Embracing Trouble (Trouble Series) (7 page)

“Will,” warned Noah, knowing I was frustrated and that it wouldn’t take much more for me to knock Will out.

“Jesus, Zac man, please tell me you didn’t let those luscious lips go to waste!” teased Will.

“Shut the fuck up,” I growled.

“Oh, man,” groaned Will, not taking the hint. “You want her, so just have her. What’s the big deal?”

“She’s going to be wondering why you picked her up to just drop her at home, Zac man,” said Noah calmly.

I ran my hands through my hair.

“Yeah, well I shouldn’t have fucking done that.”

“You were worried for her, so you made sure she was safe,” said Noah. “There’s no harm in that.”

“You didn’t want Mr. Tyler Football to get his hands on her, that’s what it was,” said Will. “What the hell am I missing here? You never get this worked up over a girl.”

“He’s trying to stay away from her,” said Noah.

Will looked over in disbelief, and said, “And why the hell would you do something stupid like that?”

I shook my head but kept silent.

“You’re a conqueror, Zac man. There are a hundred girls around here to prove it. Why is this one any different?” asked Will.

“He actually likes this one,” said Noah quietly.

Ava

I awoke the next afternoon to my phone vibrating in my pocket, and I quickly scrambled for it. It was Sophie. My head literally exploded with pain and I gasped as I answered it.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“You sound like I feel,” she moaned. “How did you get home last night? I know it wasn’t with Tyler, because he was still with Sasha this morning.”

I looked around the room as I cringed at her voice, trying to remember who I was and what had happened last night. I remembered Zac coming to the party and his fast car. I looked down at my jeans and the Converse sneakers still on my feet. How had I ended up here?

“Are you alive?” asked Sophie.

“Yep,” I whispered.

“So how did you get home?”

I didn’t want to tell her about Zac, because I would have to explain why he had come and picked me up. I didn’t know the reason myself. I remember him telling me to go home and then coming to get me from the party. I had no idea how he found the address of the party or why all three of them threatened Tyler.

“How did you go with Antony?” I asked instead.

“I did it, Avs,” she said with a soft giggle. “I finally did it.”

“And…was it everything you expected?” I asked, lying back down on the bed and wincing from the pain in my head.

She paused, and then whispered, “Not…really. It was kind of quick, but I’m glad I’ve done it now.”

“I can’t believe it,” I whispered, closing my eyes and hoping it would help with the bone gnashing pain.

“I hope he calls me tonight,” she said hopefully. “I feel like going out again and having fun.”

If all the rumors were true, I knew Antony wouldn’t be calling her tonight, but I didn’t want to point that out to her.

“What did he say to you when you left?”

“Nothing, he was snoring away two minutes after we had done it. I left him sleeping.”

“Romantic,” I said sarcastically.

“It was nothing like we’re led to believe, Avs,” said Sophie, sounding a little disappointed. “It only hurt for a moment, but then the whole thing was like just for him. Anyways, I’m going back to bed. See you at school.”

I dropped my phone down on the bed somewhere and tried to lie as still as possible. I had so many unanswered questions from last night, but I just wanted to feel happy for a moment that he had come and picked me up last night. Whatever it meant.

* * *

By Monday afternoon, Sophie came to the realization that Antony had had his fun and wasn’t about to make any lasting commitments to her. She put on a brave face at school, but I knew she was a little crushed at the situation.

Biology was fun with Tyler making jokes and acting like Saturday night hadn’t even happened. I didn’t want to have to explain Zac to him, because I still didn’t understand the situation myself.

Meanwhile, at home, we had a Stepford Wife in the making with Sarah doing everything she could possibly do to forge a perfect relationship with my father. She was up at 5:00 a.m. every morning with her perfect makeup on, making coffee and breakfast for my father before he left for the day. I started to get lunch made for me, even though I preferred the cafeteria at school. Dinner was ready for us when he came home, and I knew she had begun to hide the takeaway containers from the restaurants.

My father looked happy and I felt angry. He was replacing my mother, but I knew I couldn’t talk to him about it. Over the years, we had an unwritten rule in the house whereby we were not allowed to talk about her.

I downloaded Rhino’s album and listened to it. It was undeniably death metal and very crazy, but I started to enjoy it. I listened to the angry growls and felt a little better with my own anger.

Sitting in my room and doing homework no longer held the appeal it used to. I wanted to go out and do something. I wanted to change myself a little and prove I wasn’t a boring good girl.

* * *

I tried to cheer Sophie up by taking her shopping on Thursday afternoon, and I ended up at the hairdressers again, this time coming out with black hair. My brown boring hair had gone and in its place was black hair that apparently made my blue eyes sparkle.

Sophie freaked out at the change in me, and I enjoyed the reaction. Good girls didn’t do things like this. I also made sure I bought some new alternative clothes and went home happy.

I eventually told Sophie a little about Zac, omitting the GHB situation. She listened to everything I had to say, but I knew she wasn’t keen on my interest with someone like him. She called him trouble.

It only made me like him more.

Chapter Four: Stay Away From Me

Ava

On Saturday night, I was disappointed that I had no party plans, and I tried to focus my energies on studying. At 11:00 p.m., I received a text message from an unknown number.

Party at my place. Tonight. Noah

I was up and excitedly getting ready within minutes. I walked the two blocks by myself, knowing that Sophie wouldn’t be too interested in going tonight in light of her comments earlier on in the week. I had put on my tight blue jeans, one of my new tight T-shirts and had straightened my black hair. I put on thick eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss for the lips. I was ready to hopefully see Zac again.

Small groups of people were outside on the driveway near his house and they all took me in, curious to see who I was. I tried not to let them put me off, feeling nervous all of a sudden about seeing Zac again. I had never done something like this, and I suddenly wondered if I had lost my mind.

