Page 40 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Baylyn.

The drive was quiet but not in an awkward way. Emir and I had settled into our vibe but today his relaxed demeanor was stressing me. While he chilled, I spent the past fifteen minutes side-eyeing him from the passenger seat, trying to figure out where the hell we were going.

He hadn’t told me a damn thing other than come take a ride with me. Annoyingly, I agreed but didn’t know shit. So when he pulled up to a large warehouse on the east side of the city, I swung my eyes to him, glaring.

“You’re gonna have to start explaining because this looks suspect as hell.”

Emir smirked, shutting off the car. “That would ruin the fun.”

“Emir...”

“Relax, beautiful, you have to trust me.”

I did…

I also hated how easily those words worked on me.

I narrowed my eyes as I reached for the door handle. “I do trust you. I just know you well enough to be suspicious because your mind isn’t all there sometimes.”

He chuckled but still didn’t say anything about his plans. The closer we got, I heard music inside the warehouse. A few people lingered near the entrance dressed casually and talking.

I followed Emir through the doors and my eyes narrowed at the open space.

The place was packed. Open stations were set up all around the massive warehouse occupied by people in the middle of getting tattooed or working on a design.

Most of the faces at the stations looked young.

Maybe high school or college-aged. They stood at different booths, concentrating too damn hard while professionals hovered nearby, guiding their hands and watching their movements.

“What is this?”

Emir pointed to a banner stretched across the far end of the room that read: Just Kincaid’s Community Ink Night.

“It’s new. I wanted to come support my boy. Just Kincaid is sponsoring it. He’s giving kids who want a shot at tattooing a place to start. It’s free for the community too, as long as they’re willing to let someone in training work on them.”

I scanned the room again, watching as an older tattoo artist corrected a young woman’s grip on the machine, while another kid looked up nervously from his stencil, listening as his mentor examined his work.

“Oh this is dope.” I was giddy as hell.

His eyes swept over the room before landing on someone near the back. “Come on.”

I followed him through the crowd, weaving between people until we stopped in front of a face I was familiar with. His locs were pulled into a low ponytail, arms covered in intricate ink.

Just Kincaid.

I recognized him instantly. I had never been into men with locs but there was a time when his sexy chocolate ass could get it. All the locations of Just Tattoo were well-known in Crescent Falls. I appreciated that he actually gave back and wanted people to learn and grow in the industry.

Emir and Just dapped each other.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Just said.

“I support the cause, this is good shit.”

Just nodded and jerked his chin toward the booths. “You here to get tatted?”

“I don’t know if I’m willing to support like that unless I’m in your chair.”

Just grinned and checked his watch. “I’m on my way out. Monae’s blowing me up when here ass should have been here already. But she was doing too much with my baby’s hair and now she acts like she don’t know how to fucking drive. Acting all spoiled and shit.”

The way he smiled let me know he was more of the problem than Monae was. He probably told her he was going to pull up to get his girls because everybody knows how he is about them.

“If you’re looking for work, Tali’s still around. He’ll get you right.”

“Tali?”

“Yeah, he’s good. You’ve seen him a few times at my shop but he’s set up in Diamond Falls. He pulled up today to help out.”

Emir nodded. “I remember him. He did the piece on old girl that wanted her painting done on her hip and down her leg.”

“Yeah, shit was dope as hell but with all the color, I don’t know how the fuck she survived that.”

“Hell, me either.”

“If you want to get inked today, he’ll get you right,” Just said tossing his head towards the back of the building.

They dapped each other again before Just thanked him for showing up then turned and disappeared into the crowd.

“So… we’re getting a tattoo?”

“Yeah, you down?”

“Like… today? ”

“Yeah man, you don’t trust me?”

I stared at him, waiting for some kind of explanation, but he just kept that damn smirk on his face.

“Fine, but not by one of them?” I motioned to the trainees and he chuckled.

“Nah, we need a professional for this.”

He took my hand and guided me through the crowd to where he found the person he was looking for.

Tali was at a station in the back. When we approached he looked up, spotting Emir first, then me. He laughed and shook his head.

“Damn,” Tali said, setting his machine down. “I guess that shit is true. Somebody really locked you down.”

“Why the fuck people sound so surprised about that?”

Tali wiped his hands on a paper towel and raised a brow and Emir smirked but didn’t say anything else about it.

“You taking people?”

“You got an idea or you just gonna let me freestyle?”

Emir pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled for a second before turning the screen toward him. Tali studied whatever was there and nodded. “I can work with this but it has to be my design.”

“I fuck with it.” Emir agreed.

“Give me a few minutes to sketch it.”

“What is it?” I leaned in, trying to see the screen, but Emir turned his phone away before I could get a good look.

“You gotta trust me.”

I folded my arms, narrowing my eyes. “This is permanent and you want me to trust you?”

“I do.”

I plopped into the chair he motioned to. He settled next to me while Tali grabbed a sheet of paper and started sketching. The buzz of the other tattoo machines around us filled the space, making me more anxious.

After a few minutes, Tali held up his work.

I grinned big as hell. It was a gun. Simple and clean design but it wasn’t just a gun.

The way it was drawn meant it would be inked onto both of us.

Half on Emir’s trigger finger, the other half on mine.

When we aligned it would form a full weapon.

I was always calling myself a shooter, when clearly I wasn’t, and it was now our inside joke.

“You are so unserious.”

Emir grinned. “You’re my shooter, beautiful.”

His lips were on mine and Emir kissed me hard, completely unbothered by the fact that we were in the middle of a crowded warehouse.

Tali groaned. “Aight, aight. Y’all can tongue fuck after I get this ink in your skin.”

Emir pulled back and let his eyes lock on mine for just a second longer before he sat up, dragging his thumb along my jaw and resting his hand on my thigh. “You first.”

“Why me? You might bail.”

“You know better.”

I did.

Tali set up and prepped my hand while I rested my forearm on the padded armrest. The cool swipe of alcohol across my skin made me more anxious followed by the stickiness of the stencil being pressed down.

When he peeled it away, the outline of the gun’s half sat perfectly along the side of my trigger finger.

He looked up and jerked his chin. “That placement good?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s perfect.”

He adjusted the tattoo gun in his grip and got to work.

I flinched as the needle pressed into my skin, tensing from the sting. It was a little more intense on my finger. Emir sat beside me, but his presence settled me. His hand stayed on my thigh with his fingers moving absentmindedly while Tali worked.

The process didn’t take long because the design was simple, clean lines. After a few minutes, Tali sat back, wiping the area before turning my hand toward me.

“It’s pretty.”

Tali and Emir both frowned hard. “Guns aren’t pretty, Bay. The fuck.”

Tali smirked, grabbing a fresh wipe. “Nah, this shit is fucking fire.”

Emir chuckled, standing as Tali switched gloves and turned toward him. “You ready.”

I settled back in the chair and watched as Emir positioned his hand on the armrest. The process repeated until his half of the gun mirrored mine perfectly.

Unlike me, Emir didn’t flinch or react at all while Tali did his thing. I was highly amused that he picked this because it was definitely us and made sense.

A few more minutes passed before Tali wiped the last of the ink away, turning Emir’s hand so I could see.

The match was perfect.

“Aight, line ’em up.”

Emir shifted, extending his hand to me. I did the same, pressing the inside of our fingers together. The full gun took its shape and I laughed.

“This is so impractical.”

Emir kept his eyes where we were connected. “You love that shit though.”

“I do. ”

His smirk deepened, and before I could say anything else, his mouth was on me again.