Heart of a Tattooist: Dark Romance MC Club Alpha Bad Boy Obsession (Tattooist Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

by her man’s side, right up until that day the cops had crashed through the door and taken them both away.
    Cara had been fifteen and on her own. The judges had refused her folks bail and she’d ended up being passed around to relatives and friends of her parents like a toy. Nobody ever asked her what she wanted to do, where she wanted to live, or even if she was okay.
    She was expected to be okay. She was expected to be her parents’ daughter and take the good with the bad, with her head high and her loyalty intact.
    The gamut of emotions that had run through her on a daily basis had all been marks of disloyalty as far as the club and her relatives had been concerned. She had no right to be angry at her folks. They were doing what had come naturally to them. She should be proud.
    She had no right to feel abandoned. The club looked after her, and so what if it was just temporary and she never felt safe or secure? That was her issue, and all that meant was that she didn’t trust the men who’d called her father their brother to man up and do the right thing. Which also meant she had no real loyalty. If she missed her folks, she was told to put her big girl panties on and keep it moving because they weren’t coming back any time soon.
    Cliff was the only person who had ever seen past her exterior. She knew her coldness had started long before her parents had actually gone to jail; in a way she had been girding herself for that very thing from the time she was very small.
    She’d also been trying, unsuccessfully, ever since she was a child to get her parents to pay attention to her.
    They were in love, crazy in love. So in love that not even their daughter could compete with the love they felt for each other. They weren’t unkind to her, just indifferent, and she would sit and stare at them for hours as a child, wondering how they could love each other so much that they had absolutely no love left over for her.
    The months of hard running had forced her to assume identities and behave in ways she never would have before; to talk to people, which wasn’t really her strong suit, and have them talk back to her. She’d learned to listen and to let her emotions show and now, as she bent her head to the lovely ink covering brutal scars, she felt a kind of inner contentment she had never known before.
     
    * *
     
    When the tat was done and Lillian gone, Shane said, “That was a hell of a day.”
    “It was.” She stretched then began to clean her equipment. Shane did as well and they worked together in comfortable silence for a few minutes before she asked, “What happened to her?”
    “Lillian?”
    “Yes.”
    Shane said, “She was in a car accident a few years back.”
    She winced. “Must have been pretty bad.”
    He nodded. “It was. She lost her husband and her kids in that wreck.”
    Her eyes widened and she stared at him. He nodded grimly. “Yes, it’s a damn shame. She’s recovering, though, and one day she’s going to be able to move on. She’s got what it takes.”
    Cara wrinkled her forehead. “To move on?”
    Shane went back to cleaning his gun. “Yes, not everyone does. It takes guts and a whole lot of luck to get your head out of a place like that.”
    She wanted to ask where his head was at, but chose not to.
    Shane sighed and cleared his throat. “You can stow your stuff here if you like. Let me finish this up and I’ll get your pay and a tax form all ready.”
    “Thank you again for hiring me.” The words came out in a rush. “I mean, honestly, I want you to know if those guys come I’ll leave. I won’t bring you trouble.”
    His lips curled upward. “I already got trouble. Hell, everyone in the world has trouble. Let’s bomb that bridge when we have to cross it, ahead of the enemy.”
    “Were you in the army or something?”
    “Yes, a very specialized unit. No, I don’t wish to discuss it. Cool?”
    “Utterly cool.” She regarded him for a moment then finished cleaning her