Always with You (WIth You Trilogy)

by Sable, R. J.

  “You miss him,” Rob shouted over the music, correctly reading my facial expression.

  I nodded with a sad smile. I hated being reminded that he was away and not knowing that he was okay.

  “He’ll be fine. You know Ian,” he reassured me.

  I nodded because I wasn’t sure if my voice would crack if I answered verbally. This was Craig’s birthday celebration and I didn’t want to be a downer.

  Turning back to look at my brothers at our table, I could see that they were all laughing and joking. I figured I’d need help carrying all the shots so I motioned to Danny for him to come over and he held up one finger to let me know he’d be there shortly.

  “Here,” Rob tapped the back of my hand to get my attention and passed me a glass full of clear liquid.

  I accepted and took a tentative sip, surprised to find that it really did taste like sherbet. “What is it?” I grinned. “It’s delicious.”

  “Southern Comfort and lemonade,” he returned my grin, looking pleased that I liked it.

  “Thanks!” I beamed, taking another sip.

  “Don’t have too many,” he said more seriously.

  “Are you reporting to my brothers?” I sighed, rolling my eyes without thinking.

  “If you have too many I will,” he chuckled.

  I sighed louder and shook my head. I wasn’t planning on drinking too much. I wanted to make sure nothing happened to Craig when he got dumped onto the bus later that night. I just wanted to try something because my brothers were being a little less controlling and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.

  Danny appeared and helped me carry the drinks back to the table. They were still looking happy and I took a moment to enjoy being surrounded by so many of my loved ones in such a positive atmosphere. I knew we’d lost a lot but I still considered us blessed to have each other. Even though Adam and I were both orphans, I knew I was the lucky one to still have a loving family.

  Chapter 24

  September, 21st September 2013

  Karl and Matt were taking great pleasure in making Craig do his challenges. I was pleased to see they weren’t being quite as sadistic as they might have been with Ian’s absence. The reappearance of two person push-ups was a surprise and Craig volunteered me without asking.

  “But there’s tonnes of girls here,” I whined. “Pick one of them.”

  “Quiet, Jelly. Just do as you’re told,” Craig grinned cheekily. He’d already had four shots and dished out even more. Jake had gotten a few and the twins and I had drunken one each.

  I sighed loudly to make sure he knew I was irritated but really I wasn’t too bothered.

  “How many?” Matt prompted, already lining up shots on the end of the table.

  Craig eyed me appraisingly. “Eight.”

  “Fuck off, you can’t do eight,” Jake scoffed, slurring slightly even whilst he popped the lid off another beer. He’d only managed four on his birthday.

  “Just watch,” Craig winked, humour in his eyes.

  He dropped down to plank position and I noticed the gathering crowd before the twins decided to be helpful and lift me up by my ankles and shoulders. They ignored my disgruntled squeals and placed me onto Craig’s waiting back.

  I wasn’t really annoyed, I just didn’t want to make out that I was okay with them pushing me around so they didn’t get the impression I’d let them do it in future.

  The people surrounding us began a chorus of encouraging chants as Craig started his push-ups. I tried to remain deadly still to make it easier for him. It was a weird sensation and, to be honest, it was almost impossible not to giggle.

  It brought back a long forgotten memory of Dad pretending to bench-press me when I was really young. I’d almost completely forgotten about it and I smiled appreciatively, glad for the memory of my dad whose face got harder and harder to recall without looking at pictures.

  “Seven! Eight!” The crowd burst into loud applause and Jake shook his head in disbelief.

  Craig held the plank position once more whilst the twins helped me back up to my feet. Craig jumped back up and blushed as he waved a hand at the crowd. He wrapped a now sweaty arm around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to the side of my head before nudging one of the shots into my hand.

  “Drink up,” Craig laughed, handing the rest of the shots out to the others.

  “Fuck,” Karl gasped after downing two shots and shaking his head as if trying to shake the taste out of his mouth. “There’s only seven left and you’re not nearly drunk enough.”

