Beneath His Ink (Highway Reapers Motorcycle Club Book 3)

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental.

Beneath His Ink copyright @ 2015 by Sophia Hampton. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Part 3 of the
Highway Reapers Motorcycle Club
trilogy

CHAPTER ONE

Tyson Adler was cranky, conflicted, and confused. After a two day journey— well, if you can call being on the run from law enforcement where you are looking to be questioned about a man who was massacred in your apartment a journey—with his companion Ella Louise, he didn’t know if he was doing the right thing for either of them. On one hand, he didn’t want to have to answer the questions that would arise about his past when the police questioned him, but on the other hand, he knew a set up when he walked blindly into it. There was no way he was going to go down for the kind of heat that bloody mess would bring.

He could see Ella looking at him from the corner of his eye and could tell she was wondering what he was thinking about. It was her turn to drive, and after her many requests, he’d let her do what she felt was the fair thing to do. She’d been harping on it being her turn for over nine hours, but now that he sat in the passenger seat, the thoughts were hitting him over the head like bricks falling from a three story building. Indecisiveness wasn’t something he dealt with frequently, but ever since Ella had made an appearance, his life had been full of it. However, he couldn’t blame this latest one on her; the Reapers owned this one.

“Turn around,” Tyler said without looking at Ella. He didn’t want to try to explain why to her when he was struggling with the reason and rationale himself. She kept driving like he’d not said anything for so long, he started to wonder if he’d just said it in his head, so he repeated it a little louder.

“Are you sure?” She said sounding like she wasn’t sure if she should be happy or not. Ella was a trooper and had shown more loyalty than anyone he’d ever known, being that she didn’t know him all that well. She knew what they were running from was bad, but she didn’t know how bad the situation was because she wasn’t with him to see the dismantled body strewn all over his old bedroom with the man’s intestines in a bucket on the floor. Two days, eighteen hours, and twenty one minutes— that’s how long it took for Tyson to see the growing look of fear on his ride or die girlfriend. He didn’t know that much about her, but what he did know, he liked… a lot. She’d been through a lot at the hands of the Reapers from them pinning a drug charge on her and being forced to go to prison for that charge to them asking her to help find him and ending up in this mess.

“Yes.” That short word sounded so final in his head, but it was something he really didn’t want to do. This whole thing started about money, but it didn’t feel like that was the problem now. The issue seemed darker, deeper, and crazier. Who the hell cut up the middle man for losing another man who owed money? It was counter productive.

She looked back and forth between him and the road ahead before she turned into the closest motel parking lot. After she killed the engine, she just sat there, but her breaths were getting increasingly harder and louder. It looked like to Tyson that the anxiety of the experience was catching up with her or maybe she just realized what she was doing. He knew that she was pretty fresh from prison and that she’d wanted to turn her life around. He also knew that since they’d been together, she’d probably committed more crimes than she had before his old motorcycle club The Headless Reapers had framed her for some shit she didn’t do.

“Let me drive,” he said softly because she looked like she was on the verge of a break down. She was a small woman who had a lot of cute mixed up in her beautiful, but she didn’t want to hear that. It was a good thing she was also a bad ass so she could offset some of that cuteness. Watching her try to keep it together and failing miserably touched something in him, and he had wanted to get back in the driver’s seat as soon as he’d left it. He’d only ridden on his bike for the last 10 years, and he’d been the only one to drive Dick, his bike.

“Wait!” Ella sounded frazzled a little, and since he’d been doing all of this thinking without much talking, it was only right to hear what she had to say.

“What’s the problem?”

“We’ve been on the road for a couple of days only stopping once, and I just want to get some rest before we head back.” Her eyes were moist from tears she was trying to hold back, and he wanted to do what was best for her too, but this was challenging.

He had made a decision. Now that he had made the decision, he wanted to put the thought into motion. It was going to be hard enough to explain why he’d been missing in action for over four days… closer to five if they stopped for a much needed break. He looked over at his traveling companion and thought about the ideas that were probably going through her head. A little break was just what she needed, and if his plan didn’t go the way he wanted, this may be the last time they got to spend any quality time together without prison bars between them.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll wait here and you can get the room.” He tried to act like that didn’t rile him up because he wasn’t used to sitting back and letting someone else take care of him, but the alternative was to face the chance that he’d be recognized. That would take the ball out of his court and right into the hands of law enforcement. Nope, he’d rather just set Ella up somewhere when they got back and then walk into the police department to turn himself in. His girl wouldn’t be in the middle of this shit storm if he could help it. He was going to ride this out alone. He wasn’t going to share his plan with her because he didn’t have it in him to argue about it. Just getting back into the city without anyone knowing they were together was going to be difficult, but he’d make it happen.

She was out and back with a key within a few minutes, and they walked to the door with the number 13 on the outside. It was right in front of the car so the trip wasn’t long, and he didn’t worry about anyone seeing him and thinking too much about it.

Ella looked weary. She was like a flower that had gotten too much water. Wilted, droopy, and limp. The woman opened the door and did a walkthrough of the room before falling on the bed with a huge sigh.

“Are you going to lay down with me?” She said after a few seconds of him standing by the door. She still had that allure thing going for her and damned if his cock didn’t start to firm up with her sexy voice coupled with that look on her face. He shouldn’t even be interested with as much as he had going on in his mind, but his body loved hers, and each and every time she crooked her finger at him, he seemed to be ready.

