Embracing Trouble (Trouble Series)

by Bridle, Dee

  “Zac man,” he said with a grin. “That makes sense now,” he said looking at me. “I’ve done a few of his tattoos.”

  “They’re awesome,” I said with a smile.

  He checked his phone and then pressed for the camera. He put his heavily tattooed arm around my shoulders and we smiled for the camera.

  Zac

  Drying myself from a shower, I heard my phone and went back into the bedroom to check it. There was a text from Frankie, my tattoo artist, and a photo of Ava next to him, smiling sexily into the camera.

  Frankie: Does this heavenly creature belong to you?

  I responded immediately: Yes

  Frankie: Doing well for yourself Zac man

  Zac: Get those meaty paws off her ink boy

  Frankie: Can’t help myself

  Zac: Where is the lily?

  Frankie: That’s for you to find out my friend…enjoy

  I dropped the phone onto the bed and got dressed, soon heading back over to see the photo of the tattoo on Facebook again. It was a girly tattoo, but it suited her perfectly. The color of the lily didn’t escape my attention either.

  I hoped to god Janey hadn’t talked her into it. I decided to text my sister.

  Zac: WTF Janey

  She responded instantly: Chill, we just got some ink

  Zac: Did you talk her into it?

  Janey: She was an adult the last time I checked. She can make up her own mind about these things

  Zac: Where are you going tonight?

  Janey: Warehouse party Fitzroy – hopefully she finds someone tonight and can finally get over you

  Zac: Go suck a fat one

  Janey: Do you know Tyler is not on the scene anymore…??

  Ava

  The warehouse apartment was huge and had been renovated as a place to live and party. There were a lot of people standing around, drinking and socializing as the tattoo owner took us around and introduced us.

  Once we had drinks, we settled into a spot and Janey was soon introducing me to old friends and then doing coke with them.

  I sipped my drink and thought about Zac, wondering where he was tonight. Janey interrupted my thoughts by offering me some coke. I shook my head no. I wasn’t in the mood for it tonight. Janey snorted my turn and closed her eyes.

  I vaguely remembered the guys telling me to keep her away from coke, but I could see there was no way to stop her. She was hell-bent on having a wild party and nothing was getting in her way.

  Zac

  I pulled back from kissing the girl next to me and sipped my beer, not even wanting to think about the comparisons I kept making. No one would make me feel like I did when I was with Ava.

  I leaned back and felt her hand on my thigh, an inch from my cock. She was up for more and was letting me know it. I sipped my beer again and looked around the pub in boredom and then down to my phone, wondering what Ava was doing now.

  The girl caressed her hand over my cock and giggled as she leaned up to whisper in my ear, “Let’s go somewhere.”

  I watched her lick her lips, telling me exactly what she wanted to do to me.

  Fuck it.

  I needed to stop thinking about her.

  I took her hand away from my cock, but pulled her up from where we were sitting. I led her away, through the crowd, to the back of the club, where I knew there was a private spot behind the stairs.

  She kissed me hard and unzipped my jeans, smiling as she went down on her knees. I leaned back and closed my eyes, feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket, but I was too far gone to care.

  I shuddered my release and looked down at the girl wiping her mouth, feeling like complete shit. I didn’t want her and I was wasting my fucking time with these meaningless girls. I pulled my zip up, missing a six-foot Will shoving his way through the club like a demented man, heading outside with his phone to his ear.

  Ava

  I came back from the restroom and re-joined the group, noticing that Janey was no longer with them. She had been openly flirting with some guy before and I looked around the room for both of them. Was she off somewhere having a private moment with him or should I go check on her?

  I tried not to feel annoyed at having her leave me alone with the group and I put my drink back down and went to look for her.

  Guys tried to make eye contact with me as I searched around and all I could think about was Zac. Where was he right now? I needed to see him so badly, just to know if we were truly over.

  I walked down a corridor at the back of the warehouse where there seemed to be less people and searched for her. I came across two guys at a door who seemed to be waiting for it to open and overheard their conversation about how “Tom” had found an easy one and they were all in.

  The door opened and I couldn’t help but look in before it closed again. What I saw would be forever burned into my memory.

  I saw Janey and Tom in the bedroom in the middle of having sex. Four other guys were in the room, awaiting their turn.

  I shoved the door back open and screamed, “Janey!”

  They all turned around and looked at me. She looked up at me with her smudged mascara eyes that seemed to be vacant.

  “What are you doing?” I asked in alarm.

  She looked so unaffected but sad, and I didn’t understand.

  “What does it look like?” said one of the guys.

  “You up for it, too?” asked another one with a chuckle.

  As if in slow motion, I watched Tom continue fucking her, like I wasn’t even there.

  I looked at her and she then mouthed, “Help” as if in a daze.

  “You in or out?” asked a guy while he put his arm around me.

  I shoved him off, panicking as I wondered what to do in that split second. I couldn’t stop them by myself, without them getting angry at me, so I stepped back and squeezed my phone in my hand. I had to call for help. I looked to her and gave her a slight nod and then stepped out. The door was slammed closed behind me.

