He picked some show about animals and tossed the remote back onto the nightstand with a clatter.
I stared at the tv in horror as a pack of lions cornered a zebra and proceeded to rip it apart and eat it. Who watched this kind of thing to relax? Psycho’s, that’s who.
“Uh, Simon?” I muttered. “This show is kind of gory.”
“It’s the circle of life, babe. Only the strong survive. I think it’s fascinating. If you don’t like this one there was another one on about sharks that we could watch.”
Sharks?
Yeah, no thanks.
Sharks were scary as shit. Beautiful, but absolutely terrifying. Why people wanted to swim with them or get in the ocean at allwith those things was beyond me. It was just asking to be eaten alive.
When I watched tv it was all about the drama or mindless entertainment for me. I didn’t watch it to learn things. That’s why I read books.
Simon fed off of knowledge and he was full of all kinds of useful information. He had a busy mind and usually always couldn’t ever just sit still and be.
I could sit somewhere and just pretend I didn’t exist for hours and I’d be just fine.
Usually.
Tonight was not the case and I was anxious and all kinds of jittery. My mind kept wanting to go down a very dark road and no matter how much I tried to steer it in a different direction it just didn’t want to cooperate with me.
I always battled with myself so as not to let the things in my fucked up past drag me down. Usually I could maintain it and I won. This trip might prove me wrong and get the better of me for once.
And I absolutely fucking hated that.
“I want to get another tattoo,” I blurted out. It had been something I was thinking about lately and it sounded like a really good idea to me.
“Yeah?” he perked up at this and his eyes shifted from the blood bath on the television to me. “What are you thinking of getting?”
“I want a dream catcher with yellow and black feathers hanging from it going down my side. To represent Tyson. Eventually, I want to get ink for them all but I want to start with him. He’s been my best friend from the very beginning and it only seems fair to start with him. Does that sound stupid?”
I thought Tyson would love it and it sounded like a fucking awesome idea to me.
“It doesn’t sound stupid at all. You know that’s a painful spot, right?”
I laughed at him humorlessly. “I don’t think I feel pain like a normal person anymore because I’ve experienced so much of it already in my life. It’s the needle that scares the shit out of me. I can never watch when I get a tattoo because I’m afraid I’ll pass out if I have to look at it. How embarrassing is that?”
He shook his head as he sat up. “It’s not embarrassing at all to admit when you’re afraid of something. Especially you. You’ve proved time and time again that you’re not scared of things that would have most people running and screaming into the other room. You’re all kinds of crazy brave, Ariel Kimber. It’s a beautiful and frustrating thing, and it absolutely drives me fucking crazy. I almost wish that you were scared of more things, really. It might make the job just a little bit easier. But easy is never the way with you. It’s enough to drive a man insane, if I’m being honest.”
Well, wasn’t that just downright ridiculous. I was not about to apologize to him for being myself. I knew he didn’t pick me for himself and it was his magic that did. But it picked me because we were connected on a soul deep level. You would think that’d mean I’d be perfect for him but here he was pointing out my faults and complaining like an a-hole.
Seriously, who did he think he was to complain about the shit I did? You didn’t hear me complaining about him being my constant stalker. He watched my every move and then often ran back to tattle on me to either my dad or Quinton. Who really had a reason to complain here?
I think I won that round, thank you very much.
Simon climbed off the bed and walked over to where he’d dropped his bag inside the door. He crouched down and unzipped one of the pockets in the front. He rummaged around inside of it and pulled out a black Sharpie. He walked back overto the bed and sat down on the edge, watching me with those strange silver eyes of his.
They were always intense but now they were focused and made me squirm a little.
“Lay down on the bed, flat on your back, and lift up your shirt to just under your breasts.” he told me authoritatively.
My eyebrows about hit ny hairline but I followed his instructions after fluffing the pillows behind me a bit. I got comfortable and rolled my shirt up until it was tucked under the bottom of my bra. I folded my hands together and placed them over my stomach.
I was oddly comfortable exposing so much of my skin to him. I didn’t know if it was our soul connection or if I was just that comfortable being around him now. Whatever it was, I didn’t question it.
Simon uncapped the Sharpie and leaned over my body. I watched him for a little while as he started to draw on the skin on my side.
