by Dee Bridle
Zac – And hello to you my delightful sister. No, not that I can recall. I did though…
Janey – !!! Is there anyone you didn’t sleep with before Ava?
Zac – Probably not. I hear you had car trouble??
Janey – Fixed now. I’m taking Will’s car to club tonight. Need to get my car back home though at some point.
Zac – I’ll help you tomorrow with it. Anyone else with slashed tyres in street?
Janey – I forgot to ask
Zac – I’ll check the CCTV – send me her address
Janey – It’s fine. All fixed now. Stop worrying about me
Zac – I’m your brother, its part of the package
Janey – Have to go to work, speak soon
Zac – Okay Miss Responsible…
Janey – Shut up
Zac – Proud of you
I sat in the car and read the text again, my eyes filling up. My brother was proud of me and it was nice to hear. I started the engine and then made my way to work. I could do all of this. Life would be okay. My phone rang while I was parking the car and I answered it quickly without looking at the screen.
“I’m not sure if you are trying to deliberately taunt me or you really do have a severe mental instability.”
My breath was taken away at the sound of Will’s mother’s voice.
“I advise you to stay away, Janey. Friendship is also no longer acceptable.”
“It’s his choice. I can’t keep him away from me.”
“But you can. By disappearing yourself. You’re no good Janey. For anyone, especially for my son. You are a sick girl.”
I gritted my teeth and said, “I am not.”
“But you are, and sick girls get sent away to mental institutions. I will have you committed, Janey. I will not tolerate you working at Disclosure, seeing my son, attempting to visit him at his city address or drive his car that I in fact, own.”
“Why are you doing this?” I pleaded. “You’re hurting him.”
“Do not even attempt to question me. Disappear, Janey. Or I will do it for you.”
The line went quiet and I shakily looked at the phone screen to see that she had ended the call. I was obviously being watched if she knew I was driving his car. I had no doubt in my mind that she was serious about all of this. She would have me committed. I rested my head on the steering wheel and closed my eyes in despair. I had no choice; I needed to go back to staying away. Completely.
This always happened to me. My life would seemingly start to go smoothly and I would all of a sudden hit a bump in the road, which would always spiral me out of control. It was like someone was always testing me, to see if I would survive, putting me under the dark depths of uncontrollable despair to see if I would drown under the heavy darkness. I had no idea on what to do, other than to disappear. I wanted to tell Zac but I didn’t want to involve him, in case she implicated him in all this. Parts of his job were highly illegal and I didn’t need her ruining that. I could tell Will but she would have me committed anyway; she was that powerful.
There was a sudden bang on the window and I screamed in fright. The bruised face belonging to Sebastian was looking in at me. I pressed the window down and glared at him.
“You scared the shit out of me!”
“Looked like you were sleeping or passed out, had to check,” he said with a shrug. “Nice wheels by the way.”
“You have some nice bruises, there.”
“Do they make me look distinguished? I was hoping they did. Girls go crazy for this shit right?”
“Not sane ones,” I muttered, grabbing my bag and getting out of the car.
“So, how’s the boyfriend? Attacked anyone today?”
“Look, I’m sorry about that and he’s not my boyfriend. Not anymore,” I said with a sigh. I locked the car and started to make way over to the club.
“Ah, trouble in paradise?”
“‘Trouble’ is my middle name, didn’t you know that?” I muttered, nodding to the security at the club door. Instead of nodding at me and letting me pass, his large body stopped me from making any more progress.
“You no longer work here. You need to give me the keys to the car and go home.”
“Say what now?” laughed Sebastian.
I gritted my teeth and stared at the guard.
“I think you’ve got the wrong girl, dude; she works here, with me,” said Sebastian. The security guy held his hand out for the car key, ignoring Sebastian. I knew I wouldn’t win this one. With an exasperated sigh, I placed the car key into his hand and turned around to leave.
“Wait,” said Sebastian, getting his phone out. “I’ll call Jake and get this sorted out.”
“Don’t bother,” I said, walking away from the club.
“What the hell, Janey?” called out Sebastian. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry about it. Go inside, your shift started five minutes ago,” I called out. I headed over to a cab that was dropping off a group of people going to the club. I climbed in and gave him Tilly’s address. I needed to pick my car up and try and figure out what the fuck I was going to do now.
Chapter Twelve
Present
Will
“So, he doesn’t know that you know?” asked Zac, motioning to the bartender for another round of drinks.
“Nope. I just went to work, acted normal and that’s it,” I said.
“Why the hell would your family go to such lengths to keep him a secret from you?” asked Noah.
“Control. Power,” I shrugged. “They are the only things my mother abides by.”
“And your grandfather is still pissing her off, even from the grave,” smirked Zac.
I raised my beer glass in the air. “He always knew how to push her buttons. She would have been spitting fire when I started to work there with him.”
“She still snacking on newborns?” asked Noah.
“Only at night while she’s stealing kids’ dreams,” I muttered.
