Unmarked: Sean's Story (Chosen #4) (7 page)

Aoife cries of pleasure were the most fucking incredible and intoxicating sounds I had ever heard. They were genuine. They were raw. They were human.

As she panted the two words, “Jesus” and “Sean”, I rocked with her in a rhythmic motion set by our own heartbeat song. It may have been the best feeling I had felt with a woman. I put my hands over her shirt, moving as close to her as I could, and grazed her stomach as I went to her breasts. Flicking both of her nipples simultaneously, she cried out when I rolled my pelvis on to her clit once more.

Together, we came silently, watching each other’s faces scrunch up in pleasure and the breaths that came out were of overwhelmed sexual release. It was insane. This Irish girl had me. She owned my time, my balls, my attention, and my maybe my heart, too. It was scary as fuck.

Fuck that noise in my head. It was the first time in all of my life that I couldn’t fear fear. I needed to extricate the scary parts of this relationship and use that energy to make a better life for myself – a far richer life than I ever dreamed of. I would make our worlds collide even if it broke me.

Chapter Twelve

Sean

I don’t know how long we lay there afterwards – sweaty bodies, cool sheets,  David Gilmore crooning about a mother, and kissing one another every few seconds. When the knock came at my door, I rolled my eyes and Aoife started to giggle.

“What?” I yelled.

“Uh, dude. Your cell phone dropped on the floor when you were carrying in that chick,” Todd’s annoying voice came through the door.

“Her name is Aoife, not some chick. She is my girl. Get it straight,” I said loud enough for Todd to hear. I also said it reverently enough so Aoife comprehended that I was declaring my hopes. I made her see the truth behind my words with my eyes. “Ok, yeah – whatever. It looks like Lizzie is dying to get in touch with you. She’s called maybe five times. Oh and you missed a call from The Ink Shop.”

“Open the door and hand me the phone,” I said as I covered Aoife and walked to the back of my bedroom door. Todd opened it and I grabbed the phone. I slammed the door closed, locked it, and jumped back in bed with my giggling girl.

She spilled herself over my chest as I ran through the five calls from Lizzie and the one call from work. Why did Lizzie care so much? So what if I was hanging out with Aoife? It wasn’t any of her damn business. She had never been this way with me before.

Aoife must have seen my brain turning over and over in confusion because she placed her hand on my chest and told me to just “ring” her back. Her little words made me inwardly smile. Did she know how much the way she spoke made me fall a little harder for her? She couldn’t know. I didn’t even know until I just thought about it.

“I honestly don’t know what her deal is. She doesn’t own me. She has never been interested in knowing anything about any of the women I date,” I said and instantly felt uncomfortable with how this conversation must sound to Aoife.

“She probably just wants to protect you. Although I think it will be me left with a broken heart at the end of summer. I really like you Sean,” she admitted with a smile. “And I am
very
fond of what you just did to my body. Nothing like that has ever happened before. I think I want more, maybe every day, this summer.”

I kissed her forehead and put the phone next to me. “In all seriousness, I really like you, too, Aoife. I didn’t know what I felt for you when I first met you but honestly, I do want to see where this goes. If it is only until you get on that flight, then so be it. If we want more, I will do everything in my power to see you as often as possible.”

Aoife looked away and studied the chipped off ceiling paint. “I don’t think you’ll want to know much more past this summer. My life in Ireland is very small and very lonely. I want to live your life for a while. I want to escape into your world. Would ya mind me doing that?” Her eyes were full of hope and maybe a little of sadness, too.

I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her lips. “I think that sounds like the perfect idea, sweetheart.”

“So do we go to do the tattoos now?” She asked with more excitement in her voice.

I laughed at her and the way she was so damn cute when she said that. “We are going to head to The Ink Shop but first, I want to do that thing I just did to your body one or two or three more times.”

I felt the glorious smile stretch across my face and I grabbed her to get on top of me. The way her small brown curls fell into her eyes was pure beauty. No one would ever notice how fucking hot this girl was until you spent time with her. It was obvious that Aoife was selfless. If it was true that she financially and emotionally took care of her father than she deserved more than just a roll in the sack.

She was more than someone to be used. She was funny when she got the nerve to be bold and outspoken. She was sweet when she told me that she didn’t have to be first in my life. She was so many damn things and the more I got to know her, the more I saw myself becoming a better person for it.

Two hours later, hand in hand, we walked through the doors to The Ink Shop. The bell jingled, drawing the attention of two artists that were already inking customers. They nodded at me and did a quick body scan of Aoife before they went back to their work.