  With shaky hands, I pressed for Zac and then ran back into the party to find the tattoo artist friend. The call went to voicemail and I swore.

  “Zac, call me,” I pleaded quickly.

  I pressed for Will next, my heart thundering in my chest.

  “Ava?”

  “Will, Janey is in trouble. She’s in a room with all these guys and she wants help and I don’t know what to do!”

  “Where are you?” he demanded.

  I told him the address as I searched for our tattoo artist friend.

  “I’m five minutes away. Don’t go near them.”

  The call ended.

  I asked for people in the party to help my friend, but no one seemed interested in helping or else they were too high to care. I searched and searched and soon felt like screaming.

  Like a ray of hope, Will stormed into the warehouse, and I ran over to him, so upset I could hardly breathe. I showed him the door and he squeezed my arm.

  “Go wait for me outside. I don’t want you anywhere near this.”

  In the next moment, he almost kicked the door off its hinges as he stormed into the room.

  A guy on top of Janey was soon thrown against the wall. Tom and the other two jumped onto Will and punches were thrown. He shoved them off and more punches were thrown. I saw Janey moving off the bed, her eyes wide and her hands shaking.

  I went inside to help her and was suddenly shoved by a guy falling back into me. I lost my balance and fell, smacking my head on the corner of the bedside table.

  I tried not to think of the pain, as I got back up and grabbed Janey. She tried to pull her pants up but she was having trouble. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t. I searched for her shoes and grabbed them.

  “He’s going to hate me for this,” she mumbled with tears in her eyes.

  “What?” I asked in a panic, still trying to get her out.

  Will shoved another one against the wall and then he looked around him. They were all on the floor, currently bruised and una
ble to fight back for the moment. He turned and swiftly grabbed Janey in his arms.

  “Let’s go,” he growled carrying her out of the room.

  We made it outside and went to Will’s car, which was parked at an angle near the door. I sat in the back seat with Janey as Will slammed the back door closed. Then he jumped into the driver’s seat. We were soon speeding off and Janey burst into tears.

  “You fucking promised you would stop doing this shit!” shouted Will as he turned the corner sharply, his wheels skidding.

  “I know. Okay! I know,” she cried wiping her tears and pulling her bare legs up to her chest.

  I looked at Will’s knuckles on the steering wheel, red and swollen. I cringed. Pain shot through my head and I felt dizzy.

  “How many fucking times do we need to do this? When are you going to learn?” he shouted.

  “Fuck you!” she screamed, punching the back of his seat.

  I jumped in fright at her violent scream, and then watched her shove her head into the window. She did it again, like a crazy person.

  “Stop,” I hollered.

  “Stop that, Janey, or I will fucking knock you out myself!” shouted Will.

  Janey stopped and leaned against the window, her shoulders rigid as she curled into a ball.

  I didn’t understand what was going on or why Janey had lost the plot. I wanted to suddenly get out of the car and run away. Will stopped at some lights and turned back to me.

  “You okay?” he asked gruffly.

  I nodded in bewilderment.

  He looked at me closely.

  “You’re bleeding.”

  “Am I?” I stammered as a car behind us blared its horn.

  Will swore and accelerated off, trying to look back at me as he drove.

  “You’re fucking bleeding, Ava! Are you okay? How did that happen?”

  I shook my head, feeling it pound.

  “I don’t know.”

  I touched the side of my face, feeling the wetness and looked at my fingers. They were covered in sticky blood.

  He swore again.

  “You need a hospital.”

  “No, I’m okay,” I said quickly. “You need to take care of Janey first. I’ll be fine.”

  Will’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket.

  “It’s Zac.”

  “Don’t tell him!” said Janey from within her curled-up ball.

  “Jesus, Janey. You know you can’t hide things from him. And now this time, Ava is hurt. How the fuck do you think he’ll react to that?”

  “Don’t you dare tell him, Will!” she said again.

  Will growled and stepped on the accelerator, letting the phone ring. We were soon outside their townhouse and Will picked up Janey from the back seat and carried her inside. I followed them in, my head really starting to pound now.

  My phone rang and I looked at the screen and saw that it was Zac. I declined the call. I could see he had called another three times before that, but I hadn’t heard it ring during the commotion. Will went up the stairs to the bathroom, and I opened the door for him. He ran her a bath and took off her bra and underwear and threw them in the wastebasket in the bathroom.

  He sat her in the empty bath and let the water fill up around her. She curled back up, her face covered by her arms and started to sob. I watched him smooth her back as he kneeled beside the bath. I stepped out of the bathroom to give them privacy.

  I walked into the hallway and slid down the wall, hugging my knees. Janey had gone crazy again, and I tried to examine how and why it had happened. She had been so happy interacting with me prior to it all. Had she taken something else without me seeing? Surely the coke hadn’t done that to her.

  I tried to comprehend her vacant look when she was on the bed, letting the guys use her and then the craziness in the car. I heard Will talking to her in a soothing voice. I knew how much he cared for her as the bath taps were turned off.

  “The minute you started to go ahead with it, you should have called me,” Will said. “I told you that the last time, too. You need to call me and I will come for you. Stop it from happening. You’re worth so much more, Janey. Try and remember that.”

