CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.
About 5pm we heard the sound of the bikes come into the lot but nothing since then, it's now almost 6 and Al's moving on to the large splashes of colour, the shades of yellow, orange and red that wrap around my upper thigh.
We've stopped a couple of times for her to go out and get coffee for us, and bathroom breaks, each time we stop I thank Happy's logic for nabbing the room with one of the biggest bathrooms.
At 730 there's a series of thumps at the door and Al gets up and opens the door a fraction before pulling it open and letting Donna in.
Donna steps through the door with 2 plates in her hands, Cam is a few steps behind her with another 2 plates, "Cam just arrived and we thought you might be hungry."
I haven't eaten since the toast I'd managed to force down that morning, self-inflicted as it was, "Thanks guys, I'm starving." I tell her as Al cleans up enough so I can step off the table and have something to eat. She's pushed her chair back and taken off the gloves that are smeared in blood, ink and Vaseline.
"It's looking good." Donna says, nodding down at my leg. The skin is an angry red, but I can see the blues, purples and greens are going to look amazing when it's healed.
Al grins, "Course it is, I did it."
I poke my tongue out at her, "Ego much?"
She just laughs and Cam grins at me, "Like you're not already planning the next one?"
"I might be, but it'll be a while away yet. We have to get girlie over there to have something first." I say, pointing at Donna.
Donna looks over, shakes her head, "Nuh uh. The one I've got is enough."
She's got the Old Lady tattoo that only the SAMCRO wives get, her crow is a new addition since I left, but is reality is over 3 years old. The tattoo of the bird perched on a Redwood branch goes from her spine to her shoulder blade. Happy managed to design it and ink it so that the branch seems to be coming out of her skin, and it's a great match for her and Opie, pulling in part of the club as well.
"Maybe a piercing then." Al says, looking curiously over at Donna. I haven't mentioned any of Donna's curiosity in regards to my metal additions and figure I better let D know that.
"I didn't say a word, I swear." I say, looking at her from where I'm sitting. "Al's always been really good at picking those that want tattoos and piercings, what they want and where they want it."
Al nods her head, "Yup, I've been right more times than I've been wrong. But when you decide you want something come see me, I'll be here."
I erupt into giggles at her choice of words and it's only seconds before Donna clicks as to what she's said and starts laughing with me.
The rest of our dinner is slightly more subdued. I don't ask what I desperately want to know, which is if Jax has noticed I'm not there, or if he's already vanished with some gash.
20 minutes later I'm ready for Al to continue. She goes and washes her hands, pulls out new gloves looks over the design and happily says, "Only the orange to go."
I nod at her and lean back onto the chair, Donna drops down in the chair not far from my head and watches as Al bends her head close to my leg and starts the final part of the inking, the dark orange that gets layered over the yellows.
The music starts out in the main room of the clubhouse before long and Donna gets up to leave the room, saying she may come back later, I can see Cam bouncing in her seat so grin at her, "Go on, leave me here at the mercy of this witch." Al slaps my calf, her hand well away from the side of my calf where she's already finished the ink.
Donna leans over and gives me a quick hug, while she's close I whisper, "Please look after Cam."
She nods quickly as they leave and Al gets back to work. She's happy in her routine, swivelling in her chair every now and then to get more ink and a couple of times she stands up to get a better view of the design.
"Done." She says, and I look at my watch, we've been at it for almost 10 hours, the noise is still loud from outside. Al helps me into the bathroom and we wash down my leg and she smears some cream over it. "I'm not going to give you the standard, shower after 2 hours routine cause you know it all already. I'm also not going to say go easy, cause I can see you don't want to be out there." She nods over her shoulder towards the door. "So, let me clean up a bit and you stay here. I'll let Happy know I'll come back and sterilise tomorrow."
I nod and sit on the armchair in the corner while she cleans up the ink bottles, tissues, gloves and other things she'd set up.
Within 25 minutes she's showered and dressed, "Do you want me to come back and help with the washing later?"
I shake my head, "Nah, go have fun."
I know that Al is probably going to go and have a few drinks before she ends up with someone. Tattooing to her is foreplay, and she's just spent hours working on me.
She grins as she waltzes out the door, her outfit an odd contradiction, she's wearing heavy flat soled boots a white mini skirt and a black lace shirt with bright red strapless bra under it, but she manages to get away with it.
I lean back into the chair I'm sitting, twisting my body so that my leg can be kept off the leather of the chair, propping my foot on the stool she'd been sitting on I close my eyes for a few seconds. I'm not sure if I want the feeling of completeness from the tattoo to arrive, or if I still want to have that feeling of needing to claim myself back from my memories. The now completed tattoo on my leg was meant to be the final step, the last thing that would let me become myself again, but I'm not sure if it's going to work.
Looking down at the colourful design on my leg I can feel the smile stretch across my face. I know that my addiction to ink isn't going to be fixed any time soon, and I still have a leg to go, the images I want already starting to form in my brain.
Picking up my discarded book I read for a while losing myself in someone else's world. Al comes back in almost 2 hours after she left, just barely poking her head in the door long enough to remind me to go have a shower and wash the limb carefully.
I stand up and head into the bathroom; this is never the fun part. After carefully taking off the shorts I was wearing and cursing myself for the dumb thought of wearing them in the first place I step into the water. Rinsing my leg off with water as hot as I can stand it I brace myself as I twist the shower mixer to cold and count the 10 seconds of freezing water which will help the healing process. It's part of Al's aftercare and something that had always worked. Apparently the hot water brings something to the surface which helps the healing and the cold water locks it in place.
Shivering slightly as I climb out of the shower I dry myself off, leaving the stinging limb to mostly air dry, patting the parts with no ink I contemplate how to dress and realise that I've screwed myself in terms of clothing for the next few days at least, managing to slip on a pair of underwear and the dress I'd been wearing I hitch the dress up to the top of my thigh and tie it in a knot on the other side, pulling it tight over my legs so it's not going to drop and get stained with ink.
Settling back on the armchair I pick up my book again and read till I hear the noise start to die down outside the room. Glancing at my watch I yawn widely and try to get comfortable enough to sleep, the stinging pain from my leg is enough for my brain to notice, but it's a pain I'm used to after the hours I've had done so before long I start to drift off to sleep.
I'm startled out of the semi-conscious state by the door slamming open. I can't see who it is clearly but the shadow in the doorway moves into the light and the blonde curls give it away.
"You alright there Al?" I ask, she looks a little glazed and I'm not sure if it's from too much booze, weed or something else.
"I'm amazing." She says as she dances round the room.
"Who was he?" I grin at her as she steps over to carefully look at the ink, it's starting to run already, but I'm on leather so it'll wipe off tomorrow.
"Shhhhhhhhhhh." She holds her finger to her lips and tries to make it quiet, but I can tell now that she's had several drinks and doesn't realise she's left the door open. I wordlessly point to it and she dashes over and closes it, turning the lock behind her before she falls to the floor, back pressed against the door.
"So..." I prompt.
She doesn't say anything and after a few seconds a soft snore comes from her mouth. I laugh quietly, "Must have been good." I mutter to myself and gingerly get up; throwing a clean towel over her as a blanket I settle back on the chair and fall asleep myself.