Blackbird (9 page)

“He’s sexy though, right?”

“Oh he is sexy. If there was no Dave in my life
right now, there would definitely be a Nate,” she said grinning at
Layla
.

She finished filling in the paperwork and sat
down to wait.
Shortly after Nate came over prepped and ready
for her.

“Where exactly do you want it?” Nate asked.

“Just here,” Claire said, pulling down her
pants and underwear to reveal the bare flesh of her hip.

“
Alrighty
then,” Nate
said as he adjusted her pants to
fit  a
white
sheet between her skin and the pants. “This may hurt a little. If at any time
you want to stop you just let me know.”

“Ok,” she said with a smile. Strangely enough
Claire wasn’t nervous or scared at all.

Layla
gave her
hand a squeeze as Nate turned the machine on, the buzzing sound filling the
room. As he lowered the tattoo gun to her, Claire could feel the light breeze
of his breath on her. Then she felt the stinging sharp pain of the tattoo gun
hitting her flesh. She tensed her body slightly, refusing to give into the pain
or move should she potentially ruin an already ridiculous tattoo.

 “So can I ask, why this tattoo?” Nate
questioned.

Claire looked at
Layla
smiling. “It was part of a bet-”

“Which you lost!”
Layla
interrupted.

“Which I lost,” Claire agreed.

“What was the
bet
?”
Claire heard Nate ask while he continued to tattoo her.

Claire sighed softly, trying not to move too
much. “My friends bet I couldn’t eat a tub of ice cream in half an hour. If I
won I got a year’s supply of ice cream. If I lost I had to get a tattoo of
their choosing, which of course had to be the most ridiculous one they could
think of.” Claire said, rolling her eyes.

“That wouldn’t be too hard though?” Nate asked.

Claire laughed. “That’s what I thought. You
see, I’m a huge ice cream fan. I’ve done this before so I thought I had it in
the bag. However, they found a loophole in the bet- because I didn’t stipulate
what size ice cream tub I had to eat they had me try and eat a five litre tub.
Suffice to say I didn’t win the bet- just suffered a whole lot of heart burn
and brain freeze.”

“I’m impressed. You seem a woman of your word,
even when that means getting a pretty weird tattoo,” Nate commented.

“I never back down from a bet.”

Nate continued to tattoo her in silence until
he was finished. “Ok, you’re all done. You can jump up now and go have a look
in the mirror if you’d like.”

Claire got to her feet and walked over to the
nearby wall mounted, floor length mirror.

She looked into the mirror and saw the
reflection of the small, black moustache tattoo on her lower hip. This would be
by far the craziest thing she had ever done, and the most stupid, yet she could
only laugh. Claire wasn’t the type of person to get caught up in the
seriousness of the situation- the fact she would have the tattoo for life-
she’d rather laugh at the moment and move on.

Claire had made sure she got the tattoo low
enough so that her underwear would always cover it. This way she could avoid
her parents ever finding out. Her parents hated tattoos so much they would
probably disown her if they ever found out she had one.

Nate came up behind her. He was easily a good
head height taller than her. His muscular frame made Claire look tiny in
comparison.

His dark eyes looked at her in the reflection.
“So what you think?”

“It’s great,” she said softly, smiling.

Nate kinked his head to the side.
“Just great?”

“It’s a tattoo of a moustache, how much greater
can it
be
?” She laughed.

Nate smiled. “I suppose you’re right.”

Claire smiled back, not able
to take her eyes from his.

The more she looked at him, the more she felt the
urge to turn around and kiss him till she couldn’t breathe. He was
breathtakingly handsome.

She watched his eyes move over hers
seductively, and although she was fully clothed she felt naked to his gaze. He
was taking her in inch by inch.

He casually placed the tips of his fingers on
her shoulder. She drew in a deep breath. His touch might have been soft but it
sent an electric current through her.

She watched him in the reflection, his eyes
focused on her chest which was pounding up and down, his fingers now tracing a
path down her arm. She was vaguely aware that they were still in the tattoo
parlour but it wasn’t until she heard
Layla
clear her
throat that she returned to the moment.  

Claire quickly turned to
Layla
.
 A smug grin was plastered on her best friend’s face. “Finished?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Claire said quickly walking
to the front counter.

Nate followed close behind her. When they
reached the counter he bent down and picked up a piece of paper from underneath
the counter and handed it to her.

“Here’s some information about the aftercare of
your tattoo, please read it carefully and don’t go swimming for at least two
weeks.”

Claire took the piece of paper and skimmed
through it. “So how much do I owe you?”

Nate shook his head. “It’s on the house.”

Claire looked at him confused. “Why?”

“Consider it a gift.”

“Okay. Well, thanks then. I’ll see you around.”

Nate smiled, turned and walked away.

“He likes you,”
Layla
murmured.

Claire grabbed
Layla’s
hand and pulled her towards the door. “Yeah well Dave likes me as well,” she
said conclusively.

Claire’s attention focused back on Nate. He was
looking at her, different emotions crossing his face as he remembered how they
had met.

His eyes moved to her hips and his hands quickly
moved to her denim pants. He pulled them down just enough to expose her tattoo.

“I did this on you… You’d lost a bet…Why didn’t
you tell me?” He looked back at her, anger filling his eyes.

“I…I was going to, but then I thought it was the
best way to keep our relationship professional.”

He stepped back from her on his strong leg,
creating distance between them. His eyes looked around the room, searching for
answers. He looked back at Claire now. “How dare you! You had no fucking right
to keep that from me!”

Claire couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How
dare I? You’re the one who knew I had a boyfriend! You’re the one who kissed me
at the club!”

