Frigid Flora

twenty-two - sexy courgette

Chapter Twenty-Two

Parker's P.O.V

Through thick and thin, rain or shine, my friends were always there for me as I was there for them. The past couple of years had been rough for us all what with Ian on our backs, and each of us had supported one another like a crutch. This year was proving to be the most difficult, especially with the return of Jason Ashford. Not to mention my feelings for Flora getting caught up in our seemingly endless list of problems. Even the guys had grown fond of her (with the exception of Hayden, of course) which I guessed was why they weren't as mad as they should have been when they found out she knew who Ian was. We'd promised one another long ago that nobody was to know of our problem but us in case we tangled more people into our web of mess. That mess was probably one of the reasons we'd stuck so closely together, carrying the heavy burden on our shoulders that we could find no way of relieving or sharing with anyone else.

Someone, however, had told Flora who Ian was and the role he played in my life. It had left me no choice but to defend myself, to confess that we were playing Ian and secretly hiding our supposedly purchased drugs in Topher's basement after Axel donated the cash. The bastard had clearly omitted the important details like my severe opposition toward the entire thing. In fact, the sole purpose of the text had looked as though it was just to rat me out to her. To stir things. The stranger hadn't even bothered to include the rest of the guys, just photographic evidence of a huge mistake only I was involved in. Evidence that could put me, and only me, behind bars.

After I'd told them this, they seemed just as rattled as I felt about the identity of the stranger. So rattled in fact, that Topher, Axel and Matthew all felt it necessary to get Hayden around (much to my distaste) and inform him of the news. He did have a right to know seeing as the matter involved him, but he'd been spending an alarming amount of time with Jason rather than with us and we still had no idea whether we could trust him. After all, he was yet to apologise for drugging both Flora and Matthew. That wasn't cool.

"So why am I here and why is Jason forbidden?" Hayden inquired as he sat down on Topher's living room sofa. "Aren't you all supposed to hate me now?"

"We don't hate you. We just think you're a dick who still hasn't apologised." Axel stated bluntly.

Hayden leaned forward, his face flooding red with barely contained rage. "I told you. I. Didn't. Drug. Anyone. But. Myself. Is that clear?"

Axel was about to retaliate something but Topher cut him off. "If that's what he's saying for now, that's what he's saying. We didn't bring you here for this discussion, mate. We're here to ask if you know anybody else that knows we all work for Ian."

Hayden frowned, finally leaning back into the cushions. "Nah, can't think of anyone. Why'd you ask?"

"We were just wondering if you'd told anybody because Flora got sent this weird text from someone who knew Parker was involved with him. It puts us all at risk f-"

Hayden let out an exasperated groan. "Flora, Flora, Flora! Everything is about fucking Flora. What happened to it being just us? She's come along and messed everything up!"

"Take a chill pill, Flora's nice!" Matthew exclaimed, face puzzled as he tried to tug an enraged Hayden back down next to him.

Hayden shook off Matthew before looking me straight in the eye with an expression I could only describe as betrayal. He took a step forward, prodding my chest with his index finger. "You did this. This is your fault."

"Wait, what? What the fuck did I do?" I pushed him away but he took another step forward, a bizarre mixture of hurt and anger flashing behind his eyes as he grabbed a fistful of my shirt.