Embracing Trouble (Trouble Series) (38 page)

Will looked over at me.

“Don’t be too pissed,” he said quietly, exhaling smoke.

“He couldn’t let you go,” said Janey quietly.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose and then looked back over at Will.

“Did he ever try to get with Sophie?”

Will laughed.

“Hell, no! She offered. He fucking refused.”

Zac

Will stood at the bar and sipped his beer quietly looking a little perplexed. He was a bit off tonight and I didn’t know what the hell was up his ass, but he better fix it, because I was the only one allowed to be a moping asshole.

“Okay, spit it out,” said Noah who was sitting beside him. “You look like you’ve just found some warts on your cock.”

Will looked at me without his usual smug smile.

“I’m dating your sister.”

We all fell silent.

“As in a proper…relationship,” he said, clearly uncomfortable. “Hope that’s okay.”

I burst out laughing and rubbed my hand over my face.

“Fuck, Will. You sure you’re up for that?”

“I’m willing to give it a try. I really fucking like her, always have.”

“Take good care of her, otherwise I’ll kick your ass.”

Will nodded.

“I might have also let something slip to Ava this morning, that maybe I shouldn’t have.”

I glared at him.

“Like what?”

“You told her about the fire alarm, didn’t you?” said Noah.

“Maybe,” said Will.

“Jesus, Will. She’ll think I’m a fucking crazy stalker,” I said annoyed.

Will shrugged and answered, “I know, but she already knows you’re fucking crazy, so why not add stalker to the list?”

Ava

The lights flashed against my skull, making everything bright and psychedelic. The drums pounded into my chest and I raised my arms and cheered. Janey came into my view, putting her arms around me as we watched the band.

I caught the eye of the guy next to me and he smiled. I smiled back. A song later, he motioned for us to have a drink with him in the beer garden.

Janey accepted for me with a wink and grabbed my hand, following him through the crowd. He was pretty hot but I wasn’t keen to pursue because I was still grappling with the news of Zac and the fire alarm.

In no time, we were sitting down at a table and I had a beer put down in front of me. Janey sat down and lit up a cigarette and threw the pack over to me. I lit one up and exhaled.

He started to talk to me and I gave him half-hearted answers, wondering when we would leave and meet up with the boys. I felt his hand on my back as he leaned in closer to me and watched Janey grin at me. I crossed my legs, pulling at my short skirt so I didn’t flash anyone and sipped my beer.

“So how long have you two been best friends?” he asked.

“Years,” lied Janey. “We’re known as the terror twins.”

“Really,” he said cocking his eyebrow with interest and looking at me.

I looked into his eyes and suddenly giggled, knowing they were attractive enough but not the eyes that I really wanted.

“You should giggle more,” he said huskily.

I laughed and then went back to sipping my beer. How many had I had?

“You should do it all the time,” he grinned. “That shit is infectious.”

I laughed again, leaning into him to pull at my short skirt as beers were suddenly put down in front of us. Then I looked up and saw Zac. I gasped.

Noah sat down, holding hands with a girl I hadn’t seen before and Will sat next to Janey with a grin on his face.

“Fancy seeing you guys here.”

I looked at the three of them in shock and concentrated on breathing as I felt a hand brushing my back and my eyes locked with Zac’s. He slowly took in the guy’s arm behind my back and a fire storm burned in his eyes.

“Guys, this is Grant,” said Janey eyeing me carefully.

She went around the table and said their names. Grant greeted them with friendliness and they started to talk about the band currently playing. I took a gulp of my beer, my hand now shaking.

“We’ve just come from Hell. You been there?” asked Noah.

“I haven’t, but it’s just down the road from here, right?” asked Grant, his arm still around me.

“That’s right,” said Noah.

I concentrated on my beer on the table as I listened to them talk about Grant’s band and tried to figure out how I was going to play this.

“You okay, Ava?” asked Noah with concern.

I swallowed down my nausea and mumbled, “Yep.”

“She’s had quite a few beers tonight,” chuckled Grant, pulling me closer to him.

