Chapter 17- Bad Boys Were Everywhere

I woke to the shrill ringing of my cell phone and the bright morning light shining in between the curtains of my room, interrupting my perfect sleep. I winced and groaned in annoyance, closing my eyes shut tight. I blindly felt around on my nightstand for the annoying little device when it finally quit ringing. I sighed in relief and pulled my pillow over my head to better block out the world around me.

Just when I was settled back into my bed again the stupid phone went off again screaming its loud ringtone. I let out a frustrated cry and threw the pillow off me head and across the room. Without even looking at the number I answered with perfect annoyance.

“What?”

“Well, someone sounds cheery this morning,” Grace said. He voice was barely recognizable.

I sat straight up on my bed. “Uh oh. What’s wrong? You don’t sound good.”

She coughed rather loudly into the phone and sniffled. “That’s because I’m not. I have a cold.”

I grimaced. “I’m sorry. What can I do to help? Hot soup and trashy celeb magazines?”

We both had the same remedy for sicknesses and I’d be willing to swear it shortened the life of anything that ailed you.

She laughed but it could tell it was difficult for her to do so. “No. I’m okay. Surprisingly Deacon’s been playing doctor. He may be my annoying brother sometimes but he sure pulls through when I need him.”

I smiled. “He really does.” I still owed him for caring for me after the not so graceful aftermath of my first and last drinking binge.

“So…tell me everything that happened last night? I saw you talking to Thomas and he definitely seemed to be smiling around you. Are you two talking? Did he end things with Sara? You two seem to be spending a lot of time together. The beach, school, outside of school….” She trailed of waiting for me to explain.

I shook my head and tried not to laugh. “Nothing happened, Grace. We talked and that’s all. You know his rep. Nothing besides talking will ever happen between us.”

Okay. So that obviously a lie. I totally wanted much more with him and I hated myself for it. Deep down I don’t know how that separated me from the usual sluts he goes for.

That’s because it didn’t. I frowned at myself.

“Oh,” she said sounding a bit disappointed. “Well, crap. I’m supposed to be living vicariously through you.”

“Trust me, Grace. There is nothing particularly exciting about my life at all. I’m sure your life is much more interesting than mine.”

She coughed again. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope. I know you’ve had to have seen tons of interesting things at Deacon’s parties.”

“Ugh. Don’t even get me started on that. I mean they’re fun and all, but yuck. I’ve seen some pretty disgusting things too. Nothing worth mentioning other than the hot guys and you’ve seen those.” She was quite for a second before starting back in. “Although, it would be fun to attend another one, wouldn’t it? I think Thomas is planning something right before Christmas break. Think you’ll come?”

“That’s a month and a half away. I have no clue what I’ll be doing then,” I told her.

“But you’ll come if you can?” She sounded very hopeful and I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her while she was sick.

“Sure. I’ll try,” I relented.

“Good. And who knows, you might meet a guy.”

“I’ve met guys, and so far they’re all toads.”

She blew her nose into the phone and I had to hold it from my ear until she stopped.

“Grace, you sound terrible. You should be in bed resting instead of talking to me,” I said when I placed the phone back to my ear.

“I am and I’m going crazy! Deacon won’t let me out of my room and mom is sanitizing the entire downstairs. She freaks out about germs. You’ve met her.” It was funny how annoyed she sounded. She never had much patience while sick. It’s the only time Grace ever snaps.

She had good reason though. Her mom was a germ freak. If you so much as sneezed in her direction she’d disinfect herself then you. It was ridiculous.

“And where’s your dad? Avoiding the whole mess?” I guessed with a smile.

“Yep. You got it. He’s locked up in his study reading his worn out copy of some Jules Verne book. At least he had the decency to stick his head in the doorway check on me before admitting he planned to avoid me until I was better.”

I giggled at her annoyance. It was hard not to. Grace frustrated was very entertaining.

“I’m sick of the mindless TV shows and the movies in my room. I need a distraction,” she complained.

“You do know that if you actually slept you’d feel much better when you woke up.”

“Thanks Deacon. I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “Liv, I’ve heard that same thing all morning. You, Deacon, my mom! When will it ever end?”

