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» CHAPTER FIVE «

The next few weeks went by well. AJ and I became as close as ever and he helped me deal with everything. I try so much to hide my love for him but it's hard. One day in particular we were discussing his tattoos.

"I still think your dragon one is the best. The colors look cool 'cause they bring out the color of your skin," I said looking over his dragoon tattoo again.

"You should get a tattoo Sky! On your stomach somewhere. It would accent your belly ring," AJ said with a smile.

"Does it hurt?" I asked being hesitant.

"Yeah, not that bad though. It itches for awhile afterward though. Come on I'll take you right now." That convinced me that it wasn't going to be so bad. So I accepted.

"Cool! I have an idea already! Let me go get ready!" I ran upstairs to my room and put on a black wife beater, and loose white jeans. I smiled as I slipped on my favorite ring seeing that it fit perfectly, as always. Grabbing my house keys and sunglasses I ran downstairs.

"You ready?" AJ asked as he got up from the kitchen table.

"Yep... Derek's gonna freak when he finds out! It'll be classic!"

"Where is he anyway?" AJ asked as we walked out to his black 4-runner.

"Oh... he's at the gym working out. I was going to go tomorrow. It's been awhile since I've worked out. You game?"

"Sure."

"Damn boy! How many rides do you have?"

"Oh you know... I gotta have four cars to my one ass!"

"Dude... whatever!" We sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride to the tattoo parlor.

"We're here." Jumping out of the truck I ran into the parlor. "Excited much? Hey Mindi," he greeted the woman.

"Yo J. Who ya got here?"

"Mindi this is Sky, Sky, Mindi. Sky wants a tattoo."

"What and where?" she asked turning to me.

"I want a bright midnight looking lightning bolt with like a silver border. I want it below my bra line."

"Okay I can do that. Hop up here and lay down," she said making a gesture towards the doctor looking table. I took off my wife beater so that I was just in a bra and my jeans. Using the wife beater I propped my head up so I could see. "It's going to hurt a bit but you'll get used to it."

"Alex? Will you hold my hand?" I asked when I heard the buzzing.

"Here.." he said offering his hand. "It'll be all right."

That evening AJ and I were sitting in my kitchen talking when I brought up the subject of my dreams. "I had a dream from what happened in L.A. and you were in it. I don't know if it was memories from my concussion or what. You had a gun, you shot and hit him. He died. Is this true?"

"Yes." Seeing that I wasn't going to say anything, he continued. "I wanted Dylan gone for what he did to you." His voice rising to show his anger for Dylan. Then he got quiet. "I saw you and I loved you... I loved you because I could see your heart. And more than anything I wanted to keep it safe, to warm it with my own." I was mad at him for how he took care of things.

"Why??!! Why not let him get caught??!!" By this time I was near tears. Tears of anger, sadness, and love.

"It was L.A. ... Guys like him get away with murder. A slap on the wrist then he's at it again."

"Who'd he murder?" I asked barley above a whisper.

"I don't know. Maybe no one. I'm not sorry for what I did. It was for your own good. I love you. I chose to live with it, not knowing if I would ever see you again." With tears running down my cheeks I went over and wiped the single tear from his chin. Then embraced him.

"The part about my heart... that was beautiful." I kissed him softly on the lips, then returned my head to his shoulder. "Or taken literally... incredibly gross." We both laughed lightly.

¤ To Be Continued... ¤
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