Stained

Chapter 10

Damien leaves after watching me for a bit, and not my ass.

Five minutes into hitting the bag, everything suddenly hits me like a tsunami and I start punching vigorously: My sperm donor being in jail, my therapists giving up on me, all these high expectations I need to meet, the fact that I'm alone and miserable and how I had to go through everything alone. How everyone saw me breaking each day and did nothing about it but made it worse by forcing me to...

My eyes brim, my unshed tears turning my vision blurry. However, that doesn't stop me, it actually make me punch and kick harder.

I'm about to punch after I've kicked, but my wrist bends and I end up hitting the bag at full force. A horrible splintering pain shoots up my arm and down my spine.

"Crap!" I gasp, cupping my right wrist and stumbling away from the bag whilst it swings at full force from my assault. I bite my lip, trying hard to not cry out.

Suddenly Damien's at my side. "You ok?" he asks. I look up at him through my lashes so he doesn't see the impending tears. He looks genuinely concerned, but it's probably because someone got hurt in his gym, with him on watch.

He reaches for my hand but I move past him before he can grab it. "I'm fine."

I'm not even two steps away when he stops me by grabbing my left wrist. More pain shoots up my arm, and not because of my injury. I wince and squeeze my eyes shut.

Luckily he lets go of my arm, unluckily he comes in front of me. "Let me see, " he gestures to my hand with his head.

He doesn't give me the chance to move away or say no because, in the next second, he's grabbing my wrist. I jump from the sudden jolt of pain, and despite myself, a tear escapes.

'Despite yourself?' The mean voices in my head drawl. 'You cry all the damn time.' I ignore them. They're apart of me as long as I have my brain and unfortunately, I need my brain to function. Anyways, I'm used to their taunts now.

My tear falls onto Damien's hand. Crap. He stares at the drop for a second, confused, but when he looks up his eyes soften immensely. Ugh pity.

He brings his hand up to my face, but I move back. He frowns and guilt washes down on me at the sight of it. I'm about to open my mouth to say something, what exactly I don't know, but he grabs my right wrist before I can, making me forget what I was about to do or say. On the other hand, I manage to keep the tears in check this time. Shocker. I know.

"Hold still." He places the back of my hand in his palm and begins to slowly take off my hand wrap. His hands feel rough against my soft ones, but his touch is as gentle as a feathers.

I can't help but watch him whilst he removes the hand wrap. It's creepy but I can't seem to look away. He has all kinds of tattoos on his arm: some writings, a rose compass, a small lion and a few other things. But the one that catches my attention the most is the lone one on his other arm. It stretches from his wrist up, but the short sleeves on his t-shirt hide some of it.

From what I can make out, it's a dark tree: dark messy roots form at his wrist and stretch into a dark haunted-looking tree at the top. The rest disappears into his t-shirt though. Also, it's a bit blurred, as if a rough wind is making it sway uncontrollably. It's so dark and twisted. I wonder if it means anything to him.

Just as im about to inspect the tattoos on his other arm, a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his shirt and going up his neck catches my attention: it's got random messy thick lines and small roses at the ends of them. Some are blossomed a fraction, some dead, but none are fully blossomed.