Her Tattoo on My Heart

Chapter 4

"I don't understand."

He was at a loss for words. Obviously me knew when it came to cancer that there was always a possibility that it could come back but he didn't expect that that would be the case with Grace's sister.

"Cancer is a bitch."

"Grace, I'm sorry."

"Don't," she told him. "Honestly I don't want to hear it from you."

He reached out to touch her and she stepped back. Anthony sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I feel like an ass."

Grace didn't know what to say. Part of her knew that he had nothing to do with the cancer coming back so blaming him wouldn't do any good but she was mad for him leaving her. Would he have left if she told him what was going on back then? Even if she wanted to know it was too late.

"I wish you would've told me," he whispered.

She found herself asking, "Why?"

"I would've came back to be there for you."

Grace wiped away a tear. "It doesn't matter anymore. It's too late." She sighed and closed her eyes. "I miss her."

He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into him feeling comforted by his touch. Part of her heart still belonged to him and probably would as he was her first love. He kissed the top of her head. "I might've not have been able to be there for you when you needed it most but I'm here for you now." Anthony unwrapped his arms around her and tilted up her chin so she was looking into his eyes. "I'm here now."

++++

The next few days Anthony spent most of them at the apartment hoping that he would see Grace sometime soon. Jocelyn decided to cut all sexual ties with him and decided that it would be best to just be friends especially if he wanted to win Grace back.

His fingers drummed along his desk as he was putting together a cover for Midnight Red. It was a mashup of two popular songs on the radio and once that was done he began to work on some original music. Fans have been demanding a studio version of "No Other Girl" and the boys were going to give the redheads what they wanted.

Someone tapped on his shoulder and Anthony pulled off his headphones and turned around in his chair to see a busty blonde wiggling her fingers at him. "Hey."

"Hey, did Eric let you in?"

"Mhmm." She wrapped her arms around him and he was assaulted with her overpowering perfume which made him scrunch his nose. "He said you've been down and I figured I could help." She peppered kisses down his throat then flicked her tongue out across his lips.

He took her hands off of him and got out of the chair. Normally a move like that from a girl would have him adjusting himself in his jeans but there was only one girl that he wanted to be around and this blonde wasn't the girl. "I think you should leave."

She huffed then spun on her heels and stormed off calling him an asshole.

Eric leaned into the doorframe. "What? Looking for a brunette today?" he smirked.

Anthony shook his head. "More like only wanting one girl and the one I probably lost my one and only shot with."

"Damn, well then you obviously have to get her back."

"How do I do that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I've never had to work to get girls."

Anthony laughed. "Yeah man neither have I."

++++

Grace groaned and let her head fall back against the headboard of her bed. For the past thirty minutes she's been trying to assemble furniture and the instructions aren't clear on what she's supposed to do.

"Why is this so complicated?!"

Jocelyn poked her head. "You okay?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I've been trying to out together some furniture and I'm beginning to hate IKEA."

She laughed. "Well I'm not that great at this kind of stuff but I know who is." Jocelyn pulled out her phone with a smile and texted someone. Her eyes were full of mischief when she looked at Grace. "He will be here in twenty."

"He?"

"Yup, so get ready!" She said in a sing-song voice."

"Who's he?"

"Anthony, of course."

"Why did you invite him?"

"Because I know he's been waiting for an opportunity to see you again and you've been down in the dumps winds the party."

Grace hurried into her closet and changed her shirt oversized tee into a stylish tank top and a pair of high waited shorts. Then she picked up her makeup bag and swiped some bubblegum lipgloss over her lips and added another cost of mascara to her long lashes. "Why do I care what I look like in front of him?" She sighed and stepped away from the mirror shaking her head.

Someone knocked on the apartment door and Claire took a deep breath before she opened it. "Hey, uh thanks for coming."

"Sure, no problem." His eyes raked up and down her body and she sucked in a breath. His eyes lingered in her chest and her hips as if he was remembering what it was like to be touching her body when they were together.

She motioned him to follow her in her bedroom. "So I've got this bookshelf I've been trying to put together and I'm failing miserably at doing so but I managed to lay out all the pieces and separate them."

He laughed. "That's a start."

Grace's phone buzzed.

Logan: I'm throwing a party later. You should come and bring the girls! :)

Grace: you mean Joc ;)

Logan: you caught me!!!

Grace: Well txt me the deats later and I'll tell her

"Who's that?" Anthony asked.

"Oh, it's Logan."

"The dude from the party?"

"Yeah, apparently he's having a party."

"And he wants you to go?"

She noticed that his posture went stuff and his hands were starting to ball into tight fists. "Yeah, but he wants me to make sure that I bring Jocelyn with. He's got a thing for her and she's pretty clueless that he's into her."

"Huh."

"Mhmm."

"Well let's get started on this bookshelf. Hand me the instructions."

It was weird that Anthony seemed to not like that Grace might be seeing another guy but that wasn't something he should worry about. They weren't together and he had no right to get jealous. Her eyes kept glancing at him as he assembled the bookshelf. When he chewed on his lower lip she would think about how soft his lips would always feel when he kissed her. She pushed those thoughts away. The last thing was she needed was to fall for the one guy who already shattered her heart into a million pieces.