Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1)

by Amy Vanessa Miller

  “Are you sure?” She asks, eyebrows raised.

  “Fucking positive.” I drink the bitter liquid down and attempt to keep my facial expressions in check. I don’t need her knowing that I’ve never tasted any hard liquor before.

  “Ok,” she agrees, filling the glass again. “After this one you should take a few minutes break, non?”

  “Fine,” I mumble as I chug the third glass.

  I look around the pub. It’s covered in wood paneling and forest green linoleum; it looks like it was designed in the nineteen seventies. The walls are lined with booths and covered with pictures of people who’ve spent too much time here over the years. It’s a cozy place, and not too bright either, which I like. All the lights are dim and covered with bronze colored shades. Music plays from overhead, but I see a small stage off in the corner that they probably use for open mic nights or something similar. Maybe karaoke.

  The front door opens and Parker walks in. If it’s at all possible, he looks even worse than I feel.

  He spots me immediately, making me realize that choosing this spot next to the exit wasn’t as thought out as I’d originally hoped. I don’t want to talk to anyone. At first he sits at the bar about six seats away, making me think that he doesn’t want to talk either. A few moments later, however, he gets up from that spot and takes the seat right beside me instead.

  The cute bartender walks toward us and smiles at Parker. She seems to know him somehow. “Une bière, Parker?” she asks and he nods.

  Yep, she knows him.

  She’s back in a few seconds with a bottle of Budweiser, the cap twisted off. “Quatre et vingt-cinq,” she says and he hands her a five. I notice them share an exchange with their eyes as she takes the money. “Gardez la monnaie,” he says in what appears to be very fluent French. What the hell is up with this guy? He’s like a fucking mystery. They know him by name here, in Madigan City, six hours away from Markson Grove!

  “Merci,” she calls out over her shoulder as she heads back to her cash.

  “Come here often?” I say once he drinks a big gulp of his beer and looks away from the bartender. I say it jokingly, but I’m honestly curious. What is this guy’s deal?

  “I’ve come here a few times,” he replies with no amount of humor in his words, as ironic as they are.

  I look up and attempt to call over the bartender once again to buy my fourth shot, but she’s not looking this way anymore.

  “Isabelle,” Parker calls out and she immediately turns to face us. He smiles that winning grin that gets all the girls, and motions her over.

  “I’ll take my next shot now,” I say as soon as she’s close enough to hear it.

  “Ok.” She seems a little annoyed with me. She pours me the whiskey and then turns to Parker. “He’s your friend?” she asks.

  Parker chuckles slightly. “For lack of a better word.”

  “C'est son quatrième,” she says to him in a way that sounds like a warning. I’m not exactly sure what she said, but I think it’s about me.

  He turns to look at me for the first time since he’s sat down. “That’s your fourth whiskey?” he asks.

  I shrug. “So? I think it’s called for, don’t you?”

  “I think you’re going to get really drunk, then really sick. That’s what I think.”

  “Yeah, well I don’t really care what you think,” I snap and Isabelle glances at Parker to see how he reacts to it. “This is all your fault you know.”

  The muscles in his jaw tighten. “We can’t fucking control them! When will you get that through your thick skull?” he growls, slamming his beer bottle down so hard onto the bar that it bubbles and flows over.

  Isabelle wipes up the mess and points her finger at him warningly. “Calm yourself,” she says and her lack of intimidation of him surprises me. Even more surprising is the way he conforms to her demand and quickly apologizes. He carries a great deal of respect for her, I can tell.

  “Not just that. Everything,” I say, continuing on with my rant. “Things were great with Bree and me till you decided to get back with Skylar.”

  Isabelle’s eyes dart over to Parker once again and I see a flinch of a smile emerge on her face. Seriously, how the hell does he know this girl? He catches her gaze and shakes his head ever so slightly, hoping I won’t notice, but I do. She takes the hint and walks away to the other side of the bar.

  “Are you hearing yourself? Jesus, Evan, stop blaming everyone else! They made their choice, and it would have happened no matter what either of us did, ok? You can’t fight fate.”

