by J. N. Pack
Cass snorts and Moose grins, “Absolutely not! You should probably trust us the least, but since Jessi is here and would cut my shit off if I did anything stupid, you can definitely trust me. Plus it takes a real looser to fuck with someone’s drink.” Harley giggles taking a drink. He hands me one and I sip it and it’s good, but I’m more or a straight shooter! He asks, “What's wrong? I might have been heavy on the alcohol, I can make another.”
Harley laughs and says, “Not likely! Low tends to go more for the straight shots.”
A bottle is sat down in front of me with a couple shot glass and I glance back to see where it came from. Axel grins and says, “Great minds think alike.” He pours a round of shots for everyone and then an extra for the two of us. “Here’s to drinking with your biggest competition!” He says raising his shot glass and winks at me. Everyone raises their shot and yells, “Cheers!”
He watches me as I take my shot, I’m sure to see if I pull a face and when I don’t he smirks. I throw back the second shot and sip on my mixed drink while walking around people watching. That’s what I do, I don’t interact anymore unless someone interacts with me. I try to avoid that at all cost. After an hour I walk outside to get some fresh air. The smell of weed and the noise is killing my head. I’m out by the road smoking my last cigarette when I notice Laylin speaking to a man in a brand new Suburban. The guy was older and he handed her a wad of cash.I try to turn my attention to something else not trying to be in anyone else's business. Laylin starts walking towards the party and the Suburban pulls along the road beside me. The window rolls down and I can smell stale cigar smoke as a man with a deep scratchy voice says, “You’re a pretty little thing!”
I ignore him and keep my attention on anything, but this creep.
“I can put a pretty little thing like you to work at my club and you could make killer money.” he says.
“I’m underage.” I say trying to avoid this dude.
“That’s no matter. A pretty thing like you would make me a lot of money.” he says.
“She’s not interested!” Someone growls behind me. I turn to see Axel glaring at the man.
“She has a tongue son, she can answer for herself.” The man says.
I turn and walk away to avoid saying anything else to the man at all. I hear the man and Axel toss a few words back and forth before I hear tires squeal. I’m almost at the house when Axel says, “Hey, you ok?”
I nod.
“You really don’t like strangers do you?” he asks.
I look up at the sky and then back at the house. I’m really starting to shake. It’s been a long time since I was alone with anyone who I didn’t trust a hundred percent. I shake my head.
He starts to take a step towards me saying, “You’re shaking.” but I take a step back. He holds his hands up and says, “You’re ok. I want come any closer if you don’t want me to.”
Then Harley appears from inside the house. I instantly feel relief floods through my body until her drunk ass starts talking. “She want let you get close. She doesn’t let anyone, but me and Hanna get close. Ain’t that right Low?”
“Harley, you’re fucked up.” I whisper.
“No he needs to understand. Let me tell him. I don’t think…” Harley continues.
Tears filled my eyes as I cut her off, “Harley Rose ...No.”
Axel steps forward and says, “Harley, I think there might be a better time for this.” He looks at me to see if I’m good, but honestly I’m anything but. Harley’s not done. She does this shit when she gets drunk.
“Low Drake….” Harley says rolling her eyes.
Axel’s head snaps up and he looks at me and asked, “Your middle name is Drake?”
I nod looking anywhere, but at him.
Harley starts again. “Low was brutally assaulted a couple years back. She was lucky she made it…”
Tears spring to my eyes and I’m looking for the best escape route. Axel is watching me while also making sure Harley didn’t fall on her ass.
“They did everything, but rape her.” Harley continued.
Before she could finish the sentence I was out of there. I was sprinting across the lawn and I could hear Axel shouting behind me. When I get to my car it takes everything in my not to smash something. I get the door unlock and slam the door. I breathe for a second before starting the engine and squealing tires as I leave. How could she? I didn’t talk about that shit. I tried to forget it. I tried to move forward, but every time the little bitch gets a little alcohol in her system she wants to talk about it to anyone who will listen. My life was taken from me that night. I had broken bones that included my pelvis and thirteen ribs. I was beaten with a bat and fists and left to bleed out. I just wanted to forget what happened to me.
