Life Altering Beautiful

by T. A. Hardenbrook

  Jason didn’t even ask where to take me; he must have known where Stone was as he pulls up in front of the frat house. I don’t even think the car was stopped when I jump out and storm to the door. “Seven wait” he yells while running to catch up with me. I have one goal tonight, well make that two. I want to tell Stone to fucking suck it, and then punch that two bit waffle house hussy in her nasty ass face. For once all my training at the gym was going to pay off, I want to make her bleed. If she cries it will only further the satisfaction even more, I am done.

  The party was still in full force as I glance around the room looking for Stone. “Hey Seven” several brothers say as I wander around the house looking for him. “Hey pretty lady” Hunter says when I see him on the couch attached to two blondes.

  “Where is Stone?”

  “You don’t want him sweetie, that boy is way too drunk and hung up on someone to have fun with tonight” the blonde bimbo says as she tips back her beer. I don’t even know if I took steps over to the couch or if I just lunged, all I knew was my fists were flying and her blonde hair was whipping around like an eighties rock band concert. “Seven stop” Jason’s voice yells as he grabs me around the waist and pulls me off the idiot who didn’t think before she opened her ugly mouth.

  I was like a crazed rabid dog, fighting to get out of Jason’s arm. Several of the brothers have stepped between the blonde and me, “Let me go Jason, this bitch needs to learn some manners” as I struggle when he grips me tighter. “What the hell you psycho bitch” the blonde shrieks as she tries to smooth out her rat nest she calls hair. “Seven what’s your problem” Hunter yells as he quickly stands and gets in my face. “Fuck you Hunter, I’ll kick your ass too” I yell as Jason swiftly twirls my body away from the heat of the moment.

  “Where in the fuck is Stone” Jason yells at some of the guys standing around. None of them seem to know where the asshole was at; perfect I bet he took the tramp home. “I’m calm Jason, put me down” as I stop fighting the hold he has around my body. “Yeah like I’m that stupid” he smirks as he hauls my ass back out the door.

  Standing out in the cool air I start to see the flaws in my genius plan tonight. “What in the fuck were you thinking Seven” Hunter comes bursting out the door fuming at the little stunt I pulled in there. “Hunter now is not the time” Jason warns him as he staggers over to me. “A stupid bitch answered Stone’s phone tonight telling me they were busy” letting the sarcasm drip out of my voice. “Fuck Seven, Stone took off a while ago because I pushed a chick on his drunken ass” he says as he narrows his eyes at me. I instantly raise my hand as slap Hunter across the face, wincing at the sound when my hand connects with his skin.

  “You pushed a girl on him? What in the hell were you thinking you asshole” I shriek. Hunter rubs the side of his face as he looks back at me. “Seven I didn’t mean to, I was drunk and for years before you came into the picture that was how we rolled” his eyes filling with sympathy to our situation. “I hate you Hunter” as I take off down the steps, desperate to get away from this house. “Seven I didn’t mean it, I was drunk” he yells after me. I flip him the bird as I start down the sidewalk, I need time to cool off. I couldn’t fly of the handle when I found Stone; he needs to know how much he has hurt me considering he promised me he wouldn’t. I don’t know if my heart was still broken or if I was overacting, nothing made sense at the moment.

  I didn’t get more than a couple hundred yards down the block when a figure is passed out in the middle of the walkway. “Drunken idiot” I mumble to myself. Taking a closer look at the fool lying on the ground I suddenly realized this was my drunken fool laying there. “Stone” I shriek as I rush to his side, smacking his arm begging for him to wake up. “Seven” he manages to say as the alcohol rolls off his breath. I quickly glance around to find someone to help me, realizing Jason is now sprinting in our direction.

  “Jason help me” I beg, as I try and lift Stone up. “I’ve got him” as he rolls Stone into a sitting position. Grasping both sides of his face I look at the severely drunken Stone sitting in front of me, breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn’t dead. “You stupid idiot” I say as the tears I had been fighting back roll down my face. “Can you hold him while I get my car?” I nod as Jason runs down the block, a little bit of relief washes over me when I realize he is alone. “I hate you so much right now” as I cradle his heavy body in my arms. This man could bring out every emotion in me in a matter of seconds; sadness, distraught, pain, anger, relief, and love.