  By “drunk enough” he meant so wasted that he wouldn’t protest if they loaded him onto a bus to Calais or Edinburgh or wherever the hell they were sending him.

  “Go get something else to drink from the bar,” Matt instructed Craig. “Something stronger.”

  Craig laughed and shook his head, dragging me with him towards the bar.

  “I get the impression they weren’t expecting you to do all eight push-ups,” I laughed into Craig’s ear.

  “You may be right,” he laughed back.

  It made me so happy to see him this carefree so I hooked my arm around his waist and gave him a tight squeeze. I clearly gripped him a little too tightly because he coughed, causing him to laugh even more.

  “Can tell you’ve been working out, Jellybean,” he grinned. “You’re much stronger now.”

  I wiggled my eyebrows at him and flexed my arm Popeye style. He shook his head in amusement and led me to the bar.

  “Fucking hell. Craig Carter,” a voice declared from Craig’s right.

  I peeked round Craig to see who he was talking to. A broad guy around the same height stood next to him. The guy had that same body stance, the same bulk, and that look in his eyes that meant one thing. There was no question in my mind that this guy was another fighter.

  “Alright,” Craig lifted his chin in greeting, shifting his body slightly so that I could no longer see them and was effectively hidden behind my brother.

  “Looking forward to that rematch, Carter,” I heard the voice shout.

  I could feel Craig’s back vibrating against me as he spoke but I couldn’t hear what he was saying because he wasn’t shouting over the music. He shifted his weight again, turning back to the bar to wait for service. He glanced over at me and gave me a stern look which I assumed meant something along the lines of “behave, Jelly.” I just nodded; it was none of my business anyway.

  “Who’s this?” The guy asked, his eyes on me now that they could see me and it was obvious I was with Craig.

  “I didn’t know you had a sister, Carter. Where you been hiding her?”

  I always said we looked alike. I thought it was weird when people couldn’t see it.

  I saw Craig’s chest rise and fall as he sighed. He turned to me and signed “just ignore him.”

  I nodded my head obediently but the guy seemed even more interested after observing the interaction.

  “She deaf? Does she talk? If not she’s fucking perfect,” the guy laughed.

  “She’s not deaf, Freddy. Stay away from her,” Craig warned casually, his eyes on the bar.

  “Your brother always talk for you darlin’?” Freddy ignored Craig completely.

  I ignored him and he moved to my other side, pushing some poor guy out the way.

  “Why don’t you come for a drink with me and I’ll let you talk all you want. Pretty little mouth like that is meant to be put to use.”

  I wrinkled my nose in disgust at what he was implying and I felt Craig’s irritation rolling off him in waves but he remained focussed on the bar and appeared disinterested to casual onlookers.

  “No thanks,” I smiled sweetly.

  “Tell you what,” he continued. “Have a drink with me and I promise I’ll take it easy on your brother next month.”

  I laughed out loud at that. “I don’t think that’s necessary. But if you don’t leave right now, you might not recover in time to lose that rematch.”

  “Aw, that’s adorabl
e, are you threatening me?” He chuckled, something slightly predatory in his expression even though I was fairly sure he was just messing around.

  “That depends, can you spell threatening?” I fluttered my eyelashes.

  “That’s enough,” Craig frowned, wrapping his hand back around my shoulder. “She’s right though. Back off, Freddy.”

  Freddy didn’t seem quite so smiley at the threat in Craig’s eyes.

  “Don’t interrupt, Carter. I was quite enjoying myself,” he quickly recovered his grin and turned his attention back to me. “I was right, you’ve got quite the mouth on you. How about you wrap it round my-”

  “You don’t wanna finish that sentence, big guy,” I cut him off.

  “Why’s that, darlin’?” He smirked at me.

  I smiled sweetly back and pointed behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see my brothers gathered at his back, their Carter-glares focused solely on him.

  “Problem here, Jelly?” Matt asked me.

  “Nope, Freddy here was just about to ask me to do something. What were you saying, Freddy?” I smiled knowingly.

