Chaos by Sarah Bailey

Thirty Eight

Francis

“Is it just me or has Scarlett been acting weird this morning?” Prescott said when the lift doors closed.

Scarlett had gone downstairs with West. Given I needed to talk to Drake about last night, I wasn’t upset about it. But I did want to ask her what the hell was up with her. She’d been acting suspiciously since the moment she’d woken up.

“Yeah, not just you, I don’t know what’s up with her.”

There was no reason for it. She’d been happy last night… well, except for the part where I’d exposed her relationship with me to Stuart. Otherwise, she hadn’t been out of sorts. This morning was another matter.

“That’s easy. She knows I have the memory stick Stuart must have given her yesterday and thinks I’m going to do something about it,” Drake said.

Both Prescott and I looked at him.

“Memory stick? So that’s what he was passing her.”

I hadn’t forgotten I’d watched him press something into Scarlett’s hand.

“Tell me what happened.”

I picked up my mug and sipped, wanting to avoid telling Drake I’d fucked up for as long as I possibly could. Prescott gave me a look. He knew too, just not the details. If I was honest, I didn’t care about the fact I’d pissed Stuart off by publicly staking my claim on Scarlett. She belonged to us. He needed taking down a peg or two. The fucker was far too confident.

“Stuart may be aware of my… relationship with Scarlett.”

I swear the sheer disbelief on Drake’s face was unlike anything I’d seen directed at me before. West and Prescott had got their fair share of Drake’s disapproving looks, but I mostly avoided them by not creating trouble.

“I sent you with her because you’re the fucking sensible one, Francis. What the hell happened?”

He had no idea what I had to deal with last night. Drake wouldn’t cut me any slack, but the situation wasn’t what any of us had anticipated. Guess maybe I was a little more possessive of Scarlett than I realised. And I wanted the world to fucking well know it. She was mine. Being around the girl I’d grown up with brought out all my protective instincts. The need to brand myself all over her got stronger with each passing day.

I own Scarlett just as much as the rest of them do. She’s my little whore. Mine.

“I went into his box with her and waited by the door, right, then Mason turns up. I warned him to stay away from Scarlett, but he wasn’t there for her.”

Prescott’s eyes darkened.

“That fuck. I swear I want to rip his face off.”

Drake sent Prescott a warning look. We all knew we couldn’t touch Mason no matter how much we wanted to destroy the piece of shit for everything he’d done.

“Who was he there for?” he asked a moment later.

If Drake had any fucking common sense, he wouldn’t have asked the question. He knew exactly who Stuart’s best friend was. Knew the person who could and would send us all to prison if he ever found out the truth. He would make a fucking example of us.

“Who do you think?”

His eyebrows shot up.

“You serious?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Fuck.”

I set my mug down on the counter. Seeing not one but two men who definitely had it out for us was unsettling. To be honest, it rattled me. And I couldn’t help but stake my claim all over Scarlett because of it.

“Did he see you?”

I shrugged.

“Don’t think so. I hope not. Anyway, Mason was acting like a dick and it pissed me off.”

“Sounds like Mason,” Prescott muttered. “He’s always been a cunt.”

“I made it clear Scarlett is ours. Then I may have also kissed her when we were in the stands in full view of Stuart. I saw him watching us and I couldn’t help myself.”

There was no point lying to them about what happened. They would find out one way or another. Besides, keeping secrets wouldn’t do me any favours.

“Jesus Christ,” Drake exclaimed.

Prescott smirked.

“I bet he was pissed.”

I nodded. Stuart looked incensed. Like he wanted to rip my face off for daring to touch Scarlett. And it reminded me of something else.

“What do you think Mason told Stuart about her moving out?”

“I think the better question is why didn’t he tell Stuart she’s sleeping with all of us,” Drake said, rubbing his chin with his fingers.

“He knows?”

Drake gave me a sharp nod before he sat back and looked up at the ceiling.

“That’s the real reason he was angry with her the day he hurt her. Well, likely angry and jealous.”

Prescott scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.

“He wants her for himself. Always fucking has… even when we were younger.”

Mason was older than us, but we’d known him since we were teenagers. I wished he was anyone other than the fucking Police Commissioner’s son. We would have got rid of him a long time ago if it wasn’t for that. And who knew why he hadn’t told Stuart about her real relationship with us. If Drake was right and Stuart had hurt Scarlett, no doubt Mason knew about it. And in his own fucked up way, he was trying to protect her. Too bad he was protecting her from the wrong fucking people. We were her safety, not him. Us. We’d fight for Scarlett for the rest of our lives.

“He’s not having her no matter what he does,” Drake said. “Over my fucking dead body.”

He dropped his head back down. I could see the dark look in his indigo eyes. The one telling me he would unleash his inner beast on Mason if he could. I watched Prescott smile at Drake’s reaction.

“Oh, so you do care, huh?”

“She’s ours.”

Prescott’s smile got wider.