I watched Aoife as she took in the shop. Her eyes darted everywhere. My shop was bad ass. There were old posters from Ramones and Metallica concerts. There were a few photos of the Patriot cheerleaders that had come in on some random night. We had that one blown up because well, we ended up closing the shop and more than ink was inserted into bodies that night. Her head flew to the sounds of the tattoo machines and she tried to see what everyone was doing. More than anything, I felt her breathing had accelerated. I’d have to ask her if she ever planned to get a piece done on herself.

I motioned Aoife in and started getting a place for her to sit and relax.

Walking past one station, I stopped and took a look at Bold’s work. “Looks solid, dude,” I motioned at the Celtic heart on the back of a blonde’s shoulder. Blondie shot me a look. I
knew
her. She was a regular and maybe I had worked on her before? When she winked at me, I coughed. Yeah, I knew who she was and if Aoife just caught that exchange, she was a good actress. She was none the wiser with her eyes focused on Bold’s work. I watched her small smile and nod at the piece. Apparently, we knew our Celtic work well.

“Thanks, Sean. Who do we have here?” Bold inquired without looking away from his work. I felt Aoife tense a little on my side. I put my arm around her to try to relax her.

“Aoife, this ass face is Bold and that shit for brains guy over there,” I said as I motioned to the guy sitting in the station behind him. “His name is Menthol. Guys, this is my Irish girl, Aoife. She is going to hang tonight while I work. No hanky panky or you’re fired.”

I heard both of them chuckle a little. I also heard the exasperated grunt of disapproval from Blondie as I continued to the back of The Ink Shop where my station was twice the size of theirs and the space where all of us convened during pow-wows and parties.

“Are their names really Bold and Menthol?” Aoife murmured to me. God, her breath on my earlobe made me want to take her back to my bed and forget I even had a business. I cupped the back of her neck and my lips grazed hers as I spoke.

“We name our tattoo artists after the flavor of cigarettes they smoke,” I whispered back onto her mouth before I dipped in further. My tongue found hers in a teasing play of want. My desire for her was vocalized when I groaned into her mouth. I desired her then and there. For the first time, I hoped that all my appointments would cancel on me.

She pulled back, a little breathless and smiled wide at me. She shoved my shoulder. “Sean, you smoke. What is your name?” she reminded me and her voice was a little louder as if she knew I wouldn’t tell her myself.

“Reds,” both Bold and Menthol said in unison.

“I don’t go by a smoke’s name. I am just Sean. Or some people call me Seany Boy,” I sternly said to her and the two other fuckers that would get it later for even bringing that up. “Or boss to you fuckers.”

Every time I heard the word “red”, I thought of fiery strands of hair, bathed in sweat from giving birth to her red headed child. Fucking Lizzie O’Malley was a color. I wanted to bitch slap myself. So what if I smoked Marlboro Reds? It didn’t mean anything. Of course, after they started calling me Reds, I started smoking Parliaments for a while but it just wasn’t the same. It took a month long mental beating to the smokes that since it was
my
shop, I didn’t answer to anything but Sean or Boss.

“Reds,” Aoife echoed slowly. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. “It doesn’t fit you.”

I looked at her, wondering if she had put it together why I personally didn’t like the name. She hadn’t. She just didn’t like it. Thank fuck for that. I could chastise the guys all I wanted but I don’t know that I would do anything to correct Aoife if she decided to call me Reds. I think I would let her call me just about anything at this point.

Aoife watched me work through one client and then when I started on the second, I could tell she was getting anxious. I looked over at her and she was literally trying to bounce right out of her chair. She wouldn’t make it through the last client. I stopped the session and pulled out a twenty from my pocket.

“Aoife, go find some food or something. This street has awesome stores to look at. You are bored, I can tell – so go explore the area. Have fun and I will be done as soon as I can, okay?”

She took the bill out of my hand with a small smile and she literally lunged herself towards the front door. I laughed at her dramatic escape and got back to work.

“Is she someone serious?” Bold asked from his station.

I grunted with indecision. In no way was I going to spill my heart out to the smokes.

“If she isn’t, then I just wanted to remind you that Laura still is asking about you. Danielle and I thought about doing a double next weekend,” he continued.

I didn’t say anything. Laura was a fucking hot chick I had known for about a year and we had been dancing around each other for months. She was dating some jackass and I won’t ever cheat. I am honest to a fault and if a dude could lay claim on a girl, she wasn’t for me. Not while she was still with him, anyway.