  I really want to squeeze his head till it popped off, but I just kept quietly kissing the side of it, thankful that I had found him alone. “Get the door Seven” Jason directs me as he maneuvers Stone to his feet to half carry half drag his ass into the car. Once we get all of his body parts in the vehicle I look at Jason and let out a soft sigh. “I told you Seven” he says with a sly smile. “I hate you too Jason” as I roll my eyes and give him a big hug. Tonight would have sucked without him, I’m glad he cares enough to help us. Hopefully he can forget my not so lady like moment earlier; nothing says classing like lunging at a bottle blonde talking trash about your drunken boyfriend.

  Stone

  I don’t know how long I have been sleeping, but by the way my body felt I’m guessing it had been awhile. Groaning I roll over in bed noticing the lights are still off but the sun is demanding to make its presence through the blinds. My mind is still a little foggy as I wrack it trying to figure out how I got home, the last thing I remember was…………….oh fuck. Did some chick really tell Seven we were busy, I can’t remember if it was true or not.

  Rolling myself out of bed I stagger into my bathroom to face the ugly picture that is myself. Bracing my arms on either side of the sink I slowly bring my gaze up to the mirror. The left side of my face looks like I had a fight with concrete and my eye is slightly bruised, I’ve had worse I think to myself as I splash some cool water over the damage. My stomach starts to growl but the thought of food makes me want to hurl, letting a sigh out I opt to head out to the kitchen to eat a little something to dull the hunger and pray it doesn’t make an appearance again.

  I notice Seven sitting on the couch flipping through channels, fuck I’m betting she is pissed. “Hey little one” I manage to say as I saunter into the kitchen. “How you feeling there buddy” she says in a neutral tone. “Like shit” I groan as I open the fridge and grab the container of orange juice. “Yeah I’m sure you’ve had better nights” she says while keeping her eyes on the television. I can tell she is mad as hell, but judging how pissed isn’t exactly in my favor right now. “So on a scale from one to ten, how mad while studying my face. “Six is good, I can work with that” as I take another large gulp of my orange juice.

  “You remember anything from Wednesday night Stone?” her eyes telling me I’m in for an ass chewing.

  “Wednesday?”

  “Yeah it’s Friday” she says with a hint of anger in her voice. Oh fuck as I let my head drop. Not only is she pissed but I’ve been out for two whole days letting her sit here and stew on how angry she actually is at me. “Well let’s start with the chick that answered your phone saying you were busy” as she throws up her hands in to air quote the busy part. “Seven I didn’t want her, I told her no” as I start to panic. “I know” she says smugly.

  “What?”

  “I said I know Stone, how you think you got home” she says bluntly. I never really thought of it that way, if I had screwed up she wouldn’t be sitting here with me right? Groaning I let my body slump back into the chair, closing my eyes to dim the pain of the bright lights.

  “We still have things to talk about Stone, this conversation isn’t over” she states. “I know Seven, and I’m sorry” as I blindly reach for her hand. It dangles in the air for a minute before she grabs mine, when we connect I instantly know will be okay. “I can’t get that drunk again” I mutter as I lick my dry lips. “Yeah you can’t” she says as she brings our interlocking fingers up to her lips.
I loved this amazing, compassionate, and forgiving woman.

  “I need to get into the gym and help Jason with a couple things” Seven says a couple hours later when she emerges from her shower. “Well give me a few and I’ll go with you” I say as I haul my ass off the couch. “Good you can thank Jason for helping the other night” she says with a smirk.

  “Jason?”

  “How else do you think I got you home?”

  Groaning I wander back to my room to change, I’m never going to hear the end of that night at the gym.

