TANGLED

by Simone Elise

  “You cut me up and left me to bleed!” That was putting what he did to me nicely. I kept staring at him. If he had a reason, one reason, for doing what he did to me now was the time to tell me. I shook my head when he remained silent. “I loved you, you know that? When you told me that night in that ocean that I was your forever, I fucking believed you!”

  Maybe this was the reason I hadn’t got over Kyle. We hadn’t had a confrontation. I had never told him how much he hurt me. Sure, he confronted me. But I never confronted him on what he did.

  He took a step closer to me, looking panicked. “I love you, you hear me, Sophia? I fucking love and I didn’t…”He groaned. “I don’t have a choice! But I am still yours forever, you just...” he trailed off and sighed, his eyes locked with mine. “You just need to have faith in me.”

  Faith in him? He couldn’t be fucking serious right now! But then I frowned. He said he didn’t have a choice? “Is there another reason you ended things with us?” .

  I watched his face tighten.

  “Kyle? Was Kayla the reason or not?” I couldn’t stop myself from stepping towards him as my hopes went up. Maybe he wasn’t as madly in love with my ex-best friend as he led on. “Now is the time to tell me. If you really want me to have faith in you, give me a reason to.”

  Just give me a reason Kyle. Just one reason. I hoped. I saw the expression on his face; something was boiling in his eyes, and just as I saw it, he hid it.

  “No,” he said and shattered my hopes.

  It was bitter. It was sour. It twisted my stomach. And finally I nodded my head. I needed to get out of there.

  I didn’t need to say a word. I just backed away from him. I was done. I was done with him. Done hoping his actions would make sense. I turned my back to him; it was about time I walked away from him.

  “Soph?”

  I paused.

  “I’m sorry.” His voice broke, and if I just took in the sound of his voice I would think it was breaking his heart watching me walk away from him. If I didn’t take in his actions, if I just wiped what he had done and ignored the fact that he had a new girlfriend, I would think his world was shattering.

  I didn’t turn back. I didn’t turn around and tell him we could be friends. I didn’t want to smooth the pain out of voice. Sure it hurt me to hear it in his voice, and it hurt me knowing he was hurt right now. But instead I just started to walk away from him, officially marking the night I was letting him go.

  I hadn’t driven to the beach. Adam had driven us. And cause I was at Kyle’s it was one easy pick up. Seeing as Kayla, Kyle and I were all at the same spot. Pity I didn’t give much thought into how I would be getting home- considering I knew Adam wouldn’t be remaining sober, and would most likely go home with someone.

  I kept walking up the foot path. Walking away from Kyle, it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t even know there was something weighing me down, but there had been and now it was gone.

  I think it was hope—hope that Kyle and I would get back together. Now I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Ever. I had been holding onto our relationship. I had been living, mourning a loss, but at the same time I wasn’t letting my relationship with Kyle die completely

  I sighed and kept heading towards the house. I was still at least a good half an hour away.

  A thought ran through my mind again. The same thought that kept coming back to me as I walked in the dead of the night.

  How was Josh?

  I hadn’t spoken to him since the weekend, since our moment. I chewed my bottom lip and paused, unlocking my phone.

  I knew I shouldn’t, but at the same time he was my friend. So I could ring him and ask him how he was, couldn’t I?

  Chapter Twenty Three

  JOSH

  Becoming the Vice President brought on a lot of responsibilities. I knew that when I took on the role. But when I did take it on, I thought I’d be doing that role from prison, at least for the next few years. Then I got released.

  Wolf left me in charge of shit. At first I was in over my head, going in fucking blind. Wolf was expecting me to be able to make decisions like him, even though I didn’t have nearly as much experience as him. But when I mentioned that to him, he said I had something a lot of other blokes didn’t yet, life experience and a cold heart.

  He then gave me a lecture about how only a man who had a hardened heart could do this job. He said it took him nearly half his life for his heart to get to the point where he could be president. He said I was inspiration and was going to be a success story.

