Chaos by Sarah Bailey

Sixteen

West

I fully expected to get a lecture from Drake over what I’d said to Tonya earlier, but all he’d done was ask me what exactly happened. After I told him, he shrugged, said she deserved it and walked off towards the kitchen to start on dinner. When he waved me over a few minutes later, I’d been confused until he told me what he had planned for later. I didn’t know what the fuck had got into him, but if he wanted to screw with Scarlett some more, I wasn’t going to complain. It meant I had to make a phone call to Gary for a drop-off, but he came through for me as always.

The five of us shared a rather stilted dinner. Drake told Scarlett in no uncertain terms she was going to sit with us. The woman looked resigned to her fate, but it didn’t stop her from giving him a mutinous look when he wasn’t paying attention. Prescott spent the entire time sulking whilst Francis was clearly wondering what the fuck had gone on today. I wasn’t in the mood to rehash the Tonya shit all over again. She was on her last fucking chance. I hadn’t been joking about gutting her. I would do it in a heartbeat. Didn’t care if she was Fletcher’s daughter. She was Drake’s family, not mine. Though mine could go fuck themselves after they decided I was too ‘crazy’ for them to deal with. The less said about them, the better.

When Scarlett tried to escape after dinner, Francis stopped her. Considering he was the only one she was being civil with, Drake had clearly told him to keep her down here with us.

“Come here,” he murmured, taking her hand and pulling her over to the sofas.

She followed him but her face was full of confusion. He sat down and encouraged her to sit in his lap. Scarlett curled herself up in it and pressed her face into his neck as he stroked her back. Prescott watched the two of them from the kitchen where he was filling the dishwasher. There was a definite hint of jealousy in his eyes, but not because he didn’t want her close to Francis. His relationship with Scarlett was all kinds of fucked up and he wished she would hold him like that again. It was so fucking obvious he’d gone and fallen for her… not that I could say a word. The woman had dug her way inside me a long time ago. Made a permanent place for herself there. And I didn’t hate her for it. If anything, her presence there was the only thing keeping me from imploding.

Drake got some beers from the fridge and dumped them out on the coffee table before taking a seat across from Francis and Scarlett. I wandered over and dumped out the contents of my pockets on the table, picking up a bottle of beer and popping the top off with the opener.

“Want one?” I asked Scarlett who was watching me. She always watched me as if she was nervous about what I might do next.

“I don’t like beer,” she muttered, pressing herself closer to Francis.

I popped the cap off a second bottle and placed it in his free hand before sitting at the other end of the sofa from them, leaning my arm across the back of it.

“Do you want a glass of wine then?”

Scarlett shook her head.

“Pres, get her some water, yeah?”

He gave me a dark look but did as I asked, bringing it over and setting it on the coffee table. Then he sat down by Drake. I swigged from my bottle before pointing at the baggy I’d dumped out on the table.

“Who wants to start?”

Scarlett’s eyes followed the direction of my finger until they widened when they spied the drugs on the table.

“What are those?”

“They’re not for you.”

She sat up, her eyes narrowing as she looked at me.

“What do you mean?”

“He means you’re not taking drugs with us, Scarlett,” Drake said, leaning forward and pulling the baggy closer to him so it was out of her reach.

“Why not?”

I tried not to smile. Scarlett didn’t like being told she couldn’t do something.

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t know. You haven’t told me what they are, so how can I answer that?”

Francis remained silent, watching the girl in his lap intently. Prescott was ignoring all of us.

“E,” I said, answering her question. “And none of the cut with other drugs shit they sell on the streets. This is proper shit.”

If Gary tried to sell me Ecstasy cut with Ket or some other shit, I would throw his dead body in the fucking canal. He wouldn’t fuck me over. The guy valued his life, not to mention he sold to the crime families. He wasn’t a fool.

“I’ve never taken anything like that.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re not taking any tonight,” Drake said. “Too unpredictable.”

Scarlett sat back against Francis and glared at Drake.

“Don’t treat me like a child. If I want to take a pill, I can.”

Like fucking putty in our hands, she was, falling for our game way too easily.

Drake took out one pill and set it on the table, giving Scarlett a hard stare.

“Really now? You want to get high?”

“Maybe I do.”

He waved his hand at the table and sat back.

“Have at it then if you want to be reckless.”

Scarlett stared at the pill on the table like it would hurt her somehow. I could see the war going on in her head playing out in her expression. She frowned, her eyes flicking to Drake and back to the pill.

“What will it do to me?”

“It’s a happy drug, Scar,” I said with a shrug. “It’ll make you feel good.”

Drake had decided he wanted to test Scarlett’s boundaries tonight. He wanted to see what drugs might do to her state of mind and if she might remember more of the past. I’d suggested LSD or mushrooms, but he didn’t want to send her on a trip. He wanted to see her free and happy tonight after witnessing her tears over Prescott earlier. He’d mentioned it when he was discussing the plan with me. Who’d have thought Drake actually cared? He certainly didn’t show it in his approach to Scarlett, but he always kept his emotions locked down. Maybe seeing her cry affected him more than he’d let on.

