Marks on My Skin (Love & Ink #1) (9 page)

Thwack!

I didn’t want him. Not like Darren thought. Sure, I was attracted to Kieran, but I was attracted to plenty of men. I shifted against the seat and the dull ache only served as a reminder. Kieran noticed, and I saw him watching me from his side of the car.

“Shayne?”

“We’re almost there.” I said, and turned down the long dirt road that led to Rolling Hills Treatment Center. Kieran returned his attention ahead as the car approached the concrete block walls that ran around the perimeter of the hospital. It was very out of the way, but she’d worn out her welcome at any closer treatment facilities.

“Look I’ll just be a few minutes. Can you wait in the car?”

Kieran nodded, his blue eyes piercing me with the concern in them. I had to get out of the car, get away from him. The problem was, I didn’t want to be here either. I didn’t want to see her.

CHAPTER TEN

It Was You

Shayne had been gone almost an hour now, and I was starting to get concerned, but I told her I’d wait in the car. I didn’t mind that she was taking a long time. My bladder however, had other opinions on that matter. With a cursory glance around the property I got out of the car and headed for reception. There was a bathroom to the left of the waiting room that the receptionist said was for visitors.

I relieved myself with a deep sigh of relief, washed my hands, and hurried back outside hoping Shayne hadn’t returned yet. As soon as I stepped outside though, I saw her standing next to a tree. She was staring my way with a cold, angry look and an apology formed on my lips. Drawing closer to her though, I realized she wasn’t looking at me at all. And she wasn’t angry, she was upset.

“Shayne, ya okay?” I asked. Her eyes widened on me, panic making her gasp.

“What are you doing, Kieran? I though you were going to wait in the car?”

“I’m sorry. I just went ta use the restroom, then I saw ya standing here and I—”

“Heh, let me guess. This is your latest sugar daddy?” An older woman with straggly black and gray hair glared daggers at me from a face that looked merely skin and bone. I’d never seen the woman before but she bore some strange familiarity. Her mother.

“It’s not like that. Kieran’s just a friend.”

“Friend? Aren’t they all?” She sniffed at Shayne, rubbing a bony hand under her reddened nose.

“I’m just a friend.” I added. She narrowed her eyes at me and let out a snort.

“So what is it you’re doing for her, then? Coke? Heroin? Or just a fun piece of ass?”

“I’m just her friend and how dare ya talk about yer own flesh and blood like that?”

“Wow, Shayne! He must not be that good of a friend. He doesn’t know you at all.” Her mother laughed and patted my arm. I took a step back, not wanting her anywhere near me.

“Mother, leave him alone.” The muscles at the side of Shayne’s neck strained as she tried to keep her calm.

“Shayne, I can just go back ta the car—”

“You know,
Kieran
, was it?” Her mother tilted her head, eyes narrowed like a lion spotting its prey. “You know Kieran, Shayne thinks she’s better than her dear mother. She sticks me in this God forsaken rehab because I’m the one with the problems, never mind her own! She dresses in her slutty little clothes, covers herself in those disgusting tattoos, and acts like she’s got her shit together, but I know the real her. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Cover up those arms with that ink, Shayne, but I can still see the track marks…and everything else.”

“I don’t do those things anymore.” Shayne said, her voice defensive but hushed.

“Well not at the moment, sweetheart. But you’ll go back. Just like me.”

Shayne balled her hands into fists. Instinctively, I grasped her wrist and her muscles relaxed.

“Mother, just tell me you’ll behave. They’re giving you one more chance to be compliant, and once they kick you out there isn’t another treatment center for a hundred miles that will take you.”

Her mother looked over her with a disdainful eye, then to me with a silent scoff.

“I’ll play by their rules…for now. But remember what I said. I can’t do this much longer.”

“Goodbye, mother.” Shayne pulled out of my grasp and turned for the car, saying nothing else. I looked from her back to her mother.

Her mother flashed me a cruel, teasing grin and nodded. “Well, run along.”

Ignoring her comment I hurried after Shayne, more concerned for her than her mother’s snide remarks. She already had the car started and the engine growled, only echoing the anger and hurt rolling off of her.

She didn’t look at me when I got in the car, but shifted the car into gear. “Buckle up.”

