Burn For Him

by Kristan Belle

  She laughed again. Usually, I had endless patience with Dee. She had a good heart and she’d had a pretty damn hard life and drinking was one of her ways to escape all that. Unfortunately, alcohol seemed to knock her age back by quite a few years until she was giggling like a teenager and acting like a spoiled child. Honestly, I really could do without her acting like that at the moment. Couldn’t she wait until we got her safely home before she started in with all the giggles?

  “Carrie, this is… Umm… What’s your name again?” she asked the guy who was hanging off her. He didn’t even bother to reply and Destiny clearly found that highly amusing as she fell into his arms, laughing like a hyena.

  “Yeah. Whatever. Nice to meet you, too, douchebag.” I muttered under my breath. I rose my voice again, hoping that she’d hear me over the pounding music. “Seriously, Destiny. We’re going now, with or without you. I’m not fighting with you on this tonight.” It was an empty threat and she knew it. Dee knew that I wouldn’t leave her in this drunken state with someone like him.

  “So, what are you waiting for? Leave.” The man sneered, pausing briefly from nuzzling her neck to glare over at me with a pair of dangerously black eyes.

  I really didn’t like the look of him at all. He was even more sleazy looking up close and personal. Dee was never particularly fussy when it came to the kind of man she attracted, but this was pushing it. She had picked up some complete dicks that had caused her nothing but hassle in the past and I feared that this one was about to be added to that long list. The sooner I got her away from him, the better.

  “Destiny?”

  I tried to take her arm to get her attention back onto me, but the guy she was dancing with suddenly swung his black eyes back to me. Before I could make contact with her, he grabbed hold of my wrist hard enough to leave bruises and pushed me away from the pair of them. I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t expect him to make a move like that, but I should have known, though. I should have realised from the look in his eyes that he didn’t appreciate me interrupting them and that he wouldn’t let go of her that easily. Dee had definitely picked up the wrong guy tonight.

  He pushed me hard enough that I went sprawling on my ass in the middle of the dance floor, sending a couple of other party-goers to the floor like dominoes as I went down. I saw him grab hold of Dee around the waist, but she was no longer finding this situation quite as amusing as she had mere seconds ago. It’s a miracle how quickly you can sober up when the mood around you changes.

  She looked down at me lying on the floor in a heap with a horrified expression on her face. She turned to try and push the guy off her, but he had firmly latched his lips back onto her neck and he didn’t seem like he was very inclined to let go any time soon.

  Dee looked over at me and I knew in that split second that she was scared. It was more often than not that she got herself into a situation she couldn’t get herself out of, my foster mother had been right about that. But she always had me or Harper there to ride to her rescue. If it was within my power, I’d never let anything happen to her on my watch. This was definitely one of those times. She wasn’t a piece of meat that he could just gnaw on, and I wasn’t someone that he could push around. Little did he knew that I had trained with Harper long enough that I could dish it out if I really needed to. I could more than handle myself. As this asshole was just about to find out.

  Kicking off my shoes, I saw Destiny’s eyes go wide. She knew that I meant business. It wasn’t easy to kick ass when you’re wearing six inch stilettos.

  But, just as I was about to step forward and teach this dude that he couldn’t go around treating women like that, throwing his weight around like he was untouchable, Harper came storming passed me and was on the guy quicker than I could blink.

  Harper had the upper hand, especially seeing as he was still stone cold sober. Not that it really would have made much of a difference even if he had been intoxicated. One thing about Harper was that he would not stand for was anyone getting rough with me or Destiny. There was a line that no one should cross, and this dude had just crossed it. Harper was the big brother that no one wanted to mess with if they valued their bones in one piece.

  A spray of blood splattered down the front of my white top as Harper busted the assholes nose before firmly planting him on his butt on the ground. One other thing about Harper was that he was quick and efficient. It didn’t matter if the other guy was fighting dirty, Harper kept it clean and over and done with as quickly as possible. He never seemed to lose control, inflicting only the minimal amount of damage that was necessary to get his message across. If who he was fighting decided to fight back, then that was their problem. They should have known what they were getting into.

