Brawl (5 page)

My intimidation factor is high on a normal day. Most people can’t handle my out-there appearance, thinking that tattoos, piercings and skimpy clothes automatically make me a bad person. However, when I unleash my hatred at the world—the rage and animosity that I usually keep hidden under my ice queen persona—I become someone they fear. Someone unpredictable. Someone who doesn’t give a flying fuck about society’s conventions and faux niceties.

“O-okay, Gabriella,” Mrs. Scott stammers, lifting her hand to her throat as if to ward off my attack. “I didn’t realize. My apologies.”

Inclining my head, I hold tighter to Cooper and walk to my vehicle.

I hope she got the message.
Cooper’s home life might not be ideal but he still has someone in his corner. Me...and I’m not about to let anyone forget it.

***

O
n the ride home, Zali looks out the window and ignores me while I talk to Cooper about his day at school. After a couple of sidelong gazes her way, I mentally shrug away the hostile vibes she’s sending my way. I have bigger problems to deal with than a temper tantrum by my selfish sister. I need to work out a way to take Cooper with me when I leave, now that I know she’s not going to watch him until I get settled.

“Is Cathy home, Gabbi?” Cooper asks out of the blue. I feel Zali’s gaze on me so I shoot her a look and shrug. Cooper calling Mom by her Christian name is something new—he only started a few days ago and we aren’t sure why.

“Mom was home earlier today, Coop.” I look at him in the rear view mirror and he flinches when I say “Mom”.

“Maybe she’ll be gone when we get home.” He states with hope in his voice, his little hands twisting together on his lap. My hands shake where they grasp the steering wheel and the muted pain that’s been pounding behind my eyes since my run-in with our mother earlier makes its presence known with renewed vigor. 

“Why’s that, bucko?” I ask.

“She always smells funny and she doesn’t like me very much.”

Biting down on my bottom lip, I breathe through my nose, my chest expanding until my lungs are full. Once I let the air out, I answer him, “She likes you. Sometimes, she’s just a bit tired.”

Ferreting away in his bag for something, he doesn’t respond, leaving my lies to hang in the air.

“Tired from being an alcoholic whore,” Zali mutters. My lips twitch, wanting to smile, but I’m still too annoyed at her to let my humor break free.

Every ounce of my being wants to keep driving, to take Cooper away from this life, but I can’t. I need to stick to my plan to bargain with Mom for him once I’m eighteen and have my own house. So instead of giving into my desire to escape, I pull into the driveway of our house.

It is a big, modern, sprawling single story house that most people would give ten years off their life expectancy to live in. We have a long driveway that leads to a four car garage. The front yard is beautifully landscaped, with gardens surrounding a fountain as the focal point. In the backyard is a pool, a gazebo and a huge cubby house. Our home looks like it belongs to a warm loving family, but in reality Zali and I’ve hated living here since Dad left, and after his comment a moment ago, it looks like Cooper’s developing the same feelings.

“Grab your school bag and put your lunch box and your drink bottle in the sink.” I tell Cooper as he scrambles out of the car the second I stop in the garage. Our mother’s car is here, although that means nothing since she lost her license three months ago for drunk driving. I grab my bag and follow Zali and Cooper into the house.

“For crying out loud, do you people need to make so much noise?” Our mother’s sitting on the couch painting her toenails as we enter through the internal access door. “My head can’t stand you all traipsing around like a herd of elephants. My pain relief hasn’t kicked in yet.”

Zali shoots her a hateful look and mutters “stupid cow” under her breath. She stalks off to her bedroom, banging filling the house when her door slams shut seconds later. Cooper makes himself scarce, heading for the kitchen.

“What did I say about making so much noise?” the whore of Babylon shouts after her.

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” I snap at her. “Would it hurt you to ask how her day was? She’s had a fucking awesome day, only to come home to a mother who only cares about herself. God, you’re a selfish cow.”

“Your father’s the most selfish parent in the world, Gabriella, to leave me with his ungrateful offspring so he can go and live his fancy new life with his whore.”

She pauses her tirade long enough to put the finishing touch on one of her toenails and cap the bottle. Pointing the nail polish at me, she continues. “You and I need to discuss how you are going to contribute financially to this household now that you’ve finished high school
and
we need to discuss the upkeep of this house. I cancelled the cleaner.”

