‘Kelli! You’re here!’ Kelli spun around at the high-pitched squeal to see Sara and Libby racing towards her, two guys she didn’t know trailing behind them. The girls enveloped her in a dual bear hug.
‘I almost didn’t believe it when Simon texted me today.’ Sara pulled away to give her a quick once-over. ‘It’s been too long, girl,’ she said, running her hand down her arm and squeezing tight onto Kelli’s hand.
‘I know,’ Kelli acknowledged, letting herself get pulled along by the group to one of the tables lining the dance floor.
‘Do you girls need a drink?’ one of the guys asked. With longish dark blond hair, and smooth hazel eyes, she could see why Sara was making moon-eyes at him. But he seemed like a wanderer to Kelli, and he was nowhere near as enamoured with Sara as she was with him.
‘Yes please, Braddy-boo. French Martini’s all round, right girls?’
Kelli couldn’t help but giggle at the name. Braddy-boo! Was Sara serious?
‘Isn’t he just dee-vine?’ Sara squealed after Brad and the other guys moved towards the bar.
‘Who? Braddy-boo?’ Kelli teased, finally able to focus on something other than Jimmy’s death.
‘Yes! Oh my gosh, he’s so dreamy, Kelli. You have no idea. He has the best body. And he knows just what to do with those hands of his,’ she waggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively.
‘Ooh! Too much info, girl! Too much info!’ Kelli shrieked, covering her face with her hands.
‘And he has the most fabulous little sports car,’ Sara continued as though she’d never been interrupted. ‘He’s a doctor, you know,’ she added, nodding her head sagely.
‘Hey, I’m a doctor, you know,’ Kelli shot back at her, trying not to make too much fun of her friend. But it was hard. Very hard.
‘Yeah, but…’ Sara paused, giving Kelli another once-over. ‘You just don’t do it for me, Kel.’
The drinks arrived as Libby and Kelli burst into hoots of laughter. Managing to control herself enough to sip on her delicious pink drink, Kelli had to admit, no matter how much of an airhead Sara was sometimes, she was always good value.
Why-oh-why hadn’t she thought of this sooner? There she’d been, sad all these weeks, when really, she should have been drinking. It’s what Jimmy would have done. He loved his nights out, his big boozy weekends. This was how she’d much rather remember him. Not all cut up at the bottom of the-
No! She refused to let herself think about it.
‘How about a photo, guys?’ Simon asked, settling into a seat across the table, beer in hand.
‘Brilliant idea!’ Libby exclaimed. ‘This way we can have proof we saw you before you disappear on us again,’ she ran an arm around Kelli’s back, squeezing tight. Sara pushed against her from the other side, and the three of them chinked their drinks for the camera.
‘Looking good ladies,’ Simon said, fiddling with his phone.
‘Show us,’ Libby demanded, but Simon held up a hand to bat away her grasping ones.
‘One moment.’
‘Wait…what are you…you’d better not—’
‘Too late. It’s up on Facebook now,’ Simon poked his tongue out at Libby, before flipping the camera round for them to see.
‘OMG! Look at my double chin. Don’t you dare tag me,’ Sara ordered.
‘Fine, I won’t. But we need to re-do it then.’
‘Of course,’ Sara agreed and started stretching her lips and posing till she got it right. Unfortunately Kelli was stuck posing with the girls for what felt like an endless amount of time, until Simon finally managed to take a photo Sara approved of.
Taking advantage of the breather, Kelli drained her glass then turned to Libby. ‘Dance time?’
‘Yep,’ Libby grabbed Kelli’s hand and led her onto the dance floor.
The music thrummed through the dim, rose-lit club on Cavill Avenue. It was almost eleven, and the club was filling up—there were platinum blondes, fake tans, and bulging biceps everywhere she looked. No wonder she’d never been much of a clubber when she lived on the Gold Coast. It wasn’t really her scene, but anything was better than the four walls of her apartment a moment longer.
Matching Libby move for move, Kelli lost herself in the thrumming beat of the music. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed dancing beneath the mirrored ball on the parquet floor; time seemed to pass differently here, but at some point she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her waist.
