CRASH (A Logan Brothers Novel) (3 page)

“
She's not used to champagne,”
Tess said with a whisper and a smile, turning back towards me.

I saw Alice's eyes zip up and
stare at Tess, who pouted and ran in to give her a hug. “Awww, it's
not your fault for being born on the wrong side of the tracks,” she
said, laughing.

Alice shook her off in feigned
anger and filled three glasses, handing one to me.

“
Thanks so much,” I said,
kinda coyly. I couldn't believe that I was already drinking champagne
and going out with these girls after being here for less than an
hour. I didn't know whether this was just a standard Friday night for
them or not, but it was really sweet of them to involve me.

“
All right girls, here's to a
big night!” shouted Tess as she put some dance music on and started
bouncing around like a leaping gazelle.

Alice crept in towards me, her
face more restrained.. “You'll get used to Tess. She's got a real
excess of personality sometimes, it gets her in trouble from time to
time!”

She smiled and clinked her glass
to mine before taking a long sip. “You seem nice Elle,” she said,
“I've gotta be honest with you, I was kinda hoping I didn't get a
new room-mate, but if I've gotta have one you seem like a good bet.”

“
Thanks,” I said, “same to
you. I have to admit I was kinda nervous coming here today. I've
never lived with anyone before, so it's all new to me!”

We sipped on our drinks together
as we watched on at Tess, jumping and spilling champagne around the
room. She stopped suddenly, sank what was left of her glass, looked
at her watch, and then spoke, a wide smile cracking across her face.

“
OK, time to go!”

....

My nerves were beginning to rise
once more as we sat in the cab, Alice and Tess chatting together next
to me as I stared out the window. It always took me a little while to
warm up to people, and in group situations I often retreated into my
shell. Alice had told me that her boyfriend would be there along with
a few other people, the sort of scenario that I generally shied away
from until I was really comfortable with each individual.

The cab journey seemed to be
taking us a good way from the dorm, and I couldn't help but feel out
of place after the initial rush when I'd arrived. I sat, looking out
of the window, listening in as Alice and Tess gossiped about mutual
friends and talked about their course. It sounded like they'd been
friends for years, way before coming to college, and that they were
doing the same course as well.

All in all, I felt left out,
although I didn't think they were doing it on purpose.

After about 20 minutes in the
cab we pulled up along a fairly bustling street in the city. Along
both sides were bars and restaurants, cars and people rushing up and
down the road and sidewalk. Alice pulled out her purse and paid the
driver, refusing to take any money from me for the ride, despite my
protests. It didn't look like money was much of an issue for her.

It wasn't for me really either.
My parents were paying for college, and I had my own savings to use
for personal luxuries like nights out. OK, so things like champagne
perhaps weren't on the cards, but a normal college existence wasn't
outside of my financial means.

We
stepped out of the cab and headed towards a bar - or nightclub, I
couldn't tell - called
Sparks
.
It was heavily illuminated with lights on the outside, with two
heavyset bouncers standing either side of the front entrance.

There seemed to be two queue's
formed outside - a short one to the right, and a longer one down the
left. I assumed the short one was for VIP's and the longer one for
regular people. We were students, so I expected us to head to the
left.

We went neither way. In fact, we
went straight forwards towards the bouncers.

They looked up at Alice as she
approached and nodded her straight through, Tess and I following in
behind.
Weird
.

The inside was dark and
luxurious, a long bar down one side of the space and lovely richly
colored booths stretching down the other, with other free-standing
tables in between. We moved straight on through and towards an area
at the back, cordoned off from the main section by a rope and guarded
by another menacing looking bouncer.

Again the bouncer opened the
rope and stepped to one side on seeing Alice, a look of recognition
on his face. Within I could see a well dressed group of young people,
all sitting around a large circular cable. Alice bounded forward
immediately as a young man stood and hugged her.

He had medium length wavy hair
and a square jaw. As he smiled his cheeks deepened to reveal dimples,
his eyes flashing blue. He was, for want of a better word, gorgeous.
As a couple, they were damn stunning.

After a short but passionate
kiss Alice stepped back and turned to me.

“
Elle, this is my boyfriend
Kyle.”

He smiled as he leaned in to
kiss me on the cheek, his eyes set deep but sparkling in their
sockets. I couldn't help my heart from fluttering at the sight of
him.

“
Come sit down,” Alice said,
taking me by the arm and moving me toward the table, “you can meet
the rest.”

Tess had already perched herself
near another blazingly good looking young man. He had similar
features to Kyle, his hair slightly longer and more ruffled, his eyes
a dark shade of brown.

“
This is Kyle's brother, Zack”
she said.

No kidding! They really did
look alike.

“
And that's Zack's twin, Cade,
and his girlfriend, Gem.”

I looked up to see another guy
sitting at the back of the table. His hair was different - straight
and lighter in tone - but his face was almost identical to Zack's.
Clearly he'd made a conscious effort to alter his appearance so that
they didn't look so alike. At a glance it made a difference, but
their faces could be mirror images of each other when you took a
proper look.

I sat down at the table, in
between Tess and Alice, not quite knowing what to say. I'd been
thrust right into the middle of a social situation that was
completely against my instinct to find comfortable.

I could see Tess immediately
saddle up close to Zack, pouting her lips and tousling her hair. She
was an obvious flirt, I'd noticed that as soon as she met me.

Across the table Cade and Gem
were locked in a serious conversation. There seemed to be a tension
between them, their body language uncomfortable, their expressions
slightly glum. They took little interest in me, or anything else for
that matter.

