Tattooed Love

by Simone Elise

  “What’s their main trade?” Troy asked, ignoring Cole’s and my standoff.

  Arching both eyebrows at him, I added, “Last time I checked, they were moving into running guns.” Picking up the cigarette from Blake’s fingers, I sucked on it lightly.

  Leaning back in my chair, I continued, “They’re aiming at taking the trade from the bikers. Like you guys.” Blowing out a mouthful of smoke, I locked my eyes with Troy’s. “I think a lot of the gangs are over. Only one bikie gang has control of the streets and the distribution of guns. “You think, or you know?” Jax shot at me from across the table. Dropping my eyes from Troy’s and looking Jax dead in the eye, I said, “I know.”

  I jumped in my seat when Cole brought his fist down on the table. “Bloody snakes in the grass. We take them out now!” He was fuming next to me.

  “You need to calm down Cole,” I scoffed, and put the cigarette out.

  “I want the addresses for the factories and the confirmed addresses for the houses.” Troy shot at Blake, “Then the deal’s done.”

  “The addresses weren’t part of the deal.” Blake was picking at the details; he narrowed his eyes at Troy “I’m not helping you.”

  Letting out a sharp sigh, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and bringing up Marty’s information, I slid the phone to Troy.

  “Amber!” Blake growled under his breath at me.

  Turning in my seat and facing him directly, I said, “What Blake? You used me so you could get more business on the streets.” I rose from my seat, pushing his hand off my thigh in the process, “and, at the end of the day, they’re still my brothers.”

  Pushing the chair back and walking towards the door, I turned around, “Give that back to me when you’re done.” I pointed at Troy and the phone, while opening the door with my other hand.

  “Amber. I—” Blake started, but just like always, I knew what he was going to say, so I cut him off.

  “Yeah, I know you’re sorry. Bye Blake.”

  I closed the door behind me and headed towards the bar. Slumping in a stool, I reached over and pulled out a bottle of vodka from behind the bar. I suppose somewhere in the world it was after midday.

  Chapter 11

  I was tapping my finger on the desk in Mr Woods’ class; man, school sucked.

  “Would you stop that?” Jax slammed his hand down over my finger. “Only you could make such an annoying noise.”

  Rolling my eyes, I took a shot at him, “Someone’s nervous about the presentation.”

  “I’m not nervous,” Jax removed his hand off my finger.

  “I think someone’s a little nervous,” I taunted, enjoying the way Jax’s jaw was clenching. “Public speaking not a strong point?”

  “I don’t get nervous,” Jax exhaled sharply, and sent me an annoyed look.

  “I think you do,” I stated matter of factly, and began tapping again.

  Jax shot my finger an annoyed look and then glared at me. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”.

  Shrugging my shoulders, “Don’t take your fear of public speaking out on me.”

  Jax huffed and I grinned to myself. It was just too easy to stir him up.

  “You ready Jackson, Amber?” Mr Woods asked us as he stood to the side with his clipboard.

  “Ready as ever,” I replied with a grin. “I can start us off if you like Jax?”

  Jax grunted, which I assumed was his reply. Clearing my voice and straightening up, I smiled at my dense classmates.

  “Good morning everyone.” My smile got slightly bigger. “This is mine and Jackson’s report.” I handed the piece of paper over to him.

  Jackson took the paper and gave it a once over “Amber and I analyzed a soldier whose name was Captain John H Miller.”

  Jackson stopped, flipping the page over in his hand, and then turning to glare at me, lowering his voice. “Where’s the rest?”

  “That’s it.” I lowered my voice to match his.

  Jackson’s eyes narrowed into slits. “What do you mean that’s it?” he hissed under his breath.

  “I had to use the Internet to get that, be grateful,” I shot back under my breath.

  “Is there a problem Amber, Jackson?” Mr Woods frowned.

  Jackson scoffed.

  “Isn’t that the name of a character off Saving Private Ryan?” A girl with glasses piped up from the front row.

  “Yeah, she’s right. Tom Hanks plays the character,” a boy next to her affirmed.