‘Hey, stranger,’ the person spoke into her ear. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Kelli twisted round, still swaying to the music, so she could check the person out.
‘Ana! What are you doing here?’ she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her new friend.
‘I was just—,’ the other woman started to answer, but Kelli didn’t let her finish as the penny dropped.
‘He sent you, didn’t he?’
‘Who?’ Ana asked, but Kelli could tell the innocence was an act.
‘Tell him to leave me the fuck alone!’
Kelli stormed off the dance floor and straight to the bar, ordering another shot and a beer to chase it with.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Ana claimed, following her to the bar and ordering her own drink. Kelli glanced at her in derision, taking in the strapless sequined top stretched so tight over her generous bust the bartender could barely keep his eyes on the drink he was pouring.
‘Don’t lie to me, Ana. I may be drunk, but I’m not stupid!’
‘Okay, fine,’ the woman finally admitted as she grabbed her drink and moved away from the bar. ‘He’s worried about you. You looked pretty wasted in that photo on Facebook, and he wants me to make sure you’re all right.’
‘I’m fine, so you can run on back to whatever little hole you crawled out of and give him the good news.’ Kelli spat the words at her and brushed past, heading towards her friends’ table.
‘I’m not going anywhere, Kel. And for the record, I’m on your side. He shouldn’t have taken you out there today. He just…he always thinks he knows best. And it’s like his mission in life is to solve everyone else’s problems. Hell, it’s why he let Ashlee take Sean to Sydney.’
Ana’s words had a ring of truth that resonated deep inside Kelli, melting the ice she’d frozen around her heart. Damn and blast! Kelli already knew he was like that. She’d figured it out a while ago. But it didn’t make what he did right! She took a long gulp of her beer, and tried to freeze the melting ice back up.
‘He’s still a dick!’
‘I never said he wasn’t,’ Ana answered as they reached the table. ‘I’m just…’ but her words trailed off, her glass crashing down on to the table. ‘Brad,’ Ana whispered so softly, Kelli wasn’t sure she heard right. But there was no denying who she was staring at.
Sara’s new love toy was staring back at Travis’ sister, his gaze dark and unreadable. ‘Ana? What are you doing here?’
‘What does it look like?’ she shrugged, holding her glass of wine up for him to see. ‘I’m drinking.’
‘As usual,’ he muttered, a scowl settling across his face.
‘Like you can talk,’ she shot back, with just as much fire. She looked ready to keep going but Sara waltzed up, throwing herself across Brad.
‘Braddy-boo,’ Sara declared, ‘you have to dance with me. This is our song.’ Sara pressed herself against Brad. Kelli felt her stomach turn at the sight of her sickly-sweet friend, and took a quick swig of her beer before casting her eyes on Ana. The girl had turned slightly green, although maybe that was just Kelli’s vision starting to blur.
As Brad and Sara disappeared into the thronging mass on the dance floor, Kelli reached for her glass again. ‘Well, that was awkward,’ she murmured under her breath.
‘Who’s your friend?’ Simon sidled up next to Kelli as she drained the last remnants of her beer. Ugh. Her stomach really was starting to swirl.
‘Uh…’ Kelli tried to focus on the question, but everything was getting a bit hazy. W
ho asked that question, Simon number one or Simon number two? No. No. There was only one Simon. She focused on Simon number one, squinting until the other one disappeared. ‘Whaaat?’
‘Hi, I’m Ana, a friend of Kelli’s,’ the other woman said, leaning across Kelli and offering her hand to Simon.
‘Pfft, friend. More like Dickwad’s sister,’ Kelli declared, swaying slightly in the seat.
‘Nice one, Kelli,’ Ana smiled at her, though it looked rather fake. But everything was starting to blur again, so she couldn’t be sure.
In the background she could faintly hear Simon asking Ana if she knew who Dickwad was. ‘She’s been talking about him all night, but I can’t get an actual name out of her.’
‘Travis. His name’s fucking Travis,’ Kelli shouted across at them, grabbing hold of the table as everything started to spin. Slowly, slowly the world righted itself again.