“So, I’m still looking into them both for you but as far as I can see, they’re both pretty clean. Standard records, never been in trouble. Upstanding citizens and all that shit,” said Zac.
I nodded and said, “I knew that would be the case. I just wanted to see.”
“I’ll give you all their stuff anyway out of interest,” said Zac.
“Did you tell Janey?” asked Noah.
I shook my head. It hadn’t felt right at the time; I was still pissed that she was too busy with her tongue down a moron’s throat to help me out that night. I knew she was no longer mine, but it still fucking hurt.
“You see her today?” asked Zac.
“Yes, he did indeed,” said Noah into his beer. I shoved him, making him spill his beer.
“Yeah I did,” I said.
“She was asking earlier whether you had been with Tilly,” said Zac with a smirk. “I had to tell her that I was the one that tapped that.”
“More than once too, if I remember,” I added.
“The blonde one from Disclosure?” asked Noah. “I remember her.”
“She’s too far up my half-brother’s ass these days. Waiting around for him to see the light and choose her.”
“As if mommy dearest will ever allow that,” chuckled Zac.
“Ain’t that the sad truth,” I said. “So, I got Janey’s tyres fixed. All four of them slashed.”
“I checked the CCTV: one person, dressed in black and face covered. Took all of one minute. Left on foot.”
“So, you think it’s suss?” asked Noah.
“No-one else had slashed tyres in the street. It was planned and done quickly. I don’t think it was just an act of vandalism,” said Zac.
“You think someone is targeting her?” I asked angrily. “Who?!”
“Don’t know yet, but my instincts say yes,” said Zac.
“That’s fucked up,” frowned Noah. “We need to keep more of an eye on her from now on.”
“Let’s go to
Disclosure after this; I want to see her,” I stated.
“We wouldn’t dream of keeping you away,” said Zac, smirking into his beer.
Janey
I paid the cab driver and got out, looking over to my car with its four brand new tyres and let out a deep sigh. I had to wonder if Will’s mother had anything to do with the tyres. Not herself personally of course, but one of her many minions could have slashed them to teach me a lesson. No-one would believe me of course and I’d be back in rehab or forced to take my medication again. I felt the big black lump of despair rest heavily on my shoulders. I was so screwed. I needed to go somewhere, far from here and reset my life.
I unlocked the car and got in, slamming the door closed in frustration. I wondered if Harry was still up to see if I could stay there tonight. If I went home, Will would appear at some stage after their boys’ night and I couldn’t be anywhere near him. My phone beeped and lit up in the darkened car. Ava.
Ava - Shame you’re working tonight. Hot chocolate here with your name on it. Girls night in…
I closed my eyes and then reopened them and read it again. Like a beacon of light, which was always my Ava, she was offering up hope. I needed to see her, needed to soak up some of her goodness.
Janey - No longer working. Long story. On my way
I dumped my phone on the passenger seat and then started the engine. I turned up the music and took a deep breath. I knew I needed to tell the girls some of my problems. Maybe sharing some of them would help and give me some desperately needed insight on what to do. I drove away thinking about where I would even begin. I knew Ava would want me to tell Will immediately because she believed in fairytales. She wanted us together, with or without a psychotic mother.
My phone beeped again.
I glanced down quickly to see Will’s name. With my eyes back on the road, I grabbed the phone and put it in my lap. I knew I couldn’t drive and read the message so I waited until I came to an intersection with a red light.
I pressed the brake and nothing happened.
Panic made my heart stop as I pressed down harder.
Nothing.
I pumped the brake pedal and started to scream as the intersection loomed towards me. A red light, cars driving through on the other side all processed slowly in my brain. I tried to pull the handbrake up and then swerved as the intersection was in front of me.
I heard a bang.
Felt my body jolt out of its skin. Felt the car spin. Around and around.
Then another louder bang.
Breaking glass shattered around me.
A horn blared continuously, making my head hurt with its one long siren. I was still alive at least, if I could hear the horn.
The car had stopped. My heart had stopped.
I heard voices; someone shouting.
I opened my eyes and suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head. I started to cry but it hurt so I tried to stop. Sobs racked up in my chest but they hurt too.
I felt the phone in my lap vibrate against my lap; it was still there. I tried to grab it, seeing the blood running down my arms and fingers. I was a mess. I focused on the screen. Will. I swiped at it, answering the call and leaving a blood stain across the screen. I couldn’t hear him. I couldn’t lift the phone to my ear. So I cried out his name instead. I didn’t know if he could hear me as the tears took over.
Then there was blackness.
Will
“What do you mean she no longer works here?” I asked angrily. “What did you do, Jake?”
“Hey, I didn’t do anything. Our mother has a problem with her; it was her directive. I tried to override her. It didn’t work out.”
“It never fucking does with you,” I returned angrily, heading to the door that would lead me back inside the club.
“Hey, you might be the son that shoves his finger up to her rules but I have a job and responsibilities. I can’t do what you do, Will.”
“Bullshit,” I said, stopping at the door. “And I do have a job and responsibilities and I fucking work harder than all of you put together.”
