Chapter 21: Patch Tattoo

*We’re here to vote on Leo’s membership. He’s been in trouble only once and has learned from his mistake. He’s had a chance to defend himself before you, my brothers, his potential brothers. You have had a chance to speak for and against him. Now I ask you to cast your vote. - Brute*

Leo knew that he had screwed up and had been trying desperately to get her to talk to him again. Thanksgiving, when all three clubhouses were at the Shack, he was able to get a few minutes with her before she left with her sister and a club brother.

About thirty minutes later, they arrived back with a girl about the same age as her younger sister. He helped them with the girl who was half frozen before he moved to the background and watched for the rest of the night.

The first church night in December at the mother house, he stood before the members, and they voted for him to receive his full patch. The front side rocker declaring him to be a prospect was removed.

As he drank a celebratory beer, the Devil’s Saint club patch was tattooed into his skin.  Someone must have taken a picture and sent it to Priscilla. For the first time since he had fucked up and tried to force her to give him a blow job, she texted him.

*Nice ink. Congrats*

Those three simple words gave him hope.

He had so much hope that when Lizzie texted him that night searching for a quick hookup, he informed the girl from the bar that he was making up with his girlfriend. The day after they had hooked up at his apartment, they discovered that they lived in the same apartment building. After exchanging numbers, they had settled into a comfortable friends with benefits relationship on the down low.

Lizzie had admitted to Leo on their second hookup that she was engaged to a man deployed to Afghanistan. Her friends covered for her whenever she went out, always telling her fiancé that she was the designated driver and mother hen of the group. If he called one of them, unable to reach Lizzie, they blew him off saying that she was dealing with one of the other girls.

The response that he got back from Lizzie surprised him. And gave him what Priscilla would call a warm fuzzy inside.

*Good for you. Don’t screw it up*

*Call me if you need me*

Her second text made him smile.           

“That your girl?” Kraken asked as he motioned to the phone with the hand holding the tattoo gun as he wiped away the excess ink with the other.

“No, man,” Leo chuckled. “Classmate that was helping me with a project.”

“She hot?” Kraken went back to the tattoo.

“Yeah, nice to look at,” Leo admitted. “But I got Priss, and she’s engaged.”

The fact that none of the brothers, from the mother house or the Shack, assumed that he and Priscilla were done was also a good thing. If Athos had told anyone about what had happened in the back hallway also gave him hope. Maybe Priss had defended him to her friend. Maybe he hadn’t heard or seen as much as Leo thought.

Or, more likely, the death of her friend had pushed Leo and his actions out of their minds.

Whatever the reason, he knew nothing had been said and he was very thankful. If Athos or Priss had said anything, he would have been called out onto the hot spot in one of the clubs. Not since he had been caught fucking one of the old ladies had he been called onto the hot spot.

It was not an experience that he wanted to experience ever again. Ever. Again. The bathroom had been disgusting. But it did not compare to the terror he experienced when he had to face the brothers and defend himself.

After swearing to never be in that spot again, he had fucked up and left small bruises on Priscilla’s arm. Leo knew that if something had been said, he would have been pulled into a church meeting. If he was lucky, it would be here at the mother house.

If he were unlucky, it would be at Pops Place. Two of her uncles were active at that clubhouse. Her best friend’s father was the charter president. He really did not know any of the brothers over there. That would not help him any.

And if he were really unlucky it would have been at Sinner’s Shack. At this thought, his eyes looked for the tall woman with tattoos and a mohawk. Sensing him looking at her, Dom turned towards him and the cold look that the gray eyes gave him, caused an involuntary shudder.

Kraken wiped the tattoo where he was shading the three letters above the patch. Looking in the same direction as Leo, he also gave a small shudder and returned his attention to his art.

“Dom scares the fuck out of me,” Kraken admitted barely above a whisper.

“Is it true that she has a dungeon at the Shack?” Leo asked just as quietly.

“She has one at each clubhouse,” the artist said as he added the final touches to the tattoo. “There’s a sex club in town that she has one at also. But the one at the Shack,” he gave another small shudder, “that’s where she’ll kill people. That’s where Zero’s wife and her daughters went.”

“What do you think she did to them?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. She’s one of those people that I don’t want to notice me. If she doesn’t know my name, I’m happy,” he sat up and wiped off the tattoo. “All done.”

Leo looked down at his chest and could not help but smile. He did this. He finally earned the patch.

All those years in the foster care system, bouncing from one temporary family to another. The one constant that had been in his life was the Devil’s Saints. Watching them do their rides. Collecting toys. Always there when his caseworker at the time took him to an event for the foster kids.

The Saints who were also members of the local BACA chapter would be there as a silent supportive presence when he would have to go to court. He still remembered the old man with bright blue eyes and long white hair who Leo only ever knew as Pops.

“We’re always here for you, kid. All you need to do is call.”

Several years back, Pops quit coming. Then it was Brute that sat at the back of the courtroom. It had been Brute that sat there the last time that Leo had to go before the parole board and ask that his mother not receive parole.

As always, it was denied, and she went back to prison. When she arrived at the courtroom, she would declare her undying love for her remaining child. The one that had survived her murderous rampage.

Leo would speak of the abuse and then how he watched as his mother stabbed his father and her young children. The loving mother would disappear, and the raging lunatic would appear. She would curse the son that she wished was dead. The last time that he saw his mother, she was in body chains, a spit hood and being carried out of a courtroom swearing that she would kill her bastard son.

The scar on his upper arm was rough and jagged that glared at him as a reminder that women should not be trusted. Lizzie and Mitzi just confirmed it.

Spending time Priscilla’s family and all her moms made him think that maybe some women were not like his mother. They cared for their children and the friends that were lumped in with the large family.

But then he would spend time with a bunny. Or an old lady. Or a chick at the bar near the campus.

They all manipulated men. Used them to get what she wanted. Why should he not take advantage of it?

As he stood at the bar talking with some of his new brothers, the front door opened, and Priscilla and Camille walked in. He smiled at them as the blonde whispered to her friend before walking away.

“Hi,” he said nervously.

“Hi,” she grinned at him.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” she admitted.

Moving closer, he leaned in and brushed a light kiss against her lips. “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” she murmured against his lips. Putting her hands on his chest she stepped back. “We’re going to have to set some ground rules. And you have to respect me when I say no.”

He nodded in agreement as he cupped her cheek, “Agreed.”

“Evie and her men are getting married Christmas Eve. I need a date.”

“I want to be that date.”

Smiling, she pushed up on her toes and kissed him.