Page 138 of Knight
Emory came over. “Are you okay? Do I need to call Dalton?”
Emory’s connection to the sheriff had its uses, but not even he could stop a biker club from carrying out the punishment they saw fit. It would have only inspired the Serpents to terrorize Riverton.
“Not necessary, but thanks,” I said. “I’m mostly just bruised.”
Cyrus gave me a considering look. “You’re free and clear of the Serpents now?”
“Yeah. There’s only one thing left to do.” I shrugged out of my jacket and pointed to the chain of snakes tattooed on my arm. “I need this covered. I don’t care what it costs. I need it off me. I want to erase all my connections to them for good.”
“You don’t need to pay anything,” Emory said. “It’s on the house. I’ll do it if Cyrus won’t.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“We do,” Cyrus said. “Get in the chair. I don’t have anyone coming in for an hour.”
I hadn’t expected such a quick response, but I didn’t argue. “Just let me set up everyone’s stations first.”
I went through the opening routine, so all the artists could get to work once their clients came in. When I finished, Cyrus waved me into his chair.
“Any idea what you’d like to be tattooed in its place?” Cyrus asked. “Keep in mind, we’ll have some limits if we want to cover it effectively.”
I didn’t even have to think about it.
“I’d like to have Angel tattooed on my arm.” At Angela’s eyebrow raise, I added, “For Aiden. It’s what I call him.”
“Ah, that’s why you always insist on calling me Angela,” she said with a laugh. “It all makes sense now.”
I shrugged. “Guilty.”
“We’ll need more than just the word to cover this,” Cyrus said thoughtfully.
“Maybe something to represent healing?” I suggested. “He’s a doctor, and he’s healed me in ways I didn’t see coming.”
Emory pulled up Google on his phone and showed me and Cyrus an image of a symbol I’d seen before to represent healthcare, apparently called a caduceus. It featured two serpents wrapped around a staff with wings, which would make it easier to incorporate some of my original artwork.
“That should work,” Cyrus murmured.
Emory glanced at me. “Unless you want to lose all signs of serpents?”
“No, this is good.”
Better than good, really. It represented my past and my future.
“I’ll have to do some additional work around it,” Cyrus warned. “A floral pattern with different shapes and sizes to disguise what’s underneath would work.”
“I trust you. Do whatever you need to do.”
They got to work. Emory drew the design while Cyrus gave him input from studying the ink already on my arm.
Once finished, Cyrus transferred the design to my skin.
“So, you’re pretty serious with Aiden, huh?” Emory asked.
“Yeah.”
“We don’t want to cover this up again in a few months,” Cyrus added with a chuckle.
“It’s serious. I love him. I, uh, couldn’t have gottenthrough all this”—I pointed to my black eye—“if it weren’t for his support. His and the other guys at Redemption Road.”
