Scarred Hearts (Blackrock) (9 page)
I can't drive just yet I can still feel my head buzzing from the alcohol. I walk through the campus with Paige leaning on me sniffling. "I am sorry Bailey," she says in between the tears. "It's ok lets just get you home".
We reach her apartment in five minutes; she really does live at the South side of the college. We climb up the stairs and she opens the door, Paige heads straight for her room she turns around to me "I had a good night, you can crash on the sofa if you want" I look at her ruined face, she has mascara lines down her cheeks and her nose is red. "Ok if you are sure, I don't think I can drive for a while anyway". She reaches into a closet and pulls out a blanket and hands it to me. I smile at her and head into the lounge. I take my phone and keys out of my back pockets and put them on the coffee table, I sigh and open the blanket wrapping it around me as I lay down. Looking at my watch its 2am and I close my eyes.
I wake up to loud banging I check my phone. It is only 7am, sitting up I push the blanket off me, and I hear the banging again a listen, Ugh it's someone getting it on next door. I grab my stuff off the table and walk out of the room the apartment is quiet. I open the door to Paige's room and see her sprawled across her bed in last night's clothes snoring softly. I back out of the room and head back into the lounge, folding up the blanket I see her books and stuff over on the side table. I grab a pen and her scratch pad and leave a note. "Hey Paige gone to get my car and then home, thanks for letting me crash. I will see you later. Bailey"
I slip out of her apartment and start back through the campus grounds. I shiver and wrap my arms around myself. I usually use my hair for warmth so I pull the pins out and let it fall forward hiding my face. I am sure I look a mess, in last night's clothes and make up. The campus is deserted, thankfully, I run across the street and round the corner of Georges bar.
I see my car and smile; at least she looks safe and sound. I see the side door of the bar open and out steps two fresh-faced hotties. Max notices me and grins "Mornin Bailey, walk of shame so early?" he teases me. "Something like that" I reply. I can see Knox just stands there looking all stoic he has his arm across his chest with his hands under his armpits and the thumbs sticking out. God this guy makes me nervous.
"Is your friend ok?" he asks me. I nod yes and press the button of my car. "Lucky you came by I was just about to call the tow company to come move it," he says nodding towards my car. Just then I see a delivery truck turn the corner, "I'll get out of your way then" I say and slip behind the wheel. As I pull out I see Max clap his hands and rub them together getting ready to take the alcohol delivery. Knox hasn't moved form his position at the door and is looking straight at me.
My breath hitches in my throat as I look back at him; His green eyes are like a brilliant laser beam trained on me. I put the car in drive and take off home.
Max
The bar is already hopping and it's only nine pm. I am working behind the bar tonight by myself uncle George took off early; he said his ulcer was acting up on him. I look around at the sea of people in front of me, where the fuck is Ingrid I haven't seen her for about thirty minutes, man she is the worst waitress I have ever seen.
I am moving as fast as I can pumping out drinks, shit I hate it when I have to do this alone, at least with Knox we have a system but he is singing tonight so I'm "shit outta luck" as they say. I do a quick clean up of the far end of the bar and throw away Knox's empty. I feel the cool breeze blow across my face when the front door opens, I look over and to my surprise I see the cute chick that ran away from me outside the tattoo shop. I stretch my arms out and pop my knuckles, I see some dude waving me over so I head his way all the while keeping an eye on the blond and her friend.
After I give they guy his beer I see the two girls at the end of the bar so I make my way over deciding I am going to give her shit for running away like a little girl. I stop in front of them and see her looking around the bar; I smile at her friend, who is fucking amazing. Now that I am up close, she has light brown hair, big caramel eyes and a mouth I wouldn't mind exploring. She smiles at me and orders four tequila shots, a Jack & coke and a Vodka cranberry. The blonde turns around and I see the instant she recognizes me. "Well look who is here" I say to her "It's the run away hottie" I smile at her and see she is getting a little hot under the collar again so I walk away laughing, man this is going to be too easy to mess with her.
