Branded

In a very unusual turn of events, Sam finds herself in a strange betting pool with Scam, and the loser has to tattoo the winner's name on their body. (Sam loses.)

This was humiliating, she thought, rubbing her arms in nervousness as she watched the partygoers slowly dancing in front of her.

It had been three months since the tattoo running down her upper spine had been placed, but this was the first time that she had exposed her back as openly as she did at this party. The dark blue soft silk A-line dress, which was long sleeved and flared at the waist before stopping above her knees, was gorgeous. Except for the fact that her upper back was left bare. It wouldn't have bothered her at all except...

The bet.

Sam scowled to herself and was happy her hair covered her back because it gave her some comfort. Comfort she needed, especially since she was dumb enough to keep betting with Tim Scam of all people.

She wasn't entirely sure how it started or why either of them went along with it in the first place. If memory served her well, it had to have started after she, Clover and Alex were chasing him in the snowy mountains when an avalanche caved her and Scam in.

After a few snarky comments about whose fault it was that they were stuck in there, (his, obviously? He had the gall to disagree), one thing led to another and Scam said that he would bet $50 that she would chicken out of attacking LAMOS in broad daylight instead of nighttime like originally planned. (It was still unclear to how he even found that out.)

To her amazement, she apparently, in frostbite-induced delusion, agreed and now was $50 richer.

It just escalated from there.

During this last bet... maybe she annoyed him by saying he'd have to dye his hair blonde if she could find him after his latest escape attempt in six days, she wasn't sure, but then he proposed it.

The branding.

Obviously she wasn't actually branded and she was fairly certain he said it to piss her off, but as she uncomfortably shifted in place, the heat of the tattoo gun on her back imprinted in her memory, it might as well have been a branding.

"I'm not dying my hair blonde." He said through gritted teeth. Sam stifled a laugh and bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling.

"Then you better hide well", she said, laughter hidden in her voice. Six days was the agreed time and she could find him. She always did.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. Let's make it interesting." (He always made it interesting, she thought to herself, a secret she'd be taking to the grave.) She wasn't entirely sure when being around Tim Scam became... almost fun, if she was being honest with herself, but it made the job easier. Almost like a game.

A game she was winning. Sam loved winning.

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" She asked, pushing herself up on the table being her to sit on top of it.

Scam put his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the wall. His heavy eyes ran down her body, slowly as if he was memorizing every aspect of her. Sam gulped at his gaze and forced herself to not look away. Doing so was a sign of weakness with him. A slow grin appeared on his face and Sam was hit with the unexpected feeling of warmth that hit her belly.

Being attracted to the enemy was a bad idea. In fact, it was probably the highest on the list of bad ideas, maybe only second to Clover's latest plan to find her a boyfriend. But somehow, the phrase "being attracted to the enemy is a bad idea" was something she continuously had to repeat to herself, yet the urge to fight it became weaker and weaker the more Scam smiled at her.

Sam frowned. She was doomed.

"Oh, I know", Scam mused out loud, bringing Sam out of her thoughts. "You're going to hate this."

Sam rolled her eyes. She wasn't worried. "Name it."

Scam chuckled. "Forget the hair dye." Sam opened her mouth to object, he was clearly trying to get out of it, but his next words stopped her in his tracks. "Loser gets the winner's name tattooed on their body."

Sam's jaw dropped.

Scam smirked at her. "Scared?"

Ugh, the nerve of that man and his ability to get under her skin. It's fine. She'd win easily.

"Deal."

Famous last words. Scam hid from her for six days and ten minutes. Apparently he was right in front of her the whole time, just waiting for a chance for her to find him and gloat that he'd have "Sam" printed on his body for all of eternity. Now he got to rub that in her face for all of time.

Fury burned at her heels and Sam was still upset that she was a honest, trustworthy person who kept her word. She normally would have balked at the thought of getting a tattoo, let alone his name, but he had kept his word during their bets every time he lost.

Sam shifted uncomfortably for the tenth time that night, hoping Clover and Alex were distracted by the men they had abandoned her to dance with. Well, not abandoned. Clover had found her a man too but... well...

There was a reason she was at this party and it wasn't to dance with a stranger.

Sam gulped and tucked her hair behind her ear in nervousness. According to his message, he would be here, waiting for her to reveal herself to him, but so far, no dice.

She tapped her foot impatiently and wished for probably the fifth time that she could get some wine to calm her nerves, but the bar was across the hall and she already felt so uncomfortable in this dress as it was.

And then, without warning, her breath hitched as she felt warm breath tickling against her ear.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Sam willed her beating heart to calm down as she felt his presence behind her. How he always snuck up on her, when she was keeping a sharp eye out for him, would forever be a mystery to her.

"You're late." She said with newfound confidence. Sam wasn't entirely sure where said confidence was coming from but it always seemed to pop its head around Scam.

