“Please don’t say he wanted ‘You must be this tall to ride.’”
“No, that would’ve been infinitely better.” He pauses and takes a breath. “He wants ‘Your next tragic mistake’ tattooed above the arrow pointing to his dick.”
“That’s…weird.”
“It gets worse. I kept a straight face. No judgment, right? That’s what Bronze always says. Can’t judge the customers. Everyone has the right to decorate their bodies the way they want.”
I can picture Bronze saying that.
“So, he pulls this scroll out of his back pocket and says, ‘I want it written out like this,’ and I’m like, ‘Cool. Let me look at it so I can draw up a stencil and we’ll get rockin’ on this bad boy.’” Carter mimes someone rolling out an ancient scroll and pretends to peer at it through a monocle. “Uh, sir, this is spelled wrong.”
“Let me guess. He got the wrong ‘your.’” I’ve learned this particular error is one of Carter’s greatest peeves.
“Yup. It reads, ‘You’re next tradgec mistake,’” he says, spelling out the misspelled words.
“Damn. Sounds more like a prediction than a tattoo.”
“Right? So anyway he was super pissed. Yelled at me. Called me an elitist asshole. Like, dude, I don’t want to ink misspelled words into your skin that you’ll be wearing for the rest of your life. Chill.”
I’m laughing so hard, it takes a second to respond. “What did Bronze do?”
“Stopped him from killing me. The dude was pissed.”
“Are you sure you weren’t a little judgmental about it?”
“Maybe a wee bit?” He shrugs. “He was more embarrassed than mad I think.”
“Did you end up doing it?”
“Yeah,” he sighs. “He had to sit there and stew in his wrongness, but I had to pick up his belly flap and get way too close to his junk for my comfort. Bronze gave me a bonus.”
I’ll have to thank Bronze for looking out for Carter next time I see him.
I glance at his black T-shirt with a drawing of scattered pencils and crayons. “A little bit sketchy” is printed in a flowery font in the middle. “Cute. You design it?”
He tugs on the shirt and stares down at the design as if he’d forgotten what he was wearing. “Yeah. Funny, right?”
“Yup. You going to the party like that?”
He drops the shirt and stares over my shoulder. “You sure you want me to come?”
“Of course I do. Why would you ask that?”
“I know I’m not family.” Carter drops his gaze. “Or a brother—”
“Hey.” I reach out and squeeze his shoulder. “You’re family. You’re my family and that makes you club family.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean it.”
“I know you do.” He blows out a long, slow breath. “You’ve given me a lot. A place to live. A new career or two.” He chuckles.
“You’re really talented.”
“Charlotte’s the only other person who ever thought so.” He shifts his gaze to the side. “She claims our dad did, but I don’t remember it that way.”
The big brother role comes easily to me. Always has. “Well, now a lot of other people know it too.” I slap his shoulder. “Bronze has been a friend of the club for years—before my time, even. I wouldn’t stick my neck out if I didn’t believe in you. And Rock, well, I wouldn’t have risked my president’s wrath.”
“Merlin wouldn’t have pissed on me if I were on fire.”
“Yeah, but your uncle is a dick. Forget him.”
“He’s certainly forgotten us.” He tucks his hands in his pockets and stares at the ground. “He barely ever texts or calls her.”
Good. I promised Merlin a world of hurt if he contacted Charlotte without clearing it with me first.
“Did you tell him to stay away?” Carter asks. “Assert your biker dominion over my sister?”
I choose my words carefully, knowing how much Charlotte wants her little brother kept out of biker business. He’s also been lied to enough and deserves at least a piece of the truth. “He hurt your sister. He made things right the best he could, but I don’t trust him near her.” I hesitate and try to tamp down my anger. “He’s still family. If she wants to see him, she can. I just don’t want her alone with him ever again.”
He nods slowly. “Thank you.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t want you alone with him either.”
He kicks his toe against a tuft of grass. “Doubt that’ll ever be an issue.”
He’s right. For his own personal fucked-up reasons, Merlin was always cruel to Carter. “That’s probably a good thing.”
The corners of Carter’s mouth twitch. “True that.” He holds out his fist and I tap my knuckles against his.
I lift my chin at the full sleeve of tattoos crawling up his left arm. “You’re gonna run out of room soon.”
“Nah.” He studies the artwork as if he’s amazed to find it branded into his skin. “I always wanted to do something like this, but I didn’t want Uncle Chuck to think I was trying to be like him or something. Now, I just don’t give a fuck.”
“It’s a beautiful feeling when that last fuck finally flies away.” I wave my hand through the air like it’s a bird flapping its wings.
His expression loses some of the sadness that had crept over him. “What are we celebrating tonight?”
“Starting a new business venture in Slater County.”
“So Wolf Knights are out of Slater. Totally?”
I take a few beats to answer. “Where’d you hear that?”
“Duh.” He rolls his eyes. “I may try to blend into the wallpaper, but I still have ears.”
“We don’t have wallpaper.”
He chuckles. “Seriously, so is that Lost King territory now?”
“Looks that way.”
“Good.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Like I said, you’re more of a family to me than my own was.”
“We have a funny way of doing that to people.”
“What?” He wiggles his eyebrows and rubs his palms together. “Luring innocents into your freaky bikers-in-the-woods cult?”
A burst of laughter escapes me, even though I know better than to encourage Carter. “Yeah, that.”
“Hey,” Charlotte calls as she steps out of the side door. “Are we going or not?” She jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “Wrath and Ravage just pulled up out front.”
“Why?”
She shrugs and walks over the grass to meet us.
“Hey.” I tug on her sweatshirt. “Come here.”
Charlotte’s too good to me. Never holds a grudge, even when I deserve it. She curls her arms around me and rests her cheek against my chest. I lean down and whisper in her ear, “I’m sorry.”
She shakes her head and squeezes me tighter.
“Little dude!” Ravage’s voice carries over the grass. His heavy footsteps thunder against the ground. I pull away in time to see Rav tackle Carter from behind, lifting him in the air. “What’s good, buddy?”