Did Aoife have a boyfriend back home? No. She would have said something. It occurred to me then that Teagan never told Lizzie he was seeing someone back in Ireland. The again, she never even thought to ask because he was really awesome to her during the summer. Lizzie told me about the good
and
the bad. The bad, for me personally, totally blew the good out of the water and I ranked that scum bag as the lowest form of a decent human being out there.

Dismissing that thought, I looked back up to Bold. “Huh?” I asked.

“You, me, Danielle, Laura? Hanging out?” He gave me that look like he thought I was an idiot.

“Nah, man. I think I am going to be chilling with Aoife next weekend,” I said and started the last finish of color on my client.

Chapter Thirteen

Aoife

Sean said nice things and I did love to hear him call me babe and sweetheart but I knew, I really knew what I was to him.

Yeah, I was infatuated with Sean at first sight but
no
way
did he feel the same way towards me. First, he was much older than me. Then, he was just trying to get over the sting of Lizzie. I had seen the way he looked after her at the party. Then I thought about how he had kissed me in front of those boys at his shop. I exhaled slowly and took my time walking.

None of it mattered. I was a doormat for guys. A doormat was a doormat no matter what the seasonal saying of joy was its decoration. People walked on it every day, pretty or not.

I was being used as a willing female. Even when I wasn't willing – I was used. It wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last a man had me under his spell. Sean was just the best looking one. I did like him; I did wish for the fairy tale but I knew those didn't exist. I was a replacement or a distraction from the beautiful Lizzie O'Malley and I would be that agreeable distraction for as long as he wanted me.

Sean was so beautiful. He was so sweet and attentive but none of that lasted forever. One day he would wake up and realize I wasn't the person I presented myself to be and he would leave. Because they all just stuck around to get what they wanted until they were tired of me or moved on to the next willing female.

Men left me but only after they hurt me. I would not give up my secrets to anyone here, including Sean, and I wouldn’t expose myself to any more ridicule. I was escaping my real life back home to experience a fantasy world.

I had to keep telling myself it was for the best.

Chapter Fourteen

Sean

Ricky was my last appointment of the night and just as I finished up a frog on some chick’s ankle, he called to say that his kid was sick so he had to reschedule. Ricky was a middle aged guy – a businessman who commuted into the city every day. He was a longtime client of mine, always coming it to add to shit he had done when I was probably still in diapers. I am pretty sure I had tattooed over most of his body but we were working on some old art that was starting to fade. It was a blast to bring a piece back to life and he was a huge tipper so I was a little bit bummed.

That was until I remembered I had a beautiful, brown haired, green eyed Irish girl waiting on me. I looked up to the clock to see that it was almost ten o’clock and Aoife hadn’t come back to The Ink Shop. I frowned at that thought and wondered what time my second client had shown up because that was when she took off. I knew it had to be before eight. Two hours? Alone on the streets, albeit Newburyport, but still. It wasn’t lost on me that I was paying attention to the time. Time never mattered before.

My time and my schedule were messed. Before tonight, I would show up at The Ink Shop, work on whoever came at me and then head to the bar or home. Now that
she
was around in the general vicinity, I was so fucking thrilled we had come in early on the account of more clients than artists and that I was getting out before midnight.

I started to clean up my station, hummed along to some Coldplay song on the radio, and tried to think of where on River Street she could have gone with only twenty bucks on her. Shit, I hope she wasn’t in trouble. I went to grab my cell phone and remembered that I didn’t have her phone number yet. Stupid prepaid flip phone. Fuck. That would have to change. I didn’t want her paying for minutes.

I had a sudden urge to pay closer attention to her needs financially. I would make sure she didn’t go without while she was here. She was a beautiful Irish princess and for now, she was into me. I wondered if she cared about our age difference. The guys probably thought I had robbed the cradle. Fuck them, too.

I looked down at my cell phone log and frowned. Lizzie’s name took up one solid page of missed calls. This was getting to be ridiculous. What did she expect me to do? Give her a play by play on my weekend with Irish? I call bullshit. This incessant calling shit was ending now. I pushed the button.

“Why are you ignoring me, Seany?” Lizzie complained to me without even a hello and on the first ring I might add. She was waiting for my call. Lizzie O’Malley was waiting for me. It gave me a weird feeling in my chest. How many times had I prayed for her to wait for
me
? I had to remind myself she wasn’t waiting the way I had hoped. It was a new chapter. She loved me in a new way now. I felt it. And wasn’t that just fucked up?  I couldn’t follow.

