When I wake its mid-afternoon and everything seems quiet downstairs. I look out my window and thank god mum’s car is gone, she drives drunk all the time, which I hate but the last time I tried to talk to her about it I ended up having a bottle thrown at my head and busted lip, so I don’t bring it up anymore. I walk into my on-suit bathroom and look at myself, my eyes have bags even a weightlifter couldn’t carry, my left eye is turning a horrible shade of purple and is thankfully not swollen, she still got me good this time. Jumping in the shower I wash myself to get the smell of Reid from my skin, not wanting to anger my mum again if I see her later. I get out and wrap myself in a towel, finding some comfy pjs I pick up my phone to check my messages, to my surprise there is one from an unknown number
Unknown: Did you get home okay?
Me: Who is this?
Unknown: You deleted my number then?
Me: Reid? Is that you?
Unknown: Yes, it’s me. Did you get home okay?
Me: Erm, yes thanks I did. You didn’t delete my number then?
Reid: Why did It take so long for you to reply to my first message?
Okay, so he’s ignoring my questions.
Me: I was sleeping
Reid: Are you okay?
What is with his sudden concern?
Me: I’m fine, are you okay?
Reid: I’m good, see you around becks
Okay, so that was weird, why is he checking up on me? After two years of no contact, now he messages? He’s the one who threw us away for whatever reason. Feeling more confused than ever I decide to call Sherri, she picks up on the fourth ring “Hey girl, how did it go with your mum last night” she asks, oh yeh, I forgot about that “Erm, well I maybe told you a little lie in the moment” deciding to come clean “It wasn’t my mum who messaged me. it was Reid’s mum” I scrunch my face up prepared for the screech I know is coming “WHAT!? Tell me everything!” I’m kind of glad I did lie to her last night, otherwise I would have had to do all this explaining when she was wasted “Well…. Hayley message me asking if I could come see her. I used to go over all the time before I moved in with dad, well we kept in contact while I was in Suffolk” I say “Ok, so you went to see her for a bit then went home?” she asks, by the sound of her voice she knows that wasn’t where it ended. “Erm, not exactly. We had a brew and chatted for a while, then I found out I left my headlights on on my car. The battery was dead” I explain “Okay…. Anything else?” she quizzes “Well Hayley didn’t want me walking home that late at night. I did protest as I was only a few doors down, but then she played the lonely card. So, I ended up staying the night” rushing through the last part, I was met with silence on the other end of the line “Shez? You still there?” I ask “Yeh I’m here, I’m just taking this all in” she says “So you stayed on the sofa? Was Reid there?” she asks, “Well no, she said Reid wouldn’t be back that night, so she offered his room…..” I admit “Go on, this is very entertaining” she laughs “Thanks friend. Well Reid came back during the night and was met with me in his bed, in his t-shirt” I say, knowing how crazy this sounds “YOU WHAT! Let me get this straight, you went to sleep in his room, he comes home and finds you in his bed in nothing but a t-shirt? Have I got that all correct so far?” she asks “Yes, but that’s not all. I went to leave, but he told me to stay. So, we slept in the same bed” I admit “Ha! This is like a reality tv show, what else happens?” she asks eagerly “Well when we woke up, he was actually polite. Offered the shower first so I went, but I was a twat and left my clothes in the bedroom. I came back out thinking he had left and he was laying on the bed…. With me standing there in a towel” I say, “What did you do!?” she asks “Well I panicked! I grabbed my clothes and ran back into the bathroom. Luckily when I came back out dressed, he was gone” I explain “Well, you had a way more entertaining night than I did. Damn Brady” she curses “Why, what did he do?” I ask her “What didn’t that giant douche do! After manhandling me away from Gavin he proceeded to stuff me in his car, force me to drink two bottles of water then drove me home and made sure I went straight in. Where does he come off!” she huffs. Trying so hard not to laugh I say “Well I did ask him to make sure you got home okay, so I guess he was keeping his word” she huffs some more “Well I’m not a child and Gavin was more than happy to take me home!” she screeches “Okay, okay. You at home? I can come over if you are free?” I ask not wanting to be in this house for a while, “My mums got people over right now, but we can go to the café for dinner while we wait for the house to clear out?” she says, “That sounds like heaven about now, see you in 45?” I ask “Be there with sauce on babe” she says as she hangs up, its official, my best friend is a weirdo.
