Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1)

by Amy Vanessa Miller

  I smile, pushing aside my insecurities for the moment as I drape my arm over her shoulder. She’s trying so hard to move on with me. I know she’s not over Skylar, but it means something that she wants to be.

  “My mom’s working till ten,” I suggest coyly. “We’ll have the house to ourselves.”

  Bree giggles, leaning her head into my chest. “I thought you’d never ask.” She eagerly takes my hand and pulls me toward the front doors of the school.

  We arrive at my house twenty minutes later, somehow managing to keep our hands off of each other completely until I unlock the front door. But the minute the door closes behind us, we are in each other’s arms so fast that we tumble backward and fall to the floor with a loud thud. Neither one of us is pulled out of the moment because of this, however, and we start grabbing at each other’s clothing, not being able to remove the pieces fast enough.

  Even in the midst of this sexually charged moment, I can’t help but feel relieved by Bree’s apparent ‘want’ for me. Ellie’s wrong about her, Bree’s not gay, she’s into this. She’s into me.

  I kiss her lips, smiling between kisses, as Bree attempts to tug my t-shirt up over my head. I eventually give in, and allow my lips to leave hers for a moment as she pulls the shirt up.

  And then we both freeze in place. We are not alone in the living room.

  Ellie is sitting up on the couch with a look of both horror and disgust etched across her face. She’s not wearing a shirt or bra and she has her arms crossing over her bare chest in order to cover up. Colton’s also topless and his pants are unbuttoned. I look down at Ellie’s bare legs, her skirt is pushed up much higher than it should be, and see that Colton still has his hand lingering on her upper thigh.

  My eyes open wide in utter surprise but, for the life of me, I have no words. I push myself to my feet and pull my shirt back down over my naked torso.

  I’m going to kill him.

  All I see is red as I tear into that room, grab the little shit by the waist of his jeans, and haul him off of my sister. He hits the wall behind us with a thud and I immediately turn around, charging him where he’s propped up against the wall. He tries to get to his feet, but I manage to find a way to hold him down before he’s able to.

  “Evan!” Bree shrieks, rushing over to me and attempting to yank me off of Colton, but is unsuccessful. I raise my fist to punch him at the same time that his legs kick up in an attempt to push me off.

  “I wasn’t hurting her!” he yells out in confusion, positioning his hands to block his face. He’s hoping that it’s enough to get me not to punch him.

  Ellie scrambles off of the couch, yanking her shirt back on at the same time that I punch passed Colton’s hands and hit him in the face over and over again. She charges me instantly, grabbing the hair in the back of my head with both of her hands and yanking me toward her so hard that it almost shocks me into stillness. I stop punching him.

  I look down at Colton and I’m surprised to see this scared kid looking back at me. One eye wide, the other bruised and starting to swell shut. He’s not trying to hit me back; he just wants me to stop hitting him.

  I scramble to my feet and take a step backward, feeling uneasy and shocked about what I just did. What the hell is the matter with me? He’s obviously younger than I am and has absolutely no desire to fight me at all.

  I turn to Bree and the petrified look on her face makes me realize that I’ve crossed a huge line, one I might not be able to cross back. I turn to Colton once again, wanting to apologize, but just as I open my mouth to do so, I’m socked in the jaw so hard that I fall backward and hit the couch behind me.

  Ellie’s standing tall in front of me, fists still clenched, a look of disgust on her face.

  She punched me!

  “What the fuck is your problem, Evan!” She demands as I sit on the couch rubbing my bruised jawline.

  I shake my head. I don’t even know what to tell her.

  She continues to stand before me, waiting for my reply, and so I say the first thing that comes to my mind. “You’re fifteen.”

  “So? You think that gives you the right to hit my boyfriend? Who’s also fifteen, by the way. You didn’t see me charging into your room the other night when you were screwing Bree, and do you want to know why? Because I could care less who you decide to fuck, Evan!”

  Bree’s eyes dart toward me, and her cheeks instantly blush red.