“When you actually do it!” I stated. I let my eyes drift lazily to my alarm clock next to me and they nearly bugged out of my head. I was off my bed in seconds. “Crap! It’s almost twelve.”

“Yep. Late night?” she teased as if I’d neglected to tell her something that happened between Thomas and me.

“I left shortly after you did,” told her. “Nothing happened.”

In a muffled voice I heard Grace speaking to someone else in the background and she sound upset. When she came back on the line she huffed out a short rant about her mom and groaned again when someone else entered her room.

“I’ll let you deal with that,” I said. “Call me later to let me know you haven’t killed anyone?”

“Yeah, sure,” she sighed. “Have fun being healthy without me.”

“Sure thing. Get better, Grace.” I giggled hanging up my phone.

By the time I shuffled into the bathroom, got a shower and dressed, mom decided to come find me. She stood in my bedroom doorway with her pocketbook thrown over her shoulder and a bad of luggage.

“Are we going somewhere?” I asked with the raise of my eyebrow.

“I’m taking your brother and sister to Grandma’s for the rest of the weekend. She hasn’t been doing too well and I thought the company might cheer her up. Do you want to come with us?”

And sleep on the foldout sofa that grandpa likes to sit on every morning to watch the six A.M news? No thank you. I don’t like be woken up at the crack of dawn just so he can curse at the news broadcasters.

“No. I think I’ll hang out around here this weekend. “I’ve tons of homework and to do and I thought I might clean out my closet and get rid of some old clothes.”

Yep. My life was exciting like that.

“And isn’t Dad coming back Sunday?” I reminded her.

She nodded. “He’ll be back before us. We’re coming back Monday. I’m letting the kids have an extra day off from school. You sure you don’t want to come?”

I raised my eyebrows at her. Was she bribing me? Nope sorry. Staying with Grandma and Grandpa wasn’t even worth missing school for.

“I’m sure. You go and have fun. You need to get away from here for a while anyway. It’ll be a nice vacation for you.”

And it would be. Her parents were loaded and the lived right next to the beach. Their house was beautiful and definitely hand everything you could ever want in it. Except for enough bedrooms. That was the only inconvenience.

She nodded and forced a smile. “Okay.” She started to turn away from my room but stopped herself to give me firm warning. “You have the house to yourself, but I have eyes everywhere. We have the neighbors that talk and Ms. Sheppard has agreed to keep on things while I’m away.”

Good ol’ Mrs. Sheppard. I’m sure she and her thirty cats will do everything in their power to keep up safe. Thanks mom.

“Fine,” I said. “I promise no shenanigans while you’re away.”

What could I really do with no life? Read too many books?

When I’d convinced her that I would survive being on my own for a couple of days she finally relented and left. The house was peacefully quiet the moment the door shut behind my family. I smiled to myself. Finally the house was mine.

No brother or sister to drive me crazy. And no nagging from my mom about cleaning my room. Nothing. I think I was going to enjoy this break from them.

Three hours later I was cleaning up the rest of my room anyway, out of sheer boredom, and plopped down on my bed looking through a box of stuff my aunt Anita sent for my birthday last month. I hand’t looked at them since the day they arrived.

I pulled out two lacey matching sets of bras and underwear from a shipping box and laughed. It was exactly the kind of thing Anita would buy. She was definitely the most inappropriate one out of our family.

She’d been married five times and assumed everyone else was as crazy as she was. I loved her though. She was the only one remotely interested in my love life. Though her advice about obtaining a guy was not something I was willing to do. I was nowhere near as confident as her.

My mom always joked that Anita was thirty-two going on twenty-one. Mainly because she didn’t act or look her age at all. She could easily pass for someone in their mid twenties. She was gorgeous too. Too bad I didn’t inherit any gene of hers.

I tossed the undergarments aside on my bed and got up to dispose of the box. When I returned to my room, I picked up my phone and tried to call Farrah to see how she doing after seeing Blake last night, but received no answer. I also didn’t receive a reply to the text I had sent her after she left the party.

I frowned again. It seemed everyone was busy today except me.

