Trace + Olivia Series Boxed Set (19 page)

“Jesus Christ! Don’t do that!” I exclaimed as I stepped outside my dorm and found Trace leaning against the building. “I think I almost peed my pants!”

He chuckled and his voice rumbled, “We can pick up some Depends on our way to the tattoo shop,” he nodded towards his car.

“Tattoo?” Avery asked from behind me. I had completely forgotten she was there. “Are you getting a tattoo, Livie?”

“Um, yeah,” I mumbled, stepping back, looking from her to Trace. I knew I had probably paled at least ten shades and I felt sick to my stomach.

“Can I come?” She asked, looking between Trace and I. “I’ve been wanting to get one but I haven’t had the chance to go. I mean, feel free to say no. I don’t want to be intruding-” She rambled.

“It’s fine with me,” Trace looked at me, making sure I was okay with that.

“It’s not a problem,” I assured her.

“Great,” she beamed. “I was supposed to meet Luca, but let me call and tell him there’s been a change of plans,” she grinned, walking off, with her phone glued to her ear.

“So,” Trace grinned crookedly, “have you thought about want you want to get.”

“Live,” I answered. I honestly hadn’t thought about my tattoo at all, while I was at home, but as the word left my lips I knew it was perfect.

“Live,” he murmured. “That’s perfect for you.”

I smiled.

Avery walked up to us, her phone tucked back in her purse. “Can you give me a ride?” She asked Trace. “Luca will meet us there, then he’ll drive me back here, after we have dinner.”

“That’s not a problem,” Trace replied.

“Thank you!” Avery clapped her hands together. Entwining one of her arms through mine, she exclaimed, “We’re getting tattoos, Livie!”

Avery climbed into the backseat of the old Camaro while I sat up front with Trace.

He drove into old town Winchester, parking in front of the tattoo shop. He’d held my hand the whole way. Trace could tell I was nervous. Heck, the way I kept chewing on my fingernails
anyone
could see that I was nervous.

He inserted change into the parking meter and motioned Avery and I to follow him inside.

As soon as the bell above the door chimed, a guy covered in tattoos looked up, grinning. “Hey, Trace, I knew you’d be back soon.” He called into the back. “Brian! Trace is here!”

Trace turned to me, explaining in a hushed tone, “This is Justin. I went to high school with him and Brian.”

“Yeah,” Justin piped in, rubbing a hand over his buzzed cut scalp. “We used to get into all kinds of trouble back in the day.”

“It wasn’t
that
long ago,” Trace chuckled, “stop trying to make me sound old.”

“Longer than you think,” the guy I assumed was Brian entered the room. He had dark wavy brown hair and tattoos covered both of his arms. “What can we do for you today?” He asked. “Ladies?”

“Hmm,” Trace mused, “why are we here again? I forgot.”

“Always a smartass, this one,” Justin pointed to Trace but he was looking at me. “Watch yourself with him.”

“I think I can handle him,” I spoke up, causing Justin to laugh.

The door opened behind us and Luca stepped inside. The guys greeted Luca before leading us to the back.

“How’re we going to do this?” Justin asked, eyeing all of us.

“We’ll take a room and they’ll take another,” Trace replied, gripping my hand. Justin’s eyes narrowed on our clasped hands before he grinned. “I’m sure you will. Brian, think you can handle those two?” Justin nodded at Avery and Luca.

Brian chuckled. “I can handle anything.” He flipped a light on in a room and motioned them inside. Justin led Trace and me to the next room.

Shrugging out of his leather jacket, Trace asked, “Do you want me to go first?”

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m afraid if I watch you, I’ll chicken out.”

“Fair enough,” he grinned, sitting down in a vacant chair.

“Do you know what you want?” Justin asked.

“Yeah,” I replied, figuring he was expecting me to say I wanted a butterfly or something like that. “I want the word, live, here,” I pointed to the outside part of my left forearm.

“Pick your font,” he pointed to a poster.

I made a face. I hated all of them.

Justin chuckled at my expression.

“Can I get my friend to write it down?” I asked. I had heard of people getting tattoos in a person’s handwriting and I knew Avery’s handwriting was nicer than any of these fonts.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “I’ll be right back.” He grabbed a pen and paper, leaving Trace and I alone.

