Luckily it wasn’t the end of the world.
We broke apart and I touched her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Sit with me,” she said.
“I don’t want to sit.”
“Ash, sit down.”
“I have everyone with me,” I said.
“I don’t care,” Belle said.
I nodded and sat down next to her.
She started to play with her hands. “So the Sarah and Gray thing was real. They’re not together. She was hurt. And we got him back.”
“I need to hear everything, angel.”
She looked at me and smiled. “Okay. I had my guard up the entire time. I met up with Sarah and the first thing she did was ask me to hit her. She wanted me to full on punch her in the face.”
“Did you?”
“I’m with you, Ash,” she said. “What do you think I did?”
“You hit her…”
“Right in the nose. Blood everywhere.”
“Wow, angel. I’m impressed.”
“Just had to get that out of the way,” Belle said. “Then we talked about what really happened. Just to get to the truth and get it out of the way. Then she told me about Gray. I’ll get to that later.”
“Okay. So what did you do to Gray?”
“He was fooling around with another girl,” Belle said. “Big shocker there. So we decided to have a little fun. Sarah wanted to put old food in his car. To make it smell bad. I wanted something better. More dangerous. Sarah said we could mess with his car to make him crash. That was too far though.”
“Is Gray alive?” I asked.
“He’s alive. Trust me. So… we glued him to his car and made him piss himself.”
I shook my head. “What did you do?”
“I just told you.”
“I think everyone else needs to hear this story, angel.”
“Okay. Fine. Let’s walk up there. But then I have to tell you something else. In private.”
In private.
My heart raced a little.
I stood up and she took my hand.
We walked to the SUV.
“Hey, Belle,” Mara said out of the open window.
Then Hil’s face appeared. “There you are, beauty. I missed you.”
“Get out of the fucking way,” Uly said.
“Hey,” I yelled. “Belle has a story to tell. She glued her ex to his car and he pissed himself.”
“What?” Vera called out. “I want details.”
Everyone piled out of the SUV.
We all stood there, all eyes on Belle.
“So I was with Gray… and he was a loser. Then my old best friend started messing around with him… it caused a lot of issues. But anyway, Gray hurt Sarah and she called me for a little revenge on him. And this is what we did… he was going to go on a date with his new whore. So we poured the strongest glue we could find all over the door handle to the car. That meant he would touch it and stick. And I mean stick. Gray is also terrified of snakes. Not many people know that. But I do. For some reason he told me that. I never thought I would need that information until now.”
“Snakes?” I asked Belle. “Real snakes?”
“That would have been ideal,” Belle said. “But we didn’t have real snakes. So we had to get rubber snakes. Sarah made a couple calls and friends raided their little brother’s rooms and, boom, we had snakes.”
“I like where this is going,” Hil said.
“Just wait,” Belle said. “So there’s glue all over the outside of the car. Sarah and I are waiting for him to come outside. He does. With his new whore. This girl is like fake all over. She’s one of those preppy bitches that thinks she doesn’t poop or something. But anyway, Gray gets to his car and I step forward and whistle. When he turns and sees me, I realize I messed up because he didn’t grab the door handle. But he folds his arms and leans against the car. He starts getting cocky with me. Asking if I’m back for a second chance. Whatever. The point is… the longer he stands there, the better the glue is going to hold.”
“So you stuck his own ass to his own car,” Uly said.
“Wait, I thought you said he pissed himself too,” Mara said.
“That’s next,” Belle said. “When his whore got to the car, that’s when Sarah joined the fun. She ran out of nowhere and threw a handful of rubber snakes at Gray. It was instant screams. Two of the snakes went right over his shoulder and just stayed there. When he tried to move forward, he was stuck. Completely stuck to his car. So he kept screaming, trying to grab his shoulder, trying to turn and figure out why he was stuck. And then came the swinging and kicking. The rubber snakes fell to the ground but Gray couldn’t get away. I swear he still thought the snakes were real. And then… he pissed himself. No lie… everywhere. Sarah and I started to laugh. Gray’s whore of a date covered her mouth and laughed too. Then she took her phone out and took a picture. And Gray had only one choice. He had to figure out how to climb out of his pants. Which were still glued to the car when he drove away.”
Hil started to clap.
And the rest of us joined in.
Belle put her arms out and helped herself to a much-deserved bow.
“Can I now confess something?” Vera asked.
All eyes moved to her.
“Sure, beauty, what’s up?” Hil asked.
“I know you all have had your thing with Belle… but… I think I have a serious crush on her right now.”
Hil looked at me and grinned.
“Don’t fucking say a word,” I said.
“I won’t,” Hil said.
“Belle, can we ditch these boys and just be together?” Vera asked.
“What about Mara?” Uly asked.
“Oh, I’m good,” Mara said.
“I’m not,” Uly said. “If I’m going to be thinking about this thing, I want the full effect.”
“You can wet your sheets later, Uly,” Vera said.
“Who told you about that?” Uly asked with a wink.
Vera reached for Belle’s hand.