  I narrowed my eyes at both of them “Well, it’s based on a true story.”

  “No it’s not,” the boy argued with me. I rolled my eyes; man, I could throttle this kid.

  I could hear Jackson grinding his teeth. “You had one job,” he hissed under his breath.

  “I did more than you did. I researched that,” I hissed back, while pointing at the piece of paper he was holding.

  “Amber, Jackson, are you going to continue with your report?” Mr Woods asked, sounding annoyed.

  “You mean you stole a name from a movie,” Jackson scoffed at me. “You really put in effort.”

  “How was I meant to know it was a fictional character? It had a picture of soldiers next to it!”

  “Unbelievable.” Jackson tossed the piece of paper back to me.

  “Amber, Jackson?” Mr Woods snapped.

  “We’re finished,” I replied coldly, and smoothed out the wrinkles on the paper, which Jackson had crumpled the corners of.

  “Are you two seriously telling me that that’s your report? Those few sentences? And that the soldier you chose just happens to be the same as one from a hit movie?” Mr Woods snapped. “I cannot believe you two! Seats now. See me after class.”

  Jackson shot me a glare over his shoulder as I followed him back to our seats. “One job, that was all I gave you. One job,” he muttered under his breath.

  Rolling my eyes, I slumped down in the chair next to him. “You are over-reacting.”

  Jackson grunted and crossed his arms, watching as another pair stood at the front of the class, ready to begin their speech. I glared at them, realizing it was the same pair who had done me in earlier...

  “It’s their fault,” I cursed in their direction, “if they had kept their mouths shut...”

  “Yeah, because then your one line would have scored us a pass,” Jackson grumbled next to me.

  “I think they did it on purpose,” I said, ignoring his lack of faith in my work. “They wanted us to fail.”

  Jackson shot me a plain look. “You‘re kidding me right?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Let’s see how they like it.”

  Jackson grunted “Can you ever take responsibility for your own actions?”

  “Shut up, they’re starting,” I hissed under my breath, turning all my attention to them. “They enjoyed interrupting us. I want to return the favor.”

  “They didn’t interrupt us, we were finished.” Jax let out a short breath. “I really didn’t need this.”

  “Would you shut up? I can’t hear.” The pair began, and I tapped my foot on the ground in anticipation, and that’s when they said it.

  “Our soldier’s name is James Lee Williams.”

  “Objection!” I shot up from my seat and pointed a finger at them.

  “Amber, would you sit back down. This isn’t a debate,” Mr Woods snapped at me “You’re already in trouble as it is.”

  “Well they are lying! Am I not allowed to point that out?” I stated, arching an eyebrow.

  “We are not!” the girl spat in my direction “We did our assignment, unlike some people we know.” She placed a hand on her hip.

  “Well, why is your soldier’s name the same as the one from the very popular Xbox game?” I said firmly, planting both hands on the desk.

  “What Xbox game?” the boy next to her shot in my direction. Bummer, I should have said a movie’s name. This guy looked like the type who spent an unhealthy amount of time in front of a TV screen.

  “Halo.” T
hat was a game right? Damn, why did I say an Xbox game!

  The boy narrowed his eyes at me and got this weird freaky smile on his face. “There isn’t a character in Halo with that name.”

  “I beg to differ.” I saw the annoyance flicker across his face as I continued.

  “I would know,” he scoffed and stood proudly. “I own the game.” The girl next to him shot him a proud smile.

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I shot back at him, wiping that proud look from his face. Jackson let out a small grunt beside me.

  “Enough Amber, sit back down,” Mr Woods ordered me.

  “Mr Woods, I think we should really Google this. I think they have cheated.”

  “The game is based on aliens,” the boy snorted. “Do you know nothing?”

  “Did you just snort?” I suppressed the laughter in my chest. “Here I was thinking only pigs did that.”

  “Amber, SIT DOWN!” Mr Woods roared.

  I pointed an innocent finger at myself. “I haven’t done anything!” I then pointed my finger in the boy’s direction “He did, the one re-enacting animal noises!”

