by R. J. Sable
Jake’s face lit up and he looked to Ian for confirmation. Ian smiled and nodded. This beast was apparently to be our ride to wherever it was we were going. Jake gleefully climbed into the back of Beast, wearing the same expression he used to have on Christmas Eve when he was a kid. To my surprise, his two friends climbed in after him.
“What happened to family only?” I whispered to Craig.
He shrugged and motioned for me to get into the Beast.
“We needed two extras for the next few hours,” Ian said, his lip-reading skills in action again.
Beast’s interior was all black and grey leather, and garish neon lighting.
“In the corner, Jelly,” Karl nodded to the far side of the limo. “You’re the only one who’ll fit.”
I sighed, seeing that I’d end up sat between one of Jake’s friends and Matt, but scooted into the small place between them without protest.
“I’m starving,” Rick whined as Ian shut the door behind him.
“Shut up, you’re always starving,” Ian slapped the back of his head.
The Beast must have had it’s own mysterious driver because the car pulled away without any instruction. Jake introduced my brothers and me to his friends, who he called “the two Sams”, one was blond and the other ginger.
The Beast’s first destination was a gourmet hamburger restaurant in the city centre. After a delicious lunch, we were transported outside of the city to a large, open-air laser tag facility.
After an introduction from our instructors, we were all kitted out with camouflage gear and given helmets.
“Feel more like work than fun?” Danny grinned at Ian and Karl as they pulled on their equipment.
“British Military doesn’t use this camo pattern,” Karl shook his head.
Danny looked at Rick and they exchanged an eye roll and some sort of telepathic communication that I didn’t quite understand.
“I wear a suit to work, or had you forgotten?” Ian deadpanned.
“Always?” Danny probed.
None of us still really understood what it was that Ian worked with these days.
“You expect me to wear pyjamas?” Ian raised his eyebrow.
The twins wisely decided not to probe further and continued putting their equipment on. After signing the disclaimers, we were all set to go, we just had to be divided into teams of five.
“Right, Jake can pick team one, since it’s his birthday,” Ian motioned for Jake to stand on one side of the room. “Who do you want to captain team two, Jake?”
Jake looked around contemplatively, his eyes darting around in his head.
“Jelly,” he shrugged after a while.
I moved over to the spot on the other side, a little shocked that he’d picked me, but then I realised that if we weren’t on the same team he wouldn’t have to interact with me. Making me captain of the other team was a sure fire way to avoid me.
“Might as well divide the twins up straight away,” Ian smirked. “Any preference on which twin you get, Jake?”
Jake shook his head and Ian sent Rick to Jake’s side and Danny to stand with me.
“Why do we have to get split up?” Danny grumbled.
“Because you’ll play about the same and it’ll help balance the teams up,” Ian explained.
“Just because we’re twins, doesn’t mean we’re the same person,” Danny frowned.
“Could’ve fooled me,” Ian laughed, giving Danny a glare that told him not to push his luck.
The twins had another psychic conversation. This one I caught onto. I was pretty sure that whichever team won would have the added advantage of deciding which twin was best at laser tag.
“Right, Jake picks first, then Jelly,” Ian decided.
“I want Ian,” Jake said immediately.
No surprise there, I would have picked Ian too. I had no doubt he’d be awesome at a military based shooting game. My choice was obvious.
“Karl,” I nodded.
“Matt,” Jake said, not even bothering to look in my direction.
I obviously chose Craig and then was left with Ginger Sam. Looking at the teams, I couldn’t have guessed who was going to win, they were pretty well balanced.
Karl appointed himself team leader, which made sense, and gave us a quick tactical rundown while we made our way to our “base”.
“I am not losing to Ian,” he scowled, taking the whole thing very seriously.
“It’s just a game,” I mumbled.
“A game I intend to win,” he snapped.
I shot ginger Sam an apologetic glance, the poor guy looked a little terrified.
