Blue wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. It meant that this feud wasn’t entirely her fault, but she was still very much involved. “Let’s get that shirt off of you. I can’t get to everything.” She grabbed at the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it up.

  Torque cooperated, collapsing back against the tattoo chair as soon as the garment was off. Despite the blue and purple bruises that were already developing, Blue couldn’t help but admire his body. She had seen it before, in much better circumstances, and yet even in this state, he was delicious. His chest was perfectly carved, the muscles of his abdomen sculpted like a creek rippling over rocks that she couldn’t stop looking at. She curled her fists to keep from running her fingers over his smooth skin and moved to the sink for a wet rag.

  “I don’t even want to know what your tattoo looks like after this. I’ll check it out in a minute, but I don’t think I want you to roll back over just yet. I’ll probably have to redo some of the blackwork once it’s healed, if it’s bled even half as much as the rest of you.”

  “You sound so pissed,” he said with a small but pained smile.

  “I am pissed,” she assured him. “Things shouldn’t be this way.” She was angry that Rat had grabbed her, angry that Torque had taken such a beating, and angry that she couldn’t seem to control herself around this man. Blue moved around him, tending to each one of his wounds.

  His hand reached out and grabbed hers, the fingers wrapping around hers and stopping her for a moment. He twisted her hand gently so that he could see her palm. “You’ve got a scrape.”

  Blue had hardly even felt the burn of the asphalt as it had ripped into her skin. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Sure, it is.” Despite his wounds, he brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed the abrasion.

  Touched and yet startled, Blue stood there and watched. His eyes lifted to hers as he pulled her down to him and kissed her. His lips were salty, and he moved gently due to his own bruising, but he kissed her nonetheless.

  When Blue pulled back, she didn’t straighten but kept her face only a few inches from his. She smiled, remembering what he had said when he’d kissed her at her place. “Was that me paying for what you did?”

  “I think I’m the one who owes you this time. You’re the one playing doctor, after all.”

  “Then I get to choose the payment.” Blue lifted her leg over the chair and straddled him, feeling the heat of his body between her legs. No longer worrying about doing the right thing, she gently set her palms against his lower abdomen and ran her hands up his stomach and to his chest, spreading out her fingers to touch as much of him as she possibly could. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, delicately and uncertain at first. When Torque’s hands came up and wrapped around her waist, she deepened the kiss.

  Their tongues danced, and his arms were around her completely. She moaned her need and he let her go. Blue got off him long enough to strip his jeans, exposing the rest of that fine body she had seen the other day back at her place. She traced her fingers up the long lines of his legs, playing with the delicate hairs.

  “This isn’t fair,” Torque murmured as she pulled her shirt over her head. “I hurt too much to really enjoy you.”

  “That’s all right.” Blue grinned at him as she dropped her shirt on a chair and flicked off her shorts. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be enjoying you, after all.”

  His member was already hard and ready for her, and Blue didn’t want to wait any longer. She had spent so much time over the last few days thinking about him, fantasizing about him, wondering what it would be like to have him. If he was going to go to the trouble of playing hero twice now, then he was going to have play the role all the way. Still, his package was just too tempting. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since the last time she had seen it, knowing what was on the other side of his jeans.

  Blue bent down and took him into her mouth. He sucked in a gasp of air and she stopped. “Do you hurt too much for this?”

  His knuckles were white as he pressed his hands to the chair. “Don’t you dare stop.”

  Smiling, she slid him between her lips once again. He was rock hard under the soft skin, and she pulled him all the way in so that his head touched the back of her throat. It only took a small movement of her mouth to suck hard at him as she pulled back, and Torque writhed with pleasure on the table.

  It turned her on to know that she could do this to him. There was something about a blowjob that gave her control over a situation, and control was definitely something she needed in her life right now. She worked at him with her tongue, tracing the base of his shaft and gently trailing up to his head before she put her entire mouth and plunged him inside her once again. Torque moaned as she brought her fingers up to gently play with his balls. With fire zinging through every part of her body, she moved slightly up the chair to run his member between her bare breasts, pleased with the way it looked as it popped out of her cleavage. Electricity shot through her system, and she bent her head to continue her work, her breasts pressed against his balls and wrapped around his dick.

  Seeing that hard cock and hearing the moans of pleasure from him turned her on and turned it up. Blue gently reached down between her own legs to touch herself. Her body relaxed as it came alive, reminding her that she was so much more than just a tattoo artist or a victim of an angry biker. All that energy needed someplace to go, but it wasn’t good enough.

  Blue straddled him once again, rubbing herself up and down the length of his shaft. “I need you inside me,” she whispered.

  His throat moved as he swallowed. “You’re a horrible tease.” But he made no move to stop her, gripping her hips in his thick hands and following the movements.