My mother turns her back and starts to walk off towards her room. She’s dressed to go out, judging by the tight, short red dress that she has on, her face full of makeup, and her perfectly coiffed hair.

Fucking wonderful. Zali’s in a snit, so it’s looking like I’m on babysitting duty.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? I already contribute more than enough to this house and I’m not gonna start cleaning just so you can go and gamble the extra money.” I’m aware of Cooper standing in the kitchen doorway watching our exchange so I try to keep my language clean.

“What did you say?” Mom spins on her heel and makes her way back to me. Her eyes are filled with loathing, her posture tall and straight with outrage.

“
I said
that I pay more than enough bills for you already
and
I refuse to clean up after you so you can gamble what you used to pay the cleaner.”

After my run-in with her this morning, then dealing with my screw-up with Nate, Zali’s bombshell about leaving, Dad trying to worm his way back in, and Mrs. Scott’s veiled threat, her attack is the final straw for the day. My fists ball at my side and I stand on my tiptoes. I didn’t inherit my mother’s height like Zali did so she towers over me when she takes another step toward me, so I have to make do with what I do have.

I refuse to cower.
This has been a long time coming.

“I do not gamble.”

“Sure you don’t. You’re at church every night, not the casino. Silly me.” Tilting my head to the side, I narrow my eyes. “Do I look like a fucking idiot. Me and Zali know what you get up to every night. We see the betting slips.”

Closing the last bit of distance between us, I drop my voice low so Cooper can’t hear, “And who can miss the stray men who wander in and out of here at all hours. How does it feel to barter your pussy for drinks and money? And you call me a slut.”

Shame briefly reddens her cheeks, followed by hurt, before malice takes over and she rears back and slaps me across the face. My first instinct is to hit her back, and I’m about to, my arm lifting of its own accord, when I glimpse Cooper’s pale face from the corner of my eye. He’s about to cry.

Mom glances at him, then lifts her hand to smooth her hair. “I’m out of here. Surely, I can rely on you to watch your brother for one night?”

I refuse to answer her, presenting her with my back, and bending down to Cooper’s height.

“How about we order some pizza? Put on a movie?” I rub my hands up and down his upper arms and then tickle his tummy. He nods at my questions and then breaks into laughter when I tickle him again.

The front door slams and I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s gone—hopefully for the night. Normal programming in the Mitchell house can recommence.

Alert the inhabitants...the Wicked Witch has left the premises.

With those uncharitable thoughts, I pick Cooper up and throw him over my shoulder. Running through the kitchen and into the rumpus room with him squealing with delight in my ear, I’m satisfied that he’s over what he just saw when I toss him onto his beanbag and switch the TV on. He settles in to watch some weird-ass kid program and I make my way back into the kitchen to order the pizza I just promised him.

I’m hanging up the phone when Zali wanders in.

“Hey, Gabbi,” she says as she lifts herself onto the counter. Swinging her long legs in front of herself, she gives me a tiny smile. “I know you’re stressed about Mom and your other stuff. Why don’t you go out tonight and I’ll watch Coop?”

Tossing my phone into my bag, I face her. Suspicions flit across my mind. She’s never given a shit about my stress levels before.

“What’s in it for you?”

“Just trying to be nice. You helped me out today so I wanted to do something for you.” Sounding hurt, Zali slides off the counter and back to her feet. “It’s up to you if you accept...or not.”

I’m slightly mollified by her response, although I don’t buy it for a second. Generosity is not one of her dominant personality traits.  “All right. I need a night out. I’ll call Amy, see if she’s free.”

“I already did. She’s going to meet you at Nitro’s at ten.”

Alarm bells begin to ring in my head. Since when does she have Amy’s number? Something’s off here, but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Dancing and drinking with Amy, and then picking up someone to take the edge off is just what the doctor ordered.

“Devon’s not coming over, is he?” I can’t leave Cooper with them. If they’re not making out in front of him, they’re arguing.

