Chapter One-Hundred and Forty-Eight

Clarissa held John close as he seemed to have gone numb from the flashback, he hadn't responded to anything in hours, and shortly after the flashback had ended, he'd thrown up anything he had in his stomach at the moment. She sighed, resting her cheek on the top of his head as his dark eyes stayed fixed on the television as it played an old episode of Beverly Hillbillies. "Elli-may's pretty, huh?" She asked, smiling as her daughter handed her a cup of tea. "Thank you, baby."

Claire nodded, snuggling up to John's side. "John?" She asked, smiling when his eyes shifted to look at her. "Are you feeling better?"

He shrugged, pulling a small envelope from a pocket in his jeans. "Here."

Clarissa took the paper from him, reading the neat handwriting on the front. "You didn't open your test scores yet?" She opened the envelope, taking out the test scores and looking at them. "John!" She gasped, looking at the near genius score printed on the paper. "I always knew you were smart… but this… this is insane."

John squared his shoulders as he looked up at the little tattoo studio. "Finally getting to draw on me Dom." He pushed the door open, walking up to the counter and placing a new fake ID on the top. "I want a tattoo, from Dominic Bender." The girl behind the counter furrowed her brow, tilting her head at the boy. "There's no Dominic Bender here. But there is a Dominic Teller."

John rolled his eyes, knowing that was the name on Dominic's fake IDs. "He look like me?" He asked, listening as Dominic's voice laughed from the back.

She nodded, able to see the new kid's resemblance. "You could almost be his brother if it weren't for the eyes."

"He's my cousin. I'm Greek and he's Mexican. That's why our eyes are different." He looked up as he saw Dominic lean against the door way to glare at him. "You wanna mark me?" He asked, though it was more of an order than a question.

Dominic huffed, waving him back. "Fill out a waiver." He grunted, getting his tattoo gun set up and pouring some black ink into a little container for the needles to pick up. "What you want?" He asked, picking up a pen to freehand what John wanted on his arm.

"I want you to talk to me, dickhead." John stated, placing the sketch that Allison had done for him on the table as he pulled his old stained hoodie over his head. "I want fire on the bottom, and heaven above the words 'Saved by and Angel' and the date '3-24-84.'"

Dominic nodded, copying the sketch onto transfer paper and holding it to John's forearm just below the inside of his elbow. "How's Claire?" He asked, missing the little redhead who was always bouncing around John.

John watched as Dominic peeled the paper away to show the purple ink of the transfer on the surface of his skin. "She's doing pretty good." He watched as Dominic dipped the needle into the ink, focusing on his breath as Dominic began to make the drawing permanent.

Dominic pressed down hard on John's skin, driving the ink deep into his body. "Amelia?"

"Cut the shit, man." John winced, balling his fist as his fingers twitched from the pain. "Why did you run out on us?"

"I'm eighteen. I can move out whenever I want." He growled, letting up on the tattoo gun to refill the ink. "Besides, I don't belong there."

"Bullshit." John barked, popping his knuckles as the needles were forced into his flesh. "You belong there."

"Shut up Kurtis."

John glared at his cousin, looking up as a young woman with a long braid placed a sandwich on Dominic's drawing desk. "Is this about her?" He asked, nodding toward the scared girl beside him.

"Shut up."

"Fucking tell me."

Dominic huffed, looking up at his cousin with near hate in those eyes. "Yes."

John shook his head, looking up at Jade as she turned to leave. "Listen, Jade. I'm sorry I was such a dick to you. I shouldn't have done that." He stood, holding a hand out to her. "I hate people judging me for what I did, and the fact that I judged you for what your cousin did… let's just say… I'd rather have a dick up the ass than do that again."

Dominic shuddered at the memory of John covered in creamy white fluid, his naked body wet with cum and sweat as he'd loaded his limp body into the old Ford truck he'd fixed up a few months ago. He remembered draping his old jacket over John's hips, as Allison had attempted to clean him up. He could practically see the blood and other fluids on his cousin's body, able to feel John's scarred skin under his hands.

"Dom, I'm sorry." John let his cousin go back to tattooing him, noticing that he'd let up on the pressure he'd been using. "Allison told me about you and her finding me… I didn't realize that I ruined your favorite coat and the truck seats."

Jade looked up at Dominic, wondering what exactly had caused the stains on the truck's backseats. "What happened?"

John met his cousin's eyes, nodding to give him the okay to tell her.

"John was raped by a bunch of gay fags… and I found him and took his to the hospital before I got the apartment deposit together and we moved out here."

Jade watched as shame flooded over John, taking a seat beside him and watching as Dominic marked John's skin with black ink. "My Mom died from Aids after she was raped… I think that's why my Dad was so against you when Jess tried to blame you…"

John nodded, closing his eyes and letting the pain of the tattoo ground him. "I would never do that to another human." He remembered the men ripping his clothes from his body, the pain of them driving into him the humiliation as they'd jerked him off. "I could never put someone through that pain."