A Rock & Roll Romance by Sophie Monroe

lifted his hand to my chest and ran his fingertips over my tattoo. I knew that he could feel the raised lines under the ink. They were concealed so well you can barely notice them, unless I pointed it out. Something I’ve never done before. I was about to sever myself wide open for him.
    “There’s a reason for this tattoo. It was my first. I got it to cover something ugly. Can you feel them?” 
    “Are they s cars?” His hand started trembling. His eyes were thick with emotion. I nodded and tried to hold it together.
    “Yes, I have more. The others aren’t nearly as bad. Some of them you can barely even make out anymore.”
    “How did you get them?” He inquired.
    Here goes nothing…
    “I was attacked by my ex-boyfriend. Je-.” He quickly put his finger to my lip.
    “I know his name, you don’t need to say it.” He whispered and pulled me closer.
    “ I was almost eighteen when it happened. My parents were away for the weekend, and he convinced me to stay at his apartment. I was a naive teenager, so of course I said yes. When I got there, he was strung out. Unbeknownst to me, he was on meth at the time. I didn’t even know that he started taking it. I tried to leave, but he wouldn’t let me. He snapped… He beat the hell out of me because I refused have sex with him. I was in and out of consciousness, but it was more brutal than sexual. It went on for over six hours until his roommate came home and called the cops. He went to jail for a measly two years. He claims that he doesn’t even remember any of it, but I call bullshit. He’s tried to contact me a couple times since, even though I have a restraining order. Hence, why I was so upset when I got that message in New York. Every time I see his name the pain comes to the surface. It’s almost as if it’s happening all over again.”
    I stood up and slid my pants down below my hips. I sucked in a shaky breath. I had to keep going if I was going to put it all out there.
    “These stars are to cover up the x’s that he carved into my skin. These were the deepest.”
    I pointed to the nautical stars that I had tattooed on each of my hipbones. I remembered the knife digging into my flesh before passing out. The scars were still somewhat visible but were less noticeable because of the tattoos. Jake looked distraught. He reached a tentative hand out.
    “Can I touch you?” He stuttered.
    I nodded. He reached his hand out slowly and ran it over the scars. I flinched involuntarily , and he pulled back. I grabbed his hand and put it back on my hip. We shared an intense stare between us. In that moment, there was no one else in the world. It was just Jake and I. He didn’t go running for the hills either. He broke the stare and looked down at his hand.
    “So you took something tragic and turned it into something beautiful. With the tattoos, I mean.”
    “I guess that’s how I see it. I did it so that I could see beauty instead of pain. ”
    “That’s really valiant. It helps me understand better. I want to know you Aubrey, all of you, not just the good. Thanks for sharing this with me. I know it’s really difficult.” He said sincerely.
    “My Granny always says, ‘women are like angels, when someone breaks our wings we continue to fly around on our broomsticks because we’re flexible like that.’ It doesn’t define me . Except, ever since it happened I have a really difficult time around guys. Most people other than my family can’t even touch me. I’ve always been sarcastic and kind of a hard ass, but after that I became frigid. Until you…”
    I leaned forward so that we were nose to nose and kissed him. I kissed him the way that I’ve wanted to be kissed for the last four years. He pulled me closer and wrapped my legs around his waist. I wrapped my hands around the back of his neck as he ran one hand through my hair and wrapped the other around my waist. I kissed him until spots blurred my vision. I lightly bit down on his spider bite