  “Shit.” I muttered, more to myself than to any of the strangers around me. I hated it when the night had to end this way. Destiny and I had many an argument in the past about this. You could usually find Dee at the root of any problem that caused Harper to start fighting. She started it and he inevitably had to finish it when things got out of hand.

  Glaring over at her as she just stood there looking dumbly around at the chaos, I reached for Harper’s arm. “Come on, leave it. We really need to get out of here.”

  He glanced over at me and smirked wryly, nodding his head for me to look behind. Great. Just great. The club’s doormen were already on their way over to us, pushing their way through the crowd of onlookers and they were heading our way fast. Awesome. Just how I wanted the evening to end.

  “Harper. What the fuck did you do this time?” Brent shook his head at the guy who was still lying on the ground, clutching his face as the blood continued to pump out of his nose. “Seriously? Did you have to bust his nose? You know who’s going to have to clean this mess up, don’t you? Shit, man. As if I haven’t got enough to do.”

  I was grateful that it was Brent that got over to us first. He trained regularly with Harper and knew him well. Brent knew that Harper wasn’t a brawler or a trouble maker and that he would only have done this as a last resort. But, still, that wouldn’t stop Brent from slapping a club ban on him. And me and Destiny.

  As previously stated, we were dubbed the Three Musketeers, and therefore if one of us was banned, all three of us were. It wasn’t exactly fair, but we all went out together anyway, so if one of us wasn’t allowed in this club, then none of us would go in it anyway. This club did not condone violence and although they were friends, we knew that Brent couldn’t let this slide. It had all got a little too public, if the crowd gathered around us was anything to go by.

  “Sorry, man.” Harper held up his hands in mock surrender, but offered no further explanation.

  One of the other doormen stepped forward to make a grab for him but Harper skipped out of the way. Brent stepped forward and held out a restraining arm. “Take this piece of shit out of here and get him cleaned up. He’s bleeding all over my floor.” The other doorman looked at Brent for a moment, as if to check that he was hearing him right. “I said, get him out of my fucking sight! I’ll deal with the rest of them. You couldn’t handle it, anyway. Harper here would kick your ass all over town.” Brent glared at the other guy until he bent down to help the bleeding man to his feet.

  “Back to your positions.” Brent said into a small mouth piece on his wrist. The music was still banging through the club and it was difficult to hear. “Come on, Harper. And you two. Move it.” He motioned for all three of us to follow him. It wasn’t like we needed directions. We knew the drill all too well. We were being kicked out of the club and therefore that meant being taken out the back way. We’d been thrown out of this place more times than I could remember.

  “So, tell me. What happened this time?” Brent asked as we walked down the steep concrete stairwell that was located at the rear of the club. If the front of house wasn’t particularly classy, then the back exit was positively prison-like, with its bare cement walls and harsh artificial lighting.

  Harper glanced over at Destiny, who
was trying not to stumble her way down the stairs and was snivelling into a tissue. “Nothing.”

  “It didn’t look like nothing to me.” Brent chuckled. Obviously, he found mindless violence quite amusing.

  Harper shook his head slightly. I knew that nothing on this earth would ever stop him from being there to defend me or Destiny if we ever got into any trouble, but we were both getting fed up of Dee acting like a spoiled brat and us having to bail her out every single time. One of these days, she was going to have to grow up. Not that I could see that happening any time soon.

  “Well, we’ve done this enough times for you to know what’s going to happen next.” Brent said, taking us all in with a single look. He was a scary looking man, probably less muscle and more cheeseburgers, but still, he was a hell of a hulk of a man. Luckily, I’d never seen the bad side of him and I wouldn’t want to.

  “Yeah. Sure. One month’s ban.” Harper replied glumly, staring straight ahead, trying to rein in his temper.

