The Bad Boys and the Fighter

5

COLE

The sound of my phone ringing jolted me awake. I observed my surroundings as I fished around the bed for my phone. My chest bare chest was pressed flush to Ariel's back. I lifted my hand out from underneath the pillow her head rested on and brought my phone to my ear groggily.

"I got the stuff," The voice on the other end, belonging to my connection to the Ghosts huffed. "Payment will be wired to your account shortly. I'll call you when I need you."

"Okay. Good," I replied. Ariel began to stir.

"A piece of advice, son? Get out while you can."

I watched in slight horror as Ariel turned around, her head instinctively finding my chest, her arm draping around my torso. Light brown hair covered her face like a curtain and spilled onto my body. Soft, warm breaths emitted from her lips peacefully. Faint freckles spanned her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, which was no longer screwed up in anger. One of her bare legs intertwined itself with mine.

I muttered an obscenity as I wrapped my arm around the small of her back and pulled her closer to my body. Of course this would happen.

Several hours later I woke up to screaming. "Vous assholes putains avez-vous pas entendez couler la douche? Oh mon Dieu!"

Tyler and Jeremiah were at the door of her bathroom, their figures blocking the view of the inside.

"Don't hide your body from—ow!" Tyler yelped.

"Sors! Sors! Sors!"

Jeremiah quickly closed the door behind them and they faced me with heavy breaths and wide eyes. "What just happened?" I asked, confused.

Ariel came out of her bathroom with a towel wrapped around her, water droplets dripping down her bare body. Her skin, radiating steam from a hot shower, glistened under the light of the morning sun.

"Vos putains amis marchaient sur moi de prendre une douche!" She spat angrily.

"You're speaking in French, love."

Ariel cleared her throat. "Do any of you know how to fucking knock? Does privacy not mean anything to you? For fucks sake."

"You weren't taking a shower! You were just getting out!" Tyler defended.

"Je commençais juste sortir! Oh, parce que cela fait tout va bien!" She grumbled as she walked to her closet and shut the door behind her.

I got out of the bed and shamefully picked my jeans up from the carpeted floor. Tyler stifled a snicker at the action while Jeremiah quirked an eyebrow up in amusement. Fucking great.

"I don't want to talk about it," I grumbled as the two men followed me out of the girl's bedroom and into the guest bedroom Jeremiah and I were staying in.

Jeremiah stared blankly at me. "Just get ready for school. We're gonna be late."

I entered the upstairs bathroom the four of us shared. The vanity countertop was littered with hair care products and a single bottle of face wash. While the water in the shower pipes began heating up, I examined myself in the mirror.

I no longer recognized my appearance. The tattoos spawning across my upper body felt like strangers. My eyes looked as though they belonged to someone who had witnessed a violent war.

I stripped myself of my clothes, an action I was desperate to repeat in the company of someone who knew me. Not just knew my name or my face, but knew the depths of my soul that I never bare.