  Finally, her body pulsing with need, she pierced herself on him. He was so thick, and he filled her pleasantly. Torque was scratching an itch so deep she hadn’t even known she had it, and Blue closed her eyes and threw her head back as she rode him. She felt like a goddess, her torso long and lean, her legs strong, her breasts full, and her body ready to receive everything Torque would give her.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as he pulled her toward him. “Come here.” His bruised lips kissed first one nipple and then the next as he buried his face in her breasts. He licked and suckled, pulling harder as she arched her back to give him better access.

  Blue’s hips moved in slow circles, with Torque’s finding the rhythm and moving in unison, alternately burying him inside her and sliding down his length. She was hot and slick, and already, she felt her body reacting to his. She wanted this to last longer, to last forever, to take all night, but her core wasn’t going to cooperate. Torque was strong and sexy. He had sacrificed himself for her. Biker or not, he had done something nobody else would, and she could no longer refuse to acknowledge what they had together. Pulses of pleasure ran down her body and echoed in her core, rippling around his cock.

  “Yeah, baby. You get what you need,” Torque rumbled. His hands were everywhere on her body, the skin rough but his touch gentle. “Take anything you want.”

  His words did it to her. Blue’s fists curled against the upholstery of the chair as she spasmed around him. She flung her head back, eyes closed once again, determined to enjoy every second of it. She could feel every point of contact between their bodies, and she pressed herself harder into him. Torque felt her pleasure and responded, his dick growing harder and thicker and making her come all over again.

  Blue screamed and flung her fist against the chair as the biker’s nails dug into the flesh of her ass. His head rolled to the side and he growled. They came together, needing, wanting, receiving, satisfied.

  Chapter Seven

  Blue

  The next week was quiet. Customers came in the door, Blue tattooed them, and then they left. It was a steady regime of earning money and moving onto the next client, the same thing she had always known since she had earned her own booth. There was nobody waiting to harass her in the parking lot, and there was no sign of Torque. Blue was grateful. She needed things to return to normal for a while. Things had been far too dramatic ever since Rat had decided to cause trouble at Spencer’s Shop, and life was easier without it.

  But several more weeks slipped by in the same manner, and she was beginning to hate it. The tattoos changed every day, but her work no longer satisfied her. She could only think about Torque, about that one amazing night of his sacrifice and their union. Her body shivered every time she remembered what he could do to her, even when he was beaten and bruised, and Blue longed for more. But she had no way of getting a hold of him, and she wasn’t about to track him down and beg him to return.

  She knew, in a way, that she should be happy. Blue had sworn a long time ago that she would never get involved with a biker. They were no good, and he was only proving it to her. He had swooped in, saved her life twice, let her make a fool of herself, and then he had disappeared. Blue had told him what she thought of men like him, and she should be thrilled that he was staying out of her life. They both knew that she wasn’t suited for club life. She’d gotten what she needed and it was time to move on.

  She and Spencer were both in her booth one day, working together on a massive backpiece. The man on the table had been coming to the shop since it opened, and Spencer always gave him preferential treatment. He was a surgeon in Los Angeles, and he certainly didn’t look the type to have a big tattoo. The doctor was clean cut and wealthy, but his lab coat and button-down shirt would hide his new ink well.

  “Did you order more black ink on the last shipment?” Spencer asked as he adjusted his machine and brought it back down against the man’s flesh. “I was looking for some in the supply closet this morning, and it didn’t look like there was much left.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You doing all right today? You seem quiet.”

  Blue scowled at her work. “So?”

  Spencer shrugged. “You just don’t really seem yourself, that’s all. You haven’t for a while.”

  “I’m fine.” Blue wasn’t about to discuss it with him, and especially not in front of a customer. Spencer had mentioned once or twice in the week following Torque’s last visit that he hadn’t seen him around for a while, but Blue had refrained from telling him anything about what had happened. As far as the shop owner knew, the biker had gotten the rest of his tattoo and gone home without incident. He didn’t need to know any more than that.

  She focused on the tattoo, a backpiece of the Rod of Asclepius. She hadn’t known the name of the snake twisted around a staff that represented medicine and healing prior to this, but that was the thing about her job. There was always something new to learn, whether she wanted to or not. Either her clients told her, or she had to look it up to ensure her work didn’t end up on some list of tattoo regrets on the internet.

  But try as she might, she couldn’t keep her head where it belonged. Her mind wandered to Torque and the way his body looked when he had been in this chair the last time. Had his bruises healed? Had he blamed her for what Rat had done to him? Was he staying away from her because she had moved too fast, or because he thought she wanted more from their relationship than casual sex? Blue wasn’t even sure what she wanted from it.

  And when she tried to find something else to think about, her mind only took her down a dark hole to much worse places. Memories of her childhood came flashing to her mind unbidden, no doubt brought on by thinking about bikers and clubs so much lately.

