The Carrero Heart_The Journey_Arrick and Sophie

by L. T. Marshall

  ‘Arrick?’ I try and talk into his mouth, trying like crazy to capture his face and pull him away. He tastes like beer, like him, only half hearing me under the music around us and finally pulls back to frown at the fact I am not kissing him back, like I normally would.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ He leans in, touching his nose to mine and frowns harder when I shrug his hands off me that are sliding around my body. Looking concerned at my behaviour.

  ‘Natasha’s over there, staring at us.’ I say into his face as he tries to catch my chin and throw another kiss, he seems overly frustrated that I am suddenly rejecting his attentions and slow on the uptake. He looks at me for a second, eyes registering and then over me and scans the room. I guess he sees her too as he comes back to my face and kisses me on the cheek, before letting me go and just sliding my hand in his instead. That tiny frown that he saw her too and now feels equally uncomfortable.

  ‘Sophie .. Wow, check you baby, you look freaking amazing.’ Gary, an old friend of Arricks, appears beside us and kisses me on the cheek before Arry can say anything else. I turn and smile at him. We haven’t seen him in over a year, he is not one of the regulars to this crowd; he was in Australia working for the past few months and I guess he caught wind of Arricks party tonight. Apparent that he’s home visiting again.

  ‘Thanks Gary, you’re looking well. Australia must agree with you.’ I lean in and receive my kiss on the cheek, something all his friends do. And pull back when he aims a little close to the corner of my mouth with a hand on my hip with a little too firm a grip. It gives me the sudden recoiling urge, and I glance at him warily, tensing my hand in Arry’s.

  ‘You look about ten years older than last time I saw you; fuck me, you’re hot as hell.’ He moves back with Arricks hand on his chest, a little smile of warning as Arry pulls me back in against him. Clearly getting my signal and dealing with him; he may not be prone to jealousy, but he knows when I need him to protect me.

  ‘Back off Briny, this one’s taken, and if you so much as kiss at her like that again, I’ll break your face.’ Arrick smiles, but it’s clear he doesn’t like the drunken way Gary is clinging onto me and swaying into me in an inappropriate way. His eyes have done a full body sweep of me more than once. Arrick removes him from my hip and pulls me back another inch to widen the gap.

  ‘Calm your pants Arry; it’s pretty clear she’s off limits, seeing as you have been man handling her since you walked in. When the hell did that happen? I thought you were shacked up with …..’ He nods off towards the corner of the room and Arrick throws him a murderous look.

  ‘Nothing like coming out with the most obvious statements, ehh Briny? This is what happens when you fuck off for months on end and don’t keep in touch.’ Arrick sounds mildly pissed, but swigs his beer and shoves the other guy in the shoulder with his bottle in a friendly manner. Weird vibes suddenly and I just feel stiff and unrelaxed between them.

  ‘Does that mean Tash is back on the market?’ Gary winks, making me tense, and I just want to shove his bottle down his throat, but Arrick just shrugs.

  ‘Guess so. Not that she ever actually liked you, but sure that won’t stop you.’ Arrick throws him another smile, slides his arm down low on my back and tugs me closer so I am encircled in his protective space with a very clear show of ‘hands off’.

  I immediately stare at his profile for a reaction, to see if it bothers him that his so-called mate wants to make a play for his ex, but he gives nothing away. I feel uncomfortable being scrutinised from afar while he has hands on me and I hate the way Gary is now leering at me like he can’t get over the change.

  ‘How about we go dance?’ Arry says softly, smiling at me and being my saviour in one smooth move. Ignoring his friend and offering me a respite.

  ‘Yes. Definitely.’ I smile and sigh in relief, glad for any excuse to get out of here so I can relax again. I don’t see me enjoying this night if it continues like this.

  ‘Watch these, we’re going down to dance.’ He orders Gary, handing off our drinks to the table nearby, before catching his fingers in mine again and leading us back to the rear of the room and the direct stair down to the club. This really does feel a lot like that club I was in the night Camilla tried to drug me, and I look around uneasily, trying to push that memory away.

  Arrick glances back as we get to the stair and catches Natasha watching us; looking to me with a frown and then a smile and he leads me onwards. He’s trying to act like it doesn’t matter but the odd waves of uneasiness that come off him only put my nerves on edge.

