Stronger with You (With You Trilogy) (20 page)

“So that he doesn’t just write down any old number and fake it,” Ian shrugged.

“But we’re not allowed to lie,” I smirked, giving Ian a pointed look.

“I know,” he nodded. “But I wouldn’t put it past Jake.”

We all watched Jake running around the bar area, Danny dragging his feet behind him in an effort to slow him down. At one point, we broke into laughter because the girl Jake was blatantly hitting on turned all her attention to Danny.

When Ian’s timer showed ten minutes, he sent Rick to fetch the other two back to the table. Jake returned with a frown and handed two napkins over to Ian.

“One and a half,” Ian grinned. “Two shots for you and one for someone else. I have to say I’m a little disappointed.”

“Danny kept fucking everything up!” Jake complained.

“There’s no rules about that,” Ian grinned, sliding three shots towards him. “Drink up!”

Jake passed the third shot over to Danny and knocked the other two back in quick succession.

Ian proceeded to give a list of six items which Jake had to collect under the next hour, including a strawberry flavoured condom and a pair of knickers. Recalling the incident in the disabled toilets of the nightclub, I doubted he’d have much trouble getting his hands on the underwear, but some of the other items on the list were pretty specific.

By the end of the hour, most of the beers in the crate had disappeared and my brothers were more than a little tipsy. Ian wasn’t showing it as much as the others but I could see that his eyes weren’t quite as focussed as normal, he still maintained his air of control though.

Jake pulled out some items from his pocket and placed them on the table: some blood red lipstick, a business card with a kiss on the back and – with a dramatic flourish – the tiniest pair of lingerie that I have ever seen.

He grinned mischievously up at the others, claiming that the quickie for the knickers had been worth the three extra shots he’d have to drink for not getting the other items.

Jake was clearly still punishing Danny because he made him drink the three shots he’d won whilst he downed his own three. Danny didn’t seem to mind though, he knocked them back whilst exchanging one of his psychic twin looks with Rick. The two of them disappeared off to the toilets shortly after.

Next, Karl had Jake find a willing female volunteer and hinted that he might want to find a tiny girl. Jake returned with Kylie, the smiley brunette who’d greeted us.

“She said
anything
we wanted,” Jake grinned.

“Pick a number,” Karl ordered. “The number you pick is the number of press-ups you have to do with this lovely lady sat on your back.”

The brunette looked at Jake and giggled, not at all embarrassed by Karl’s demands.

“For every push-up you don’t successfully complete, you have to do a shot,” Ian added.

Jake eyes travelled from Kylie to the twelve remaining shots and back, clearly trying to work out how many push-ups he could do.

“How much do you weigh?” He asked Kylie, looking her up and down.

Craig reached over and slapped the back of his head. “You don’t ask a woman that, what the fuck’s wrong with you?” Craig laughed.

“Sorry,” he apologised, looking thoroughly sheepish.

I grinned as I watched Jake trying to make his mind up. He was smiling but I could also tell he was a little worried. I doubted I could do a single push up with another person on my back. Jake wasn’t quite as muscly as the others but he was strong. It was still quite a challenge and he’d had a couple of beers and five shots to go with them. He also had to pick a number that wasn’t too low because my brothers were bound to rip it out of him if he did.

“Five?” He said uncertainly.

“Pussy!” Matt laughed.

“Fine, six?” Jake offered, but the others just laughed harder. “For fuck’s sake. Eight then.” He wiped his hands on the back of his jeans and dropped to the floor, holding a plank position and waiting for Kylie to climb on.

She looked only too happy to oblige, holding Matt’s outstretched hand for balance as she lay down on Jake’s back.

I could see Jake’s muscles trembling and I didn’t envy him. I’d have collapsed already if I was in his shoes. He did the first push up, his whole body shaking with the effort. I cringed as I watched him push on. Ian made him redo the third one because it wasn’t up to scratch. To my surprise, he got through the repeat and even managed to do a fourth repetition before his body gave way.

“Sorry,” he puffed, apologising to Kylie for letting her weight drop to the floor.