  “So you’re done with her then, just like that?”

  He sighs, “I’ll never be done with her.” He says it so quietly that I barely hear it, but I know it’s what he said. The sadness in his eyes is a clear indication.

  “And I’m pissed too you know,” he adds a bit more loudly. “She was mine first.”

  “I need another drink.”

  Parker rolls his eyes. “Don’t get yourself wasted. I’m not carrying your drunk ass back to the hotel.”

  For some reason, his words strike me as funny. I burst out laughing so hard and uncontrollably that my side begins to ache from it.

  At first, Parker doesn’t even crack a smile, but the longer I laugh, the harder it is for him to keep a straight face, and eventually he begins laughing too.

  “I owe you an apology,” he says after we finally quiet down.

  “For what?” I ask, motioning Isabelle over for my last shot. She walks over and pours me shot number five while avoiding eye contact with Parker.

  “For Adrienne,” he says. “She was yours and I didn’t care.”

  I shrug. “It was a long time ago. It’s done.”

  He looks unconvinced. “Doesn’t seem done to Kelsie.”

  I nod with an amused grin. “She really can’t stand you.”

  “Oh, I’m wearing her down,” he laughs but he grows serious once again. “You know, you’re so fucking annoying and most of the time I can’t even stand you, but—”

  “Gee Parker, thanks,” I say sarcastically, interrupting him.

  “See, that right there is funny,” he points out. “I like drunk Evan, you should get drunk more often. You’re ironically less angry and idiotic when drunk.”

  I laugh. It’s a complete insult, but I think he’s right because I’m not insulted about it at all, I’m actually feeling pretty good.

  “No, but seriously,” he goes on, “I owe you for calling me the night Tris was with Sky. You probably saved her life, you know that right? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay you for that.”

  My euphoric thoughts die down as I let my mind wander back to what Tris did to Skylar that night. I’m no hero, I had my selfish reasons for calling Parker.

  “You’ve been looking out for Ellie, it’s the least I could do, really,” I say back.

  He nods but doesn’t say anything in return. He gazes off into the distance, seeming to be staring out the window ahead of us.

  “You still love her even after what she did tonight, don’t you?” I ask him in a quiet mumble. I say it like a question, but it’s not one really. I already know the answer, it’s written all over his face.

  “I’ve loved that girl since the minute I first laid eyes on her two years ago. She’s the only good I’ve known in my life since my mother died. That kind of shit doesn’t just shut off, you know?”

  I nod. I’m looking at him as if I know what it is he’s talking about, but I honestly don’t. I thought I loved Adrienne and then when I found out she’d been cheating on me, I hated her. And now Bree’s ripped my heart out and trampled all over it, and all I can feel is total hatred once again. Have I ever really experienced love, real true love? Do I even know what that is? Judging by what Parker’s describing, I’d say I don’t have the slightest clue.

  “There you guys are,” a familiar voice says the minute she walks through the door of the relatively quiet pub. It takes me a split second to place the voice, b
ut as soon as I do I feel my body flinch at the sound of it. I look over to the door at the exact same time Parker does, and I hear him sigh loudly. Seems like I’m not the only one she annoys.

  “Adrienne,” Parker says politely before turning to Isabelle and lifting his empty bottle to show her that he’d like another.

  “We’ve been looking everywhere for you two,” she says, approaching us with Spencer by her side. “We need to talk about what happened with Bree and Skylar.”

  “You’re fucking kidding me,” Parker says as Isabelle hands him his second beer. He twists the cover off and takes a big gulp.

  I throw my arm in the air attempting some sort of awkward fist pump. “Good riddance to both of them!” I yell out, and all three of them look at me like I have grown two heads.

  And… I’m drunk.

  “Seriously?” Spencer says with a grimace. I don’t know him very well, but I do know that he’s close to both Bree and Skylar, so what I just said was probably in bad taste.

