Page 26 of Savage Bond

I swallow hard as what he means washes over me. Chopper’s been waiting to ink this part of himself for me.

“How many tattoos do you have?” River asks as he goes back to sketching like he didn’t just rock my world.

“None.”

“Really?” He lifts his gaze to me again. He’s more than surprised I don’t have any ink yet.

“I’ve always wanted one, but I never took the plunge.” I lift my shoulder in a shrug.

“Man, I would’ve expected you to have a decent amount. Honestly, when you walked in here, I assumed you were covered in ink.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve got that biker princess vibe going on.” He motions to my clothes. “Not many women wear leather pants around here unless they’re part of a club.”

“I think I'm the highest club royalty you can get.” When I don’t continue, he raises a brow, asking what I'm talking about. I smirk, knowing I'm about to shock him. “I'm Porter Reeves’ daughter.”

“Yeah, I was afraid of that. When you walked in here with Chopper and you didn’t have a property patch on, I figured there was a reason. That’s a pretty good reason.” He chuckles. “I’d be terrified to give a Reeves daughter a property patch.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing none of us want you.”

“Yeah, I have enough drama in my life without mixing clubs. Could you imagine if one of Kaleb Dixon’s sons and one of Porter Reeves’ daughters ended up together? That’s just asking for trouble.” He shakes his head.

“A modern-day Romeo and Juliette… Dixon’s son? Really?”

“You don’t believe me?” His face lights up with amusement.

“I guess I just expected you to look tougher.”

“Wow, I don’t even know how to respond to that.” He laughs and runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t see a need to act or look tough at work. I tattoo a lot of people who aren’t associated with clubs. I'm not trying to scare them off.”

“I can understand that.” I nod my head.

He has a point. At the car shop, we work on non-club member’s cars and bikes. Most of the guys don’t wear their cuts while they’re working because they know they don’t need to at the shop and they don’t want to intimidate the customers. It’s the same thing with Chopper and Storm when they go to a customer’s house to fix their plumbing or electrical work.

“Do you always dress like that?” He motions to my leather pants and I'm assuming he’s also referring to the corset.

“I have an image to uphold. I can't exactly be a Savage princess and not look the part. Plus, I run Savage Saloon. The outfit is fitting for a bar.”

“I can only imagine how much Chopper enjoys that.”

“What do I enjoy?” Chopper steps up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. He has a pair of black shorts in his hands and they look like dance shorts.

“Watching men ogle her at the bar.”

“Eh, my girl can handle her own. And if she can't, I'm always there to step in and protect her.”

“As you should… Also, I heard about the prospect. My dad spoke to him and made it clear he shouldn’t show his face at Savage Saloon again. I don’t know why they even bother to go there. We have a bar in our own territory.” River scratches the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable.

“It’s not a problem, man. Roxy laid him out on the floor and Savage is always full of our club members to back her up. We don’t hold you or Kaleb responsible for what the prospect did.” Chopper waves off his concern.

“I appreciate that… Ok. I have a rough drawing done for both of you. Chopper, you know how I roll. Roxy, this is just the outline. It will look like crap to you, but I promise it will be amazing when it’s all finished.”

He holds out the drawing to me and I scan it over. It really is just an outline. There’s a scar running down the right eye of the lion, but other than that, there are zero details.

“I’m better at freehanding the details. If there’s too much on the stencil, it’s distracting to me.”

“Ok.” I know if Chopper trusts him, I should too. I know Chopper doesn’t trust easily, especially when someone is inking something permanently on his body. If he brought me here, I can trust River too. I think River has done all of Chopper’s ink and they’re all amazing.