Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1)

by Amy Vanessa Miller

  “Why the fuck would you do that?”

  If Skylar would have just gotten another roommate, I would have never had to give Bree an ultimatum at all. She could have just accepted that it was over and we could have finally moved on.

  “We can’t control it, Evan. It’s bigger than us. I don’t want Skylar choosing me because Bree cheated on her with you. That makes me the rebound and it’s a shitty foundation for a relationship, don’t you think? I want her to choose me because she wants to be with me, and you’d be stupid to not want the same.”

  I look at Derrick and see that he’s looking down at his menu trying his best to pretend like this conversation isn’t going on. He doesn’t like to be brought into the middle of things, especially disagreements.

  At the other table, across from Parker, Spencer and Adrienne are looking equally uncomfortable about where this conversation might be going.

  “I’m stupid for wanting to keep my girlfriend mine?”

  “She was Skylar’s first,” is his immediate comeback, and I hate him for it. I narrow my eyes, clench my fists tightly, and start to tell him exactly where he can shove his opinions.

  Adrienne interrupts me. “Tris just walked in.”

  Parker turns in his seat abruptly, and the minute his eyes catch Tris’ he’s out of his chair and walking toward him as calm and collected as humanly possible. I can’t, for the life of me, understand how he does that.

  “He isn’t going to punch him right here is he?” Adrienne asks, eyes wide with awe.

  Derrick shakes his head. “Doubtful. His aggression control is ridiculous.”

  Adrienne chuckles. “Not all the time,” she says.

  Kelsie rejoins us then, noticing that Parker’s no longer sitting with us, but that we’ve now gained Adrienne. “What’s is she doing here?”

  We all shush her at the exact same time, straining to hear what it is that Parker’s saying to Tris.

  “He said ‘fucking dead’ and ‘kill you’,” Adrienne says.

  “I heard ‘this isn’t over,” Derrick counters next.

  “He’s really pissed,” Adrienne returns.

  “You think?” Kelsie snaps sarcastically.

  Adrienne cocks her head to the side and looks at Spencer quizzically, ignoring Kelsie. In a whisper, she says to him. “Tris definitely told him that ‘he better watch his back’ and he said something about Ellie and Colt.”

  Spencer’s eyes grow wide and he looks over to me to see if I heard her. Damn right I did! I push my chair from the table so fast that it knocks to the floor with a loud thump. I don’t bother picking it up, though, I just continue on over to where they are standing.

  “You threatening my sister now?” I say, immediately giving Tris a shove.

  Parker puts his hand out to hold me back as he pushes his other hand hard against Tris’ chest. “I got this, Daniels,” he says to me, not taking his glaring eyes off of Tris. “What Tris seems to forget here is that I’m his boss. But maybe another beating like the first will remind him.”

  I take a step back, but I don’t return to my seat. I need to know what Tris said about Ellie.

  “Beat me all you want. I don’t give a fuck what you do because, at the end of the day, you can’t kill me. That’s Dimitri’s call and you know it.”

  “He’s given me a pass before, he can do it again,” Parker hisses.

  Does that mean what I think it means?? I can’t be sure, but the way he says it makes a chill run down my spine.

  I turn to look at everyone at the tables to see if they might have heard what I just heard, but no one seems to be struggling with the shocking information like I am. When I look back to Parker and Tris, their glaring eyes seem to be sharing a secret that I can’t quite decipher. Neither one of them says it, but there’s something they aren’t talking about that’s right on the surface of this confrontation, something unpleasant.

  “Dimitri won’t keep cleaning up your shit,” Tris spits finally.

  “Oh, that’s something coming from you! I’m constantly cleaning up the shit you cause so that he won’t kill you. And he’s sick and tired of your messes, by the way. And on top of that, I make him shitloads of money every fight that I take. That’s my worth to him. What’s your worth, you piece of shit?”

  Tris doesn’t say anything as he continues to glare at Parker but I can tell by the shadowing of his eyes, and the way that his jaw goes slack slightly, that those words stung him more than he’d ever care to admit.

