Enjoying Trouble (Trouble #3)

by Dee Bridle

  I moved further into the moshing bodies, feeling the excitement and the scent of sweat and good times. I lost track of Ivy and Ava behind me as I pushed my way in further, closer to the stage. I wanted to become one with everyone and forget everything else around me. I wanted the hardcore beat to throb through my body and take me away.

  I was suddenly shoved hard and yelped in pain. I couldn’t turn my body around to see who had done it and kept moving. I had nearly made it to the front of the stage in my determination to escape, before I realised I was in the middle of the makings of a death wall. I had never been part of the death wall, always watching them from a safe distance. Everyone in the pit was starting to separate into two groups, making a large empty space in the middle of the mosh pit. They were pumped and ready to run at full speed towards each other on the band’s call. Will had never let me do this and now I was going to be crushed to death in an explosion of bodies and metal mayhem.

  And I suddenly didn’t care.

  I heard the singer shout over and over to keep going, to keep separating into two sides. The open space started to become even wider as the drummer kept a constant rhythm, preparing everyone for the onslaught that was to come. I felt the adrenalin spike in me, knowing this was going to hurt.

  The guitar then started, the singer screamed and the music exploded. I ran blindly, covering my head with my arms as bodies thumped into each other. I think I screamed. I felt the impact with other bodies and the music get crazier. Someone grabbed my hair and pulled sharply. I screamed again. My feet went in one direction, my upper body in the other. I was suddenly trapped, pulled in two opposite directions. I refused to panic as I struggled to breathe amongst the crush; I could do this. I imagined that this would be like hell and we all knew that’s where I was going in the end anyway. Through the struggle, it dawned on me that there was no-one here to help me anymore. Will was no longer by my side, getting me out of my sticky situations. Neither was my brother. It was up to me to sort myself out. This is what I had to do from now on. Get by, by myself. It was time to look after myself, time to get my life in order and do something. Whatever the fuck that was. I was in charge of my own destiny.

  Fuck. I just had an epiphany in a mosh pit.

  I pulled on the guy next to me and motioned upwards with my free hand. It was time for air and to get out of this crazy, sweaty hell. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up, his hands then finding themselves on my waist and then my butt as he ripped me out. I couldn’t help but laugh like a maniac as I found warm air, letting it seep into my lungs. Other hands held me as my body was carried across the crowd. I moved closer to the stage, knowing my time was nearly up. A meaty arm suddenly grasped around me and I was pulled over the barrier in front of the stage. The security guy righted me onto my feet and then let me go, motioning to the side exit. I stumbled towards it with a smile still on my face. I felt lightheaded as I made my way, moving my hair out of my face as if in slow motion. My limbs were heavy and I felt a whoosh of blood inside me. Maybe I was going to faint. Maybe I was having a heart attack. That’s right. It would be just my luck to die after my epiphany inside a mosh pit. I reached the exit and walked out onto the grass, trying my hardest not to step on people who were sitting and catching their breath. I needed water. I needed to get my blood pressure under control.

  “You finished?” asked a familiar deep voice, his hand taking my arm.

  “Never,” I gasped, not allowing myself to feel any relief that he had actually come to get me.

  “The Wall of Death now, Janey? What’s next?” asked Will, leading me through everyone.

  “It was on my bucket list,” I returned.

  “What else is on this bucket list?” he asked me.

  You. To have you forever and ever.

  “I need a drink,” I said instead.

  “I have beer all over me – wanna lick?” he asked.

  “She needed to cool down, she was eating your face off,” I mumbled.

  “I get that reaction a lot,” he returned.

  “Well, where is she now? Don’t let me stop her eating anything else of yours.”

  “She’s with the others, waiting for me.”

  “Well, off you go then. I’m fine.”

  “You needed a drink.”

  “I’m quite capable of getting my own drink.”

  “I know how capable you are Janey, but I’m getting you one. Deal with it”

  “She might get jealous!”

  “I think you’ve taken that title tonight.”

  I shrugged his hand off my arm in annoyance.

  “Oh please. I just had an opportunity and took it. Just forget it happened. It meant nothing. I’ve obviously had too much to drink”

  “Liar. You haven’t touched a drop of alcohol all day.”

  “Can you just leave me alone?”

  He stopped to face me and angrily asked, “Is that what you want? For me to leave you alone?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “How come this is the most we’ve spoken in months, Janey? Why the fuck are you treating me like I’ve got some venereal disease?”

  “What do you want from me, Will?”

  “I thought that was obvious. Everyone else seems to get it, except for you.”

  “You need to move on. I need to move on,” I said, hating the words as they came out of my mouth.

  “Did some shrink tell you that?”

  “Fuck you,” I said angrily, shoving at his chest. He stepped closer to me, his body blocking everything around me.

  “Why am I so bad to be around? What is it about me that is so wrong for you? I’ve been there for you, Janey. Since the fucking beginning.”

  “I just need…a change. You need a change as well.”

