by L. A. Casey
"I took a bath, it helped with the pain, but to make me feel even better I'm eatin' this," I said and gestured to my large serving of ice-cream, custard, and whipped cream.
Branna chuckled and shook her head. "Thank God you pick out the low fat on everything we buy. You'd be as big a house if you keep up this comfort eatin' thing you've got goin'."
I rolled my eyes. "I haven't even gained weight so clearly me comfort eatin' isn't bad."
Branna snorted. "Give it a while hun, your jeans will suddenly feel a bit too tight and then, after that, all hell breaks loose."
I shook my head and lifted up my bowl. "If you need me, I'll be eatin' my feelin's in my room while watchin' Dear John."
"Awe hun," Branna frowned and lightly chuckled.
She felt sorry for me and watched me exit the kitchen.
I headed up to my room, settled into my bed, turned on my television, and dug into my food. I snorted at Branna's logic; there was nothing wrong with comfort eating, so what if I gained some weight? Honestly, who gave a fuck?
Nope, not me. I'd rather deal with my worries by comfort eating and have some extra pounds than sit around afraid that Micah might beat me up again or what would happen when I saw Dominic again.
I groaned at the thought of him and all the trouble he had caused me in the short time I've known him. I shook my head, one bowl of ice-cream was nowhere near enough to deal with this bullshit.
"I can't believe we're this high up the mountains," I growled to Branna and quickly glanced around my surroundings.
I was mad that she brought me up here but when I caught sight of the view overlooking Dublin at night I was shocked I hadn't come up here before just to look at it. All the lights and patches of darkness from the fields were just stunning.
Branna rolled her eyes when I looked back at her. "We're ten minutes from the house. We live on the bottom of the mountain so what's the big deal about bein' higher up on it?" Branna asked.
I shrugged. "You said we were goin' clubbin' so I figured we would go to Temple Bar, Sin nightclub in town, or even The Playhouse down the Tallaght Bypass but not up the fuckin' mountains!" I snapped lowly and rubbed my bare arms to generate some heat.
Branna rolled her eyes at me again. "This place is exclusive; it's based up here because a lot of people with money come here who don't want to venture near town or anywhere like that."
I shook my head at her.
"You know, Branna, a normal older sister would take their little sister out for dinner or order takeaway or even go to the cinema when tryin' to make her feel better about gettin' jumped on. They don't bring said little sister to an underground night club," I hissed as we stood in a queue waiting to be assessed by the bouncers of Darkness, an underground nightclub that was apparently very exclusive after seeing the amount of people that had been turned away since Branna and I got into the queue.
Branna shushed me as she kept looking ahead.
"I don't have any form of identification yet though. I just turned eighteen for fuck sakes, Branna, they won't let me in," I whispered in her ear as we moved forward in the queue.
I was starting to sweat; I didn't want to be embarrassed by being turned down entry into the club. Branna brought me here to get me out of a funk I was in since Micah attacked me a week ago but embarrassing me wasn't going to help me in anyway.
"Close your mouth before I put me fist in it!" Branna snapped in a very low tone that honestly scared the crap out of me.
"Okay," I murmured and looked down.
I felt like I was being chastised by my parents. I mentally snorted at that, then gasped when Branna's hand pressed against the small of my back and urged me forward. I looked at Branna then looked forward; we were next, and the bouncers were waiting for us to approach.
"Branna, sweetheart," beamed a tall bouncer, with zero hair and a large black spiral tattoo circling his right cheek and down his neck, disappearing under his shirt.
I was horrified. Branna had been here before; I knew that because she told me when I asked about how she knew about the club that I'd never heard of, but what's worse was that this obvious criminal knew her by the excited way he addressed her.
"He looks like a serial killer, I'm fuckin' out!" I hissed to Branna and was about to move out of line only for her to hold me in place by moving her hand from my back to my hip, keeping me next to her. I winced a little because her hand was directly on my bruise, but I stayed put despite the pain.
"Hey Skull, this is me little sister. Her eighteenth was a few weeks ago. I thought I'd bring her to watch the fight and get her first alcoholic drink as an adult," Branna chirped making Skull chuckle.
"She knows the rules of the club?" he questioned.
Branna nodded her head. "Yep, I gave her a run of them twice and made her leave her phone at home so no videos or pictures can be taken."
Skull nodded his head at Branna then flickered his eyes back in my direction. I wondered if he would still ask me for I.D. then I wondered what 'fight' Branna was talking about and why I couldn't have a phone to take pictures or videos. Skull gave me a once-over and grinned at me, getting my full attention, before nodding Branna and myself past the red rope and into the club.
"Tell John to stamp the both of you for free drinks," Skull called after us.
Branna looked over her shoulder. "Thanks, babe." She grinned to Skull.
Skull.
My God, his name was actually Skull.
My sweating over my nerves of being rejected passed and instead, fear pricked at me as Branna held my hand and led me down four flights of stairs. This was literally an underground nightclub, we were deep into the mountain. To be honest, that freaked me out more than a little.
"They must be horrible to walk up when you're drunk," I voiced my thought aloud when I looked down to the steps.