“How about a pizza and then a nap?” Tyson took out the book on the counter that had listings of all the delivery options and opened it to read the offerings aloud. The best thing was that Ella had won nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars at the casino and she’d requested it in cash. Before she’d gotten her winnings, they had all these problems that money could fix, but when they got the money and he’d tried to fix the problem, he walked into an issue that money wouldn’t make disappear. The whole damn thing was frustrating.

“Sounds good. Get three extra-large pizzas and make one of them with pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese.” Her voice went from sultry to sleepy in seconds. She was so beautiful just lying there with her eyes droopy but rattling off her order. He didn’t know if there was something wrong with him or he was just feeling nostalgic. This is what he wanted… to be with Ella and just live life. It could be the fact that it looked like he’d be doing twenty to life for a crime he didn’t commit. That alone was making him long for the simpler things in life. He watched Ella as she eased into sleep. The soothing rhythm of her breathing and the rise and fall of her breasts comforted him in a way he wouldn’t have thought possible before he’d met her.

He sat on the overstuffed reclining chair and stared at her for who knows how long, but when he snapped out of the enchantment he seemed to be having with Ella and regretting some of the choices he’d made during his lifetime, the room was almost dark. Turning on the television gave him a bit of light to call the pizza place, and then he figured he’d take in the news as well. They were three states away, but as soon as he turned on the television, a picture of his face popped up. Of course, it was the meanest, gruffest looking picture they could have found. It was so bad that he didn’t think anyone would even recognize him if they saw him in person. Not that he was going to chance that. He’d cut his beard down a bit from the period that picture was taken so he looked like a totally different man.

His brief time on the news just said the police were looking into the crime and that he was a person of interest. Everyone was notified that he could be armed and dangerous and not to approach him yourself.
Enough of this shit
. Calling in the pizza and turning the television to a game show was the best thing to do all around. It would probably take a day or two to get back to where they were, and then he could do his best to settle this mess and get his life back to normal… whatever that was. The pizza was supposed to be there in thirty minutes or less, and he figured that was more than enough time to continue to watch Ella sleep. That was more pleasurable than anything he’d seen on television, and it gave him a chance to think about what he’d like his “normal” life to look like. Ella would be there and maybe a dog; that was about all he would be willing to commit to right now, because that  seemed like an unreachable dream at this point.

The pizza woman gave him the goods, and he’d kept the lights dim. She wasn’t the friendly sort, so he considered himself lucky. There was a lot to juggle, but he didn’t want to give the woman any more time to recognize him. She looked at the cash and was appreciative of the tip. He made it generous but not memorable.

The delicious smell of pizza woke up his version of sleeping beauty and he chuckled to himself. Forget an alarm for this woman; bring in the scent of food and she was up.

“Good morning, sexy,” he said as he watched her follow the pizza he carried to the table.

“It’s not morning… is it?” She grabbed for her phone and got up to come greet her meal. Swatting him playfully on the arm when she figured out it was still early evening, she said, “Oh, you.”

His flower looked refreshed. Like she’d been potted and watered, and now he was going to feed her. Who knew? She may want to get back on the road tonight. It probably would have been a better idea to take a nap with her instead of staring at her and trying to reign in all his thoughts.

“Dinner is served.” He loved the excited look on her face when she was getting ready to eat.

“I knew I was tired, but I feel like I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.” She sat down, opened up the boxes, and had a few slices on her plate within seconds.

“That’s almost exactly what happened. You called out your pizza order and then you were out faster than a light.” He should have gotten ice, but the pop was cold and the pizza was hot, so dinner was ready.

“I’m not even going to apologize about that one, because I was exhausted. I thought you’d be tired too.” She was already taking out another two slices and folding them to make one gigantic piece before taking a huge bite. Her appetite for life, sex, and food was an amazing thing. He could watch her all day and find something interesting and amusing about her.

“I don’t think it’s hit me yet. Getting the idea to turn around was one I made in the car, and I wanted to act on it quickly. It’s going to be hell for a man like me to try and explain what happened.” He wanted to get this out in the open, because he knew she’d have questions, but there were times he’d see wariness in her eyes, so he didn’t know if she’d just come out and ask.

“You don’t think they’ll believe you? If you’re turning yourself in, why would they doubt you?” Her bright green eyes were as sexy as they were the first time he’d seen them when she flirted with him at one of his favorite bars. He’d thought he was lucky that night, and he thought he’d be lucky this one.

“I was with the Reapers for a good long while. Fortunately for me, I’ve not been caught doing anything illegal since I was 19 years old, but my old motorcycle club could have a few cards up their sleeve. The police department always has a few undercover thugs that are willing to take kickbacks and offer trumped up information for a bit of cash.”

She took a big swallow of her food, and he wondered if they should wait to have this conversation when her belly was full. He wasn’t really hungry, but he loved watching her eat, and he didn’t want to spoil her appetite, if that was even possible.

“Then why are you going back?” Her question was quiet and thoughtful, but he didn’t think he could tell her the real reason he wanted to go back. It would make her sadder, and he didn’t want to hear the lie cross her lips.

“It’s something that needs to be done, and I want to make this right. Walking around not knowing who is going to recognize me and what they will do to you when they spot you with a wanted man is not the life I want to live.”