Afflicted (12 page)

He looked up at me with a huge grin on his face. I did the whole song clapping along and getting the whole crowd involved.
I don’t think Blake could have smiled wider even if he tried. Just seeing his dimples made me want to run over and kiss his face. As soon as the song ended I jumped off the little stage into Blake’s arms.

For the first time in a long time
, everything felt right.

I just hoped it could stay like this…

“You rocked it, babe!” He cooed in my ear.

He carried me back to the bar wrapped around him like a monkey.
I noticed a couple of the women eyeing him up making me want to mark my territory. I almost felt the need to pee on his leg or something, but instead I just opted to move so I could sit on his lap. He ordered us some onion rings to snack on and made small talk with the bartender. I was trying to finish my beer so that we could get back to cabin…

It had been four days since our first date
and all we did was have sex, roast marshmallows and have more sex. He managed to get some writing done yesterday and said he should have enough material to finish up the album. This morning he said that he wanted to take me on another date. He wanted to drive an hour to Colombia to take me to a nice restaurant, but I insisted on something closer and low key. Dive bars were more my style. Fancy just made me uncomfortable, since people always looked at me funny with my bright red hair and tattoos.

“I have something I want you to do for me when we get back.” He winked
, leaving me giddy in anticipation.

We pulled into a different bar called
Rooster’s. Blake being the gentleman he was, came and got my door holding his hand out and pulling me close to his side. As soon as we sat down he was immediately flanked by a skank. 

“Hey handsome.” T
he busty blonde said to Blake. “I’m Sonja.”

“Hi,
Sonja.” Blake said, trying to politely ignore her and ordered our drinks.

“You from around these parts?” She purred.

“Nope.” He replied, taking a swig from his Pabst Blue Ribbon. “My wife and I are here on vacation.”

He kissed the side of my head thoughtfully. I leaned my head on his shoulde
r trying to suppress my jealousy, laughing internally because he called me his wife, silly boy. I swear some women know no bounds. Clearly we’re here together, he said we were married and yet she still waltzes her bulimic ass up here to try and stake a claim.

I wasn’t the insecure type
, and if Blake and I ended up in a serious relationship down the road I would trust him implicitly, but it didn’t mean that the jealous bug didn’t come and bite me in the ass. I felt like this sometimes when Cole and I were together, but since we had been together for so long it didn’t really faze me anymore, this on the other hand,
really
did.

I
wanted to go home,
back to our little bubble,
and get lost in the sheets. I pinched Blake’s thigh letting him know that I was uncomfortable with her standing there gawking at us. He moved so that he could get his wallet and placed a fifty on the counter. I got to my feet and took his hand moving toward a table, leaving skanky Sonja in the dust. 

“I like jealous Piper. She’s sexy.” He said
, scooting into the booth next to me.

We ordered burgers
and waited for the band that was playing tonight to start. Blake wrapped his arm around me and I leaned my head on his shoulder, loving the feeling of being close to him. It was such a change from Cole who barely ever held me.

We would be going home in two days
, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to face reality just yet. I knew from the slew of texts and missed calls that Cole was extremely angry. I was actually surprised and thankful that he didn’t show up here. Though, I’m sure if he could have gotten his hands on the address he would have.

The band set up
, and a burly guy took the mic and announced that they were The Pretty Pink Ponies causing the whole place to roar in laughter. I picked at my burger since I lost my appetite thinking about everything waiting for me when I got back. Blake kept looking over at me concerned, but I didn’t let him know that I was upset. He had a lot on his plate right now, and I knew that I was distracting him, but he didn’t seem to mind and I adored him for it.

I was scared knowing how strong my feelings were for him
. There was no denying the immediate attraction I felt for him the first time I met him in Pittsburgh, even though he was acting like an ass. He’s just someone that you want to be around. I knew that we were going to have hurdles, but as long as we stuck by each other I don’t think there’s a storm that we wouldn’t be able to weather.

After Blake finished his beer
, he asked me if I was ready to go. I was.

Just as w
e were pulling up to the cabin it started to rain heavily. Blake came and acted as my human shield attempting to keep me dry. Once we made it inside he pressed me up against the door claiming my mouth. I parted my lips allowing his tongue to graze against mine igniting a fire inside me. Using my fingers to pull the hair on the back of his head, since he seemed to like it, I pushed him back to the bed. Straddling his waist I took full control of the situation.

I was in the mood for relief
. Sliding my hand down his happy trail and into his jeans, I gripped his hardness and started pumping, earning a growl. I pushed his jeans down to his knees, without bothering to undress myself before sliding him inside me. Moving up and down keeping a steady pace, I felt myself getting ready to find my release when he suddenly flipped me over, so my face was in the mattress. He grabbed both of my hands in one of his and started slamming into me until I was screaming out in pleasure, feeling him filling me.

Leaning down he tenderly
kissed both of my shoulder blades. Feeling euphoric I rolled onto my back and pulled him on top of me.

“You are indeed a g
od in bed, Blake Potter.”

Kissing my temple he grinned a boyish grin and winked.
“As are you my lady. Hey are you ready for me to call in my favor?”

“That wasn’t it?” I teased.

“No.” He rubbed the back of neck making me laugh. “Remember when I asked you to bring your tattoo gun with you when you came? I saw it with the rest of your things, and I want you to cover something up for me.”

