The Imperishable Flame⎪✓

❨14❩

♂︎

"Fuck no!" Will screams and takes his anger out on the controller in his hands. Call of Duty clearly isn't where he excels and I can't stop myself from being humored by his misery. He has been hanging out in this apartment for almost a week now, but he helps with paying for the groceries and he treats my sister with respect. I surely won't say no to some company, the thoughts of Dakota have eaten me alive since I saw her fifteen days ago and he is the only distraction right now. Will throws the controller onto the couch and looks at me in frustration, "Have you messed with the game?"

"Hey, don't let the fact that you suck ruin the trust between us," I joke and drink from my beer, he wants us to go partying today and no part of me wants to go. But as he tells me, he leaves tomorrow and apparently deserves a party to leave on, Tilly isn't home either. How that argument is valid in his mind still confuses me, I won't be the buzz kill though. 

He opens a new can of beer and takes a swig, "If only I trusted my sister as much as I trust you."

"So you're going all sentimental on me?"

"Fuck no," He laughs. "But Daniella is driving me nuts with her constant back and forth with dudes all the time. She introduces them as her boyfriends and we never see them again, then I have to talk to Brock and tell him how she handles their time apart."

Shrugging my shoulders, "They agreed to leave it in the past, didn't they? No one can blame her."

At least that is what I tell myself with Dakota, the thought of her boyfriend kissing her full lips and gripping her delicious curves. It's enough to drive me over the edge. That one day in the office I couldn't control myself, her tan legs were on display, and her heavy breathing mixed with those innocent eyes. I had to shoot my shot. It fucking sucks that she rejected me, but what the hell was I expecting? She's in a relationship. 

"I guess," He shrugs. "But she will always be my little sister and I have a hard time accepting her ways."

"You've hooked up with two different girls during your time here, it must be a family trait," I say with a humored smile. 

"Fuck you, Elijah," He laughs and lights up a cigarette. He offers me one and I accept with a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, shaking the thoughts off, I enjoy the feeling of smoke going down my throat and relaxing every part of my anxious self. 

********

Stepping into the crowded space, people move out of the way and I manage to get to the bar without touching anyone. Quite surprising. Ordering a glass of bourbon, I look around the room and search the mass of dancing bodies on the floor. Will joins me within a second and sits down next to me, "I already have my eyes on someone, so if I don't come home with you tonight you know why."

"You didn't even have to warn me," I say and thank the bartender when she hands me my drink. This is the only bar in town and I try to stay out of trouble for as much as possible, my reputation doesn't need to be stained anymore than it already is. "Where are the others?"

He nods in the direction of a booth next to the bar where two of my friends are seated, Will and I walk in their direction and sit down. "You didn't bring some for us then?" Jack says and eyes my drink, him and I have known each other for a year by now and he's gotten under my skin somehow.

"You do have eyes, don't you?" Levi hisses at him, the ass of the group, him and I have known each other since we were kids and somehow I met him again when I moved back to Barnsley and here we are. 

The music blasts through the room and makes it hard to keep a conversation, fortunately for me, my friends are fucking obnoxious and excel at screaming to each other. At least it ensures that we can hear. My eyes carry through the mass of people and some feeling in the back of my head is warning me, there is something completely off.

"Ey, Elijah!" Jack yells and I turn my focus to him. "Dude, I know you have a hard time using your brain cells and all, but could you quit staring like that? What can you see that we can't?"

"Forget it," I say and down my entire glass of bourbon, the slight burn is welcome and I find myself enjoying the alcohol. I rarely drink, but there is nothing wrong with a healthy relationship with alcohol. "I'm gonna go smoke."

Leaving my friends without another word uttered, I hurry outside and grab a cigarette. Placing it between my lips, I light it up and inhale deeply. As smoke hugs my lungs, shadows step out of a darker part of this secluded street. If this has anything to do with the bad feeling, I will fuck something up. 

"Bullet," A guy states from the group of four, they come closer and none of them seem familiar. They use my nickname from underground and I instantly know this will end badly "We heard something about you."

"Do you need me to congratulate you?"

The stranger steps closer and challenges me with his weak stare, he is significantly smaller than me, "Being rude won't help your situation, this is four against one."

Throwing the cigarette onto the ground I step on it and blow the smoke onto his face, "Listen, kid, taking the underground into the public is possibly the stupidest mistake any of you will ever make. I might not be there to say anything by tomorrow, but word gets around."

My eyes observe the guys, all of them are smaller than me and very unfamiliar. One of them has something shiny in his hands, a knife, and I know they're here to assault me. This will be their first mistake. The street is completely empty and I wonder if anyone will walk out here, the sight of us would probably scare anyone away. Their intentions are insanely obvious.  

A second guy steps up to me, "Tell us your name, Bullet."

"This is a fucking waste of time, ask the right people in this town and you'll know who I am in minutes. This clearly isn't about my name."

"You're right," The first guy smirks and I give him an indifferent look. "You beat my brother up and he was hospitalized for days."

"I don't just go around beating people up."

He shakes his head, "This was in the ring."

I laugh in a sinister tone, "If he stepped into a ring against me, there are no fucking rules. Nothing in me feels any remorse for him, he challenged me and met his match."

This clearly angers him, his right fist clenches and he swings his hand instantly. Calmly grabbing his smaller fist in my hand, I push him roughly and he falls onto his ass before trying to get up again. My foot makes forceful contact with his stomach and he urges for oxygen when he hurries away from us. Two of the others step up to me threateningly, the dude with the knife keeps away at a safe distance, seeing my chance my hands act on instinct when I smash their heads roughly against each other. Their eyes close on impact and they fall down on the ground, knocked out cold. 

The last dude surprises me when he manages to cut my arm with his nasty knife, giving him an insanely rough uppercut, he falls backward and the knife falls from his hands. I throw it into a bush and ignore the throbbing in my arm, it makes no sense why the four of them would go up to me like this. I've been trained to knock people out and I'm bigger than them. Ignoring what just happened, I walk into the bar again and clean up my wound in the restroom. 

This fucking night might as well end now.