by Sarah Tork
“Ladies don’t say shit,” Demetria snaps, pulling her arm with the figurine down.
“Yeah, well, I’m not a lady,” I say as I take the figurine from her hand and put it back on the side table. “There, that’s better.”
Irina begins to giggle, and I blanch instantly, slowly turning to face what is about to come from Demetria, who is obviously desperately in love with Xander. Which I totally don’t get.
He is a sleazy pervert.
Demetria’s face blanches, mirroring mine except for one small detail. Her mouth turns into a snarl, her eyes raging with fury.
“Get your hands off him!” Demetria screams hysterically. Her arms reach for the figurine I just put back, but I grab it at the same time, stopping her again from creating a crime scene.
“Let go,” I order sternly. “Let go of the fucking thing!”
She starts to cry, not letting go of the figurine. “He’s being taken; she’s taking him from me.”
I get right up in her face. “Calm down; he’s not letting anyone take him. He’s a grown man with his own mind, and he’s going to do things with her because he wants to.”
She eases up on her grip, and using an extra tug of strength, I yank it out of her hands. “Why can’t you see it?”
Demetria collapses to the ground, curls into the fetal position, and begins to cry.
I turn back in horror to see what Xander has to make of this, only to find the living room empty. “What?!”
Where did they go?
I hear a wild giggle echo out from the bedroom and instantly piece together where they went.
Those mother fuckers! They left me, left me to fend off this crazy girl!
“Xander! Xander! You better get your ass out of that room right now!” I yell at the bedroom. “This is your problem to fix, you hear me?”
The volume of the giggles only escalates as they ignore me. I have half the mind to march right into the bedroom and scream bloody murder; but I don’t want to leave Demetria just in case she gets another burst of wind and decides to take deadly revenge as a viable option.
How did I get myself into this mess? Why me? Why fucking me? I’m a bullshit magnet. I can’t run away from this shit; it follows me everywhere.
I curl down right next to her, smoothing her hair back, trying to calm her down. “Stop, don’t be like one of those crazy psychotic girls who can’t take a hint. Trust me, it’s not a good look.”
Yeah, I know, my calming down methods are shit.
Heavy footsteps barge through the doorway as I kneel next to Demetria, trying to calm her down. I’m so into trying to calm this girl down that I don’t notice that the footsteps stop behind me.
“What the fuck?” A deep, masculine voice hisses in disbelief. My eyes snap open, and I slowly twist my head upwards to see who’s standing over me. My eyes instantly focus on black dress pants that are slim cut, not tight, but enough that you can see a beautifully sculpted, muscle-infused leg. I follow the leg-line upwards, settling for a few seconds extra on the crotch area, which I won’t even allow myself to describe, but keep going upwards. My eyes continue upwards to a deep-blue dress shirt. The sleeves are rolled to the elbows, showcasing long, muscled, tanned arms, with beautifully-groomed hands that are about as feminine as the entire Miami Heat basketball team.
They are all man.
I slow down when I reach the first sliver of chest hair. Whoever this is has left three buttons unbuttoned. I follow to his neck, then to his face.
Wow!
It’s as if ‘Love’ by Nancy Adams begins playing from the sound system. My eyes instantly focus on his beautiful, deep-blue eyes that look like they’re laser-beaming into my soul. I feel something stir down there as I stare up at his lips, lush and puffy, perfect kissing lips. Lips that I want everywhere, right here and right now. Xander, Irina, crazy girl Demetria, all be damned.
I want to say hello to this gorgeous Adonis, wearing clothes that look as if they are made to accentuate every single inch of his manly body.
“Who are you? And why are you in my brother’s room?” He asks quietly but sternly. Crossing his arms across his broad chest, he asks, “Why is this girl crying on the ground?”
“Ugh!” I stumble to say anything, still in shock over his beauty. And those gorgeous blue eyes I’m desperate to swim in…to do anything with. “I um, I’m trying to calm her down.”
