Lost Boy (16 page)

Lance looks confused, "That’s Eli. We don’t nickname him."

She points at Angelo kicking the crap out of Stan in the ring next to us, ""Him?"

He winks, "Angelo."

"What his real name?" she asks and climbs into the ring. I laugh harder. I've never heard of anyone here having a nickname.

Lance looks confused, but I know he's messing with her, "Angelo?"

Lance throws tape at her. "Tape up." She looks at it like it has a face and is about to talk to her. I laugh and walk over, taking the tape. I wrap her hands and stuff it in my pocket, "For later."

She believes me. I laugh and walk away, leaving her there to blend in. Besides, I have to go get hot and sweaty so she can watch me. Nicky is in the far corner shadow boxing. I nod at him. He smiles. He's just massive but I grin as I walk up. I can take him and he knows it, but it'll be a dirty fight.

I look over at her. He nods, "That your girl?"

I shake my head, "I am trying so hard and not getting anywhere."

He laughs, "That’s ‘cause you're crazy. You gotta be sweet and cook. Chicks dig guys who cook and walk their little shit dogs and who take them shopping."

I look at him and decide to keep it on his level, "She doesn’t have a dog."

He laughs, "And you have a butler who cooks."

I scowl.

He laughs harder, "Stu told me it’s the best food in the world."

I sigh, "It's true. I'm never going to get her to love me."

He wrinkles his thick nose that's been broken several times, "Love, forget that. Take your shirt off and we'll box. She'll want to rape your ass at the end of this match."

I cock an eyebrow, "Firstly, ass raping is not my thing. I mean it might be yours, and I'm not judging. Secondly..."

"Hey, whoa. I meant she'll… you know… attack you."

I laugh and pull my shirt off. He sees my scars for the first time and winces, "Damn dude, you are too beat up. Lucky thing though, girls love scars."

I nod once and pull my gloves on. He is wrong. Girls love normal, not scarred freaks like him and me and Stuart.

We start our fight off slow. Getting warmed and stretched.

He nods at me, "Your girl is hot though, I will say that. That, and Angelo is talking to her, so maybe you wanna find a new girl."

My fists respond. He backs up as I fly at him.

He takes a hard hit to the left side of his face and staggers back. He gets his balance and winks at me, "She was looking, that was a good one."

I smile my mouth guard at him.

We fight for another round but the air is broken with Lance screaming, "COME ON, TINK!"

I turn and jump the ropes down onto the ground. I see Angelo and Lance laughing as I get closer. She is swatting one of the kids with her gloves. He hits her once hard. I growl as she staggers back. Lance shoots me a look.

Sarah shakes her head, looks at him with a set of eyes I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and dives for him. She tackles him to the ground hitting and spitting all over him. I can't understand her but she is flailing and losing her mind.

She stops hitting and starts saying something but piles of spit are coming out of her mouth guard. The kid is crying but the rest of us are dying with laughter. Lance takes a knee, he laughs so hard.

The kid gets away from her, wiping his face of spit and tears. She looks mortified, "I want out."

I nod and try not to vibrate as I hold back my laughter.

She gives me the fiercest glare ever.

I'm going to kill Stuart.

Take her to the gym, yeah. Her eye is swelling shut when she walks over to me with her lip sticking way out. I wrap a sweaty arm around her and lead her back to my tee shirt.

"You okay?" My voice is still high-pitched because I am laughing without actually letting it out.

She shakes her head, "If you want to laugh, just do it."

I make a whistle sound in my throat and shake my head, "No, babe. I'm good." The good comes out really high. She rolls her eyes and I lose it. The laugh tears from me and tears slip down my cheeks. I shake my head, trying desperately to speak, "Wha-wha-what was th-tha-that?"

She shakes her head. I grab my shirt and wipe my eyes. She walks down the hallway past the ring where Nicky is still waiting for me to fight him. He shakes his head at me, "They don’t dig guys who laugh at them."

I flip him the bird and follow her down the hallway. I pull on my shirt and catch up. I can't talk but I can stay calm as long as she doesn’t want to talk about it.

"Are there showers?" she asks, looking sad and swollen and defeated. It melts my laughter. I wrap around her and shake my head, "I don’t want you naked in here. Come with me." I grab our stuff and take her to the Tahoe. We jump in the back and Stuart drives us to my place. He doesn’t talk to us; it's weird. I feel creepy, sitting in the back seat.