I had a feeling I knew what it was
, and I knew it was a touchy subject for him.
Rowan
. It was on his arm flashing like a neon sign, and I didn’t like it, not that I would ever say anything. People got tattoos for all different reasons. Some to commemorate something important or significant in their lives, others do it as a form of art and some do it out of love. At one point, Blake obviously thought that Rowan was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work out that way.

I can’t even count the number of name cover-ups that I’ve
done over the past five years. My favorite was this guy, Brian that came in and got one with his girlfriend, only to break up a couple weeks later, I covered it up, and they ended up getting back together, so he came in and got it redone, only to break up with her again.

I could tell he was struggling to let go of that part of his life. It was almost like closing that chapter of his life.

Sure enough that’s where he pointed, looking torn. I ran my fingers over it lightly. Standing up I walked over to my bag. He was lucky that I happened to grab my kit before I left for my parent’s house since my dad wanted to do some more work on his sleeve while I was there. I pulled out a pair of gloves and some other supplies and set them up on the kitchen table before grabbing my sketchpad and some pencils.

“What do you want?”
I asked, skeptically.

“Your face.” He said seriously
, before breaking into a small laugh.

“Blake!
” I scolded. “That’s not even remotely funny. Seriously, what do you want so I can draw up a couple different options?”

Rubbing the back of his head like he always did when he was uncomfortable or unsure about something
he looked deep in thought before having an epiphany. “How about a key lock?” He grinned.

I tied my hair back and started drawing up a design when he took the pencil out of my hand.

“I trust you. Whatever you think is going to look good, just do it.”

I swallowed audibly. I knew that I was a decent artist
, and even better at tattooing, but it didn’t make me any less nervous. Taking my thin tipped marker I made a quick outline to ensure that it was even before setting up. I took my time assembling the gun and set it on the table pouring black ink into the caps. Setting up a cup of water, I took a deep breath.

My sweaty hands made it difficult to get the gloves on
. Once they were on I put the needle into the gun and hooked up the pedal. Blake leaned in and kissed me softly before I made the first swipe. I was doing my best to keep my hand steady. I’ve never felt nervous tattooing before, not even with my first. Blake made me gun shy.

I meticulously made each line
, occasionally spraying and wiping as I went. When I was finished, I cleaned it off and inspected my work. I loved it and I hoped that he would too. It was the face of a skeleton girl that I modeled after the “day of the dead” with her mouth being the keyhole. I did the lock part in a chain link ensuring that Rowan’s name was adequately covered, luckily whoever did it used shitty ink, and it was already faded. He looked at me as he made his way into the bathroom to look in the mirror. My stomach was in my throat as I waited for him to emerge.

“HOLY SHIT!” I heard him exclaim
, making me jump.

He came sprinting back into the room
grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“I love it, babe. It’s phenomenal. There’s no way I would have even thought to make it look like this. Thank you.”

Speechless, I just smiled as I cleaned up my mess tossing everything I could into the trash and putting the needle into my mini biohazard bin. I applied some cream and wrapped it for him. Grabbing his smokes off the windowsill he led me outside. We stood on the front porch looking at the moon through the rain and trees. Maybe everything would be alright after all.

Blake

Screaming. Blood curdling, bloody murder, screaming.

I sat up ramrod straight in bed before realizing that the noise was coming from Piper. She was dreaming. I automatically leaned over her to stop her from thrashing, but she wouldn’t stop screaming. Watching helplessly as tears streamed down her face my heartbeat was frantic. Nudging her lightly, she opened her eyes and started shaking. I moved us to a sitting position and sat her in my lap holding her close to me trying to soothe her.

“Pipe, it’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you, I’m not going anywhere.”

She stayed in my arms, shaking uncontrollably as she continued to sob.

“H-he tried to kill me.”

“Who tried to kill you?” I asked.

“Cole.
It was so real. It was like he was here.”

Just then a branch broke outside and came crashing to the ground with a loud bang
, making her head fly back and crack me in the nose. Warm blood started pouring out as I took my two fingers pinching the bridge of my nose trying to control the bleed.

Fuck, that smarts.

“Fuck, are you alright. Jeez, Blake I’m so sorry.” She said
, scrambling off the bed and going to get a washcloth from the bathroom.

So much for the
nice white bedspread...

I’d have to
make sure that I got a replacement when we got back home, since this one was beyond ruined. After I got the bleeding controlled we showered and packed up the last of our things. Her nightmare had me completely on edge and very trepidatious about going home. I wanted to take her hand and tell her that everything was going to be perfect, but I’d be lying.

“Make sure you stay close behind me, okay?” I told her as I
kissed her one last time before we headed back to Smithville. She gave me a small smile and nodded as I closed her door. I double-checked that the cabin door was locked before getting into my car and heading toward the highway.

Pushing my Bluetooth button I
decided to call my mom since I haven’t spoken with her since I was at the cabin. I’m sure she was itching to hear about how I made out writing, and I was excited to tell her all about Piper. I brought her number up to the screen and pressed the send button. She picked up on the second ring.

“Baby boy
, is that you?”

“Hi
, Momma.” I said, feeling the smile that took over my face.

“Well, how did you make out at the cabin? Did your creative juices give you some musical genius?”

“Kinda, more like a girl.” I heard her gasp. “Remember when I told you about Aubrey’s best friend Piper? It’s her. She came out to the cabin about a week ago and we just started dating. I really like her mom and I’m looking forward to bringing her home to visit with me so you can meet her.”