  He helps me navigate the stair slowly, sliding a hand over my ass and pulling me against him when we get to the bottom and he leads me across the floor to find a place to dance. He’s always been a great dancer and buddied me over the years, so I look forward to getting in among the bodies already bouncing to the beat. I squeal when he tugs me by the hand into the crowd with a yank, and pulls me in to get moving, clearly back to his normal playful self now that he isn’t monitoring his behaviour from prying eyes.

  * * *

  Arrick pulls me with him to a nearby row of seats in the corner by the corridor doors; we have been going easy on alcohol tonight, but we are probably both a lot more drunk than we intended to be. Caught up in the night and his friends, it’s easy to lose track of what you consume until it hits you hard in one fell swoop. I have to admit I am feeling beyond tipsy, everything swaying softly and that ultra-merry, ‘I am so drunk’, feeling has me all giggly.

  I have danced my legs off with Claire, seen Jenny for all of ten minutes when Nate swept in and dragged her away and haven’t seen her since. I don’t doubt it’s all kisses and roses, seeing as he literally picked her up over his shoulder, hand on her ass and took her off in the direction of the private VIP rooms. Neither has come back in hours, so I am going to assume they left together. No doubt I will get a text sometime tomorrow with explanations at her disappearance and his. Christian sent me a dozen selfies from his own little party for two, it seems they are drunk, in a hotel, and making effective use of an empty swimming pool.

  I slump down on the seats and lean back, tired and fuzzy, glowing with the warm feeling of alcohol consumption and feeling better down here away from the VIP lounge. We have not strayed back upstairs in almost three hours, and I get the feeling he’s keeping us away from her, even though he hasn’t mentioned her.

  I saw him check his cell a couple times when we were at the bar, I guess she has text him and I am trying not to let it get to me. I know he didn’t respond to her, if it was even her at all, but I can’t help feeling a little bit pissed that even here, seeing me with him, she still tries to get between us. That I am letting her.

  Let it go, for one night.

  ‘We should think about heading home soon.’ Arrick slides in beside me, leaning across me so he can get nose to nose with me and angles in for a kiss. Far too appealing with that soft hazy drunk look on him, eyes heavy and lips ripe for smooching.

  ‘Really? Are you tired Mr Carrero?’ I smile sweetly, rubbing my nose against his as he teases me with an almost kiss, his fingers coming to trace my lips gently. His eyes are focused on my mouth and the last half hour he hasn’t been able to keep his hands off me. I am most definitely getting the vibe he’s thinking about going home to get naked. I am on board with that, he has my body tingling with his attentions, gyrating and grinding into me on the dancefloor, fuelling me with alcohol and letting me hang around his neck, making out to slower songs. I feel completely relaxed, ready to take all my clothes off and climb on top of him.

  ‘Not tired baby… Crazily horny for you, and thinking how good you look out of that dress right now.’ He leans in the last millimetres and kisses me seductively, lips meeting mine perfectly, parting and easing his tongue against mine. Cradling my jaw in his hand and pulling my body to him so he can run his free hand up my thigh and under the edge of my dress to cup under my butt. I moan against him as his hot hand warms my skin on the cool seat, edging my
body to his so that I mould against him, smiling when his other hand skims my throat and across the curve of my breast teasingly.

  ‘Get a fucking room!’ The nasty bitchy tone makes us snap apart, and Arrick looks up over his shoulder to glare at the female voice behind us. It isn’t a voice I know, and I’m surprised to see a random girl, I vaguely recognise, standing right beside us; hands on hips and glaring at me icily. I try to place her face and can’t. Tall, slim with jet black hair and soulless grey eyes.

  ‘Back off Miranda. Go back to wherever you came from, and keep out of it!’ Arrick snaps, still holding me close, hand back on my throat gently, body still caging mine protectively.

  ‘Your heartbroken ex-girlfriend doesn’t need you flaunting your hussy in her face, it’s fucking cruel Arrick!’ She sneers directly at me, looks me up and down and snorts before dragging her eyes back to his face.