“It’s not about who works harder, it’s who works smarter,” returned Jake. “When she retires, I’ll own half the city. You won’t.”
“I don’t want the fucking city. I’d be happy with nothing as long as I’m not a fucking controlled child who can’t fucking make his own decisions.”
“Whatever, Will. Go and get laid or something.”
I opened the door and music blasted in to the room.
“I’ll go and find your fiancée and fuck her a couple of different ways, after I tell her about your mistress.”
Jake laughed and shook his head. “You do whatever you think is necessary. She couldn’t give a fuck.”
“Awesome life you have here, Jake,” I said with a smirk. “Well done.” I slammed the door behind me and moved my way through the club. I hated this place, my family, and all they stood for. I needed to go and find Janey and then I was going to pay my mother a visit for the first in a very long time. She could try and control all the pawns in her game, but she needed to leave Janey the Hell alone. I waved to Zac and Noah that we needed to leave and they left the bar and headed towards me. I texted Janey. I needed to find her immediately.
As I left the club, I rang her phone and waited. She took a while to answer the call but when she finally did, she didn’t say hello. I heard a car horn.
“Janey?” I asked, looking to Zac and Noah as they walked out behind me, laughing about something together.
“Janey?” I asked again, this time louder. Then I heard her voice. It was a mix between a scream and a cry as she said my name.
My heart stopped.
I started shouting.
Zac and Noah stopped laughing.
Something was very wrong.
“Find her phone signal,” I ordered to Zac. “Quick! Janey?” I asked again. The horn kept blaring. I could hear other voices now. Someone was shouting.
“She’s in Johnston Street,” said Zac, running down the street and putting his arm out for a cab.
“Janey?” I shouted in the phone. I had no idea whether she could hear me or not. “I’m coming okay? I’m on my way.”
I kept hearing the horn as I stayed on the phone, hearing muffled voices. Different scenarios went through my mind during the ten minutes it took to get to her. I imagined all the situations that I had saved her from previously and hoped that it wasn’t any of them.
But nothing prepared me for what I saw when we arrived. The sight of the flashing lights, people standing around the car that was once Janey’s took my breath away.
“No,” strangled out Zac as his eyes took it all in.
I was out of the cab before it came to a stop. The motion made me tumble out onto the road. I didn’t care. I got up and ran - ran for my life. The car was wrapped around a pole. Another car sat in the middle of the intersection, its front all smashed.
“Janey!” I screamed.
“Get back!” shouted a police officer.
“I need to see her. Janey!” I screamed.
“She’s in the ambulance and it just left,” said another.
“What happened? Was she hurt? Will she be okay?”
“She’s in the right place for now. We’re not at liberty to discuss her injuries. How do you know her?”
“I’m her brother,” said Zac beside me. “What happened?”
“Witnesses describe her coming through the intersection at full speed. The lack of tyre skid marks on the road, prove that theory for the time being. Her car smashed into the car you see in the middle of the road and then went into the pole.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t she have braked?” asked Noah.
“Few reasons, distraction may be one of them. Her phone was on her lap when she was pulled out of the wreckage.”
“She called me, after it happened. She called me,” I said rubbing the back of my neck, feeling the emotional pressure build up within me.
“Any histo
ry of drugs and alcohol? It could be a factor.”
“Yes, but she’s clean now,” said Zac.
“Any suicidal tendencies?” he asked.
“Jesus,” I groaned out loud, stepping away before I hit him. She was fine. “She wouldn’t do that!”
“Well, the vehicle could also be at fault. Time will tell. We need to get the wreckage moved and restore traffic. I’ll find out what hospital she went to for you.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” I said again.
Zac started to furiously text someone on his phone. “Let’s just get to the hospital and see her.”
Everything went blurry after that. I watched Zac talk more to the police. I watched them record things in their notepad. I watched him shake his hand and then come back over to us. “Let’s go,” he said.
I had no idea how we got to the hospital. I kept thinking of my Janey and how scared she had sounded on the phone. I wouldn’t survive if Janey didn’t get through this. Zac took control like he always did and I followed him blindly to the Emergency Waiting Area with Noah. We were told to wait so Noah slumped in a chair as Zac started to text someone again. I couldn’t sit or stand still, so I paced. I had no idea how long I’d paced up and down the waiting area. Ava and Ivy had arrived at some stage but I didn’t speak to anyone. I couldn’t form words.
I just knew I couldn’t lose her.
Janey
I ached all over. I took my time, moving all parts of my body. I could move everything. I was okay.
“She’s awake,” said a strange voice. I opened my eyes to see a nurse standing over my bed.
“You’re in the hospital. Do you remember what happened tonight?”
“Yes,” I murmured through my dry lips. “I want to go home.”
“You were in a car accident. Do you know who you are?”
“Janey,” I said.
“Good girl. You passed out after the accident. You bumped your head pretty hard. You have a concussion, a few scratches here and there and some stitches in your head. All vital signs are showing you are okay otherwise.”
