Disclaimer: I don't own Twilght or the characters. No copyright infringement intended.
"If you want to show me," I said as nonchalantly as possible. As much as I wanted to see where all these tattoos were I didn't want him to know how excited I was.
He chuckled, took another drink from his beer, and cleared his throat before removing his shirt in one swift move. I gasped and diverted my eyes to the floor. I barely raised my head to get a peek of him with his shirt off. He was even better looking right in front of me than he was when I was watching him earlier. I cleared my throat and raised my head a little bit more. He was watching me with a crooked smile on his face like he found my embarrassment amusing, which ultimately made my embarrassment even worse.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" he asked. I sucked in a cleansing breath and looked directly at him. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of getting to me.
"I guess I was just a little surprised you were so eager to show me your tattoos. They seem like a very personal thing," I explained.
"Unlike you I'm not afraid to share personal things. I've gotten over that and realized life is too short to be afraid of anything," he said. "Which is why I have this tattoo." He pointed to the words written out in black script lettering along the side of his ribcage.
I turned my head and leaned in a little to read what it said. "Always do what you are afraid to do –Ralph Waldo Emerson." I read the words aloud and thought about them for a moment. I never did anything I was afraid to do. If I did I'd end up hurt in some way, whether it be physically or emotionally. It was safer to play it safe. My eyes rose to Edward's again. He was watching me intently like he was hoping I would understand the meaning.
"What's the ones on your arms?" I asked, changing the subject. He once again held his arms out and admired the tattoos on his arms.
"These are all Celtic symbols," he began, pointing out the one on his left forearm. "This one here is obviously a four-leaf clover meant to bring me luck." He moved his attention to the other forearm where a blue and black symbol with all kinds of twists was. "This one is the Celtic symbol for strength." Next he moved to the biceps. On one bicep he had a wrap around symbol in black bold ink. "This is just a Celtic tribal symbol." He flexed his arm so I could see the full affect of the tattoo around his muscle. I had to bite my lip and take a deep breath to contain myself. With him sitting on my couch with no shirt on and showing me all his tattoos I was having a hard time not attacking him right here. Could he really blame me if I did? But I didn't want to be that girl again. I wasn't going to be used for anyone's sexual gratification and I knew deep down that's exactly what he was trying to do. It was rather obvious. I had to contain myself.
On the other arm was some sort of symbol with three circles that circled into themselves. It kind of reminded me of a crop circle. "This one is a really neat Celtic symbol believed to represent the three stages of man: birth, life, and eternity. My dad had the same tattoo."
When he mentioned his dad I distinctly heard a crack in his voice and a sadness come over him. I quickly looked at his face and could see the pain there clear as day. I wondered what happened but I didn't want to pry unless he was willing to tell me.
"What about the dragon?" I asked, changing the subject for his sake.
He smiled again and turned slightly so I could see the dragon which was black with red highlights on the right upper hand corner of his back. It was rather fascinating and ideas for my book went soaring through my mind. "This is probably one of my favorites. It's a Celtic dragon. I wanted it to be big and take up my entire back but the tattoo artist thought if I made it too big you wouldn't be able to distinguish what it was. I think he was right and I like the size of it now."
I admired the tattoos a little longer and counted them out in my head. He only showed me six and there was one on his chest I could clearly see said mom and dad in two hearts. I didn't think I should ask about that one just yet. The way he acted when he talked about his dad earlier made me nervous to bring up his parents in any way. But where were the other two?
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