  I shrugged it off. But to be honest, that just put more pressure on me. Sure, I didn’t give a fuck what people thought, never let anyone stop me from doing what I want. I took that a cold fist to every problem that came my way.

  I lit up a cigarette, my eyes on the source of my current headache. I glanced at Bax. He was here because he was meant to be handing this shit— a petty who said what.

  Honestly, they were grown men, but here I was being forced to play a parent role.

  “Already start spitting shit and tell me why I’m here.” I took my eyes off Bax and on to the Grave Robber. “Maybe you could explain where you were last week?” The fact he was meant to be in town as of last week hadn’t slipped my notice. “You should have come to us the day you rolled into our town.”

  The Grave Robber had a reputation, and not a good one. I didn’t trust him. The only reason we had to deal with him was because Damon, his cousin, had traded positions with him. Damon was our supplier for the ingredients we needed to cook crystal meth.

  They gave us the supplies for our cook houses. I trusted Damon, but the Grave Robber… I didn’t. He got his name for going back on deals, doing whatever it took to make his cousin more money. He didn’t have standards or loyalty. He lived up to his nick name cause he would steal from the dead.

  Ryan was his real name, and he would do anything to make sure that his cousin came out on top. He didn’t give a fuck if that meant things got dirty. He would burn bridges if it meant more money in their operation.

  But right now Bax and Ryan had a disagreement that had to be sorted. Bax had been one of the bridges Ryan burned when he was last in town.

  I looked between the two.

  “I said spit it out!” I yelled at them, pulling rank. “Why the fuck am I here!” I was being short with them—shorter than I should be. I was in more of a foul mood than normal since Soph left. It really bugged me she hadn’t been home since.

  I was on the verge of telling her everything about me, about the club, everything, but she disappeared that night.

  “He screwed a chick I was screwing,” Bax finally snapped, telling me the purpose of their disagreement. “And he knew I was with her. He is a fucking low life.”

  Ryan scoffed.

  “Can you even remember this girl’s name, Bax?” I looked at Bax, seeing if this girl had been special to him or not. My phone started buzzing in my pocket and I pulled it out.

  “What does that matter?” Bax called for my attention to go back to the situation but my eyes were on the Soph’s name, which was flashing across my screen. She was calling me.

  “For fuck sake, Vice! You aren’t listening!”

  With regret I looked back at Bax, not answering the call. The sooner I wrapped this up, the sooner I could call Soph back.

  “Well it’s been years, right? Surely you two can move on.” I attempted to approach this subject with common sense. Now I just wanted to hurry this up so I could call Soph back.

  Bax was back at to glaring at Ryan. I wanted to groan. He was going to be childish. Fucking Bax wasting my bloody time.

  “Fine then! Bax, pull your fucking head in. Club comes first.” I wanted this over. It was childish. “Women come and go. Shit, Bax, why are you even worried about some old fling.”

  Last time I checked he was one lucky bastard that had my Soph talking to him. I couldn’t bring myself to saying she was having sex with him cause it did
n’t bring out the best side of me. The sooner I was honest with Soph, the sooner I could get her away from bloody Bax.

  Even if she didn’t want to be with me, I could at least get her away from men like Bax. It was a bitter taste in my mouth thinking about it, but I would prefer Soph back with Kyle than with Bax.

  Ryan opened his mouth and I knew my hope of wrapping this up wasn’t going to happen. But we were saved from his rant by his ringing phone. Saved me from hearing Ryan throwing insults back at Bax.

  But him answering the phone put off me trying to end this petty fight to begin with. I didn’t know Ryan very well, but the fact he was taking a call in a business conversation clearly wasn’t normal by the way Bax looked at him.

  “Well if it isn’t my number one girl.” Ryan’s voice was friendly and I sure as fuck never heard him speak like that to a girl. Then again I didn’t know him very well. Wasn’t even in the club last time he was in town.