Nate looked at her, his face stunned. “What…”

Claire watched as Nate remembered what had
happened that night after she got a tattoo. His face changed as he remembered
everything
.

“That’s the thanks I get for saving you?” Nate
asked bitterly.

Claire’s mouth dropped open, as she thought back
to that night.

Claire tried to push herself
through the crowd to her sister.

Tonight was meant to be a great night. Stella
hadn’t been out with Claire in forever and she’d finally agreed to come out.

Claire knew the night wasn’t going well when
Stella seemed to down as many drinks as she could get her hands on. By the time
Tristan turned up, Stella was almost passed out and Tristan had to carry her
out of the club. Claire had tried to follow them, but the crowd was too big and
she ended up being pushed into the corner of an alleyway with no way out.

“You look so sexy in those heels,” a deep voice
called. Claire turned quickly to see a man watching her closely.

“Do I know you?”

The man smiled at her. “No. But you will,” he
said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close.

Claire tried to push him off with her arms.
“Get off me!”

But the man wasn’t listening. Instead he pushed
Claire hard against the brick wall.  His grip on her wrists was strong as
he held her hands behind her back. “There, there, I promise to be nice,” the
man whispered into her ear. She could smell the alcohol and cigarettes on his
breath.

Claire frantically looked around for anyone
nearby, but the crowd that had been there only
moments ago
was
now far down the street. This situation was quickly getting out of
her control and she needed to get out of it now!

“Look, you need to get off me right now or…or
I’m calling the cops.” Claire said weakly.

The man laughed at her. “By the time they get
here, I’ll already be done.”

If Claire hadn’t been panicking before, she was
now. Without any further hesitation she bought her knee up fast and hard into
the man’s groin. He leant forward moaning and she felt the grip on her hands
loosen. She quickly lurched forward, trying her best to escape when she felt a
sharp pull on her hair.

 “You think you can get away that easy!”
the man growled at her.

“Get off me! Somebody, please help!” Claire
screamed at the top of her lungs, desperately calling for someone, anyone to
help her. There was no way this dick was going to do anything to
her,
she sure as hell wouldn’t let him.

“She said get off her!” a familiar voice
called.

The grip on Claire’s hair vanished. She turned
to see Nate’s fist connecting firmly with the man’s jaw. Grabbing the man by
the collar of his shirt, Nate pulled the man’s face close. “What the fuck were
doing!” he asked menacingly.

Nate didn’t see the man’s fist come up to hook
him in the face, causing his head to snap backwards and Nate to fall to the
ground.  The man, seeing his opportunity, quickly ran down the
street. 

Claire rushed to Nate. “Are you okay?” Claire
asked, as she stood in front of Nate her hands holding his shoulders.

Nate held his hand to his face.
“That bastard!”

“He’s gone,” Claire
said ,
brushing her hand over the spot where the guy had hit Nate. It was bleeding and
a bruise was fast developing

“Are you okay?” he asked, pulling himself up
off the ground, Claire helping him to stand.

 “I’m fine.”

Nate touched her face with his palm. “Did he
hurt you?”

She looked into his eyes, the eyes of a man who
had just saved her. To think of what could have happened if he hadn’t turned up
frightened her.

“He didn’t hurt me,” she said quietly.

“Good,” he said, cupping the side of her cheeks
with her hands.

His look of concern quickly changed to a look
of desire.  Hunger burned in his eyes.

She was suddenly overcome with awareness of how
close they were, their bodies nearly touching. Moments ago she had been in her
worst nightmare. Now she was in a different kind of dream, one in which she
didn’t seem to have any control over her feelings.

Nate eased his head down, his hot breath
warming her cool lips. “Say yes,” he breathed.

There was no thinking, no thoughts of what this
meant and the consequences of her actions, just Nate. “Yes.”

Nate kissed her hard and rough, tasting her for
all she had. She welcomed his passion, her lips forcing their way on his. He
pushed their bodies against the wall, their lips still locked.

She felt his tongue part her lips, desperate to
gain entry. She moved her own tongue to match his rhythm, devouring the pure
taste of him.

Her body moved against him, her hips grinding
his. His hands gripped her ass. She wanted him more than she had ever wanted
anyone before. But this was fast, too fast.

She broke the kiss, pushing him back so they
were still close but not touching,
their
breathing hot
and heavy. “Nate…”

“What the hell?”

Nate and Claire turned their heads quickly to
the voice.

Dave.

Claire quickly moved to create a larger space
between her and Nate. Nate instead moved closer and wrapped his arm around Claire.
“So let me guess, boyfriend?”

Claire swiped his arm away and moved towards
Dave. “I can explain,” she pleaded.

Dave ignored her and looked straight at Nate.
“Who the hell are you?”

“The name’s
Nate,
and
I just saved your girl. She was just showing me her… gratitude.”

Dave moved quickly and swung a punch at Nate
hitting his jaw. Nate spat out blood all over the pavement as he steadied his
body.

She jumped in front of Dave, putting her hands
on his chest. “Stop, Dave! He didn’t mean anything by it!”

“What the hell is he talking about then?”

Claire had never seen Dave so angry before. It
was scary, even for her. “I’ll tell you later. Forget it about it, Dave. It’s
nothing, he’s no-one.”

“No-one, hey?”
Nate stood up and spat out more blood, missing her feet just slightly. “What,
I’m not good enough for you? I didn’t get that impression two minutes ago when
your tongue was down my throat.”

“Shut up, Nate! You’re making this worse. Come
on, Dave, let’s just go,” she said grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

Dave was furious and it took all her strength
to pull his attention from Nate.

“Please, Dave, he’s not worth it,” Claire
pleaded.

Dave looked down at her then back at Nate.
“You’re right, he isn’t.”