Page 9 of Fall

"Me, too," Izzy says, standing up.

Izzy and Blake follow me out from the balcony and down the stairs to the lower floor. I filter through the barely-dressed bodies of people before closing my eyes and letting the music relax me. It’s a fast song I don’t recognise, but it’s easy to move to.

I don't know how long I'm dancing with my eyes closed when I feel large, warm hands grabbing my hips and pulling me back to an impossibly-hard chest. I stiffen in reaction as fear claws up my throat.

It can't be Daniel.

"Only me, siren. I wanted a dance," Harley's deep, throaty voice whispers next to my ear, and my body instantly relaxes into his arms.

I open my eyes to see Izzy dancing near me with Blake, but, thankfully, he is distracting her. I turn to face him slowly, and he keeps his hands on my sides the whole time, as if he doesn’t want to let me go far; I know I feel the same.

I know I will regret this in the morning. I will regret letting any man get close to me again. But Harley King isn’t just any man. I start swaying my hips and I wind my arms around his neck as my body takes control, the beat of the music is slow, and he knows how to move to it. We are pressed so tightly together that I can smell his incredible scent even with the scent of beer on his breath.

His body is hard but soft as we melt together. I forget who, and where, we are as I gaze up into his eyes and lean on my tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his shocked lips. I pull away so I can lean up to his body to whisper into his ear.

"Thanks for a memory I won't forget. I needed to escape for a while."

I pull away from his warm body as I quickly move off the dance floor. Finding my way outside, I hail a taxi waiting outside the club. I send a text to Izzy, telling her I've gone home as I don't feel well.

Only when I'm on my way back to the house do I relax, remembering how perfect Harley tasted and how, at least, I have one good memory from the last few months to remember. Even if it can never happen again.

Chapter Five

Harley

"How did you do that?" my girlfriend Hazel asks as I pull on my shirt while she watches.

I turn to look at her as I pull my jeans up. Hazel is pretty in that classic, brown-haired, blue-eyed, girl-next-door kind of way. We've been dating for a year now, and it still shocks me that I've kept my home life a secret from her. I only lie to her because I care for her. Or that’s what I keep telling myself. The truth is, she is my first girlfriend and I’m in love with her. I love how simple she is, how she only wants me and nothing else. It’s easy being with her.

"Just that boxing class I told you about," I say, wanting to flinch at the lie that comes out smoothly from my mouth.

Hazel smiles, wrapping the bedsheet around her as she walks over to me. Hell, I'm a sixteen-year-old lad and I can't keep my eyes off her even after I've just had her.

"Why don't I stay at yours tonight?" She pouts, and I sigh. I don’t like letting her down, I never have, but this is just how it is now.

"Not tonight. I've got to go," I say, walking closer to her and kissing her forehead as she sighs.

"Why won't you let me stay at yours? It's always rushed with you, and then you leave," she asks me.

"We could book a hotel and stay overnight together." I avoid her question.

"Harley," she grumbles.

"I have to go," I say, not looking at her again as I leave her house and head to my car. I drive back to my home in a few minutes, and I know the boys are hiding in their rooms as Dad’s car is here.

When I walk in, I hear the music blasting downstairs in the basement, and I try to make it to the stairs without them hearing me. I don’t want to deal with this shit tonight. Just one night off would be fucking great. I know Seb is out with Luke tonight, but I couldn’t find Elliot to tell him I was going out.

"Come on, boy, your Dad has been waiting," Arthur, my dad’s best friend and business partner, says, coming out of the kitchen with some girl about my age wrapped around him.

Arthur has a cruel expression, which matches his personality, and he’s wearing an expensive-looking suit. His brown hair is cut short, and his blue eyes watch me like I’m about to run. I bet he would love it if I did, but he knows I won’t. I won’t leave my brothers with my asshole of a father.

"Okay," I grind out, letting go of my tight grip on the bannister and following Arthur down the stairs to the basement.

I'm a little taken aback to see three women, naked and dancing on the bar as music blasts through the room. I catch Elliot's guilty face as he sits by our dad in the middle of the room on one of the sofas. There's a woman sitting on Elliot's lap, kissing his neck, and I swallow the urge to vomit at the knowledge Elliot doesn't have much choice right now. You know what . . . fuck it, it's worth a beating to stop this from happening. He is too young for this, and it’s not like I can call the police or social services to help. The local police live in The Cage, and the last social worker who came here suddenly became very rich and disappeared.

"Elliot, get the fuck upstairs," I say, glaring at my father as Elliot slides the woman off his lap, jumping up and rushing out.

Elliot gets it worse than Sebastian, and I have no idea why. It’s bad enough Elliot is the image of our father, the two look so alike.

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