  “You both really need to talk to them. It isn’t what you think. Bree was ending their friendship for Evan because he asked her to,” Adrienne says as she’s glaring at me. “Skylar agreed to it, they kissed, and that’s all it was. They were saying goodbye.”

  For a moment, I feel a pang of guilt in my gut. She chose me and I reacted like that? What the hell is wrong with me? But then, as the words sink deeper into my mind I become angry once again. “They didn’t have to kiss goodbye.”

  Spencer hurls himself at me, getting right into my face. “You made her choose and it broke her heart, you fucking asshole! I think you can be man enough to accept a goodbye kiss, don’t you? It didn’t mean anything!” He gives me a good shove and I stumble backward slightly.

  He’s right, it was just a kiss and I should be happy to hear that, but my ego’s been bruised and I’m too drunk to care.

  I think about when I confronted Adrienne about Tris and Parker, and how the first thing that she told me was that it didn’t mean anything. I hate that excuse. If it didn’t mean anything, then why the fuck did she do it?

  “It doesn’t change anything. Not for me,” I say finally. “I can’t be with someone I can’t trust.”

  Spencer shakes his head in disbelief and then looks at Parker. “And you?” he asks pointedly.

  Adrienne walks over and sits on my lap. When I go to push her off she wraps her arms around my neck and holds on tightly. “Just listen to me,” she pleads, and after a moment I stop trying to fight her off.

  “What?” I mumble as I motion for Isabelle to fill me up another glass. After I chug it, I turn to Adrienne. “You really did a number on me, you know that?”

  She frowns guilt written all over her face. “I really did,” she says. “But that’s not Bree’s fault.”

  “I feel what I feel,” I return with a careless shrug. It’s not that I don’t care because I do, but I just can’t seem to bring myself to show it.

  “So?” Spencer asks Parker, waiting for his response. Parker continues to sit there quietly, just drinking his beer as if no one is even standing around him at all.

  “How did I know I’d find you losers here?” Tris bellows as he walks through the entrance and heads toward us. He pats Parker hard on the back. “Came by to see good old Isabelle, did ya?”

  “Maybe,” Parker replies with narrowed eyes. “What are you going to do about it? You going to beat the living shit out of her too?”

  BURN!

  I turn to Adrienne with a goofy, drunken smile on my face. The seriousness of our earlier words disappearing from my mind completely. “Did you hear that?” I ask her with a laugh. “Total burn!”

  “What the fuck did you say?” Tris demands, pushing toward me. “You got something you want to say to me, Daniels?”

  I shake my head, “Nah.” I say, completely unimpressed with his attempt at intimidation. He’s such a loser.

  He grabs the front of my shirt with one hand as he raises his fist to my face. Adrienne jumps off of my lap as I squint my eyes closed waiting for the punch, but Parker gets in the middle and yanks him off of me instead.

  “You’re really pushing me tonight, Tris. Keep your fucking hands off of my friends. That includes him,” he says pointing at me and for a second I feel pretty proud of the title. Then I realize I’m a drunken idiot so I stop smiling.

  Tris shakes his head. “No fucking way.”

  “Yep. Congratulations, you piece of shit, you’ve been replaced.”

  “By him?” he yells in disbelief.

  “Why not? Evan’s a good-looking guy, he can be my new wingman. Right, Ev?”

  Say what?

  Adrienne laughs, “I’m sure he will be everything Tris isn’t,” she says, glaring at Tris as she says it.

  I see a smirk develop on Spencer’s lips.

  I’m missing something.

  I turn to Adrienne questioningly and notice a small discreet smile on her face as well.

  What the fuck am I missing here?

  “Why do you think Adrienne’s here and Spencer too?” Parker says to Tris. “We’re about to get a room and try a foursome. Aren’t we guys?”

  Say what?!

  “That’s right,” Adrienne says, and before I have a chance to protest, she immediately plants her lips onto mine.

  Her lips taste really good, like cherries. I kiss her back eagerly. Way too eagerly. I am far too drunk for this to be happening to me right now.