I did as I was told and she spun the car around, flooring it as soon we passed the gates and hit the dirt road. The car fishtailed and a cloud of dust ballooned up behind us. I gripped the door handle and stole a glance at her. Her fingernails were digging into the padding on the steering wheel again.

“I’m sorry. I tried ta hold it.”

She laughed, an uneasy, frantic laugh, and shook her head. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m sorry you had to witness that.”

“It’s fine. Ya don’t have anything ta apologize fer either.”

“Look, I can drop you back at the shop, but I need to calm down. I don’t know if I can deal with working on people right now.”

“I’m fine, Shayne. I don’t have anywhere ta be.” I told her. After what her mother said, and her current behavior, I was more concerned for her well-being than my brother not knowing my whereabouts.

Shayne sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it back out. I reached a hand out as hers dropped onto the shifter.

“Yer not like her.”

“Yeah, well she’s right, Kieran. You don’t know me very well.”

“Then tell me. Let me know ya.”

Her hand slipped away and like that her wall was back up. Her darkness was pulled beneath once more but simmering just under the surface. She turned left as we reached the heart of Midtown and parallel parked in front of an aged brick apartment building.

“Where are we?” I asked, following her up the stairs. The inside of the building was as aged as the outside, with fading white walls and worn blue-gray carpet that greeted us as we reached the fourth floor. She stopped in front of a black door with the brass numbers “433” under the peephole and looked back at me.

“It’s my apartment.”

“Oh.” I followed her in.

“Will it bother you if I smoke?” She dropped her purse on the kitchen counter and looked toward me expectantly as her hand fumbled with a carved wooden box. I wasn’t sure exactly what she was talking about smoking from the looks of it, but shrugged.

“Go on.”

Shayne pulled out a glass pipe and packed weed into the bowl, then pulled out a lighter and lit it, taking a deep inhale. She exhaled, closed her eyes, and leaned back against the counter, the tension flowing right out of her.

“Want some?” She held the pipe out to me and I stepped toward her, carefully taking it from her hands. I hadn’t smoked pot since high school, but after the conversation with her mother, I could use something to calm my nerves as well. Shayne watched me as I took a hit. The light from the window caught her brown eyes and they glowed like sunlit honey.

I started to speak, to say something comforting, but she grabbed the pipe out of my hand and pulled away, wandering toward her bed. I studied her belongings. The apartment was small. Nothing more than a studio with a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a couple closets, but the walls were a fresh shade of white. She had bright colored frames, holding black and white photos of places I’d seen around town and a large stereo system with a CD tower next to her bed. Her furniture was funky and unique like many of the items I’d seen at The Dirty Rich Hippie. They were kind of like her, I realized with a grin. Shayne kicked off her boots next to the bed, and I noted the knee-high Bambi socks she was wearing with amusement.

“What? I like my socks.” She frowned at me and handed me the pipe. I took another hit and smirked.

“I just didn’t expect Bambi. I like them.”

Shayne grinned and looked down at them. “Yeah? Hmm, you thirsty or anything?” She stepped closer, plucking the pipe out of my fingers, and wrapping her lips around the tip. I nodded and sucked in a breath, a pleasant buzz already settling over me. She flashed me a cat-like grin, handed the pipe to me again, and sauntered to the fridge.

I sank down onto the couch, unsure whether it was the weed or her that was making me lightheaded. A minute later something brushed against my knee and I opened my eyes, not even realizing I’d closed them. Shayne was leaned over me holding a can of soda.

“Here.” Her breasts heaved inches from my face. I took another hit, long and slow to calm the heat rolling through me, then took the drink from her hand.

“Thank you.” My voice came out gruff. Shayne laughed and pulled herself up, taking an equally deep hit. I wanted to pull her down into my lap, but right now wasn’t the time. Despite our altered states, I knew she was still upset. “Shayne, maybe we should—”

“I feel like dancing, hmm?” She was already across the room, bent over in front of the stereo system. I fought back a groan, watching her arse wiggle in the air as she rummaged through her CD collection and finally slipped one into the player.

“Shayne, wait—”

“Do you like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? I saw them in concert once” She looked back at me with a wide grin, eyes narrowed and heavy. Yeah, she was baked.