Chapter 14
Axel
Fuck! What the hell was Harley thinking? Never mind obviously she is fucked up. Now her sister is out there God knows where not in the right headspace. Moose and Jessi come outside looking for me and I hand Harley off to them. “Make sure she gets home. I gotta go find Harlow.”
“What the fuck? She better not puke in my car!” Moose growls while Jessi says, “Find Cass and let’s get her home, she’s beyond drunk.”
As I climb in my car, I can’t help, but run through everything that has been brought to my attention in the past few. This girl has truly been through hell. Her middle name. Is it a coincidence that she has the middle name she does? Could she be Drake’s daughter? All the things that happened to her. No wonder she doesn’t talk to people. She has no reason to trust them. She takes on that piece of shit for her sisters and this is what she gets in return. I don’t think I’m even in the right place for this shit, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to see anything else happen to her.
I check by the house and she’s not there. I make a few laps through town trying to spot her car. She’s not there. The last place I can think of should have been the most obvious place to look. When I pull up where the drivers met tonight I see her sitting on the hood of her car with a half empty bottle of tequila. O she was most definitely drunk.
I pull up and stop, climbing from the car. I walk over and she mumbled something incoherent. When I get closer she nearly falls off the hood trying to slide away. “I’m not going to hurt you.” I whisper. “Let me prove it to you.” She visibly tenses, but she stops moving.
I slide on the hood beside her. “Tequila huh?”
She nods. “I ...ummm…. I”
“Can I ask you about what happened?”
She looks a little panicked. After a second she nods.
“What happened?” I ask.
She takes a long swig from the bottle and her body visibly relaxes from liquid courage. “I...I didn’t want to sleep with him. When I fought him off and wouldn’t let him fuck me, he got angry. He and his friends beat me up. Then they….. They ummm…. They broke my pelvis with a bath and broke my ribs. I….I.” realizing she was on the verge of panicking. I take a risk and push a couple loose strands of her hair behind her ear. She looks to me not much calmer than before.
“I don’t see you any different than I did that first day in the driveway.” I say smiling at her. She visibly relaxes a little more. “I see you as the same kickass chic I met that day.”
She smirks. “If you say so.”
I smile and say, “You gonna let me get some of that?” She hands the bottle over. “Tell me about you.”
“Like what?” she asks.
“Where you moved from? Who was your mom? I don't know anything.” I say.
“We moved from Dayton. You knew we moved from Ohio.” she smirks. “My mom…. My mom’s name was Rosy Paxton. Harley was named after her. Hanna was too. I was the only one that didn’t have the name Rose. For some reason mom fell in love with the name Drake and refused to name me Rose. Mom was good, but she had some bad habits. My uncle tried to help her. Dad, he was too busy to notice she was falling down a dark hole. She died with a needle in her arm.�
�� She takes a deep breath and says, “I was seven. Me and Harley were racing home from school. I beat her. I got this gut feeling that something was wrong the minute I came up on the porch. When I got inside, I called to Mom, but she didn’t answer. I went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water and she was leaned against the counter with her head hung and a needle in her arm. When I realized it was too late I got the phone and went to the porch. I called Uncle Jack and he came as fast as he could. HE told me not to let Harley in the house. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.” She turns the bottle up and swallows about three mouth fulls before passing it to me. “When Harley got there I told her Dad locked us out. I tried to hold a straight face, but mom was just inside the house. When I started to cry Harley told me we would be okay, that it was sunny and it didn’t look like it was going to storm or anything. She really had no fuckin’ idea. When the ambulance and police department showed up she started asking uncle Jack a hundred questions and he told her. Her whole world crumbled.”
“Where was your Dad? I ask.