"They are," Branna answered with a cackle.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, there were two huge black doors. They were closed and in front of them stood two huge bouncers.
"H-Hi." I smiled when they looked at me and Branna.
"Skull said for you to stamp us, John," Branna beamed.
The man on my right chuckled, so I guessed him to be John. "You have Skull in ribbons when you show off those pretty legs of yours, Branna. The poor lad can't think straight."
Branna chuckled. "Whatever, he just likes me 'cause I'm mates with his misses."
John snorted and said, "Yeah, right."
They nodded to us then, and I noticed Branna holding her right arm out so I did the same with mine. The bouncers then took out a stamp from their pockets and turned our hands around and pressed the stamp on the inside of our wrists.
Free was stamp across my wrist in thick black ink. The bouncer who stamped me picked up my other wrist and stamped it with a different stamp. When I glanced at my left wrist, Darkness was stamped on my skin in the same thick black ink.
I held my hands out for a few seconds not wanting to smudge the ink, but I found it practically dried straight away so I didn't have to worry.
"Have fun in the Darkness ladies," John said with a grin and pushed on the side of the double doors.
I jumped when pounding music filled my ears. It frightened me, the stairway and door area was deathly quiet until the doors opened up into the club. They were seriously soundproof, because when they were closed you honestly couldn't hear a thing outside.
Branna led me into the club. The name Darkness suited it, because the entryway was virtually black until flashing strobe lights attacked my eyes.
I ducked my head and huddled closely to Branna.
"This place is an epileptic's worst nightmare," I shouted to her.
I felt the vibrations of her body, indicating she was laughing, but I couldn't hear her because of the music that was currently blaring into my ear drums. I once again huddled close to Branna when the view of a huge crowd of people swaying their bodies got my attention.
The strobe lights made everythi
ng look crazy. It was like I was daydreaming and everything was happening in slow motion. Branna's hands encased mine as she led me to the left of the dance floor, and that's when I spotted a massive bar that stretched around the entire room only stopping a few feet away from a darkened area of the club.
I leaned into Branna, putting my mouth by her ear. "What's that area for?" I asked, pointing to the darkened section.
Branna looked to the area then back to me, she grinned.
"That, my darlin' baby sister, is where girls soak their knickers at the mere sight of big, bad, scary men."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Is this a sex club?" I shouted, horrified.
Branna laughed at my facial expression and shook her head. "No, it's not a sex club." She cackled and leaned into my ear and said, "It's actually an underground fightin' club."
I leaned back and stared at Branna. "An underground fightin' club?" I repeated and she nodded.
"A real fight club? Like in the film Fight Club?" I questioned, my eyebrows raised.
Branna made me watch those films. She was really into the whole underground fighting thing, and I liked watching the films, but being here in an actual underground fighting club was actually a little scary.
"Bronagh, how many times do I have to tell you? You don't talk about fight club," Branna smirked.
I rolled my eyes. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with this."
Branna sighed. "It will be fine; you can hang back here and watch the fight. You don't have to be circleside. Okay?"
I nodded. "Okay."
Branna smiled. "I'm serious though, about what I said before. You don't talk about this fight club; this place is well-known but only to certain people. It is illegal after all."
I gaped at Branna. "I thought you were just referencin' the film!"
Branna laughed. "I was, because I've always wanted to say that but it actually applies here. Don't talk about this fightin' club, ever. That was what Skull was talkin' about outside; this place is very exclusive so don't speak of it. Not to anyone, okay?"
I didn't talk to anybody so I wouldn't have anyone to tell even if I wanted to, but I still nodded firmly. I couldn't believe my big sister brought me to a nightclub that condoned illegal acts. It was freaky, scary, and sort of exciting at the same time.
"So, what do we do here?" I shouted.
Branna laughed as she turned, shouted some orders to a man behind the bar and then turned back to me.
"We drink, dance, watch hot lads fight, and have a hell of a good fuckin' time," Branna cheered.
I burst out laughing, thank God she remained my sister once she became my guardian. It would have been horrible if she completely fell into the role of being my mam and dad. I would literally have no one to introduce me to anything wild, and I would certainly have no one to do stupid stuff with me.
"I've never drank before so what will I order-"
"I ordered you a bottle of blue WKD already, it's just an alcopop. Don't want you legless leavin' here with me." Branna snorted.
I shrugged; I trusted her so blue WKD it was.
"Okay."
When the bartender came back with a glass full of bright blue liquid and what looked like a glass of Coke I licked my lips. Branna showed him her right wrist that had Free stamped written across it. The bartender nodded and then looked at me, so I showed him my stamp, and he nodded again before walking off to take more orders.
"How come we got the Free stamp?" I leaned in and asked Branna.
She smiled. "I used to have a thing with Skull, but that was forever ago. Now he goes out with Aideen Collins."
I nodded, Aideen was Branna's friend since they were in primary school, she was also Gavin Collin's big sister.
"Yeah, so we're all pretty good friends. It pays to have friends like her, literally," Branna said and gestured to our drinks, which made me chuckle.
She handed me my large glass of blue liquid and watched me take a sip. She laughed when I widened my eyes and suddenly downed a huge gulp.
