by Addison Jane
I got it now. It wasn’t that Heath didn’t think I wasn’t rich enough, or pretty enough. He was trying to protect me–again.
“Let me tell you something…” I started, waiting for his eyes to look up at me before I continued, “…I was out on the street for just forty-eight hours before I was approached by some gangsta looking to add to his list of whores to pimp out on the corner. It was another twenty-four when I was pulled into a side alley where they beat me up and stole everything that I’d managed to escape my home with. Later that week a rich guy wearing a suit tried—”
“Enough,” he snapped, his hands clenched as he pushed off the bed and stood to his full height.
“Your friends out there may be vile with their words, but I’ve already lived through the fucking sticks and stones. So you really think that they are going to be the ones to hurt me?” I snorted humorlessly. “I couldn’t care less.”
We stared at each other across the room, until Heath finally broke the tension with a smirk that pulled at the corner of his fucking gorgeous mouth. “You’re different.”
“That a compliment or an insult?”
He laughed softly, shaking his head as he stepped forward and grasped my hand. He pulled me away from the door as he reached for the handle. “Come on. I’ll get Bray to fix you another drink.”
Braydon wasn’t shy about throwing his money around, not literally, but as I watched him create a target on the once flawless white wall of the apartment using only condiments, I knew he had no qualms about who he was and just how high his family was on the totem pole of life.
I sat perched on the marble top bench, Heath leaning next to me with his arm brushing against my leg. Neither of us had acknowledged how he’d almost mauled me in the bedroom, but I could swear my lips still felt deliciously raw.
We both laughed as his brother went about announcing the game they were about to play. He was overly excited and completely invested, claiming that in a few short years it would be a new Olympic sport.
“Each person gets three water balloons filled with a liquid.” He held a small balloon in his hand, I knew it wasn’t water inside, though, it was dark and thick. “One point for the outer circle, two for the middle and three if you hit the bullseye.”
“What do we win?” someone yelled from in the crowd.
“Girl wins she gets me, guy wins you get to pick one of the girls.” A loud cheer went up in the room. The same group of girls who’d surrounded the one who’d come out of the room with Heath—Jay I think he’d called her—all squealed and acted like it was an honor to be given away.
Taking a sip of my drink, I looked down at Heath. “He always like this?”
“You have no idea. But usually, it’s someone else’s wall.”
“People don’t even care that he comes into their house and paints on the wall with ketchup?” I asked, utterly astounded.
Heath smirked. “They wouldn’t care if he pissed on their wall. If Bray is at your party, it means everyone will follow. In the eyes of these kids, that makes you popular.”
“And that’s the most important thing to them?”
“It’s everything to them.”
After sitting here and studying the room for about twenty minutes I’d realized one thing, people didn’t approach Heath like they did Bray. Girls stared at him with wonder and adoration in their eyes, and the guys said hey, but moved on pretty quick.
“Being popular isn’t important to you.” The way I worded it was more of a statement than a question, but I hoped he would confirm my thoughts.
He snorted. “I have a small group of friends, people I would trust with my life. Most of them I’ve known since I was a kid. I know that everyone is aware of how much money my family has, I don’t buy the crap people spin, trying to get into my inner circle and pretend to be my friend.”
“And Bray does?”
Heath shook his head. “He knows. Bray lets people in, but one false move and he’ll cut you off at the knees. He may be carefree and fun, but he can be just as ruthless as the rest of them. These people think they’re his friends, but they aren’t, he just enjoys being the center of attention and the life of the party.”
Until I met Layla in juvie, I hadn’t really had any friends since I was at elementary school. That was about the time, I figured out that the way my parents treated me, wasn’t normal. I would see other moms and dads with their children, dropping them off at school, hugging and kissing them goodbye and then picking them up again.
The kids would tell me stories about where they went on the weekend or for holidays, and about birthday parties and play dates. When they started asking me about what I did with my family, I started to avoid them, not wanting to answer or have them laugh at me.
“Fable.” I straightened my back, looking over to see Kyle standing in the doorway with Lee and Cody. Kyle looked angry, but Lee just couldn’t stop smiling. I knew his eyes were focused on the closeness of mine and Heath’s bodies.
A cheer filled the room as a boy hit the center of the wall target with an explosion of what I hoped like hell was mayonnaise. The three boys slipped through the crowd until they reached us. I felt Heath’s arm tense, but he didn’t move his body. His demeanor still read calm and relaxed, but I knew he was agitated.
“Hey Heath,” Cody said with a flick of his head. “Didn’t realize you knew Fay.”
Heath dipped his head in greeting, but it was Bray that answered for him as he appeared out of nowhere. “Fable is my favorite street rat,” he boasted, sliding up next to me and draping his arm around my shoulders.
“Shut your mouth, Bray,” Heath growled quietly, leaning forward and hitting his brother with a look that only enforced his words.
Braydon frowned. “What? She can throw back liquor better than half the guys in here. She’s got sass and attitude that rivals my own.” He held his hand to his heart like that was huge.