  ‘Miranda, we stayed down here knowing she would stay up there… What else do you want me to do? We broke up… I moved on with my life. I’m sorry that we move in the same circles, and I am not trying to hurt her, but I moved on.’ Arrick stands up and offers me his hand to move, obviously intending to avoid this kind of drama, but Miranda stands her ground. I can tell by his posture that she’s getting to him on major levels but he’s trying to ignore her, keep the cool he’s famed for.

  ‘It makes me sick watching you, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for her. It’s fucking incest! Dumping a sweetheart, for some trampy little girl whose been trying to break you up for years under the guise of little sister. What the hell is wrong with you?’ She has a serious attitude when it comes to me, even though I don’t even know her; death glare and nasty vile scowls from behind his back, aimed right at me with such clear hatred. I feel my temper rise, but I know he won’t want me to react. He will want to deal with this and keep things from escalating, so I bite my tongue and try to avoid looking at her. Trying to control that inner demon in me as best as I can by squirming around and taking long steady breaths and counting to ten.

  ‘What the fuck? This is nothing to do with you, so how about you back off and go console her, instead of starting shit here?’ Arrick yells at her, losing his temper faster than I even anticipated and I blink at him as he turns on her. Seeing really, the first tell-tale signs that he’s a lot drunker than I thought and that does not bode well for her. All his normal controlled composure is a little flighty when he’s like this.

  ‘I’m her best friend and she’s been sobbing all night, because of you being unable to keep your hands off the tramp. What is she Arrick? All of twelve? You threw away an amazing girl for some little whore, who clearly drops her pants on a whim.’ She storms forward to face him off, so close facially and spitting venom. I just glare at her hatefully, so consumed with the urge to yell something back and fighting every inch of myself. I feel the shift in his mood, the vibes of aggression building and stand up too. Ready to either take her on, or hold him back.

  ‘Stay here, I’ll only be a minute.’ Arrick turns to me snappily, leans into my face hoarsely, kissing me on the mouth and then turns, catching the fiery girls arm and dragging her with him to a corner across the room aggressively. He turns on her and lets her go and I can tell immediately, even from here, that he’s having a major go at her. He looks angry as hell; his mannerisms are that of one very pissed Carrero and she seems to be yelling back at him, stupidly. I feel my insides crumble and know that this is the worst possible scenario for us right now, last thing we need is his mood set off while under the influence, almost like a foreboding heavy pit in my stomach. I sit down again shakily, watching with complete numbness; not sure what to feel about anything she said, or the fact she has him looking murderous right now.

  ‘Shock! Miranda and drama; funny how it’s always hand in hand.’ Claire sits down beside me and nods her way, eyes trained on them in the shadowy corner with absolutely no look of surprise. I feel relieved that I’m not sat alone and smile at her, some little thanks.

  ‘You know her well?’ I ask out of curiosity and watch as Claire downs her drink in one go, a seasoned party girl.

  ‘So, so. She used to come out occasionally with us when we did couple things; she dated Colin for a while. She’s a bit of a poisonous one and I never got the relationship between her and Tash to be honest. Chalk and cheese. None of us ever really warmed to her, so we were glad when Colin dumped her.’ Claire throws back her short red hair off her eyes, casting a navy-blue gaze at the woman with complete indifference.

  ‘She’s her best friend?’ I follow and try not to watch as Arrick is seemingly going crazy at her; he doesn’t look like him, frowning, scowling, animated in whatever he’s saying, and she seems to be pushing all his anger buttons. I recoil internally, deep down a pit of unease at his being drunk and her setting him off, once again and try not to dwell on it.

  ‘Yeah, probably the reason Tasha is now dressing like a whore and drinking her life into oblivion, while trying to make Arry jealous. Sad that she took the unclassy route to break-upsville.’ Claire twists her glass in her hand and sighs heavily. I turn towards her with a snap of my head, and blink. Not sure what she means by that.

  ‘Trying to make him jealous?’ I blink again, looking from her then to Arry across the room, he’s still arguing, and then back at Claire. He hasn’t mentioned anything about that, only ever said she was being mature and talking ‘pleasantries.’

