After a few minutes of letting her take out her frustrations on the bag, all three of us finally walked up to her. I didn’t want her to hurt her knuckles too badly with the rough bag; they weren’t taped up enough to be beating on it relentlessly.
“Aub, are you for real okay?” Brandon finally asked when we made it to her, and she hadn’t stopped her assault on the bag.
She finally took a pause while breathing hard. “I’m fine, that guy just pissed me off. Well, actually I pissed me off. I let him knock me down. I wasn’t ready, and he took advantage of that. I certainly won’t be making that mistake again.”
I let out a laugh—a real, genuine laugh. “So, you’re telling me that you aren’t pissed off at the boy that got a cheap shot in. You’re actually mad at yourself for not being ready for the cheap shot?” I tried to reason while trying to hold in my laughter at the situation.
She was mad at herself for something that someone else did; it was ridiculous.
“Actually, I was telling Brandon that, not you,” she said harshly and crossed her arms. “I’m glad I amuse you so. At least I do something for someone.”
I sobered up in my laughs and let my anger at her words take the forefront of my brain. “Well frankly, I don’t give a shit what pisses you off, but if that’s how you hit when you’re pissed off, then you need to start getting pissed off before every single fight,” I said with a shrug, letting myself simmer down a little bit. “That’s something that these bozos can help you with while I’m gone; they’re good at pissing people off.”
“You apparently are too,” she muttered under her breath.
I rolled my eyes at her statement and walked away, heading to the showers. I was ready to go get some food and be away from her for a while. She really knew how to push my buttons.
***
“You ready? I’m starving,” I asked Tommy and B, who were both standing near the office and talking. “We need to get going. My mom will kill me if I make us miss our flight to my grandparents. She’s been on edge about it, since this is the first time we’ve gone since Dad.” I looked down, not exactly wanting to talk about that subject right now.
Tom looked at me sheepishly while Brandon gave me a guilty grin.
“Well . . . actually, we invited Aubry and Marissa to come eat with us,” Tom said hesitantly.
“You did what?” I asked, bewildered that he invited Aubry along.
“You know how much I like Marissa,” Tom defended.
“Okay cool . . . What about Aubry?” I asked with force. “Brandon, please don’t tell me that you like her? I mean, I knew that you hit on her and all, but you hit on everyone. I didn’t think that you were serious about actually liking the girl.”
“No,” Brandon defended instantly. “It’s not like that at all.”
“We just think she’s cool. I mean, look at what she did to Owen, for goodness sake! Plus, she was the one who suggested that I invite Marissa to go out with us. That means that she basically got me my first date with the girl that I’ve been pining after for months. Personally, I think that she’s pretty damn rad. Besides, she’s the only girl that I’ve ever seen to call you out on your BS. That’s why you like her,” Tom said nonchalantly with a shrug.
“Tommy, what are you even talking about?” I asked incredulously at my cousin, who had apparently lost his mind.
“You like her,” Tom said with a shrug. “That’s why you act the way that you do with her,” he said casually.
“Um . . . Thomas, I think you need to go get your own head evaluated,” I said with a wide-eyed look.
“And I think that you are in deep denial.”
“She’s not even my type! Aubry isn’t the type of girl that I would ever go for. Sorry, but no. This is stupid.”
“A girl like what? Just like you? Because that’s what she is. She’s just like you except cuter! She has the same bad attitude that you have, she trusts absolutely no one except maybe you in a few instances. She is an exceptionally good learner, she is an extremely talented fighter with that same natural ability that you have, and she is so incredibly angry at the universe. Just. Like. You.”
I scoffed at his claims.
“Plus, I see the way that you look at her, especially when something hurts her.” His voice went soft and he shrugged. “Look, you can live your life in denial all you want. I know the truth. You like her and that scares you.”
“Look, I’ll admit that I have some extremely strong urge to protect her, but that doesn’t mean that I like her.” I rolled my eyes as Tom scoffed over my words. “It’s only human to want to protect her. You’ve seen her! You saw what was done to her. I just . . . I just want to protect her from that ever happening to her again. It’s not because I like her. I do not like her. Not as a friend, not as a girlfriend, not ever.”
“You know, Aid, sometimes it’s okay to care about someone. She needs someone to care about her. I understand that you don’t have the greatest past, and a lot of people have let you down and screwed you over, but not everyone is going to be like your dad or Ronnie.”
I gave him a warning look; he really didn’t need to broach those subjects.
“I’m just saying . . . If you could just see the way that she looks at you too, sometimes . . . I don’t know, maybe y’all just need each other. Maybe she needs you, and not only to protect her.”
“Are you done now? This is a pointless conversation.”
Before Tommy could reply, Aubry came walking out in a deep purple long sleeve shirt and black workout leggings. The shirt was long enough to be a very short dress, and the color really brought out her bright eye color. It was by far the most flattering thing that I had seen her wear. Then again, I hadn’t seen her in much other than sweats and tank tops.
“Ready?” she asked hesitantly.