“Now I know where Jake get’s his competitive streak,” he whispered to me once Karl had stalked off ahead of us.
“It’s definitely a family theme,” I nodded with a grin. “I haven’t played before, have you?”
He shook his head. “I play a hell of a lot of ‘Battlefield Three’ though,” he grinned.
“That’s as good of an experience as any,” I laughed.
When I got back to base after my second simulated-death, I found ginger Sam, Craig, and Danny already back there. Apparently we’d run out of respawns. I shot them an apologetic smile as they saw me come in.
“Are we winning?” I asked.
“We’re not sure,” Danny answered. “You and Sam took out Jake and someone else, right?”
“Matt,” I nodded.
“I took out Rick twice,” he grinned.
“And I got Matt and Sam,” Craig added.
“Karl just took out Ian,” I laughed. “He didn’t look happy.”
“Seriously?” Craig and Danny gaped at me.
I nodded and had to agree with their surprise, Ian will not be happy.
“It was a bad idea splitting you two up,” I nodded to Danny.
“Yeah, I realised that too,” Craig scowled.
“Why?” Danny frowned in confusion.
“Because we couldn’t tell which one of you was which from a distance, so if we’d have killed one of you it could have been friendly fire,” Craig explained.
“Shit, I didn’t think of that,” Danny grinned wickedly. “If one of you bastards killed me, I’ll non-simulated shoot you,” he pointed his finger at each of us in warning.
We waited anxiously for Karl to come back but instead the marshal came to tell us the game was over.
“That means we won right?” Danny grinned.
The marshal nodded with a smile on his face and the guys all whooped and cheered. I grinned broadly, delighted to see them so happy. I felt a twinge of guilt at the knowledge that Jake had lost his birthday game. The twinge of guilt turned to foreboding at the realisation that Ian had also lost. Ian doesn’t do losing. I hoped he wasn’t taking it too seriously.
We collected a victorious looking Karl on our way back to the main office. A round of jeering and “loser” chants began the moment we spotted the others. I nipped into the changing rooms to get out of my kit before they started fighting, because they were sure to start fighting.
The two Sams must have sensed impending danger too because they followed me into the changing rooms.
“They take this shit pretty seriously, don’t they?” Ginger Sam grinned at me.
I turned around to reply but caught Blond Sam giving Ginger a strange look that had me curious.
“What?” I asked suspiciously, looking back and forth between the two of them.
“Dude, come on, Jake probably wasn’t serious,” Ginger said to Blond Sam.
My frown deepened. Blond Sam seemed a little uncomfortable and I didn’t understand why.
“Jake warned you not to talk to me, didn’t he?” I groaned, realisation dawning.
“Something along those lines,” Blond Sam admitted awkwardly.
“I think he just didn’t want us chatting you up,” Ginger reassured me.
“I have a boyfriend and Jake knows that,” I sighed. I really had underestimated how much Jake hated me. He didn’t even want
me talking to his friends. I humphed childishly and chucked my camouflage onto the desk with a little extra gusto. “I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with the birthday boy. I’ll keep out of your way,” I said, keeping my eyes on my feet. I knew I was being rude and I hated myself for it but I was too upset to control my temper.
“Wait-” one of them called after me but I carried on into the female toilets to hide away.
I freshened up in the bathroom before sitting on the side with the sinks and resting my head in my hands. It was bad enough that Jake stood by Duff through everything he’d done to me, but his not believing me – despite the fact that I’d never lied to him – was too much.
I’d not expected him to believe me straight away, Duff had been his best friend since they were four years old, but it had been over a month since he found out. Surely he must know the truth by now?
I wish Jason was here. I sighed and pulled my phone out my pocket, deciding to text him.
Hey Jason. Hope you
and Ben are okay. We
just played laser tag. Our
team won, but I feel like I
shouldn’t be here. :(
I love you xxx
I’d just hit send when I heard the bathroom door swing open.