‘Maybe you should go home?’ Ana touched her arm lightly.
‘Nah…I’ll be fine,’ Kelli assured her. ‘I just need another drink.’
‘Oh, no, no, no, my friend,’ Simon declared, grabbing her hand, keeping her pinned to the chair. ‘You’ve had enough to drink.’
‘I might give Travis a call. He’ll come pick us up, and-’
‘No! Don’t call him. I’d call the Dickwad if I wanted to. Actually…’ Kelli settled back in the chair and grabbed her phone from her tiny clutch purse. ‘I will call him. I can tell him what a Dickwad he is.’
‘Is that really a good idea?’ Simon flicked a worried look between Kelli and Ana.
‘It’s fine. After today, he deserves it,’ Ana said as Kelli squinted at the phone, searching for his number.
Ooh, her head hurt something chronic when she did that. Lucky his number was just…there.
‘What’s going on?’ Brad’s words as he and Sara returned from the dance floor only just registered in Kelli’s mind. She was too focused on hitting the little green telephone button to pay much attention to any of the guys at the table.
‘She’s calling Travis,’ Ana answered.
‘Otherwise known as Dickwad,’ Simon chipped in, but Kelli tried to block them out as the phone began to ring. She moved it up next to her ear.
‘Is she…No way! She’s the one he’s been…’ Brad gasped, staring at her, his mouth gaping open.
‘Shh!’ Kelli screech-whispered at him, holding a finger up to her lips to indicate he should be quiet. But their faces, blurring in and out and merging together were too much of a distraction. She needed to focus; she needed to make this good. She was going to put Travis in his place, so he knew he couldn’t mess with her again. She swivelled on the stool, so she wouldn’t see any of her friends, and stuck a finger in one ear so she could block out the noise of the club.
And there, she heard it, the beeps clicking over as he answered the call.
‘Kelli?’
Travis’ deep voice, so full of concern, resonated down the line, dissolving the remaining ice around her heart in an instant. And, just like that, everything clicked into place.
‘Kelli?’ Travis repeated the question when he didn’t get an answer the first time. He was sitting alone on Pierce’s balcony, overlooking the star-studded ocean. His step-brother had gone out to a party for the night, but Travis and Ana both had spare keys and an open invitation to crash if they were ever on the Coast.
‘I love your dick.’
Travis’ hand loosened and he almost dropped the phone. He tightened his grip instantly, pressing the device hard against his ear. There was a lot of background laughter—it sounded like she was still at the nightclub—and he wasn’t sure he’d heard right.
‘What did you say?’
‘I… said…’ She started spacing the words out, as though she was talking to a child. ‘I…love…your…one moment,’ and then all he heard was a loud clatter as though she’d dropped the phone, followed by the sound of retching. A very heavy, liquid retching.
Fuck! How drunk was she?
Travis slipped inside the apartment, quickly locating his keys and wallet and heading to the door, all the while keeping the phone pressed tight to his ear.
‘Hey, Trav, you there?’ Ana’s clear voice called down the line.
‘What just happened?’ Travis asked as he slammed the door closed behind him.
‘What do you think? She threw up.’
‘I thought you were going to look after her,’ he accused as he raced down the fire stairs to the car park at the bottom of the building.
‘Don’t go blaming me. You’re the reason she’s drinking tonight.’
‘Yeah, I know,’ he sighed, closing his eyes, leaning his head against the final door as he pushed it open.
‘She was pretty far gone by the time I got here. Are you going to come pick her up?’
‘I’m jumping in the car now. Give me five, ten minutes tops. Where are you?’
‘Same place you dropped me,’ she said. ‘We’ll wait out the front. I think the bouncers are coming to kick her out now.’
‘Great,’ Travis sighed again as they disconnected. He put the pedal to the metal and made quick work of the Gold Coast streets.
What had he done? Why had he insisted on taking her out there today? On making her face her issues head on? Hadn’t he learnt yet he couldn’t solve other people’s problems? Hell, he could barely solve his own.