  “I’ll see you at the match, Freddy,” Craig intervened, kindly rescuing Freddy and shooting me a glare that only looked half sincere because I could have sworn he was trying not to laugh.

  Freddy drew his attention away from me and back to Craig. He slapped Craig on the back as he passed and the others watched him leave before returning to the table.

  “You’re a pain in the arse, you know that?” Craig growled, his grin threatening to break through full force.

  I pouted. “He implied you’d lose.”

  “I told you to ignore him,” he reminded me.

  “But he was so slimy!” I insisted. “And I’d already seen the others coming over. I promise I wouldn’t have caused trouble otherwise. Forgive me?” I looked up at him through my eyelashes and did my best to look sweet and innocent, taking a page out of Alex’ book.

  Craig chuckled. “You use that trick on Jason as well?”

  “Perfected it on him,” I grinned, considering myself forgiven. “Why were you so calm? He was obviously trying to get you worked up.”

  Craig shrugged. “Usual shit. He wanted to piss me off so I’d make the rematch personal and hopefully make a mistake. I’ve been doing this too long to fall for that crap.”

  “Oh,” I thought about it for a second. “You’re very wise in your old age.”

  He laughed and tugged on my ponytail lightly. “And you’re very good at causing trouble.” He winked at me and shouted his order across the bar.

  “What was that about?” Karl prompted once we returned to the table.

  “Another fighter. Trying to provoke me,” Craig shrugged.

  “Guys like that have no respect,” Karl shook his head with his brow furrowed. “Playing head games outside the cage is for pussies.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Craig grinned, raising his glass.

  The challenges recommenced and Craig’s eyes took on a decidedly glassy quality as the night continued. I dragged Danny with me to the bar to get Craig something else to drink because the shots had run out and Karl judged him “not plastered enough.”

  Danny shoved his way through the crowd to make room for us at the bar and then placed me in front of him with his arms on either side of me, boxing me in away from the many people around us. It was getting late and it was obvious that the patrons were a lot drunker than they’d been a few hours previously.

  I people watched whilst I waited for one of the bartenders to notice me. The dance floor was filled with people grinding and sweating against each other, their bodies pulsing and shaking in rhythm to the heavy beat vibrating through the club. I instantly missed Jason. I loved dancing with him.

  Dragging my eyes away from the sweaty masses, I scanned the room. For a split second my eyes locked with a pair of startlingly familiar emerald ones by the main door.

  “Jelly,” Danny prompted, poking me in the side to get my attention.

  I lost eye contact for a split second whilst Danny distracted me and then the eyes were gone. I knew it wasn’t really Jason. He’d sent me a picture message not long before of him playing Monopoly with Ben, Hannah, and her family. It had seemed so real though. Jason’s eyes were so unique. They’d affected me from the very first second I stumbled into him.

  Clearly, the delicious sherbet flavoured drinks I’d been drinking were affecting me more than I thought. I was grateful that I’d switched to water since I seemed to be hallucinating.

  I apologised to Danny, who’d given up trying to get my attention and ordered drinks himself. The extra alcohol seemed to do the trick because, by the time we got to the bus station, Karl was carrying Craig over his shoulder.

  “Are you sure this is safe?” I cringed.

  “Yes, Jelly,” Karl sighed, drawing out his words. “Stop being a pussy.”

  I grumbled inwardly. I figured they’d done this before and nothing had ever happened but I still thought it was a stupid thing to do. The only bus going was going to London and I figured it could have been worse. I was fairly sure Craig would have friends in London that he could crash with if he needed to sleep off his hangover. Ian had a small flat there that he used for work, he might even be able to use that.

  I spotted a vending machine and filled it with coins until it spat out a bottle of water and some cereal bars. Whilst Karl was talking to the driver, and probably bribing him to let a comatose passenger on, I slipped onto the bus after the twins.