“Lizzie, I am working and I
am
hanging out with Aoife so before you warn me against her, you have to know it won’t make a bit of difference. What is so important that you called me over ten times?” I questioned in a more irritated tone than she deserved. Between cleaning up, not knowing Aoife’s whereabouts, and this continuous line of questioning, I was beat. I didn’t have manners and I was well aware of that. 

“Are you upset with me or something?” She cautioned – sounding really concerned.

I wasn’t. I wasn’t upset with anything. I was irritated that the
one
day
I openly wanted to be with another girl, Lizzie had to butt in. I was a rubber ball of emotions – bouncing around the room and it didn’t stop when I asked people to knock it off with their opinions. I was Sean. I answered to no one anymore.

“No, Liz, I am not mad at you. I am working and I am about to leave, so what’s up?” My tone was lighter, more the Sean she knew.

“Are you going out with Aoife?” Worry was evident in her voice.

She might as well have taken a sledgehammer and thrown it at my chest. I said Aoife’s name a million times over in my head today but hearing the name coming from Lizzie’s mouth was all sorts of wrong.

“Yeah,” I confirmed with a blasé approach.

“Sean,” she exhaled. “There is more to Aoife’s life that you need to know before you get involved with her.”

Conversation officially over.

I was not taking relationship advice from the girl that had let my heart split open and melt for years and years. It was not happening. I would no longer look in the mirror and wonder if it was my muscles or my tattoos that didn’t appeal to her. Nick was my exact opposite and I was fully aware of that fact. No more. Aoife loved, and I know she craved, both my ink and my strong muscles as they pleasured her body. Damn, I was getting hard just thinking of earlier that day.

“No, Lizzie. I am hanging with Aoife because I am really into her, alright? I want to like her and I do like her – for real. The only thing I want to know is if she has a boy back home because that would be the one thing that tears me from continuing to see her while she is in Boston.”

Lizzie was quiet. Eerily quiet. It was distracting me from getting my shit cleaned up to go. I had to sit otherwise I didn’t know what to concentrate on more. Was I supposed to say something else? I didn’t have any explanation left in me.

“So?” I asked, throwing one hand up to run through my hair.

“No, she doesn’t have a boyfriend back home but listen…” she started.

“Nope,” I cut her off. “Don’t want to hear it. If she has something she needs to tell me, she will tell me. I am not playing games with you or her. Yes, you and I are friends but remember, I was always the one that stayed out of that shit with you, Nick, and Sam. Remember? I remained
your
friend without saying a damn word about what I thought about that fucked up scenario. So don’t be that person that tells me shit that I should know and don’t. Just… just keep
being
my friend. Alright?”

Did that question just come out of
my
mouth? I did a little fist pump.

“Wow. Okay, Sean. I will
always
be your friend no matter what. You’re right. Shit, sometimes, I just want to take care of people because I didn’t… well – I didn’t always know what I know now about life and people,” she observed as she was probably remembering Teagan and Conner. Would she have done anything differently had she known the total truth about them?

Lizzie continued.

“If she wants to tell you, she will. I guess I was just worried about you.” Her voice was not Lizzie’s. She sounded small. Small and put in her place about what we were to each other. We
were
friends. That was it. I wasn’t waiting around anymore. I wasn’t begging for crumbs. I was done. Whether she knew on a conscious or subconscious level that I had always wanted more with her, she knew now that I was over it.

“Thanks, Lizzie. Give the kids a kiss from Uncle Sean,” I added as an olive branch to this very awkward conversation. I wanted her to know that she and her kids were so damn important to me.
They were probably family
, I thought as I said the word “uncle.”

“You’ll call me soon?” She ordered rather than asked. Her tone was still so small, so contradictory to her order and Lizzie’s normal tone of voice.

“You bet,” I assured her. “Talk to you soon.” I added a little smile to my promise so she wouldn’t call me again with warnings. She had to let me and this thing with Aoife play out. It...Aoife
was
important to me, I decided as I went to work on the tools.

I clicked off the phone and finished up cleaning. I tipped my imaginary hat at 100’s and Filter, two other weekend artists and headed out the door. It was a kick ass night. The stars were out and it was busy for a night in Newburyport. I looked to my left, knowing that if Aoife was going to go in a direction it would have been towards town, towards the lights of the harbor.

My eyes were all over the place as I scoured the street. She was so small and I forgot what she was wearing. I knew she had jean shorts on and damn, her legs were so amazing to feel. My heart started to beat harder as I imagined not being able to find her.