I was by myself, going into a party where I was lucky if I knew three people. This wasn’t a high school party, either, as I looked around at the groups of people older than me. I had not thought this through properly.

I made my way up the outdoor steps, past another group who stopped to look at me, and then I went inside. The place was full and loud heavy music blared from speakers across the room. I quickly looked around starting to panic when I couldn’t find the only three guys I knew.

Someone moved in front of me, and I could finally see the living room and that’s when I saw him. He was sitting on one of the armchairs thoroughly kissing a girl who was on his lap. I softly gasped at the sight of him kissing her. One of his hands was behind her head, holding her to him as she straddled his legs and rubbed herself against him. I hadn’t known what to expect when I walked in here tonight, but seeing them kissing each other hungrily hurt my pride, and it was hard to breathe. My eyes burned at the sight of them, but I couldn’t look away.

The girl moved to his ear and whispered something with a smile as she continued her mouth assault on his neck. He used the opportunity to take a sip of his beer and look around the room when his gaze landed on me. His eyes narrowed at me, like he either couldn’t believe I was standing there or he was pissed that I was.

I took a deep breath and calmly turned around, making my way over to the front door. How many times did I need him to prove to me that I wasn’t even a thought in his mind? I wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. I wanted to fall into a flood of tears at how stupid I looked.

“Hey, hotness,” said a guy touching my back as I passed him, his hand moving lower and squeezing my bottom hard.

I pushed his hand away, panic crawling up my spine. What was I doing here by myself? What had I become? I never chased guys, especially ones who were not interested in me. He had turned my brain to mush, and I was a fool.

I quickly pushed my way through everyone, getting outside and making my way down the steps. Guys standing on the steps called out to me, and I cringed, needing to get away from them all. I reached the driveway as a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“What are you doing here?” Zac growled softly.

I pulled my arm out of his grasp and with a snarly attitude, said, “I was invited.”

He swore under his breath and looked really angry, and it hurt.

“I’m going now, so don’t worry about it,” I returned, trying not to cry in front of him.

I didn’t want him to see that I was crushed.

He stepped closer, his hand suddenly cupping my cheek.

“You need to stay away from me,” he said, his eyes burning into mine.

He was so close I could feel his breath on my face and see the anger in his eyes, but his hand was gentle on me.

“Why?” I asked in bewilderment.

He didn’t answer. It looked like he wanted to at first, but then changed his mind. He let me go and ran his hand through his hair, looking exasperated, like I was driving him crazy.

“I get it,” I said softly, turning away from him.

“You don’t,” he said.

I stopped but didn’t look back to him as I said quietly, “I do. You’re not attracted to me, and I’m clearly an idiot for even coming here tonight. I’m sorry that I interrupted your fun,” I said with resignation.

I went to move away and he grabbed my arm again, stopping me.

He turned me back to him, asking as if in disbelief, “You think I’m not attracted to you?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I whispered looking up at him.

His hands went to my waist, and I was suddenly against a parked car, my face inches from his. I felt the tension between us, like little sparks shooting back and forth as he looked at me with his deep intense eyes.

“You’re fucking beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely, his hands cupping my face.

He leaned into me, touching my forehead with his own. His words were real, and I stopped breathing with the intensity. He thought I was beautiful? Delight warmed my cheeks and my stomach flipped.

“But you need to stay away from me,” he whispered, piercing my eyes with his own.

“And what if I don’t want to?” I whispered.

“You have to, Ava, because I’m wrong for you. You need to see that. I’m bad and you’re good. You need to go back to wherever you came from and stay there,” he demanded softly.

“I can’t,” I whispered in a half sob.

He closed his eyes for a moment as if trying to gather strength. He breathed me in, his fingers moving to my hair.

“You don’t belong here.”

His words hurt but didn’t match the tender way he touched me. I felt confused and turned on. I didn’t belong anywhere and that was the point of my discontent. His lips grazed my forehead and then he was stepping away from me, his hands gone.

“Go home, Ava,” he growled softly, turning away and heading back to the party.

I silently sobbed and wrapped my arms around myself watching him leave me. I noticed the guy who had grabbed me on the bottom come down the stairs laughing with someone and then he looked over to me.

“She yours, Zac?” he asked, ogling me.

Zac shoved him back onto the steps and then punched him in the face. I flinched in shock.

“Don’t ever touch her again,” he growled.

The guy swore and held his nose, while blood started to pour out and I winced. Zac swung back to me with anger alight in his eyes.

“Go,” he snarled at me.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I took one more look at him and then turned away and headed back up the driveway. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t let the tears out now, not in front of these people. I reached the end of the driveway and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

Zac

I clenched and unclenched my fist that I had just used and went back inside the unit. The girl I left on the couch was still sitting there, waiting for me and I strode over. She looked up at me expectantly as I reached her, and I motioned for her to follow me. I needed to rid myself of the innocent perfection outside and do what I did best. Use and take, no feelings.

“I’m glad you came back,” she said, following me into my bedroom.

I ignored her, not interested in talking about anything, only needing to lose myself for a while. I went to close the door behind her and saw Will look over to me. I swore under my breath.

“Wait here,” I said leaving the room.

“She gone?” asked Will knowingly.

I was sure no one in here had missed the beautiful girl walking in here tonight, looking nervous in every shade of hotness.

“Yeah, can you make sure she gets home?”

Will put his beer bottle down, and answered, “Sure.”

As he turned away, I asked, “Did you call her…about tonight?”

Will shook his head and said, “No.”

We both looked over to Noah who had a girl against the wall and was busy kissing her. I knew exactly who did, and I wasn’t sure why he was torturing me. I headed back over to the bedroom where the girl was sitting on my bed, already in her bra and knickers, waiting to rock my world.