I kneel further down, his deep-blue eyes turning furious. “Yes, but who are you, and why are you in my brother’s room?”
“Your brother is Xander?” I choke out, blinking.
“Unfortunately!” he exclaims bitterly. “Where is he?”
“The bedroom,” I choke out again; and as he snaps to and heads towards the bedroom, I remember that Xander isn’t alone in there. “Wait! He’s in there with someone.”
“Like I care,” he says, then kicks open the bedroom door that had been shamelessly shut to give them privacy while I am busy attending to Demetria, who is, again, not supposed to be my problem. “Alexander! Alexander!” he hisses, on the verge of hostility. “Get up, you fucking piece of…you’re nothing but trouble!”
“Liam!” I hear Xander gasp loudly.
“What?” Irina squeals in shock. “Why is everyone ruining our privacy? Xander, what is this?”
“Alexander! Move – now!” Liam growls, entering the bedroom. “Get out. Get the fuck out!”
“Why do I have to leave? I was here first!” Irina whines. “This isn’t fair.”
“Who is that out there on the ground crying her eyes out? What did you do now?” Liam growls.
I hear the bed squeak.
“I didn’t do anything,” Xander replies. “I’m innocent.”
“Like you always are,” Liam growls, unconvinced. “Why was I called by hotel security, complaining about another disturbance coming from your room? I thought we talked about this? I thought you said you were finished with this lifestyle?”
“I’ll do whatever I want, whenever I want, big brother. There’s nothing you or that old man can say to stop me!” Xander yells back rebelliously. “I’m not your little brother anymore; I can do whatever I want. I can fuck whoever I want, and take whatever I want!”
Shit!
All of a sudden, Demetria stops crying. She quickly wipes the tears off her face, smearing wet mascara marks across her cheeks. She pulls herself up into a sitting position. My hands are still on her arm from before.
“Get your disgusting hands off of me,” she orders brashly, glaring at my hand on her with disgust. “How dare you put your low-class hands on me; get them off of me or else I’ll sue!”
Um, excuse me?
As I pull my hands off her arm, she yanks her arm away, snarling in the process. “Don’t you ever touch me again!”
She wipes the spot on her fur jacket where I was trying to calm her down, as if it would be contaminated soon if she doesn’t swipe away any of the germs I must have spread on her.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” I hiss at her in disbelief. “I was trying to help your psycho, fucked–up, shitty ass. Stupid!”
She gets up, holding on to the side table next to the door for support. “I don’t need your help; I never asked for it either! Why would I need your help? Who the hell are you? You’re a nobody!”
My eyes bulge.
“You’re crazy. You know that.” I tell her, getting up. “Bat-shit status.”
She fumbles around in front of the mirror, checking her reflection for any imperfections, even though her face is covered in mascara and tears. “Call me that again and I’ll sue.” She turns around abruptly and leaves the room.
“Hey!” I call out to her as she walks out the door. “You can’t just leave; you made this mess!”
She shuts the door behind her.
“What’s going on out here?” Liam growls from behind as I’m trying to go out and catch her. “Trying to leave without anyone noticing? Where did that other one go?”
I’ve
had enough of these ‘people’ thinking they can talk to me like this. “First of all, don’t talk to me like that. I don’t have to answer to you.”
His eyes glower, and I blink. “Oh really?”
“Yeah. I don’t owe you anything, or your stupid, piece-of–shit, good-for–nothing-but-trouble brother,” I snap at him, then take a huge breath before speaking again. “He’s been nothing but trouble for me for the last twenty-four hours.”
Liam’s expression softens a little, amused now. “He’s been nothing but trouble for you; yet you’re here…in his hotel room…late at night?”
It sounds wrong. But he doesn’t know the whole story. I had a debt to pay and I intended on paying it and moving on, forgetting this horrible mess ever happened.
“There was a problem; he helped me out. I owed him a debt; I’m here to pay that debt and get out,” I snap at Liam. “Understand now?”