  “If you kept your girl here under better control, then this wouldn’t happen to you quite so often.” Brent gave a brief nod in Dee’s direction. There was nothing we could really say to that. There would never be any way to keep Destiny under control. She was the one that was always looking for the next adventure and seeking out a good time, regardless of the consequences. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from getting into bother and each and every time, all hell broke loose. There would be no taming this particular beast.

  “I think I’m going to throw up.” Dee muttered as she staggered over to the wall at the base of the stairs, clutching at her stomach and moaning pitifully.

  “Aww, shit, man! Get her out of here! It’s bad enough that we have got to mop that blood up tonight without having to deal with that, too.” Brent shook his head in disgust and walked back towards the open door of the club.

  I looked over at Harper. There was no way that any taxi driver in their right mind would be willing to pick us up with Dee in that kind of state. Her ebony skin was taking on a decidedly greenish tint and she was staggering all over the place, obviously obliterated out of her skull.

  “Well, ain’t this just perfect?” Harper said as Dee began to retch and the first spots of rain started to fall from the night sky.

  It certainly wasn’t the best end to the night. Ever since my headache had come on, I had just wanted to go home and get away from all the noise and the flashing lights. I wished that we hadn’t bothered coming out in the first place. It sometimes just wasn’t worth the hassle.

  Harper had managed to cheer me up, just as he always did, but now I wished that I had dragged Dee out of there by her hair at the beginning of the night. If we had left when I originally wanted to, Destiny wouldn’t be smashed out of her head on Jaeger and Harper wouldn’t have bloody knuckles. Plus, my favourite white top wouldn’t have been ruined.

  And, just to top off a spectacularly crappy night, we’d got another month’s ban from the club. Great. Not that we would have ever gone there without Harper anyway, but that was beside the point. It wasn’t anything new. Brent was getting sick and tired of Dee’s antics. She attracted men and she attracted trouble. They were going to be enjoying a peaceful month at the club without the three of us in there, stirring the place up.

  It wasn’t like Dee was intentionally loose or a tease. That was just how she was. She was a flirtatious creature and men flocked to her. It was a shame that all too often, she chose the wrong partner to fool around with. Dee didn’t have a lot of sense, which was why Harper and I had to wade in to save her time and time again.

  I was getting sick and tired of Destiny pushing her luck and leaving up to Harper and me to run to her rescue. She was the one that was hung-over, but we were the ones left with the physical bruises.

  “Looks like we’re going to have a long, wet walk home tonight. Brilliant.” Harper muttered as he helped Dee up off the floor where she had slumped drunkenly.

  The rain started hammering down even before we’d managed to lose sight of the club. Just great. This was really what we needed, a shitty end to a shitty night. I didn’t bother to take a coat out with me because the evening had started out relatively warm. I was sorely regretting it now, though. A white top (now with some not-so-stylish red splatters running across the front of it) and rain weren’t the best combination. Within five minutes, it looked like I had entered a wet t-shirt competition.

  Dee walked in the middle of us. Well, she staggered. And we dragged her along. Both Harper and I had an arm around her because she was in no fit state to stay upright by herself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having a good time and I can neck shots with the best of them, but I didn’t ever get so steamed that I didn’t know who or what I was doing, or that I couldn’t walk under my own steam.

  Destiny just didn’t think things through. She didn’t think through the consequences of her actions. Danger wasn’t a factor for her. In her bubble, nothing bad would happen to her. If we hadn’t been there with her tonight, anything could have happened to her and she would have had no way to stop it because she was well and truly out of it. What if Harper hadn’t been there? As much as it pained me to admit, because I always thought that I could handle myself, that guy had swatted me aside like a fly. If Harper wasn’t there with us, anything could have happened to her. All I could have done was run off to go and find Brent and then it might have been too late to stop it.

  “Stop! Stop! I need to be sick.” Dee slurred as she dropped away from our hands and fell to her knees on the grass verge at the side of the road.

