Our Secret

Nine

My body immediately reacts to Jace's touch when he kisses me, causing every nerve ending on my body to stand in attention.  His lips are as soft as silk but I can tell tell he's been drinking because they taste heavily of mint mixed with whiskey, though it is an intoxicating combination if I'm honest. It's like Jace's signature, and fuck me if I don't feel a bit drunk off of it myself.

I can't help the nagging voice in the back of my head that tells me he end up drinking more tonight and I have a feeling it's because something happened with his dad when he got home. I break away from our kiss to turn on the lamp on the nightstand so I can see his beautiful face better and I'm happy to see that the bruises are starting to slowly starting to faded. 

"You seem a little drunker than when you left, are you okay babe?" I ask as nonchalant as I can once the dark room lights up. 

He looks up at me with a rude expression. "Yeah so? That alright with you mom?" 

My whole face freezes and my mouth drops open, I'm so used to him being nice that I forgot what an asshole he can be. His mouth snaps shut the second the words leave his lips and you can see the instant regret on his face but I don't care. You don't get to pop off on me for asking a simple question so I reach up and grab the hand he had placed around my waist and quickly remove it, shoving it down on the bed.

"Not at all and you can fuck off too while you're at it." I whisper angrily.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, I don't know why I said that. It's just been a fucked up few hours..."

"Well you don't just get to come here and take your anger out on me. I don't give a shit if you drank, I was just asking." I say trying to lower my aggravated tone down to a lower volume. "I'm sorry for whatever is going on babe I really am, but I told you that you can always talk to me, but you're not about to talk down to me." 

I do feel bad for what he's going through, I mean I know something bad happened tonight I can see it all over his face and maybe I'm being a bit over dramatic but he's one stupid mother fucker if he thinks I'm going to let him talk to me like that. 

"I know, you're right. I'm so fucking sorry. I told you that I push people away and I get drunk and say stupid shit. I'm working on it, I promise I am baby... I don't want to push you away." He says resting his head in his hands. 

I know he's trying so I decide to let the comment go and I think I got my point across enough for now. I reach out for his hand, intertwining our fingers and use his steady body to pull myself up to sit on his lap. I run my hands up and down his arms but he winces when I reach the top of his left bicep. I pull back slightly to see what it is and notice the cellophane wrapped around his arm peeking underneath his shirt. 

"Um, what is that?" I ask reaching under his shirt, pulling it up to remove it from his torso.

"Oh, I almost forgot" He chuckles while pulling the tattered shirt over his head.

It falls to the floor and my eyes go wide when they land on the vine of thorns intricately wrapping their way around his muscled arm, ending in the center of his chest. Nestled within the darkened shadows of the vines is one singular rose.

"Wow..." I have almost no words. The tattoo is beautiful. I didn't think I'd like something that would cover up his amazing body, but this just adding to his perfection. 

"You don't like it." He says hesitantly.

"No! I love it!" I say leaning in to kiss him, "It's so beautiful, but what made you decide to get it? Wait did you get this done today? Does it mean something?" I'm slightly embarrassed at my parade of questions but I'm super confused because I only just saw him a few hours ago.