Rough Draft: Forever Ink

"No, no it's cool, just unexpected," Rain laughed.

"I have a theory about why I love his music so much," I defended.

"Which is?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"When my mom was seven months pregnant with me, she went to an Elton concert. I moved around so much I bruised her. It was ingrained for me to be musical from the womb and Elton was destined to have a special place in my heart."

"That's actually the best fucking reason I've ever heard to have a favorite," Deacon said. "So who's your favorite band."

"Old school Metallica," I answered without hesitation.

"Sweet. We cover them sometimes. What's your favorite Metallica song? Maybe we can do an acoustic for you later," Rain asked.

"Nothing Else Matters."

"That's kinda dark," Deacon smiled.

"We all have dark sides," I word vomited. I didn't mean to say that. Saying shit like that causes questions.

"I see," Deacon said. "Dude," he turned to Jack, "your girl's pretty badass."

Jack was giving me a weird look, again. He pursed his full lips and dipped his eyebrows, "Yeah she is that." Did he just agree that I was 'his girl'. Maybe he just meant like, 'oh yeah that's my girl Anya, she's cool'. One thing was sure. When he said it something in my chest tightened and it was scary as hell.

Jack 3

The little firecracker was just full of surprises. Deak and Rain were totally impressed. If I was honest, I was too. She was handling her beer now like an old pro, but her little pink sundress made her seem like a sweet, little princess. She definitely didn't look like she belonged with my crowd right now, except her shoulder tat peeking out of her sleeveless dress and her leg tats showing underneath.

She was singing along to the song that was on my iPod. I had chosen a more mellow playlist, since some of our new neighbors had joined. 'I'm No Angel' by Gregg Allman was blaring. She looked so damn cute bobbing her head and quietly humming to the guitar riffs.

Occasionally she would make conversation with people, it didn't matter who it was she was open and friendly. Damn, she was just incredible. I offered my two cents a few times but mostly I just watched her.

I had a thing about leaning into her ear when I spoke to her, I figured it's because I liked my lips on any part of her she'd allow and she smelled so fucking good. "You need another beer?" I murmured against her skin.

Something happened then and in twenty years I would still argue about what snapped. She turned to look at me with those hazel eyes, burning like beacons at sea, and bit her bottom lip with a nod. I don't know if she met me halfway or if I went all the way in, I just knew my lips needed to be on hers, like yesterday.

They were plump and soft. She was stock still for a minute, then she started moving. I teased her bottom lip with my tongue and she obliged me by opening. I slipped my tongue between her little teeth. I tasted the bitterness of her beer and that uniquely tangy Anya taste.

Since we were both sitting in lawn chairs I couldn't get her soft body close enough to mine, so I did what any red blooded man would do in my place. I picked her up and dragged her to my lap. Her hands fisted the sleeves of my shirt, before she put them under the hem.

She swallowed my groan when she started running them up my abdomen. The muscles contracted so hard it hurt. I fisted one hand in her hair and slid the other between my thigh and her, to cup that sweet little ass.

She moaned and pressed her chest into me. With her sitting sideways the right parts weren't touching. I needed more friction. I was painfully hard. Her fingers pulled lightly on one of my nipple rings and I'm pretty sure I growled. Just as I was about to turn her to straddle me I heard someone clear their throat.

"Ben wants to know, how long to heat the cobbler?" Fucking Kyle. If looks could kill we would have both been dead.

"Oh...um," she pulled back. I wanted to rip the bullring in Kyle's nose out. "Three hundred about fifteen minutes."

"Great," he turned and stalked off.

"Kyle!" She jumped up and followed him. Well that was just fucking perfect. This girl's life ambition must've been to leave me with blue balls.

"Uh oh. Love triangle?" Regina took Anya's deserted chair.

"No," I snapped. She shrugged. I knew if I wanted a hole to fill, Regina would be more than happy to offer hers, but it wasn't blonde with fake tits I wanted. It was dark brown and soft curves.

"She's not really your type, is she." Regina said more as a statement. I just shrugged and remained broody. "Though if I was in the midst of a kiss like that, Mohawk, wouldn't have dragged me away." She smiled seductively.

"Yeah, well you weren't." I stood up and walked to the house.

I heard Anya's voice. I shouldn't have listened, but the temptation was just too much.

"Kyle, are you serious right now?" She hissed.

"What? You were practically fucking out in the front yard," Kyle retorted.

"What I do is my business. You had your chance and you cheated with that fucking stripper. Who I fuck and where is no concern of yours."