“The fonts are kind of sucky,” he commented.

Justin returned in no time, holding up the piece of paper for my inspection. “Perfect,” I replied, and he went to work transferring the word onto another type of paper.

“What are you getting?” I asked Trace.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he chuckled.

“I told you what I was getting!” I cried.

“You’re just going to have to wait and see,” he smiled. “Patience.”

“Ready?” Justin asked suddenly.

I sat back in the chair. “Yep,” I held out my arm for him to place the word on my skin.

“Is this where you want it?” He asked, before pressing it in.

I looked in the mirror and instructed him to move it a little bit. “Perfect,” I told him.

“What color ink do you want?” He asked, putting on gloves.

“Black,” I answered.

I took a deep breath as he got everything ready.

“Ready?” He asked again, holding the tattoo gun in one hand, and sliding a stool over.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, and felt Trace’s hand grip mine.

“Look at me,” Trace commanded, “it’ll be over before you know it.”

I nodded at Justin to start and then locked my eyes on Trace. He distracted me by talking about random things, and at one point, he started kissing me, which Justin scolded us for, because I started wiggling.

“Done,” Justin announced, laying the gun down on a table. “Want to see?”

“Of course,” I replied giddily. I stood up and he closed the door, revealing a floor length mirror. I held my arm up and couldn’t help the goofy smile that formed on my face. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

The tattoo was small and simple, but I loved it. It was perfect for me and the meaning behind it was what mattered. All I was doing, was trying to live my life, and this tattoo would remind me of that every day.

live

I knew that I couldn’t have picked anything more important to put on my body.

When I finished looking at it, Justin rubbed some kind of ointment over it, and taped a bandage around it, going over the rules for keeping it clean.

He finished and I turned around to see Trace removing his standard plaid shirt and then yanking off his white t-shirt by hooking his thumbs into the back collar.

His back muscles rippled and flexed, causing my heart to stutter.

Unlike the last time I saw him shirtless, I forced myself not to get distracted.

I noticed that there was a fleur de lis tattoo between his shoulders. Low enough that it didn’t peek out of his shirts, and small, maybe only three inches. There was also some kind of script on top of his shoulder but I couldn’t read what it said from where I stood.

“What are you getting today?” Justin asked, disinfecting the equipment.

“A four leaf clover,” Trace answered, taking a seat.

I stepped closer to him, leaning down, to peer at the tattoo over his heart.

The words, ‘To live in the hearts you leave behind is not to die,’ formed the shape of a heart with the initials, T.W., inside.

“For your dad?” I asked shakily.

“Yeah,” he replied, studying my face.

“And what does this one say?” I pointed to the tattoo in small script on top of his shoulder.

“Inhale the future, exhale the past,” he answered.

“Hmm,” I murmured.

“What are you thinking?” He raised a dark brow.

“I honestly don’t know,” I whispered, my eyes roaming over the tattoos and his chest.

“Is this good?” Justin asked. I had completely forgotten he was in the room. Trace appraised the design and nodded. “And where do you want it?”

“Here,” Trace pointed to a spot on his right side, below another line of script. I couldn’t read that one either and something told me not to ask what it said.

Justin pressed the design into Trace’s skin and scooted the stool to Trace’s side.

Trace grinned up at me from where he sat as the needle roared to life. “Hold my hand? I’m scared,” he winked, reaching out for my hand.

I rolled my eyes but placed my hand in his anyway. “I’m sure you’re
really
scared,” I replied sarcastically.

“Terrified,” his lips quirked as he withheld laughter.

“Are you guys dating?” Justin asked, eyes intent upon his work.

“Uh-” I stuttered.

“Yes,” Trace replied and my eyes widened.

Justin chuckled. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you date a girl since Aubrey.”

My whole body stiffened at the sound of another girl’s name.

Trace’s hand tightened against mine and his jaw clenched. “When you know it’s right, it’s right.”

“Yeah, well,” Justin shrugged, wiping away excess ink, “I still thought no one would ever tie you down again.”

Trace made a face of disgust, and turned away from me, but he didn’t release my hand.

Justin finished the tattoo, and went through the same procedure with Trace, as he did with me.

We each paid him, because I demanded that I pay for my own, and headed back to the front.