I crossed my arms and judged myself harshly because of my thoughts about her.
No, I wasn’t ready. I didn’t even want to go to my favorite diner anymore.
She sighed. “Aiden, if you don’t want me to go, then I don’t have to. I’m sorry, I just heard free food and jumped on board. I didn’t mean to piss you off earlier, I just . . . don’t like to be taken off guard.”
My eyes softened at her and I sighed. “It’s fine. I overreacted.”
Marissa came up as I spoke, and Tommy smiled widely at her. “Now that that’s taken care of. Let’s go.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his smirk.
Chapter Twelve
Instincts
We were sitting at a small diner on the corner of the same street where the gym was. It was one of my favorite places to eat for having such amazing food.
We were all crammed into a small booth. Tommy sat in-between Aubry and Marissa, while Brandon and I were on the other side. The diner was pretty busy that night with people coming in and out constantly.
When we ordered, Aubry selected a lot of food like I did, and I wasn’t sure how she was going to finish it all. Regardless, Aubry tended to surprise me quite a bit.
As we waited for our food, we all made comfortable chatter talking about Thanksgiving and our plans. Aubry and I stayed pretty quiet throughout most of the conversations, with both of us only speaking unless spoken to directly. I was quiet mostly because I wasn’t looking forward to my holiday plans, and Aubry was often quiet, at least more so than other kids our age.
We all had barely gotten our food when the diner door opened loudly, and Aubry had only eaten a few bites. She was the only one at our table who looked up at the ruckus. Once she had, she instantly looked back down and let her hair fall over her face.
I looked at her weirdly over her reaction, wondering what she had seen to make her act like that. I had my back to the door, so I didn’t have a view of what she saw.
Before I could ask her what was wrong, a man was standing at the end of our table.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the liar in the flesh!” he slurred, making all of us look up at him confused,
except Aubry.
Aubry, however, was the only one he was looking at. “Guess who I saw a few nights ago, little girl!” He paused, and she still hadn’t paid any attention to him yet. “Sunny and Frank.”
I heard her take a sharp breath in, but otherwise didn’t respond. “And guess what? They told me all about your confrontation with Demetri.” He paused and waited for a reaction, but she didn’t give him one, so he goaded her even more. “You had a pretty good gig going on there. I can’t believe you fucked that up.”
She still hadn’t even spared a glance at him yet, and I suppose that made him very angry. He grabbed her chin forcefully and made her look at him. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, little bitch.”
“Hey!” I exclaimed, standing up and gripping his arm harshly.
He glanced at me and then let out a short laugh. I glared at him and grasped his arm even tighter. “These fools are who you replaced them with? Your new protectors?” He looked at all of us and shook his head disapprovingly. “You really are stupid, aren’t you? A waste of space.”
He ripped his arm away from me and then smirked at Aubry with a sadistic smile. Before I could beat his brains out, Brandon stopped me, knowing my plans. He knew that I would get in trouble and be charged with assault if I followed through with my ploys. I didn’t want to care about that though; the way that the forty-something-year-old man was looking at Aubry was making me see red.
“You sure do have a good-looking face though, just like your mother’s.” He tried to touch her face again, but she leaned away looking at him with an angry glare.
“Don’t touch me,” she spoke with no fear in her voice but with fire in her eyes.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” he stated, reaching out and stroking her arm.
I almost had Brandon’s grasp off of me, but he was being particularly stubborn, so it was taking a lot of work because I didn’t want to outright hurt my best friend. I didn’t give a damn if I was going to get arrested, the pervert needed to be taught a lesson.
“Sunny said—” he started, but she cut him off quickly by standing up and grabbing his arm. She twisted it behind his back cruelly, and then there was an unmistakable crack. She let him and his broken arm go, and he fell to the floor.
He was screaming and crying as she lowered her face next to his. She said something only audible to him. She then stood back up, sat down, and began eating again as if nothing ever happened, despite the fact that there was a grown man crying right at her feet.
I stared at her with an impressed look on my face. Impressed wasn’t even the correct word for the awe that I was feeling towards her. The girl straight up broke a man’s arm and barely batted an eyelash at it—all of which done purely on instinct. I certainly hadn’t taught her that move; I was awestruck.
The man that had bothered us swiftly got up off the floor and ran out of the small diner while cradling his arm. All of us were staring at Aubry with dumbfounded expressions.
We were shocked at her actions. I mean . . . Damn, the girl was a true badass.
We were all trying to shake off our reaction before we could start eating again, but before we could even ask any questions, the waitress came up to us timidly.
“U-um . . . I’m so sorry ma’am, but I-I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” She truly did sound sorry for it, at least.
Aubry groaned and looked down mournfully at her food. “Can I at least have a to-go box?”
The waitress looked back at the guy behind the counter, and he gave a firm head shake, “no.”
“No . . . I’m so sorry, you need to leave now.”
“Okay . . . Well, um . . . I’ll see y’all later, I guess. I’m sorry,” Aubry said quietly as she began walking out, apologizing to people on her way out the door.