"Just like Rob wasn't," Kyle said with ice in his voice. I heard her whimper and wanted to crash in and punch Kyle in the face. I didn't know what he was talking about but it apparently hurt her deeply. "Fuck, Anya, I'm sorry. That was out of line. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Jus go away, Kyle." That asshole had made her cry. "No don't touch me," she hissed. There was some shuffling and a slap. I'd heard enough. I rounded the corner.

Kyle was trying to grab her into his arms, but my firecracker wasn't havin' it. "Please, Anya. I'm sorry." Neither of them had noticed me.

"Is everything alright?" I asked Anya, but kept my eyes on Kyle.

"We're fine," he glared at me. I looked at her inquisitively. She gave me a nod.

"I think it's time for us to go," she said and swiped her eyes. "Thank you for having us." Dammit!

"You don't have to leave," I mumbled. I was about two seconds away from a full pout.

"Yeah, we do," she sighed. She walked over and put her arms around my waist. So, at least, she wasn't mad at me. I hugged her close to me and kissed her temple. I saw Kyle shift uncomfortably from the corner of my eye.

"Maybe, we could go to dinner tomorrow? It'll be in a public place," I asked.

"Oh. I do dinner at my place on the Sundays I'm off." Shit. I should just give up. I saw Kyle's little smirk. "Why don't you guys come? There'll be plenty. I'm making fried chicken and the fixins." That did sound good. Other than grilled slabs of meat I hadn't had a home cooked meal since we moved.

"That sounds good. Text me your address."

"Okay. Dinner's at six, usually everyone comes early, though. So if you wanna come about four, that's cool. If not see you at six." Spend extra time with her? I'd have to be the world's biggest dumbass to turn that down.

"See you at four." I gave her a chaste peck on the lips and another in her hair. "Drive safe. Kyle." I gave him a cursory nod.

I watched the car until it turned the corner. "You got it bad, man," Ben said beside me.

I sighed, "Yep. We're going to her place for dinner tomorrow. Fried chicken?"

"Dude," Ben whimpered. My boy needed to find a woman that went to culinary school. I'd swear if I hadn't shown interest, that proposal to Anya would have been serious.

I didn't know who was going to be at this dinner. I'd texted her about if I could bring something, she used my words against me.

'Just your handsome self'

I still picked up some drinks for me and Ben. The girl was already feeding us, I didn't want to be a complete loser. She lived in a small house in Midtown. That part of town was very artsy and was one of the places Ben and I were looking to open the shop. There were already several there though, so we decided against it. Good thing too. Our business was picking up better than I had planned.

"Nice house. She own it?" Ben asked.

"Dunno," I shrugged. She did seem to have her shit together, so it seemed likely.

I was walking up to the door and stopped dead in my tracks. She came out in jeans that had little slices in them. They were cleverly placed so all the good stuff was covered, but very little was left to the imagination. The shirt she was wearing made my face split. I'm sure I looked like a psycho.

"What?" She giggled. Such a cute sound.

"Like your shirt," I said. Ben started cackling behind me.

"Shut up, you!" She warned, though it didn't have the desired effect coming from her sweet little mouth. We both laughed harder. "What is wrong with my shirt?"

"I'm sorry, it's just..." I was laughing to hard to finish.

Ben helped me out, "It has Barbie on it."

"Excuse me!" She narrowed her eyes. She was just too much. "'This' is 'not' Barbie! This is Jem. Classic eighties cartoon." She crossed her arms and gave us a scoff.

"Sure," Ben goaded.

"You, you hush, you," she berated him. "Jem is a rock star. 'You', mister," she poked his chest, "are just jealous."

"Alright, firecracker, it's not Barbie," I pulled her to me. Without hesitation she wrapped her arms around my neck. "I like these jeans," I whispered to her and ran my and through a slit wear her thigh met her hip. I felt her shiver in my arms. My dick decided that was worth popping up for. I'm pretty sure she felt it, too, because she ground her pelvis into it.

"Come on in. We're playing guitar hero," she grabbed both of our hands and bound up the porch steps. "Hence the Jem shirt."

The inside of the house was not what I expected. She had framed vintage, concert and movie posters everywhere. My favorite was instantly the 'Night of the Living Dead' movie poster.

She must have seen me looking. "It's signed," she said.

"No fucking way!" She took my hand and led me closer. 'To Anya, Thanks for letting me do what I love. George A. Romero'. "That is the fucking coolest thing I have ever seen. Ben! You gotta see this."

