Tattoos & Tears (Complete Collection)

by Amiee Louise

  “Peyton, can I come in?”

  Estelle’s voice comes through the door. Sam smiles and winks mischievously at me, as he opens the door. I see Estelle look up at him and she swoons on the spot. I roll my eyes; does he really have that effect on all women he meets?

  “H-Hello Sam.”

  He chuckles softly and nods. “Estelle,” he rasps, and I hear screams outside. Estelle turns around, and I see her literally melt on the spot.

  “Looks like you’ve got company, Peyton.”

  I laugh as the other three band members come into view in the doorway.

  “I’ll come back later.”

  She winks and nods at the boys as she leaves.

  “Peyton!”

  Jax rushes over to my bed and hops up on the bed to join me. I scoot over, and he makes himself comfortable.

  “How are you feeling, babe?”

  “I’m good, thanks, Jax.”

  He smiles brightly, and I find myself smiling back. Brody saunters in, turns the chair around and sits so that his legs are on either side. Lucas has a sweet look of thoughtfulness and concern washing over his face.

  “Hey, Peyton,” Lucas’ American lilt echoes around the room. “This guy has been a complete wreck since you’ve been in here, honey.” He laughs and points to Sam.

  Sam hits him playfully, and I laugh. It is good to know he has had the boy’s support while I have been in the hospital. Brody is being unusually quiet around me today, maybe since he was there when I walked in on Sam, so I decide to break the ice.

  “Hey, Brody.”

  He looks up and stares at me. He smiles.

  “All right, darlin’, it’s good to finally have you back with us.”

  He winks, and I have never noticed he has a split tongue before. It reminds me of a snake—that must be where he gets his nickname.

  “Will you guys do me a huge favour?”

  Jax smiles and winks. “Anything for you, sweetheart, you know that.”

  He pulls me into him for a hug and smiles. I love his sweet, affectionate demeanour and his all round, kind-hearted personality. He and the other boys have accepted me as one of their own. I know Jax would do anything for me because Sam is like a brother to him. He clearly looks up to Sam, and I am grateful for the influence they seem to have on each other.

  “Take Sam home, please? He looks exhausted, and I know he hasn’t slept for a while. Just take him home, and make sure he gets some proper rest.”

  Sam folds his arms, and his brow furrows in a completely adorable roguish way.

  “I don’t need rest, baby, I’m absolutely fine.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m fine, seriously. Skip’s outside, and the nurses are here. I don’t need twenty-four-hour surveillance, honey.”

  He lets out a breath before saying, “OK, if it makes you happy, angel, but I don’t like it. I’ll be back as soon as I’ve showered, eaten, and grabbed a few hours’ sleep.”

  He comes over to the bed and kisses me gently on the lips. Jax rolls his eyes and makes a vomiting gesture. Sam pushes Jax off the bed, and he rolls off onto the floor. We all burst out into hysterical laughter. Jax gets up with a look of mock hurt on his face and grabs Sam from behind. In a second, Sam spins around and has him in a playful headlock—I love playful Sam.

  We spend an hour or so chatting, laughing, joking, and catching up. Their company is a welcome distraction, and before long, they are all leaving, kissing me on the cheek in turn as they leave. Sam reluctantly leaves with them, promising me he will be back soon.

  I am suddenly exhausted and drift off into a deep sleep.

  ***

  “Stay with me, Peyton. Please, please, don’t die on me, honey.”

  I hear the dull sound of sirens, and I can feel Seb’s large calloused hand stroking mine. It takes all my strength, but I manage to lightly squeeze his hand. He lifts my hand to his lips and plants a soft kiss on the back of it.

  “Peyton, can you hear me?”

  I am aware of a shadowy presence behind me, squeezing precious oxygen into my lungs.

  “It’s Seb. I’m here, darlin’, you need to stay with me.”

  I hear his voice crack, I want to open my eyes and reassure him, but my body won’t allow it. I feel him move and hear the sound of a phone keypad as if he is dialling a number.

  “Sam, yeah, it’s Seb. Look, there’s been an accident. Yeah, a car accident. Peyton’s been hurt; I’m in the ambulance with her now. Yeah, it was pretty bad. She is in a bad way. You need to get to the Whittington Hospital in Islington now, mate. I’m not sure. She was asking for you. OK. I know it’s a stupid thing to say, but please try not to panic, our girl is a fighter. See you soon, mate. Bye.”

  I hear Seb disconnect the call and he resumes stroking my hand.

  “Sam’s meeting us at the hospital, honey, you need to hang in there, and everything is going to be all right. I promise.”

  ***

  I am jolted awake, and my eyes fly open. I am aware that I’m alone; the room is deathly silent, and it is dark. I must have been asleep for a while. These flashbacks are scaring the shit out of me. I stare up at the ceiling and lose myself in thoughts of what ifs, and after a while, I fall into a restless asleep again.

