Escaping Trouble

by Dee Bridle

  “What the fuck?” said a familiar voice.

  Noah.

  His voice cut through my confused state of mind, and it was the only noise I could hear amongst the apparent shouting.

  Clarity somehow immediately returned, and I saw Will standing in front of me with his hands up, coaxing me gently to calm down and drop the knife.

  I had a knife positioned to slit his girl’s throat.

  I jumped back and let go of the knife, hearing it clatter onto the tiled floor.

  “I’m sorry,” I gasped, covering my mouth and dropping to the floor.

  “Ivy,” said Noah, now kneeling down beside me.

  I looked at him and saw shock clearly written all over his face. All I could do was look away.

  Mass confusion took over my mind, thoughts, and body. What the hell was I doing here? I let out a big racking sob and covered my face before running my hands through my hair, unable to look at everyone who had assembled in the kitchen.

  “I’m so sorry,” was all I could whisper to the scared girl as I stood up and stepped away from them.

  I wanted to run, but inside my mind, it wasn’t as clear as fight or flight…I just really needed to get out of here, away from everyone and everything.

  “What the fuck happened?” asked Noah turning to Will.

  “She obviously scared her,” he said looking at me with regret.

  “I was joking around,” said the girl. “What the hell is her problem?”

  Noah glared at Will, and threatened, “Get her out of here.”

  I picked up the knife and tossed it in the sink.

  “She’s a fucking head case,” the girl added for good measure.

  “Okay, you’re leaving,” demanded Will as he turned her around, grabbed her clothes, and tossed them at her.

  Hurriedly, I tried to walk past Noah to get to his bedroom where I could retrieve my clothes and run away from this place. He stopped me before I could get there, his arms holding me.

  There was no way he could know that hearing the word ‘Boo’ behind me scared the life out of me. No way could he know that those words meant that I would be giving up my body, unwillingly and without my consent one more time to a man with no conscience.

  That word is what made me have nightmares and was the reason why I hated the darkness of the night and being all alone. How could I ever tell Noah that a wretched monster would sneak up on me anywhere in the house, no longer waiting for the dark depths of the middle of the night, just to take me and torture me.

  It didn’t matter that it was a girl who had said that horrid word. My mind went into panic mode, and I couldn’t breathe.

  “Stop,” demanded Noah softly into my ear, his arms holding me tightly against him, fully aware that I wanted to run away.

  I tried to pull out of his embrace, the years of running and hiding my emotions making me fight him. But he didn’t let me go and I eventually stopped fighting. My limbs felt like they were full of lead, my emotions weighing me down. He turned me around in his arms, trying to meet my eyes.

  “Ivy,” he said.

  “Don’t,” I warned, trying my hardest to not meet his eyes.

  His fingers went to my chin, moving me so I had no choice but to look up at him. I instantly saw the worry in them, then something else. Safety.

  “It’s okay. Will’s calling her a cab and they’re waiting outside,” he soothed, kissing the top of my head.

  Whether it was his strong arms, soothing voice or kiss, I folded into him and closed my eyes. He continued to calm me by rubbing my back with his gentle but firm hands. We stood in the living room together while he soothed me, over and over until my heart finally calmed to a steady rhythm.

  “Are you going to tell me what that was about?” he murmured into the top of my head.

  “No,” I whispered into his warm chest. Where would I even begin? There was only so much I could recall before fear took control of my mind and rendered me broken and crazed. He had just experienced some of it and I didn’t want him to see any more of it. I wanted to warn him again, prove to him that he was wasting his time with me.

  He kept rubbing my back and at the same time, lowering my defenses further. I suddenly whispered, “I will never escape my past.”

  “You will,” he returned. “Give me time and I will help you escape it forever.”

  His words were like balm to my battered self and I enjoyed them for just a moment before I shut the feelings off again.

  “I’m scarred for life. You can’t remove my type of scars.”

