Chapter 7
Robin
It should have been a pretty easy night at work for me, but it was far from. Lover's night at the club continuously proved to be nothing but trouble. Boyfriend drama, girlfriend drama—and it all happened at my workplace, every last Friday of the month.
Usually it's nothing I can't handle, there's always some solution to deescalating the situation. But tonight, something felt different. The music in club X was booming, and the crowd had reached full capacity since 9pm, usually how it is on lover's day. I stood in the backroom, massaging my temples as the bass from the speakers only worsened my headache.
The argument that Ben and I had earlier had left me in a distasteful mood. Slowly, I ran a hand through my raven coloured hair then grabbed the case of beer that I'd originally gone into the back for. I'd caught Ben in a compromising position with a brunette, again. It wasn't the first time if I was being honest.
But I couldn't stand to see that he was taking Ashley for granted. I confronted him about it, and he promised me that he wasn't sleeping with the brunette. Somehow, I found myself believing him. He was my brother of course, and we never lied to each other.
Besides me keeping the fact that I wanted to fuck his girlfriend from him—we were mainly on the same page. I continued pouring drinks, ignoring the throbbing in my skull as I pleased the drunken customers.
An hour had gone by, and my headache begun to fade slightly but my mood was still shit. Just as I'd returned from the backroom with another crate of beers, there was a commotion in a dark corner of the club. After skimming the room, I'd realized that the bouncers were nowhere to be found.
Strange.
I hopped over my counter, and nodded towards the customers; silently explaining that I was just checking out the situation. I shrugged through the crowd, and met up with a red haired woman, crouched in the corner.
The man towering over her had blood on his knuckles, and a small handgun—a .22 caliber. He kept tapping the butt of the gun on his forehead, his mouth slobbering as though he had been bawling recently.
"Hey," I reached out for his hand softly. "What's going on here?"
"Stay out of this!" he spat, turning back to the woman. "Every night, every Friday night I see you here with him. What you thought you could fucking play me?" he sent his leg flying into the redhead's stomach.
I winced, grabbing his arm again. "Chill out man, put the gun away."
"I told you stay out of this!" he swung his fist at me. He was clumsy, and I managed to dodge him pretty easily. The surrounding on lookers had begun to back away once they'd seen the gun clutched in his palm.
I threw a punch at him stomach, only winding him slightly. The next one was aimed for his jaw, and the punch hurt me a lot more than it hurt him. Where the hell are the bouncers? His body was buff, so the next move I make, has to be my last. The dark haired man reacted a lot faster than I'd calculated.
He quickly cocked the gun, and a loud bang was heard. There was a burning in my side, but I knew that the bullet had only brushed me. It seemed like he didn't know about the full force of the gun since his hand flew back a little. While the smoke was still in the air I jumped on him, removing the gun from his grasp.
I could feel the blood trickling down my side, and it was making me a little dizzy. My dark hair was slick back, almost drenched in sweat as I pointed the small gun at him.
"Get out of here." I told him, my hand unwavering as it'd been many times before. He struggled up from the floor, and then started running towards me. I shot him in the foot once, but even then he continued limping towards me. I steadied my hand, firing another in his knee and then dropped the gun in a corner.
"Get the fuck out of my club." I yelled, "And someone call the fucking cops. They'll know where to find me."
***********
I walked outside, the side of my tank top was drenched in blood but I'd experienced worse. Two of the bouncers were unconscious in the alleyway. I smacked them both awake.
"Get your asses inside, and do some damage control. And after that, don't fucking come back." I sneered. "Good for nothings," I muttered, saddling my motorcycle.
Somehow I'd managed to take myself home in one piece, don't ask how. Ben's car was in the driveway, he wouldn't be expecting me home for another three or four hours. Swinging my legs off the bike, I immediately fell to my knees.
"Damn it," I groaned, my body felt like too much for my legs to manage. I can't believe I let this happen. My hands dragged harshly against my cheeks, wiping away the hot tears that had escaped.
Melissa would be so disappointed.
After a few minutes, I'd worked up the energy to drag myself inside. Loud moans from upstairs startled me as I was on my way down to my room. I made me even more upset that Ashley was up there right now, having the time of her fucking life.
I took a warm bath, and then pulled out my first aid kit. After cleaning, and sewing the wound, I swallowed an oxy and tried to fall asleep. Even after taking the pain meds, my body was relentless. I staggered up the stairs, feeling high as a kite. Pushing the door slightly, I could hear low murmurs in the kitchen.
The lights were still on, and it was pretty late. Ben was leaning into a blonde, and although I could only see her back, I knew it wasn't Ashley. The blonde was way too thin to match Ashley's shapely curves, and her hair was way too long. So, putting it all together—she was the one moaning just a few moments ago.
Although I was happy that Ben wasn't fucking Ashley, I couldn't help the rage the boiled up within me at the sight.
"You've gotta be kidding me." I said, way louder than I'd intended. My body felt as though I'd been floating on air, thanks to the pain medication I'd taken only a half hour ago.
Ben jumped, startled at my voice. The blonde he was with raised a brow at me, not bothering to cover her half nakedness as she sat on our kitchen counter. The counter that I eat at, was covered in the aftermath of sex.
"This just keeps getting better and better," I threw my arms up, my face getting hotter as the seconds roll by.
"Robin—"
"Don't fucking Robin me, Benjamin." I said pointedly. "You told me that you weren't cheating on her, you promised me. We argued about this not even twelve hours ago!" As I walked towards them, the blonde woman had hopped down from the counter, standing behind of Ben.
"What the hell is it to you anyway?" His lips twitched as he stomped over to where I was standing. "You've never cared about who I fucked before, why is this any of your business Robin? Do you have some sort of fetish with meddling in my personal life?"