  “That’s different,” I say quietly to my sister.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m eighteen, Ellie.”

  She shakes her head. “You’re an idiot.”

  She’s not entirely wrong. I am feeling pretty stupid right now.

  Bree

  Evan looks up at his sister with regret in his eyes, and I know that whatever it was that came over him a few moments ago has passed. He feels horrible; I can see it. But even though I know it, I’m still incredibly shaken about what just went down. Evan’s emotions are unstable and his actions completely unjustified. There’s nothing ok about what he just did.

  I can tell that Ellie’s still determined to hurt him, whether it be with her fists or her words and, to be honest, I don’t exactly blame her. But I can’t allow it, this whole thing is a mess and it needs to end now.

  “That’s enough,” I say, placing myself in the middle of the two siblings. Ellie’s boyfriend has gotten up off of the floor and is sitting on the chair opposite the couch now, his hand covering a newly formed black eye. I shake my head. “Look at him!” I yell, pointing at Colton as I glare at Evan. “This is the guy your sister says she loves, ok? This is a good guy, who when attacked by you, didn’t even lift a finger to hurt you back. That says something about his character, Evan. Think about that. So keep your testosterone in check from now on and talk to him about what’s bothering you!”

  “And you,” I say, turning to Ellie. “Your brother loves you so much that he worries about you on a regular basis! A teenaged boy is spending his time worried about the safety of his sister. That’s a big deal, and not something to take lightly! I don’t even have siblings, but I do know that a relationship like that is a rare one, and something you should feel blessed to have. So stop bitching at him and cut him some slack, he’s only doing it because he cares!”

  The whole room has grown quiet during my little speech and now that I’m finished, the silence continues to ring in our ears. Evan looks to Colton apologetically as Ellie unclenches her fists and takes a defeated seat next to her brother.

  Colton speaks first, looking up at Ellie through his one good eye. “You love me?” he asks. His face is serious, but I can see his mouth forming a tiny smile.

  He didn’t know… of course, he didn’t.

  I shake my head in utter embarrassment and turn to Ellie. I shoot her an apologetic look.

  Ellie sighs, making her annoyance with me very clear. “Of course I love you,” she says, getting up from the couch and walking over to him. She climbs into his lap and runs her hands through his hair as he lays his head on her shoulder.

  There’s something about watching the connection between Ellie and Colton that saddens me, but I don’t know what it is exactly. Is it because I miss Skylar and the bond we once shared? Or is it the fact that I don’t share a bond like that with Evan? I can’t be sure, but whatever it is, watching this intimate display hurts, and I hate it.

  “Evan, go get Colton an icepack,” I say in a way that’s much more impatient and demanding than it should be.

  He gets up from the couch and, without putting up an argument, walks over to the kitchen. A minute later he returns with a small Ziploc bag of ice cubes. “I’m sorry,” he says as he hands the bag over to Colton. He seems sincere in his apology at least.

  Colton takes the bag of ice from Evan and pushes it to his eye. “You’re kind of nuts, man,” he says, and my lip curls up into a tiny smile. I don’t know if there is anything unlikable about this guy.

  Evan nods knowingly. He’s feeling guilty, a
s he damn well should.

  “I love your sister. If that matters at all to you,” Colton continues, and I see the words make Evan wince slightly.

  “I know you love her.” He sits down on the couch across from them. “I’m worried about you protecting her from people who don’t give a shit about her. People who you might be connected to because of what you do.”

  Colton’s one good eye opens slightly as realization dawns on him. Now he knows what Evan’s problem with him actually is. “You’re right,” he says after taking a moment to collect himself, “but I’m getting out. Parker’s working on something to get me out for good.”

  Evan crosses his arms over his chest and leans his back into the couch. “You actually think he’s going to be able to do that?” he asks with doubt plastered all over his face.

  “He’s trying.”

  And there it is again. Parker Michelson is saving the day. I want so badly to hate him, but every time I turn around there is something new I learn about him that makes me have a hard time doing so.

