Chaos by Sarah Bailey

Twenty

Francis

West holding Scarlett’s hand as he pulled her down the stairs had my eyebrows rising. I glanced at Drake, who was flipping through his tablet next to me at the table. My eyes went back to Scarlett. Her expression was a mixture of apprehension and fear. What had West done this time? And why was she following him so willingly?

After last night, I was concerned about her feelings towards us. Did I regret what we’d done? No. Seeing Scarlett stripped of her inhibitions and everything holding her back was something else. The way she’d begged was damn fucking sweet. But it hadn’t stopped my concern over what she would think come morning.

“Morning, dickheads,” West said, giving me a wink.

I glared at the idiot. Why did he always have to be such a little shit?

He took Scarlett into the kitchen, picked her up, and set her on the island. Her legs dangled off it, her hands going to the edge.

“Stay,” he told her, and she obeyed.

He moved to the kettle and flipped it on. Scarlett looked over at me and Drake. Her eyes narrowed. It confirmed she wasn’t happy about recent events. But when the fuck had we ever made Scarlett happy since she’d come back into our lives?

“What do you think he did to make her compliant?” I murmured to Drake.

He looked up, eyes drifting over Scarlett and West before coming to land on me.

“What he does best. Be himself.”

I snorted and shook my head, bringing my mug to my lips.

“You’ve seen the way she stands up to him.”

“She always has, Francis. She’s the only one who was ever able to control him. Why do you think I’ve fought so hard to get her back, huh?”

I sighed and sipped my tea. Drake might appear aloof and uncaring, but the man was hiding a fucking dragon inside him. We’d left no stone unturned in our search for Scarlett because of him. Drake never gave up, no matter how many times we ran into a dead end. Me, Prescott and West had told him it was futile on so many occasions, but he kept sending us after new leads until one finally paid off. Then we realised just how fucked we were. You didn’t go up against men like Stuart Carver without having some serious clout at your back. Fortuity was not only our baby, but our way of becoming powerful enough to challenge the man who’d taken our woman all those years ago.

“You wanted her back too, so don’t act like this is all because of West.”

He gave me a sidelong glance and went back to his tablet.

“I’m not.”

“Okay, Mr Aloof, you tell yourself that.”

Drake clenched his fist on the table, the only outward sign of his irritation.

“I don’t trust her.”

“This has nothing to do with trust, Drake. You can admit you want her to remember you. The world isn’t going to fall apart just because you have feelings.”

The way he glared in my direction had me smiling. Then his fist unclenched and he shifted, his expression fading.

“I can’t sleep knowing she’s here.”

“You been spending time in your hideaway then?”

He nodded, flexing his hand on the table.

“Too much time.”

“Have you been taking the pills?”

He shook his head. I rolled my eyes. Drake didn’t want to medicate his condition. I understood, but the man couldn’t run off no sleep forever. He would crack eventually and take the sleeping pills, if only for his own survival.

“You don’t have to spend your whole life worrying about the rest of us, you know. We’re capable of taking care of ourselves.”

“I know that,” he muttered.

“Do you? The world isn’t on your shoulders, Drake, stop acting like it is.”

I got another glare for my comment. It wasn’t often I pushed Drake’s buttons, but he did like to get in his own way far too much. Overthinking shit all the time and being wrapped up in his own thoughts rather than actually living. Too fucking stubborn for his own good, which didn’t help matters either.

“I miss having her there to talk to,” he said with a long, drawn-out sigh. “She was always so… understanding.”

I nudged his shoulder.

“Then stop being a heartless bastard towards her.”

“I’m not.”

“You can’t expect her to think you actually like her if the only time you’re nice to her is during sex. That’s not how it works.”

My smile as his face dropped and his eyes narrowed only made it worse. Drake looked like he was ready to throw me out the window.

“As if I’m going to take relationship advice from you.”

“She sleeps in my bed, so I must’ve done something right.”

I knew I was winding him up, but I was too amused by his attempt at keeping his temper in check to stop.