I saw people starting to take notice of what was going on, cursing silently as I pushed myself off the bench top. “I’m gonna go check out the rest of the party.”
“Awe… come on, Fay,” Lee groaned. “They’re throwing cum filled balloons here.” Another one exploded against the wall as he spoke followed by a roar of excitement and applause.
“Bro, you should’ve been here before when the boys had to fill them. It was strangely erotic.” Braydon wiggled his eyebrows at Lee, and his face lit up.
“Really now?”
Braydon grinned. “Naw man, sorry.”
Lee frowned, but you could tell he was enjoying Braydon’s banter. “Never joke about that shit. I take cock very seriously. Pun intended.”
A boom of laughter burst from Bray’s mouth. “Okay, I changed my mind. He’s my favorite. Sorry Fay, you’re out.”
“Oh, how disappointing,” I mumbled sarcastically.
He patted me on the head. “Don’t worry, you’re still Heath’s favorite. I know when my big brother—”
“Bray, I swear to God… shut the hell up.” Heath pushed off his stool, shoulders back and fist clenched. I watched Kyle tense, obviously understanding the insinuation.
“Okay, I think it’s time we went and found Lay and Andre.” I stepped forward, pushing at Kyle’s chest and forcing him backward. He didn’t fight me, but he made it known that he was fully ready to throw down by the way his muscles bulged against his shirt, and how he refused to take his eyes off Heath.
Cody followed, glancing curiously between the two boys.
I managed to get him out in the hallway, Lee’s laughter followed us out the door, and he was soon beside me.
“You want to explain what happened in there? You disappear, and then I find you hanging out with those rich kids, laughing and joking like you’re old friends.” Kyle gripped at my wrist as I tried to pull my hand from his chest. “You think they give a damn about you? You heard him yourself, calling you and Lee, street rats, and fucking laughing about it.”
“He didn’t say it to be mean, Kyle,�
�� I told him sternly, ripping my hand away from him. People walked around us, oblivious to the tension in the air, just enjoying the party. “Anyway, who cares? That’s what we are isn’t it?”
“I don’t need those assholes reminding me of where I live, Fable. They’re going to go home to their billion dollar mansions and laugh about this tomorrow. How they got one of the street kids to turn against their own.” I could feel his anger building, and he was drawing more and more attention to us.
I stepped closer to him, lowering my voice to barely a whisper, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re on right now, but you need to fucking step back and calm the hell down.”
His eyes met mine, and I could tell it wasn’t just fury hiding in them. There was something else. Jealousy?
“Cody, can you swipe us out? I think it’s time we went home,” my voice was quiet and deadly.
“Are you sure? We could go to a different room?” Cody asked nervously, he was obviously out of his depths when it came to confrontation.
I shook my head. “Now a scene’s been made, it won’t take long for everyone to hear what’s going on. It’ll only make things worse.”
Lee wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. “You guys go, I’ll find Layla and Andre.”
Cody and Lee followed us to the elevators, Kyle stomping inside like a sulking child and pressing himself against the wall.
By the time we walked out the front doors, I could tell his anger was beginning to evaporate, but mine wasn’t.
“Fay…”
“Just don’t, Kyle,” I snapped, pulling my jacket in around me. “You know, I like knowing that you’re here for me, that you give a shit enough to want to protect me and keep me safe. But you know what, I’m not that lost little girl I was before, looking for someone to coddle her and tell her that everything’s okay.”
He kicked an empty can as we walked down the street, the lights from the street lamps the only thing allowing us to see in the pitch black darkness. The air was cold compared to the jam-packed floor of the party. All those bodies together had heated it like a sauna, and now we were back outside I felt a chill run through me.
I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold breeze that seemed to have picked up in the last hour or so, or whether it was a dark reminder of the fact that this was just my life, my reality, a life out in the cold. I would walk back to the tent where I lived, while those kids would party into the night and go home to their soft beds and warm blankets.
“He looks at you differently,” Kyle murmured as we walked side by side. “He wants something from you.”
The kiss flashed into my mind, how gentle Heath had been yet how he had controlled my movements and taken the lead. I licked my lips, the memory of how he felt against me excited my body.
“Heath, Braydon, and their friends, saved our fucking asses the other night. They could have walked straight past us and not even taken a second glance, but they didn’t. They stood up and helped us out.” I stopped suddenly, Kyle stopping with me. His eyes were filled with frustration, and I was beginning to understand why.
For almost the last two years, I had relied on Kyle for almost everything. I’d gone to him when I was feeling down, I’d looked to him to keep me safe. And when I needed to feel someone’s touch of comfort, he’d been more than willing to offer it. He’d taught us all how to live and survive, and for the most part, we all saw him as the person to keep us all together and alive.
But we’d never had someone come in from the outside and challenge him. And while that was never Heath or Braydon’s intention, it was happening. I felt comfortable around them despite our differences, and Heath’s attempt to protect me from even his own people made me feel as though I was safe when I was with him.
Maybe Kyle was scared I’d figure out that there were other people out there, other than the group of people I now called my family, that might actually give a fuck about me.
