Temptations (Book One)

Chapter 1

  After I graduated from Junior High, everything started to get better and better for me. I had a great boyfriend, a lot of friends, and a loving family. Devin was my boyfriend's name. He was very kind and sweet. My friends, Tori, Sage, James, and Mark. They were all very playful but serious when it came to family matters. Life was good.  But have you ever had someone else in your life that you just wanted to have a purpose with? I felt that way around my boyfriend's brother, Blake. He was a tattoo artist, not to mention, he had a lot of tattoos. He had dark brown, combed-back hair. He was 5'8" and he was very... serious.

  I kind of thought about him every now and then. But sometimes, I thought about him and me together. I know, I know. It was way too stupid to be thinking about it. But I felt like something clicked whenever he was in the same room as me. Of course, he didn't feel the same. Or so I thought.

  It was a rainy day at school. The clock ticked agonizingly slow as I sat in my seat, tapping my pen on my notebook. I wanted to go home. (As any other teenager would want.) The clock read 2:00. Only five more minutes. I thought, very impatiently. Our Civics teacher, Mrs. White,  was writing down class notes on her clipboard. I watched her and the clock, very annoyed by how slow time was going.

  Suddenly the bell rang, echoing through the halls. I bursted up from my seat and threw my books into my backpack and sprinted for the door. I ran down the hall and flew into Devin's arms. He was thrown back by my sudden impact. "Whoa! Watch out, Jen. You could of knocked me over!" He cried, smiling and giving me a tight hug. I giggled, smirking. "You know, I wanted to." I winked at him, grabbing his hand and tugging him out the door and down the steps.

  "So how did your day go?" I asked him, sitting in our seat as soon as we got to our bus. He smiled and looked down. "Well, I made you a little something in Art Foundations today." He replied, digging through his bookbag to find it. My eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible! You know that I always stare at you in that class!" I cried, giggling. He shot me a smirk. "I did it while you were looking away."  He said, grasping onto the item in his palm. "Close your eyes." He said softly. I shut my eyes slowly and obiediantly. I felt a cord wrap around my neck and a pendant hit my chest. Curious, I opened my eyes, looking down.

  It was a dragon necklace made out of polymer clay! It was very detailed with it's black body and red eyes. I smiled brightly, feeling the texture of it. "I love it.." I said, hugging him tightly. I struck a kiss on his cheek. He blushed a pinkish red on his cheeks. "I knew how much you liked black dragons, so I made you one..." He replied. But his smile soon turned into a frown. He sighed. "About the tattoo you wanted me to get.." He started. "Blake said I'll have to get it by today. So when we get home, my mom is going to take us both to American Graffiti." He said.

  I looked down at the floor of the wobbly bus. "Oh..." I muttered. I wasn't disappointed. I was excited but I wanted to hide it from Devin. His family treated Blake as an outcast for his past actions but I disregarded it. I still had faith in him. I didn't care what they said. But it seemed like everytime I brought his name up, Devin's family shunned the name. They treated him like Voldemort off of Harry Potter.

  The bus came to a complete stop at our street. I stood up and waited, letting the three other kids off. I grasped Devin's hand, tightly. He smiled and nuzzled his cheek against mine. So warm and welcoming. I followed Devin off the bus and walked with him down the street to our house. Last year, Devin's family had taken mine to court to get custody over me because my parents were alcoholics and they were physically abusive towards me and my little sisters. My dad was the most aggressive. They won and I got to go home with them. Life was much better after that. I lived with his dad, his mom, and his older brother, Brian.

  As we reached the driveway, our mom was already in the driver seat. I jumped into the back after Devin opened the door for me. I sat behind the passenger seat and Devin sat behind his mom. She smiled at me. "How was school?" She asked, starting up the engine. Devin shrugged in a reply and I rolled my eyes, resting my chin on the seatbelt. "Boring..." I remarked bluntly. She laughed. It was a very hearty laugh. "School can be boring, Jennifer. You just have to push through it." She replied, pulling the red Suburban out of the driveway.

  As the car started to wobble from the bumpy road, I stared out the window, watching the houses and gas stations pass by. Devin and his mom were talking about the descison on the tattoo design but it was muffled from my mind being lost in space. Staring out the window was oddly soothing for my mind. It was like when your a baby and your mother held you in a rocking chair, slowly swaying back and forth. It was calming to the mind. I shut my eyes, the car was lulling me to sleep.

  My head jerked up as it started to fall. I opened my eyes quickly, noticing we weren't there yet. I looked over at Devin. He was still talking in a what-seemed-like-forever conversation with his mom. He was excited ever since his mom treated him to it for his birthday. I smiled faintly but went back to staring out the window. The car fell silent as it slowly came to a stop. I snapped out of my trance and looked around. The car door suddenly slammed shut as I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed to the door. I opened it and jumped down from the high elevation.

  I stretched and shut the door. Devin's mom lowered the passenger side window. "Tell me when you're done so I can pick you two up." She said. Devin smiled, "We will, mom." He assured her. She waved goodbye and rolled the window up. As the car pulled off, I took a deep breath. My palms were sweaty. I was obviously nervous. Devin grabbed my hand and smiled. "It'll be fine.." He calmingly said to me. I looked down and nodded as we started to walk for the door. As the door creaked open, the bell hanging from the entrance rang. We looked up at the counter and watched a tall, bearded man walk out from the door behind it and shook our hands. He smiled slightly, "You must be Blake's little brother." He said. "He's pretty good with tattoos." He finished, smiling up at Devin.

  He looked over at me. "And who is this?" He asked. Devin looked down. "She's my girlfriend... she wanted to come with me." He replied, tightening his grip on my hand. The man smiled and wrote down Devin's name on the clipboard he held. "I'll bring Blake out now..." He said, walking towards the end of the hallway. As he left, I stared down at the floor. My heart pounded and my breathing was steadily shaking. After a few moments, the door opened slowly and the young, rough-looking man walked towards us. My hand twitched in intimidation. He shot a glare at Devin and smiled. "Hey little brother..." He muttered, playfully punching him on the shoulder. Devin frowned and laughed a little. "Hey..." He replied. Just standing there was akward as Blake looked over at me. He smirked. "Well... shall we get this over with?" He asked, gesturing us to follow him. We cautiosly walked over to the door.

  As soon as we stepped into that small room, there would be no going back from what I experienced...