  “All you had was me and now you don’t even have that anymore. And because of what? You’re jealous of Skylar? You’re fucking done, I promise you that. It’s only a matter of when.”

  “Jealous of Skylar. I couldn’t be jealous of that fucking whore if I tried! Where is she anyway? Tell me that. Oh yeah, that’s right, locked away in a room with his girlfriend,” he says, pointing at me. “Wonder what they could be doing without their men to keep them satisfied.”

  Asshole.

  “I trust Skylar,” Parker returns, giving Tris a hard shove against the wall. “And if you call her a whore one more time, you won’t live to see another day. Fuck the consequences.”

  “How about you, Evan? You trust your woman?”

  “Fuck off, Tris.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I heard a lot of giggling up there when I passed by a few minutes ago.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Parker says to me, giving Tris one last shove. He starts back to our table and I follow closely behind.

  “He’ll say what he knows is going to get under your skin.”

  I know that he’s right. That’s what Tris does. But I can’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that he actually did hear them giggling in their room.

  “Do you think it was the truth?”

  Parker shrugs. “Laughing doesn’t mean anything. Even if it is the truth, it doesn’t mean something’s going on.”

  He’s right, it doesn’t mean anything, but Bree loves her. I know this, Parker knows this, hell, the entire senior class of Markson Grove East knows this!

  I need to know for myself.

  We approach our tables just as our waitress begins taking everyone’s order. Parker takes his seat, and as he does so, I announce to anyone who’s listening that I’m going to the bathroom. No one seems too concerned about this announcement except for Parker. I see him look down at the table and shake his head, but I take off before he has a chance to say anything about it.

  Maybe he doesn’t understand where I’m coming from, maybe what he has with Skylar is so untouchable that he has nothing to worry about, but I need to know, and that’s all there is to it.

  Skylar

  Bree’s lips push against mine, needing me to return the kiss, needing me to accept her reasons for choosing Evan’s love over our friendship, and for me to be ok with that. And after an initial moment of surprise, I grasp her hair into my clenched fists on either side of her head, and angrily push my lips just as forcefully onto hers. I need her to feel my pain because she’s letting me go and it’s breaking my heart!

  I hate this…

  So.

  Fucking.

  Much.

  A knock sounds at our door and we pull away from each other abruptly. I wipe my lips with the back of my hand and I watch her do the same. Her eyes are all red and puffy from crying, her face flushed, and her lips are smeared with my dark red lipstick from our desperate farewell kiss. The way she looks at me makes my heart race. Why am I letting her do this? He’s not right for her.

  Neither of us says anything to each other as we both look around the room in a panic, worried it might be one of our chaperones at the door. “Who is it?” I call out.

  “Evan,” the person says back and for a moment, I don’t recognize the name. It isn’t until Bree darts to the door to open it, that I finally place who it is. Wow, alcohol really does slow down someone’s ability to think, doesn’t it? His voice should have had me seething!

  “
Wait,” I say, reaching for her hand but missing it completely at the speed that she’s moving. Or maybe it’s the speed that my drunken self is processing it. I don’t get a chance to tell her that my lipstick is all over her lips.

  I watch her open the door and see Evan’s face switch from an initial look of concern into pained anger in an instant. He snaps his gaze in my direction, glaring at me, and all I can do is glare back. I want to do more. I want to tell him that he’s an asshole and that I hate him, but seeing his face makes me hesitate. I know that look of despair all too well.

  Bree says something to him, but I can tell that he’s not listening to her at all. He backs away from the door into the wall behind him, “I guess you’ve made your choice,” he says to her bitterly and without another word, storms off. Bree turns to me questioningly; she doesn’t have a clue what just happened.

  “My lipstick is smeared on your lips,” I say to her quietly.

  And that’s all she needs to hear.

  She takes off after him so fast that I don’t even have time to blink.

  I follow behind, rushing down the hall, down the stairs, and then into the hotel restaurant where Evan is storming toward his friends; two tables filled with all our friends.