He stops outside of my apartment and I pull her out, along with our bags. She looks like she might protest, but I don’t give her the chance. The lobby guy smiles until he sees her black eye. Then he gives me a shitty look. I press the elevator and ignore it all.

When we're in the elevator, I kiss the top of her head and pull her into my arms. She smells like sweat and herself.

The door opens and I drag her to the ensuite in my room. I pull off her shirt and pants and attempt to pull the sports bra off, but step back after a second, "That seems like it wants to stay."

She laughs, "I can do it." She does something that resembles dislocating her shoulders. I shake my head and drop to my knee, pulling her panties down and then taking off her socks. I resist the urge to bury my face between her legs in the dark-blonde mat. I stand and turn around. I push the plug in inside the massive corner tub and start the water.

I pour in some of the bubble bath that my decorator used as a prop but that came from a special boutique. It smells like lavender. I make sure the water is really warm and add some of my muscle-relaxing bath salts.

I look back at her confused look.

"What?"

She points, "You have a lot of these?"

I smirk, "I do. They relax the muscles. I don’t normally do bubbles. Those are for special occasions."

She scoffs, "I just watched you crack the seal on that bottle."

I laugh, "It's not usually very special around here." I offer her my hand. She steps into the tub. I point at the button on the side, "That turns on the jets."

I turn and leave the bathroom on the toughest act of chivalry I have ever done. I pick up her clothes and take them to my bed. I leave them there in a neat pile and place her phone in her coat and then take it out. I wrinkle my nose and go to the bags at the front door. I put her phone in her UGG boots and put them back in her bag.

I walk into the kitchen and think about what Nicky said. Girls like boys who can cook. I open the fridge and look at the pate, champagne, sports drinks, eggs and condiments. There isn’t even beer like there would be in a normal guy's fridge. I like red wine better, is that so wrong? I tap my fingers against the counter and think. I can't cook, I don’t read, and I don’t have anything to offer, except pate with nothing to eat it on and champagne I clearly don’t like, as it's still in my fridge.

I decide to go and take a shower and try to come up with something. I'm nearly done shampooing my hair, when I feel something against me. I open my eyes and jump when I see her there. She smiles, "I need to rinse the soap off."

I fight my grin and stare at her black eye, "There's a huge walk-in shower in there."

She nods, "I know."

She wraps her arms around me and holds me. I don't know how long we stay like that, but I think it's the greatest experience I have ever had. Her breasts squished into my chest and her arms wrapped around me and the water all around us both.

We get out and she dries off and walks naked back to my room where her clothes are. She doesn’t put them on though. She puts on another pair of my jogging pants and a gray tee shirt. Her wet hair makes a dark spot on the shirt.

"I'm sorry I took you there. I shouldn’t have and now your eye is swollen."

She smiles, "I liked it."

We never say anything except the simple things and I think I mostly sound like a jerk. The sun goes down over the city and she nods at the windows in the room, "I better go. Is Stuart downstairs?"

I nod.

She walks to me slowly, presses her lips against mine. "I'm glad you took me there. I like seeing you there, like that." She turns and leaves. My plan was a failure. I walk to the hallway and watch her leave. She steps into the elevator and blows me a kiss. It closes and I have new things to worry about. I hurry to the kitchen to watch her leave. She runs across the street to the Tahoe and climbs in. I watch them until they're a tiny spot on the road and then they’re gone. She is gone.

I stare at the phone and lean against the bar. Stuart is still in the bathroom so I have seconds to text before he gets back.

I take a breath and just send it, 'I need to see you tonight'

Her answer is fast, 'No. I have a date with Sebastian.'

I know I tortured her but it had a purpose. I don’t know what her purpose is for doing this to me. I just ask so I know, 'Where are you going?'

'Liquor Store…'

I roll my eyes, 'No. They have a mechanical bull. Think about how classy that is.'

She doesn’t answer me again.

Stuart comes back and sits down next to me, "So where are we going tonight?"

I almost say the Liquor Store but I can't do that to him. I smirk, "Somewhere classy."

He winces, "Both of the girls we like are on dates with other guys. How shitty is this?"

I shrug, "We could stalk them and beat the piss out of the guys."