  My phone beeps in my purse and I reach into my bag to see who it is.

  Spencer: I’m a hypocrite. You were right when you said that you needed me and all I did was make you feel horrible about what you were going through. I should have been there for you. I’m sorry that I wasn’t.

  “Stop worrying so much,” Ellie says loudly. “Nothing is going to happen to me, all right?”

  “Parker can’t always be there to protect the two of you! Why can’t you see that?” Evan returns, his voice raised and anxious.

  I look back to my phone, tuning out Ellie’s reply.

  Me: I’m sorry I flipped out on you.

  Spencer: I deserved it. I’ve been a terrible best friend.

  Me: I can’t argue with that…

  Spencer: So, I was wondering if you and Evan would like to join me at The Loft tonight?

  Me: Really?

  Spencer: I’d like to give Evan a real chance… If you’ll let me.

  “—And that’s how it’s going to stay!” Ellie finishes. I didn’t catch the entire speech, but judging by the annoyed look on Evan’s face, I suspect that Ellie still isn’t budging on her opinion about Colton’s life and how dangerous it is to her safety.

  “Evan,” I interrupt their dispute. “Spencer wants to meet us at The Loft tonight. Are you up for it?”

  Evan groans, unable to hide his irritation. He looks at his sister and her boyfriend. “You guys feel like going to The Loft?”

  “No,” Ellie replies at the exact same time Colton says, “I’m pretty hungry.”

  Ellie hits Colton in the chest with the palm of her hand. “You can eat here,” she hisses.

  “Tell Spencer we’ll be there,” he mumbles to me as Ellie lets out an exasperated grumble.

  Me: Can Evan’s sister and her boyfriend join us?

  Spencer: I guess.

  Me: We’ll be there in 30 mins. :)

  Spencer: K. See you then.

  Skylar

  Oddly enough, grabbing a bite to eat with Tris Gallagher proves to not be as bad as I had originally thought it would. I had imagined a number of awkward moments, followed by Tris making a crude comment of some sort and me having to storm off before I even get a chance to learn anything about who Ellie is.

  In reality, it couldn’t have played out any better at all. He’s actually quite nice and incredibly easy to talk to.

  We take a seat at a table near the billiard section of The Loft and after only a bit of awkward small talk, he opens up completely and begins telling me all about himself.

  Tristan Gallagher has two older sisters, Trina, and Talia who are both married now and live hours away. Neither of them ever visit. He has an alcoholic father who beats him every chance he gets, and a passive mother who worships the ground his father walks on more than the well-being of her son. He struggles with addiction and has been in trouble with the law more times than he can count on two hands.

  He tells me about falling into a drug lifestyle in the ninth grade in order to cope with his father’s relentless physical and mental abuse, and how drugs became his only way to make the internal torment go away. Something I know a lot about, actually.

  After that, his stories drift into ‘The Adventures of Parker and Tris’ and I see an opening to ask him how it is that he and Parker became friends. I don’t say it out loud, but after hearing all about Tris’ past, I realize that Parker just isn’t cut from the same cloth as Tris and I are. He doesn’t seem to come from a dark background of abuse and drugs, so the fact that he’s even apart of this dark and depressing world that both Tris and I are forced to endure is confusing to me. How did it all begin?

  “How did you and Parker meet anyway?” I ask as casually as possible, not wanting to seem as though I’m prying.

  Tris smiles as he takes a fry off his plate and eats it. To my utter surprise, I find myself drawn to him. Not in a romantic sense, but he’s so open about his past and all the hurt he’s been through. I admire that. I wish it would be easy for me to tell people about my past and all of my demons. Maybe if it were, I wouldn’t feel the need to cut so badly. Maybe I wouldn’t even need to cut at all.

  “We met in the ninth grade actually,” he says, breaking into my thoughts. “I had just started dealing, and he’d heard about me. He wanted to know if I could get my hands on some prescription painkillers for him.”