“I do, actually. But Shayne—” Music blared through the speaker, drowning out my words. I sighed and stood up, intent on talking to her. Shayne swayed to the music with her arms draped over her head and her hair falling in her face. Her eyes were shut and tears glinted in the corners. The sight made my heart drop and I took a cautious step toward her, feeling a little unsteady myself. I touched a hand to her shoulder and she turned, nudging her cheek against my palm.

“Shayne…” My voice was just loud enough to hear over the music. Her eyelids fluttered open and a slow, relaxed smile curled on her lips. “Shayne maybe we should talk about—’

“Mmm, I don’t want to talk right now. Dance with me, Kieran?”

“Um, okay. But I’m not that good.”

Shayne giggled and it spread through the room like a million tiny chimes. How could I tell her no with those wide brown eyes pleading with me?

“C’mere.” She grabbed my hand, pulled me closer, and wrapped her arms around my neck. The sweet yet earthy scent of her and the pungent scent of weed filled my nose. I breathed in and closed my eyes, tentatively putting my hands on her hips. Shayne emitted a soft, content noise. She raked her fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck and I shivered.

“Shayne…” my voice came out in an odd croak. I opened my eyes, startled by the noise. Shayne giggled again, smiling at me with half-lidded eyes, apparently finding the sound rather amusing. The song changed to one with a slow tempo carried by a heavy drum beat and Shayne turned around in my arms, relaxing against me. My hands moved on their own, running down the curve of her hips. She pressed her arse against me and breath rushed from my lungs at the feeling of her slow, rhythmic gyrations.

I tried again to say something, to stop her, but her name left my lips in a deep groan. Shayne slid her hands over mine and dragged them up her body in response. She pressed them to her breasts and gave them an encouraging squeeze. I fondled them, circling my fingertips over her nipples and let out a harsh hiss of breath against her neck My cock roused to life and I pressed my stiffness against her arse.

I tried to pull my hands away. She didn’t want this, she didn’t want me. But her grip tightened and she pressed my hands into her breasts, her nipples pebbling between my fingers.

“Please.” She moaned and dropped her hands away. I could think of a million reasons not to. We were both high off our arses, she was upset about her mother, she wasn’t thinking straight. But that plea, that begging in her voice drove all of it from my mind. Something inside me took over. I pinched her nipples in my fingers and dragged my teeth over the back of her neck, intoxicated, needing more of her.

“Bite,” she whispered. And I did. She shuddered with a soft mewling sound and I thrust against her, growing harder by the moment. Shayne reached her hand back, stroking me through my jeans, and I groaned against the salty taste of her skin. My hands clawed at the front of her shirt, desperate to feel more of her bare skin, but made little to no progress.

“Take it off.” I growled against her ear in a deep, ragged breath. She let go of me, pulling both bra and shirt over her head. I was on her again before either article hit the floor. Her skin was warm and soft, and another groan shook from my throat. She turned her head, brown eyes clouded with desire and I kissed her lips, grinding hard against her. Lust and want crashed into me and my hand scrambled down the flair of her hips and over her skirt. I tugged the fabric up and cupped the heat between her thighs, pulling her against me as our hips moved together.

Not enough.
I pushed the thin fabric aside, running my fingertips up her opening to the swollen nub. She moaned and rolled her hips against me and I rolled my fingertips over her clit, drunk on the sound of her. My cock swelled, painfully hard and I slid two fingers inside her, needing more. Shayne gasped and rolled her head back, her hair falling over my shoulder as her fingernails dug into my arm.
More
.

“Shayne…do ya have a condom?”

I braced myself, waiting for her to pull away like before. But she didn’t. Christ, I wanted her…and
she
wanted me too?

“I don’t, but I’m clean.” Her words came out in a breathy pant. “And I told you, I can’t get pregnant.”

My breath left me in a deep exhale. I’d thought about what it would be like with her since that first night at the bar, but I’d long since assumed there would not be a repeat of that. Slowly, I resumed my movements, working my fingers inside her. Shayne whimpered. She turned her head and her eyes met mine with a pleading stare . It sent a pleasurable shiver down the base of my spine. I leaned in to kiss her once more, but something else trembled from her lips.