Torn (14 page)

We made it to my car and I laid
her carefully down on the backseat on her side, a stream of nonsense leaving
her lips as Josh carefully lifted her head and put it in his lap and slipped
his arm around her waist to keep her anchored to the seat. Billy and I hopped
in the front, and I wasted no time heading out to Woodacre Drive, pushing all
of the speed limits. There was no way I wanted to call her parents from the ER,
they’d never let me near her again. If they could at least see she was …
relatively ok, it would ease their concerns by a fraction. We all remained
silent in the car, except for the odd garbled rubbish coming from Sky, along
with the occasional moan or sigh that made me even angrier when my cock
reacted. Jesus, talk about inappropriate, to get turned on by a virtually
unconscious woman’s noises.

“Ok, Billy, you stay in the car.
Josh, you help me get her out and then you go and ring the doorbell, ok?”

“You’re putting me in the firing
line?” he gulped.

“She was your damn
responsibility, so I should,” I shot back with a glare. “But no, I’ll do all
the talking and try and keep you two out of it, ok?” Josh hadn’t met her
parents yet, and I didn’t want them to view him as completely irresponsible,
even though right now that was exactly what I was thinking of him, and Billy.

“Thanks, Nate,” he said
sheepishly, as I lifted Sky up again and carried her to the front door. She
rubbed her face into my chest, brushing right over my nipple piercing, which made
me grimace and clench my jaw. There was no way I was going to hand her over to
her dad while aiming a damn erection at him. We’d all be barred from seeing her
for sure.

“What time is it?” I asked, as we
waited for someone to answer.

“Just after midnight,” Josh
replied as he stepped back a little, allowing me to take the full brunt of
whatever was coming. Sometimes it sucked being the eldest. The outside light
came on and the door opened, Mr. Torres belting up a bathrobe. He spotted Sky
in my arms immediately.

“What the hell? Is she ok?”

“I’m so sorry, sir, it seems
she’s heavily sedated, but her pulse and breathing are strong. It looks like
someone slipped her something at the party. She was never left unattended, so I
can assure you that no one harmed her. I thought it best to bring her straight home
and let you decide what to do.”

“Give her to me, I’ll take it
from here,” he snapped, holding out his arms.

“It’s not Nate’s fault,” Josh
added as I transferred her over.

“I don’t care whose fault it is,
son. Right now I just want to make sure my daughter’s ok. Thank you for
bringing her home, but I think it’s best you both leave.”

“Can I come tomorrow to see how
she is?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off her face. She may be pale, but she
looked almost angelic as she slept. A real Sleeping Beauty, except tonight I
wasn’t going to be playing the part of the handsome prince who kissed her back
to life.

“I think it’s best that you don’t.
Good night,” Mr. Torres stated flatly, then gently shoved the door shut with
his foot. I stood watching it until I heard the click as the lock sprung into
place. Even then I couldn’t seem to move away. I needed to know she was going
to be ok. How the hell was I supposed to sleep or function if he took that away
from me?

“That was a bit mean. You weren’t
even there, why didn’t you tell him?”

“Because he doesn’t care right
now, Josh,” I sighed, scrubbing both of my hands over my face. “Imagine if that
was your daughter right now, she’s his only concern How we’re feeling about it
or who was responsible isn’t his primary worry, she is. I’m sure he’ll come
looking for answers when she’s feeling better.”

“She will, won’t she? Feel better,
I mean. It’s not like she could die or anything, is it?” Josh asked. I turned
to face him and forced a smile as I heard the worry in his voice. I grabbed him
in a neck lock and kissed the top of his head.

“She’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.
And that’s thanks to you for looking after her and calling me so quickly. You
did good, ok?”

He nodded and we headed back to
the car, with me casting one last look at the house, wondering if I’d ever be
allowed to come back here again. If I was her dad right now, I wouldn’t let any
of us within a mile of her. The thought made me feel sick.

Sky

Saturday - Late September

“Pops, please don’t start,” I sighed, as
I threw some things into my purse.

“Don’t expect me not to worry,
Sky. You were drugged, and God only knows what could have happened to you.”

“But it didn’t, because of the
Hudson boys.
They
looked after me and brought me home. How many times do
we need to have this discussion? If it wasn’t for them …” I broke off and shook
my head, not even wanting to think about it. “Nate wasn’t even at the party, so
I don’t know why you’re so worked up about him.”

“I told you, he has a reputation.”

“Even more reason he doesn’t need
to drug girls to get some action, Pops. He only has to click his fingers if
that’s what he wants. He’s been nothing but respectful to me. Anyway, it’s not
like I’m going out to a party again. He’s taking me to watch his team practice.
Josh and Billy are coming too. If you’re that bothered, why don’t you and Mom
come as well? It’s over in Vegas at the Earl Wilson stadium. I’m sure he
wouldn’t mind.”