When I saw her across the street, my chest let out a grateful and audible hiss. She was all alone and staring into a shop window from the sidewalk. She was avidly watching whatever was inside and she was lit up like an angel by the stores inside lights. This made me question why she hadn’t gone inside to check whatever it was even closer but I also thanked God for the fact she hadn’t. I would have never gone in whatever store that was for her in my pursuit. I cocked my head to the side, trying to see what she was so enraptured with.

I inched a little closer, stealthily staying out of her line of sight. The store wasn’t a store at all. It was a martial arts place. I stopped in my tracks as I watched a woman take another man’s leg positioned at her throat, twist it, karate chop his back knee, and fall to the ground with him. That little woman had just taken a two hundred and fifty pound muscular guy down. That was fucking impressive and I nearly went to clap.

Instead, I looked to Aoife’s face, hoping I hadn’t missed her reaction. Her expression was full of admiration. She giggled a little as the rest of the crowd started clapping at the woman’s expert moves. I needed that giggle in the side of my neck as I held her. It had been too long.

“Aoife?” I called out to her as I made large strides across the road.

She turned around and smiled brightly at me. “Oh. Hey, Sean. I’m sorry. I was watching these people do karate. It is really cool.” She had her thumb pointed to the open window of the school.

I took her up in my arms and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t be sorry. Karate is really popular for a reason. You know they do let you go in and watch.”

“That’s okay. It is fun to watch from out here. I don’t like to be around crowds, remember?”

“I do remember,” I said into her ear, giving her chills on her arms that I warmed with the strokes of my hands.

Two more people got up on the mat and began another match of strong and rapid movements. I held her as we both watched the pair go at each other. When the woman planted her knee into the guy’s groin, Aoife sucked in her breath and I chuckled. He was definitely down for the count.

“Fascinating shit, huh?” I didn’t give a flying fuck about the karate. I was fascinated by her and as weird as it sounded, I think I had downplayed her beauty while I worked. She was phenomenal.

“Sean, I want to learn how to do that,” she said, turning around in my arms, looking into my eyes with determination and hope.

“Anything you want, Aoife. Let’s call them this week. I will take some classes with you. I’ll even let you kick me in the balls like that girl just did,” I laughed.

“Seriously?” She looked shocked. “You would really take classes with me?” I don’t think she had noticed that she was gripping on to my tee shirt so hard that I felt the back of it dig into my neck.

“Yeah, babe. We’ll do it here or in Boston. Wherever you want to go, I will go with you. I will fight against you and with you.”

She kissed me hard on the lips. It was a possessive kiss. A kiss that was so hard, I wouldn’t have been able to open my mouth if I wanted to. This wasn’t a romantic gesture, a sexual fore-player. This kiss was a hardcore thank you kiss.  She could thank me all she wanted as long as I got to grab her ass while she did it. Which I did at that moment and my grab-ass prompted her to giggle, loosening her death grip on my neck.

“Let me look into it this week, okay? Right now I want to get some food and head back to my place.”

Like five minutes ago
, I thought. I wanted her under me. I wanted to just
be
with her.

Aoife’s grin turned into a little naughty smirk as she squeezed my hand, intertwining our hands. “What do you want to eat?”

“Do you feel like pizza?”

“Sounds good.”

An hour later, we were half dressed with a large mushroom and black olive pizza across my bed. She took a piece of cheese off her pizza and almost groaned like she did when she came. My body immediately reacted.

“Good lord, woman,” I said as I tossed the box to the floor and moved on top of her. I tickled under her armpits which made her laugh out loud. I pulled up her shirt to give her kiss to her tummy and stopped.

Aoife continued to giggle from my tickling until she realized I wasn’t moving. She gasped and pulled her shirt down so far that she punched me in the face from the force of her movements.

I got up off of her and grabbed the remote to the television, muting Law and Order. I turned around to find her face in her hands. She was trembling. Was she crying? Was she scared? Fuck, I was scared for her.

“Aoife,” I whispered as I moved towards her closer with great care. I didn’t want her to shut me out.

“I am so sorry. You told me you wanted to keep your shirt on and I just totally disrespected you. I am not going to say that I am not concerned about those scars on your stomach and if you ever want to talk to me, I am here.”

Her tear reddened face looked up to me in surprise. “You aren’t going to ask how I got them.”

It took everything I had inside of me – all the willpower I had ever had for anything – to shake my head.