Claiming Addison (32 page)

We have a Suburban to take us around town. It beats the town cars and at least this way we can all fit into one vehicle getting there. Coming back with everyone might be an issue, but we can deal with it later.

After a twenty minute drive we arrive at Incision Tattoo. It’s a cute little shop but far from secluded, but I can tell, based on the drive, we’re far from downtown. Couple that with the fact that there isn’t a bar in sight.

When we walk in, two of the artists get a little too excited over Talon. It’s crazy, I guess I’ve seen the girls go nuts, but never the guys. Talon is ever the gentleman and probably one of the nicest I’ve met when it comes to his fans. I think Talon has a great grasp on what fans really mean to what they do. They chat for a little bit and Talon introduces me and Kyle to the artists. Then we all get down to business.

“I know she wants something done,” Talon tells one of the artists.

“Great. I’m Scott.” He holds his hand out for me to take and I do. “What do you want to do?” I smile and take him over to the counter to show him my idea. I notice then that Kyle starts talking to the other guy about what he wants to do.

Talon comes to stand near me. “Aren’t you gonna get something?” I ask him and he shakes his head. I raise an eyebrow. “Any particular reason?”

“I tend to get sick afterwards. I don’t mind, but we have a lot going on, I can’t run that risk.”

“Aw crap, I didn’t know.”

“Shh,” he says. “Don’t worry about it. That’s why I brought my guitar. I’m gonna work on a couple of ideas while you guys do your thing.”

I smile. “Alright.”

Talon watches over me as I discuss my plan with Scott and then he sets off to work on the drawing for me. “Where you gonna put it?” he asks.

I lift up my arm then run my fingers downward, wrapping around just under my left breast. He flinches. “That’s gonna hurt, angel, you sure?”

I smile and nod. “I’ve been wanting to do it for a while now, might as well. Plus, I need some more color.”

He smirks. “But black and grey looks amazing on you.” His fingers trace along the line between my shoulder blades.

“I know, but I like the color on my arms and sometimes I think about coloring in parts of my back, but I’d hate to have another artist do it and I’ve lost track of the artist who did the work.”

Talon and I don’t talk too much more, we just kinda enjoy each other, it’s weird, but kinda cool. Kyle returns, waiting just like me for a drawing. When he asks me what I’m doing, I tell him that he will just have to wait and see. He calls me a tease and tells me that I can’t see his until I show him mine.

After about twenty-five minutes, Scott returns with a drawing and it’s perfect so we set off to his room to get started. “Addie,” Talon says behind me and I turn back to him. “Take this. You might want it.” I smile at his thoughtfulness and I take his hoodie from him. He bends down and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

Nearly two hours and a shit ton of pain later, I grit my teeth because Talon was right, I’m done. I’ve been topless for the last two hours and I am stiff from lying on my side. When Scott’s done, he helps me sit up, which causes quite the head rush so I sit there for a couple of minutes before I finally make it to my feet for an inspection of his work.

“Wow,” Talon says behind me. “You might want to lie back down and do the other side because, fuck me, that’s hot.” I smile so wide my cheeks hurt.

“I have a similar but different idea for the other side. And I don’t know if I can lie here for another two hours.”

Talon laughs. “You say that, but look at your back, how long did that take? Forty or fifty hours?”

“Sixty two.”

He laughs, “And you don’t want to sit here for another two hours for the other side?”

I look at Scott who shrugs. “I got nowhere else to be. You want it, you got it.”

“Is this a conspiracy theory? Tattoo me up, force me to sit on my ass tomorrow? You know this one already ruins my plans to take advantage of that oversized bathtub in our suite tomorrow.”

Talon shrugs a shoulder. “Peacock has at least another hour to go. Mouse is nearly done and Kyle is at least another ninety minutes. So it’s up to you, sweetheart.”

“How are you doing out there?”

He chuckles. “I am doing great. It’s nice to have a night not on stage and I’d be lying if I said the creative juices don’t flow in this place.” He winks.

I finally stand up to inspect Scott’s work and it’s perfect. The design is a series of stars in various shades of blues and greens with black filigree just under my breast, a couple of the swirls come up to the bottom swell toward my nipple, giving it the effect of holding my breast in place. When I look at it as a whole, Talon is right; I should just do the other side. “If you’re up for it, Scott, let’s do the other side.”

“Absolutely, Addison. What are we changing?”

“The stars to hearts and then the colors of the hearts I’d like in reds and oranges. A fire effect without actual fire.” I pull my phone from the pocket of Talon’s sweatshirt that I’m holding to my chest, keeping myself covered up. “I have an image idea for the coloring.”

“Perfect.”

Talon comes in and kisses me again. “I’ll be out front.”

“Thanks.”

Scott comes around with plastic wrap and tape. After rubbing goo on his work, he then wraps up the ink job. “Why don’t you stay up for a bit, I need to go redraw the design with the hearts.”

“Okay, thanks, Scott.” He leaves the room and I slip Talon’s hoodie on, zipping it up.

I walk out of the room as a lull in the overhead music kicks in, giving me an eargasm of Talon strumming his guitar. I walk the twenty or so feet to the lobby area and lean against the wall watching Talon go to work on the notes for a new song. This one seems softer, like ‘Your Eyes’ is. He is humming the words, but I can’t actually make them out. Regardless, watching him work is a major turn on and I lean against the wall with my shoulder holding me up and my head resting against the wall.