  “Good morning, Blue. Happy Birthday,” Mother whispered.

  Blue’s eyes fluttered open slowly, and then she shot out of bed. “What are you doing up so early?” she asked. “It isn’t even lunchtime yet.”

  Mother laughed. The lines around her mouth and eyes had deepened over the last year, and she had been in the tanning beds again. Combined with her overdyed hair, it made her look like a slim piece of rawhide. There was still a hint at her former beauty in her eyes, though, which were traced in a deep black eyeliner. “Maybe I’m excited about your birthday, too. It’s not every day a young woman turns twelve.”

  “What are we going to do today?” Blue headed to the closet and began yanking shirts down off the hangers. She had to find the perfect one. Mother had always let her choose her own clothes, and it didn’t matter if they matched or if they were even appropriate for her age. Blue plucked a teal T-shirt with a long hemline and black leggings out of the closet and yanked them on.

  “Well, I have some errands to run.” Mother looked down at the shabby carpeting in the bedroom, flicking the nap with her toes. “I won’t be able to do any official birthday stuff until after that.”

  Blue felt her shoulders sag, her thoughts of cake and ice cream and a day at the roller-skating rink dying before they ever reached her tongue. “But you always have things to do and errands to run. Can’t you stay home with me? Just for today? Or I could go with you,” she said quickly as she saw Mother begin to shake her head. “I’ll wait quietly, and then when you’re done we can go to the diner or something.”

  “You’re very sweet, baby, but sometimes there are things adults have to do alone. I’ll be back in time for dinner, and then we’ll do something fun, okay?” Mother rose and left the bedroom without looking at her daughter.

  Blue made herself breakfast, which included a massive pile of frozen waffles and a lake of syrup. She sat on the floor in front of the television and left her plate on the coffee table when she was done. It wasn’t unusual for Blue to fend for herself during the early hours of the day. She had long been used to getting up to her alarm clock, getting herself ready, and heading off to school before her mother so much as thought about getting out of bed. It was Saturday, so her routine of watching cartoons alone in the living room wasn’t broken.

  When her stomach rumbled at lunchtime, she left the television long enough to dig a Hot Pocket out of the freezer and open a can of Coke. Someone knocked on the door and Blue answered, the soda still in her hand.

  “Hey!” It was Alyssa, her best friend from down the street. “You wanna hang out today?”

  Blue shrugged. “We can, but we’d have to do it here. My mom’s going to be back in a little bit, and we’re going to do something special for my birthday.” She purposely didn’t look at the clock. There was no use in counting the hours, because Mother’s schedule was always unpredictable.

  “That’s cool.”

  The two girls sat in front of the TV and emptied the fridge. They played in the backyard until the sun became too much for them. They dug out an old video game and realized they were too old for it.

  “I think I know a boy who likes you,” Alyssa teased as they lounged on Blue’s bed and ate a stash of strawberry licorice they’d found in the back of the cabinet. She flung her black hair over the edge of the mattress and waggled her eyebrows.

  “I don’t care.” Blue ripped another piece of candy out of the bag and whipped it through the air a few times before she finally bit off the end of it.

  “Come on. Sure you do. There’s going to be a school dance at the end of the month, and maybe he’ll take you.”

  “It’s not Jacob Mifflin, is it? I’ve known he’s liked me for a long time, and I wouldn’t go to the dance with him if my life depended on it.”

  “Why not?” Alyssa demanded.

  “He’s a fat slob, and he hasn’t combed his hair in a month.” Blue ran a hand through her own pale brown hair, which sported a thick streak of blue on the left side. It was just temporary, but Mother hadn’t objected.

  Alyssa shrugged. “Yeah, that’s true. But he’s smart. He’ll probably grow up to be rich or something.”

  “Like I give a shit. I’d rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.” That had been Mother’s mantra for the last few years, ever since they had moved to this house. It was the longest they had stayed in one spot, and Blue was hopeful that this was the end of constantly changing houses and schools.

  Eventually, Alyssa’s mom came around looking for her.

  “Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?” she reprimanded when the girls opened the door. Her mouth was a hard line as she studied her daughter, her eyes glancing to Blue every few seconds. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  “Sorry,” Alyssa said with a roll of her eyes.

  Mrs. Walker sighed and turned to the other girl. “Blue, can I talk to your mom for a second? I was going to see if she’d be willing to help out with the PTO fundraiser.”

  Shifting her feet uncomfortably, Blue stared at the threshold. “I don’t think she’d want to.”

  “Let me just ask her, dear.”

  Mother left all the time. Blue had often heard the front door click softly shut after she had gone to bed for the night, not to open again until the sun was just barely lifting over the horizon. But it felt different now that another adult was about to know. “She, um, she isn’t here right now.”