Scarlett gingerly reached out and picked up the pill. None of us said anything as she put it in her mouth and swallowed hard. Picking up the glass of water, she sipped at it before placing it back on the table. Then she curled herself around Francis again and ignored the rest of us. It would take time for the effects to kick in.

I watched her as Drake turned to Prescott and tried to talk to him, but the miserable fuck was being uncommunicative and clearly didn’t want to be around any of us this evening. It started with Scarlett running her hand along Francis’ chest with increased frequency as he sat sipping his beer. When she giggled and whispered something in his ear, his cheeks went red and he coughed.

“What?” he hissed.

She said something else and it made him shift in his seat. Then Scarlett sat up abruptly.

“Music. We need music!”

It had hit her system. I leant over to the coffee table and picked up one of the remotes, hitting play on it. The soft tinkle of guitar rang through the room.

“That’s not upbeat.”

“So?”

Scarlett crawled off Francis’ lap towards me. I grinned when she got up in my face. For a moment she stared at me, then she reached out and ran her finger along my jaw.

“That tickles,” she giggled.

Then she became fascinated with touching my face. Her fingers traced lines along my cheeks and then my bottom lip. I let her, amused by the fact she’d forgotten about the music and how she was so interested in my features.

“You’re pretty,” she told me, her voice taking on a dreamy note to it.

I laughed and gave her a wink.

“If you say so.”

“You have pretty eyes. They’re like amber gemstones.” Her eyes fell to my mouth. “Can I kiss you?”

I did not expect her to ask me that, let alone lean closer to me. Placing a hand on her chest, I stopped her from closing the distance.

“I don’t kiss, Scar, but I’m sure the others would be happy to let you if you ask nicely.”

The pout and disappointment on her face made my heart tighten. Scarlett had been the only girl I’d ever kissed. The only one I wanted to, but I wasn’t ready to go there. Not when kissing her would only remind me of the girl I’d lost and how she couldn’t remember who we’d been to each other. Something I’d never come to terms with. Something I needed to. The feelings I had involving Scarlett and I were too raw even after ten years.

“Okay.”

She went to move away, but I caught her and hauled the woman into my lap. I didn’t want her to stop touching me, to stop looking at me with such ardent fascination. She might be high, but none of us were above taking advantage of it.

Scarlett stared at me, her tongue running over her bottom lip. I reached up and cupped her face. She leant into it, rubbing her face against my palm as if she needed to be touched. She craved it. And when she started rocking her hips against mine, I reacted, gripping her hip to encourage her.

“Someone’s getting a little frisky,” I murmured.

“I want to touch you.”

Her fingers went to my shirt, fumbling with the buttons to get them open. I’d long since discarded my blazer and now was just in a shirt with rolled-up sleeves so you could see my tattooed forearms. I dropped my hands from her body and leant them across the back of the sofa, letting her do what she wanted. When she got the buttons open, she spread my shirt and ran her hands down my bare chest. She smiled to herself as she did it as if touching me skin on skin made her happy.

“You feel good,” she whispered.

I turned to Francis.

“Pass me the weed and my lighter.”

He rolled his eyes but leant forward and grabbed the stuff off the table. Instead of giving it to me, he rolled a joint, lit it and passed it over. I took a drag before leaning my arm over the back of the sofa again. Breathing out the smoke, it coiled upwards from my mouth. Scarlett stared at it in wonder, then her attention was dragged back to the fact she was touching me. And her fingers went to my belt, pulling at it.

“What you doing there, Scar?”

“I want to touch you,” she repeated.

“I thought that’s what you were doing already.”

She shook her head.

“No, I want to touch you here.”

Her hand splayed out over my cock. I leant closer to her, taking another drag.

“You do? Say it then.”

“I want your dick.”

“Then you better ask nicely for it.”

I looked over at the others. Drake was smirking, Francis was rolling his eyes whilst Prescott was still ignoring proceedings. The guy was big on watching, so this wasn’t normal. I indicated him with my head. Drake slapped Prescott around the shoulder. Prescott glared at him before his eyes fell on me and Scarlett.

“Please fuck me, West. I want it. Please give me your dick.”

“Do your needy little holes need filling?”

“Yes, please… I’m so wet.”

Her hands rubbed over my stomach as if she was waiting for my permission. I grabbed a handful of her arse, pushing her down on my hard cock.

“Are you sure you just want my dick, Scar? What if he fucks you too, hmm?” I waved my joint at Francis. “You want that? You want us to double team you?”

She bit her lip, rocking on my cock like she couldn’t get enough.

“Please.”

Putting my joint to my lips, I took another drag before grabbing hold of her jaw and opening her mouth. Then I blew the smoke into it. Scarlett coughed as the sweet-smelling smoke filled her lungs.

“Take your clothes off if you want us to fuck you, Scar. Give us a little dance, hmm? Show us how much you want it.”

For a moment I thought she might disagree, but then she got off my lap and backed away, moving her body to the beat. The music had changed to something slow and sensual, just the right tone to set the mood. And fuck if I wasn’t ready to watch her dance for us before I could fuck the living shit out of her for being such a good girl.