My Reason to Live

Chapter 18

A/N: Some secrets are revealed in this chapter... 👀

We're back at her apartment, and I'm sitting on her bed. I'm wearing leggings, and my upper half is bare while Jade is applying diaper cream to my tattoo—or nappy cream, as they call it here.

Den said it's the best thing to use on a tattoo to stop the skin from drying out.

"I can't believe you told him to tattoo your company logo on me," I say.

Yeah, that's right. I have the Thirlwall Airways logo tattooed on my ribs.

Jade said she could have gone for the Thirlwall Hotel or Thirlwall Finance logo, but she thought, as we'd met on the plane, it would be poetic.

I've been complaining, but secretly, I love that she chose this.

It's like she's left a part of herself on me—even though she's already marked me in so many ways...my mind...my heart.

She barks out a laugh. "Says the girl who had a map of Boston—with your nickname and a heart written inside the map—tattooed on me."

I snort out a laugh and lean back against the pillows as I smile back at her. "I thought it would be a nice way for you to remember me."

"I don't need a tattoo to remember you, baby."

Her words run through me like hot and cold water in my veins.

The heart was my indirect way of telling her how I feel.

I bite my lip. "Will you have it removed?" I lay my head on the headboard of the bed, still looking back at her.

"The tattoo?" she asks, while she continues to gently smooth the cream over my tattoo.

I nod. 

She frowns, like the thought is absurd to her. "No, because you put it there, theoretically speaking." The frown deepens, forcing lines around her eyes. Then, I see her eyes flicker with a thought. "Will you have yours removed?"

I firmly shake my head.

Never.

Even if I were going to be around for a long time, I still wouldn't get it removed. Because it's her.

She smiles, and it warms my insides.

I lay my head back, brushing my hair off my ear.

Jade chuckles and says, "I can't believe you got your ears pierced as well. Glutton for punishment."

I asked Den if he could pierce my ears after Jade's tattoo was done. He had the time, so he did them.

I know getting my ears pierced isn't crazy or daring, like a nipple piercing would have been. But I never got to have my ears pierced when I was younger. My dad was strict about it and said I could get them done when I turned eighteen. Only the brain tumor happened, and I just never got around to having them pierced.

I've rectified that now.

"It just made sense." I shrug. "I was there. They did piercings."

"Are your ears sore?"

"A little. Not as bad as I expected. My rib, on the other hand..."

"I hear you. Call me a pussy but that tattoo hurt. Still does," Jade says with a grumble in her voice.

I look back at her again. "I didn't know the word pussy was in your vocab, Thirlwall."

"Only your pussy." She grins and then tosses the cream beside me on the bed. "My turn."