Embracing Trouble (Trouble Series)

by Bridle, Dee

  Sighing quietly in disappointment, I looked to the rest of the group as they stood around smoking and drinking beers with their alternative hair and tattoos. The guys were older than eighteen and definitely not the type who would hang around with the likes of Antony.

  I looked back at the owner of the wicked eyes to see he had a smattering of facial hair on his chin and cheeks, and his hair was messily disheveled. I wondered if he had styled it that way or had just run his fingers through it after getting out of bed that morning. Whatever the answer, his hair was as sexy as hell, and it made me want to run my own hands through it.

  He had scuffed boots that must have had laces at one time, and his jeans were well worn and maybe a little dirty. His fitted grey T-shirt was frayed at the edges, but I didn’t know if it was from usage or the design. I couldn’t help but be utterly mesmerized by him, even when I knew he wasn’t interested in me and sitting with another girl. I felt a little overwhelmed at my thoughts. My senses were on high alert as my heart raced. He looked like a bad boy, a rebel, and the thought excited me.

  His eyes suddenly met mine again, and I quickly looked away, knowing I had been caught staring. I tried to focus on something other than him, but I just couldn’t deny myself the pleasure. I was soon meeting his eyes again. His stare held amusement as my cheeks warmed. I quickly focused on Sophie who was saying something. I still felt his eyes on me, like they were burning into me. I tried to concentrate on Sophie, not hearing a single word she was saying. I tried to get my heartbeat under control, not understanding how much he could affect me with a look.

  Was I going crazy? Was I finally keying in to what everyone around me felt when they met someone? I nervously sipped my bottle, trying to do anything but look back at him.

  No longer in control of my own brain functions, my eyes moved back to feast on him. He was still watching me with a slight smirk on his face. My stomach flipped with excitement as the blonde girl sitting next to him gulped a bottle of bourbon like her life depended on it. I noticed that her hand was no longer on his thigh. I felt warm and a little dizzy, but my first instinct was to blame the alcohol.

  “So, this is Ava,” Sophie said, while introducing me with an intoxicated giggle. “She’s my friend.”

  “Aww, how sweet,” chuckled a tall blond guy with a crew cut and large muscled arms full of tattoos.

  He had a tattoo that climbed out from under his T-shirt and went up his neck to his ear. The others in the group laughed along with him.

  I felt embarrassed, like we were silly high school girls, trying to impress a bunch of grownups—ones with wickedness and experience in their eyes.

  “Ava,” said one of them, “I like that name. Isn’t that a famous name?”

  “Ava Gardner, the actress,” said the blonde girl looking me up and down.

  “Ava Adore, the Smashing Pumpkins song,” said another.

  “Good song,” said someone else.

  “If you have no cock,” uttered the blond guy taking a swig of his beer.

  They all chuckled again and the blonde girl laughed out loud, like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

  I met his eyes again and realized we were the only two not laughing.

  “Did it hurt to get that on your neck?” winced Sophie stepping closer to the blond guy and pointing to his tattooed neck.

  “Nope,” he said with a gleam in his eyes. “Want me to take you somewhere and show you the rest?”

  Sophie stepped back a little and giggled hysterically while grabbing for my arm. I felt like telling her to shut up, because she was starting to embarrass herself in front of them all.

  “Jail bait,” announced someone within the group as others chuckled.

  “I turned eighteen a month ago,” she returned with a giggle, letting me go and putting her hand on her hip.

  “Oh, she’s an adult,” said one of them with a chuckle. “Watch out.”

  The blond guy laughed as he passed a joint to someone.

  “So how do you girls know Antony?”

  “School,” giggled Sophie. “How about you?”

  “Not from school,” he remarked, leaving it at that.

  “Does Ava Adore speak?” asked one of them. “Come and sit on my lap, Ava.”

  They all laughed, and I blushed uncomfortably until I heard a deep warm voice demand, “Quit it, Ben,” and the laughter stopped instantly.

  I looked to him with gratitude as a new conversation started up around us. The air seemed to vibrate between us, like a strange, pent-up energy. I felt both intrigued and restless. It was like his eyes were devouring me, and I swallowed unsurely, confused at why he would even bother when he had a girl beside him.

  “You guys were outside earlier when we arrived,” stated Sophie.

  “I actually live next door to Antony,” said one of the guys sitting on the wall as he dragged on a cigarette.

  He had shorts on and dirty Converse sneakers with eyes that seemed to promise fun and wickedness. He smiled directly at me.

  “I’m Noah, and this is Zac,” he said.

  “Hi,” I murmured with a quick smile trying not to blush again.

  I glanced at Zac to see him looking at the blonde girl next to him, no longer interested in me. I couldn’t blame him. She did look more interesting than me. I sipped my drink and looked away, trying not to feel hurt. The music was turned up louder from the house, and when I looked around, I saw more girls jumping into the pool, some without bikinis. I looked on in fascination, knowing I could never do that.

  “Now the party is getting interesting,” said one of the guys who left the group to get closer to the pool.

  “I need a slash,” said the blonde, pushing off the brick wall and walking past us.