Chapter Three
Pulling up at the cosy little café my car clunks as I park it. One day this baby is going to die, then I don’t know what I’ll do. My car is my freedom, it’s my ticket out of this little town once I save enough money from teaching my classes. The café is pretty busy for a Sunday evening, but that’s probably down to it being the only one around here open this late on a Sunday. Mersea island is a quiet little place, only one way in and one way out, there is a bridge to be able to get off the island, but when the tide is up, you’re stuck here until it recedes. I see Sherri’s green fiesta parked a couple of spaces down, what sits next to it makes me stop in my tracks, a black golf, Reid’s black golf…..great.
To add to my misery, Sherri is sitting at Reid’s table. She’s talking to Gavin which by the looks of it, is making Brady who sits next to him, very upset. What am I saying, he’s not upset, he’s livid. Walking over to the table Sherri notices me and gets up to give me a warm hug “Hey girl, what’s poppin”.
Like I said, weird friend.
“Er, hey everyone” I say with a little wave “Hey babe, got a seat here next to me” Brady says with a big smile, sitting down I now realise Reid is right opposite me. “Hey Becca. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to speak to you properly last night, I was trying to get this one’s attention” Gavin says pointing to Sherri who is giggling, Brady goes stiff as a board next to me, I fear anarchy if Gavin keeps this up.
He’s never been interested in Sherri before and he knows Brady likes her. Suddenly I clock onto his plan, he’s making Brady choose, make a move or let her go.
He’s a smart one that boy.
As I look over to him, he nods and winks, almost realising I am in on his secret plan. Reid still hasn’t spoken to me, or even acknowledge me, which after our confusing truce this morning, it hurts more than I thought.
The waitress comes over to take our orders, I get a burger and vanilla milkshake, Reid gets the same. I don’t hear what everyone else gets as I look up at Reid and find him looking back, he’s staring at my eye, which I covered in makeup earlier. I’m really hoping he can’t see through my cover up. Brady touches my arm which breaks my focus and I turn to him “Hey babe, your car sounded shite out there, if you want I can come to yours this week and have a look if you like?” he offers “NO!” I shout startling everyone at the table “Sorry. I mean mum doesn’t like people at the house” I say sheepishly “Ok babe it’s okay, you can bring it to me? I’m free tomorrow?” he asks, thankfully brushing over my outburst “Yes. Thank you, that would be amazing” I say with relief. He smiles and turns to talk to Gavin about band practice, him, Gavin and Reid are in a band with Brady’s little brother Spencer. Brady plays the drums, Gavin is on bass, Spencer is lead vocals and Reid is lead guitarist, I used to sit in on practice all the time when we were younger.
Looking up I see Reid is staring at me with a questioning look. He’s wondering why I snapped, I look away before he sees any answers on my face, luckily that’s when the waitress brings our food over. It looks so good, after not eating anything since Reid made me breakfast thing morning, I bite into my burger with relish.
After we’ve all eaten Brady convinces us all to go back to his garage, I only agree because I’ve missed my friends. Reid isn’t going to keep me away
from them anymore, if he doesn’t like it, then he can get over it. Brady jumps in the driver’s seat of my car to listen to the clanking noise, while much to his dismay, Gavin jumps in Sherri’s, Reid prefers to drive himself. On the way to Brady’s, he says the noise isn’t good “It sounds like a wheel bearing, not expensive to fix, but it’s annoying. I can get it done in an hour or two for ya” he explains “Thanks Brady” I say smiling, I left so much behind when I moved, until now I didn’t quite realise how much.