  I didn’t look. I can’t even handle vomiting myself, so I wouldn’t have been any help to her. Hearing her retching like that was bad enough and I had to concentrate hard on keeping my own dinner down.

  Harper quickly left my side, patting me gently on my arm. He knew that this was one of my ‘things’. Being sick and snotty kids. I couldn’t stand either. Just the sight of it made me want to puke, which made me feel even worse. I couldn’t go over to Destiny now. I’d only end up getting sick myself and puking on her head or something equally as gross. Not that she’d notice with the state she was in…

  “I’m okay. I’m okay now.” Dee said after she stopped throwing up all over the place.

  I turned around slowly, thankful that whatever she had brought up was carefully hidden by all the bushes and long grass that surrounded her. Harper was crouched down beside her, holding her hair back from her face.

  “Why do you get yourself in this kind of state? There’s no fun in this part, is there? Why do you do it?” Harper asked her. His words clearly came out more harshly than he had planned on as he quickly smiled to soften the blow.

  Destiny pushed herself back up off the dirty road and swiped at Harper’s steadying hands. She swayed slightly on her feet but was much steadier than she had been only a few moments before. Vomiting up all that alcohol she had consumed must have sobered her up somewhat.

  “What’s your problem, eh?” she said, still sounding wobbly, “It was just a bit of fun. Fun. Remember what that is?” Dee put her hand on her hip, but she couldn’t pull off the menacing look that she was trying to achieve. Her hair was all over the place and there was a trail of sick down the leather bustier bra-top that she was wearing. Plus, she was still having trouble standing up straight in those ridiculously high heels of hers. How was anyone supposed to take her seriously when she was looking like that?

  “Destiny, it was just another bit of fun that got us banned from the club. Again. What’s fun about that?” I could tell that Harper was trying his hardest to keep his temper in check, but was struggling with it. He sounded strained as he glared over at her.

  “Whatever. It wasn’t like I was actually asking for either of you to help me. Next time, you should try minding your own business.” She muttered sullenly.

  I took a step back from the pair of them, the alcohol fumes coming off of Dee was making me feel queasy. I knew that tone in her voice all too well. She was g
etting ready to sulk. She knew that she was in the wrong, but Dee wasn’t one ever to admit that she had messed up and she would never, ever back down. Especially when intoxicated.

  “Are you kidding me?” Harper replied incredulously.

  “Harper, I had it under control.” She screamed at him suddenly.

  I could see that this was going to get out of hand very quickly. Dee could flip from being a loving drunk to being ultra-confrontational, as she was displaying right now. These nights were the worst and my head felt like it was going to explode. The last thing I needed was for Dee to start screaming like a banshee.

  “Like hell you did!” Harper stormed back at her.

  “You’re not my father so stop trying to act like it!” She shouted in his face.

  “SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!” I yelled, my hands clasping my head so it didn’t spontaneously combust. This slanging match could go on for hours if someone didn’t stop it.

  I think it was just damn lucky that Harper had such a strong hold over himself and Dee only pushed him like that because she knew that he would never lower himself to hit a woman. If she had been speaking to me like that and shouting in my face, she would have got a good slap across the chops. I hated it when she got out of control like this. Dee was unrecognisable as the friend she was the rest of the time.

  Harper simply shook his head at her, refusing to rise. I knew that he wouldn’t be prepared to get into this kind of conversation with her, especially when she was still drunk. It wasn’t worth it. Things would get said that they would regret, but by the time she was sober, it would be too late to take them back.

  Destiny’s father was always a sore subject. He was over-bearing to say the least. She may be a twenty-three year old grown woman, but there was no way on this earth that he would ever have let her leave the house looking like she did right now. It was a bad thing when you got to her age and had to lie where you were going. She was staying over at our place tonight. There was no way she would be able to show her face at home tonight, stumbling in drunk and looking like that. There was no telling what he would do or say to her.