She grinned and shook her head. “Not a problem. That’s the most fun I’ve had at work for a while.”

“Drink up,” Ian ordered, stalking off to the bar since the crate of beer had now run out.

Matt lined up the four shots Jake would now have to drink just as the twins returned from the toilets. I eyed them suspiciously, something felt off about them but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Jake really could hold a grudge. He motioned for Danny to drink the other four shots that he’d earned from his push-ups. Danny simply shrugged and knocked them all back without hesitation.

Jake gulped his down as well and I could tell he was way past the drunk barrier and well on his way to alcohol poisoning. The twins laughed at him as he stumbled to his seat and I realised what it was that felt off about them. They’d switched shirts. It wasn’t Danny drinking the shots any more it was Rick. I did some quick mental arithmetic. Both of them had downed four shots.

I whispered my suspicions to Craig and he eyed the two of them warily. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinised them. The twins blinked innocently back but I was pretty sure they knew exactly why we were staring.

“I think you’re right,” Craig grinned at me. “I doubt he’s noticed though,” he pointed at Jake who was staring into space. “He’s completely plastered.”

“He is,” I nodded in agreement. “I need to go to the bathroom,” I added, the J20s taking their toll.

“I’ll take you,” Craig said, guiding me up from the table. “I need to go too.”

He held his arm round my shoulders once more as he guided me through the club, looking for the toilets.

“Wait for me here,” he instructed, his voice the very definition of serious.

I nodded and disappeared into the toilets. I had no idea what time it was, I usually just checked my phone but Ian was still holding it hostage.

When I was done, I went to wait for Craig in the spot he’d pointed to. I was looking down at my shoes and yawning, wondering what time it was, so I didn’t notice the guy who approached me.

“You tired, sweetheart?” He asked me.

I looked up to see an older guy in a fairly nice suit leering down at me. His hairline was receding but he was still relatively handsome for a guy his age. He was sweating a bit though and his breath smelt like whisky.

I smiled politely at him and didn’t reply. Talking to strange men in bars was probably not behaviour my brothers would encourage. I smiled to myself as I realised that I’d just mentally described the situation in which I’d met Jason. My brothers hadn’t been there then though and I didn’t need to meet another man. I had my Jason.

“Are you shy?” The man continued, clearly not discouraged by my silence.

I smiled again, a little less this time and mentally counted how long it could possibly take for Craig to use the urinal and be back out here.

“You don’t need to be shy with me, sweetheart,” he breathed, stepping a little closer to me.

With my back against the wall, his proximity left me feeling trapped. I flattened myself against the wall as much as possible, not liking the feel of his body heat so close to mine.

“If you’re tired I can take you home,” he offered slyly, brushing his hand down my forearm.

Did I really think this guy wasn’t bad looking before?
Now that he was standing closer, he just looked creepy. I would have freaked out but I knew Craig would be here any second and I had six other drunken body guards spread out across the club.

“No thanks,” I shook my head at him.

“Come on, pretty lady, let me buy you a drink at least?” He pressed, moving closer so that his warmth was now pressed against me.

“She said no, asshole,” Craig’s voice cut in and I felt the guy’s body being dragged away from me.

I sighed a breath of relief at the sound of his voice and the cooling air that wrapped around me as the creep was pulled away.

I could see the feral look in Craig’s eyes as he glared the guy down. He looked calm but I knew it was probably just a façade. Craig was disciplined enough of a fighter when he was in the cage, but I suspected his protective instincts had kicked in once he sensed there was a threat to me.

The guy looked my brother up and down, clearly assessing whether I was worth the hassle. His eyes rested on the tattoos showing out of the sleeve of Craig’s tight t-shirt before taking in his muscly arms. I clearly wasn’t worth the hassle because the guy raised his hands in surrender and backed off.

“Are you okay? Did he touch you?” Craig said, turning back to me and scanning me as if expecting me to be bleeding out in several places

“I’m fine, he didn’t-”

I didn’t get chance to finish my sentence because Ian appeared out of nowhere and slammed Craig up against the wall, pinning him there with his forearm just underneath his throat.