Avery and Luca were already waiting there for us.

“I wanted to see your tattoo before we left,” Avery explained. “Especially since it’s in my handwriting,” she danced.

I peeled back one side of the wrapping and showed her.

“It came out so pretty!” She exclaimed.

“What did you get?” I asked.

She turned to the side and lifted a tiny bandage behind her ear, showing me an anchor, no more than half an inch big.

“Isn’t it cute?” She asked, her green eyes wide like she was afraid I was about to tell her it was horrible.

“Oooh, I love it,” I told her.

She smiled in response, putting the bandage back over it. “I’ll see you tonight,” she smiled, taking Luca’s hand, and headed outside.

I waved goodbye to Justin and Brian.

Trace was quiet as we got into the car but I wasn’t about to let him stay that way.

“Who’s Aubrey?” I asked. I had to know and couldn’t keep quiet about it any longer.

Trace sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was really hoping that you would forget about that,” he mumbled.

“I’m a girl, we forget nothing,” I retorted. “Now, answer the question.”

“She’s my ex,” he rubbed his jaw.

“Care to elaborate,” I snapped.

Trace glanced at me, then back to the road. “We dated in high school,” he muttered.

“How long?”

“Do you really need to know all of this?” He asked, staring at me for a moment, with darkened eyes.

“You said we were dating, I think that gives me a right to know who, and what my competition is,” I whispered, feeling insecure.

Trace sighed. “We dated for four years before it ended. We grew apart and there was no spark anymore. I’m not sure there was a spark to begin with,” he shrugged. “We were young. It’s in the past. And just so you know, there is no competition.”

“You haven’t…dated anyone since her?” I asked.

“No,” his hands tightened on his jaw.

I could tell he was holding back, so I pleaded, “Please, Trace.”

He took a deep breath. “We were still together senior year of high school, but when my dad died, the last thing I wanted was a relationship.” He wet his lips and continued. “I quit the baseball team and turned to alcohol and random sex to fill the void inside me.”

My heart constricted at his words. I was no longer concerned about faceless Aubrey, he was obviously over her, but I felt compelled to know more.

“Did you?” I asked.

“Did I what?” He glanced at me with a furrowed brow before his eyes darted back to the road.

“Did you fill the void?” I questioned.

He looked at me significantly, sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine. I didn’t understand how Trace could affect me so much, with just a look and a few words. “Not with that…but I think maybe I’ve finally found something to fill it.”

“And what would that be?” My breath escaped from between my lips with a tiny sigh.

“You,” he answered.

I swallowed, waiting for him to crack a joke or flash me his signature cocky grin, but he didn’t.

He was serious and I was flabbergasted.

“Me?” I squeaked, causing him to chuckle.

“That’s what I said,” now, he was grinning, but his eyes were still serious.

“Stop looking at me, you’re going to crash the car!” I exclaimed, needing a reprieve from the intensity of his stare.

He laughed. “I’m not going to crash.”

Maybe not, but he was certainly going to give me a heart attack.

He pulled into the campus parking lot and before I could talk myself out of it, I asked, “Do you…want to…uh…come up to my dorm…I mean-” I stuttered.

He silenced me with a kiss.

“Is that a yes?” I asked.

“That was definitely a yes,” he winked. My eyes widened, hoping I hadn’t given him the wrong impression. “And no, Olivia, I don’t expect anything, so stop looking at me like that.”

“Sorry,” I blushed, and got out of his car as quickly as possible, walking briskly to the dorm entrance.

“Don’t be sorry,” he caught up to me easily and his arm wrapped around my waist.

He followed me up to my room and I stopped at the door, turning to look up at him, a question arising in my mind. “How did you get in the dorm that night and figure out which room was mine? They keep the main doors locked.”

He grinned, the panty-dropping one, and replied, “I have my ways.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do,” I mumbled, opening up the door, and quickly closing it behind him.

“It’s pretty nice in here,” he mused, looking around, taking everything in.

“For a dorm, yeah. Avery and I tried to make it homey,” I shrugged, kicking my shoes off, and letting me feet sink into the fluffy yellow rug we had purchased to hide the tile floors. “I wish she’d take that down,” I nodded to the Drake poster.