  “I hate myself,” she sobbed. “I fucking hate myself.”

  “You should only hate the guys you let take advantage,” he replied.

  I closed my eyes, knowing there was so much more going on. I heard Janey’s sobs and my heart went out to her. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I didn’t understand how she could even think about hating herself.

  I felt my phone vibrate, and then I heard the ringing sound again. It made my head hurt. It was Zac again. This time, I answered it numbly.

  “Are you okay?” asked Zac, sounding like he was driving.

  I closed my eyes.

  “Yep,” I lied.

  There was a pause.

  “Ava, what the fuck is going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled as the phone was taken from me.

  “It’s Janey,” answered Will firmly.

  I couldn’t hear what Zac said next.

  “I got five of them down and got them both out of there,” he said next, looking down at me.

  I heard Zac shouting something angrily, but I couldn’t make it out.

  “She wasn’t, but she’s got a bad cut to her head. I’m about to look at it.”

  “I told you not to tell him!” shrieked Janey from the bath.

  Will handed the phone back to me and went into the bathroom. I looked at it and saw that the call had ended. I heard more shrieking from Janey. She sounded wild and I felt terrified. I felt too woozy to get up, so I held my head in my hands and covered my ears.

  The front door burst open and Zac was suddenly on the stairs, taking one look at me and going into a fury.

  “How the fuck did that happen? There’s fucking blood everywhere!” he roared, crouching in front of me and touching the side of my head to see the cut.

  I cringed at his fury and continued to cover my ears from Janey’s shrieking. I shut my eyes tight and willed for it all to be a nightmare.

  “Shit, Ava,” he said hoarsely, pushing my hair back so he could see the cut.

  His voice sounded hurt and full of concern, but I kept my eyes shut, unable to comprehend what was going on.

  “Are you in pain? I’ll find and kill every one of them.”

  My eyes snapped open.

  “Where were you?” I gasped.

  Guilt crossed his face and that was when I knew. He had been too busy fucking around with someone to take my call. I angrily shoved his hands away.

  “Ava, stop,” he said grabbing my hands. “You’re bleeding pretty badly. You need stitches.”

  I wrestled with him and heard Janey get louder.

  “Get the sedatives,” shouted Will.

  I could hear serious splashing in between the shrieking.

  “Got them,” said Noah appearing from somewhere and heading into the bathroom.

  Zac touched my cheek, looking pained.

  “Ava, calm down and tell me what happened.”

  “Get away from me,” I spat, the pain in my head making me feel like I was going to pass out. “I called you!”

  He looked pained. “I know.”

  “You were too busy with a girl, weren’t you?” I spat, knowing deep down it wasn’t his fault, but I wanted to blame him.

  I wanted to hurt him, because he was hurting me.

  “She keeps spitting them out,” shouted Noah.

  Zac swore and squeezed my hand.

  “Don’t move,” he whispered, going into his room.

  He stormed back out with a syringe in his hand, and pierced a small bottle with it. Then he disappeared back into the bathroom.

  I heard more splashing and grunting from Janey and then moved slightly to peek around the corner. Will held her against him on the floor as she tried to wriggle out of his clasp. He held her arms down tightly with his arm while Noah held her thras
hing legs down. She strained against them, her eyes wild as she looked in my direction.

  Her gaze was unfocused and she was crazy-looking. I knew she couldn’t even see me. I watched Zac lean over her.

  “Hold her tight,” he said as he calmly administered the injection.

  It worked almost instantly, turning her rigid wild body into a state of calmness.

  Will leaned back against the basin and stroked Janey’s hair as he held her, catching his breath.

  “She’s coked up to the eyeballs,” muttered Noah.

  Zac covered her with a towel and Will continued to sit there with her in his lap, stroking her hair.

  “Where was Ava when you went in?” asked Zac.

  “Trying to get help and then I was fighting the guys and she must have got knocked by one of them,” he said, turning to look at me by the door.

  “Fuck, Ava, you need stitches,” said Noah.

  “I’ll take her to the hospital,” said Zac getting up and starting towards me.

  “No,” I said scrambling up from the floor, my heard swirling.

  “Ava,” he said grabbing me before I fell.

  “Let me go,” I pleaded, suddenly exhausted. “I don’t want to be with you.”

  Zac pulled back from me, like my words had slapped him.

  “Noah, can you take me home?” I asked suddenly shaking uncontrollably. “I just need to go,” I whimpered, stepping even further away from Zac.

  Noah eyed Zac and then stood up.

  “Sure.”

  Zac stayed completely still as Noah went to walk past him with her.

  “Okay?” asked Noah quietly.

  Zac visibly swallowed and then passed Noah the keys to his car with a curt nod. Noah took them in silence.

  I turned away and heard Zac murmur, “Look after her with your life.”

  I awoke to a blinding light and tried not to panic as I focused on a woman’s face. I must have fallen asleep in the car.

  “Where’s Noah?” I gasped.

  “I’m here,” he said coming into my line of sight.

  “You have a slight concussion, Ava,” explained the woman. “I’m about to glue your injury so you need to hold very still.”