  “Look at who lives” Jason yells from across the gym. I shake my head and flip him the bird, “asshole” I mutter. “That asshole got you into the car that night” she says while walking to the back office. Yep, tonight was going to suck moose balls with all the ass kissing I was about to do. “You put on a pretty good show Wednesday night Stone” Jason says as he walks over to the bench my ass was now occupying. “Yeah I’m betting” I half laugh as I down more of the PowerAde I was forcing myself to drink today. “So you want the nitty gritty on that night” Jason smiles as he plops himself down next to me. “Well you’re going to tell me even if I say no” I object. “Yeah cause you were a total ass and I was left to pick up the pieces” as he sends me a glare.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “She didn’t tell you?”

  “No man what are you talking about” my voice laced with irritation. “Well how about when she fell apart in the gym, collapsing to the floor in tears. Or maybe when she stormed out of here and over to the frat house where she went all crazy bitch on a blonde who made a snide comment about you. Oh and there is the part where she hauled off and smacked Hunter” Jason revealed. “Wait, start from the beginning” as I tried to process what Jason just verbally spilled to me. “I found her in tears on the floor of the gym you douche, she couldn’t even move. I had to carry her into the office just to get her to calm down.”

  “Fuck” I growl as my fist connects with the bench. “Oh that’s not even the bad part. She turned all psycho and stalked out of here basically looking to kick your ass. I drove her to the house where she proceeded to find Hunter and this stupid blonde who said something nasty and next thing I know she was just wailing on this chick hardcore.”

  “Why didn’t you pull her off” as I try to keep my voice in check. “I did dude, she was a beast, I had to have help haul her crazy ass outside to cool down” Jason says with a laugh. “And then Hunter and his stupid self, opened his big mouth so she nailed him too.” I shot up off the bench and walked over to the lockers, sending my fist flying into the cool metal. A large bang radiated around the gym as several people stopped to see what had happened. “Calm down bro, everything worked out right” Jason says as he approaches me with caution.

  “Fuck I can’t believe I did that Jason, do you know how long it’s taken me to build her trust and I go and F it up in a stupid night!”

  “Stone let’s think logically here, did she pack her shit and leave the apartment?”

  “No” as I rest my forehead into the damaged locker. “Well then I doubt she is going to leave you” as he walks away. See this is why I didn’t do relationships before; I always managed to mess them up. Damage control was next on my list of things to do; I just prayed Seven would give me another chance and not kick my ass to the curb.

  I knock on the office door a little while later after taking the time to figure out what to say, yet for some unknown reason the moment I seen her sitting behind the desk working over some paperwork the speech I had prepared in my head went out the window. “Yes” as she looked up from the work she was doing. “Seven I’m sorry, and I know I’ve said it before but I just can’t seem to tell you enough” I frown while taking the seat across from her. “I don’t remember the night fully but from what I have pieced together it didn’t go well, and I’m the only person to blame.”

  “Well you and Hunter, and that tramp” she mumbles as she shuffles the papers on her desk. “Yeah I heard you got a little abusive with him” I can’t help but smile when she looks over at me all innocently. “It’s not like I broke his nose or anything” she laughs and gives me a wink.

  “And I hear it took several guys to get you outside so you didn’t destroy a girl hanging all over Hunter?”

  “It was only Jason; the others kept her from coming at me, which I totally doubt she had the balls. I was a total psycho and that is hard for me to admit.”

  “Well I’m going to be saying this for the next five years but I’m sorry, please don’t leave me” as I search her eyes for some sort silent answer. Seven gets up and walks around to my side of the desk “Stone I’m not going to leave you, I can’t say it didn’t hurt what happened but I wouldn’t walk away from us” as she crawls into my lap. “I plan on making it up to you every fricken day from now on” as I press a kiss to her neck. “Well I know one way you can make it up to me, take me home Stone” she whispers in my ear.

  I quickly stand up with her still in my arms and head for the truck; I couldn’t get out of here fast enough. “What about the bills” Jason yells as I carry Seven out the door. “Sorry man” I yell as she laughs. Tonight was the first night in operation show my appreciation to my amazing girlfriend, and she was going to realize how committed I was to her all night long.