Deciding to go out with what time I actually had left; I threw on my jacket and headed to my car with my keys and bag in hand. I had to find something to do before I went crazy.

I stopped by the handy mart where Ink worked and was surprised to see him there during the day. I thought he was a vampire. Well, not the literal kind, but the kind of person that preferred to live in the night

“Patriot,” he greeted as soon as I entered the place. “I haven’t seen your ass in a while. Where you been?”

Thankfully no one else was in the store and could see me blush. I shrugged as I came to a stop next to him in the chip isle where he was stocking the shelves. “I’ve been around,” I answered him with a smile. “How’s the tattoo parlor coming along?”

I wide grin spread across his face with his reply. “It’s open now. A friend of mine is running it today while I work in this shithole. I still have to keep come up with money to keep thing running until business picks up.”

He was definitely taking advantage of no customers being inside the store. He didn’t mind his language as much when he was alone. I had to hold in my laughter.

“I’ll have to stop by soon.” I couldn’t remember if he gave me directions already and he happily offered them up again.

“…it’s in the same shopping center as Spencer’s. You can’t miss it,” he finished.

“Got it. I can’t wait to see it. And who knows, I just might break down and get that tattoo I’ve always wanted. And I’m sorry I missed the behind the scenes tour before you opened. It totally slipped my mind.”

He placed a few more bags of chips on the shelves and carried the empty box behind the counter. I followed him to the front of the store grabbing a Smart Water on the way to meet him again.

“It’s cool. Just stop by whenever you want and I’ll still show you around.”

I nodded. “I’ll do that.”

After Theo rang me up we chatted for a little while longer until some customers started coming in and then I decided to go.

I made it back home around five and plopped down on my couch in front of the blank TV. I think I was the only person in the world that didn’t have anything to do on the weekend when their parents were out of town. I was truly pathetic.

I jumped in surprise when my phone buzzed in my back pocket. I stared at the screen for a moment while my heart slowed and then answered it. It was Farrah.

“It’s about time you called me back. I was starting to think something happened to you!” I said before I even greeted her.

She giggled. “It hasn’t yet.”

I frowned. Yet?

“What does that mean? “ I asked her.

“Well…long story short, Sara and I trashed Brody’s car.”

I mix torn between utter horror and shock for her came over me. Brody couldn’t have taken that well. Though, I would have loved to have seen his face when he discovered the damage.

“You trashed his car? He’ll kill you,” I told her.

“Well, more like decorated it,” she paused for a second then continued. “…in Bieber and hello kitty.”

“What?” I burst out in laughter. Hello Kitty? That had to be good. The girl was a genius!

She rambled on about how angry Brody was and the pictures they had posted of the car on Facebook. I laughed with her until the amusement finally died down then I subtly emphasized just how bored I was while today.

Maybe Grace and I should be living vicariously though her instead of each other. Her life seemed to be much more entertaining than ours. I suppose that had a lot to do with Brody though. She seemed different, almost happier with him. It was strange.

“Why don’t you come over to Sarah’s so we can give you all the details of today? We’re not really doing anything except watching movies anyway.”

I immediately brightened up at her invitation. Though, I was also a little wary about hanging out with Sarah. She was Thomas’s ex…sort of...I guess. She was cool at the party, but that was a social gathering, this was her house. And I was kind of intimidated by her undefined relationship with the guy I couldn’t seem to get out of my head.

“But I don’t even know where she lives,” I argued. Was that a good enough reason not to go? I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to or not. But maybe it could be fun since Farrah was there.

“Oak Street, the street right beside yours. It’s the sixth house on the right.”

Wow. She’s that close to me?

Well I suppose I didn’t have anything better to do. I might as well go and try to enjoy myself.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll be there in ten.”

We quickly said our goodbyes and I grabbed my keys from the table and left for Sarah’s.

As I got closer to her house I was starting to feel a little nervous. I silently prayed this night would go well and I could keep my jealousy under control. I really hoped they didn’t still have anything going on between them. It was hard to tell with Thomas. He was always so unexpected and unpredictable. I doubt he thought about many things before he did them.