“And what, pray tell, caused this sudden possessiveness?”

Drake gave Prescott a dark look.

“Nothing.”

“Oh no, you don’t get to do that, Drake.” Prescott waggled his finger. “How exactly did you get a hold of this memory stick of Stuart’s, hmm? I think me and Francis deserve to know. Do you even know what’s on it?”

It took a long minute for Drake to say a word. A haunted look crossed over his features, telling me something had gone on last night none of us were privy to.

“She found me in my hideaway and when I put her to bed afterwards, I found the memory stick in her pocket. And no, I haven’t plugged it into anything because I’m wary of what’s on it. This shit is not our field of expertise.”

Prescott dropped his hands from his chest and dug them into his pockets instead.

“We should get West to contact Penn, he’ll know someone who can deal with it safely.”

“We already owe him one favour.”

“So? He’s useful and this time we can just pay him. Not like we’re asking him to give us another randomer to off or anything.”

Drake looked pensive for a moment. We didn’t want to owe the Fixer more favours. One was enough. West trusted him even though he had ties to Zayn Villetti, the mafia kingpin, Gennaro’s son. The whole Villetti family was involved in a lot of shady shit. Gennaro Villetti was the head of the mafia here in London. And one person we avoided like the plague. He was ruthless and unforgiving. Not a man you wanted to have a vendetta against you under any circumstances.

“You’re right. We need to know what’s on it and if she’s actually gone through with what Stuart wanted or not. Perhaps we can use this situation to our advantage. I’ll speak to West when we go downstairs.”

I raised an eyebrow at Drake.

“How did she end up on the roof with you?” I was fucking curious about what the hell had gone on between them. “Does this mean she’s forgiven you for fucking up?”

Drake scowled before letting out a sigh and looking away.

“I don’t know if she has. And she found me up there, probably heard me playing and came to investigate.”

“Did she give you a hard time?”

“No. She didn’t. And before you ask, I did apologise for what happened… sort of.”

Prescott snorted.

“Sort of? So it was a half-arsed apology then?”

Drake didn’t look back at us.

“All of us are going to spend a lifetime making up for what we did. Don’t give me shit for attempting to apologise to her. We’ve all fucked up with her.”

The three of us fell silent at his words. It wasn’t anything new for me. We were always going to have to make up for the shit we’d put her through. For her accident. For ruining her life. That night was on us, but what happened next? Well, it was on the Carvers. We had nothing to do with what they’d put her through. I wished we knew what had gone on in their household for the past ten years. What they’d done to her.

“She knows you play then,” I said after the silence had gone on for too long.

Drake finally met my eyes.

“Yes. I don’t know how I feel about it.” He leant forward, resting his arms on his knees. “The old Scarlett knew, but she’s not that girl… at least, I don’t think she will ever be exactly the same. Maybe it’s why I’m so conflicted about her remembering who we are. We’ve been separated for ten years. She’s not our Little Nyx any longer. She’s grown up and fuck knows what she’s been through without us.”

The sombre notes to his voice made my chest ache. He was right. She wasn’t the girl from our youth, but it didn’t make her any less magnificent. Any less beautiful and alluring. If anything, she was so much more now. And the only way we’d set Scarlett free was by restoring what she’d lost. By giving her back the girl she’d been so she could be the woman she was now. The one who wanted out of the cage in her mind.

“She needs to remember, Drake. We’re running out of options here. What if you hadn’t intercepted the memory stick? I know you told me to allow everything to play out, but it’s one close call after another right now. I mean, anything could have happened last night. Me going to the game was a huge gamble in the first place, knowing it’s his stadium. His people surrounding me and her. Not to mention Garrett being there. It could have all gone to hell.”

Drake dropped his head and stared at the floor.

“Anything to do with Stuart is always a risk, but you’re right. We can’t keep hiding it from her, but we need to get an agreement from West first before we move forward. We make decisions together or not at all, remember?”

It had always been our way ever since we were kids. The five of us had been a democracy in a sense. Only the four of us had gone behind Scarlett’s back and changed everything for good by our reckless actions.

“We’ll meet after work then… talk about it then.”

Drake nodded. I glanced at Prescott who was also nodding. It was decided. We were going to have to do something to accelerate the process. Find a way to restore Scarlett’s memories for her. Whatever it took. It was something we all had to face up to. And our demons were about to be exposed in the worst way. The night that haunted each and every one of us, including Scarlett. Especially her, as she couldn’t remember a single damn thing.

“Well, let’s get going before we’re all late and make a bad impression, eh?” Prescott said, waving a hand at us. “We’ll deal with this shit later when we’re all together.”

As the three of us walked towards the lift, I couldn’t help feeling a sense of impending dread. This was the right thing to do, but it didn’t stop nausea from coiling in my stomach. And I wasn’t sure why my senses were on fire with the knowledge we were walking headlong into the worst fucking shitshow of our lives.