Chaos by Sarah Bailey

Twenty Nine

Prescott

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Drake this pissed. He paced the room like an angry dragon waiting to strike. His nostrils flared and his fists were balled at his sides. West had done a lot of shit in the years we’d known each other, but apparently, this was a step too far for Drake. And to be honest, I was kind of unhappy about it too. West had never learnt the art of restraint.

Scarlett had been forced to go back to my room by Drake. She’d glared at him behind his back before she’d left with me. I’d had to lock the door under his orders to prevent her from coming out, but not before I’d kissed her thoroughly and told her it would be okay. Scarlett had this look in her eyes like she didn’t believe me, but I’d be back for her. I would take care of my girl.

“Of all the fucking things you could do to her, West, of all the fucking things,” Drake ground out, not stilling in his pacing.

West didn’t say a word. He merely sat on the kitchen island with his legs wide and his hands dangling between them as he lent on his thighs with his elbows. The lunch between the five of us had been stilted and silent, the tension in the air ripe with anger. The only person who’d kept his mouth shut about the whole thing was Francis. I had no fucking clue what he thought with his blank expression. It wasn’t like him. Usually, he’d be the first one to be giving West hell. The two of them were at each other’s throats more often than not.

“I tell you I’m suspicious of that cunt hurting her and this is what you do in response? You brand her? Fuck. I don’t know what to do with you any longer.”

West’s mouth twitched but he kept staring at Drake without a single hint of emotion in his expression. It meant he was in one of his moods. The kind where he could snap at the drop of a hat and things could get bloody.

“You didn’t ask her how she felt about it,” I put in, waving my hand at Drake.

His head whipped around, the glare he sent my way utterly chilling.

“Are you excusing his behaviour?”

“Fuck no. I’m just saying… shouldn’t we ask her? Like she said, she’s the one who has to live with it.”

I didn’t want to get into an argument over the whole thing. Sure, I could deck West, but would it actually help matters? No. It would merely increase tensions between us. All of us were already on edge after being in the war room and Drake finding Scarlett talking to Stuart last night. I wanted to ask her, but I wouldn’t. I might trust Scarlett with my heart. It didn’t mean I trusted her to tell me the truth about her home life before she came back to us. Not when she was clearly under Stuart’s control.

“This isn’t about her. It’s about him.” Drake pointed at West. “You need to rein it the fuck in, West. We are already walking on thin ice. How is she going to cover that up, huh? Did you think about that?”

“You should know he’s not some mindless animal,” Francis said. “Everything he does is deliberate.”

It was the first time he’d spoken since Scarlett had come downstairs for lunch with West earlier. The guy sat on the sofa with his arms crossed over his chest, his grey eyes narrowing on Drake. West eyed the back of Francis’ head, suspicion flitting across his features.

“Now you’re defending him. What the fuck is this?”

“This isn’t me defending shit, Drake. I’m saying you’re asking the wrong questions. Why don’t you ask West what happened between him and Scarlett when we were teenagers? Might give you a better idea of why he felt the need to carve himself into her skin.”

Drake stilled, his eyes going to West.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Francis stood up and dug his hands in his pockets.

“I think it’s time someone came clean, then the rest of you might stop hating on me for that night.”

He walked over to the windows and stared out at the city with his back to the rest of us. West’s eyes were on Francis. He didn’t look annoyed but he didn’t look happy either. I didn’t know what to think. I knew West had a crush on Scarlett when we were kids, but as for something happening between them? It was unexpected.

“Did she tell you?” West asked, his voice low.

“Yes, some of it, anyway. I kept it a secret this whole time so you can thank me later,” Francis replied without turning around. “She made me promise not to speak of it. I don’t want to break her trust. It has to come from you.”

West let out a breath, his eyes falling on the floor in front of him. The last time I saw him look defeated was when we discovered who took Scarlett. He opened his mouth and his words came out hushed.

“A week before her accident, Scarlett came over to mine. She was having a hard time dealing with what happened.”

I winced. The memory of the events leading up to the night of her accident descending over us like a black fucking cloud.

“She didn’t want to be reminded of it, of that day. She wanted a new memory… and she wanted it with me.”

West rubbed his chin. The implications of his words were clear, but he continued on anyway.

“We were going to make a go of it, a real relationship, you know. And we were going to tell you all about it, but then…” he trailed off and closed his eyes.

Then the accident happened. Then our lives were changed irrevocably. And nothing was ever the same again.

“The first time she had sex wasn’t when I fucked her in my office. It was when we were sixteen. She was mine. She’s still mine.” He put a hand on his chest. “She’ll always be mine but she doesn’t remember it. She doesn’t remember that night and the promises we made to each other. So be mad at me all you want. I don’t care. But you don’t get to tell me I did something wrong when she and I have a history you don’t know a fucking thing about.”

Francis turned around then. West raised his head and they shared a look of understanding between them. Something about it told me West was still holding a few things back, but Francis wasn’t going to make him tell us the rest. Wasn’t going to force him to confess his other secrets.

“I told her because of your relationship,” Francis said. “She deserved to know what her boyfriend was up to on her behalf. What we’d all decided to do.”

West jumped off the kitchen counter and shoved his hands in his pockets. His eyes narrowed.