I bring their drinks over and see her eyeballing Knox on stage; you have got your work cut there for you I think to myself. I put their drinks on the bar and her friend smiles at me, I ask what they are doing and she tells me they are celebrating the blonde's birthday, her name is Bailey. I introduce myself to them and give the shots on the house. I catch the other one looking at me and give her a half smile. I see my boy Sean comes in; we hang out in engineering class together so I head over to catch up.
I am at the other end of the bar talking with Sean, he is telling me about a beach party he was just at, he points down the bar and says "She the brunette, down there" I nod back to him listening with my full attention, "Her name is Paige Stein, she is dating that douche Duke King, I was over on the dunes and heard them going at it" I look at him in shock "What, he was hitting that on the beach" I ask, he shakes his head and laughs "Na bro, he was calling her out for not giving it up, saying she was a tease and y'know likes the chicks".
I nod in understanding and look down the bar at Paige, I see her laughing and waving me over, and as I stop in front of her she asks me do I have anything for shock. Shit did she see my face when Sean told me she might be gay, Bailey turns around then, looking very pale and asks for four shots of Goldstrike, I realize they figured out there is two of us Porter brothers. She turns back around and I see her eyeballing Knox, ah I think to myself, she has a thing for the other twin, well lets hope she doesn't get her hopes up. Knox is messed up at the minute, I miss they way he used to be; he was always playing practical jokes on our friends. We were talking about setting up our own business after college; we have the whole thing planned out. I am doing engineering and he is doing business and computers. Everything is on hold now it was all good until Lindsey happened.
We were raised never to hit women but if that piece of crap walked in the door right now I wouldn't be able to stop myself. She put us through hell and Knox took the worst of it. I take a deep breath and return with their drinks.
I get back to work serving a group of ten at the far end of the bar, man this group is a pain in the ass, the guys are easy to serve, five beers but their chicks keep asking me to make some stupid fucking cocktail every time they order. I get mixing the new round of drinks when I notice the end of the bar is empty, I look around thinking Bailey and Paige have left but they are out dancing. I turn back to the drinks but watch them through the mirror along the wall behind the bottles of spirits.
I see Paige sway her hips to the beat and lift her hair off the back of her neck damn she is hot. Her ass is the perfect size to fit into my hands, the sight of her swaying down to the floor and back up is starting to turn me on, I notice how close she is dancing to Bailey and wonder if she is gay or maybe she swings both ways, I hope not, because I am a guy who does not like to share. I continue on making the drinks thinking of all the things I could do to her when I hear Knox forget the words to the song he is singing. I frown, he never forgets the set or the lyrics I turn around with three out of the five cocktails and see my brother staring at Bailey on the dance floor, I smile over at him and raise me eyebrow in question.
Knox
I am standing on the stage in fucking darkness, using my cell phone to follow the maze of cables. Some fucking looser decided to take a short cut across the stage and rip out some of the cables causing a short to the equipment and the light controls. Eventually I find it and plug it back in, the amp pops and the lights come back on, I pick up my guitar and tune it up. Eric is fixing the keyboard and David is doing his shit with the drums. I check my watch and see its already 9:15, we were supposed to begin at nine, "You guys ready?" I ask them. They all nod and get into position.
Tonight I decide to start with Mumford and Sons "the cave" I heard it on the radio last year a few weeks after Lindsey took off, I find it fitting for how I feel. I usually don't sing it without Max but he is behind the bar tonight, I have been feeling like shit ever since I came back to this place, I wanted to transfer to another college but Max asked me to stay, he was complaining about being away from each other and how he was in the best engineering program in the country. I think he just want me to stay so he could keep an eye on me.
I know the situation with Lindsey fucked with his head as well but every time I walk back on that campus I can't help but think of her and it's annoying the shit out of me. I pick out the opening notes and begin singing, the song builds so I begin strumming the guitar hard and let the words sooth me. By the time I finished I am sweating, I see some brunette chick standing in front of me, I recognize her from earlier. She barged straight for me when I was setting up the equipment asking me to sing a John Mayer song for her, she said she just broke up with her boyfriend and wanted to have fun.