Sitting in the garage a little later on, I’m actually enjoying myself. Sherri and Brady are playing forza, Shez is whooping his ass “Ha! Beat you sucker!” she hoots, he doesn’t seem to mind as he walks to the sofa with a concealed smile, he’s got it bad. Me and Gavin have been watching music videos on Brady’s laptop and updating his playlist. Reid is brooding in the corner, beer in hand, staring at me and Gav.
What’s his problem?
Later on, we all decide to start a game of beer pong, not our finest decision for a Sunday night, but dance classes don’t start until Thursday, so I may as well enjoy myself. Me and Brady are on one team, Gav and Sheri on the other. Reid went off on the phone about 10 minutes ago and hasn’t returned yet. Tossing my first ping pong ball it bounces off their closest cup and misses “Damn it” I curse, Sherri lines up her shot, and sinks it into our cup “Whoop! first try Gav, did you see?!” she says as she jumps around doing a victory dance. Brady picks up the plastic cup, downing the contents. “My go” Brady says with a smile, throwing his ball he lands it right in the cup in front of Sherri. He smiles wide as he stares at her, she picks up her cup, looking at him over the rim as she drinks. He gulps loudly as she drinks the entire thing and catches a loose drip with her thumb before putting it in her mouth, she’s playing him I notice. Smiling I watch as Gavin is smiling at them both before lining up his own shot, landing it in our cup he puts an L to his forehead before mouthing “loser” at me and Brady. I pick up the cup to drink the rum when Reid walks back in the room, stormy expression on his face. Watching him as I finish my drink, he just lounges on the sofa, watching how our game plays out.
We lose, by 2 cups to Sherri and Gav. I’m feeling the rum now have had 4 straight shots. Swaying slightly, I make my way over to the armchair on shaky legs, falling clumsily into it. I look up to see Reid looking at me again, he gets up fluidly and walks over. Crouching on his haunches he looks into my eyes as I try to focus on him. I clam up when he focuses on my black eye, hoping I haven’t wiped any make up off during the game “What are you doing Becks?” he asks “I’m just trying to get to the point where I don’t see two of you” I say slurring my words “Let’s get you to bed shall we?” he says while standing up. Helping me to my feet, he gives me extra support when I almost fall “I’m taking Becks home guys. She’s done for the night” he tells the others, they mutter goodbyes as they also start feeling the aftereffects of the game. Leading me out to his car, I wonder to myself why I’m letting him look after me. I promised myself when I came back that I wouldn’t get involved with this guy again, I made an oath to myself that I would ignore him and keep my distance, it broke me last time. But the alcohol is making me not care right now, so I let him put me in his car and strap me in.
Let’s hope I don’t regret this.
The drive is quiet as we go through the country roads on the way back the estate, Bullet For My Valentine’s Waking the Demon plays through his speakers “What happened to your eye?” he asks breaking the peaceful silence “My eye? Oh, erm I fell getting out of bed after my nap earlier” I lie. I’ve practiced so many lies over the years when anyone asked, that this one fell fluidly from my lips like all the others “I’m calling bullshit on that. You’ve always been clumsy, but that looks like someone smacked you in the face” he says making me gasp “As you said, I’m clumsy. I tripped over my rug as I got out of bed and smacked my face on the floor” I splutter. I do hope he drops this, he’s always quizzed me in the past about the marks, but normally I play it off. Being a dancer, I could say I took a fall trying a new move. Mum was normally always very careful where she hit me, somewhere clothes could cover it, but when she was really drunk, my face was her happy place. Huffing, Reid carries on driving, not asking me anymore about my last statement. “Where are we going” I say as he drives past my house. Pulling into his driveway, I realise I’m going to have to walk from here “Well, thanks for bringing me back, I’ll get Sherri to pick me up so I can go get my car tomorrow” I say as I get out of the car “You’re not going home Becks, not in your condition. You can stay here again tonight” he states, I stand there, shocked that he’s allowing me into his house again “Why? You wanted me out of yours and your mum’s life remember?” I say, the alcohol making me brave “Just get inside Becks. You can’t be left alone tonight, you might fall over your rug again” he says, anger in his eyes. Not knowing what to do, I force out a breath and make my way up his path. Who cares anymore, I’m too tired and too drunk to care where I lay my head right now.