"This tastes like a cool pop. We used to eat them when we were younger, remember?" I gushed.
Branna chuckled and nodded. "I do remember but take it easy; there is alcohol in it even though it may not taste like it."
I nodded my head and settled on taking small mouthfuls of the drink instead of gulps. After thirty minutes I was on my third large glass of WKD, and Branna was on her third vodka and Coke. She had told me what she was drinking when I asked.
"I have to wee," I said just as Branna jumped up to dance along to Scream by Usher.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Branna shouted.
I looked over my shoulder, near the darkened area was a neon sign for the ladies toilets. I turned and shook my head. "Nope, it's just over there. I'll be back in a second."
Branna looked at me for a moment then nodded. "Don't go off with anyone and don't accept drinks or anythin' else if someone offers it, understood?"
I nodded firmly. "Yeah, I understand."
I turned then and walked around some people and across a bit more of a clearer area to head into the ladies' bathroom. I did my business, washed my hands, and then exited the bathroom.
Literally two steps outside of the bathroom a girl tripped and stumbled forward. I knew she was going to go face-first onto the ground if I didn't grab her, so that's what I did even though it killed my bruised side.
"Omigod!" the girl screamed then laughed once I steadied her.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, letting go of her arm and placing my hand across my stomach.
She nodded and looked up to me; the strobe lights were back on, so it made getting a good look of her face hard.
"Thanks babe, that was seriously close. You saved me," she beamed then turned around. "She saved me," she shouted to no one and everyone.
I laughed a little, more out of awkwardness than amusement and bowed my head, ready to move away from her. That was until a body suddenly stepped in front of me from my left, out of from the darkened area of the club.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
I instantly knew the voice, because I loathed that fucking voice. So when I tilted my head back and met the bright silver grey eyes of Dominic Slater, I growled.
"None of your fuckin' business you prick, now move!" I snapped trying to sound mad and not afraid, which was what I was whenever I was around him lately. My entire body became hypersensitive when he was near.
He grinned and stepped an inch towards me. An inch was the only free space there was between us, so this cunt was now pressed against me.
I hated that my control slipped whenever this fucker was around; anyone on the planet could annoy the hell out of me and I would keep my cool and ignore them. With the exception of Dominic. I didn't know what it was about him, but he got to me way too easy, and he knew it. Even though I was afraid of him, I was ready to fight with him and bloody kiss him all at the same time.
I raised my hand, balled it into a fist, and swung for him, but he caught my hand, twirled me around, and encased his arms around me from behind, pinning my back to his chest.
Holy hell, how did he do that?
I knew I was a shite fighter, but what he just did was too fast. My movement was too fast for me as well, because I hurt my side more than anything, and it made me hiss.
"Let go!" I shouted.
The girl whom I saved from face-planting on the ground was gone when I looked to her for help, so I cursed her. That's the thanks I got for preserving her pretty face? The bitch!
"Seriously, babe, what are you doing here?" Dominic asked into my hair close to my ear so I could hear him over the music.
I cringed because his breath on my ear tickled me and caused me to shiver and my eyes to drift closed for a few moments. I took in a deep breath, and his scent filled me and made me a little woozy, but I remembered who I was swooning over and shook my head clear.
"I came here with me sister, now let me go," I snapped.<
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He let me go, so I jumped away from him. I whirled around, and gave him the finger, which made him laugh. I then walked around him, and headed back to Branna. When I got to the place I left Branna at, she wasn't there, and I instantly began panicking.
"Hey, lifesaver, your sister asked me to come get you. She is sat with us."
I turned around and recognised the girl I saved from falling and raised an eyebrow, but I followed her. When we walked towards the darkened area and turned off to the right, I noticed seated booths. They were large and cool looking. The seats were black, and the table was a silver looking marble with a glow ball thing in the middle; it looked awesome.
I searched the strange faces until my eyes landed on someone I knew.
Alec?
I continued to look to the right and saw Kane and Damien. I nearly fell over when I spotted Dominic smirking at me. I glared at him before continuing to look to the right, and when I spotted my sister, sat on Ryder's lap, I screamed.
This could not be happening!
"No! No fuckin' way, get up, now!" I bellowed.
Branna dropped her jaw; Ryder sighed when he saw me while the rest of the table either snorted or looked at me like I was mental.
"Bronagh, don't be so rude. This is Ryder, I was goin' to introduce-"
"Fuck that, you are literally sat with the enemy. That is Dominic! The lad who you are all but dry humpin' up is his brother!" I growled and pointed to the smug-looking American bastard.
Branna widened her eyes. "Wait Nico is Dominic? That Dominic kid that tried to-"
"Yeah!" I snapped, cutting Branna off.
Branna was like Muhammed Ali when she reached out and punched Dominic; it was so fast, none of us had time to react. Dominic's head snapped to the side, but he turned his head back just as fast to glare at Branna. Ryder jumped up, and all but pushed her off him like she was dirt, and that enraged me.
"Don't fuckin' push me sister, you big bastard!" I snapped and tried to hit Ryder, but he ducked out of my reach.
"Get lost Branna, we're done," Ryder then hissed to Branna, clearly mad that she hit his little brother.