“Him and Mom had separated for a while. Mom caught him backhanding me. I was seven and he loosened my top teeth. After Mom died, Uncle Jack tried to take us from Dad. Dad was drunk all the time and he was just as much of an asshole as he is now. Uncle Jack died a couple years ago and left me the Nova and some money. Harley and Hanna will get theirs the day they graduate.” she continues her eyes glistening with tears.
“What about you?” I ask.
“What about me?” she asks.
“Why didn’t he set the same stipulation with you as he did with them?” I ask.
She smirks and says, “He knew even back then there wasn’t a chance in hell of me going to college. I had made it my job to take care of Harley and Hanna. Plus the minute he put me behind the wheel of that car, he ruined any chance he had of putting me in college. My mom used to street race. She was pretty good too. Uncle Jack made her stop when she got back on drugs.”
“Ahhh so it’s in your blood then?” I ask.
She smirks bringing a full smile to her face. “The part that counts anyways.”
I can’t help, but smile.
“Who, who was that man earlier tonight?” she asks.
I look at her and say, “That would be Marcus Kincade. He’s not a good guy at all. You definitely don’t want to take that job he offered you.”
“I take it he owns a strip club?” she asks.
“That and a hundred other businesses, but that is the one he wanted you to work at.” I say.
“How do you know him if he is such a bad guy?” she asks.
“Hmmm… He’s my Dad.” I say.
Her eyes get wide and she says, “Really?”
I say “Yep.” popping the p. “I’m not a good guy Harlow. I’m not like those guys who did that to you or even like my father, but I’m not a good guy either.”
She smirks, “That makes two of us.”
Trying to make her smile, I say, “guys or bad?”
She smirks, “I’m definitely a girl, but I’m not good. I’ve done some pretty low things to survive.”
I smile and say, “Well you ready to get out of here?”
She winces and says, “Probably not a good idea for either of us to drive.”
I smirk and say, “Jessi will come grab us and bring us to get cars in the morning.” I pick up my phone calling Moose. “Can you send Jessi to where we raced tonight?”
“Why? You didn’t wreck did you?” Moose asks his voice full of concern.
“Hell no! Tequila! We need a ride.” I say.
“We?” Moose says.
I quickly say, “Just send Jessi” and hang up.
She is laughing at me, but she looks relaxed. She’s not tensing when I am close to her. I think I may have gained her trust tonight.
Chapter 15
We climbed out of the car at my house and Jessi says, “You guys good from here? I need to go babysit Moose.” We both nod and she drives away.
“Do you want me to go up with you to check on Harley?” Axel askes.
I look at the door and I look at him. I’m not angry with my sister, I just didn’t like the fact that she was telling people what happened to me. “I’m good. She’s probably honestly passed out on the couch.”
“Ok. If you need me you’ve got my number.” he says.
He waits until I shut the door behind me and wave through the front glass before he hops the fence and heads to his house. I locked all the doors and go to the living room where I find Harley drooling on a cheap pillow I got from a dollar store. After checking on her I head up to my room where I strip out of everything but my t-shirt and panties. I throw myself across the bed and almost instantly fall asleep. I felt like a million pounds of shit had been lifted off my shoulders.
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The next morning I wake up with major cotton mouth. Happens every time tequila is involved. Last night sucked, but talking to Axel wasn’t bad. I actually enjoyed getting some of the shit off my chest. I check the time on my phone and decide I need to go check on Harley who is not asleep on the couch anymore. I look around and catch the aroma of bacon. When I walk in the kitchen Harley is standing over the stove with her headphones on. I send Jessi a text.
Harlow: Hey when Hanna gets ready to come home we are up. Tell her Harley is cooking breakfast.
Jessi: Ok!
A second later there’s a ruckus on the porch and when I get to the door Moose and Cass had beat Hanna home and was trying to wrestle over who gets in first. I can’t help but laugh at them.
Cass asks, “Can we have some breakfast? Jessi want feed us because we got drunker when we got home last night?”
I laugh and say, “I dunno.”
Moose whines, “Pleeeeeease? We will owe you forever.”