  I didn’t miss the slight shoulder bump to me as she went past, and I lowered my eyes as she headed to the house. Had she noticed that her boyfriend had been looking at me?

  Sophie stepped back, looking a little miffed that no one was giving her any attention.

  “I’m going to find Antony.”

  “Wait,” I whispered after her, but she walked off with a wave, leaving me alone with them.

  “Smoke?” asked Noah.

  I turned back and saw Noah offering me a cigarette from his pack.

  I shook my head and said, “No thanks.”

  “Why the fuck is your friend interested in the likes of Antony?” he asked passing the cigarette pack to Zac.

  Zac huffed, “Did you just meet her friend?” he said with dark sarcasm.

  Noah snickered, and said, “True.”

  I swallowed, feeling unsure of the conversation going on in front of me. They didn’t like Antony, but were sitting at his party. They also didn’t seem to like Sophie.

  “She’s just interested in having fun,” I said quietly.

  “I have no doubt,” said Zac, lighting up another cigarette and passing the pack back to Noah. “Who are you interested in?”

  I bit my lip, unprepared for his question. Tremors went through me at the sound of his deep sexy voice. They were both staring at me, waiting for me to answer.

  I quickly answered, “No one really.”

  His eyes taunted me as he asked, “The Antony’s of the world don’t do much for you?”

  Noah got off the wall and stepped away to talk to someone, leaving us alone.

  I moistened my lips, and replied, “What makes you think that?”

  He slowly exhaled his cigarette smoke into the night air, saying, “Not only are you not in the pool swimming topless, or dancing over there in heels, but you’re standing here in your Converse sneakers…talking to me.”

  “I didn’t know my shoes spoke so loudly about my preferences,” I returned, putting one of my hands in the back pocket of my jeans.

  His eyes lit with amusement for a split second before they changed back again to cool indifference. I realized I would do just about anything to see that amusement in his eyes again. I looked away to gather my sanity and focuse
d on the ground, tapping a weed between the pavers with my shoe. We were now both silent and alone. I tried not to panic at being in front of the hottest guy I had ever met.

  “You can sit beside me, you know. I won’t bite,” he said in a husky voice.

  I was unsure of what to do. I felt exposed standing in front of him, his eyes watching my every move. But what if his girlfriend came back? Wasn’t Noah sitting there? Honestly, where had everyone gone?

  “So, if moron footballers don’t do it for you, what brings you here tonight?” he asked, rolling the cigarette between his fingers, the smoke travelling up into the night air between us.

  “Boredom,” I said, before thinking.

  “You must be pretty bored if this type of party alleviates it,” he said, smoothly.

  “Why are you here?” I asked, counting to three in my head and then moving over closer to him.

  I didn’t sit up on the wall next to him, but leaned against it, putting my bottle between us.

  “One of us was…intrigued…by a girl here tonight,” he said looking back out to the party, “and there was the free booze.”

  I used the opportunity to look at him properly while he looked out to the party. His facial hair slightly covered his lower cheeks and down under his chin, where it became thicker. There was something beautiful about him that made me take a breath. He wasn’t a pretty boy like the ones at school, and to be fair, he wasn’t even a boy, because he looked at least twenty-one.

  I had no idea what I was doing next to this mysterious guy who took my breath away. I looked down at his arm beside me and focused on his tattoos, feeling the sudden want inside me. I had finally discovered the stirrings of lust that I had read about.

  I heard giggling nearby and turned at the sound to see Noah kissing a girl sitting on the wall in the darkness, her legs wrapped around him. He was obviously the one who had been intrigued by a girl to come into the party, and he was being further intrigued right at this moment.

  His hand slid under her top and she groaned, as I quickly looked away, feeling a little unsettled. My eyes collided with Zac’s and I instantly blushed.

  He smirked knowingly as he dragged on his cigarette and then turned away to blow the cigarette smoke out of his mouth and away from me.

  I had a sudden urge to fill the silence between us.

  “So what do you do?” I asked.

  “In relation to what?” he asked huskily.

  I fiddled with the label on my bottle wondering if he was deliberately making this harder for me. I heard more groaning coming from the darkness and tried to think of something else to say to block the noise. He looked amused again, seeing my discomfort as his intense dark brown eyes seared into me. I felt myself move a little closer to him.

  “Are you two having a deep and meaningful?”

  I jumped back from him, feeling somewhat guilty as I looked at the blonde girl who had returned and was watching us with narrowed eyes.

  “Go away, Shara,” said Zac.

  I wanted to smile at what I thought was a joke, until I saw his serious expression. The girl pouted her lips up at him, and he took another drag of his cigarette, looking unconcerned with her feelings.

  Shara glared at me and then back to him, saying, “You’ll be bored within minutes,” she muttered, as she turned away and headed back across the court.

  My eyes narrowed as I watched her retreating into the darkness. I folded my arms and stood away from the brick wall, more hurt than I cared to realize.

  “I’ll leave. I don’t want to come between you and your girlfriend.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” he replied.

  “She might think differently about that,” I returned.

  He flicked his cigarette onto the grass next to the court, and snapped, “Not my concern.”