  “Do me a favour,” he requested.

  “What?”

  “Don’t even begin to tell me what I need. I know what I need.”

  I looked away from his eyes as I said, “It’s just better for both of us if we are not together.”

  “Says who?” he demanded quietly.

  I swallowed and said, “Me.” I kept my eyes diverted from his, knowing if I didn’t that he would see the lie I was spinning. He stepped back from me, a cold, empty space now between us.

  “Fine Janey, you win,” he said in resignation. I felt my heart ache. I felt the urge to plead to him, beg him to take me back. I hadn’t won anything - I was officially losing the most important thing I had.

  “So, we go on with our lives separately. We forget everything we have been through, the good and the bad. We move on.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t have anything left within me to lie anymore. I would never agree to forget our lives together; it was all I had left in me. He stood there waiting, daring me to agree with him. I felt the most unimaginable pain and I needed to strike back.

  “Go and enjoy your new friend,” I said, trying to hurt him. He shook his head and then stepped even closer to me again. He pulled my chin up and forced me to look at him.

  “Not once have I lied to you, Janey. You and I - we were always honest with each other. We accepted everything our lives had given us and not long ago we decided to change our lives for the better, together.”

  His words hit me straight in the heart. He was right; we were going to face the future together, before I ruined everything. I forced the tears back and used every bit of the strength I had left to hide my bleeding emotions. I stared back at him, cold and defiant.

  “But you know what, Janey? I think you’re lying through your ass right now. You’re fucking scared. We had something good and you’re deliberately killing it for some fucked up reason.”

  I didn’t take a breath as he searched my eyes.

  “I want to know the reason. I deserve to know the reason,” he said quietly. I wished I could tell him. I craved to fall into his safe arms and just breathe again but I kept silent, just staring at him, attempting to hide it all. He stopped searching my eyes, his own now hooded.

&nbs
p; “I’ll take my new friend home tonight and screw her senseless.” I couldn’t hide my painful swallow as the thought speared me, sending out a thousand darts of pain in my chest. Anger made me break my silence.

  “She already looks mindless, so don’t try too hard.”

  His eyes narrowed and pierced into mine. He came even closer; our bodies flush against each other, his lips a breath away from mine.

  “But it will be your body I will be imagining tonight. Just like every other nameless fuck I’ve had since you ended us,” he said gravelly. His words made me shudder as his eyes looked into mine one last time. I could see the hurt and love he had for me and I wanted to let out a sob of despair. Then he was gone. I suddenly felt untethered and ready to fall. I watched his back as he walked toward to the group and I stopped myself from calling out to him. I wanted to go and jump on him and tell him to never let me go. To never forget me. Ivy appeared beside me.

  “The Wall of Death? You are crazy,” she laughed. “And I love it.”

  “The craziest,” I mumbled, not taking my eyes off Will. I watched him reach his girl and take her hand. He said his goodbyes to everyone and then he was gone. He was taking her home.

  And taking my heart with him.

  Chapter Four

  Past

  Will

  I had no idea she was Zac’s sister when I first met her at the college party that night. We hadn’t been at the party house long before Zac had found some gorgeous creature and had taken her upstairs. I had lost Noah between walking out of the house and into the backyard, knowing he would have found a girl on the way. My eyes had settled on Janey across the backyard soon after; she was standing and talking to a guy with a beer cup in her hand and she looked downright bored. I thought she was fucking beautiful.

  I watched, clearly enthralled, as she looked around the party with the douche bag next to her saying something into her ear. She continued to look disinterested in him as she bit down on the edge of the plastic cup. Her eyes were everywhere, taking everything in. She looked street smart and die-hard beautiful. I wanted her naked and under me - or better yet - on top of me. She looked the type to take control and I had the stirrings of a hard-on just imagining it. I usually liked to take control but just sometimes the thought of a girl taking charge just did something to me.

  When her eyes connected with mine, I knew it was time to go and introduce myself and maybe see if she wanted to bite down on anything else besides the cup. I left the girls around me, already forgotten as I headed over to her. I wondered on what to say to her as I made my way over, wondering if she would drop me on my ass with rejection. I couldn’t work out what she would do and the risk of it all sent my excitement levels even higher. I grabbed a fresh beer from the table without stopping. I appeared in front of her and gave her my trademark grin.

  “You look like you need another beer.”

  Her eyes narrowed onto me, then to the cup in my hand, not making any move to take it from me. She was going to leave me hanging and she looked like she was going to enjoy that fact. I liked her even more.

  “Take the beer,” I said taking the now empty one from her other hand.

  “I can get her drinks, dude,” said the guy beside her, getting a little antsy at my appearance. She hadn’t taken her eyes off me yet or taken the beer, so I continued on.

  “She probably wants a drink without the drugs,” I returned, my eyes still on hers.

  “What are you saying? Fuck you, man,” he said stepping closer to me. I smiled at her before turning my gaze onto him. I was a good fighter and I had the ability to hit the right spot for maximum benefit; he’d be out cold in seconds.

