𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲

Chapter 16

— Chapter 16 —
Always on Edge

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E L L I O T

"Let him through. He's with me."

As the bouncers hesitantly stepped out of my way, Noah nodded for me to follow behind him. Passing an awkward look to the bouncers, I stepped past them and began ascending the marble staircase with Noah just ahead of me.

"You guys got bottle service?" I asked him in surprise, after seeing a waitress walking past with a tray in her hands.

Noah smiled.

"Yeah. Not my idea, though," he explained, his tongue piercing shimmering under the lights as he talked. He added, "I'm glad you could make it."

As we got to the top of the staircase, I said, "me too."

Following behind him as he led me to the lounge, I couldn't help but side-eye his tattoos. I could only see the extent of the ones he had on his arms. They weren't in any specific theme, just different pieces marking his skin like patchwork. I couldn't help but be fascinated by them.

The piece that first caught my attention was the two snakes curving down his left upper arm in crisp ink, with one baring its fangs at the top of Noah's forearm. Barbed wire was tattooed at his wrists, too, and there were quite a few phrases and Roman numerals that I wasn't close enough to read clearly.

I really liked the intricate roses on his right forearm. They took up quite a bit of space, drawn with dark thorns and small butterflies to match. The same arm also had an impressive figure of a wolf etched into his bicep, with what I figured was Stray Dog marked beside it.

Though the black shirt he was wearing covered some of it up, I could also spot the bolts of lightning he had tattooed on his left left shoulder and lower neck. It looked almost like a virus, spreading through his skin. The strikes branched off into more strikes, traveling over his tendons and just visible beneath the dark fabric of his top.

The simplest one that I could make out clearly was a digit marked into his inner wrist, on his right arm. It was the number '1', written in a bold font and slightly more faded around the edges than the rest of his tattoos.

They were all easy enough to hide with long sleeves—I still couldn't believe I'd never gotten the chance to see them before now. Had he never really displayed them like this in front of me before? Or was I only truly noticing them now?

My thoughts trailed off as we made it to the biggest lounge, where bikers were chatting loudly and laughing with each other amongst glasses of alcohol and bottles of booze.

The group looked to be made up of predominantly Stray Dogs—but there were quite a few others I didn't recognize. The only person I knew by name was Chains, but we'd never really been acquainted before.

The realization that I didn't know anyone immediately made me feel out of place. The glances that were passed in my direction as I arrived with Noah definitely didn't help, either.

I definitely should have stayed home.

Resting my gaze to the bikers, I noticed the subtle frown that flashed on Chains' face when he spotted me. I didn't think it was anything spiteful, though; if anything, he was probably confused as to why I was here.