  “Evan!” Bree calls after him, panic radiating from her voice. Everyone turns to look our way. I watch their eyes move from Evan to Bree, then to me. I know what they are thinking. I’d be thinking it too.

  And then I catch Parker’s gaze. His eyes are questioning me, staring into my heart and pleading for me to tell them that they are wrong. That what it looks like isn’t actually what it is.

  I start toward him in what feels like slow motion. I look to Evan, who’s shaking his head vigorously, all the while attempting to pull his arms away from Bree’s grasps. He’s refusing to listen to her explain reason. He slams his fist into a wooden post standing next to him and turns to Parker. “Shouldn’t be so quick to trust your girl,” he says, his eyes full of betrayal.

  My heart sinks in my chest.

  I want to scream, but I can’t at all, nothing wants to come out for some reason. I push myself into Parker’s arms. “No,” I say finally, but it escapes only as a whimper. “Let me explain,” I plead, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes. I look up into his. “Let me explain,” I say again. He brings a hand up to my lip as if to hush me, and for a moment my entire self calms completely.

  It’s going to be ok; he knows what it really was. Everything’s going to be fine.

  But then he rubs his fingers across my smudged lipstick and shows them to me. “No explanation necessary,” he whispers, his broken heart screaming out to me through those words.

  I watch as his eyes cloud over, his bottom lip trembling slightly for a moment, just enough time for me to catch it, before his features completely glaze over and I’m looking into the eyes of an emotionless person I don’t even know.

  He gently pushes me off of him, tugging his hand from my tight grasp. He walks out of the restaurant, out the front door of the hotel, and onto the street without another glance in my direction. I start after him, feeling like a pathetic idiot, but I don’t have the control to let that stop me. I can’t lose him, not like this!

  Spencer grabs my wrist, pulls me back through the doors, and over to his table. I reluctantly sit where he puts me next to Derrick and Kelsie. He brushes my hair out of my tear covered face with his hand. “Give him some time,” he says.

  “That’s not what happened!” I say to him, feeling my emotions getting more heightened as I try to get the words out.

  I need to cut!

  I look around franticly for something to cut myself with, but I can’t find anything that might work. The tightness in my chest gets worse. I begin scratching my arm with the tips my nails, hoping that it will be enough to draw blood.

  Kelsie, noticing my panic and vigorous attempt at drawing blood from my arm, places her hand over mine on the table. “Shush,” she hushes, soothingly and my emotions calm. I stop the scratching abruptly, looking up into her eyes. I don’t know her at all, but she seems to understand what’s happening to me. She smiles. “Take a breath,” she says, and I do what she asks. “Take another,” she encourages again and I listen to her. Once I exhale this time, the urge to cut has passed.

  I look around the two tables. I see Bree sitting next to Adrienne, her eyes wide in an almost state of shock as she stares off into the distance, not really focusing on anything at all. This was not how things were supposed to go for her. She didn’t want him to find out this way. She turns to Adrienne. “He won’t let me explain,” she cries, heartbroken, eyes still wide in disbelief at how angry he was with her.

  Adrienne nods. “He’s like that,” she says, and Kelsie shoots her a dirty look.

  Evan is gone, but I don’t know where he went. I didn’t see him leave.

  “What were you guys thinking?” Spencer asks. He says it quietly, and without judgment in his voice, but I can tell by the look on his face that he’s disappointed in us. “When will you two make up your minds?”

  “We did!” I say to him angrily. “Bree chose Evan over our friendship! We were saying goodbye. The kiss didn’t mean anything more than that!”

  Everyone turns to Bree in surprise, and she lowers her head in what appears to be shame. “Don’t judge me,” she says quietly. “I made a choice. And I don’t feel like I should have to explain that choice.”

  “Try calling him,” Kelsie says to Derrick.

  Bree shakes her head. “Don’t. I’m too pissed at him right now. I need time.”

  I shake my head, disappointed in her. I’m completely exasperated by this whole thing. Evan is an idiot, and she deserves much better.