  Ryan laughed, whatever the girl said had caused the grave robber to laugh. Who knew that was possible? “Where are you?” he asked, and his voice dipped in concern.

  Bax glanced at me, arching an eyebrow.

  “Clearly he is over whatever chick you are bitching about,” I muttered to Bax and lit up a cigarette. Bloody hell, I was becoming a chain smoker. I was a heavy smoker in prison cause it was the only fucking thing to do.

  Ryan said he would see whoever it was soon, and when he hung up I went back to trying to get this resolved.

  “Still lying to women, Ryan?” Bax scoffed, clearly not thinking Ryan had been serious when he said he would see that woman soon.

  “Nope, we done now aren’t we?” Ryan went to get up.

  “What, you just backing down?” Bax made that sound like that wasn’t something Ryan would ever do.

  “I’ll drop it if you do?” Ryan looked back at Bax. “I want to keep it business, keep personal aside. Though I didn’t realize I screwed the woman of your dreams or something.” His voice had a bit of disbelief in it.

  I glanced at Bax to see his expression, which was tight, and then a smile bloomed across his face.

  “That chick was just a hang around. The woman I’m with now, well, she is the woman of my dreams.” Bax pointed a finger at him. “Go near her and I will fucking kill you.”

  Ryan started laughing. “Well, what do you know, Bax, the man with an endless appetite for woman, has settled for one.”

  Bax’s huge grin fell slightly. “Nah, as much as I want to lock her down, she’s against it.”

  Now that’s my Soph. I kept the smile to myself. At least between the time I had last seen her and now she hadn’t let Bax put a label on her. My chances weren’t completely fucked yet.

  “Seems like a smart girl,” Ryan said playfully. “When do you want to pick this back up?” It seemed he wanted this to end.

  I took the cigarette from my mouth. “Friday night. Before the club party. Guessing you would be attending anyway, yeah?”

  Ryan frowned, seeming hesitate to agree.

  “Don’t tell us, this chick has you working around her?” Bax’s voice was fully amused and he whacked me on the arm. “And you thought I was pussy whipped!”

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “I’ll be here Friday.” He picked up his jacket from the back off the seat and threw down the rest of his drink. “Call me if things change in between now and then.”

  I nodded my head and was already getting my phone out. I heard the club door shut but I was more focused trying to come to a decision on whether to call or message.

  “Well, seeing as my night just cleared, I’m calling the missus.” Bax’s words caught my attention.

  “Thought you hadn’t locked her down?” I wanted to see if I had heard him wrong or not.

  Bax winked at me. “I will if I work my magic tonight.” He got up, giving me a grin. “I’ve heard my charm is irresistible. Night, Vice.”

  I already had the phone to my ear, but I would admit I was clenching it tighter because of what Bax just said. I had to get to Soph before he did. My grip on the phone got even tighter when she didn’t pick up.

  Bax had only just pulled out his phone and was leaving, so there was a chance I’d get to her before him. So I kept ringing her.

  I slammed the front door shut. Didn’t give a fuck if I woke everyone up. For the last hour, I’d been calling her and not once did she bloody well pick up. I knew by the missing car she wasn’t here.

  I walked into the lounge room and then my eyes landed on Kyle. We hadn’t really spoken since I got out. He was always the golden child and it seemed even though I had been away for a few years that fact hadn’t changed.

  I watched him bring the glass to his lips, throwing down what looked like Dad’s good liquor. I knew he most likely didn’t want to speak to me. But something had him drinking hard.

  “You right, bro?” I asked, walking towards him. I was speaking to him with a level of respect in my voice. As if I was talking to one of my club brothers. I knew blood brothers should have a stronger bond, but Kyle and I didn’t have it. We went separate directions in life and our father liked to play us against one another.

  There was a whole lot of reasons why we weren’t close. Little reasons and big reasons, all adding to why we didn’t get on. But right now, I was going to put that aside.

  He glanced at me and I knew as soon as I looked into his eyes he had been drinking for a while.

