Throttle Me (Men of Inked, #1)(44)

Oh, hell. I knew trouble when I saw it and it was standing right in front of me. City would be the death of me, but hell, at least I could say it was fun while it lasted. I did the thing I never, ever did – I took the plunge and jumped in feet first without holding my nose.





Fantasies



I had plans for my little darling. She needed to pay for her temper tantrum, but I wanted to give her plenty of time to think about her actions and worry about what was ahead of her.

Suzy stared at the ground as we walked through the door of Inked. Mikey sat at the desk and was engrossed in his work until I cleared my throat. He looked up, a smile broke out across his face. “Suzy, this is my brother Mikey.”

“Michael,” he interrupted, holding out his hand.

Suzy smiled at him and placed her hand in his. “Nice to meet you, Michael.”

“Pleasure is all mine.” He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it.

“Hey, dickhead, break this shit up. Suzy’s mine.” I smacked his shoulder and gave him a glare.

“I’m just giving her a proper welcome, bro, chill the f*ck out,” Mikey said, looking at me with a smarmy grin. Asshole.

“Do you want to come in the back or stay out here with Mickey?” I emphasized “Mikey” just to get under his skin. He’s always been Mikey, but he didn’t like the nickname when women were nearby.

“I’ll keep you company,” he piped in and I turned to him giving him the look of death.

“Um, I don’t know. I don’t really like blood. Is it bloody?” she asked

“Not too bad, sugar. Tattoos are done with needles so there’s some.” I pulled her close and buried my face in her hair, inhaling her sweet flowery scent.

“I think I better wait out here,” she said into my chest.

“I’ll keep her company, no worries, Joey.” The f*cker winked at me and I wanted to punch him in the face. I knew he was just f*cking with me because one thing my brother sure as f*ck wasn’t, was a woman stealer. He wouldn’t try and f*ck Suzy or take her from me, but it still grated on my f*cking nerves.

I’d never felt so territorial over someone and especially not as quickly as I had with Suzy. Maybe it was her similarities to Joni or her kind heart, but I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her and I sure as hell didn’t want to lose the opportunity to get to know everything about her.

“I’ll be done soon with Sophia. I just have to finish the color.” I kissed her, making sure to leave her breathless and her mind only filled with thoughts of me before I left her in the capable hands of my wanker little brother. “Don’t let Mikey fool you. He’s not as innocent as he looks.”

“I figured that. I’m not completely na?ve.” I chuckled because she was that na?ve. Mikey had the look of a kind hearted person with his charming boyish good looks, but I’d seen him beat the piss out of men almost twice his size.

“Okay, sugar. Just don’t believe a god damn thing that comes out of that mouth of his, got me?” I smiled at her and all I want to do is take her home and f*ck her brains out, but I had to finish Sophia’s tattoo and leave these two to talk.

“Gotcha, big guy. Go finish that tattoo so I can get her home to Kayden before he starts blowing up her phone. I’ll be okay.”

“I still have plans for you, sugar. I haven’t forgotten. Catch ya in a few.” I slapped her ass hard enough for it to sting. She yelped and jumped from the quick swat.

“Dang, City,” she said as she rubbed her ass and I laughed as I walked to the back of the shop.

Sophia was typing on her phone and looked up as I approached.

“Get the * out of the car?” she asked as I pulled on my gloves.

“Yeah, we had a little talk,” I laughed. I sat down and grabbed my machine and dipped the needle in the yellow ink.

“You have to understand her, City. She’s not like most girls. She’s in a class all her own,” Sophia said as she looked up from her phone.


“Whatcha mean, darlin’?” I asked rubbing the salve over the design before placing the needle against her skin.

“She hasn’t really had a boyfriend or been in love. Shit, I’d never been truly in love with someone until I met Kayden. She’s not used to any of this. God, I’m so f*cking this up, but you’re f*cking killing me with that needle, City,” she giggled.

“Just a little bit longer. Tell me more about her, Sophia. You guys were with each other like twenty-four seven there for a while. What don’t I know about her? What won’t she tell me about herself?” I looked down and shaded in the beautiful hibiscus on her hip with shades of pinks and yellow.

“Well, where should I start? I’m sure you’ve figured out she doesn’t swear, but trust me, that girl has one dirty ass mind.” She laid her head back in the chair and her body grew less tense. Talking seemed to help people get their mind off the needle scraping against their skin.

“Really? This I gotta hear.”

“I don’t want to give away all her secrets, but she needs a guy like you.”

“What’s that mean?” I had an idea, but I wanted to hear her best friend say it.

“Suzy is a control freak. She needs someone that won’t give in to her, but, and this is a big but, she also needs someone that’s going to care about what she wants. She’s been with men that don’t really live up to the promises in the sack or make her feel like a freak.”