  The next thing I know, the morning sun is beaming through the window. My eyes adjust to the bright light, and the door opens. Before he steps into the room, I sense his presence, and then he walks in, all six foot four inches of hard muscled, delicious male. He is freshly shaven; his hair is styled into his soft spiky style, and he looks refreshed and so much more rested. He is back to looking like my gorgeous tattooed God. His green eyes lock with mine, and their familiar sparkle is back with a vengeance, temporarily disarming me and making my breath catch in my throat.

  “Good morning, beautiful.”

  He strides in and plants a chaste kiss on my lips. His scent instantly calms me, and he perches on the edge of the bed, clutching my hand in his.

  “Mornin’, handsome.” We both chuckle. “You look so much better now you’ve slept, baby.”

  He smiles, and I scoot over, making room for him in the small hospital bed.

  “I feel better. Thank you for making the guys take me home. I haven’t slept that good in a long time.”

  I snuggle closer to him, and the doctor walks in. The doctor is a middle-aged Asian man called Doctor Rizvi. He smiles.

  “Good morning, Miss Harper, how are we feeling this morning?”

  I smile back and nod. “Yeah, I’m still feeling a little sore, but I’m fine.”

  He nods curtly, checks my chart, and examines me. When he is finished, he stands at the side of my bed.

  “I don’t see why you can’t go home today.”

  My face lights up, and Sam gives me a reassuring squeeze.

  “I’ll prepare your discharge notes.”

  He nods and leaves. I am so glad and relieved that I can finally go home so I can begin to put this situation behind me and move on.

  2

  Peyton

  Sam and Skip have packed up all my stuff in preparation for me to go home. Skip nods, and I smile warmly. He takes my stuff down the corridor.

  “Are you ready, angel?”

  We collect my medication from the pharmacy on the way out, and Sam wraps his arm around me and helps me down to the car, where hordes of paparazzi photographers are at the kerb. I am almost blinded by the flashbulbs and feel myself start to panic. Sam must sense it and puts his large hand protectively at the small of my back—I am instantly reassured. He opens the car door.

  “Sam, over here.”

  There are shouts from different directions, and I am suddenly overwhelmed.

  “Peyton, is it true that the crash wasn’t an accident?”

  My stomach somersaults at those words. I climb into the car, and he crowds in behind me slamming the door behind me.

  “Fuckers,” he curses. “I’m so sorry about that, angel, one of the drawbacks of being a rock star, con
stantly hounded by scumbag photographers.”

  “Please stop apologising, babe, none of this is your fault.”

  I have stayed away from the internet for a while, but I can imagine what crap they have been saying. I try to push that thought down into the pit of my brain, and I look up to find him regarding me intently.

  “How are you feeling?”

  I smile and put on my best fake smile. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  He narrows his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything else. He just wraps his arm around me and pulls me close to him while I rest my head on his shoulder.

  “I thought you could stay at my place for a while, baby. Your parents, Dexter, and Eden have all gone back to Brighton when they found out you were coming home today. So I was thinking I could take care of you while you recover.”

  He cocks his head waiting for my response. I couldn’t think of anything better than letting the man I love take care of me.

  “I need to grab some stuff from the flat, if that’s OK?”

  He nods and smiles. “Yeah, of course, we’ll swing by yours first then onto mine. I want you all to myself tonight, just you and me.” I smile warmly. He chuckles softly. “We can get takeaway, and I’ll even stretch to a girly film, your choice!”

  “That sounds like heaven, baby.”

  He plants a kiss on the top of my head. I am unusually quiet on the journey back to our flat. The thought that someone would want to hurt me deliberately makes my blood run cold. My thoughts are interrupted, as we pull up at the kerb and I climb out, promising Sam I will be as quick as I can. He kisses me gently on the lips, and I make my way up to the flat. I open the door, and the place is unusually tidy. Ruby is usually such a messy cow! I hear metal clinking as I step into the flat, my heartbeat starts quickening and I panic that someone is in the flat.

  “Ruby! Is that you? Have you finally come to your senses, you kinky bitch!”

  I hear Jax’s familiar voice shout. “I’m sorry, OK, you’ve made your fucking point, please just undo the cuffs, babe.”

  I look positively perplexed and walk to Ruby’s bedroom. The door is ajar; I push it open further and find Jax in the middle of Ruby’s bed, completely naked, handcuffed and blindfolded.

  “Ruby? Come on, it’s not funny anymore, stop teasing me, honey, please.”

  His voice is soft and pleading, I clear my throat. “Jax?”

  He jumps.

  “Peyton! Fuck! Shit! I’m sorry!” he curses, and I burst out into hysterical laughter.

  “What the hell happened here, Jax?”

  I try to avert my eyes from his naked form sprawled out on Ruby’s bed, his impressive length resting on his pelvis. His dirty blonde hair is mussed; his body is toned, tattooed and bronzed. He has a body to die for, even though he is smaller than Sam, but is very muscular. His legs are long and lean; I can’t see an inch of fat on him, or an inch of skin that isn’t covered in tattoos.