  “SIT DOWN NOW!”

  Grumbling, I slumped back down in my seat. Well that was unfair. Shooting the boy a dirty look, I brought my elbows up to the table and leaned my chin in my hands.

  “That was a show. Feel stupid now?” Jackson hissed in my direction.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Did you see the kid’s face? Priceless,” I said. As I turned my head slightly, I saw Jackson’s lips twitch ever so slightly.

  “God this is boring,” I mumbled, glancing at the clock “I’m not sitting here for another hour and a half, listening to drool.”

  The boy and girl began their speech again, and to me, now was as good a time as any to get kicked out.

  “Mr Woods?” I rudely screamed across the classroom. I saw the vein in his temple throb.

  “Amber, remain quiet.”

  “I can’t.”

  Mr Woods slammed the clipboard down on the desk and turned his full attention to me “Why?”

  “Because what I am hearing is completely and utterly boring.”

  “That’s it. Get out and go to the Principal’s office now!”

  Smiling, I got up from my seat, noticing Jackson’s smug look. “Jackson dared me to say it,” I fired in Mr Woods’s direction. If I was going down, he was coming with me.

  Mr Wood turned his attention to Jax.

  “Don’t bring me into this!” Jackson shot up at me.

  “Well Jackson, you can join Amber. Get out, both of you, now.”

  Smiling, I walked to the front of the class, with Jax grumbling behind me. Walking past the couple, I brought my hand back and slapped it down on the pieces of paper the boy was holding.

  I smiled proudly as I watched the papers float down to the ground, scattering everywhere. “Oops, clumsy old me,” I smiled innocently.

  I continued walking, ignoring their empty threats.

  “You’re a real brat, you know that?” Jackson scoffed as we walked out into the empty corridor, slamming the door closed behind him.

  “I got you out of class, didn’t I?” I said as I shot him a grin over my shoulder. “You should be thanking me.”

  “Yeah, now we get to wait out the rest of the period in the café,” he shot back at me.

  I rolled me eyes. “Screw that, let’s go.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why?” I turned to face him, frowning. “You want to go to the rest of your classes?”

  Jackson gave me a blank look, like I was beyond stupid. “It’s part of my parole,” he informed me.

  I couldn’t help the grin that was beginning to spread across my face. “Did you do something naughty?”

  “Shut up.”

  He began to storm away from me with his hands in his pockets.

  “So you are like, on school arrest?” I asked, pushing for more information.

  He didn’t answer.

  “Ok well, I have an idea,” I said lightly, trying to keep pace with him. “I am sick, and you have to take me home.”

  Jackson scoffed, “Did you have to think about that one?”

  Crossing my arms, I replied, “It’s better than your ideas, like always.”

  Jax pushed the main door open, and as I skipped down the stairs behind him, fresh air slapped me in the face, immediately lifting my spirits. “Where we going?” I asked.

  Jax ignored me as he continued to walk in the direction of the school car park. “We’re using my idea, aren’t we?” I grinned, and skipped up to his side. “Told you it was gold.”

  Jax rolled his eyes as he stopped at his bike. “Do you ever shut up?”

  “Not when I know I’m annoying you.”

  Jax straddled his bike and handed me his helmet. He kick started the bike. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I swung my leg over his bike and sat down behind him. I gulped; man, he had a good body. I never saw him work out though; did he go to a gym?

  As we began to pull away, I wrapped my arms around him. I attempted to suppress the feelings rising inside of me from clinging to his toned body. Why did Jax have to be so damn attractive? Did he know he had this pull on women? Because it couldn’t just be me, right? Other women would have to admire his sharp features and toned body. In fact, I’m sure they did, remembering how his cheerleader friends acted around him.

  Well, it didn’t matter how attractive he was, I wasn’t going there. Ever.

  ***

  “So, I heard you got kicked out of class again huh Amber?” Troy asked me from across our dining table as we ate tea.

  I turned sharply and gave Jax a dirty look. “Traitor.”