  He pulled my face up to meet his eyes again, his thumb caressing my cheek. I could see his determination and the level of care he had for me and past instincts would have made me run. Now, as I stayed in his arms, drinking him in, I couldn’t comprehend the power he suddenly had over me. He was making me feel and I wasn’t running away.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes. You just have to trust me.”

  “I don’t do trust,” I murmured to him.

  “I promise to change that too.”

  The front door opened and Will walked back in, looking over at us.

  “We good?” he asked, looking from me to Noah.

  “She will be,” said Noah.

  Will suddenly grinned.

  “Well, I couldn’t have planned that better myself. Perfect way to get rid of a one-night stand. You, Ivy girl, rock,” he said with a wink.

  I focused on Will, somewhat surprised that he wasn’t mad or overreacting to what had just happened. In fact, he had an understanding look on his face.

  He headed over to the bathroom, a grin still firmly in place.

  “She’s definitely a keeper, Noah. Maybe we can do this again tomorrow morning with the next girl that I don’t want hanging around for breakfast.”

  The bathroom door closed behind him and I relaxed into Noah’s arms.

  “That was a friend thing, right?” I asked softly.

  Noah chuckled softly and said, “Yeah, that was a friend thing.”

  His fingers made their way up and down my spine, making me suddenly want to purr. I slowly moved my hands around his waist and laced them behind his back.

  “We’re both in our underwear,” I murmured, as I breathed in the scent of his skin. “Do you think Will realizes he’s not wearing any at all?”

  Noah groaned and said, “Please tell me you didn’t see him in all his naked glory.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh as I said, “I was too busy being a head case to really see anything.”

  He leaned down and kissed my lips, softly at first, like he was cherishing the moment. He teased my mouth and made me want more.

  I felt my body come alive as his tongue swept inside my mouth and started to taunt me. My hands moved from his back and travelled their way up his chest and around his neck. I felt like I was holding onto him to save myself from drowning in him.

  His hand cupped my face as his tongue explored my mouth and did crazy things to my self-control. If a kiss could do this to me, I could only wonder what else he could do to me.

  Will came back out of the main bathroom and we stopped the kiss. Noah looked down at me with hooded eyes and rubbed his thumb over my kiss-ravaged lips. Instinct made me want to pop his thumb into my mouth and bite it. But I stopped myself, wondering if I was going slightly crazy with this newfound lust.

  “Get a room,” Will said, walking back over to the kitchen.

  “Get some fucking pants on,” replied Noah.

  Noah

  While Ava made eggs and bacon with Will later that day, I saw Ivy outside on my patio and heard her talking to Glory on her phone. I knew she wanted to meet up with her to explain why she couldn’t go back to work. It would be the first place where Rick would look to get revenge, and I promised her I wouldn’t let him get near her again.

  Ivy promised not to tell Glory where she was staying, just in case. I wondered if even her own mother cared where she was right now. No phone calls, nothing. I admired her f
rom the couch, until Zac shoved me.

  “You totally missed that shot!” said Zac pointing to the screen.

  I remembered I was playing a game with him and put the controller down in defeat. I had no hope of concentrating on the game in front of me. I didn’t know what had happened to Ivy earlier, but it had freaked me out a little. It seemed no one could get through her until I spoke. I wanted to know where she had gone and what memory she had dredged up that could cause her to react like that.

  She was still such a mystery that I wanted to solve.

  “Hangover food is ready,” Ava called out as she put plates down on the dining table.

  I gave up on the game and got up for food, pulling out a chair next to me for Ivy. She came in and sat down next to me, her eyes meeting mine as her lips curled slightly.

  “Okay?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  Conversations went on around us, as well as laughter, but I didn’t really listen to any of it. She broke our gaze by taking a bite of bacon. I hadn’t seen her eat much since she’d been here, and I suddenly felt terrible. She must be starving. I dug into the plate of food and tuned back into the conversation.

  I caught Zac’s questioning glance from across the table.