I tried to relax against him, but I felt Zac’s eyes burning into me.

“You and me both,” said Will watching me closely and clinking his beer mug against mine with a wink.

They talked about tattoos and started to compare, all while Zac sat in silence. Grant’s arm moved from my back as he showed Will his arm and the explained the story behind it. I looked at the intricate work and knew I had seen better on Zac’s body. Zac caught me looking at it and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

Grant laughed at something that Will had said and he put his arm around me again.

Zac flicked his cigarette away.

“Take your hands off her.”

The table fell silent as Grant looked at Zac and laughed.

“What?”

“Take your hands off her,” he said again. “Or I’ll fucking break your arm.”

Grant stopped laughing and looked from Zac to me in question. I glared at Zac and then stood up, knocking over my beer as I scrambled to get away. I stumbled back inside the loud pub and headed in the direction of the ladies restroom.

Chapter Twenty: Exclusivity

Zac

I swore as I got up from my chair, knocking it over as I followed after her. I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to find her.

I headed over to the restrooms and decided to wait for a couple of minutes before I went in there myself. I didn’t have to wait long as she came out and stumbled into me. My hand went around her waist and I pulled her over to the wall.

“What are you doing, Ava?”

“What are you doing?” she responded. “I’m not waiting around anymore Zac,” she whispered painfully. “I’m moving on. I refuse to play games.”

“And you think your tattooed try-hard is the answer?” I returned dryly.

“Maybe I’m trying to find a guy who can’t breathe without me.”

“And you think I can breathe without you?” I asked.

“You’ve been doing perfectly fine so far,” she snarled.

“I’m not,” I growled, putting my hands up on the wall on either side of her “At all.”

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“You set a fucking fire alarm off, Zac.”

I took a breath.

“You weren’t supposed to know that.”

“So what else are you hiding from me? Are you going to cancel the credit cards of the next guy I’m with?”

I reeled back from her. “You make me sound like a fucking idiot!” I snarled. “This is why I’m trying to keep my distance. I’m turning into a fucking fool. You’ve turned me inside out, Ava. You’ve made me crazy.”

“I’ve done nothing but want to be with you, Zac. Everyone else to me is just a comparison. I can’t do anything without the idea of you ruining it for me. You’re in my head and I can’t get you out,” she cried.

“What do you want from me?” I shouted hoarsely.

“I want forever. I want the fucking fairy tale, Zac. I want you to love me so much that you can’t breathe without me. I want to wake up next to you every day and know that everything is okay in the world, because I have you,” she shouted.

And there it was, the truth. I wanted to agree with everything she had just said, but I also wanted to run the other way. I stared at her, words escaping me.

She shoved me back.

“And I know you can’t give me that,” she cried storming away from me.

I watched her disappear into the crowd and hit the wall in anger, hating myself right now. I had to fucking man up and tell her what I wanted. Before it was too late.

I moved into the crowd, searching for her until I saw her near the exit. I shoved my way over to her and grabbed her arm. Our eyes locked and hers were full of pain. She looked as if she were ready to break.

“Don’t go,” I pleaded.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered, looking down between us. “Let me go.”

I leaned in to her and whispered, “I’ll never let you go, Ava.”

She looked up at me as if in pain and hissed, “You did…three months ago.”

She was right and I was a fucking idiot.

“I need to go,” she whispered desperately, shrugging off my grasp on her arm.

“I’ll take you,” I said taking her hand.

She shook her head and pulled her hand out from mine.

“Tyler was never a real threat to you and you could watch me safely from a distance, knowing I would never get over you. But this time, there’s a chance that I
will
get over you.”

It was more truth that seemed to tear at my gut. She was so fucking right, and I realized right then it was do or die. This was it. It all changed from here.

“Ava,” I said desperately.

She turned and headed off to the main doors, disappearing out of them as I ran after her.

“Ava, stop,” I called out as she kept walking away from me.

I ran to her and then stopped in front of her, my hands holding her arms and forcing her to stop.