"I saw him at a restaurant in LA when I went for vacation. He was cool, he waited for me to find a poster and signed it," she squinted and chuckled. "I also have this." She led us to an X-Men poster. "It's signed by Stan Lee," she beamed. I knew about her love of comics, and the Batman tattoo on her calf. I'd put it there. That was the last time I'd seen her until she came into my parlor a few weeks ago, so the memory was a bittersweet one.

"Has anyone ever told you, you are amazing," Ben asked her.

"Hmm," she tapped her chin, "not at times I'd believe them." She gave him a wink and led us to what I assume was a den. Kyle, Jen and the other guy, Mick? were gathered around a...huge is the wrong word...massive flat screen. Jen was singing off key to 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'. The other two had guitar controllers.

"I have to start dinner. Make yourselves at home. I'll put this in the fridge for you," she grabbed the beer and sashayed off. I watched her backside disappear down the small hall.

"Hey guys pick an instrument," Jen said as she put the mic controller down.

"I'm good," I told her. Ben went for the drums. Jen shrugged and picked up the mic again.

"This is the Metallica one, have a specific song you wanna hear," Jen turned to me. I shook my head. Ben pick 'Fuel'. I decided to see if Anya needed help. It would give me a little time alone with her too. Jen turned and gave me a knowing smile and went back to her game.

When I found Anya in her kitchen she had apparently had a fight with the flour, and lost. Badly. She was brushing herself and muttering.

"Need some help, firecracker?"

"Wha...," she spun around and jumped back into the counter. She grimaced when her hip hit. I leapt forward to help her. "Jesus! You scared the piss out of me."

"You okay?" I could see that she was, but this gave me a reason to massage her hip. "I'm sorry." I gave her a dramatic pout and brushed her cheek.

She gave a little chuckle and kissed my chin. "It's okay."

"You look like you could use some help," I dusted some flour from her forehead.

"Yeah. Dropped a whole bowl of flour," she stuck her bottom lip out. I wanted to bite it.

"Well, lets get you cleaned up and get this dinner ready." I placed a light kiss on her nose. It was such a perfect nose. Damn, this girl had me by the balls. She nodded and gave me a shy smile.

"I'll be right back," she squeaked. I liked the effect I had on her. It helped me remember I wasn't in this alone. I wished I could just figure out what her hang up was. She was independent and confident in every aspect except sex. Maybe it wasn't the actual sex? Maybe it was me? It couldn't be that I was an artist. From the conversation with Kyle, I figured out they'd dated. Which fucked up my emotions yet again where she was concerned. I wanted to hug him for fucking up, break his face for hurting her and cut his dick off for having it anywhere near her. I wasn't normally so possessive, but this little girl had me running around chasing my tail. I wasn't sure if I liked it.

"Okay that's better," she smiled and something painful tightened in my gut. Her smile faded and her brow creased. "You don't have to help," she said.

"No. It's cool. I'm warning you now, though. I'm a terrible cook."

She walked to the island and turned on her iPod. Ozzy started singing about iron men, she lightly bobbed to the strong riff. Watching her dance around the kitchen getting dinner ready to Black Sabbath was hot. Very hot. Occasionally she'd ask me to hold something or stir something or put something in the oven.

After an hour and a half of dancing, she'd made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, sawmill gravy, cole slaw, corn bread and strawberry pie.

Yep. Definitely had to keep and eye on Ben. She handed me plates to put on the table and we took the food out. It was all so...domestic. I would be a liar if I said it didn't freak me out a little.

She called in her guest to the table. I was trying to do the gentlemanly thing and pull out her chair, when Kyle decided to take the seat I had claimed, which was right next to Anya. I glared at him, but decided not to cause a scene. I moved around the table and sat next Ben. He gave me a knowing look. I just shook my head.

"Jack," Ben said, "did you know Anya has a Metallica concert poster, signed by Lars and James?"

"Really?" I looked at her. Those cheeks turned a beautiful pink. "How is it you meet all of these people?"

"I have an uncle that is a DJ in St. Louis. When I was in high school Metallica was on tour. They stopped there. My uncle told me if I didn't geek out I could meet Lars and James. I promised, broke the promise, but there it is," she said it so matter of factly.

"So you went all fangirl on them?" I smirked at her. I could totally picture her flipping out about meeting two guys she idolized.

"Um. Not really." She blushed deep red. Oh there is a story there. I cocked my eyebrow. Jen started laughing.