I put my hand out.
“Oh, no, big bad Ash is jealous,” Vera said.
“I missed you all so much,” Belle said. “I was only gone for how long? And Ash can’t cope. Vera is attracted to me. I’ve never felt so important and loved in all my life.”
I slipped my arm around Belle’s waist and I kissed the top of her head.
I curled my lip at Vera because I had no idea just how crazy the psycho would take things.
“Okay, let’s back up for a second here,” Uly said. “We can talk about these girls kissing in a minute…”
“Nobody is kissing,” Mara said.
“Why not?” Hil asked in a sad voice.
“You don’t want to kiss me?” Vera asked Mara. Mara started to blush. “I’m a very good kisser.”
“She really is,” Hil said.
“Excuse me,” Belle said. “Mara is mine first.”
She grabbed Mara’s hand.
“Can we just let Belle talk?” I asked. “Do you all have to be such fucking idiots all the time?”
Everyone looked at me.
“So sorry,” Uly said. “Mr. I’m-so-fucking-serious…”
“It’s okay, Ash,” Belle said. “Relax. I’m only kissing you today.”
“What about tomorrow?” Hil asked.
Belle smiled big as she showed Hil both of her middle fingers.
“Okay,” Uly said. “Back to the beginning here… just how bad ass is Belle? You glued someone to their car.”
“That’s right,” she said.
“You threw rubber snakes at him.”
“Yes.”
“And you made him piss himself.”
“Correct,” Belle said.
“I’m speechless,” Uly said.
“I agree,” Mara said. “Next time Uly pisses me off, I’m calling you, Belle.”
“Please do,” Belle said. “I have plenty of ways to take all of Them down…” Belle then
looked at me. “All…”
I grinned.
She was scary yet still beautiful.
I leaned down to her. “Can we talk alone now?”
“Let’s go home first,” Belle whispered back.
I groaned in the back of my throat but I wasn’t going to argue with Belle.
She gave me a smile that I knew was forced.
And everyone piled back into the SUV.
* * *
“Wait, wait, wait,” Belle said as she looked into the backseat. “I never got to see the ass thing.”
“No,” Mara said. “Don’t…”
“That’s right,” Hil said. He jumped forward into the middle row of the SUV. “You never got to see my ass, beauty. You’ve been thinking about it, haven’t you?”
“Every day of my life, Hil,” Belle said.
“Uly, where’s your lighter?” I called out.
“I have it ready,” Uly said.
Hil turned and put his ass near Mara.
She screamed even though his jeans were still on.
She slumped down in her seat and crawled into the back-back with Vera.
Vera quickly hugged her.
“It can be us together since Belle is a prude,” Vera said.
“Wait, this is confusing,” Uly said. “I don’t know what to look at here.”
“You don’t know what to look at?” I asked. “You’re trying to decide between Hil’s flabby ass cheeks pressed against a window and your girlfriend pressed against another girl? How is that a choice?”
“Fuck off, Ash,” Uly yelled.
“Ready for this, beauty?” Hil asked Belle. “I’m ready.”
Hil reached back and put the window down. Then he dropped his pants and hung his ass out the window.
“Ash, get next to a car,” Hil said. “We have to give Belle the full effect.”
I glanced over at Belle. “You want the full effect here, angel?”
Belle laughed. “Of course I do.”
I groaned and sped up.
When I got next to a car, I saw two women in the front seat.
I beeped the horn and shook my head.
They looked, I sped up some more, and they had a clear view of Hil’s bare ass.
“Wow,” Belle said. “That is… wow…”
“I can’t burn his ass with my lighter when it’s hanging out of the window,” Uly said to me.
“Fuck you then,” Hil said with a laugh. “I can stay like this until we get home.”
I moved my left hand and put the window up on Hil’s ass.
It took a second for the pain to set in and Hil let out a scream.
“He’s trapping me!” Hil yelled.
“Who is?” Vera asked.
“Fucking Ash,” Hil said. “My ass… it’s stuck in the window! Help!”
“Someone record this on their phone,” Mara said. “Please. Right now.”
“Fuck, it hurts!” Hil yelled.
He swung and punched me in the arm.
I pushed the button and released the hold the window had on his ass.
Hil fell forward and groaned in pain. “He cut my ass off. Ohmygod, he cut my fucking ass off. What do I do?”
“Your ass is fine, Hil,” Uly said.
“Oh, you’re looking?” Mara asked.
“No!” Uly yelled.
“Yes, you are,” Vera teased.
“It’s okay, Uly,” Belle said.
“I wasn’t fucking looking,” Uly yelled.
“I’m not offended, man,” Hil said. “I know I have a nice ass. But Ash just cut it off.”
“Sit down and be quiet, bro,” I said.
“I can’t sit down,” Hil said. “It hurts.”
“I bet that’s not the first time he’s said that,” Belle said.
Now that got me to laugh.
And everyone else started laughing.
And we just kept laughing.
I laughed my ass off at the expense of Hil’s ass.