“I think we might,” Pops stated
as he folded his arms across his chest, giving me his most disapproving of
looks.

“No, we won’t, darling.” Mom’s
voice radiated up the hallway, reaching us before she did. “I won’t lie, I’m
nervous about her going to college now, let alone out and about, but she’s an
adult. It’s her choice and she doesn’t need her parents to chaperone her.” She
flashed me a smile over his shoulder as he turned to face her, and I mouthed
“Thank you” back to her.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this!”
Pops snapped. “Our only child was nearly raped, and you’re condoning her going
out alone, with them!”

“As Sky has repeatedly told you,
they
didn’t do this to her. It’s an awful thing to happen, but I’m not naïve. I
work in a hospital, it happens all of the time, and most girls aren’t so lucky
to have the Hudson family as their protectors. She knows now to never leave her
drink unattended or accept one from a stranger. We have to trust that we taught
her well and she can look after herself.”

“You’re asking a lot, this is my
only daughter we’re talking about.”

“
Our
only daughter,”
corrected Mom as she leaned in, cupped his face, and kissed his forehead
gently. “She’s a sensible girl. We can’t shadow her for the rest of her life.
Let her go to the baseball practice. I can do that thing you like to take your
mind off it while she’s gone.”

“Really?
That
thing?” Pops
perked up right away, and I groaned as I grabbed a throw cushion off my bed and
launched it at them.

“That!
That’s
more
traumatic than being drugged. Go to your own room guys, away from my delicate
ears.” Mom laughed and Pops sighed and looked over his shoulder at me. I could
see the worry all over his face. “Pops, I’ll be fine, I promise. Go enjoy your
thing
,
which I never, ever want to hear about, or hear being offered, ever again.
Clear?”

“You keep in touch by phone, am I
clear?” he ordered.

“Perfectly,” I confirmed,
hustling them out of my room and shutting the door. I checked my watch. I had
twenty minutes before Nate was due to pick me up, so I sat on the bed, my back
against the headboard and iPad propped up on a pillow, and dialed Liam.

“Hey, you,” I beamed when he
answered.

“Don’t you
dare
hey me,
Torres,” he growled. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for days. What the
hell did you do?”

“What?” I protested, making my
eyes wide as I tried for innocence. I knew exactly what was coming, and that’s
why I’d avoided his calls.

“Right, play the innocent
butter-wouldn’t-melt card, why don’t you. You know exactly what I’m furious
about!”

“You didn’t even like your handle?”
I asked, biting my thumbnail to try and stifle my laughter.

“Oh yeah, Rimalicious69 just
added a touch of class to the damn made-up profile you uploaded,” he snapped. I
couldn’t help it. I’d waited days for him to realize I’d set up a dating
profile for him on Bootylicious, the world’s largest gay site, with no
restrictions. Everything went. And I mean everything. It had seriously opened
my eyes, and made me shut them rapidly as well at some of the research I’d done.
I roared with laughter, and try as he might to contain himself, he ended up
joining me. “I hate you, Torres. Rimalicious69 my ass,” he chortled.

“Ermmm, your ass was the whole
point of this little exercise,” I giggled. “I was trying to get it some action.
You haven’t had any requests from anyone?”

“Have I had any requests? Have I
had any requests?!” he repeated much more loudly as his face came closer to the
camera. “I’m fucking inundated with requests. I don’t have time to do anything
else. And they’re filthy! Downright, disgustingly filthy! Look, look at my
hand. I’m ruined for life. I’ll never be able to play Xbox again, it’s stuck in
the shape of my cock because I’ve had to masturbate so many times after reading
and watching all of that filth.”

“Wow, that’s really your girth?
Color me impressed.” My eyes bugged out at the thought. I wondered what Nate’s
would be like. I imagined he’d be big too. The thought scared me. “So, no dates
out of it?”

“They’re all psychos,” he uttered,
throwing himself back in his gaming chair. “All they’re interested in is sex.
Sex in messages, sexy photos, sexy videos. It was fun for a few days, but no
one on here just wants to date.”

“So, shut it down and join a
reputable dating site. I only uploaded pictures of your body, which is soooo
well toned by the way, and they all came running for it. Imagine the responses
you’d get with a genuine profile with your face on it. They’d circle like
sharks around blood. I’m telling you that you need to forget this fear you have
of no one liking you and put yourself out there.”

“Say I did do it. You uploaded a
fake, and quite frankly surprisingly dirty, profile. Quite how you knew some of
those words and terms is the topic of conversation for another day. How would I
know these guys were genuine?”