  ‘Yeah, you know? Showing up in Miami and trying to get Nate to sleep with her for a reaction. Low blow. She’s turned into a fucking mess, and I think it’s that one there, who’s filling her head with this nonsense about making Arry jealous and shit. Natasha was never that girl. I think her dad being sick has sent her over the edge.’ She shrugs and throws me a supportive grimace, but pauses when she catches what I assume is an ashen expression on my face. I’m, openly staring at her with a crushed look of complete betrayal.

  I feel like someone has punched me in the stomach. I look back across the room at him and suddenly feel sick with the fact he hasn’t told me she was in Miami with him. A thousand things running through my head as tears sting my eyes, and I want to physically wail. That he would even keep this from me, and that day in my apartment, when I felt like he was lying, or being evasive. This is why! He was with her, there, without me! …. And he never said a single thing about it.

  Why?

  ‘She went to Miami?’ I feel my voice break as I stare at him, anger and betrayal ripping across my heart, a deep aching heaviness that hurts so much I can barely breathe and hold my shit together. Tears stinging the backs of my eyes as I struggle to not react.

  He always swore he would tell me everything, always did tell me everything, and now here I am finding out he spent all that time in Miami, with her. His ex-girlfriend, who means nothing to him. In all the texts and calls and even when he came home…Never once mentioned it.

  ‘Shit…Sophie …I thought he would have told you. I’m sorry. Nate mentioned it to Jase and I assumed you knew.’ Claire looks distraught and stands up quickly. Suddenly uneasy, looking incredibly guilty and sheepish.

  ‘Fuck…. I’m going to go away before I put anymore foot in my mouth. I’m sorry Sophie.’ Claire takes off, looking his way, and I realise it’s because he’s coming back to me; Miranda shouting after him as he waves her away looking glacial.

  I get up and turn away before he sees the tears threatening to spill down my face and take deep breaths to calm the rage swirling inside of me. Completely devastated and feeling like I did back when he chose Natasha over me once more. I just want to lash out at him, shake him right now. So consumed by devastation, and trying so hard to not fall to bits in this club. My whole body is shaking, and I am so close to light headed passing out.

  I feel his hands on my waist and pull away from him instinctively, pain slicing through me as he tries to turn me. His touch burning me painfully.

  ‘Hey… Sophie? What’s wrong?’ He turns me, but I just shrug out of his arms de
fensively; not wanting his hands on me and refusing to look him in the face. I feel like if I let loose I may self-implode right now, it’s all bubbling up inside of me like a torrent of anger. So much going on inside me, burning explosively and I just shake my head at him, barely containing my outward calm.

  ‘Baby? .. What is it? Is it what she said? Because you know that doesn’t mean any……’ His face, looking so god damn honest and endearing makes me snap crazily.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me she came to Miami with you?’ I yell at him, yanking my hand free as he tries to catch my wrist. Shoving him away when he tries to catch me and feeling only worse when his sudden falling expression and paling skin tone, tells me that it’s true.

  ‘I…. Who?....... Sophie. I didn’t go with her, it’s not like that. She showed up in the last two days.’ Arrick lifts his hands to brush my hair back and I slap him away, fire coursing through my veins. Hating him with a passion that I never thought I would ever feel again. That face that I love so much, right now is the last thing I want near me.

  ‘So now you’re lying to me? Keeping secrets? After everything? Over her? DO you have any fucking idea what that does to me?’ I feel the tears break down my face and wipe them away angrily, glaring at him. Hating that he could make me feel this much pain so easily.

  ‘No… I didn’t lie, I would have told you eventually ….. Just not anytime soon while you’re still like this about her. You’re over reacting about this.’ Arrick drops his hands and moves away, looking equally riled, even though he should be grovelling and not acting like an asshole right now. It just sets my teeth on edge, biting down to curb the tidal wave of tears behind the surface.

  ‘Like this? Pissed because your ex-girlfriend came and spent two days with you when I wasn’t there?’ I spit at him, seeing red, jealousy eating my insides out, and a million stupid things running through my head. I wonder how much time they spent, how far it went and if he did get jealous when she tried to hook up with Nate. So many insecure stupid little thoughts like a floodgate ripping through me. He just narrows his brows, taking on that cold distant look of emotionless cool.