“I know, Frankie, but it doesn’t mean I forgive you for it.”

Then he walked away towards the stairs without even sparing me and Drake a glance. I’d known West had feelings for Scarlett, but her reciprocating them was something else. West’s behaviour over the years started to make more sense in light of his little revelation.

“Well, thanks for the fucking heads up on that shit, Francis,” Drake ground out.

“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Their relationship is between him and Scarlett, not the rest of us.”

I rose to my feet and made my way over to the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Drake asked.

“To be with Scarlett.”

I didn’t stop to let him ask me anything else. My feet carried me up the stairs and along the hallway. I unlocked my bedroom door, walked inside and closed it behind me. Scarlett was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed staring out of the window. I crossed the room, lowered myself to the floor behind her, curled my arms around her waist and held her against my chest.

“Little lamb,” I whispered into her hair before resting my chin on her shoulder.

A big part of me felt for West. She didn’t know what she’d lost, but he did. And it was clear being around her tortured him way more than any of us had previously thought.

“I don’t hate him for doing it,” she murmured, her eyes still fixed on the window. “I might not understand West and why he did it, but I don’t hate him.”

I held her tighter against me, waiting for her to continue. Scarlett wasn’t done. I could feel the words she wanted to let out vibrating inside her. Her hand raised and she brushed her fingers over her t-shirt right over where he’d cut her.

“He scares me, but as he keeps telling me I like the fear. I like how it makes me feel inside.” She turned her head to look at me. “The first night we were together you said you wanted to chase me, catch me and fuck me in the dirt… do you still want that?”

My fingers traced a line across her stomach. The thought of giving into my primal side with her had me growing hard. I wasn’t sure why she’d brought it up when we were talking about West, but I wasn’t going to ask or press her.

“Yes.”

I captured her hand and brought it to my lips, kissing her fingertips.

“I feel alive when I’m scared, Pres, so chase me, terrify me the way he does,” she whispered, staring into my eyes. “I trust you to keep me safe.”

I tilted my face closer to hers so our mouths were almost brushing against each other.

“You want me to take you out to the woods and hunt you down? Make you feel the fear?”

“Please.”

I kissed her lips, imagining myself running after her. How I’d make her desperate for me. My hand slid down her stomach and cupped her jean-clad pussy. She rocked her hips back into me.

“Didn’t West fuck you after he carved into you?” I asked, my words vibrating across her lips.

“He did.”

“And yet you’re still needy?”

“I’m always needy for you.”

I groaned, attacking her mouth again and rubbing her through her shorts. Kissing this woman felt so natural. There was no need for games and rewards. The way we felt about each other surpassed that. She was my world. My fucking sun.

Scarlett turned in my embrace and straddled my legs, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her hazel-green eyes fixed on mine. They bled with her emotions, searing into me. I reached up and stroked her hair from her face before cupping her cheek. My other hand curled around her behind.

“How pissed is Drake over what West did?”

“Pretty pissed.”

“And Francis?”

I shrugged.

“I think he understands.”

She leant closer, her nose knocking against mine.

“How do you feel?”

I kissed the corner of her mouth.

“West does as he pleases. He always has. Your feelings about it are the only ones that matter to me, little lamb. Only you.”

Whilst I wasn’t happy about West’s actions, learning about his past with Scarlett made me realise there were too many secrets between all of us. There was too much history between us for this to be something we fell out over.

“I don’t know how I feel.”

“That’s okay, sweetness. You’re my concern because I love you.”

Her eyes softened. I couldn’t stop telling her how I felt now it was out in the open. I’d never loved anyone before. Didn’t think I was capable of it. Of allowing someone access to my heart. My need to express my feelings was compounded by the fact I didn’t know how long it would be until she remembered the past. And when she did, everything could come crashing down around us. I stole these moments between us where our love wasn’t tainted by it. Where she didn’t question this thing between us. Our relationship. Where the lies and secrets weren’t an issue like they would be when she found out the truth.

Her fingers threaded in my hair before she rubbed her nose against mine.

“You’re a little bit perfect.”

I squeezed her behind.

“Only a little?”

“You’re my kind of perfect, Pres.”

I lowered my hand from her cheek, brushing my fingertips along her jaw. Then they hovered over the cuts below her collarbone. I didn’t want to hurt her by touching them.

“Is it sore?”

“Yes… and he told me no one else is allowed to touch it whilst it’s healing except him.”

“Sounds like West.”

He was one possessive motherfucker when it came to Scarlett. Most people wouldn’t understand why he was okay with us touching her but not anyone else. But the five of us were bound for life. It had always been this way between us. Only now it had become more about sexual desire rather than friendship.

“I didn’t think he was into the whole horsemen thing like you are.”

I smiled.

“Am I still your Pestilence?”

Scarlett ran her teeth over her bottom lip.

“Always.”

“And he’s your War.”

She grinned.

“Yeah, I guess he is.”

She kissed me, her nails digging into my scalp. Then Scarlett pushed me down on the floor and rubbed herself against me. I was completely ready to fuck her senseless like I had planned to this morning before West decided to intervene.

Even as I worked her little jean shorts down her legs, I couldn’t shake the feeling a storm was coming in the wake of what West had revealed today. And none of us could ever prepare for the fallout.