“Well, consider your debt paid. You can get out now,” Liam snaps back. “A reminder: use your brain in the future before you trust yourself with the likes of people like my brother.”
“I’m not leaving till I pay him back,” I reply. “I promised him something, and I intend to keep that promise.”
“Oh really? Well, what promise is that?” Liam asks snidely. “Come on, hurry up. I’ve got this mess to clean up.”
“I will,” I say, grinding my teeth at his tone, but then remember that it is not something I want to share with him. “It has to be done in private.”
His eyes widened. “Oh, I get it; one of those kinds of deals. Well, I’m sorry; it seems someone else has beaten you to it. It doesn’t seem like my brother will be in any kind of state to be performing.”
Performing?
Oh my God, he thinks I’m here to sleep with Xander.
“I’m not here to sleep him,” I gasp. “I just have to give him something, that’s it.”
“Then give it to him and leave.” Liam snaps impatiently. “I want this over with now; get to it before I call security.”
The sound of high heels stomping against the hardwood floors comes crashing out of the bedroom and into the living room. Irina busts through, red-faced and furious.
“I can’t believe this!’ Irina exclaims in disbelief. “Never in my life have I been treated like this!”
I try to hold back a smile. Liam scowls at her. “Get out!”
“Don’t talk to me like that. I don’t know who you think you are, but nobody talks to me like that,” Irina screeches.
A knock on the door interrupts her power-speech.
“Thank God!” Liam exclaims, and then shouts, “Come in.”
The door opens, and two large men wearing dark blue security suits come in. “Mr. Barns, you called, sir?”
“Escort the blonde prostitute out, please.” Liam orders in a surprisingly calm voice to his security guards.
Irina gasps in shock. “Fuck you! I’m not a hooker!”
Liam doesn’t answer her, but jerks his chin towards her, ordering his men, “Now!”
The security men quickly brush past me, heading towards a now-frantic looking Irina.
“What?” Irina mutters confusedly, then yells at the security guards who circle around her. “Don’t you dare touch me!” They grab each of her arms as she flails her body hostilely. “Get your hands off of me!”
Then, all in a blink of an eye, her shoulders slump down as if she’s about to fall into a deep sleep. “What’s goin’ on…inside me…you did something to meh,” Irina slurs. “I’m sleepy.”
And with that, her entire body falls into a slump over one of the security men’s shoulders. He picks her up.
My mouth drops in shock and I turn to Liam. “What did you do to her?”
Liam glowers at me, but then ignores me and turns to his security. “Take her to the other room; when she wakes up, take her down to a taxi.”
The security guards nod and walk out with Irina, snoring loudly on one of their shoulders.
“What are you guys going to do to her?” I hiss in disbelief, but scared out of my mind.
Question: what the hell are they going to do to me?
Seeing the alarm in my eyes, Liam’s eyes soften. “Mind yourself and you shall not share a similar fate as the blonde escort.”
“I don’t think she was an escort. I think they were just having fun together, you know, mutually,” I hiss at him.
Xander walks out of the bedroom in a hotel robe. He surprisingly has a huge smile on his face. “Well, that was fun!”
Liam glowers at me, and then out of nowhere, he turns and punches Xander in the face…hard.
My mouth drops.
What?! I can’t believe he just did that!
“It’s time for you to learn your lesson, little brother,” Liam states, cracking his knuckles. “You’ve got to learn once and for all, and that time is right now.”
Chapter Twelve
*Demetria*
I’ll show them!
Show them who they decided to mess with.
Then I’ll get Xander, and this time I’m going to keep him forever. I need to cool off before I do something…dangerous.
I pull out my phone, calling Mother. “Where are you?” I snap at the receiver as soon as Mother picks up. “Pick me up right now. Same place.”
I end the call and walk back to the place they dropped me off. They’d better be there by the time I get back to Tim Horton’s.
Or else, there will be hell to pay.