  Once they’d belted a happily sleeping Craig into position I wedged the cereal bars in his shirt pocket and the bottle of water between him and the wall. I made sure he had his wallet and turned his phone off to make sure he’d have battery left if he needed to call someone.

  I dropped a final kiss on his cheek before scuttling off the bus so that I wouldn’t be joining him in his involuntary travels. It was almost four in the morning and I was exhausted and just wanted to crawl into bed and cuddle up with Jason and the eyes that were so mesmerising, I was starting to imagine seeing them when they weren’t around.

  Chapter 25

  Friday, 4th October 2013

  I rolled my eyes at Xander as I came out of the lecture theatre. He just stared impassively back at me but his eyes were laughing.

  “’Sup, big guy,” Adam greeted him as he followed me out into the hall.

  “Collins,” Xander nodded his head in acknowledgement.

  “It’s creepy you just waiting around for me while I’m in lectures, you know that right?” I scowled.

  Xander just raised his eyebrow at me. I wasn’t really annoyed at him, I knew he was just doing his job. I was just frazzled. We’d just come out of our last lecture of the first week back and I was tired.

  “Sorry, Xander,” I mumbled. “I didn’t mean to snap.”

  He nodded and led the way back to our house. That was one of the good things about Xander. He didn’t speak much but he didn’t hold a grudge either. We’d spent enough time around each other that we’d gotten to know one another. I knew that he wasn’t really offended by me snapping at him. If anything he was amused.

  “Go get changed,” he ordered once we were through the front door.

  “Yes, boss,” I answered with a bite of sarcasm.

  Xander smirked back. I didn’t really mind. I was excited. It had taken a good deal of arguing to get Xander to compromise and let me go back to athletics club. Jason had managed to convince the others that we should use the indoor track and Xander had finally agreed. He didn’t like the idea of me having a predictable routine but he would have never said yes if we’d been at the outdoor track.

  “Jason!” I beamed, sprinting the last few meters between us to jump into his arms.

  Now that term had begun, Jason was back to being crazy busy and I missed having him to myself as much as I had over the summer break.

  “Hey, little squirrel,” Jason squeezed me against his firm body and I took the opportunity to
breathe in that fresh paper smell that melted my heart and warmed my core. “Ready to sweat?” He graced me with his million-dollar smile.

  “Only if you promise to help me clean up afterwards,” I replied with the compulsory blush, proud of my boldness.

  He closed his eyes briefly and pulled me closer. “You are so fucking perfect, you know that?”

  I opened my mouth to argue with him but he silenced me with a heated kiss before turning around to call the group in. He did that on purpose.

  I waved and said hello to all the familiar faces and a few new ones I’d met whilst helping out at the freshers’ fair. I did a double take when I spotted Shana hovering at the edge of the group. She met my eyes briefly but immediately shifted her gaze away.

  I wasn’t sure what to think. She’d stopped showing up completely after she made a move on Jason. I knew they’d had words after it happened and Jason had told her that there would never be anything between them and that he didn’t think it was a good idea if they stayed friends. It had hurt him to be cruel to her but he wasn’t doing her any favours by trying to stay friends with her when she was clearly still in love with him.

  Seeing her at training worried me. Is she still in love with him? I studied her across the crowd whilst Jason talked to the group. She looked different. She was still beautiful but she looked a little gaunt. She was holding herself differently, her shoulders slouched forward and her arms wrapped around herself protectively.

  I felt bad for her; she didn’t look happy at all. She was stood on her own, another rare sight. Jason was an important and respected part of the club and I think a lot of the members resented her trying to come between us like she had. None of them seemed to want to stand with her.

  Jason announced that we’d need to get into groups of four for the session and I saw the look of panic on Shana’s face as she glanced around to see who she could possibly group off with. Most people were studiously avoiding making eye contact with her.

  Jason caught my eye and I could tell he wanted us to be together. Normally, I would have loved that but he was much faster than me anyway and I couldn’t stomach the idea of making Shana feel like an outcast. It must have taken a lot for her to come here today, especially knowing she’d be walking into such a hostile environment.