  “Fuck you. I don’t give a shit!’ Tris says to Parker angrily, “You want to go fuck some guys to get your mind off of your whore girlfriend, go ahead.”

  “Well, I can’t speak for Spencer,” I chime in, “But I, for one, don’t want to be fucked by Parker.”

  Adrienne and Spencer burst out laughing so hard that it looks like they might fall over. Parker shakes his head, and after a moment of trying to hide a smile, begins to laugh with the others.

  I’m glad I relieved the moment, but the comment wasn’t meant to be funny. I’m completely serious.

  Everyone’s laughter seems to be making Tris even angrier, and instead of sticking around and trying to push our buttons further, he turns to leave. Just before he’s out the door, however, he stops abruptly and turns a focused glare on me. “I’m the one who sent you the video.”

  And then he’s gone.

  What. The. Fuck.

  My smile fades completely as the information he tells me sinks in.

  “What video?” Parker asks me suspiciously, his smile disappearing completely as well. He looks at me and then to Adrienne.

  “What video, Evan?” Adrienne repeats Parker’s question warily.

  “Of the three of you. It’s how I found out you were cheating.”

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me that?” she demands, looking pissed and worried in equal measure.

  “Because I didn’t want to fucking talk about it, Adrienne. I wanted to pretend like I’d never seen it.”

  “Are you serious?” Parker’s face turns pale.

  “No, I like to joke about getting videos of guys fucking my girlfriend,” I reply sarcastically.

  “Is that all you saw on there?” he asks uneasily, “Just us on Adrienne?”

  That’s not all I saw, not even close, but I don’t tell him that. Instead, I shrug as though it’s not a big deal at all. “It doesn’t matter, I deleted the video and I never told anyone about it.”

  “I can’t believe this!” He turns to Adrienne, “Did you know he was recording us?”

  Adrienne shakes her head. “Of course I didn’t,” she replies. “I wouldn’t have done half of that shit if I’d known it was being recorded!”

  “I have to take care of this,” he says, starting toward the door.

  I turn to Adrienne and Spencer, with wide eyes. “This is bad, isn’t it?” I ask no one in particular. After hearing Tris and Parker’s conversation back at the hotel, there’s no doubt in my mind that he means the words he’s saying.

  Adrienne gazes off
into the distance, “Yeah,” she says, “it’s bad.”

  Parker turns abruptly, just before he’s out the door, “Spencer?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Tell Skylar I said she won’t lose me.”

  Spencer lets out what appears to be a sigh of relief. “I will.”

  A moment later, Parker’s out the door and heading in the same direction that Tris went only minutes earlier.

  “Your lips taste really good,” I say to Adrienne, completely going off topic, but for some reason it just feels like the right thing to say.

  She gives me a playful shove and I nearly fall off of my chair. “And you’re really drunk,” she says.

  She just might be right.

  Skylar

  “We should go back. We’ve been searching for over an hour.”

  “Nobody made you come,” I remind her as I peer into the window of a little cafe that we are passing by. Nothing. Where would he have gone?

  Even as I’m asking this to myself, I already know the answer. He’s either drinking or he’s fighting. There isn’t anything else Parker would do when he’s pissed. Those are the only options. And since I have no clue where the fighting gyms are in this city, my only option is to search the local pubs and bars.

  “Can I ask you something?” Bree asks, breaking into my thoughts.

  I look away from the cafe window. “What?”

  “Do you know anything about Adrienne Ambrose spending time with Spencer lately? I mean, she seems really nice and everything, but I’m confused.”

  I shrug, “He’s taken her under his wing, apparently. She’s been dealing with stuff.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  I nod, peering into another window. “Yep.”

  “What do you know about her, Tris, and Parker? Has Parker ever told you anything?”

  I stop abruptly and look her over suspiciously. “What’s with the twenty questions? What’s Adrienne to you anyway?”

  Bree shrugs and I see a slight blush invade her cheeks. “I spent six hours talking to her on the bus and she seems nice. Not exactly the picture Evan painted for me. And she’s really fond of Parker but hates Tris, I was just curious what that’s about.”