  Yes, I had been hit hard. He had nothing to say since the same thing happened to him a year ago with Ava.

  “We going to Harry’s this afternoon?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Cobra’s still after him for a fight. Harry won’t drop it,” said Will.

  “Harry will be waiting a while,” I said, my mouth full of bacon.

  “So, Ivy, what did you think of the party?” asked Ava. “They happen here nearly every week.”

  “It was cool,” she said with a smile as she took a sip of orange juice.

  “First time I came to one of them, Zac was on the couch sucking another girl’s face,” said Ava.

  Zac tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away with a laugh.

  “You should have smacked her one and then knocked some sense into him while you were at it,” said Will as he ducked from a flying piece of toast from Zac.

  “What is it about those couches?” asked Ivy, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

  We all laughed, and she smiled as she went back to eating her bacon.

  Ivy

  Faces loom towards me and I try to push them away. They are all laughing, looking at me with evil eyes, wanting a part of me that doesn’t belong to them. They are then replaced with one face; the one face that I try my hardest to reject from my memories.

  I had trusted him.

  He ruined me.

  I feel his hands, gentle at first before they grope me. I hear his whispers in my ear as he holds me down. His soothing voice soon turns demanding.

  Threats.

  I was being suffocated. I tried to push through the thick memories and suddenly gasped for air. Sitting up, I looked around the room in blinding fear. He’s not here. Breathe. My chest rose and fell rapidly as my heart thundered.

  A hand suddenly touched my arm, and I jumped in fright.

  “It’s just me,” soothed Noah.

  I closed my eyes and then hid my face in my hands as I pulled my knees up into a tight ball.

  “You want to talk about it?” he asked, leaning up beside me, his hand stroking my arm.

  “No,” I gasped at him, still covering my face.

  He stayed quiet, his fingers stroking me in a soothing motion.

  “I should sleep in the other room when Zac and Ava leave,” I whispered.

  He was silent, but I could tell he wanted to say something. I moved my hands from my face and took a deep breath, exhaling it out as I looked up at the dark ceiling.

  “The decision is yours, Ivy, but I’d like you to stay in here with me,” he murmured.

  “I’ll only wake you with my nightmares,” I returned, still not looking at him.

  I knew if I stayed, I’d be tempted to lie back down next to him and do something crazy like curl up into him.

  “Sleep’s overrated,” he said, lying back down and getting his pillow in the right position. “I don’t care if you wake me.”

  I sat there for a while in the silence, taking deep breaths in the darkness. I would never be free from my nightmares. Even though I had escaped him all those years ago, he was still right here, in my life, ruining everything.

  Noah was giving me control over this situation by letting me choose whether to sleep in the other room or in here with him. I knew the nightmares would follow me wherever I went, and right here was nicer, regardless of my issues. Noah couldn’t save me in my nightmares, but I still felt safe when he was close to me.

  I was soon curling up in bed beside him, pulling the quilt over my shoulder. I rested my gaze on him in the darkness, trying to gather my sanity. I couldn’t tell if he had fallen asleep until I heard his voice.

  “I’ll do whatever you need to help you through this,” he whispered in the darkness. “I’ll install a television in here, we’ll listen to music, go for a midnight jog, or go and eat food at 3:00 a.m., whatever you need to help clear your head of the bad memories.”

  Emotion made me swallow hard.

  “Whatever it takes,” he added.

  I couldn’t speak, for fear of crying, so I did the only thing I could. I curled up into him, feeling his warm skin against mine. His arm came around me and snuggled me in closer to him.

  I would never be clear of the bad memories, but for the first time since I could remember, I was feeling the good.

  Chapter Ten

  Noah

  Over the next couple of days, we got into a rhythm of normality. I took her to college with me, or if she had earlier lectures, she went in with Ava. Each night she stayed in my bed, even when Zac and Ava went back to their place.