Reid follows me up, unlocking the door. Hayley, Reid’s mum is already in bed when he see the downstairs is empty. Making his way to the kitchen, Reid pulls out a glass from the cupboard and fills it with water before putting it on the table, ordering me to drink it. Parched beyond belief I gulp down the whole glass. Grabbing my hand, he leads me upstairs to his bedroom “I can just sleep on the sofa Reid, I don’t need to stay in your bed again” I say as he opens his bedroom door “You’ll be staying here, where I can keep an eye on your drunk ass” he says walking over to the chest of draws. Pulling out a t-shirt and a fresh pair of boxers, he shoves them into my hands and nudges me towards the on suit. Taking the hint, I lock the door and get myself washed and changed, careful not to wipe off the make up around my bruised eye. I steal his brush and paste again, apparently rum makes me not care about using my ex-boyfriends’ toothbrush…. Or his boxers.
Going back into the bedroom I halt in my tracks when I see Reid. He’s only in a pair of black boxers and facing his chest of draws so he hasn’t noticed me yet. Taking him in he’s gotten a lot bigger since I last saw him like this. His back is broad with ropes of rippling muscle, tattoos claim his arms and back with a few new ones I notice, tribal bands weave their way through the Viking emblems on his upper arms. I let my eyes drift lower as I notice his tight buttocks in his Calvin’s, making my mouth water as I stare at him. He grew up good. My sex actually starts aching just looking at him, damn, it’s been way too long since someone took care of her.
Suddenly he turns around, I stand there like a deer caught in headlights with his t-shirt in my hand. God I hope he didn’t catch me staring at his ass. Floundering I walk over to the bed and get under the covers leaving my back facing him, squeezing my thighs together trying to compose myself. I hear some movement in the room before I feel the bed dipping when he gets in. For a while we lay there in silence, until I feel a hand running down the length of my spine making my eyes flutter shut, his hand moves down and across my hip to my thigh. Stifling a moan, I roll over onto my back, making his hand move to my abdomen, looking up to the heavens, he slowly starts stroking where my underwear meets my skin, I’m shaking with anticipation of him going lower. No one but him has ever seen me like this, we fooled around when we were younger but it never got to the crescendo, he wanted to wait until I was 18, which I almost was when he left me. Remembering this I look over at him “What are you doing Reid? You don’t want me remember?” I say even though my body is screaming at me to shut up and see what happens “Just let me make you feel good Becks” he says as his hand draws circles around my lower belly “I love seeing you in my t-shirt. When I saw you yesterday it was like Christmas come early” he says confusing the hell out of me, he was the one who threw us away? He said I bored him, then he felt up Stacy Brown right in front of me.
I push his hand away and look over at him “You threw us away Reid. You threw me away and put your hands on another woman right in front of me!” I say, beginning to raise my voic
e. He takes a deep breath and rolls back over to lay on his back “I never wanted to hurt you. I thought by doing that, it would be easier for you to move on” he says, as if his words don’t gut me “Help me? HELP ME? How did you groping another girl help me in any way? You BROKE me, I ran away to my dads for 2 years because of what you did. I left my friends, my dancing, everything because of you” I shout as I get out of bed “Calm down Becks. I know, I was wrong, completely wrong, but never wanted to hurt you. You’ve got to believe that” he says. I sit there trying to listen to what he’s saying, but my hurt doesn’t let me. why didn’t he tell me back then, or any time over the last two years, why now? “Look, this was a bad idea. I’ll just get my stuff and go home” I say as I pull back the covers and get out of his bed “No don’t. its fine” he says “I’ll go sleep on the sofa. just, stay. Please” he says as he leaves the room. I can’t believe I almost went there with him again, it’s like my body just betrays my heart when it comes to Reid Doyle.
Break my heart (Estate Series 1) Page 3