  He remained silent and his eyes went back to his glass.

  I couldn’t force him to talk to me. I had to admit I don’t think I’ve seen his girlfriend not on him.

  “Where is that woman who loves to cling to you?” I crossed my arms, not giving up on him answering me.

  Kyle sat up, from his slumped position. “Ever fucked something really good up?” He reached for the bottle. “Like a life defining type of thing?” He was speaking but his eyes were on the glass which he was filling up with Dad’s top the shelf.

  I had fucked up. “Do I have to remind you the years I spent locked up?”

  “I’d pick prison over this,” he muttered and had filled the glass to the brim.

  “You trying to save on refills?” I stood in front of the coffee table, my eyes on him and his full glass.

  “Saves me filling it up every couple of minutes.” Kyle shrugged and his eyes dropped to the glass. “I thought I had a shot tonight.”

  I had no idea what he was on about. But I had been around my club brothers long enough to know when a man just needed to get something off his chest.

  “She left. Just turned her back on me and left.” He leaned forward, placing his glass down. “I had been hoping I’d do something tonight, you know ,prove to her I love her.” He ran his hands through his hair and then dropped his head to his hands. “But she fucking just walked away.” His words were muffled from his hands.

  “I’m sure Kayla knows you love her. You don’t have to prove that to her.” I didn’t know much about his relationship with her, but it seemed like she lived for him.

  Kyle took his head from his hands looking at me confused. “I’m not talking about Kayla.”

  His words slowly sunk in. At first I was confused, and then I realized. “You’re talking about Soph?” My voice hardened. His words that she turned and left ran through my head. “What did you do to her tonight?”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Soph

  There were two sides to this town, and I wasn’t going to lie and say that my parents and Kyle’s parents had bought on the wealthy side of the town. My parents had expensive taste, not that they rubbed it in to anyone. But it did make sense why Ryan’s house was still in the wealthy side of the town.

  So while I was now heading in the opposite direction to Kyle’s, it was still a respectable suburb. So when the car slowed down, I didn’t think anything of it. Until it started to slow down to a crawl. I glanced at it. I didn’t know the car. It was a classic muscle car with heavily tinted windows.

  I turned the corn
er and picked up my pace. Then my heart raced as it picked up and turned the corner as well. Shit. Who do I call?

  Police?

  Josh?

  Ryan?

  Josh hadn’t answered earlier but he did call me back. Maybe I should try him? I got my phone out just when I heard the window of the car slid down.

  Shit.

  I heard the driver turn down the music.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  “Walking around in a bikini like that, someone might call you jail bait.”

  I paused. That voice.

  I turned around to look at the car, lowering to the level of the window.

  “Since when did you own a car like this?” I looked at my brother. I should have picked it was him by the music.

  Ryan leaned across the car, closer to me, a huge grin on his face. “Borrowing it. Now you going to get your jail bait ass in the car or wanna keep walking the street in your underwear?”

  “I have you know, this is a designer bikini and I have a cover on.” I looked back at him smugly.

  “Hate to break it to you little sis, but it’s fucking see-through. Get in.”

  I rolled my eyes and cracked the door open. “So who did you get this ride off?” I asked and then glanced in the back seat. “Holy shit Ryan! You got enough alcohol?”

  I had never see so many bottles of spirits and slabs.

  He started pulling us away from the curb. “That, my little sister, is for us.”

  I scoffed. “It’s the start of the week, Ryan. A school week. I can’t get off my face with you.”

  “Yeah you are.”

  “Why?”

  “Cause we are going to get that bloke you are upset about out of your system.” Ryan was lighting up the cigarette, letting the car stir itself. Then, once he had the cigarette lit, one hand went back to the stirring wheel.

  I was just staring at him. I hadn’t told him anything about a guy. Nothing. So how the hell did he know?

  “Stop looking so shocked, Soph. I am your brother after all.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Now you up for getting him out of your system?”