The warm liquid slides down my throat after I licked the back of my hand sprinkled with salt, and bite into the tart lime. I'm not big on drinking, but I can hold my liquor if I actually plan on going all out. The sad thing is, Max expects me to get buzzed with this girly drink. I almost feel sorry that his younger sister can drink him under the table.
Maddog, as everyone likes to call Max, sets down his second shot to see that I finished the five he gave each of us. When his gaze casts over me, I smile with the lime against my teeth, like the childish person I can be.
"What the hell, is your throat numb or something? How did you not feel that?" He exclaims.
"Nfo, juest bead idnsidfe, thaks" I replied with the peel still in my mouth.
After my little family reunion with Max, Axel, and the gang, we all catch up on each other's lives. I've missed these guys over the past few years and it seems that nothing has changed since I have left. Axel is still the leader and his usual cocky self; Max lazy and cranky as ever. KFC... well, he's a chicken as usual. It seems like everyone still remembers me as I say hello to the rest of the familiar faces in my family. The two faces I have been searching for in the crowd are nowhere in sight, why would I expect them to come. I haven't seen them in three years, and I still get my hopes up.
"English, you freak," Max peels the wedge away from my teeth and cringes when he gets some of my salivae on his hand. "You're worse than a dog," he quietly shakes his head.
"No, just dead inside, thanks," I dryly repeat.
"Phfft, we all know that Shortstack." Max jokes, nudging my shoulder to cheer up. Getting me to crack a small smile but not enough for me to shake the feeling. When the liquor hits the pit of my stomach, it's like a kick to the gut instead. The vivid memories fill me with dread, guilt, betrayal, and death. The fibers of glass from the shattered window, the heavy stench of blood. Drip, Drip, Drip, the thick liquid escapes around the glass shards in her forehead. The glass pane wasn't the only shattered object, the blood leaves a trail leading to the cracked skull that belongs to a girl that now lives in a ditch. As her motionless body rests, with eyes wide awake, her hollow, lifeless pupils stare out into the dead silence. That disturbing night, freshman year, my parents can't look me in the eye or utter a word about it. Nor can they forgive me, not that I can forgive myself.
Sinking deeper and deeper into these sinister memories, I hear the faint noise of a tune playing on Axel's stereo. The familiar beat to the Bastille song brings my brain to a warm fuzz and relaxes my body.
I spot the green felt table set up, with the polished solid and striped balls, waiting for a round of billiards to happen. Blue chalk smudged on the tips of cues lined against the wall.
I slid off of my stool at the bar and slowly approach the pool table like a starved animal. As I advance towards the table, I pat my hands in powder to absorb the sweat away so they become dry. This helps for when I break, the cue stick will slide through my fingers in a smooth thrust.
At the beginning of my sophomore year, Scorched Skulls were the champions for billiards against all rivals in Arizona. In reality, you must carry the weight of a crown if you are to parade around in it. And I did that, hustling for every game my brother made me play. I traveled all around, helping him gain money and achieve acknowledgment for the gang. As time was closing in, chaos erupted and I was sent away before we could compete for the Western part of the U.S. From what the boys tell me, Silver Venom won the tournament.
"Lookin' for a partner, Hot stuff?" A voice disturbs me from my thoughts. Isaiah stands there with a lazy grin across his face and a pool stick wrapped in his arms.
"Is this your idea of role play? " I joke, Isaiah and I clasp hands and pat each other on the back in a quick hug.
"Only if it's working" he winks. Isaiah begins to stack the balls into a triangular form, which is breaking position.
"Alright Sharkboy, cut the rope, American-style, English, straight, snooker, carom--" I begin to list the possible games we could choose from before I am cut off.
"Woah, easy there Lavagirl, you've been gone too long, let's keep it plain and simple for you"
My bottom lip slips out into a pout, "Fine, but play a tough game. I may have been gone, but that doesn't mean I have forgotten my ways, young grasshopper."
"Let's just do pick up, babe" He taunts.
That earned him a smack across the head.
"Just break already, weirdo".
Isaiah plants the white ball down, away from the triangle that he has set up, and strikes the cue ball causing the other balls to disburse and scatter in different directions around the table. Not bad, I thought to myself, he's close to how I am. Probably because the idiot was my Billards partner throughout our competitions whenever we needed to play doubles.
"Dang it," He mutters as he scratches the cue ball. "You're stripes".
I smirk as I rub the blue chalk against the tip of the stick and bend down to take the shot. I don't plan on messing with Isaiah because he knows how I really am when we play. Hit after hit, I sink all of my strip balls, some go in by themselves or others by two.
Warm breath meets my ear when I am about to sink the final ball, the black 8, "So, did you drop the soap while you were gone?" the voice muses. I choke on my spit from shock and chip the cue ball. It bounces on the table, making a loud clank, before flying off. Sitting peacefully near the table, the ball flies into Axel's crotch. It takes him a second to react and he is howling on the floor.
My wild eyes scramble for a face as they come to meet Max's amused ones. In the background, I hear Axel crying about how he wanted to be a father and I'll never be an aunt now. Idiot.
Giving my attention back to Max, I see him lick his finger and now he is bringing it towards my face for some reason.
"What the hell man?" I begin to swat his hand away frantically. He just takes his other hand and holds my hands away and begins to rub his thumb, which now has cooties on it, under my chin.
"Relax freak, you just have chalk on your chin," he laughs. I wipe away the remaining spit on my face, glaring at him.
Oopsies, that probably happened when I chipped the ball and eliminated some future family members in the process. Speaking of the victim, Axel somehow inch wormed his body closer to me and is rolling on the floor like a little toddler.
"If you don't knock it off soon, I'm gonna slap you so hard with a wet sock you'll forget you are even a boy!" I huff.
~ First of all, I know I'm not going to get much attention for this book but what the hell. This is fun to do... If I ever get free time from all the crazy things in my life. It would be great to stick with me through this ride and see if I complete it, and if I got some feedback. Toodles Munchkins, H.B.~
YOU ARE READING
Wild and Wicked
Romance"Trouble doesn't find you, Diesel, you look for it. Tearing everything in your path, no matter who or what comes in your way!" I seethed at him, keeping my eyes challengingly on his emeralds. His head comes down, towering over me, casting me deeper...