“Yeah, let’s see if she still does after last night. She keeps giving us daggers.”

“You did trick her into taking E, Drake.”

He gave me a sly smile.

“I wanted to give her a night of freedom. Seeing her smile the way she did… totally worth it.”

“Aw, you’re getting all sentimental.”

His smile dropped.

“Fuck off.”

The drugs were Drake’s idea, but the rest of us had gone along with it.

“I should go smooth things over with her.”

He gave me a look but didn’t reply as I got up and wandered into the kitchen with my mug between my fingers. Scarlett watched me when I approached her and leant up against the counter. Her mouth thinned, and her hazel-green eyes narrowed.

West was moving about the kitchen, making her some breakfast. I noted it was French toast with an excessive amount of cinnamon. He remembered Scarlett’s tastes as well as I did.

“You mad at me?” I asked her in a quiet voice that didn’t carry across the room.

“Let’s see… you didn’t stop what happened last night, and actively participated in the whole thing, so what do you think?”

I reached out and stroked her arm, amused she couldn’t bring herself to admit she’d had a fivesome with us out loud.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you aren’t.”

I bit my lip and shifted closer, setting my mug down on the countertop.

“Can I make it up to you?”

“How?”

Turning to her, I moved my hand from her arm to her face, capturing her chin between my fingers. The freckles dusting across her nose shifted as she frowned but she didn’t stop me.

“I’ll teach you how to tie some of my knots and maybe next time… you can tie Drake up.”

West snorted and looked over at us with amusement painting his features.

“As if he would ever willingly submit to that,” Scarlett muttered, glancing at West.

“No one said anything about him being willing.”

Her lips parted as if she couldn’t believe what I’d just said.

“You’d help me?”

I shrugged.

“Perhaps.”

She leant closer until our breath mingled.

“I had no idea you were so…”

“I think the word you’re looking for is imaginative,” West put in. “Our Frankie is the mastermind behind our more deviant plans, even if he likes to pretend he isn’t.”

It was almost a compliment coming from West.

Scarlett didn’t look at him, her eyes remaining fixed on me.

“Is that true?”

I rubbed her bottom lip with my thumb.

“It is.”

There was no hiding it from her now West had sold me out.

“Teach me and I might forgive you.”

“I’ll take it.”

Scarlett didn’t hesitate in kissing me back when I pressed my lips to hers. Such a pliant mouth she had. She’d grown far more confident since the first time I’d kissed her, and it was beautiful to see.

“Leave her fucking mouth alone, Frankie, she needs to eat.”

Pulling away, I shot West a dark look. Scarlett’s smile made dealing with his shit worthwhile. She reached up and stroked my jaw.

“Don’t mind him… if he wants to kiss me, he could just say it instead of making snide comments.”

West walked over to us and set a plate down for her on the counter. Then he leant over her, his mouth meeting her ear from behind.

“What happened to being a good girl for me today, Scar?”

His voice was deadly and full of promised violence.

“Maybe I like making you jealous,” she replied, without taking her eyes off me.

“I’m not going to kiss you, so this little game you’re playing here will only end up with you crying and choking on my dick, you hear me?”

Her hand left my jaw and fell on my shoulder. I didn’t even bat an eyelid at him threatening her with that. It was West all over.

“Maybe I want that,” she whispered. “Maybe I like it when you threaten me.”

For a moment, I’m not sure West knew how to react. Then he chuckled and reached up, stroking her hair back from her face before his fingers traced a line down her throat.

“I don’t threaten, I only make promises. You carry on, you know what will happen and on your own fucking head be it. Now, turn around and eat your breakfast.”

He pulled away and walked back over to the stove. Instead of doing what he told her, Scarlett leant forward and kissed me again. When she pulled away, she smirked before turning and digging into the French toast West had made for her. The woman was playing with fire and she knew it.

“Fire burns, Scar,” I said after she stuffed some toast in her mouth. “Remember that.”