My
initial impression of Alice, however, had been way off base. She'd
seemed frosty at first, owing, as she'd admitted, to her reluctance
to accept a new room-mate. I guess knowing that she had a boyfriend
made that even more understandable. Any privacy she might have
enjoyed there with him had been stripped away from her just like
that.

I'd be pissed off by that too.

She was sweet, though, bringing
me into the conversation and making me feel at ease. She kinda acted
like an older sister, not that I'd know exactly what they would feel
like. All I had was a younger brother.

Kyle was quieter, though, and
had this brooding intensity about him. He seemed a bit stand-offish,
as if he didn't trust this new person sitting in their group. He
spoke little, allowing Alice and I to get to know each other a little
bit. Maybe he was just doing that to be nice, seeing as we'd be
living together now. Or maybe he was just quiet and didn't say much.
I couldn't be sure.

I started feeling the effects of
the alcohol after only a couple of drinks. I wasn't much of a heavy
drinker, and coupled with my tiredness and the day I'd had, it went
straight to my head. Tess seemed to get jolly fairly quickly as well,
her eyes rarely far from Zack as the group began to lighten up a bit.
I wasn't completely sure her affectionate and flirty looks were
reciprocated, though.

“
So,” I said to Alice as
Kyle turned his attention to Cade and Gem, “what does Kyle study.
Is he at college as well?”

She seemed to flinch a little
bit at the question.

“
Er no, he runs his own
business actually.”

“
Wow, that's amazing! But he's
so young. What sort of business is it?” I could sense my tongue
beginning to loosen with the alcohol streaming through my veins.

She seemed to pause, or maybe it
was just the drink in my head. “He runs a club, for his father.
It's his father's business really. Actually, they all work for him,
or they did.” Her words grew heavy, her eyes dropping.

“
Oh, you mean...”

She nodded without saying
anything.

I didn't push it, didn't want
to. I'd only just met her and the rest of them, and it sounded like
he'd only died recently. At least, I was pretty sure that's what she
meant.

She lifted her eyes back to me
and took a sip of wine. “It's still pretty fresh in the memory. I
wouldn't mention it.”

I
nodded, pursing my lips.
Don't
want to alienate my new room-mate or her boyfriend and his family the
first night at my new college. That wouldn't be a good start.

We carried on talking for a
little while, the conversation once again picking up. I could hold my
own with anyone after a few drinks, but not before. Now that I had a
bit of champagne, some wine, and a cocktail or two inside me, my
mouth was rarely closed. I just had to stay on that fine line without
tripping over into inappropriateness. It was a precarious tightrope
at times.

Thankfully Tess was in the same
sort of mood, so we ended up giggling and joking about this and that
as the others kept their conversations more reserved. I guess their
dad had just died, so that was no real surprise.

My mouth shut tight when I was
tapped on the shoulder and introduced to a new entrant, however. I'd
had my back turned away from Alice towards Tess when I felt a finger
poking at me.

I swivelled in my seat to be
greeted by yet another Adonis. No, this guy was even better looking
than the rest. Or maybe it was the alcohol.

He had short dark hair, shorter
than his brothers, but not shaven like a marine. It suited his face,
his jaw square and peppered with black stubble. His eyes were a hazel
brown, shining lights in a deep sea, hooded under thin but dark
eyebrows. But it was the look on his face that got me above all else.
Not his features, but his look.

It was a look of authority, of
power. It was a look that said he was not a man to be messed with. It
was a look to say he could get whatever he wanted, take whatever he
wanted.

His eyes lingered on me for a
moment as Alice introduced me, her voice sounding more formal than it
had been.

“
Elle, this is Crash, he's
Kyle's older brother.”

Another brother. How many
were there?!

He paid little attention to me,
but turned straight to Kyle. It was clear that he was the eldest of
the lot. Even if Alice hadn't just told me, that much would have been
glaringly obvious.

“
Kyle, a word.”

His voice was deep and heavy. It
was the sort of voice you'd immediately fall to command to.

Kyle stood and they walked off
out of the VIP area together.

I looked at Alice as her eyes
followed on as Kyle left. She seemed concerned. I might have just
stepped straight into a family drama right here.

A tension hit the group as Alice
turned back to me. “Maybe it's best we call it a night Elle. This
is a pretty hard time for the guys, I should have realized. I just
didn't know that he'd be turning up.”

“
Who,
Crash?”
What kind of
name was Crash anyway?!

“
Yeah. Kyle said he'd be busy.
This place, it's one of the family businesses, so you never know when
he'll drop in to check on things.”

Ah, so that explains the side
stepping of the bouncers, no questions asked.

“
Is there a problem?” It was
the sort of probing question I'd rarely ask sober, but was happy to
do so when under the influence.

She shook her head. “Nothing
for you to worry about.”

She looked over my shoulder at
Tess behind me. “Tess, time to go?” She said it like a half
question, half command.

I looked at Tess. Her eyes made
it clear that she wanted to stay. Probably so she could keep trying
it on with Zack, although I wasn't sure how well it was working.

“
Tess,” Alice said again,
with a bit more authority this time, “I think it's time to go.”

I could see Tess' expression
deflate at her words. It looked like Alice was the voice of reason
with these two, Tess the party girl who never knew when to stop.

Begrudgingly, Tess was dragged
from the table as I followed them out of the bar. I said my goodbyes
to the twins and Gem, but they didn't seem overly interested in me.
To be fair I hadn't really spoken much to them over the last couple
of hours.