He looks down, "She hates me, Eli. She is never going to forgive me, ever."

I hate this. I nudge his arm, "She is. She's just angry and confused. She sees the way Sarah is; there is no denying the truth and the proof, it worked. You helped save her."

He drinks back his beer, "Yeah, but Michelle thinks I lied."

I shake my head, "When haven’t we lied?"

He nods slowly and I see the slump coming. I get up, "Come on, we're going out. This'll be fun." I grab his arm and drag him out of the pub.

We get to a bar with a beat but no line up yet. The shots line up along the bar. He gives me a smile and starts in on them like the old days.

"This first shot is for my brother, Sam." It always is. He holds it out, "I love you brother and I will love you for the rest of my life. Someone remembers you, always." He drinks the shot.

He holds the second one up, "To Dr. Bradley for saving me when I didn’t see anything worth saving."

He drinks the shot.

I almost stop him but he has that look in his eyes, and if I can get him to pass out it'll be better.

"To my best friend, Eli. Fucking love you, man."

He downs it and grabs the fourth one, "To my father for leaving when I was five and never returning. Fuck you."

He slams that one on the bar with a little more force. He lifts number five with a sarcastic grin, "To my whore mother, hope it was worth the money you made all those days you worked and failed to call in the missing children's report."

I wince as he shudders and grabs number six.

"To the school we went to for finally noticing we were missing and calling."

This one is my favorite. He holds it up and gets a tear in his eyes, "To Officer Brady for finding us in that filthy, damned place and being the light in the darkness."

He slaps the bar and gives me a savage look, "Let's find some ladies."

I shake my head, "Let's take a walk."

He looks worried I'm going to ruin the high he is getting. I shake my head, "Find a place with more going on."

He looks around the nearly-empty bar and nods. As we leave, he nudges the bouncer on purpose. I slip the guy a hundred and push Stuart along.

"What an asshole. He hit me on purpose."

I sigh and look around. He needs a fight but he's trashed and shouldn’t fight. We walk down along the harbor. He gives me a look after a few blocks, "I love you."

I nod, "I know you do."

My phone vibrates. I pull it out and see it's from Sarah, but I don’t like the message, 'Maybe you should get Stuart to come get Shell.'

I glance at him and shake my head as I type, 'Call her Michelle. No. Stuart's hurt. I'm not doing that to him. We need to talk.'

'No. I'm hurt. I'm not doing that to me.'

I pocket my phone and decide I'll get him in bed and go to the stupid bar where she is and see what's going on. If Michelle needs to go home, I'll get them home, together.

I turn us up the road to my place and walk along. His shots start to really hit him. He's mumbling and crying.

"I just love her and I don’t want to live without her."

I wrap an arm around him and pull him into the building, "She loves you. Sarah told me she loves you. She's trying to make you jealous. Trust me."

He gives me a sloppy face, "You think?"

I nod and wrestle him into the elevator. The guy in the lobby gives me a look. I sigh as the door closes. When we get upstairs, I put him into the guest bed and lock the door. There is nothing in there but a bed and blankets. He can't hurt himself.

The dark of the hallway and the text I got, make me nervous. I hurry to the stairs and down to the lobby. The guy gives me another look as I point, "Don’t let him leave. Call me right away."

He nods, "Yes, Mr. Adams."

I hail a cab and jump in, "Liquor Store bar, please."

He nods and drives fast.

I bypass the line and walk inside slowly. I spot them right away. They're dancing and having fun. Michelle seems fine. I'm confused.

The music is booming and everyone is on the dance floor. Sebastian is dancing like a goof with Sarah and Michelle is wrapped around her date.

The song ends and they walk to the bar. He gets a drink and they talk. She looks animated and happy. She talks so much with him. She natters even. I couldn’t tell the difference between her and any other girl in this bar. She looks normal.

He leans down and kisses her softly. She wraps her hands around his face kissing him, pulling him in.

My eyes won't close, no matter how hard I try to get them to. They force me to see the thing I have dreaded and avoided since the start. I want to tell her he is a pawn put there by the evil doctor, but I don’t. I watch for a few more painful seconds and then leave the bar.

She is normal there, with him. She will never be that with me. I will always be a scarred freak who scares her. It will always be bigger than the boy who saved her.

She will always be the empty, hollow place inside of me where I once felt love.