Watching his fingers move is hypnotic and before I know it, Scott is tapping me on the shoulder, gesturing for me to follow him back to his room.

I have to ditch the hoodie completely so that he can line up the sketch with the other one. I have to give him some serious credit because he is extremely professional, or gay, either works because he easily goes about business despite my nakedness.

Holy crap, lying down on fresh ink is a bitch. Scott adjusts the chair and I’m finally able to get comfortable, putting my ear buds back in and closing my eyes.

At least now I know what to expect, but it doesn’t mean it is any less painful.

Everyone finishes up before I do, but it isn’t fifteen minutes before I’m done. I manage to keep it from Kyle. He can see it later. Talon finished writing his song. Who knew four hours was all you needed to write a song. I teased him about it, but he just said he was inspired. I can’t even begin to imagine by what but he promises to play it for me in a couple of days.

Once we’re all done and the artists are paid, it’s almost midnight. “Let’s go get some drinks,” Mouse suggests and I shrug, though it hurts to do that now. The guys make the decision to hit a bar close to the hotel, not knowing the area it’s probably best if we stay close.

When we arrive there is no fanfare, no paparazzi, no cameras and no reporters. It’s kind of nice.

We step inside, the bar is packed and the music is being provided by karaoke singers. I roll my eyes but say nothing. Hopefully none of these guys will get the idea to start singing. Nothing like drawing attention to themselves.

We find a table big enough for Talon, Kyle, Dex, Mouse, Peacock and myself. I’m sandwiched between Talon and Kyle, of course. Our four bodyguards are in their places around the bar, within earshot and fighting distance, if it comes to that. The waiter, who happens to be a chick -of course-comes over and starts flirting immediately with Talon and Kyle, but rather than be irritated, I find it arousing. Not that some chick is hitting on them, but the fact that out of all the men at the table, she picks my two guys. At least until she moves down the line and gets to the rest of the gang. She’s equally flirtatious with them and for the first time since I met him, Dex is on his best behavior.

We order our drinks and the guys kick off with conversations about this and that. It’s nice to watch so I just kind of sit back and listen.

They talk about everything, but mainly about the tour and some changes to the line-up in the set. They also talk about adding the song that Talon wrote tonight into the mix. Everyone but me seems to know about this song and now I’m really curious.

“So what’s the deal with this song?” I finally pipe up. “Everyone is in on this gig except me,” I pout.

Talon laughs. “That’s because it will only work if I have someone to sing it with.”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t Mouse your backup vocals?”

Talon smirks. “Not that kind of singer.” His eyes grow sultry. “The sexy redheaded female kind.”

“Good thing I’m dying my hair purple.”

The entire table erupts into laughter. “Fine then, a sexy purple haired female kind.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me. “What do you say, angel? Wanna sing a real duet with me?”

I put my head in my hands. “You can’t be serious.”

“As a heart attack.” He turns to the guys. “Do you guys know who was at last night’s show?” There is a collective “no” or a shake of the head. “Cami and Tristan came to the show again last night.”

“Oh nice,” Peacock says. “But we didn’t see ‘em.”

“That’s because they ducked out before the crowd came back. I don’t think they planned on coming back, but before our show was over, they were backstage talking to Addison.”

“About what?” Mouse asks.

“Oh, just the little fact that Cami wants to sign Addison to Bold as an artist.”

They erupt into a chorus of “no ways”, “hell yeahs” and “nice” and I blush as red as a cherry.

“Seriously, one performance and they want her? That’s pretty fucking intense. What are you gonna do, Addison?” Dex asks me.

“I have no fucking clue. She said she wanted me to think about it until after the tour was over. But after what happened today…”

“What, with me?” Dex points at himself.

I shake my head. “No, Dex, you were not the only one making headlines today.”

“Four and half million hits on YouTube, dude. Someone, even though the quality of the sound sucked, got it all on video and uploaded it and by the time I saw it for the first time, it had more than four million hits. When I was done watching it for like the thirtieth time, it had gone up to over six million,” Talon brags.

“What?” I say. “You never told me that?”

He laughs, “You didn’t need to hear it again, besides I was on cloud fricken’ nine about it. Hence the song.”

“You wrote an entire song, music and lyrics in four hours because of that video? Seriously, dude, that’s…”

“No, silly girl. I’d been working on the song for a long time, but it just never felt right. Until I found the right woman to sing it with me.” He smiles sweetly at me. “Don’t forget, you’ve already agreed to ‘Your Eyes’, every concert.”

The guys laugh and I blush. He wouldn’t. Would he?

“Oh, he would,” Kyle says. Damn it. I said that out loud.

“So not fair. Maybe you should hear the song before you judge and jump to conclusions, angel.”

I want to cross my arms to pout, but as I do the tattoo pain radiates causing Talon to smirk. “I think I like that new tattoo of yours.” I stick my tongue out at him.

The waiter finally returns with our drinks and we have at it. We keep talking and order some food, thank god, because I’m starving.

This, by far has been the longest day ever. But being surrounded by these guys makes it feel like family and home. The prospect of that idea is both good and bad…I’m starting to feel like I actually belong somewhere for once in my life.

The rest of the night in the bar went without incident. I had to hold the guys back from taking over the karaoke stage after a string of really bad, really drunk singers. Then they all tried their hardest to get me to do it. I laughed and told them hell no. They even went so far as to tell me that it was good practice for Albuquerque and I told them to stick it. We stayed in the bar until it closed.