I struggled against Jason's hold, his hands were huge, so it was quite easy for him to be able to wrap his fingers around my neck. He had pushed me so that my back was pressed against the wall, with my feet dangling off the ground.
I miss the younger years, when I used to be taller than Jason... but as we both aged, my cousin bulked up and outgrew me by the time we hit our teens. We were the same age, both born on the same day, myself a few hours before Jason, but he was premature by a few weeks. People would easily confuse Jason to be two to three years older than myself, though. His face seemed to mature a whole lot faster than mine would.
"Woah! Hey, get your hands off my teammate." Luke growled from behind Jason.
My cousin still had his grip firm around my neck, glaring down at me with pure hatred, it felt like.
"Its family business," Jason snorted back at Luke, "Stay out of it before your teeth are wired shut."
I scoffed at my larger cousin, his muscles bulging as his body tensed. Its not like I was happy to see him either.
Stupid Luke, no wonder he wanted me to come with him. What did he think would happen in this kind of situation?
"So, little Cuzzy," Jason seethed as he loosened his grip, allowing my feet to touch the ground again, "Why the fuck are you here?"
I glared back at him, rubbing my neck to soften the stiffness.
From the moment we were born, we were always competing with each other. But, Jason had a habit of breaking rules, unlike myself.
"Our teams are versing, dipshit." I spat, slowly feeling light headed from the lack of blood reaching my head, "I'm more surprised they allowed you to travel with your record-"
Jason growled, slamming my back against the wall behind me, the impact causing me to hiss in pain.
"Stay out of the way this time, Justin." Jason seethed, "Or you'll end up severely regretting it." and within seconds, he dropped me to the floor, and swiftly left, leaving Luke to pull me back to my feet.
"Shit, I'm sorry, I should have tackled him-" Luke rambled, but I simply shook my head, waving him off.
"Trust me, I'm fine." I rolled my eyes at Luke, doing my best not to get too overworked right now.
I would chase Jason, and knock his ass out - but there is a slight chance that he could overpower me and beat me to a pulp... which wouldn't be the first time my cousin has done so.
You see, Jason and my rivalry with him began when we were pretty young. It started with playing PlayStation games, which would always end up in the both of us overly competing with one another for the top spot; then escalated to school, who did better in a certain subject, who could win more medals on Sports-Day.
For a good year, we did get along, and that was the day we both signed up for our local Soccer team. We both got in, and it was great to finally be able to be on the same team as my cousin, instead of us always going head to head. But all great things come to an end.
I hated the dirty moves my cousin would make on the field. He didn't care who got injured, because he was so quick witted, and fast that referees would barely notice the small things he would do to purposely trip the opposing team.
I finally had enough one day, and spoke up to the coach about it... and well, funnily enough, the coach on S.B Hooligans did not give a single damn about my cousins reckless playing. He told me to toughen up, and stop worrying so much about what Jason was doing, and instead focus on myself.
Which I did... and boy was that a mistake. I became so aggressive on the field, annoyance growing that my cousin was able to get away with so much, and I almost became a spitting image of Jason. Double Trouble, is what they would call us.
While I never intentionally set out to hurt people like my cousin would, I was still in a pretty bad head-space that I wasn't being the most easiest to go up against. And that's when I made the mistake of colliding with Jason and a rival team member out on the field.
Our aggressive passion into the game, had wound up sending this kid flying across the field from how determined we both became to be the best player on the team.
The Coach of the S.B Hooligans ultimately decided that Jason and I were too much to be on the same team, and he had to make a decision on who to keep; and of course, for the ridiculous of reasons, he kept Jason, and kicked me off.
Thankfully, I was able to find a new team relatively fast, and I've stuck with them since.
Luke and I decided to go back to the room, well, I started walking back and he followed. I was almost tempted to ask if we could swap sleeping arrangements, so he had to share with Zayn instead; but some part of me didn't want Luke to sleep in the same bed as him.
The thought of the two of them being so close...
Luke went to the couch instantly, mumbling a goodnight, since the others were already in bed, passed out. I didn't bother to look over at them all, heading directly to the bathroom to assess the damage on my neck.
I flicked the light on, swinging the door shut behind me; I don't think it closed the whole way, but enough to give me some privacy, and to keep the light out of the darkened room. I went straight to the mirror.
I flinched at the sight of the visible hand print around my neck, cringing at the small dark purple slowly appearing. Ugh, that's going to look worse by the morning. What the fuck am I going to tell people? Do I have a scarf? I need to cover it.
"I could get make-up." I mumbled to myself, before snorting at the idea. I wouldn't know what to even get to cover this up.
"What the hell is that?" A voice hissed from the doorway, and I jumped, turning around and staring wide eyed at a tired, yet pissed off looking Zayn. His hair was dishevelled as if he'd been tossing and turning in bed.
"Did I wake you?" I furrowed my brows; I was quiet as a mouse, surely.
"Answer my question." Zayn scoffed, stepping further into the bathroom, before closing the door. Shit...
"What?" I blushed, stepping back with my lower spine hitting against the sink.
"What the fuck is that?" Zayn stalked towards me, fingers reaching up and gently touching the bruises on my neck.
"Oh, this?" I forced a short laugh, despite it actually hurting to use the muscles on my throat, "Just a little scuffle-"
"With who?" Zayn demanded, eyed burning as if he was about to slaughter someone...
"I'm fine." I replied, ignoring his question. I didn't want to explain anything right now. I was already embarrassed my cousin could throw me around as easily as he could.
Zayn on the other-hand, wasn't buying any of the crap I was selling. He growled, growing annoyed with me.
"Justin, let's be real, yeah?" Zayn scoffed, eyeing me up and down, "You really don't like to let people in, do you?"
I was taken back by those words, frowning. I... what the hell does he expect me to do? Trust everyone?
Before I could figure out a response, Zayn's head dipped down, and he began to press light feathery kisses along my neck, sending me into some form of shock. I literally froze. It was almost like his kisses took the pain away. Almost.
Zayn's hands came down to my waist, pulling me into his body while he kissed along my neck, up to my jawline, before lightly nibbling on my left ear.
"Breathe." He whispered softly. Oh right.
I took a shaky breath in, I barely realised I'd forgotten to do the most fundamental thing in staying alive.
His left hand held my hip still, while his right reached up and around my back, rubbing soothing circles into it. I felt like I was melting into his hold, mouth unable to come up with coherent words. What the fuck?
What was Zayn doing to me? Nobody had ever made me feel this... gooey before.
"I'll ask you more tomorrow; but for now, lets go to sleep. Come on." Zayn lifted his head, staring down at me, nodding his head towards the door.
"I.. uh. yeah." I found myself fumbling through the words, before Zayn smiled, pressing a kiss to my lips, and leaving the bathroom swiftly.
Climbing into the bed beside Zayn felt a little awkward, like the boys could see us. But, their snores told me they were all fast asleep. including Luke.
I turned to face away from Zayn, trying not to make too much noise as I moved.
"You wanna spoon? I'll let go before we fall asleep." Zayn offered in a whisper, and I felt my cheeks heat up.
As long as we didn't fall asleep...
"Uh, fine. but don't be weird." I muttered, trying to ignore the thumping in my chest when Zayn moved closer, pulling my back into his chest and hugging me tightly. It was heavenly.