The sun was high up in the sky by the time they headed back to the car park. They were all still fooling around and Cassie stirred Ethan up so badly that he and Jason grabbed her. While Jason held her down, Ethan wrote in a black marker on her stomach, ‘Bad Girl’. When they let her up, she lifted her shirt to have a look and to proudly show off his artwork. He had written it in calligraphy and it actually looked quite cool.
‘I’m not washing this off, you know.’ She danced around, admiring it. ‘Actually, that gives me an idea. Seeing I’m a part of the team now I should be initiated into it. Let’s go to a tattoo shop so I can get the Cloud Riders emblem you all have on your arms.’
Kayden reached for her and grabbed her around the waist. ‘You’re such a little rebel. The guys can’t do anything to upset you, can they?’ He looked over at Ethan. ‘Now, what have you started?’
‘She’d look sexy with tats,’ Ethan laughed.
Kayden punched him in the arm and then gave Cassie a very seductive look. ‘I know.’
‘Then we can go straight there on the way home? I saw a tattooist on the way here,’ she nagged.
‘I guess it won’t hurt to at least take you there to have a look. It might frighten the hell out of you and make you change your mind.’
She nudged Ethan, seeing as he was the one she had been stirring all the way back from the waterfall. ‘What do you think?’
He grinned. ‘Might be worth seeing you in pain. Might just shut you up for a bit.’
Kayden bent down and talked quietly. ‘If you really want this, you know I won’t stop you. However, I must warn you that I’m very partial to a woman with a tattoo. Therefore, don’t go holding me responsible for my actions if you look too hot. Are we clear, gorgeous?’
She hugged him, laughing. ‘Promises, promises!’
‘Well it looks like we have a date with our tattooist,’ he grinned. My woman got me all excited, we’re going now. Stuff the food. Get your selves in the car. He grabbed the keys and moved her quickly over to the car. If you lot aren’t in and doors closed by the time I’ve buckled her in, you lot can walk home. He chuckled to himself as he relayed the message to the men only.
‘You do know after the needles stop jabbing it smarts like a burn,’ Ethan warned as he jumped in the Hummer. The boss wasn’t going to give her a chance to change her mind. He was keyed up and that meant leaving the horror stories for the rest of them to tell so as to maybe put her off.
‘Shh,’ she said, putting her hand to his lips. ‘I don’t want to know. I want the team symbol. End of story. No scaring me or the lot of you can wait outside.’
‘I’m not waiting outside, Cassie. Those stirrers can though. I want to see it happen so don’t think for one minute that you’re going to spoil my fun. No damned way!’ Kayden grumbled, amusing her.
‘We all want to see!’ Woody added.
She shook her finger at them. ‘You’re all bitches and sadists. Okay, but you have to behave.’
‘Promise,’ they agreed, hitting each other.
‘Like she’s dumb enough to think we’ll shut our traps,’ Jason joked.
Pulling up at the tattooist, Cassie was a bit nervous but she put her mind at rest knowing that it would be over in an hour, after which she would be walking out of the shop with the Cloud Rider marking.
Marco the tattooist was a good friend of Kayden’s and had done most of their tats; therefore he knew she was in good hands. The guys pulled up chairs to watch, making jokes and taking bets on how long it would be before the poor guy was zapped into the shop next door when he hurt her. He was a funny character and she liked him. When he finally asked her where she wanted it, there was no other choice. Kayden had already decided it would look better below her belly button, close to her right hip but smaller and more feminine. Kayden seemed very pleased with that spot and shook his head at any other suggestion. ‘My girl, my spot!’ He refused to listen. Cassie didn’t care, just so long as it was on her somewhere. So she lay back and Marco started the artwork.
It was a little over two hours by the time he switched off the gun and the damned needles stopped striking her skin. It wasn’t something she would ever want to do again, especially in such a tender spot. Ethan was right: it now just felt like a bad case of sunburn but she would heal quickly and admiring it in the mirror, she was happy with the result.
Without warning she started to feel a bit light-headed and Kayden caught her, snatching her gently up in his arms. ‘You alright, gorgeous?’
‘Your princess is sore and sick of being tough.’ She dropped her lip. ‘I think I need spoiling now.’ She gave a girlie smile and his eyes melted. She could tell he loved that she had dropped the hard-core act and needed him.