Ian didn’t say anything straight away, he just landed a discrete jab to the side of Craig’s ribcage that caused him to wince but he didn’t try and push Ian off.

“You’re supposed to be fucking watching her,” Ian snarled. “Where the fuck were you?”

“I was taking a piss,” Craig managed, a little winded from the blow.

Ian backed off and released Craig, scanning me briefly with his eyes. “Don’t let it happen again,” he warned, glaring at the two of us.

“No, sir,” Craig answered immediately, wrapping his arm around my shoulder once more.

Ian stalked off and I glanced guiltily up at Craig, mortified that he’d gotten hurt because of me.

“Sorry,” I pouted up at him. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

“Not your fault, Jellybean,” he smiled. “Teach me to drink too much water.”

I wrapped my hand around his waist and squeezed him appreciatively.

“Besides,” he grinned wickedly and turned his head to me, cupping his hand around his mouth as he whispered to me. “It didn’t hurt,” he winked, guiding me back to the table.

I giggled at him. That was what he always used to tell me whenever he got into a fight with my other brothers. I knew he was usually exaggerating the truth but the fact that he didn’t want me worrying about him was sweet. I also thought it was cute that he’d been sufficiently scared of Ian to cover his mouth whilst he whispered, just in case Ian and his lip-reading abilities were close by.

Jake ended up drinking each and every one of the four remaining shots. He was way too drunk to even attempt any of the other increasingly ridiculous tasks my brothers set for him.

I stayed close to Craig all night, even though it meant him dancing close to me while we were on the dance floor and scaring away any possible one-night stands. He didn’t seem to mind though. He span me around like he used to when I was little and had me giggling most of the night.

I must have drifted off at the booth because the next thing I knew, Karl was shaking me gently to wake me up and guiding me out of the club to the Beast. I was awake enough to notice that Ian was carrying an unconscious Jake over his shoulder but not so much that I registered the implications. The moment my bum met with the plush leather seats my eyes were closed again and I curled up against Craig’s side contentedly.

Chapter 16

Sunday, 27th January 2013

I could have slept for another three hours if it wasn’t for the feeling that my bladder was about to burst. After ten minutes of pointlessly hoping the feeling would go away if I fell back to sleep, I reluctantly climbed out of bed and made for the bathroom.

I glanced at the other side of the bed and noticed Craig had already disappeared, no doubt already in the hotel’s gym. I was vaguely aware that I was no longer wearing my dress. I sort of remembered yanking it off and pulling Craig’s t-shirt over the top of my bra and knickers. I don’t even remember who was in the room when I did it. I’d been so exhausted when we got back.

I didn’t bother turning the light on in the bathroom as I stumbled in. My eyes weren’t really awake and the dim light shining in through the semi-transparent curtains in the bedroom was enough to cause me to squint.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I emptied my bladder. I don’t think I’d realised quite how desperate I’d been.
Probably all that orange juice I drank last night, Jason will be proud
. A twinge of guilt hit me for not having text or called him. I really hoped Ian would give me my phone back soon but I doubted it. He was probably waiting for me to ask for it back so he could castigate me for wanting to talk to Jason instead of them. That was not a trap I planned on falling into.

Just as I flushed the toilet, I heard the strangest noise. I thought I’d imagined it, or that it was due to unusual Geordie plumbing but I heard it again though as I was about to wash my hands.
What in the world?
It sounded like a sad puppy.

I span around looking for the source of the noise.
Oh my God! Jake?
I couldn’t believe my eyes. The poor guy was stark naked and taped, tied, and bound in every conceivable way to the shower fixtures on the wall.

“Jake?” I gawked at him, wondering what the hell he was doing in our shower. I snapped out of my gaping when he started making angry writhing movements and assumedly trying to shout at me through his gag.

I quickly hit the lights, rushed over to him, and went to remove his gag. I hesitated for a millisecond because I doubted I would like what he was going to say. He must have been really pissed and he had a bad habit of taking his anger out on me. The hesitation was over very quickly because I knew for certain that I wouldn’t want to be left in the same way he’d been.