turned her body so they could stare at
each other when they spoke, and waited for him to say whatever it was he was
going to say.
    “I’ve never done this before.” He leaned back,
placed an arm over the back of the couch, and spread his legs slightly so he
took on this relaxed position.
    “Do what? Have a conversation?” Stella was trying to
go for a less weird vibe by teasing a little, because honestly she had never
been in a situation like this either, but Cadeon didn’t even crack a smile.
“I’ve never had to talk about something like this either.” He didn’t respond
for several seconds, and she shifted on the couch as the awkwardness
intensified. Should she say something else or wait?
    “You know what your dad and The Vicious Bastards
would do to me if they knew I fucked you?” He said that sentence with
absolutely no emotion, and her mouth dried and her throat suddenly started to
swell shut. “I’ll tell you what they’d do.” Again, a moment of silence, and she
wondered if he was going for some kind of shock value or if he actually wanted
her to answer. “They’d beat the living shit out of me, and when they stopped
for a second to allow me to catch my breath they would bring out the crowbars
and chains.” He stared her right in the eye.
    “I have grown up with those men, and yes, they are
dangerous and can live up to their club name, but I also know they want me to
be happy.” Her father’s MC wasn’t just called The Vicious Bastards because it
sounded intimidating, but because they were exactly that. She may never have
been in the thick of the violence because her father had made sure to always
keep her away, protected and ignorant, but she knew. She had seen them come
back to the clubhouse many times over, some with gunshot wounds, others with
busted faces. She had even seen them carrying a fallen member. But she never
asked what had happened, never pried into “club business”.
    “Yeah, they want you to be happy, Stella, but I’m
just some asshole that took something that I shouldn’t have. That doesn’t go
over very well with them.”
    She shook her head. “I’m an adult, Cadeon. This is
my life, and they know that.” Would her dad be mad? Most likely, but the other
guys, even though they were like her family, would listen to her and how she
felt far more effectively then her dad would.
    He smiled, but it wasn’t genuine. “Stella, baby, you
are the daughter of the club president. No matter how old you are Scars will see
you as his little girl. I want you, but the last thing I want to do is show
disrespect. We had sex, incredible sex, but still, I knew better than to go
there with you.”
    She shook her head, but she didn’t know what she was
shaking it to. No, that was a lie, she knew. In her heart she just had the
feeling that Cadeon was going to tell her that she was good enough to fuck, but
not good enough for more. Damn the tightening in her chest at that thought. “If
you’re going to say it, then just say it.” She found this almost violent
strength inside of her, and her voice rose from her anger. “I am sick of guys
being pussies because of who I am associated with.” She would not cry, but
rage-filled tears threatened to spill.
    Cadeon leaned forward and rested his forearms on his
thighs. He kept direct eye contact with her. “You know what the truth is,
Stella? If the MC doesn’t approve of who you want you know that guy is as good
as broken.”
    She didn’t say anything, couldn’t. What Stella did
wish he would do was get on with it.
    “But my reputation is just as shady as The Vicious
Bastards’. I’ve done bad stuff, things that could have put me away for a very
long time if I was ever caught—”
    “Just say it, dammit.” Her voice was louder, and her
anger continued to grow. “I’m not about to play this