Forbidden;R/N - MissMurder & BOttumofdabottle; you guys are amazing; THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to review. And just for you here is the next chapter.

Thanks again

Harley

xoxoxox

Forbidden;

Chapter 25;

GAS CHAMBER INK;

Amber's POV;

It wasn't unusual for customers to come in and ask for a specific artist to work on them so when Kerry said that there had been a guy in yesterday asking to get a tattoo done by me, I hadn't thought nothing of it.

But now sitting in the booth with him, I could literally feel my blood running cold. Wearing a baseball cap; all but pulled down over his face and big dark shades that covered his eyes.

I hated not being able to look in to someone's eyes because normally I could tell what kind of person they were by just one look but this guy was guarded that much was obvious.

Shifty had moved out back with Shannon to talk about designs for his tattoo that I would be working on the following day, Kerry was stood at the customer desk talking with a girl of no more than 20 as they discussed what kind of tattoo that she wanted done.

I knew that there were people around but something about this man was screaming to make sure that I wasn't truly alone with him.

"So have you worked here long?" He asked me as I quickly prepared the area on his wrist where he had wanted his tattoo.

"Yeah a few years now," I replied trying to keep conversation minimal as I reached in to my needle cupboard and pulled out some and got to preparing the ink and needle.

"You like it?"

"Excuse me?" I glanced back at him and feeling more cold than I thought possible.

"You like working here?" He asked sneering at me causing me to all but run from the room and throw up everything that was in my system.

"Yeah,"

"Not very talkative are you?" He mumbled but I didn't reply as I finished getting ready to work on him.

The quicker this was over the better as far as I was concerned.

Glancing down at the stencil which was the infinity sign and the date 4th March 1998. Normally I would ask why people got certain tattoos but something about this man told me that I didn't want to know.

"You sound like you are from around here?" He asked as I finally sat down and began the work.

"Yeah; I grew up here," I said glancing up at him as he smiled but it wasn't a nice friendly smile.

Shaking off the fear and coldness that he had welled up inside me, I began the work at a speed that was a little quicker than I normally worked but I knew even at this speed I could do a good job on him.

"I thought I saw you in City Limits the other night; who do you hang out with?" He asked and instantly alarm bells were going off in my head.

"If you're not from around here you wouldn't know them," I said thinking fast as I placed the needle in to the ink and getting back to the task at hand.

Now I wanted him out of here quicker than before.

"Well I was thinking of buying a place out here," He said and I could feel his eyes on me despite the glasses that covered them.

"Why are you getting this tattoo?" I asked refusing to be pulled in to that conversation with him.

"Oh…this is something that I promised my girlfriend I would get ever since we got together," He said his voice calm and collected.

"Have you been with her long?" I asked forcing myself to talk to him when all I wanted to do was run and hide from him.

The presence that he gave off was nothing short of intimidating and I wasn't scared to admit that I was feeling more than intimidated by him.

"Since we were kids,"

"That's sweet," Why would any girl want to be with someone like him?

"I know she is going to think so too," He said instantly turning quiet as I continued to work on him.

Thanking God for small mercies, I quickly finished up and just told him to pay Kerry on the way out.

I needed to get away from him; I couldn't stand to be in his presence a moment longer. Getting up without even cleaning up my mess, which wasn't me, I was as big a neat freak as Leland especially when it came to work.

But this guy was making me feel sick and there was nothing that I could do to stop it from making me all but run from the room and in to the back where Shannon and Shifty were sat chatting.

"Hey what's wrong?" Shannon asked as Shifty was instantly on his feet and pulling me close. "You're as white as a sheet,"

"That guy I had to tattoo…? I don't know what it was about him but I have never felt so physically sick in someone's presence before but he…"

"Did he try anything with you?" Shifty asked keeping one arm around me as he pulled back and used his free hand to wipe the hair from my face.

"No! He just…there was something about him that I can't put my finger on but I am just glad that he is gone now!" I said resting my head against his chest and taking the comfort that he was offering me.