“This is the ladies’,” I said pointedly, looking up to see Ian.
“There’s only us here, Jelly,” he shrugged, swiping my phone out of my hand and looking at it.
I sighed inwardly, knowing he was looking at my text messages.
“Is it that fucking horrible spending the day with us?” He snarled, looking up from my phone. He slipped my mobile into his back pocket.
I shook my head, hopping down from the sinks and taking a few steps back. I hadn’t meant it like that. I had no idea Ian was going to read my text messages.
“You’re meant to be spending the weekend with us but it’s so fucking hard that you can’t go a few hours without talking to Jason?”
“I was just texting him,” I said quietly. I could see Ian making the shift to soldier mode as he loomed over me. His shoulders tensed and the muscles in his jaw bunched up as he glared down at me. “It’s not that I don’t like spen-”
“Shut up,” he yelled, giving me a hard shove backwards.
My back met with the hand dryer and knocked the wind out of me. I fell to the floor, gasping for air.
“This is Jake’s day. I don’t give a shit whether you like it or not. Stop being a spoilt little brat. You’ll do as you’re fucking told and you’ll do it with a smile on your face. Do I make myself clear?” He yelled, standing over me, his face twisted in anger.
I tried to respond, tried to get the words out, but I was still winded and couldn’t catch my breath.
“I said, do I make myself clear?” He barked, grabbing my wrists and pulling me roughly to my feet.
I gasped and pulled in a much needed lungful of oxygen. “Yes, sir,” I wheezed, my eyes on his shoes.
“Good,” he said abruptly before sighing and releasing my arms. “Now go and get in the car.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I scuttled past him, keeping my eyes on the floor as I made my way out to the Beast. I passed the others in the barn building and hopped into the waiting limo, sitting quietly in my corner with my legs drawn up to my chest.
My back was pounding, I’d hit the hand dryer hard and I was pretty sure I’d almost cracked a rib. There was bound to be some bruising but I couldn’t think about that right now. Ian was right; this was supposed to be Jake’s birthday celebration. I shouldn’t have complained to Jason like that. I’d only text him because I’d been a bit upset and Jason usually cheered me up. I hadn’t meant to offend Ian. I didn’t want him thinking I didn’t like being with them.
The others filed into the car and I ended up sandwiched between the twins. I figured that was better than being next to one of the Sams who were currently studiously avoiding meeting my eye. That suited me just fine. I didn’t feel like making eye contact with any of them.
One of the advantages of being the youngest in a big family was that nobody expected me to talk much. There was always someone else to talk for me. Nobody paid me any attention and I didn’t draw any to myself. That way I could kill two birds with one stone. I wouldn’t say anything that would offend Ian or make me seem ungrateful, nor would I remind Jake of my unwanted presence.
The Beast dropped the two Sams off in town before returning us to the hotel. I followed my brothers in quietly, keeping close to Craig so I didn’t fall too far behind.
“What’s wrong, Jellybean?” Craig asked as he shut the door behind me.
“No complaints here,” I shook my head. “Can I use the shower?”
“Don’t give me that crap,” he scowled. “I don’t buy it. You were all happy when we finished playing and you’ve been sulking ever since.”
“I wasn’t sulking, I was just being quiet,” I shrugged, pretending to look for something in my bag so he couldn’t see my face or the tears seeping down it.
“Bullshit,” he scoffed. “What’s wrong?”
“Craig, please,” I pleaded with him to drop it.
“Don’t ‘Craig please’ me,” he threatened, pulling me up from my squatting position on the floor by my arm. “What’s wrong, Jelly?”
“I pissed Ian off,” I choked, lifting my face to meet his gaze.
I immediately felt him loosen his grip on my arm, pulling me into a hug instead.
“Why didn’t you just say that?” He sighed, understanding my plight. Craig knew what it was like to piss one of our big brothers off.
“I was ashamed,” I admitted, sniffling against his t-shirt.