  “Erm, Ruby handcuffed me. I stayed over, and she said she was teaching me a lesson. I didn’t for one minute think she’d go to work and fucking leave me here.”

  I stifle my laughter, and he clinks the handcuffs against the bed frame.

  “Please, Peyton, babe. You need to un-cuff me.”

  I put my hand to my mouth to stop myself from laughing. I take a breath to compose myself.

  “Honey, where are the keys? And how long have you been here?”

  He squirms on the bed before answering through clenched teeth, “Erm, I don’t know. She left my phone where I couldn’t fucking reach it.”

  I avert my eyes away from his length to throw a cover over him.

  “Hang tight, sweetie, I’ll call her, just give me a sec.”

  I go out into the living room and the door swings open.

  “Angel, is everything OK?”

  Sam’s tall frame walks into the flat and stands with his hands casually in his pockets. I look at him and smile.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine, babe.”

  He lets out a relieved breath.

  “I was so worried; you said you’d only be ten minutes. I’ve literally had you murdered in fifty different ways.”

  I shake my head and roll my eyes, exasperated. My possessive mercurial rocker is back. He walks over to the kitchen.

  “We’ve … got a situation. I’m handling it, please don’t go in Ruby’s room.”

  He looks at me and cocks his pierced eyebrow.

  “You can’t say something like that and not expect me to go in there, babe!”

  He leans in the doorway and bursts out into hysterical laughter.

  “Jax! What the fuck, man!”

  The handcuffs clink against Ruby’s bed frame, and he thrashes against the cuffs.

  “Sam! Get the fuck out!”

  Sam gets his phone out. “The boys have got to see this!”

  He starts photographing Jax on his phone.

  “Sam! You fucking dare send that to the boys they’ll never let me forget it!”

  Sam throws his head back and laughs hysterically, I roll my eyes. I take my phone out of my bag and dial Ruby’s number, and she answers on the third ring.

  “Hey, Rubes.”

  “Hey, babe, how are you feeling today?” she says in her familiar singsong voice and I clear my throat.

  “Yeah, I’m good thanks, babe, how are you? I’ve just got back from the hospital.”

  She giggles mischievously. “I take it you found Jax then?”

  I smirk. “Yep, sprawled out stark bollock naked, blindfolded, and handcuffed to your bed. What the fuck did he do?”

  She laughs and says, “Let’s just say he promised me that we were exclusive. We agreed we wouldn’t see other people and I needed to teach him a lesson.”

  Poor Ruby, falling for yet another unfaithful man.

  “I think you proved your point, babe, I need to un-cuff him. Where are the keys?”

  I hear Sam laughing hysterically in the background and him typing on his phone.

  “Sam! You fucking prick!” Jax shouts.

  “You need to tell me where the keys are, babe, or I’m going to have a world war on my hands.”

  She is laughing hysterically down the phone. “All right keep your knickers on, babe! They’re in my drawer next to my bed; I was going to come back at lunch to let him loose,” she says innocently. I shake my head and walk back to her room. I sit on the edge of the bed and open the drawer, rooting around until I finally find the keys.

  “Found them. I’m staying at Sam’s for a few days. I’ll call you.”

  “OK, babe, love ya.”

  “Right back at ya, Rubes, bye.”

  She hangs up, and I unlock the handcuffs. I release Jax’s arms, and he struggles free of the blindfold, his eyes adjusting to the bright daylight streaming through the window.

  “Christ, I need to take a piss.”

  He jumps off the bed still naked and bolts to the bathroom, cupping his manhood with both hands. Sam shakes his head and laughs. We go into my room, and Sam helps me pack some of my stuff together. I grab my hair straighteners and zip up my bag. Sam takes it out into the living room where Jax is now fully dressed. We both smirk as we see the look on his face. His face is flaming red from blushing, and he can’t meet my eyes. Poor Jax!

  “Do you need a lift home, mate?”

  Jax nods. We leave the flat, and Skip drives us all to Sam’s place. He pulls up at the kerb and Sam ushers me out of the car. I’ve never paid much attention before, but his building is actually impressive. Even though it is one of the smallest buildings in the area, it is all chrome and black glass from the outside with a plaque on the wall reading Vengeance Towers. How apt! Jax takes the stairs, still unusually quiet, leaving Sam and me to get into the waiting lift. He snakes his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him.

  “I’m so glad you’re all right, baby, I don’t know what I would have done if…” He stops himself from carrying on his sentence and closes his eyes. I bury my head in his chest,
relishing the closeness and desperately trying to reassure him. This side of him is a completely new side that I haven’t seen before, and I’m not sure that I like it. I am vaguely aware that we don’t go up to Sam’s floor. We get off on another floor.

  “I just need to check on something, babe.” Sam’s voice is soft, and he takes my hand, leading me down a light grey corridor with grey slate flooring all the way down. He taps the door, and I hear Cole’s deep rumbling voice.