As soon as that thought entered my mind I shook it away. I didn’t want pictures of countless girls hooking up with Thomas in my mind. It did something to my stomach I didn’t like.

I counted the houses after I turned onto Oak Street until I reached the sixth one on the right. It was a medium sized white house with black shutters and a little flower bed around the front of it. It looked very cozy.

I was relived to turn into Sarah’s driveway to get a break from the person who had been riding my bumper for the last five minutes. With the night starting to settle in a little earlier every day I was bright lighted the entire time they followed me. It was annoying.

When I made my way up to the door I couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching me, but I played it off on my nerves. It was ridiculous to even think it. I was just nervous about being there.

I was relieved when Sarah greeted me with a smile at the door and let me inside.

“Thanks for inviting me,” I told her.

“Sure,” she grinned motioning to the couch. “Take a seat. We just started another movie.”

I plopped down next to Farrah on the couch and grabbed a handful of popcorn beside her and popped it in my mouth. My stomach was growling. I was hungry and neglected to eat lunch earlier. It had been a few hours since my last meal.

“What are we watching?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Wrong Turn four,” Sarah said taking her seat with the popcorn bowl in her lap.

My stomach dropped. Uh oh. I’m pretty sure I’d heard of that movie somewhere before and I don’t recall anything good about it.

“Um t-that’s a scary movie, isn’t it?”

I swallowed nervously. I hated scary movies with a passion. Why watch something that’s guaranteed to give you nightmares or make you pee your pants?

At just the thought of it I suddenly had the urge to go pee myself. There is no way I’d ever make it through the movie.

Sarah pressed play on the remote and nodded as the movie continued to play from its left off spot. “I love these movies,” She said as Farrah answered her phone to talk to someone. “I think it’s the intensity of the moment and the stupid characters.”

I giggled at her. That part was true. The characters were often stupid.

Only five minutes into the movie and I was already starting to silently freak out. Maybe coming here was a bad idea after all. Please don’t let some girl get kidnapped and drug through the woods and massacred, I prayed. I did not want to see that.

Both Sarah and I looked up at Farrah in confusion when suddenly jumped up from the couch like and crazy person and ran to the door to make sure it was locked. I thought Farrah enjoyed movies like this.

Sarah’s confusion soon turned to amusement as she stared back at my best friend. “Um…what are you doing? The movie just started and you’re already freaking out?”

“They’re here,” Farrah said in palpable fear.

Sarah rose to her feet in panic setting aside the popcorn bowl. “How do you know?”

I was still thoroughly confused. I had no idea what they were talking out. At first I thought they might have been putting on some kind of skit just to scare me since Farrah new about my fear of scary movies, but then Sarah ran to her and glanced outside.

Okayyy.

I stood up and Followed after Sarah and stopped next to Farrah who seemed to be in utter horror at whatever was displayed on her phone.

I read carefully read over the text saying it aloud after Sarah grabbed the phone from her. “I bet you can’t find me.”

“I don’t get it,” I admitted feeling none the wiser.

“Shit. Brody’s good,” Sarah said. “He’s totally seeking retribution for his car.”

I took a slow step back when everything finally started to sink in. So Brody was here looking for revenge?

“He’s going to kill us!” I started to panic. He’s going to come here and find us all and then we’ll be dead. Well this is just great. What have I gotten mixed up in?

Then realization hit me. I pulled my face from my hands and looked up at Sarah and Farrah with relief. Not for them, but for me. “Wait a minute. I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s coming for you.”

I smiled to myself and casually strolled to the door. Well, that was easy enough. At least I can take myself out of this equation.

I placed my hand on the door handle ready to open it. No way was I getting into their mess. I wasn’t stupid. Brody kind of intimidated me a little to be honest.

“Well, good luck!” I called to them over my shoulder. “Call me if you make it through this alive.”

Just as I twisted the knob of the door Sarah’s hand flew out and screamed, “No” but it was too late. The door was already open and to my surprise a smirking Thomas was leaning in the doorway as casual as could be in dark jeans, a fitted white shirt, leather jacket and combat boots. Holy hotness!