Page 174 of Tattooed Love

“Which part of the ‘I don’t have a heart to risk’ don’t you get!” She looked at me like I was stupid. She let out a frustrated sigh. “You and I were poison.”

“We were complicated.”

She scoffed, her eyes going wide. “Yeah, that’s another word for us.”

Us.

I smiled. “You know I love you, right?”

“You keep saying that, but a man that loved me wouldn’t have hurt me.” She squared her shoulders back, staring me in the eye. “If you really loved me, I would know.”

I peeled my vest off and she frowned at me.

“What are you doing?” Her voice rose as I unclipped my holsters, dropping my guns on the table and reaching for the hem of my t-shirt and taking it off. “Why the hell are you taking your clothes off?”

I dropped it on the ground. The tattoo I wanted to show her… well, now was time to show her.

Her eyes were still on mine. I reached for her hand and she let me take it.

I placed it over my heart and lowered it, just slightly. “You’re right there Amber. In my heart. It’s where you will always be.” Whether she wanted to love me or not, I would always love her.

She glanced down, her eyes widening when she slowly spread her fingers and then took her hand off, staring at her name tattooed on my chest.

“You’ll always be with me. Even if you don’t want to be,” I said. She could push me away but I would always love her. “I will always do anything for you, and if you can’t take a chance on me, I hope I can at least be your friend.”

It had come to that point of the evening when I had to admit defeat. I would rather be her friend than nothing. A friend could ask how she was. A friend could spend time with her. I hoped she would let me be her friend.

She was gobsmacked and then she started to do something that shocked me..

“Why are you taking your top off?” I said, my mouth hanging open as she undid the last button, and shrugged it off.

Amber was always beautiful but I wasn’t used to seeing it, so it sent me into shock, seeing her perfect skin. My eyes ran across her tattooed stomach and then up her beautiful rib cage and then she turned and lifted her arm.

And then I didn’t believe what I was seeing.

“That’s my name.” I was in shock.

Jackson was tattooed so perfectly on her side.

She put her arm down and turned to look at me. The hollowness that had been in her eyes earlier was gone.

“Like I said. I was marking my body. And you. Well, you left a mark on my heart so I thought it only fitting you had one on my body.” She looked down and sighed. “We were good while we lasted.”

It had barely fucking started. We spent most of our time fighting or me pushing her away.

“Start fresh with me.” I couldn’t stop myself from running my hand down her side, my hand following her skin and going to her lower back and pushing her into me. “Make a fresh start with me. One where you come first. One where the club is second and I promise Amber, I won’t push you away.”

She looked me in the eye. “You won’t push me away, even if it is in my best interest?” She was challenging me.

Well, she had me there. If it was in her best interest, I would push her away; it was a habit. It’s the only thing I had regularly done to her, push her away.

“If there is another option, no.” I couldn’t say to her completely I wouldn’t put her best interest first. I wanted her, but her safety came first and I would never want to hold her back.

Not now. Not ever. If I wasn’t adding to her life, I wouldn’t be a part of it.

“My love for you will always come first. Anything I do is because I love you.” I pushed her more into me, the fact she was only wearing a bright pink low cut bra hadn’t gone unnoticed.

It was basically taking all my willpower to not unclip her bra right now. My other hand reached around her, brushing the clasp of her bra. I could just unclip it. I needed to see her, naked, and completely in front of me.

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