  The first few nights I knew she was restless, because of not working, so I tried to take her mind off it. We watched movies on the couch, I took her out to eat, we went to see a band, and we just did stuff to stay busy.

  We never went any further than kissing, even though sometimes I could feel she wanted more. She was always the one to pull back first, and I did whatever I could to make her feel comfortable and to make her trust me.

  Each time she woke gasping from a nightmare, I tried my hardest to help her. I had put a lamp next to her so she could turn it on if she was freaked out. I bought a television for her to watch if she had trouble going back to sleep.

  One night, we just got up and raided the fridge together, laughing like kids in the dark as Will snored loudly from the couch. One of the nights I played a boy band’s song on my phone as soon as she woke up crying. Her tears turned to laughter, and that night she held onto me and didn’t let go until the morning.

  The longer I spent with her, the more I liked about her. Her high defensive walls were slowly being chipped away, showing me the real Ivy. I was still unaware of the demons plaguing her, but knew in time that she would eventually tell me.

  * * *

  Ivy had gone to class earlier the next morning with Ava, and when I awakened, I saw that her T-shirt had been neatly folded and placed on the pillow next to mine. It showed me that she liked sleeping in my T-shirts and that she was coming back and wearing it to bed again tonight. I would never tell anyone that I liked that. The guys would rib me for weeks if they knew.

  I left my bedroom and saw Zac in the kitchen making a coffee, his laptop running on the dining table with some sort of script. Once he saw me, he grabbed another mug and made me a coffee along with his own.

  “Did you even go to bed last night?” I asked.

  “I got a couple of hours. I’m in the middle of something, and I can’t let it go,” he said putting my coffee on the kitchen bench as he went back to the table and his laptop. “Death Angel are playing tonight. You up for it?”

  I sipped my hot coffee, and responded, “Yeah, cool.”

  “I think Ava is planning a girls night tonight with Ivy,” he said, c
oncentrating on his screen. “I think I’ve found records on Ivy and her mother, but I keep coming to the same dead end.”

  “Meaning?” I asked taking another sip.

  “That the two people who were Emily Heatherton and Blaire Heatherton actually died in a car accident.”

  “What does that have to do with Ivy?” I asked.

  “Ivy is not who she says she is, or else she’s been brought back from the dead. If I’m seeing this correctly, Ivy is Emily Heatherton and Blaire is her mother.”

  “Why does Heatherton sound so familiar?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m about to look into her father’s background, and see if I can find anything on him. It’s taken me so long, because so much information is missing or has been deleted. Oh, I also got some photos of her from a few years back from an ex on Facebook. He’s a tattoo artist, so we know where all her ink came from.”

  “Maybe he’s the one who hurt her. Can you look into him?” I asked, heading over to the laptop.

  Zac nodded and said, “I’ll check his history and search through police reports just in case anything was reported.”

  He turned the laptop screen towards me and said, “Here are some photos.”

  I scrolled through some of the asshole’s photos, stopping on one with Ivy sitting on his lap at some party. Her hair was blue, and she had thick black eyes and looked…drunk. There were a few more of her, each one showing a drunken smile. I looked at the guy as I scrolled through and noticed he was covered in tattoos, and he was looking pretty proud of himself. I wondered what they had done together and hated the guy instantly.

  “He just happens to be going to Death Angel tonight, too,” murmured Zac. “He just updated his status.”

  “Awesome,” I said darkly.

  Ivy

  I had never really had a girl’s night out, and the one I was on with Ava was pretty good. We had dinner at some restaurant where we laughed like old friends, and then we moved on to a club and had a few cocktails together. We checked guys out and laughed over their attempts to buy us drinks.

  I realized I had missed out on having a girlfriend, and knew I would like to do this more. I was starting to trust Ava, and I knew she had a good heart. She wouldn’t screw me over or put me in any danger. I knew she loved Noah like a sister and wanted the best for him. I wanted the best for him, too, but I just didn’t think it was me.