He squeezed me a little bit tighter, making me wince as he put pressure on my bruised back.
“You can shower first,” he said gently, opening the bathroom door for me and stepping aside so I could pass.
I nodded gratefully and went to drown my sorrows under a hot stream of water. I let the scolding water pound my skin for a little longer than I should have; I knew I was going to be red all over when I stepped out. I had to remind myself that Craig would want to use the shower too and forced myself out.
After rubbing in a generous helping of coconut body butter, I wrapped one of the hotel towels around me and went out into the bedroom to see Craig lounging back on the bed watching the television.
“Finally!” He grinned his lop-sided grin.
I smiled and apologised, holding my towel around me as I went across to my bag. I watched Craig hop up from the bed and pull his t-shirt and jeans off, emptying his pockets onto the bedside table. Mere seconds after he put his phone down, it started ringing. He picked it up again and I saw his eyebrows knit together in confusion as he looked at the screen.
“Hello?” He answered, glancing across at me before he sat down on the other side of the bed with his back to me.
“Yeah, she is,” I heard him say as I pulled out some clean underwear and quickly pulled them on whilst his back was turned.
“How the fuck would I know, she’s your girlfriend,” Craig sighed.
That caught my attention. I turned around to look at Craig who was now looking at me curiously.
“Is that Jason?” I mouthed.
Craig nodded in response and turned his attention back to the call. “Give me a sec,” he told Jason before pressing the phone against his bare chest so he could talk to me without Jason overhearing.
“Jason thinks you’re ignoring him,” Craig grinned wickedly.
My heart broke a little. “Ian took my phone,” I pouted. “Can I talk to him?”
Craig put the phone back to his ear and held his finger out to me, signalling for me to wait.
“She hasn’t had her phone on her,” Craig explained. “Yeah, she’s fine.”
I took a step closer to Craig, gesturing for him to let me speak to Jason, silently pleading with him.
I saw a look of frustration cross his brow and he quickly wrapped his arm around my neck
, holding his hand firmly over my mouth to keep me quiet. I moaned in frustration against his hand, my own hands clinging to my towel to keep it around me.
“No, you spoke to her a few hours ago,” Craig continued his conversation with Jason as if the effort of restraining me was nothing to him.
“Well fucking grow a pair then. You’ll see her tomorrow,” he grinned, glancing down at me and giving me chance to scowl at him.
“I’ll have her with me and I’ll have my phone,” he added gently, nodding as he listened to Jason’s replied. “Alright, Reed. Talk to you later.” Craig clicked his phone off and released me.
“Why didn’t you let me talk to him?” I complained, glaring at him.
“Because Ian obviously took it off you for a reason and I’m not getting my ass kicked just so you can make kissy noises down the phone to your paranoid boyfriend,” he scowled, letting me know that he wasn’t pleased with me questioning him.
“Sorry,” I apologised immediately, lowering my gaze.
“It’s okay, Jellybean. I’d probably be reacting the same in Jason’s shoes,” he sighed.
I frowned in surprise. I didn’t expect Craig to be sympathetic to the situation but I appreciated that he was. It probably had something to do with the fact that he and Jason were almost friends, or maybe he was just being nice. Either way, I appreciated it.
Chapter 14
Wednesday, 5th June 2002
Ian made dinner and I sat at the table with my empty plate. My head felt funny because I was so hungry. My stomach had stopped hurting but I knew it would start again at any second. It was like a flickering light bulb going on and off without any warning.
I stared at my hands, hoping my brothers would eat everything quickly so I wouldn’t have to smell the food any longer.
“Why are you doing this to yourself, Jelly?” Ian asked, his eyes both angry and a little concerned. “All you have to do is ask.”
I shook my head and glanced over at Jake quickly to see his smug smile before I lowered my gaze once more. I obviously hadn’t glanced quickly enough, I saw Ian’s gaze follow mine and settle on Jake whose face fell immediately when he saw Ian glaring at him.