  Jax shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. He had been acting weird since we’d got home. We had spent the whole day together - we did lunch, then I dragged him to the mall. Come to think of it, he’d begun to get weird after I dragged him into the changing rooms, because I didn’t like the looks the retail assistant was sending me; man, that guy was a creep, I shuddered as I remembered.

  Had I made him uncomfortable? I mean, he’d turned his back to me while I’d changed.

  Then it occurred to me; how could I have been so stupid! The mirrors!

  “Amber?”

  I turned my attention back to Troy “What?” I was suddenly in a state of terror.

  “Do you want to explain?” he took a sip of his beer.

  “Do I have to?” I narrowed my eyes, “Can we not just drop it?”

  “Will it happen again?”

  “No dad, it won’t,” I mocked.

  “Amber.”

  Letting out a small sigh, I loved getting kicked out of class, so I couldn’t promise it wouldn’t happen again. But I could lie; I was good at that. “It won’t happen again, ok?” I stabbed the piece of steak on my plate. “Geez, get off my case.”

  Troy seemed to have dropped the subject, and he began to focus on his meal. I stole a glance in Jax’s direction. He was eating with his eyes glued to his plate. Man, had he seen everything? It was my own fault, dragging him in there.

  I remember my bra getting caught in the top I’d tried on, and I’d had to take it off. As the image came back to me, I began to choke on the piece of steak in my mouth.

  A hard hand slammed across my back, and I spat the piece of steak into my plate.

  “Can’t you chew your food properly?” Cole pulled his hand from my back and returned to his own meal.

  Blushing, I pushed the plate away from me. I was no longer hungry; I couldn’t get over what I’d done!

  “You finished?” Tyler asked, frowning at my close-to-full plate.

  “Yeah, I’m not hungry. Big lunch,” I lied and got up from my seat. I wasn’t brave enough to look in Jax’s direction. I just hoped he’d keep his mouth shut.

  “What are you doing tonight? It’s Friday night. No weekend plans?” Adam asked, attempting to make conversation with me.

  “No plans,” I replied quickly, to
o quickly in fact; which is why everyone’s eyes snapped in my direction, apart from Jax’s.

  “Ok… what have you done now?” Troy asked, putting his fork down.

  “What? I haven’t done anything!”

  “You’re lying,” Cole said, looking me up and down “Your voice is doing that thing, where it goes higher and borders on shrill.”

  “My voice doesn’t get shrill,” I snapped at him, “And I haven’t done anything. I just want to go to bed.”

  The boys all exchanged glances with each other. They seemed to believe me because Cole turned back around in his seat and started eating again.

  Exhaling sharply, I turned to leave the room.

  “Oh, just a heads up Amber.”

  Coming to a halt in the door way, I turned my attention back to Troy. “Yeah?”

  “We are having a party here tomorrow night. It may be a bit… large.”

  Excitement began to bubble up inside me. “Am I attending this party? Or am I to be locked up in my room?”

  Troy shrugged. “You can if you want,” he stated.

  “Can I drink?” A real Saturday night was within my reach! I couldn’t believe it. I longed to have a conversation with someone other the stupid students from that hell hole called school.

  The boys exchanged another look amongst each other, as if they were sharing a conversation through their eyes.

  “Don’t see why not, we will all be here,” Troy said slowly.

  I couldn’t stop my excitement. I fist pumped the air. “YES!”

  Cole scoffed. “Child.”

  Rolling my eyes, I walked out of the room, but truth be told, I was so excited I had something to look forward to.

  ***

  I threw another shot down my throat. Man, had I missed this! Shaking my hips and waving my hands in the air. This was what I called a good Saturday night.

  The music was pounding through the speakers; its thick beat rumbled through the whole house.

  And I had somehow ended up with a guy. One minute I was throwing shots, the next I had hands on my hips.

  We danced. We grinded. And his hands hadn’t stopped exploring my body. The only reason I hadn’t pushed him away was because he was devilishly handsome and reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on whom.