There were a group of them standing around when he pulled up. He could see Kelli, sitting on the edge of a park bench, hunched over her knees, her golden curls drab as they hung in front of her, reaching for the dirty pavement at her feet. Ana had squatted down on the ground next to Kelli, rubbing her hand in circles over Kelli’s back, whilst two men circled around them. One was a big blond guy Travis had never seen before, presumably one of Kelli’s friends. The other was… wait, was that Brad Lewis? What was he doing here?
Travis found a spot to park the car across the road. He switched off the engine and jumped out of it before darting across the street.
‘Hey, Travis,’ Brad greeted him first.
‘Hey, Brad,’ Travis returned the greeting, though he only had eyes for Kelli. At the sound of his voice, her head tilted up, green glassy eyes searching for him through the sea of dank curls.
‘Traa…’ she tried to say, reaching for him but only succeeding in tilting herself off her perch. He dove towards her, catching her just before she fell.
‘I’ve got you. I’ve got you,’ he murmured against her ear. He slipped one arm beneath her knees, the other went to her back, and he lifted her into his arms, cuddling her close like the precious bundle she was.
‘Home…’ She murmured, nuzzling against his neck as she closed her eyes. ‘I’m home,’ it sounded like, but that couldn’t be right.
‘I’m taking you home,’ he assured her, pleased there was only a faint scent of vomit clinging to her hair. It could have been worse.
Travis tore his gaze from Kelli’s peaceful face to look at Ana. ‘Are you coming?’
His sister’s glance flickered to the blond guy before returning to him. ‘Nah, I think I might stay. The night’s looking… interesting.’
He only just managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes, smiling ruefully at his sis. ‘Be careful.’
‘Always, Trav,’ she leaned up to brush a kiss against his cheek.
‘Thanks for tonight,’ he said, tilting his head towards Kelli, who was curled up tight in his arms.
He nodded goodbye to Brad, who was looking decidedly surly, and then crossed back towards the car. He gently placed a lightly snoring Kelli in the front seat, securing her seatbelt before moving to the driver’s side. It took less than ten minutes to get to her place, and once they were there, he managed to rouse her enough to find her keys.
She insisted on walking up the stairs, wobbling from side to side until she finally leant against him for support.
‘Ugh… I feel like crap,’ she groaned as he pushed open the door. ‘I feel…I feel…Oh, no,’ she
uttered in a rush and raced to the bathroom. He followed her in, grabbing her hair, and holding it back just as her stomach emptied its contents into the toilet.
‘Fuck me,’ she slumped against the bowl, resting her head on the seat once she was done.
‘No, no, no, you don’t want to sleep there.’ He grabbed her beneath the arms and tugged her onto her bed.
‘This is your fault, you know,’ she pouted at him, as she slipped her shoes off her feet and kicked them across the room.
‘I know,’ he said as he helped her wiggle into bed.
‘I’m still mad at you.’ The words slipped out, barely audible, as she started to drift back off to sleep.
‘I know,’ he whispered, leaning down to brush his lips against her forehead. He watched her for another moment, maybe two, before finally dragging himself off the bed. He didn’t want to leave her, but he knew, come morning, he wouldn’t be welcome.
‘Travis,’ he turned around at the sound of his name. Kelli’s eyes were open, trained on him in the dark. ‘Stay,’ she whispered softly, patting the bed next to her.
He didn’t need to be asked twice.
Chapter 10
Bzzz-bzzz. Bzzz-bzzzz.
Ugh. Her head…ugh...that buzzing.
Keeping her eyes firmly shut against the brightness streaming through the window, Kelli rolled over, trying somehow to bury her pounding head. She needed to block out the light and the noise, but there was something in the way. Something heavy and warm.
She almost opened her eyes, but in the next instant the sharp buzzing stopped, and the pillow gave way, and then she was in the blissful, quiet dark again.
Her head was throbbing and her mouth was…but even finishing the thought required too much effort and she drifted off to sleep again.
Bzzz-bzzz. Bzzz-bzzz.
A Heart Worth Mending Page 16