“Go away,” she sniffed, not meeting my eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I said emotion making my voice thick. “Please, Ava. I’m sorry.”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“You can’t keep hurting me like this. I can’t do it anymore, Zac.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I groaned. “You mean everything to me, Ava.”

Her eyes opened.

“How can you say that?” she cried.

“You’re everything to me,” I confirmed throatily. “You’re mine, Ava, all mine.”

“You’re only saying this because you don’t want me to move on.”

“You can’t move on, because you’re mine,” I declared.

“I was yours, until you ended it.”

“I was trying to do the right thing. You can do so much better.”

“Who are you to decide?” she shouted. “I can make my own fucking decisions!”

“I know,” I pleaded, rubbing at the tension at the back of my neck. “Just let me take you home. We can talk it through.”

“You don’t want me, Zac,” she shouted angrily. “All the girls in between us prove that!”

“You still think I don’t fucking want you?” I shouted in disbelief.

She shoved me angrily and snarled, “You don’t!”

“You’re all I fucking think about!” I shouted. “I can’t fucking do anything! I have been in hell without you.”

“There were obviously a lot of fucking girls in hell!”

“And none of them compare to you,” I growled.

She stopped and swallowed, her eyes on me.

“You’re all I want,” I growled. “I’ve tried to stay away and now I’ve made you finally hate me, but I can’t let you go. I want to be fucking selfish and take everything I can from you.”

She took a deep breath, and asked, “For how long until you decide differently?”

The ache in my chest burned as I saw both hope and sadness in her eyes.

“Forever,” I exhaled.

She let go of the breath she had been holding and stepped back. The ache in my chest suddenly increased. She didn’t believe me, and I thought my head was about to explode. I had let everything out and I was feeling emotions for her but I didn’t know what the hell to do with them. All I knew was that if she walked away now, I wouldn’t survive. I stepped closer to her, minimizing the distance she had just put there, prepared to beg if I had to.

She let out a whimper and was suddenly against me, her lips on mine as I wrapped my arms around her tightly and kissed her. Our tongues clashed together, like we had been starved as her hands went around my neck. I pulled her against me hard with one hand on her bottom and she groaned into my mouth.

Her skirt was so short, my hand touched bare skin, and I suddenly questioned if she was even wearing underwear. Fuck. If I didn’t calm down, I was going to embarrass myself. I pulled back from her lips, breathing heavy as I looked at her. She was breathing just as hard, her chest moving up and down as the skin of her bare shoulders glistened in between the long curls of her hair. I wanted to lick her skin, wanted to be inside her and never leave. She was beautiful and mine.

“Let’s go home,” I growled as my nose rubbed against hers.

She always smelled so fucking good, like vanilla and fruit, and I wanted to breathe it in for the rest of my life.

I didn’t waste any time in getting in my car and driving out of the parking space, wanting to get her home and to myself. In no time, I was pulling up in my driveway, having gone the entire distance in silence. I hoped to god she hadn’t regretted anything we had just done or said as I turned the engine off. I ran my fingers over the steering wheel.

I turned to her, our eyes locking as she slowly bit her lip. I watched her teeth graze the lip, wanting to replace them with my own teeth. My eyes fixed back on hers, seeing the fire in them, as familiar desire burned within me.

“You mean everything to me, Ava,” I whispered.

Her lips were suddenly a breath away from mine as we both leaned into each other. Intense pleasure rippled through me as her lips touched mine and I pulled her closer. I needed to touch her. The anticipation was making me crazy.

She leaned over further as our mouths joined, savoring each other, reminding us both just how powerful a combination we were together. Simmering need started to build into a wild frenzy as my mouth was on hers, seeking and finding. She panted wildly and her hands grabbed at me, tormenting me to go faster. I wouldn’t last another minute if we continued like this, but she was as wild for me as I was for her. Our tongues collided together and then searched and found the taste we both wanted. My hand went to her neck and tangled in her hair roughly as I kissed her hungrily, needing more of her.