One Heart

Nathalie's POV

His fingers gently reached across to me and pushed back the hair that had hidden my face from view. “Nathalie?”

“Fancy seeing you here Brian,” I commented. “Especially in this tattoo shop in particular.”

“You two know each other?” Sam asked, sounding surprised. “How ironic that the guy who cancels on me knows the girl who took his slot.” He paused, looking up at him. “So don't you get any fucking ideas that I'm going to tattoo you after hours again, I actually want to go home this evening.”

“I wouldn't do that to you Sam,” he replied with a grin. “How could you even think I would do anything that unfair?”

Sam snorted in reply, focusing back on finishing off my tattoo. I had been there for around an hour already before Brian walked in so I guessed he must be near completing it by now.

Propping my chin on my crossed arms I looked up at him. “Rae asked about you.”

“She did?” He looked surprised.

“She does know who you are funnily enough,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “It wasn't like I didn't tell her about you when we lived in Phoenix. She always knew who you were. Why do you think she recognised you without me telling her?” His gaze dropped. “She was asking why you weren't there at her birthday. I'd rather like to know the answer to that as well.”

He shifted uncomfortably on the chair, his voice dropping to a barely audible whisper, almost as if he didn't believe in the words he was saying. “I already made plans, I was tied up...”

“Plans you couldn't break for your own daughter?” My eyes narrowed. “And here you wonder why I left in the first place. I'd rather her think her father as too far away to visit than have to explain that 'daddy went partying and can't drive' to her instead.”

“Hey, that's a bit unfair,” Brian tried to protest, but I cut him off. “I only got the message-”

“If I didn't have to stay, then you can bet I would take her from here and get as far away as possible from you.”

The shop was silent as Sam finished up on my back, gently wiping it with a solution that took away the excess ink and handing me a small mirror to hold so that I could angle it and see my tattoo in the larger mirror. Each star was just as I imagined; it was just a shame that the most complex one there belonged to someone who I both hated and loved.

“Thank you Sam; it's perfect.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small wad of bills and handed a portion to him, the amount being at least triple of what it should have cost. “This should be more than enough to cover it.”

He seemed a bit shocked at how much I gave him. “Nathalie, this is far too much-”

“Don't worry about it. Money isn't a problem,” I replied, wincing slightly as Luke pressed a layer of pads against the tattoo to protect it. “Plus you did an excellent job- it'll still be looking amazing on the day I die.”

He chuckled. “It may have faded a bit since then.”

I shrugged. “You never know.” I swayed slightly on my feet when I turned a bit too fast from the mirror, having to catch myself on the counter beside me to prevent myself from falling over.

Sam looked up at me in concern, obviously because he was the one who had just tattooed me. “Are you alright?”

Nodding, I slowly walked back over and handed him the mirror. “Just a bit light headed, that's all.”

“Are you sure?” He eyed me carefully, looking for any signs of weakness. “It may have been because you bled a lot as I was tattooing you.”

“Well then I'll be sure to eat something when I get home then,” I replied with a smile, pulling my keys from my pocket.

This time, Luke stepped into the conversation. “Maybe I should drive you home.” He turned to Sam. “I'll take it as my lunch break.”

“I don't think you can drive this Luke.”

“Why not?” He folded his arms over his chest. “I've driven your cars before.”

“But that's just it,” I replied, “I didn't drive here in a car.”

In unison, all three heads turned and looked out the shop, noticing the purple and silver motorcycle parked outside. Luke looked at me. “You drive bikes now?”

“It was cheaper to run than a car in Phoenix,” I replied with a shrug, gently pulling on the protective jacket I wore whenever I drove it. “Plus it was a nice day, so I thought I would take it out for a spin.”

“Right when I think I finally know you, you always spring another surprise on me,” Luke sighed, hugging me with one arm on my right side so not to agitate the finished tattoo. “Drive safe.”

I pouted. “I'm always safe.”

He grinned. “Well you managed Rae by 'being safe', so I thought I would give you a warning.”

–

Brian's POV

Five years on, I can't believe how much I still wanted her. Even when she was trying to beat me down for missing my daughter's birthday I couldn't help just looking her over, noticing the softer auburn colour her hair had become and the natural curls that Rae inherited tumble down her back after not meeting with straighteners. She just seemed to glow brighter than she did before, and considering I thought she was perfect back then it just made me realise how flawless she really was. And yet, I didn't want to admit to it.

Only a few minutes after Nathalie had gotten onto her bike and driven it off did Sam turn to me, his eyebrow raised as he said, “You never told me you had a kid.”

“Until a month ago, I didn't know I had one either,” I replied. “For five years I didn't-”

I stopped suddenly when the sounds of tires screeching across asphalt collided with the loud groans of metal crunching outside. Naturally we all went out to see what had happened expecting to see some speeding car hit another, but what we ended up witnessing was a lot, lot worse.

–

“Fuck...” Sam whispered, his eyes growing wide as we looked at the scene in front of us. “Wait, Brian!”

I ignored him as I vaulted over the parked car in front of me and ran to the tangled wreckage in front of me, my heart hammering as my eyes looked upon the scattered remains of Nathalie's motorbike. The car that had hit her was caved in at the front where they had obviously driven into her trying to cheat the red light, leaving her with no chance of getting away.

There was a small gathering of people further up and since I couldn't spot Nathalie any where I moved towards it and pushed my way through, dropping to my knees and weakly reaching out to push back the hair covering the person's face laying there, wishing that it wasn't her.

“Hey mate, I think you should leave her alone-”

“Back off,” I snarled as they tried to take my hand away, glaring at anyone else who dared try to do the same. “She's my-”

Even though I stopped myself before I said 'girlfriend' people understood and remained back, their sympathy now not only for Nathalie, but for me as well. I moved closer and gently rested her head on my lap, wiping the small rocks that had dug into her skin from her scratched cheeks. Apart from a bloody gash on her left leg and the scratches on her cheeks and hands she looked alright for the most part, well, in terms that she hadn't died or had a limb sitting three feet from her body.

“What's going on?” I hadn't even noticed that her eyes had fluttered open, looking up. She winced as she pressed her cut palms onto the ground in order to sit up, dragging her legs backwards as she leant against me. “It happened so fast...”

“How are you feeling? Are you alright?” I instantly asked, receiving a look of confusion as she realised what she had happened to lean against. Obviously she had been speaking more to herself than anyone else. “Nothing is broken, right?”

“I don't think so,” she replied slowly, gently moving each of her limbs until she reached her left leg where she gasped. “That didn't feel good.”

“No shit,” I stated. “Maybe you shouldn’t move for-“

Before I even managed to finish my warning she had forced herself to stand, leaning her hand against my shoulder for support as she tried to keep weight off her injured leg. I rose cautiously beside her so that she wouldn’t lose her balance when I moved, holding her close to me as I stood next to her.

“Nathalie!” Luke elbowed his way through the circle of people surrounding us to her side, placing a hand on each of her shoulders as he looked her over. “Are you alright? Anything broken?”

She winced slightly but shook her head. “I don’t think so, but could you stop pushing down on me? It’s making my leg hurt more.”

He stepped back with a guilty look after a quick look down at her leg. “Sorry.”

“Is she alright?”

A shaken female followed Luke’s path through the crowd, moving her sunglasses from across her eyes to on top of her head. In her hand was a set of keys, presumably to the car that had hit Nathalie in the first place. Before any of us had turned to look at them however, Nathalie had already realised who they were.

“Chloe?”