Chapter Thirteen
*Marisa*
I can’t move. My legs are glued to the floor as Liam’s fist meets Xander’s cheek. Xander yelps painfully in surprise as Liam’s knuckles swipe deep into his skin.
“It’s time for you to learn your lesson, little brother! Once and for all!” Liam growls at a bent-over Xander, who is busy cradling the side of his face, moaning from the pain of Liam’s hard hit.
“Oh my God!” I yell at Liam, shocked. “You just hit him!”
Liam looks up from Xander and stares at me, his jaw clenched hard. “Stay out of it!”
Xander’s moans quickly turn into battle–talk, “Yeah, Marisa, you stay out of this. My big bro and I, we’ve got some business to work through.”
Xander lunges towards Liam, wrapping his arms around his waist, knocking him to the floor. Liam’s arms are quick to respond; he begins pounding on Xander’s back as the two begin this wrestling/boxing thing on the floor beside the couches. My eyes widen as I stare at the two brothers fighting violently. I don’t know what to do; I’ve never had to break up a fight before, let alone between two giant beasts of brothers.
“Stop it!” I march in front of them wrestling on the ground; blood is spilling everywhere. “Stop it, you guys; there has to be a better way. You’re grown men for crying out loud!”
They don’t stop. Xander punches Liam’s side; a painful moan escapes Liam’s mouth as he moves over to the side to escape Xander’s repeated hits.
Xander’s found his sweet spot. Liam’s side must have hit the ground hard when Xander first attacked him. The fighting doesn’t stop.
I don’t have this problem. I have a little brother and sister who love each other. I’ve never had to deal with sibling rivalry. Even being the fuck-up that I am, my siblings and I are cool.
How did these two get like this?
“Stop it!” I scream at them. I spin in circles trying to find something in the expensive hotel room to stop them with. My body stops when I notice the figurine that I had fought with Demetria over sitting in the spot I returned it to. I run for it and grab it, then return to the fighting duo, who don’t look like they’re going to lose steam any time soon. I throw it to the ground right beside their bodies. The porcelain statue breaks into a hundred little pieces. The sound echoing throughout the room is enough to stall the fight for a moment.
“Stop fighting,” I demand, pointing my index fingers at each of them as they struggle to catch their breaths. “Xander, get your hands off him. T
hat goes for you too, Liam!”
Using their shock to my advantage, and the fact that they are no longer on top of each other throwing fists, I march in between them. They can’t hit each other with me in between them.
I hope not at least.
“Move,” I order them. “Now!”
“He started it,” Xander whines, pushing his body across the floor away from us. I stare at Liam’s face; his jawline is badly bruised and bleeding. He grabs the side of his face and slowly gets up, his eyes never leaving my stare. As he gets up fully, his shirt is completely torn from the side, showcasing his six–pack of lightly-tanned abs. I briefly glance at the bruised skin before looking back up at him. As if he’d noticed me staring there, something in his eyes changes.
“Are you okay?” I whisper to him. His deep-blue eyes stare into mine for a few seconds before he turns to a moaning Xander on the ground.
“This was a warning; this shit better not happen again!” Liam yells at Xander. He looks back at me briefly and marches out of the room.
Okay, what the hell just happened? Liam’s presence still lingers in the room even though he left.
“I’m the one who was attacked, and you ask him if he’s okay? What about me?” Xander moans, still on his back on the floor. I gaze down at his bruised face as he leans his body upwards into a sitting position. Blood drips out of his nose, sliding down to his lips.
“I guess I’m not the only one,” I murmur. Xander’s forehead creases as his eyes narrow at me in confusion.
“You’re the not only one what?” He hisses. “Don’t tell me you’re on his side. You don’t even know him!”
“I know what it’s like to want to hit you!” I snap at him. “I’ve had to deal with you for over twenty-four hours now, and you’ve been nothing but a menace toward me. Laughing and giggling like you’re so smart!”
“After all I’ve done for you?” Xander belts back, trying to get up but struggling. The compassionate side of me wants to help him, but the bitter side quickly side-sweeps that notion.