He chuckled and moved behind her, his body heat radiating throughout her back. The tattoo on her back hidden behind her hair seemed to flare up without warning, as if it knew he was there. A ridiculous thought but her body seemed to do weird things when Scam was around.

And just as that thought passed, his left hand brushed her left flank and she audibly gasped and jumped a little, an action that made him chuckle. He settled his hand around her hip and her breath caught in her throat. She was glad he wasn't facing her because she was sure her blush was as red as her hair.

"So..." he asked, his breath fanning her neck, "Where is it?"

Sam had to blink a few times to get her mind off the hot hand that was lightly gripping her hip and shook her head. "What?"

He tsked, his voice heavy. "If you're trying to distract me, it's not going to work. I only had one thing on my mind tonight and it was seeing my name on you."

Did he hear the undercurrent of heat running in his voice or was she just imagining it? She tried focusing on the partygoers, looking for the bright blonde of Clover's head or Alex's black bob and shiny red dress but all she saw was a blur of people in front of her.

She licked her lips, her throat dry as a bone, and wondered when the room had gotten so quiet. "Guess."

She could hear his grin, as strange as that sounded. The back and forth betting and resulting winning and losing had somehow brought them closer together, but with the heat of his body almost pressing against her back, his large hand still gripping her hip and the way the sounds in the room had faded until she heard him and only him...

She just never thought they would end up like this.

"Hmm". His hand, still on her hip, stayed there while his other hand gripped her right hand. His thumb lightly brushed against her wrist and Sam felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I'm assuming you kept it somewhere relatively well hidden... so not your legs."

Of course he'd take a notice to her bare legs. Sam refrained from rolling her eyes. Men.

"But I also doubt you'd wear a dress that you'd have to take off to show me..." Sam blushed hard at the implication and wisely stayed silent. "So not your arms or chest..."

He took his hand off her waist (not that it mattered, she would never feel the same there again) and placed it on her shoulder. His hand "Your neck or back. Final answer."

Sam almost smiled. "That's two answers."

He grunted, annoyed. "Same plane on the body. Now show me."

With a heavy sigh, the tinge of regret she felt earlier fading fast at his barely concealed excitement at seeing the tattoo, Sam moved her hair to the side and revealed her upper back.

Scam was silent for a minute, she would know because she was counting, before he let out a low chuckle.

"Cheater."

Sam bit her lip to stop herself from grinning too widely but this was just too good. "What?" She asked in an innocent tone, even though both of them knew the loophole she had found and taken advantage of. "It's still your name. You just have to take some extra steps to figure it out."

He grumbled something under his breath and it made Sam almost burst out laughing. She was certain that he was not happy. Her laughter had taken a sudden stop when he brushed his fingers against her spine and she jumped again. At this rate she might have been wearing a glaring neon sign indicating how much he affected her.

Scam looked at the Braille written on her back, in dark midnight blue ink, each letter spanning the length of one vertebrae as it went down her back.

He had to hand it to her. He clearly wasn't specific in his rules.

He'd fix that. Next time.

"You couldn't possibly expect me to actually have your name in clear English written on my skin, did you?" Sam said with a light laugh. He stayed silent, letting her have her moment. He'd be furious except a small part of him was proud at how devious she was. "I almost did Roman numerals but thought that it might be too easy to link back to you. After all, what would my future husband say if I had another man's name tattooed on my skin?"

Scam gripped both of her hands and pulled her back towards him, and the action of pressing against her made Sam gasp.

He leaned into her neck, nuzzling her skin. "Somehow I don't think your "future husband" will have that much of an issue with it."

The hidden meaning in his words lit a spark in her core and Sam's throat went dry. He couldn't actually mean... She shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts. "Even though I cheated?" she asked quietly.

He chuckled, the motion reverberating through her body. "Even though you cheated", he agreed with a smile.

She wasn't sure if she should smile or frown or be extremely worried that Clover and Alex had seen them together while she was distracted at the almost-marriage proposal that she had just heard tonight, but the music started to fade back into existence. A slow tune floated through the ballroom and Scam gripped her hand tighter.

"A dance?" He asked lightly. Sam nodded in agreement and allowed him to whisk her away. This might be their first dance, but Sam was sure, with certainty buried in her gut, that it wouldn't be their last.

No idea where this came from but I'm so happy with it! I almost did do Roman numerals, with each letter corresponding to Scam's name in the alphabet (XX, IX, XIII; XIX, III, I, XIII) running down Sam's spine but then thought, nah, too easy to trace. Sam is cunning in her own right so I thought Braille might be a little easier. (As in, she knows neither Clover or Alex or her mother know Braille and thus she could possibly get away with it.) I also tried to get the Braille into this story but apparently with fanfiction formatting my options were, Braille or no Italics. Italics won.

Hope you all loved reading it as much as I loved writing it!

Love,
Ivy