I honestly didn’t understand the reason she was being kicked out. She did absolutely nothing wrong and was defending herself.
“Um, can I have a to-go box please?” I asked quickly before the waitress could leave.
The waitress came back quickly with two boxes. “Tell your friend that what she did was awesome and that my manager is a douche,” she said, walking away quickly.
I nodded and tossed our things into separate containers and then threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table. I stood up. “I’ll see y’all Thursday night, right?” I asked Brandon and Tommy.
They both nodded wordlessly and gave me knowing smirks.
“Shut up, don’t read into this too much.” I knew that they already were though. “Whatever, don’t forget to work on her anger. Obviously, that is the key to her instincts.”
I then ran out the door of the diner to catch up to Aubry.
***
Aubry
I was excited, too excited. Just the aroma of the place was making me salivate. It had been too long since I had a proper meal, and food in general was so hard to come by in my situation. So, who was I to turn down free food?
Everyone was talking about their plans. Everyone was going to be with family and fill up on food during Thanksgiving, just as they should. I had even finally pried it out of Aiden that he was going to see his grandparents a state away to spend a day or so with his family to celebrate. Although he seemed kind of glum about the whole situation, I sure as hell didn’t make the mistake of asking him why though.
I was just as glum. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite and ask for answers that I wasn’t willing to divulge either. Still, everyone was asking me about my own plans. It was very sad; I just came up with open-ended answers and left it with a smile. A fake smile could hide a whole lot.
The truth is, my family had never celebrated holidays. Birthdays were never really a thing for us either. There was never really anything for us to celebrate, so we just didn’t.
Even when my mom was alive, we didn’t do anything like that. Of course, it didn’t help that for as long as I could remember, both of my addict parents would get extremely high or drunk most nights. My dad would always pass out or get angry and become abusive, while my mother would go out and be with whoever man she wanted to be with during that night for a quick fix. Marriage didn’t mean anything to that woman, especially when the men she was with would give her the drugs that she needed.
The moment my parents discovered meth was the moment that they quit being parents. They quit giving a crap about anything except when their next high would be. I was three years old when they left my eight-year-old sister in charge of me, and she was just a little girl having to raise me.
No wonder she wouldn’t even speak to me after she left for UCLA. She had to grow up being a mom to a kid that she didn’t even want. She was supposed to be the sister, not my mom.
I was sad, really sad. Thinking of Kelsey and the family that I never had always made me sad. It always got worse right around the holidays too. Not to mention that I didn’t even have a home for Thanksgiving that year. It was just a sad situation.
The food came and it was like heaven. It had been too long. Unfortunately, I had only taken a few bites when disaster struck. The loud door made me look up, and when I did, I saw the junkie from the town square that I had a run-in with a week or so before. His eyes met mine before I got a chance to look down. I saw the recognition in his eyes even before I lowered my head and tried to hide myself as much as possible.
Too many questions raced through my mind as he walked up to our table. I held my breath as he stopped. I felt all eyes on me, but I didn’t dare look up.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the liar in the flesh.”
I stayed silent, not wanting to give into his little games.
“Guess who I saw a few nights ago, little girl!”
Panic ran through me, but I still tried to be silent.
“Sunny and Frank . . .” he continued to goad me, but I wasn’t having it. I really didn’t want to cause a scene in front of everyone, though he was giving me no choice in the matter.
Suddenly, he got tired of my dismissals and grabbed my fac
e rather forcefully, making me look up at his ugly face.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, little bitch.”
Aiden was simply trying to help, but I really didn’t want him involved. Not because I thought that the man could overpower him or anything, but because I didn’t think he belonged in that type of situation. I didn’t want him to have to deal with the creepy junkie, simply because it was a part of my life. I, however, had been dealing with it for my whole life.
He continued to talk messily, trying to get a reaction out of me. He tried to talk about Aiden and his friends, about me, about my looks, and about my mother. None of it elicited a reaction until he touched me again.
I was so sick of people thinking that they had the right to touch me.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned while leaning back away from him. I could feel the anger surge through me.
I never understood what everyone’s fascination was with my mother, but I was not her. I was so sick of that. I knew my mother’s reputation, but I refused to follow in her footsteps.
I decided right then and there that no man was ever going to touch me against my will without paying for it. I didn’t need Demetri to protect me any longer. I wasn’t Aubry “the little girl” anymore. I was Aubry—just Aubry—and I was sick of being treated anything less than.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” he said, rolling his eyes and touching my arm. The next words out of his mouth was it. That touch and those words snapped all the resolve that I had left.
“Sunny said . . .”
For one, I didn’t want to hear anything about what Sunny, the man who ruined my life, had to say ever again. And two, he needed to learn a lesson on keeping his hands to himself.
I stood up, not saying a single word, and ripped his arm off of me, taking him by surprise. In an even more surprising move, I twisted it behind his back just like my dad had done to me when I was twelve. Then, there was a loud crack, and the arm was broken. Thankfully, it wasn’t my arm that time.
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