“Gabbi,” she steps in front of me and rests her hands on my shoulders. Looking down at me with serious eyes, I can feel the sincerity in her words as she says them. “Devon’s not coming over. Mom’s gone for the night. You’ve organized dinner so he’s not going to starve, and I promise you that I have nothing other than watching the Kardashian’s planned for the rest of the night. Go and have some fun for once.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” I quip. “I’m off to get dressed.”

Gabbi

“I
t’s fucking packed tonight,” I yell in Amy’s ear. Hot bodies gyrate around us; everyone squashed onto the dance floor of Nitro’s nightclub. Hands touch my ass, my exposed stomach, and one glances over my tits for a quick second. If we were anywhere but here, I’d let them know what I thought about the liberties they’re taking without asking, instead I lean back and grind my ass on his cock.

“I don’t mind,” she quips, eyes lighting up when she checks out my dance partner. Going by the look of approval on her face, I’m guessing that I’m on to a winner. I return the favor, nodding my head when I find the guy dancing behind her sufficiently hot. “Getting felt up is the closest I’m getting to any action tonight. My mom said she’d watch Thomas until one at the latest.”

I can barely hear her words, so I move closer to her to catch that last part.
Shit
. It’s past eleven now. I need to get a move on if I want to pick up someone to occupy me before she heads home to her kid. I lean forward to tell her my plan when the warm hands belonging to the guy moving behind me run over my tummy, coming to a rest just under my boobs. He links his fingers together and pulls me away from Amy, hard against his chest.

A smartass grin covers Amy’s face when she gazes over my shoulder and she mouths the word “now”. I arch an eyebrow, questioning her weird behavior. She ignores me, breaking into giggles and twirling to dance facing the guy who’s been touching her up for the past ten minutes.

“Ninja girl,” a familiar voice chuckles in my ear. “Keep grinding on my cock like that and I’m gonna have a mess to clean up.”

“Fucking hell,” I curse. I’m going to kill Amy. She set me up—and bloody Zali helped her. Her uncharacteristic generosity making sense all of a sudden.

Spinning on my heel ready to smack some sense into the big idiot, I’m greeted by a smirking Nate and a wall of four equally large and attractive men. Apparently, he travels with a posse. A hot, testosterone-oozing crew of bad-asses. Momentarily distracted from my desire to clout Nate for tricking me, I run my eyes over them; giving the cheeky one with the eyebrow ring a wink when he greets me with a wink and a “what’s up”.

“Fuck off, Jep,” Nate elbows the guy with the eyebrow ring. He gets a playful punch in the gut for his troubles, which starts a scuffle between them all. It ends with Nate holding Jep in a headlock and three members of security surrounding them all. Assuming that they’re about to get booted out, I attempt to melt into the crowd. I don’t want my night cut short by getting escorted off the premises with them.

My escape is cut short when Nate lets go of his friend and grabs my arm, hauling me into his side. I’m struggling to get away from him without drawing any attention to myself, when the head bouncer walks over to him and gives him a fist bump.

“Nate, my man. Killing time before the fight?”

“Yeah,” Nate answers. “Came to grab my girl before we head downstairs.”

Standing at five foot four, I’m about average height for a girl but surrounded by these monster sized men, I feel tiny and awkward. Rising to my tiptoes, I glance around the group trying to spot Nate’s girl. I’d assumed he was here alone, considering the way he’s been getting all up on me for the past half an hour.

I feel like a bitch. I can only imagine how she felt watching me grind on her man. My interest in Nate is zero now that I know I’ll be working with him and I wouldn’t have even touched him if Amy had given me a heads up that it was him behind me.

The head bouncer grabs my chin and turns my head to face him. He runs his eyes over my heavily made up face and then down my body, most of which is exposed by my tiny black skirt and black leather top that crisscrosses over the top half of my torso.  He lingers on the jewel hanging in my belly button before dipping his head to take in my legs and even my blood red toenails that are exposed in my knee high gladiator sandals.

“Niiiice,” he drawls. Holding out his hand, he gives Nate another fist bump and I realize that he thinks I’m his girl.

“I’m not—” I pull away from Nate.

“Pharrell, this is Gabbi,” Nate cuts in. He gives me a look that threatens me with death if I speak again. “She’s coming downstairs with me tonight.”