  “Actually, no, fuck you,” I said calmly.

  The guy knocked the beer from my hand and motioned for me to come at him. Silly college boy. I looked down to the cup on the grass, now empty. Beer had splashed on her legs and shoes. Without any hesitation, I swung my fist and smacked him in the face with it. I had moved so swiftly, he hadn’t seen it coming at all and went down into the grass. I stretched my hand out and then fisted it again, just in case he was planning on getting back up for round two, but he was too busy holding his nose and groaning. My eyes set on hers again.

  “So, how about that beer?” I asked her.

  “What the fuck, man?” said a guy coming over to his defence.

  I ignored him and continued to look at her.

  “He’s broken my fucking nose,” groaned the guy down on the grass.

  “You’ve broken his nose,” said his friend, clenching his fists.

  “Unless you want yours broken too, I would move away,” I snapped, before zeroing my eyes back on the girl. “Where were we?”

  She folded her arms and cocked her head at me.

  “You were throwing punches and offering me a beer, with no drugs in it.”

  I grinned, liking this girl’s spirit.

  “He got beer on your shoes,” I said.

  “My shoes thank you,” she said. I looked at her closely, trying to figure out if she was happy or angry that I had hit him. For the first in a long time I was lost for words. I knew instantly that I would never be able to bullshit my way out of anything with her. The guy got up from the grass with the help of his friend and walked back into the house. She watched him go and then turned back to me.

  “There were no drugs in the first beer he gave me; I don’t think that was his plan.”

  I watched her full lips move as she spoke to me and I tried to concentrate on what she was saying. I gave a shrug and said,

  “Maybe, maybe not but he looks the type, don’t you think?”

  She let out a sigh and said, “Anyone is capable of bad, no matter what they look like.”

  My eyes narrowed on to her, my mind at odds with her beauty and those obviously deep and profound words. Had she been hurt? Had someone been bad to her? She needed to give me a name and I would fix them up. No one should ever make this beautiful girl sad.

  “Maybe this is all a game and you’re going to try and drug me,” she said next, her arms still folded across her chest.

  “Well, I’m not. I’ve never had to drug a girl to be with me.”

  “Right, because they just drop like flies at your feet.”

  “Well, they drop more at my cock than my feet but hey; I’m up for anything really.”

  She hid a smile and turned it into a smirk.

  “Go back and play with your little bimbos over there.”

  “So you were watching me earlier,” I stated, cocking my eyebrow with interest. I was in. She was interested.

  “Believe whatever gets you through the night,” she said starting to move away, towards the house.

  “I’d like you to get me through the night,” I called out after her. She gave me a proper smile then and followed it with a statement that nearly knocked me on my ass.

  “You wouldn’t be able to handle me.”

  I had an instant hard-on as I watched her turn and walk away. I started to follow her, the party going on around me in a blur. I had to have this sexy devil of a girl. She changed direction and headed around the side of the house, like she was leaving.

  “Wait up! What’s your name, at least?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” she called out over her shoulder.

  “What does that mean?”

  She stopped then and turned to face me. I nearly walked into her as I righted myself and looked down at her. We were inches apart.

  “I’m Will,” I offered, breaking the weird silence.

  “I know,” she said, indecision clearly in her eyes. My eyes narrowed onto her.

  “You know me?” I asked, wondering how she knew me. I would have remembered her if I had met her before. Had I slept with a friend of hers?

  “I know of you,” she clarified.

  “From who?” I asked.

  She focused on my mouth for a moment longer than she wanted and looked down between us.

  “Doesn’t matter, does it?�
�� she said quietly.

  “Depends on what you’ve heard about me,” I said, wanting to touch her but worrying over the consequences. She was sending off mixed signals and I didn’t know what to do.

  “Probably more than you realise,” she returned.

  I looked up at the night sky and blew out a breath.

  “Okay, well the rumours are mostly true: I do my fair share of partying, I come to college parties with my friends because it’s just too easy in the getting laid department. I love bands and see them every chance I get, the more hardcore the better. I train at an underground fight club most days. I am really fucking awesome in bed and I have a ginormous cock.”

  She looked back up at me then, fire in her eyes.

  “So I know all of that, except the cock part, because I heard it was tiny,” she said putting her thumb up to me and wiggling it around. I grabbed her thumb.

  “You’re fucking with me,” I said. She let out a small chuckle, letting me hold her thumb and then her whole hand.

  “I’m not. I’ve heard the rumour from lots of different people.”

  “Don’t make me pull it out and show you just how fucking big it is,” I said, pulling her gently over to the wall of the house. She went with me, letting me gently put her against the wall of the house as I crowded her in. We were once again inches apart, I wanted to fully enclose her against the wall with my body and show her just how wrong she was about me.

  “Maybe you’re mistaking me for someone who cares?” she said, her hand still in mine.

  “You care,” I said putting my other arm beside her head, further enclosing her in against me. “I can see it in your eyes.”