Deranged Ink

I should have run in the opposite direction from the first moment I met him. I should have turned around and walked away. I've never been the kind of girl to take the easy road, though. Daxton Ford tried to warn me. He never made promises. He swore a girl like me would only get hurt by a guy like him. Did I listen? He portrays dangerous, dark, and brooding. Or so he thinks. Daxton is trouble; anyone can see that. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and keeps his circle of friends small. But I'm the girl who believes in the good. I'm the girl that even when every fiber in my body is telling me to not go there. I head straight for it, even if I know I'll fall. When he looks at me he thinks I'm nothing more than a pretty princess. He has no idea what I can handle. This tattooed bad boy doesn't scare me, even though he thinks he should.

I've never been the kind of girl to take the easy way out. Happy endings never came to people like me. The tarnished ones. I'm surrounded by a group that knows sadness too well. We know what it's like to lose and be tossed away like last night's trash. We are easy to blame for all the wrongs, because when others look at us, they see our scars. Most of our stories are told in the ink we bear, but we wear those tales proudly. Oliver Riggins is the first man I've run across that made me feel like I could have more. But he's also one of the many men who are more family to me than my own flesh and blood. Four brothers by choice, they've taken me in, and treated me as one of their own. The problem is, I've always wanted more from Oliver. I've felt an instant connection to him from the first day I walked into Deranged Ink. But the fear of ruining what we have and then in the end not having him at all, that was too hard to bear. So instead, I've sat back and watched the parade of women in his life, but I feel a little part of me crumble away. I want him, I've always wanted him. Maybe it's time I stop running. Maybe it's time I start fighting for the things I want. Contains mature themes.

Zac I stopped believing in the good a long time ago. My childhood was stripped from me one dark night and I was forever changed. Everywhere I looked I saw evil. Everyone I met, I looked at them as the enemy. It took a long time for me to open up and when I did I found my family. The only people I could count on. I never imagined I'd have a family. Because having a family gave me something to lose and I never wanted to feel that pain again. I never wanted to feel weak. Presley If there is a disaster, I can be found in the center of it. If there is a wrong choice to be made, I'm first in line. I mess everything up. I'm a magnet for disaster, and when I had the chance, I stumbled right into the arms of a tattooed bad boy. One I knew could destroy me. He wasn't looking for anything more than one night and here I am, telling him he's now tied to me forever. Like I said, I'm a mess. Contains mature themes.

Nothing comes easy. Nothing is given but must always be earned. The problem is I'm too tainted and broken to have anything good. That was a lesson I was taught early. A lesson I carried throughout my life, and into every relationship I had. I did not trust. Trusting meant I was vulnerable, and when you let your guard down, that's when all the dark shit seeps in. That's when the demons attack. Nothing good happens in the dark. But, Aurora, she was the sun, there was a goodness about her. I knew if I didn't let her go, I would dim her light and chip away at the wonderful person she was. It's what I did, what I've always done. I take the good and break it. But no one told me letting her go would be one of the hardest things I've ever had to face. Contains mature themes.