"Tell him," she encouraged. "If you don't I will!"

"Okay. Okay," she blew out a breath. Mike, I finally caught his name, started sniggering. "I had to get up at like four in the morning to go with my uncle to the station. I still wanted to look good, so I did my hair and make-up and ya know wanted to be cute."

"You wanted James," Jen said in a sing song voice.

"Yeah , whatever. Well we get there and Lars comes through. I was totally cool and he signed my poster and talked," she let out another sigh, "then came James." Jen was crying at this point. "He walks in and is all 'hi'. I froze. Fucking Greek statue frozen."

"Tell him what else," Jen said swiping her eyes. "Tell him what you did."

"Hold on, bitch I'm getting there," she thumped Jen in the ear. "So he says, 'does she speak' and I'm in high school right?" She was speaking so fast I couldn't help but laugh. "So that is flirting to a high school girl. So, I did what any high school girl does when the sexiest man ever flirts with her. I opened my mouth to speak and threw up all over him."

"Then she ran away and cried in the hall," Jen finished for her.

"He was cool though. He called me back in, after they got him some new clothes and I cleaned up, he talked to me for like an hour. And I fell in love with James Hetfield that day," she turned that cute red color again.

"So who else have you met?" Ben asked.

"Um...lets see. That's it. My uncle never invited me to meet anyone again. Ever," she giggled. So fucking cute.

The dinner was delicious. We all helped her clear the table. And Ben and Jen did the dishes. Mike left. He had to be at work the next morning.

"So. Dinner was wonderful. Thanks for inviting us," I said.

"Of course. You know we usually pick a movie to watch after dinner. You want to stay and watch with us?" And why would I say no to that?

"Yeah." I moved toward her and wrapped my arms around her.

"Yeah?" She put her hands around my neck.

"Oh, yeah." I leaned down to take her lips. She yielded easier than before. I let my tongue lick into her sweet mouth. God, I could kiss her for hours. Days. Too soon she pulled away and kissed my cheek.

"So what are we watching?" I asked as she twisted out of my hold.

"Don't know yet. You wanna pick?"

We ordered from cable. I chose 'The Shining' because its classic and Anya said she'd never seen it all the way through. That was unacceptable.

Ben and Jen sat on her love seat. Kyle took the floor in front of them, which left us on the couch. Finally I had her where I wanted her. Well, not exactly. I wanted her in a bed. Naked.

She turned out the lights and curled into a corner of the couch. That just would not do. I patted the cushion in the middle and crooked my finger. She looked unsure for a minute, then she moved close to me. I pulled her to my lap and kissed her cheek.

She relaxed against me and rested her head against my chest. I tried not to think about how perfectly she fit there. Who was I kidding? This girl could crush me and I would smile while she fucking did it.

A few times she hid her face in me when she got scared. Normally I would laugh at that, but it took every ounce of concentration I had not to throw her on the couch and have her seven ways to Sunday. I didn't care that three other people were in the room.

"Jack?" she whispered about half way through the movie.

"Hmm?"

"Kiss me." Well she didn't have to ask me twice.

Anya 3

Kissing Jack was like nothing I'd ever experienced. It was rough and tender, hard and soft, desperate and controlled. Most of all it was total bliss.

His lips moved so perfectly against mine. I would swear an oath his lips were made just for me. He slipped his tongue in gently and flicked the bar in the center of mine lightly.

I ran my hands over his shirt, up his perfectly chiseled abs. He let out a soft groan into my mouth.

He allowed me to be the aggressor this time. He kept his arm stretched across the top of the couch. If I was being honest, it was hot that he wasn't touching me. I still felt like he was in complete control of the kiss, even though I was the one taking what I wanted.

His mouth left my lips and moved to my cheeks, my neck, my shoulder. I ran my fingernails across his scalp and pulled him more toward me. I wanted him lower, but then again I wasn't ready to tell him my story.

I'd almost forgotten there were other people in the room until I heard Jen's yelp. I turned and looked. She had her face buried in Ben's arm. I saw Kyle on the floor. He had such a pained expression on his face. I'd warned him to be nice today and he had, but I knew this was hurting him. I moved back to my original position on Jack's lap and turned my eyes to the movie. I didn't want to hurt my best friend. I also didn't know what to do about it. Kyle and I hadn't been together like that in six years. I didn't even think of him like that anymore. He dated, I dated, it was cool, but with Jack he was acting like a jealous boyfriend. It was pissing me off. I looked back at Kyle, he had refocused on the movie, thank God.