“I guess you don’t, but that’s
the risk you take, isn’t it? You’re just careful not to give away anything too
personal, and if you decide to meet up, you do it in a crowded place. It’s no different
to meeting someone offline. Anyone could be a serial killer, no one would ever
date if they walked around worrying about that all of the time.”

“Yeah, but look what nearly
happened to you,” he sighed.

“You sound like Pops now. It
didn’t happen, I’m fine. But it has made me realize that life is short, Liam.
I’m not going to step off the gas on my studies, but I’m going to live a
little, have more fun. And I want you to as well. You’re not good on your own.
I want to know you have someone to love you and take care of you. No hotties on
campus?”

“Plenty of hotties, but unless
I’m hiding behind the alias of Rimalicious69, I’m too shy to do anything about
it.”

“They’ll come to you, I’m sure of
it,” I nodded. “Just don’t be closed off to it if you are asked out, promise me?”

“I promise, if you promise to
make a decision about these damn men and just pick one already. You’re
torturing them all slowly.”

“That’s unfair,” I protested. “Nate’s
the only one who’s actually asked me out. I’ve been clear that I’m not ready. I
can hardly be accused of stringing Billy or Josh along when neither of them has
asked me out, can I? And it’s not like I’m flirting with them. I need lessons
in flirting. Someone really needs to open a flirting chain. There must be
hundreds of women, and men, out there who need help. You included.”

“I bet there already is. Someone
will have put tips on YouTube, they have everything on there. So, still no
closer to deciding if you want Nate or Josh?”

“No,” I huffed out and shook my
head. “But even
my
patience is wearing thin. I keep telling myself I’m
not ready for a relationship, but I think it’s that I’m scared of being hurt. I
feel
ready. I feel like I want someone else in my life, someone like
you, a best friend that I can share with and have fun with, to love and get
that in return.”

“And the sex.”

“That too. It’s like my body’s
suddenly become aware of itself. But I’m just so torn, I don’t know which of
them would be right for me, if any of them are.”

“I think you’re lying to
yourself, Torres. I think you already know who you want, you just don’t want to
hurt anyone by making that choice. And I get being scared, trust me, I really
do. But maybe we both need to take a leap of faith. They say it’s better to
have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

“They do.” I quickly glanced up
at the wall clock. “Speaking of my boys, I’d better go, they’ll be here any
minute.”

“You’d better get some footage of
him in his tight baseball pants, you so owe me.”

“Trust me, I don’t need any
blackmail to want that recording,” I laughed, feeling giddy at the thought of
it.

Nate

I wiped my hands on my jeans
after turning off the ignition, then dampened my dry lips with my tongue. I was
nervous. Nate damn Hudson was nervous about playing baseball. That was a first.
It was her. Bringing her to watch me had me feeling like I was trying out for the
team for the first time. I wanted to impress her.

“I’m so excited,” she exclaimed
as she craned her head to look up at the stadium entrance.

“It’s not going to be all that.
It’s only the team, there won’t be any crowds or atmosphere.”

“I don’t care. I’ve never watched
baseball in real life. We didn’t have it at my high school, they were all about
football and basketball. I came because I want to see you do your thing.”

“It’s not my only thing, you know,”
I replied with a wink, regaining some of my confidence at the fact that Sky was
here for me. Not because she got off on the potential of me becoming a big star
or for the high she’d get off the crowds cheering. She was here for me. Nate
Hudson, the part-time car mechanic who was struggling to make ends meet.

“Really?” Josh muttered, getting
out quickly and slamming the door behind him. He’d been in a foul mood since I
told him, in no uncertain terms, that Sky was riding up front with me. I looked
around in surprise when Billy slammed his door as well.

“You know you’re going to be
stuck with those two moody fuckers for the next few hours, right?”

“They’ll snap out of it,” she laughed,
using both hands to sweep her long hair over her shoulders. I was itching to
reach over, wrap it around my hands, and pull her face to mine so I could
finally kiss her. Instead I stretched my right arm over the back of the seat
behind her. “They always do, their moods never last long.”

“Because of you. You have this
habit of making our lives a little brighter just by being around, Sky Torres.”

“Shut up, Nate,” she giggled,
shoving my shoulder as her cheeks flushed. Did she really have no clue that she
controlled our moods? Life was pretty fucking miserable without her around. “Come
on. I can’t wait to see you in action.”

“Trust me, I’ve been ready for
action from the moment you wheeled your bike into the repair shop.” I lifted my
fingers and gently ran them up and down the side of her neck as we held each
other’s gaze. The temperature in the car went up a few degrees as her lips
parted and her lungs reached for some air. I had visions of us on the back
seat, steaming up the windows, her straddling my lap, her fingers in my hair as
we …