The Beginning of Us (76 page)

“I know.  This just sucks for me. 
I'll
always try to keep the assholes away from you.”  Luke says as he rubs his hand through his hair in frustration.

“Yea, well you missed one.  He did a number on her ass last year and he was
your
friend.”  Ivy pipes up to defend me.

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. 
Brandon
is
an asshole and I knew what he was capable of.  Hell I knew what he did to you before you found out.  Why do think he had a black eye and a busted lip?”

“You
knew
?  You
knew
and didn’t tell
me
?  You let me walk in on
them
?  What is wrong with you Luke?  You don’t get to keep shit like that from me and then try to warn me off of the next guy.  It’s very nice of you to keep your guy code in tact with
Brandon. Fuck you! Get out of my face.”

“Eaven, I'm
just trying not to make the same mistake again.  I don’t want to be put in the middle again.  I hang out wi
th dick-
heads.  Some of them don’t treat their girls very good.  That is why
I'm
saying you deserve better.  You deserve someone who will treat you right.  Chances are very high that it won’t be a friend of mine who will treat you right.”

“Maybe you need to be more selective of your friends.”   

“Maybe so.  Listen, you know that
I'll
be there for you if you need me. 
I'll
step back and let you decide who you want to hang around.  Just remember to be careful.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Talon

I take off towards the student center to meet up with Taron. His first class should be over soon. I keep thinking about last night and Eaven’s seductive and hot-as-hell body shot. I didn’t expect her to just jump into it like that. There is a naughty vixen underneath her exterior and I plan to extract that beautiful persona as often as possible.

“What up brother?” Taron slaps me on the back as he snuck up on me deep in thought.

“Nothing much, how about you?”

“Just had class with a gorgeous lil thang. She was talking about you. I guess you made a good impression on her last night.”

“You had class with Eaven?”

“Yep and Ivy too.”

“Awesome, what time is practice tonight?”

“I was thinking 8:00, and then we can head to Smitty’s if you are game.”

“Yea sure…” I say as I notice Eaven and Ivy outside the glass windows standing against one of the pillars.  I stand to go see her as I notice Luke
is there also. Eaven looks pissed about something.

I slip out just in time to hear her telling him to fuck off because he didn’t tell her about some guy named Brandon
.  What the hell?  I never would have guessed that she was seeing someone else.  Wow. 
I'm
really off my game.  I hate this shit.  It’s easier when it’s just me against the world.  Things get jacked up when I let someone in.  I should have known better. 

“Are you girls following me around?  I know you want my body to keep you warm, but really we were just together.”  Leave it up to Taron to make an awkward moment a little crazier. 
Taron makes our appearance known to Luke, Eaven, and Ivy.

“You wish,
asshole.”  Ivy smacks him in the chest.

I hadn’t planned to stop and chit-chat after what I had heard.  Now I’m pissed that she has been playing with my mind and I have no desire to pretend to be polite.  So I walk on.

“Baby, baby.  Don’t be a hater.”  Taron exclaims loudly to draw attention to his stupid ass.

That is all I hear as I continue my walk to class. 
I'm
done with this crap.  I don’t need a female to screw with my thoughts.  My past screws with them enough.  Why did she have to get to me so quickly? 

I met her two days ago and Bam. 
I'm all twisted over her.

“Talon, wait up.” I know that voice. I keep walking, but she ran to catch me.

“What is your problem?” She says as she grabs my arm to stop me.

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Ok, then why didn’t you stop to say hello?”

“I have class.”  I snap. 
I'm done with this conversation.

“Is it too much to ask for you to be civil?”

“Fuck civil.”  I shock her.  “If you want civil, why don’t you call
Brandon.”

“Why are you being like this?  How could you say that?”  Tears well up in her eyes as she slaps my face, and turns to walk away.  I'm stunned. 
She did not just slap me.

I'm
in a piss poor mood the rest of the day.  If it weren’t for practice tonight, I would have buried myself in my bed and never came out of my room.

I'm
ready to let loose some of my stress at practice as I set up early at Luke’s.  We practice at his house since his living room is large enough to hold all of us and the equipment.

“Dude, what the fuck is your problem today?” Luke starts in on me.

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Yea, well I do.  Why would you say something like that to Eaven?  That
is cold-hearted you asshole.”

“I just told her to call Brandon
if she wanted civil. 
If that is who she wants to be with then she needs to call him.”

“You stupid ass. She was yelling at me because she dated my friend Brandon over a year ago. He cheated on her. She just found out that I knew about it before she did and I didn’t warn her. I was warning her about you and she told me where to stick it.”

Shit.  My mind is all over the place and
I'm
jumping to conclusions.  She isn’t playing mind games,
I am
.  She will probably never talk to me again. 

“Why are you warning her about me?”

“Don’t take it personal. I don’t want her to get hurt by another one of my friends that can’t appreciate her. I can’t take anymore guilt when someone I know screws up and breaks her heart.”
 

“I’ll be back.”    

What the hell have I done? I need to have my head examined. I just told her to call the ex who cheated on her like a cold-hearted bastard. I drive as fast as I can to her apartment only to find that she isn’t there. So I decide to text her.