"Are you kidding me?" my chest was burning. I didn't know who this person was anymore.
"What, you think you're the only one who gets to sleep around?" he yelled, arms trembling at his sides.
"You really are a piece of shit," I spat.
I'd seen him with miss brunette just hours ago, that's considered way past the point of just sleeping around. In fact, no sleeping was being done at all if you really thought about it.
"If this is how you're going to be, you should just end things with Ashley." I shrugged. "I mean, that's what you were going for right?"
"You better not mention any of this to her Robin, or we are done."
Silently, I watched him. This was the brother that took care of me, or at least tried to. I'd found more solitude on the streets than I ever found at him after our mother died. But no one, not even Ben knew about that life—and that's how I preferred it.
"If you don't tell her Ben, I will."
Ben tried to rush at me, already weak I was positive he would have taken me down—but the tall girl held his arm. Just as all the drama was taking place, there was a loud pounding at the door.
It's about time.
I left Ben simmering in the kitchen, and readily pulled the door open.
"Officer Will," I greeted, shaking his hand.
He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Robin, I just need to verify some information about what went down at the club tonight."
"Please take me to the station, because if you don't there might be another incident not soon after." I eyed Ben in my peripheral vision.
The old man chuckled, moving aside for me to step out of the house. My dark hair was in knots, and I was wearing sweats but I needed to get out of that house.
Ashley
Huffing, I dropped the bag onto the huge blanket before tossing myself beside it.
"You okay babe?" Ben chuckled, his bright teeth glistening as the sun shone.
"Gosh, I'm so tired." I whined.
Ben rolled me onto my stomach, massaging my back while kneeling on either side of my body. "That feels good," I moaned slightly. Since Ellie's been back, work had been extremely busy. A lot of shoots were backed up because for some reason, the building only function's when she's around.
Absolutely nothing had been done over the four day period that Ellie has been missing in action. But, I was starting to get the hang of things.
"Alright you two, cut it out. Get some food in your stomach before you get down and dirty." Jessica snickered from the picnic table. I rolled my eyes at the girl who I've called best friend for most of my life, smiling slightly.
We were all together again today, most of our group from high school. On rare occasions, we do little things like this—just our way of saying 'hey, I haven't forgotten you'. Rachel, another friend of mine had gotten married a few months ago, and she was already glowing with her first pregnancy.
I stared at Ben, the possibilities of us being the next couple married are slim to none—Alex and Jess already have us beat. But, I could see him and I having a future.
"What are you thinking about?" Ben asked, his dark hair ticking my cheek as he placed a kiss on my neck.
"Us, just us—" my speech was cut short by the roaring of a motorcycle not far away from our picnic area.
I hadn't seen much of Robin since the last time we kissed. I thought that maybe it would be good for us to spend some time apart, just for me to get my head right. For some reason though, I felt as though she'd been ignoring me for another reason entirely.
Alex asked me to reach out to her though, because she'd need her expertise on something for the wedding proposal that she had planned. The event would be taking place about three days from now, and I knew Jessica would definitely say yes. Hell, I'd say yes to that proposal.
I pushed myself up from the blanket and walked over to where the dark-haired beauty was standing. My shorts cupped my butt with every step I took.
"Hey you," I said awkwardly, shaking my hair loose from the ponytail it was in.
"Hey," she gave me a small smile. Robin's hair was in her signature messy bun and she wore black jogger's, combats and a black tank top. There was a small scar above her eyebrow, still looking a bit bruised.
Unconsciously, my fingers reached out and traced the scar. "What happened?"
"It's a long story...I uh—"
"Hey RoRo," Ben greeted, sneaking up behind me.
When I glanced back at Robin, there was a deep frown plastered on her lips.
"Ben," she deadpanned.
"Babe, do you mind giving us a minute?"
Something was definitely off. "Sure,"
I walked back towards my friends at the picnic table, picking at fruit as I observed the Weste's from a distance.
"What's going on over there?" Alex asked, her brow raised slightly. Sophie and Jessica had joined us as we very obviously watched the siblings.
I shrugged, "I have no idea,"
Robin took a few steps back from Ben for some reason.
"I don't give a fuck!" She barked at him.
My jaw dropped, I'd never seen them like that before. I'd just turned around to grab some more fruit when Sophie's shriek captured my attention.
Robin had tackled Ben to the ground.
Alex and I ran over to them, watching as they rolled around in the grass, both trying to throw punches.
"Ben!" I cried, "What's going on?"
Alex tried to separate them, but they both shrugged her off. Robin managed to saddle him, her hair loose, and blowing wildly. She raised her arm at maximum altitude, dropping her fist at full force towards Ben's nose.
There was a disgusting crack, as her fist connected. Ben's eyes were rolling, seeming unconscious. Alex finally dragged Robin away from him, and then tried to shake him awake.
"What the hell was that about," I shoved her as she tried to walk away from me. My short legs were no match for the pace she was moving at but the sheer anger was driving me.
"Don't worry about it, this doesn't concern you."
"You came to a peaceful picnic and started drama Robin—you punched my boyfriend, your brother unconscious!"
"Don't worry about it, I'm leaving." She waved her arms in surrender.
"You're bleeding. Why are you bleeding Robin?" I rushed to her side, lifting the wet tank top over her stomach. I'd forgotten completely about the incident that had taken place, forgetting completely about Ben at the thought that Robin could be hurt. Did that make me a bad person? I think I could live with that for now.
"Fuck," she winced, "Stitches came loose."
My heart throbbed as I watched the blood gushing from her side, "Is that a bullet wound?"