  Alarm bells went off somewhere in my brain, hearing his unsettling honesty. He didn’t care about her and most likely treated all girls the same way. I needed to keep my distance, knowing he was just too dangerous for me. I had to walk away, right now. Hadn’t we all been taught to stay away from trouble?

  Soft panting cut into my thoughts, and my ears tuned in to what was happening behind me. I didn’t know whether to be excited or disgusted.

  So I covered it with humor, and muttered, “She doesn’t sound boring.”

  Zac eyed me thoughtfully.

  “Just ignore Shara. She doesn’t know what planet she’s on half the time.”

  I slowly nodded my head, still feeling hurt from Shara’s words, because there was a part of me that probably believed her. He would be bored, because unlike the girl behind me, I had no idea of what I was doing. I looked down at my feet, hoping that he didn’t expect to end up doing something with me like Noah was doing. Was that why everyone had disappeared?

  I suddenly thought of Sophie and remembered that she had been quite drunk. I also had to get away from this situation, because I had no idea of how to handle it.

  “I need to go find Sophie,” I said next.

  He stood up from the low wall in silence, and I looked up at him in awe, realizing he was at least six feet tall. I swallowed as I took in the definition of his muscled body under his T-shirt. He was gorgeous and so not in my league.

  “Nice meeting you, Ava,” he murmured, putting his hands in his pockets.

  I didn’t miss the tattoo on his hand between his thumb and finger before it disappeared into his pocket.

  “You, too,” I mumbled, my mind elsewhere, wondering about the rest of his body and the perfectly placed tattoos that I just knew he would have, all of them telling a story.

  He stepped closer to me, and my heart raced so much that it was just one long fluttering sound. His hands stayed in his pockets as he looked at my lips for a moment, almost like he was concentrating on them. Hard.

  “Best you go and find your friend,” he said coolly, his eyes meeting mine for a moment before he stepped back. “And stay away from Antony.”

  I swallowed down a lump of lust and regret, wanting him to kiss me. Was I that boring? Was I reading the wrong signals?

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Just trust me,” he said with one last searing look before he disappeared back to the party.

  My shoulders dropped in disappointment. He obviously couldn’t get away fast enough, because I had bored him that much. Awesome. Feeling like an idiot, I headed back over to the party to find Sophie. I found her near the pool, looking very drunk and dancing with Antony, her arms locked around his neck.

  Did she really want to do this tonight? I went over closer to them, trying to get her attention, but she was too involved as they started to kiss. I stopped in my tracks, knowing I couldn’t interrupt them now. I turned back around and came face to face with Shara.

  “You should stay away,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re too good for him.”

  My eyes narrowed, wondering if I had heard her right. What did that even mean? She handed me a shot glass with a wink and then tapped her glass against mine.

  “Cheers!”

  I watched her gulp hers back, and then I did the same, cringing at the taste. She cheered and then disappeared back into the dancing crowd.

  “Ava!” giggled Sophie, calling me over.

  I sauntered up to them as Antony went to put his arm around me and hug us both. I cringed and tried to disentangle myself.

  “I’m going to head home,” I muttered. “Are you coming or staying?”

  “Stay a bit longer,” she pleaded with a giggle. “Puhleese.”

  “Have another drink, Ava,” Antony said with a grin on his face.

  I ignored him as Sophie mouthed for me to stay and wait for her. I agreed and turned away as they started to kiss again. Now I had to kill time while Sophie had her fun.

  I spotted the big blond guy talking to a girl nearby and scanned the party to see if Zac was still around. I walked away from Sophie and headed over to a less crowded part of the garden and ch
ecked my phone. Sophie had put a photo of us on Facebook from earlier in the night and I liked it. I let out a yawn and suddenly felt tired, like bone weary tired. I looked back over at the party feeling like my eyes were working slower than usual. My eyelids felt heavy and the garden started to spin. Surely I wasn’t having a delayed reaction to the alcohol. I carefully walked further away from the main party looking for anywhere to sit down. I was feeling really weird. What the hell was going on with me?

  I felt like I was outside of my own body and not in control, which made me panic. I had never felt like this before, and I suddenly wondered why everything was happening in slow motion. People spun around me, and I stopped walking, trying to get my balance. My eyes wouldn’t work properly as they slowly tried to focus on something. I felt fuzzy. The music suddenly sounded very far away and my heart thudded very slowly in my chest. I felt my knees hit the ground, and then there was blackness.

  Zac

  I left Antony’s place and headed back down Noah’s driveway with a deep scowl. I couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful innocent girl I had met and how I had to hold myself back from kissing her like my life depended on it.

  She was too innocent for the likes of me, and I had to stay away, even though she was the first girl in a very long time to make me feel…different. I didn’t want to leave her at the party, especially around the morons she went to school with, but I had no other choice. I was more dangerous than all of them. So, it was probably best that she stayed with them.

  I didn’t want to think of how I felt when I first set eyes on her. It was like I had been hit with a lightning bolt. I didn’t want to think of the sweet scent of strawberries on her skin and hair, like she had just freshly showered before coming out tonight. I didn’t want to think of those innocent lips that looked like they had been created for sin. I shook my head in annoyance. I was losing my fucking mind.

  “So, are we going to fuck now?”