Maybe he should be scared, because what I was beginning to feel for Heath was nothing I’d ever experienced before.
Maybe I should be scared too.
I went straight to Eazy’s tent when we got back. Kyle sat outside with Sketch and Coop, answering their questions about the party with false enthusiasm.
“Hey Fay,” Eazy croaked as I scooted up beside him and lay my head on his pillow. We’d spent some of the money we’d made from busking on getting some herbal shit for E after he’d refused any type of pain medication. He was determined never to fall back there again, but I couldn’t tell if they were working. He seemed to be in constant pain and didn’t spend long outside his tent.
“How you feeling?” I asked softly, brushing the hair on his forehead. It was slick with sweat.
“Better,” he answered simply. “How was the party?”
Sighing, I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. The light material flapped in the soft breeze. “Did you know that Heath and Braydon’s dad owned Parkens Hotel?”
I couldn’t see it, but I could just feel his smile. “Yeah. I’ve been to a party there before.”
“You knew they would be there?” I half accused, half laughed.
“I suspected they might be.”
I rolled toward him again. “But you just decided to leave that out?”
“Because you deserved to have some fun,” he answered without any kind of reservation or guilt. “I was close with Bray at school, people didn’t get close to Heath without being a crazy kind of special. But I saw the way he watched you.”
Swallowing tight, I asked softly, “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I knew they could show you a different side to life,” he replied. “I know that there’s something better out there, I’ve had better. But you’ve never been treated right. You’re strong, Fay. This place is dangerous and scary, but no matter what it throws at you, you’ll fight through it and survive.”
“You say it likes it’s a bad thing.”
Eazy sighed, it was followed by a painful groan as he pushed to talk, “Because sometimes we need to know that there’s something better out there in order for us to fight for it.” E never complained or moaned about the situation he was now in. I think he realized that he’d been lucky, and he’d made a horrible decision and ruined it all.
I frowned. “Eazy, those kids are in a different league. They aren’t just regular kids with minimum wage earning parents.”
“But they make you want something more, don’t they?”
We lay in silence for a while.
Eazy was right. They had money, but it wasn’t that, that I found myself being pulled toward. I’d spent my whole life being broken down and treated like trash. Yes, I’d found these people that had become like family, they’d shown me love and friendship like I’d never had before. But the reality was, the streets weren’t really all that different to what I was living in before. It was a weird comfort zone.
I’d just traded my dad in for a different kind of devil. Where I knew what to expect from him, the darkness out here was disguised in so many different forms and hid in the shadows.
“Do you want more?” I asked softly.
“So much more.”
“Night Anton,” I joked as I crawled for the exit.
He laughed, but it wasn’t the same laugh I remembered. I knew there was something wrong, I just didn’t know what to do about it.
It was early morning by the time I dragged my ass out of my tent. I could hear the gentle pluck of guitar strings, the sound literally music to my ears. Layla sat on the log outside my tent, and a new guitar in her arms as she strummed and hummed along quietly.
“You got a new guitar.”
She spun around to face me, as I sat at my doorway rubbing at my tired eyes.
“You know the band that was there last night? This is the lead singer’s guitar.” She looked down at it in awe, like she couldn’t believe for a second that it was in her hands. “Braydon got them all to sign it for me, and then he said I could have
it.”
Staring at her with my mouth hanging open, I couldn’t even form words.
“I know right.” Her head bobbed in agreement to my silence. “That’s exactly what I said.”
I stepped out in my track pants and hoodie, the air was cooler today. Brisk, but with no breeze. “What time did you guys get back?”
“Just after one, I think. I tried to sleep, but my body was just itching to play.” She continued to strum away, I don’t know if she was just feeling the instrument or if she was playing a song, but either way it always sounded beautiful. I think we’d all missed having Layla sit around and just play for no reason. It was strangely calming and normal to hear some kind of music while we were home.
“So Braydon pulled through, huh,” I commented, sitting on the ground next to her legs and leaning my head against her as I stifled a yawn.
“I’ve gotta give him props, he really is the life of the party. Everyone wanted to talk to him and say hi. Girls rubbed up against him for no reason, and guys would say anything to start a conversation.”
I nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “Was Heath there?” I knew the casual tone in my voice wasn’t so casual, but I tried anyway.
“For a second. There was some chick following him around like a lost puppy, he kept trying to brush her off, but I think he ended up getting so annoyed he told Braydon he was heading to bed and took off, leaving her looking furious.” Layla giggled a little before she continued, “There something you want to tell me?”
I knew exactly what chick she was talking about without even having to ask for a description of her. Jay had eyeballed me the whole time I sat with Heath, and she didn’t feel the need to hide it. Knowing that she’d attempted to seduce him again after I was gone, left a sour taste in my mouth and annoyance to spike inside. Was it jealousy?
I looked around at the tents, soft snoring filled the air. Looking up at Lay, I lowered my voice to barely a whisper, “Heath kissed me.” My hand went straight to cover my mouth as if I couldn’t believe I’d just admitted to someone what had happened. It felt good, though.