Talon: 
I'm
sorry.  I should never have said that.

             
Where are you? I need to see you.

She doesn’t reply. So I head back to Luke’s.

~Chapter Eight~

Eaven

Ivy and I skip the rest of my classes because I can’t seem to compose myself and she isn’t about to let me cry alone.  How could he say that to me?  I didn’t know he even
knew Brandon.

Ivy is hell bent on making me go out tonight. I want to cry myself to sleep and start this day back over again. Where did it go wrong?

“Drink up! To dancing tonight and forgetting about everyone and everything that has upset you today.” Ivy says as she continues our tradition of toasting every shot we drink together.

“Ivy, please. I just want to stay home.”

“No way girlfriend. Get your butt up and come dancing with me.”

I drag myself together and get ready to go dancing.  Ivy brings me a shot every half hour.  She apparently wants me to drown in my problems tonight. 

“We are going to have fun tonight!”  Ivy is guiding me through the motions of getting out of the apartment and into her car. 
I'm not drunk, yet;
I just don’t really feel like going anywhere. 

When we arrive at Smitty’s she orders us three shots, two for me and one for her. 

“What are we drinking to?” I ask.

“Here is to you, Here is to me, Here is to the fact that we are free!”  We drink our shots after clanking them together.  I hurry to get the second one down as she yanks me towards the dance floor.  There aren’t nearly as many people here tonight as there was Saturday.  I feel better because of Ivy. 
She's
such a free spirit on the dance floor.  She loves it out here.  Of course she moves her body in ways the guys want to be near us all of the time.  I notice a guy come up around her and start dancing against her backside.  He whispers something in her ear and she smiles as she turns her head to look at him.  They continue through this dance as I find myself awkwardly dancing.  It must be because of the shots.  I decide to sit at the bar and wait for the next dance.  The bartender brings me a drink and points at a table full of cowboys in the corner telling me
it's
from them.  I drink up. 

Mmmm, rum and coke. My favorite.

Ivy quickly comes to my rescue once the song is finished. 
She's
very happy. 

“Who was that hotty?” I ask her.

“Do you remember me telling you about Dylan? Well that is him.” Ivy looks over at him and winks. “Where did you get that drink?”

“Those guys in the corner sent it to me.”

“Oh really!  We must go thank them right now!” 

“Hell no.”  I put my foot down. 
I'm
not going over there to talk to a group of freaking cowboys. 

“Why not?  You are being rude.  They bought you a drink, you should properly thank them.” 
She's
insane.  The last thing I need is a group of guys to talk to when I can’t deal with the one I want to talk to. 
I'm feeling the effects of the shots that Ivy has influenced on me and I'll end up making a fool of myself.

“Fine! 
I'll
go talk to them for you.  Who knows what
I'll
say to them.  I might even give them your phone number.  I may even invite them over after the club.”  That bitch!  I know she will
,
too.  I follow her over, just as she knew I would after that last statement of hers.

“Hello boys! My girl here would like to say thanks for the drink!” The entire table rises to their feet as we arrive. They tip their cowboy hats at us and smile. One of them calls for the waitress to get Ivy a drink and they guide us to sit in the midst of all of them. There was a lot of yes ma’am and no ma’am responses that Ivy was just eating up. The one right next to me is Aiden. His bright blue eyes and gorgeous smile almost melt
me. 

He asks me to dance and I reluctantly accept. 
It's
different dancing with a country guy.  It seems a little stiff compared to the sensual melting into a person that
I'm
used to. 
He's
very gentle and respectful with his hands and I appreciate that.  We talk a little and I find out
he's
also a student at the university and his apartment is near ours.  We finish our dance and head back to the table just in time for me to see Talon and his crew stroll up to the table that is right next to the cowboy table.  Shit.  That sobered me up.

Talon is staring at me as I walk up and I can’t make eye contact with him. He grabs my arm and guides me away from Aiden.

Talon leans his head down into my ear and whispers.  “Are you ignoring me?” 

What? 
He's
crazy.  I can’t deal with him. 

“What is wrong with you?  Are you bipolar?  I have had it with your games.”  I say trying to get away from his hold on my arm.   

“I have been trying to call you.  I texted multiple times and even came by your house tonight to apologize for my behavior this morning.”  He was apologizing?  I stop struggling to get away.  I have never had a guy apologize to me. 

“Why would you say that to me?  I didn’t even know that you knew
Brandon. It hurts that you would tell me to go to him knowing what he did to me,
and I’m not ignoring you.  I left my phone at home.”

“That’s just it.  I don’t know him or what he did.  I was an ass.  I only heard part of your conversation with Luke and I assumed you were talking to
Brandon
now.  It pissed me off so bad that I couldn’t see through the anger that was flowing through my veins.  I really thought we hit it off great and then I find out you are talking to some guy named
Brandon.”

“Are you kidding me? 
I'm not talking to Brandon. I haven’t since I walked in on him with his penis in some girl almost a year ago.”

“I know that now. 
I'm
so sorry that I blew up and didn’t talk to you.  Please forgive me?”  He says as he hugs me close to his body with his hands.  We are so close.  I can’t think clearly when
I'm this close to him.