  Chapter 15

  Seven

  I had woken up super early this morning to get everything ready before Stone’s graduation party, there were only so many things a girl could accomplish before noon. My cell phone buzzed as I carried the cake into the gym, “hold on” I yell to myself as I quickly set the cake down on the desk to answer my cell. “Please don’t forget we have our appointments at two” Tammy says even before I’m able to say hello. “Don’t worry, I’ll be there Tammy. I’m just dropping off the cake and then I’m headed over to the rental place for a couple more tables and chairs.” As I motion to one of the gym guys to put the cake in the fridge in the back.

  “How are you going to fit that in your car” Tammy says in shock.

  “I’ve got the truck.”

  “What?” Tammy shrieks into the phone. “Well thanks for blowing my eardrum out, and I don’t have my car I have Stone’s truck.”

  “You realize I’ve never even drove that piece of metal.”

  “Well I got the whole this is my baby speech this morning from him” as I roll my eyes and walk over to the office looking for Jason. “He must love you” Tammy mutters. “Look I’ve got to go, I’ll see you at the salon at three” as I poke my head into the office. “Two” Tammy shouts, as I end the call.

  “Hey you ready” I ask Jason who was shredding more documents in his office. “Yeah just give me second” as he crams the remaining paper into the machine. “I’ll be in the truck” as I leave the office. Something just didn’t add up with him, I knew what the gym made considering I was paying most of the bills for him and his money situation was always in the plus. Also the obsession with his shredder was something to be alarmed about, I didn’t know what he was hiding but I knew it wasn’t good.

  “I’ve got a stop to make before we pick up the tables, is that alright with you” Jason asks as he climbs into the truck. “That’s totally fine, your letting me throw this shindig at the gym since the restaurant canceled on us at the last minute makes me forever indebted to you” as I start the truck and back out of my parking spot. “Cool, it’s just up here at this bar on the corner” he says while pointing down the block. “Not a problem” as I flash him a smile and slip on my sunglasses.

  “I’ll be right back” he says as we pull up in front of the bar. “No worries, take your time” as I start to turn off the engine. “No leave it running, I’ll only be a second” Jason exclaims with tension in his voice. “Okay” I mumble and give him a puzzled look. Jason quickly darts into the bar and leaves the passenger side door open. His behavior was odd; this wasn’t the cool collected Jason I knew. A couple minutes later he comes sprinting out of the bar and jumps into the truc
k, slamming the door. “We’re good to go” he says with a smile as he wipes his nose several times. “Right” I say while pulling the truck away from the curb, I couldn’t help but look in my rearview mirror more than a few times at the bar behind us. I half expected to see someone running out after us, but no one materialized.

  Jason fidgeted with his seatbelt for a couple minutes before he started to relax; the tension in the cab was thick. I quickly reach down and hit the stereo button sending the smooth voice of Chris Ledoux through the speakers, anything was better than sitting here in the awkward silence.

  “Thanks for helping with the table and chairs” I say while holding the doors open for the guys hauling them in. “No problem Seven” Jason flashes me a grin. Following them inside I start to set up the tables and chairs around the gym. “You can still go get the beer right” I ask Jason as he unfolds the legs on a table.

  “Yeah sure, are you checking out of here soon?”

  “I’m going to go pick up the food from the caterers then I’m meeting Tammy at the salon.” “Any excuse for you girls to pamper yourselves” he laughs and grabs some chairs to set around the table.

  “Whatever Jason, I just want to get all beautified up for Stone tonight” as my face turns a fantastic shade of red. “Well I’ve got it from here if you want to head out, just honk when you get back and I’ll have some guys come out and grab the food from ya.”

  “Thanks Jason, and remember air freshener please, I don’t want to smell nasty boys all night long” I say with a laugh. “Seven it’s a gym, but anything for you” he groans. Giving him a wave I pick up my purse to find my phone and text Stone, his dad has took him golfing today to pass the time since I wouldn’t let him help with the party. I quickly tap out a message as I climb into the truck and start the old beasts up; I don’t know why Stone loved this thing so much, all it did was guzzle gas. I glance in my mirror and notice a van parked behind me several cars back on the street. The occupants quickly dart their attention elsewhere when they notice my gaze is directed at them. That’s odd I thought as I pull away from the curb, people were sure strange in this town.