  Now that’s a surprise. From the minute I met Parker he had made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with pills at all. He never did volunteer his reasons why, and being a fellow Misfit, I knew better than to ask.

  “Prescription painkillers? Why?” I ask him, unable to hide my surprise.

  “The car accident,” Tris says as if I should know all about it. When I look at him like I still don’t have a clue what he’s talking about, he shakes his head. “Jesus, Parker didn’t tell you much about his past did he?”

  I think about the room in the pool house full of trophies and pictures of a life I knew nothing about. Parker’s told me very little about himself, and I’m only now realizing that everything he did tell me was only from the tenth grade and on. I don’t know anything about him from before that, other than the fact that he’d lost his mother.

  “I’ve never pushed him to tell me,” I say defensively, “It seemed too painful for him back then. And now, well it’s only been a few days that we’ve been back together so it’s not like he’s had much of a chance.”

  Tris shrugs. “Yeah, that makes sense. Well, he was in a car accident with his mom, coming home from a basketball game. He used to be the point guard on his team, in case he didn’t tell you that,” he adds.

  “I knew that,” I say, narrowing my eyes in annoyance.

  He continues on, not catching the look. “Anyway it was February, the roads were crazy icy. They hit a patch of ice and…well his mom didn’t make it. Parker broke his right arm in three different places and his shoulder and clavicle. He had to have a lot of surgeries and was given a lot of painkillers. Then the prescriptions all ran out… and that’s where I came in.”

  “He used the drugs to numb the pain of losing his mom,” I say.

  “He used the drugs to numb the pain till he met you, actually.”

  I shake my head. “No, the night that he met me he said that he didn’t do pills. He had already cut them out of his life by then.”

  Tris nods knowingly, “That was the thirty day detox he had been forced to take after he was expelled from school for getting caught stoned and dealing on school grounds. But I guarantee that if he hadn’t met you that night, he would have started right back up with the pills.”

  “He still did other drugs with me. We smoked pot all the time together. It’s not like I kept him clean or anything. I mean, I was strung out on Molly every night for months after we met.”

  “Did he ask you to stop?”

  I shrug. “Not really. He just asked me to stop with my persona.”

  Tris nods but do
esn’t say anything more which is good because I don’t really want to get into my persona with him anyway. To be honest, I’m actually scared to talk to him about that. I’m worried that I might have slept with him before. The numbers are so high, and I was always so out of it, I just don’t know for sure. Of course, if I had, it wouldn’t have been after I met Parker. I know he never stopped anyone else from getting their fix with me, until we became official that is, but I have a feeling if it would have been Tris trying, he would have kicked his ass without remorse.

  I force a smile, attempting to deter the subject into a happier zone. “So are you going to take me on in a game of pool or what?” I ask, wiping my face with my napkin and tossing it in my empty plate.

  Tris grins from ear to ear. “Think you can take me?”

  “Oh, I know I can take you,” I say with a confident laugh.

  We get up from our table and start over to the billiards bar to pay for a game. I get to the bar first and playfully shove Tris away once he joins me. “I’m paying,” I say.

  He shoves me back. “Like hell you are.”

  We keep pushing each other aside, trying to give our money to the guy overtop of each other’s outstretched arms. Tris grabs my midsection, making me pull my hand away and burst out into a hysterical fit of laughter.

  “Stop!” I screech, still laughing. I collapse to the floor, and he finally stops tickling me, using my downtime as a chance to pay for the game. The billiard guy takes the money and hands us a tray filled with the balls already all stacked into the triangle.

  “Table 8,” he tells us, and we head in that direction.

  And then I stop in my tracks when I see who just walked through the door.

  Evan has his arm draped over Bree and they are laughing with another couple walking in behind them. When Evan sees Tris and me, however, his smile fades instantly.

  Bree, noticing that he stopped laughing, looks up. Our eyes meet and her smile fades too. I press my lips together uneasily, wishing I hadn’t agreed to come here. I should have known that something like this would happen.