  “I’m going back to my room,” I say, getting up from where I’m sitting across from Kelsie. I look at her and force a little smile. “Thank you,” I say, and she gives me a small, knowing nod.

  I just want to go back upstairs to get my phone so I can call Parker and explain everything to him. He’s the only person that needs to hear it anyway.

  I get up from the table and start back to the room. I take the elevator this time because I honestly don’t feel like I have the energy to walk it. As the doors are closing in front of me, Bree stops them with her hand, forcing them to reopen.

  “Skylar,” she starts but I cut her off quickly.

  “Stop,” I say wearily, shaking my head. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  Her eyes look up at me sadly. “I’ll fix this for you… with Parker. I promise.” she says, turning to face the doors as the elevator climbs up to the second floor.

  “Your stupid boyfriend has already done enough. I’ll take care of it,” I snap.

  “I’m sorry,” Bree says as the doors reopen. I step out and walk briskly toward our room.

  I swipe the keycard and enter the room, not bothering to hold the door open for Bree who’s following close behind me.

  When I reach my phone, I immediately dial his number and put the phone to my ear. Bree is standing in front of me, waiting expectantly.

  The call rings only one time before going to voice mail. He pressed ignore. My stomach feels sick.

  “He won’t answer,” I say to Bree before franticly typing out a message to send him instead.

  Me: The kiss isn’t what you think it was. I love you. I only want you.

  I can tell by the fact that the message never gets tagged with ‘delivered’ that he’s already shut off his phone and won’t be seeing it.

  “Fuck!” I yell, launching my phone across the room. I should have texted him first instead of calling. He knew there would be a text coming once he ignored the call.

  I turn to Bree. “I’m going to go find him.”

  “What? You can’t just go for a stroll in a big city just before dark. And besides, you’ll get caught. There’s no way Mr. Cooper won’t notice you’re gone.”

  “Curfew isn’t for another three hours. If you cover for me, it’ll be fine,” I s
ay, putting on my boots.

  She shakes her head. “I’m not letting you go alone.”

  “Parker won’t listen to me if you’re right there,” I snap, making it clear how annoyed I am with her stubbornness. She should stay here and cover for me.

  “I’ll make him listen,” she says.

  I sigh in defeat. I know she won’t back down on this. “Fine,” I say with a roll of my eyes. I grab my sweater off of my bed and make my way toward the door. “We’ll both get into trouble, but whatever,” I say sarcastically.

  She slips on her sneakers and then pulls a sweatshirt on over her head. “I don’t care.”

  “Fine then. Let’s go.” I pick my phone up off the floor and shove it into my pocket.

  We hurry out of the room and make our way toward a back exit of the hotel as quietly as we can.

  I seriously hope I can find him. And if I do, I hope he’ll listen to me.

  Evan

  The first bar I come across ends up being about two blocks away from the hotel. It’s an Irish Pub called McGuire’s and it looks inviting enough for me to sit and sulk. I want to be wasted and the sooner the better.

  I take a seat at the far end of the bar, close to the back exit in case one of the chaperones comes looking for me. I don’t know if anyone even saw me leave, but I’m not taking any chances.

  A bartender walks over to me. “Oui?” she says with a tiny smile, as she looks me up and down. She’s cute, but I’m too annoyed to care.

  “I need something strong. Whisky or bourbon or something,” I say, hoping she doesn’t ask for ID.

  She laughs, but I’m not exactly sure why, and walks over to her bottles of alcohol and glasses. When she returns, she puts a coaster down and fills a small glass with a shot of something.

  “Whiskey or something,” she says with a slight French accent, she’s still laughing as she winks at me. “That’s four dollars,” she adds.

  I hand her a twenty. “Keep them coming,” I say. She nods, taking the money and walking over to another customer a few seats away from me.

  A moment later she returns with the whiskey bottle and another glass. I drink the first one in one gulp and let the burning sensation take over, allowing me to feel something… anything. I reach for the second glass. “Another,” I say before I gulp that one down too.