For the past couple of days all I could seem to think about was what it would feel like to kiss him, confusion seemed to be keeping me awake.

How could I be falling for Shifty when I was in love with Leland?

I knew that I still loved my man but all I could think about was that I couldn't see us lasting much longer with him being so far away.

I didn't want my relationship to be over but Leland just couldn't give me what I wanted and needed anymore. Even though I knew that I still couldn't bring myself to just end things with him when he had been all I had known for the longest time.

Shifty's POV;

I was pretty certain that she could feel the obvious chemistry between us but what was I meant to do with that?

Leland was still a huge part of her life, she had made that obvious from day one and even now although she was mentioning him less and less I knew that she still thought about him in fact I was pretty sure that she was thinking about him right now.

There was no denying the shake in her body that seemed to rock through my own frame as she let her head fall against my chest.

I gave her all the support and attention that I could; I was more than aware of the fact that she had indeed found the man that she had just tattooed unnerving but he was gone now and she was safe.

Slowly her body began to relax and she just seemed to melt in to my frame, where I held her close unwilling to let her go. Even if it meant that I had to just be her friend then so be it because walking away from her was just something that I knew I would never be able to do.

"Why don't we get back to the house?" Shannon suggested as he put away the drawings that we had been working on.

It was obvious that although he wasn't a tattooist he was heavily involved in his business and was willing to learn from the bottom and slowly work his way up.

"I think that is a good idea," I admitted as he led the way out of his office and quickly locked up.

Moving in to the main area of the tattoo shop that he owned we moved to the desk where Kerry was on the phone to a potential client.

Amber stayed firmly in my arms as we stood and waited for the huge bear of a man to be finished with the caller. I was glad that she stayed in my arms, I liked holding her, I liked being the one to support her; it just felt more right than anything I had ever experienced with a woman.

"You guys heading home?" Kerry asked once he hung up the phone and quickly jotted down the appointment and who was going to be working on their new customer.

"Yeah! I am all done and I need to wash that creep off me," Amber smiled at her friend as she shivered in my hold.

"He was a little off!" Kerry admitted as he closed the appointment book.

"Dude he was more than a little off," She said still holding on to me tightly and I gave her all that I had, all the support that I could, all the attention that I could and all the comfort I could muster.

"I don't normally get weird vibes from people but that man was giving off more than weird vibes," Kerry finally admitted. "It was like he knew…"

"What?" Shannon asked softly as he moved behind the desk and checked the checkout drawer.

"It was like he knew us…"

"Maybe he was a fan of The Hardy Show?" I suggested.

"No it wasn't that!" Kerry pondered

"It seemed more than that," Amber said at the same time.

"Wrestling fan?" Shannon asked counting up the money and placing it in to cloths bags.

"He didn't seem the type," Amber and Kerry both replied at the same time.

We stood around talking about the mystery customer as Shannon moved out the back and placed the money he had just removed from the checkout in to the safe in his office.

Once he reappeared we bid farewell to Kerry and headed to Shannon's hummer, which had picked us up earlier. Amber climbed in to the front with Shannon which left me to climb in to the back seat.

I watched her as she looked around; her eyes darting all over the place and it was obvious that, that customer had really gotten to her in ways that I hadn't noticed previously.

The ride back to Amber and Cameron's house was uneventful; and almost suffocatingly silent. Handing her a cigarette she lit up happily as she rolled her electric window down.

The cool breeze swept through the interior of the car calming all irrational thoughts of the guy who had been tattooed by her a few short minutes ago.

Shannon parked the hummer on the street outside the girl's home and as we climbed out we could hear shouting and laughing from the back yard.

"Sounds like we're having a party," Amber smiled as we moved to the front door and stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind us.

"Oh and a BBQ!" Shannon said smiling as we moved to the back of the house where we saw; CT, Jeff, Matt, Shane and the Bullet out on the grass of the back yard playing soccer and laughing while doing it.

Cam was lazing out on one of the loungers watching and laughing at the commotion of her friends.