“Hmmm, I think we can feed you if you do us a little bitty tiny little favor.” I say.
They both look nervous and say, “What kind of favor?”
I smile and say, “Cut our grass for us! We don’t have a lawn mower.”
They glance at each other and smile cuts their face as they shove inside. I hear Harley squeal when they make it to the kitchen.
Hanna finally makes it to the door giggling. “They don’t know Harley’s not that great of a cook do they?”
I shrug, “Probably not.”
We walk into the kitchen and shortly after Harley finishes me and Hanna are eating a bowl of cereal and the boys keep glancing at us funny. Finally Harley sets a plate in front of each of them with a hopeful look. She nods putting a piece of burnt toast on each of their plates. Moose and Cass look at each other and take a bit of Bacon. Neither move. Harley quickly asks, “How is it?”
They both look a little queasy and nod, “Mmmm good.” When she turns back to the stove they spit it out. They look at me and Hanna and then back at each other. Cass takes a bite of the eggs and they instantly get spat back out. Hanna slides the trash can their way quickly smiling. They are looking at our cereal like it was a steak and they were almost drooling. We slide our bowls to them smiling and quietly rake their plates in the trash covering it with trash that had been laying on the counter. Harley was not a cook at all. She tried and nobody had the heart to tell her that it was just bad. Like really really bad. Hanna jogs upstairs and changes her clothes. I walk outside sitting on the porch. Hanna comes out and starts bouncing a basketball and soon Misty and Ace join her. A few minutes later Jessi walks over and sits beside me on the porch. I tense unintentionally. I try and calm myself, but it’s not that easy. Then Moose and Cass comes out. I smirk at them.
“That was dirty!” Moose says.
“Does she really not know how bad that is?” Cass asks.
“Nope and you’re not going to tell her.” I say laughing.
Moose says, “I didn’t know you could mess up bacon, but it was like eating a rubber tire. Then those eggs. I think I can still taste it.”
Cass says,
“You’re a good sister. I would have busted Axel’s bubble a long time ago.”
Jessi says, “Where is Axel this morning anyways?”
Cass smirks and says, “He’s still asleep! I think the tequila did him in.”
Everyone giggles.
Moose says, “A deal is a deal. Let’s go get the mowers and get it over with before the heat becomes deadly.”
They both go in separate directions and come back with two push mowers.
Harley comes out and sits beside me and Jessi.
She glances over at me worried and then goes back to watching Moose and Cass.
About twenty minutes later, Axel hops the fence and comes over to where we are sitting. He looks tired, but he looks good. Fresh like he had taken a shower. He smirks and says, “How did this happen?” pointing at Moose and Cass.
Jessi smirks and says, “They wanted breakfast awful bad.”
Axel scooches me over with his hips and sits down next to me leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. To be honest I thought my anxiety level would go through the roof, but it doesn’t. Aa a matter of fact I get butterflies throughout my gut.
Harley looks at me concerned. I just shrug my shoulders. Harley looks at Axel and asks, “Do you want some breakfast too? I think we’ve got some eggs and bacon left.”
I look at Axel and shake my head no and he looks at me and then her and says, “I’m good. Mom made muffins before she left this morning. I’m actually surprised Cass and Moose didn’t take them out. She had them in the microwave.”
The lawn mowers had cut a few minutes before and they overheard Axel and start racing towards Cass and Axel’s house. The four of us on the front porch start laughing at them. They had finished the grass and I must say it really made the house look better. I may have to see if I can find a mower and take turns with the girls cutting it. A second later Cass comes running out of the house with a bowl of muffins racing across the yard with Moose following behind him. It was definitely a site. A second later Jessi takes the bowl from Cass’s hands and says, “Now boys! That’s enough!” She hands each of them a muffin and puts the bowl in her lap. They are like big kids. The way Harley looks at Cass I’d dare say she was getting herself a crush on him. I was becoming more and more familiar with them. More and more comfortable with them. I felt safe with them.
