Embracing Trouble (Trouble Series) (35 page)

“Did you kiss him tonight?”

I paused and closed my eyes. My silence gave him the answer he was expecting.

“What about us?”

“Let’s just talk tomorrow, Tyler,” I said, still not turning around from the front door.

“You want him. More than me. It will always be like that, won’t it?” he whispered.

“Tyler.”

“I’m not a fucking doormat, Ava,” he whispered angrily. “If you choose him and his friends, then do it. Stop fucking around with me.”

I turned to him with tears in my eyes.

“But know this. When you’re heartbroken from when he leaves you again, or you find out he’s cheated on you, and he will, I want you to think about me. Think about what we could have had together.”

“Tyler, please,” I said emotionally.

“I’m done,” he said leaning in to kiss my forehead. “It’s been a blast.”

He turned and headed back to the taxi and got in, without a glance back.

I sobbed softly and watched the taxi drive away. Now I had lost everyone again.

Zac

A few nights later, I swigged from my whiskey bottle as I walked out of my bedroom and back into the party. The girl that I had just screwed five minutes ago followed me out, fixing her hair.

I felt sick but swigged again, trying to numb the craziness in my head.

“Are we going back out to the pool?” she asked over the loud music blaring in the room.

“I don’t care what you do.”

She looked a little shocked and then hid it with her annoyance.

“So that’s it?”

“That’s it,” I said in a bored voice as I looked around the room.

I caught Noah’s disapproving eyes across the room.

“Fuck you,” she said angrily.

“Just did,” I said walking away and heading outside.

I stopped at the patio area and breathed in the night air, my head spinning and stomach churning.

Janey appeared beside me.

“Really, Zac?” she said annoyed.

“Really, Janey,” I mocked, not looking at her as I swigged again.

“Stop drinking yourself to death and stop screwing dumb girls. Just freaking call her.”

I shook my head.

“She chose Tyler.”

“She fucking went with him to avoid you killing him, you dumb nut,” she said angrily. “She doesn’t want him. She wants you.”

“She needs to be with him,” I slurred.

“So that’s it?”

I glared at her and growled the words, “Stay out of my life.”

“If you leave this any fucking longer, Zac, it’s over for you.”

Ava

Days went by, and I didn’t hear from him. Janey had kept in contact via text messages, but we didn’t talk about her brother. She was thinking of getting another tattoo and wanted me to come with her at some point.

I had spoken briefly to Sophie, but our friendship was showing cracks and the divide between us was increasing. She was siding with Sam and Tyler, and I knew it would soon be over.

Zac had blindsided me once again, and even though time might have given us distance, I still felt the same for him. I was attuned to him like he was my soul mate, and it would never be any different. I yearned to be with him, the group, and Janey. I hated the thought of them thinking I had decided against them by walking out with Tyler that night.

I hadn’t called him and there was a part of me that had wanted Zac to make contact with me first, even if it was just to check to see how I was doing. But he didn’t and his silence was deafening. I had the urge to walk a couple of streets over and knock on Noah’s door, but I was too afraid of what I might find in there.

Chapter Eighteen: When It All Went Very Wrong

Ava

I received a text from Janey.

Janey:
Tattoo is booked – come and hold my hand!

Ava:
Love to – when?

Janey:
I’ll be at yours in an hour

True to her word, she was at my place an hour later, music pumping in her car with the windows down and a cigarette in her hand.

“Hey,” I said happily climbing in and kissing her on the cheek.

She reversed out and sped away, heading to a tattoo place in Fitzroy.

“How’s it going with Tyler?”

“We’re no longer together.”

“How did he take it?”

I admitted, “He’s better off without me mucking him around.”

“Does Zac know?”

I shook my head no.

“We haven’t spoken since that night.”

“I haven’t seen him for a couple of days. They’ve been out every night according to Will.”

“Oh,” I said feeling the despair in my stomach.

He would have moved on from me numerous times and I had to change the subject before I did something silly like burst into tears.

“So, what are you getting done?”

“I’m finishing off my wrist sleeve,” she said with a smile. “Want to get one, too?”

I laughed.

“I’ve secretly been wanting one for a little while now.”

“No time like the present. We’ll get it done together. I know the artist well, and he’ll fit you in.”

I laughed again, but seriously thought about it. I felt the adrenalin as I pondered about doing something crazy. I had wanted to get a small lily somewhere discreet, because it was my middle name.

Janey laughed and teased me, “You’re thinking about it! That means yes!”

“You’re a bad influence,” I said, smiling.

“Like I haven’t been told that a million times.”

Three hours later, I sat in the now closed tattoo shop with a small lily on the lower right-hand side of my pelvis. No one would see it unless my underwear was down or if I was wearing an ultra-low-rise bikini. It represented me and my wildness over the last couple of months. It also represented the middle name that I shared with my mother.

I sat with a whiskey, compliments of the co-owner who was putting the last finishing touches on Janey’s wrist. Janey smiled over at me.

“So, it’s your mother’s middle name, too?”

I nodded and looked down at my whiskey.

“She died five years ago,” I said softly, looking back over at her. “She took her own life.”

It was the first time I had said those words out loud to anyone.

“I’m sorry,” said Janey, clearly shocked. “I didn’t know. That must have been so hard.”

“Didn’t Zac tell you?” I asked softly.

She shook her head.

“No, he stays pretty tight-lipped on certain things. Your privacy is one of them, I guess.”

I felt a little relieved at that information and sipped my whiskey again.

Janey put a photo of my tattoo up on Facebook and tagged me.

Janey:
Getting inked with beautiful Ava ;)

The comments started to come through.

Will:
Where is it?

Janey:
Not telling you

Will:
Come on, we all want to know!

There was nothing from Zac, of course, but I didn’t expect anything. I listened to Janey agree to a party invite tonight at some warehouse party in Fitzroy. That’s when one of the other co-owners named Frankie headed over. He sat down beside me. He was waiting for us to finish, so he could lock up the shop and leave for the night.

“You realize this is just the beginning,” he said to me in a gravelly voice.

I smiled and asked, “For what?”

“You won’t stop at just one tattoo,” he said knowingly. “You’ll be planning the next one in a couple of months.”

I giggled and said, “Maybe.”

“She will,” said Janey with a wink.

“So how do you two know each other?” he asked, lighting up a cigarette and then offering me one.

I took one and thanked him while I grabbed his lighter and lit the cigarette.

“She has been seeing my brother,” said Janey.

“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.