Page 59 of Tattooed Love

Just once, I would like to do something without thinking of the backlash.

Like, for instance, how I would really like to kiss Amber; without worrying how her brothers would react, or the heat that might follow her from being connected to me.

When it came down to it, I could handle the heat that came from being with her. Fuck. I’d do everything in my power to make sure she was safe.

So if I could think that now, why couldn’t I have thought that yesterday? Why didn’t I protect her when she’d needed it?

I should have been with her, going to school. Instead, I was sleeping off a sleepless weekend because I had given orders to shoot up The Pythons’ clubhouse.

I needed her to wake up now. I looked at her more intently, my eyes glancing to her stomach. She wore a mark I should hate. Hell, it was instilled in me to hate it and anyone that wore it.

But I didn’t hate her. I don’t think I was even capable of hating her. Not when she was annoying. Not when she was being stubborn, and not when she was defying what she was being told.

It slowly started to hit me, sinking in slowly; I’ve never hated her. If anything, I used to admire her.

And now, that admiration was mixing with lust and my need to be with her.

I was fucked because if there was one thing I knew about Amber, it was that she didn’t do emotion and I doubted she had any need to be with me.

***

Amber

My eyes fluttered open and I stared at my ceiling. Sighing and grunting in slight pain, I began to pull myself up, and I hissed in pain right away.

“DON’T MOVE!”

My eyes snapped to Jax, and he reached over and wrapped an arm around my back, helping me sit up in bed.

“Why are you here?” I frowned. I couldn’t believe he was still here!

He didn’t answer, but instead reached over and put another pillow behind my head and helped me lower myself back into the wall of pillows behind me; I was now sitting up straight in bed.

My face twisted as another wave of pain coursed through my body.

“How’s the pain?” he asked, returning to his armchair.

“How do you think?” I shot back. I knew I should have been nicer, but the pain was getting in the way of my judgment.

“Cole’s gone to get you something for it,” Jax said.

“So he’s gone to knock off a pharmacy?” I attempted to joke, but it hurt just to breathe and speak.

His lips twitched slightly before they returned to a firm line. “Something like that,” he replied.

“You can go if you want Jax. You don’t have to stay here,” I said, slowly and gingerly.

“Your wound has to be cleaned. It’s about time you woke up.”

I pulled back the blankets slightly, and immediately noticed the light blood stains coming through my t-shirt. “How bad is it?” I asked.

When Jax didn’t answer, I looked up at him and he was looking down at his feet with a serious expression.

“I know they cut me, or stabbed me. I just want to know how bad it is,” I said, keeping my voice calm.

He tried to make eye contact with me, and then decided against it. Frowning, I looked down at my arms. They were covered in spots of blood and dirt. I was a mess.

“I really need a shower,” I groaned. “I smell and look awful.”

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