"Hey!" Shannon said moving to my sister and kissing her head softly.

"Hey guys!" Cam smiled happily as she looked up at us.

"Hey honey!" Amber leaned down and kissed her cheek before excusing herself to have her shower.

Leaning up she kissed my cheek and thanked me for looking after her after that guy, I nodded and watched as she headed inside and out of view.

"What's going on?" Cam asked watching me as Shannon headed out on to the grass to join in on the fun.

"Amber had a creep to tattoo…"

"Creep?" My sister asked as she glanced out to the guys in the yard then turning her full attention back to me.

Informing my sister of what I was talking about she shivered just at the thought of it and said that at least Amber hadn't been alone in the shop with the guy, which I had to admit was a blessing in disguise.

Steven's POV;

I had picked Gas Chamber Ink for a reason; Shannon Moore a friend of Shayne's owned the place and I knew that if I went there would be a bigger chance of me finding Shayne quicker than just looking for her address.

The tattooist named Amber had, a pretty good reputation from what I had heard thus far so I had requested her when I had went in to book the appointment originally.

When I had seen her arrive with Shannon and Shayne's brother Seth, I knew in an instant that she was friends with my girlfriend.

It was too much of a coincidence for her not to be a part of my girl and son's life. So as she had worked on me I had tried to get information out of her but she was a closed off bitch and I knew that once I had Shayne back I would have to make sure that she severed all ties to these people.

What was she thinking?

Did she think that hiding from me was really going to last forever?

If she truly thought that she could leave me, find another guy and play happily families with my son then she was in for a rude awakening.

Sitting in the rental car that I had purchased, I watched the tattoo shop as the girl who had tattooed me and Shannon and Shayne's brother had moved to the desk where I had paid my fee to the huge bear of a man who was covered in tattoos.

I knew that I just had to bide my time, watch them and they would finally lead me right to the person that I was looking for. The one person I had spent the past 3 years hunting for high and low.

Bitch had done a good job of covering her tracks, but she hadn't been that good. Silently I thanked Randy Orton for calling me as I went back to watching them talking as Shannon disappeared from view.

Finally they came wondering out of the shop and headed for the large black hummer that obviously belonged to Shannon as he climbed behind the wheel.

The girl taking the passenger seat and Seth sitting in the back seat, but the girl was looking around nervously. Had she known who I was?

No there was no way that she would have been able to recognize me with the disguise that I used. I had to stop being so paranoid. I was here; I had come too far for it to be over in the space of the hour that it took for her to tattoo me.

Ensuring that I kept a safe distance, I followed them through the streets until Shannon was pulling his hummer to the curb in front of an unmemorable house and killed the engine.

Driving past I moved to the end of the street and did a quick u turn before heading back the way I had just come to find that they had disappeared in to the house.

Parking a little way down the street, I climbed out of the car and moved to the house. Looking through the windows to see that there was no one in sight.

Moving to the house next door where I checked to see if there was anyone in the house but it lay dormant so I slowly sneaked through to the back yard and out the back of the garden and positioned myself to watch the house where Shannon, Amber and Seth had disappeared in too.

Instantly I was watching the group of guys who were all easily wrestlers, except for Seth playing soccer with a boy of no more than 10 years old; Shayne was on the balcony watching them and laughing and I was instantly aware that the kid was Dylan.

He had grown; he looked exactly like I had at that age; I wonder if Shayne was disturbed by that! The sound of him laughing and enjoying himself left me angry; I should be the one he was having fun with not these guys.

"DAD!?" He yelled out causing me to almost jump from my hiding spot and tell him that I was here. "OVER HERE DAD!?" He yelled as Jeff Hardy threw the ball to him and he ran off down the yard.

He was calling another man Dad? That wasn't about to happen. Shayne was about to have the biggest fight she had ever had on her hands. There was no way that I was having my son call another man Dad! It just wasn't going to happen.

R/N - Please read & review.

Thanks

Harley

xoxoxoxo