As the moment passed, I looked over at Belle and saw her staring forward.
All the fun, all the humor, all the happiness… drained.
I reached for her hand and when I touched her, she jumped and ripped her hand away.
Like she was scared of me.
She turned her head and her face became red.
“Angel…”
She shook her head and looked away.
What the fuck is going on with her?
Chapter 17
My mind thought about Liam.
I was alone in the bedroom, sitting on the corner of the bed, my hair still damp from the shower. The water was still running because Belle wasn’t done yet.
I made sure to keep her company in the shower.
At least for a little bit.
Thinking about her and the secret moments between us always made me smile.
But everything else tore me apart.
Liam was part of the rich boys club. The same club I was part of. And I knew damn well no matter what I did in my life, I would have a way to get out of it. And whatever was happening here went deeper than me, BC, and Mac. This was my father against whatever people he knew and hated. I fought my fights with fists. My father fought his with movements. Fucking people over for fun. Those people fucking him back. And someone was able to get Liam out of jail. And that was that.
Mac didn’t want me to start some kind of fight.
I wondered if someone told him that or if he was just looking for an excuse to get in my way.
Because that was Mac.
That was BC.
Whatever Them was willing to do to solve a problem, BC would do it ten times worse. That’s why BC existed. It was for rich kids who were bad. Simply put. Those with money who didn’t want to have to deal with their families by doing crazy shit.
And from what I heard, it was Barr from the Rulz and Mac that started the really bad shit at BC. The shit that didn’t just stay in BC.
The bathroom door opened and Belle stepped out.
Her hair soaking wet.
A gray hoodie over her body.
Looking like a dream that I wasn’t sure I was worthy of having.
I hadn’t even heard the water shut off.
My mind was just too fucking dazed.
We had gotten back home a few hours ago and I was waiting for her to talk to me. First we had to get rid of everyone else. That meant ordering something to eat, eating it, talking, laughing, dealing with Hil and Vera and their psycho bullshit relationship. Then came Uly grabbing a guitar. He and Hil jamming a little. Mara being the bold little badass asking if there was anything good to drink.
And an hour after that, it was pushing Hil, Vera, Uly, and Mara out of the damn house.
They were going to stumble their way over to Hil’s place and stay there for the night.
Hil told me I was being different since marrying Belle.
I gave him a light punch to the jaw.
Just enough to bust his lip open.
That was enough to get Vera to call me a fucking prick.
All the while Uly and Mara were arm in arm, laughing, walking away into the night.
I put my hand out for Belle to take.
She squeezed my hand and I pulled her close.
My other hand touched her face.
“I know,” she whispered. “I know…”
“You’ve got to spill it, angel. Is it Sarah? Gray? Your mother? Pete? Their engagement? Whatever it is…”
“You haven’t been to the tattoo shop in a few days,” she said.
“No, I haven’t,” I said. “It’s been hectic here. Which is fine. I’m going to be working with someone Iggy knows though. I’ve been working on some sketches. Iggy never does this kind of shit. So it’s cool. But I guess I just… I don’t know. Sometimes it’s weird down there. Hae is overwhelming at times.”
I moved my pointer finger to Belle’s nose ring.
I still couldn’t believe she got her nose pierced as fast as she d
id.
“What about Rocco?” Belle asked.
“Rocco? What about him?”
“What do you think of him?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Why?”
“I’m just asking…”
“Rocco… I don’t know. He’s the business mind behind things. I think Tin would be fine on his own. But I get it. It’s nice to have that presence there. Why the fuck does any of this matter, angel? I like the shop. I don’t know what I want to do there though. I just like to kill time. Is that a bad thing?”
Belle shook her head. Her face started to turn white. “That’s why I’m trying to figure out how to say something…”
“What? You can say anything, angel. There’s nothing to ever worry about here.”
Belle put her hands to my shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Ash.”
“Sorry for what?”
Belle lowered her head. “Rocco made a move on me…”
* * *
There was a one second response of no fucking way in my head.
But this was Belle.
Her words were always truths to me.
And that meant as the words slid through me, it was instant anger.
“Angel…”
“Last time we were there… or when I was there… I was waiting in your room…”
“I remember,” I said.
“Rocco was there too,” she said. “Or he showed up. He just kind of walked in. I thought he was looking for you. I figured he was looking for you. So I just kind of casually said hey to him. He asked me what I was doing. I said I was waiting for you. Then he looked back and he shut the door. He locked it, Ash.”
I curled my lip. “He locked himself inside the room with you.”
“Yeah he did. Then he sat down in the tattoo chair in your room. He unbuttoned the sleeves on his shirt and slowly rolled them up. He started spouting off about his tattoos. His past. That he went to prison. That he learned about business inside. That he met Tin and helped him make the tattoo shop successful. It was just normal, but I felt uncomfortable. I kept looking to the door, telling myself to just go. Make up an excuse and leave.”
Belle took a deep breath.
It wasn’t for her.
It was for me.
ASH: a bay falls high novel Page 16