I usually don't do requests I'm not a fucking DJ but this chick who was sticking her tits in my face might be just what I need for the night to chase the pain away, so I decide to sing one of the only two John Mayer songs I know "Waiting for the world to change".
I begin the song and she is right in front of me, she is swaying her ample hips back and forth while running an ice cube across her mouth. I smile down at her and decide right there that maybe I should just stick with the pain because this chick is out there. I have at least six more songs to do in this set so I decided to liven it up and do some rock classics. I begin the next song when I see two girls making their way to the dance floor, at first I can't make out who they are but they are doing a sexy kind of dance together on the floor, I see the blond raise her arms above her head and sway her hips, Jesus fuck. She is beautiful, I can see the top of her jeans sitting low on her hips and I can make out the start of the V from her hipbones, drawing my eyes to that sweet spot between her thighs. She lets her hands down and her shirt falls off one shoulder allowing me to get a glimpse of the slope of her tits. God damn I can't even remember the words to the fucking song, I move my guitar lower to cover my cock which is getting hard and uncomfortable in my jeans. I swallow hard when she looks me in the eye, Her friend is laughing having fun but starts to pull her away, I lift my head up and see Max grinning like a fool behind the bar with his eyebrow raised in question, I move back from the mic, cough then pick up the song where I left off.
I sing another six songs and feel my throat getting dry; I need a beer so I announce a break.
I step down off the stage and the ice cube chick runs over to me, "Thanks for singing to me" she says, "I'm Gemma" she holds out her hand for me to take but I just nod and say "No problem" I walk past her towards the bar when I see the hot sexy blonde who drives the Camaro standing at the bar. I don't know why but my hands start to sweat and my mouth gets even drier, maybe her performance on the dance floor has something to do with it. I see she is talking to Max and I know by the way he is standing that he is flirting with her, for some reason this pisses me off. Her friend is playing on her phone she is also cute but more Max's type and she is sitting on the stool I usually occupy. I decide to have a bit of fun with them, for some reason I want to talk to the blond I don't understand why but I feel a pull towards her, maybe I just need to get laid.
When I arrive at the bar Max brings over my drink and a whisky, I look at it and wonder why he brought that over. I knock it back and turn to the girls "That's my seat" I say to the brunette, she looks frightened, like she just got caught stealing from the cookie jar. The blond turns around to me and my heart skips a beat "Was your seat" she says to me "Are you that much of an ass that you would make a lady stand so you can sit" she cocks her eyebrow at me trying to look intimidating, I can't help but smile. I don't want her to think I am laughing at her so I quickly rub my hand over my mouth and look down. Damn she's feisty, I am enjoying our little encounter and don't want it to end so I say "I wasn't talking to you Darlin" I can see the fire in her eyes for a split second then it turns to ice, what the hell just happened? then I feel a hand on my chest and the can smell beer across my face. I turn to see the brunette, Gemma standing there "There is a seat at my table" she slurs at me, I tell her no thanks and take her hand off my chest. I don't like girls touching me unless I invited them to.
When I look up I see the blond has her back to me which gives me a chance to check out her ass properly, Max walks over and asks me have I met these two, he tells me the brunette is Paige and the blond is Bailey. I look at him and then at Bailey, she turns so fast she starts to tumble so I grab her elbow to stop her from face planting the bar, I feel a zap of electricity between us and my jeans start to get tight again, I take drink of my beer and let her go. Max slaps me on the shoulder and winks at me. I know what he is up to so I subtly shake my head no. By this time he is walking away from us but he smiles back at me. He can be such a dick sometimes but I know he is only looking out for me.
Bailey turns back to her friend and they are messing around with a phone, Paige grabs it and begins texting again so Bailey decides she needs Max's attention. She steps up on the foot rest and leans over the bar I look at her in the mirror behind the bottles and can see right down her top, Holy shit I say under my breath and turn my head to check out her ass again, I am enjoying the view when she hops down and turns to me "See something you like?" I choke on my beer and try not to spit it all over her so I turn away to cough, I can't believe she used my line back on me.