“You saying you’re not going to save me from him?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You wouldn’t want me to.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Leaning closer, I propped my chin up on her shoulder and curled my hand around her thigh, stroking my fingers across her bare skin. She was only wearing a black shirt, which I’m pretty sure belonged to West. Her clothes were in my room. Having spent all week sleeping next to her, I couldn’t help but need to touch her after she’d spent the night with West.

“I missed you last night,” I whispered in her ear. “Did you have any nightmares?”

I didn’t care about admitting my feelings to her. Not even Drake’s warnings about us not being able to trust her stopped me. If I wanted to build a relationship with Scarlett, there had to be some semblance of honesty between us, despite all the secrets and lies. Perhaps then she wouldn’t hate me so much when she discovered the truth about her past. When she remembered. I was damn sure she wouldn’t be happy with any of us for lying to her about knowing who she was. And she’d be even more annoyed when she realised what we’d done had triggered the catalyst of events leading up to her accident and the destruction of her old life.

“Not that I remember.” She stroked her fingers along my hand on her thigh. “Thank you for asking, though. No one really cared about my nightmares nor how they affect me.”

I frowned. It struck me as odd no one would care about her well-being.

“No?”

She shook her head. The haunted look in her eyes concerned me.

“Not like they could do anything, you know. So I kept it to myself.”

Somehow I didn’t think it was the real reason, but I didn’t press her on it. Not sure it would have won me any points with Scarlett. There was always an air of despair surrounding her whenever she talked about anything to do with the past ten years, especially in relation to the Carvers.

Scarlett said nothing more, merely finished her French toast and the tea West had made for her. Then she shoved the plate away and stared at his back with a curious expression on her face.

I heard footsteps, so I turned to see who was coming into the kitchen. Prescott had a rather determined look on his face. He’d been down earlier to eat but hadn’t been particularly talkative and had disappeared soon afterwards.

He approached Scarlett, grabbed her by the waist, and slung her over his shoulder. She let out a squeak of surprise. West turned around and raised his eyebrow as Prescott carried her off towards the stairs. Scarlett looked up at us from her position, her face a picture of shock and irritation.

“What the fuck, Pres? What are you doing?” she screeched, trying to escape him.

He didn’t say a word, ignoring her fists pounding on his back the next moment.

“Let me go!”

The man walked up the stairs with Scarlett, her complaining the entire way, and out of sight. We could still hear her decrying him until a door slammed shut.

“Well, someone woke up and found his balls this morning,” West said, coming over to pick up Scarlett’s discarded breakfast things. “You reckon he’s going to punish her little pert arse for giving him such a hard time over what we did?”

“He’s going to tell her he loves her,” Drake said.

Both mine and West’s heads whipped around to our stoic friend.

“What?”

Drake waved a hand towards the stairs.

“Pres is in love with her. He told me and now he’s going to tell her.”

“Well, fuck me,” West said with a grin. “Pres fell in love. What a fucking miracle, he actually cares about someone other than himself.”

Drake scoffed.

“You’re a fine one to talk. You think we don’t know how you feel about her?”

West’s smile disappeared in an instant.

“Fuck off, Drake.”

Drake shrugged and went back to his tablet as if it was a normal, everyday occurrence for Prescott to declare his love for a woman. But honestly… I wasn’t surprised by it at all. Scarlett was the girl we’d grown up with. The one none of us could ever forget. We’d gone to extreme lengths to return her to us. The only thing that did surprise me was Prescott being the first one to fall. West was the one who had loved Scarlett all our lives. Then again, West was just about as capable of telling a girl he loved her as he was at keeping his violent urges in check. Guess we’d have to wait and see how long it took him to crack.

Could love even enter the equation between the five of us?

Us sleeping with her was one thing, but love and a relationship were something else entirely.

And me?

Well, I didn’t know how I felt. I’d not considered it. And maybe I needed to. The future was up in the air, but the bond between the five of us had always been permanent even if our missing piece had forgotten who we were.