Page 10 of Acid

I want my dad….

A few hours later I’m sitting in the ring, my feet dangling over the edge as I look around the room, gently humming “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

I used to love this place, but now, all I can see is my father's dead body….

A few tears fall, and I wipe them away as the door opens, and I lock eyes with the ones I've fallen in love with.

Ollie, my best friend, my sparring partner, and the guy who has taken my heart without realizing it, gives me a sad smile and walks over. He kisses my head before sitting next to me, and I place my head on his shoulder, his hand going to my thigh.

"It's going to be okay, Tinker," he promises, and more tears fall, landing on his prospect cut.

He'll be an amazing brother.

"Why Tinker?" I ask.

He started calling me Tinker last year, and I'm not sure why.

He hums and admits, "Because you're small like Tinkerbell, but also because you tinker with things like your dad's car…." I snort and move to look at him. Gently, he pushes my hair out of my face, and says, "I hate seeing you cry, Tinker."

I whisper, "Sorry,” making him smile a little.

Dad's gone, my hero is gone, and now, I just feel so alone, except when I'm in Ollie's embrace. My eyes drift to his, and not caring about anything, just needing to forget, I lean forward and press my lips against his, giving him my first kiss.

For a moment, he stills, not moving, and just when I hope he'll kiss me back, he tenses before pulling back. Shame hits me hard at the look of disbelief in his eyes before he says, "Perrie, I-I, you're my friend, and I like you, but I-I…."

I swallow hard at his stutter and shake my head, mumbling, "I shouldn't have done that; let's just forget it," before I quickly jump off the ring, and rush out the door. Ollie shouts for me to come back, but I don't. Instead, I run from my heartbreak, and I don't stop until I'm twelve blocks from the gym and standing outside of a building where I promised Cass I’d not go. The fight.

I promised Cassidy I wouldn't do this anymore right before Dad died, but I need an outlet, and the fact it makes me thousands is just a bonus.

Trying to ignore my guilt at breaking my promise, I open the door and head inside, ready to forget everything.

3

Acid – Age Twenty

I sigh as I spin my phone in my hand, waiting for Perrie to message me back.

Since her dad died—since she kissed me, and I turned her down—she’s been different. She doesn’t train anymore; the gym is closed.

Cass mentioned their mom can’t deal with it so Steal offered to buy it, but he was declined so he built a ring in the basement here, hoping she’d train again, to bring the old Perrie back. But she hasn’t. She barely even speaks to me, and I fucking miss her.

I feel so lost….

I messaged her twenty minutes ago, inviting her to spar with me, and fucking nothing, and even at work, I barely get a fucking grunt outta her.

I slam my phone down on the bar, and Piston, my little brother who’s sitting on my right, raises a brow at me, but I shake my head at him, not wanting to hear it.

I get it, I love her, I know I do, but I’m fucking filth, which is something he doesn’t know, and not only that, I wake several times a fucking night screaming from my memories. I can’t put that on her, and I also can’t lie to her either, and to be with her includes explaining my past, and I fucking can’t.

She knows my father is a dick, but that’s about it.

I can’t have her looking at me with disgust. It’s bad enough that Piston looks at me with resentment most days.

He thinks I abandoned him when I left home at eighteen, but I fucking didn’t. I worked with the club to try and bring Aiden down, failing at that at every turn, so I paid the fucker instead while running his drugs until Piston was old enough to leave.

When I gave Piston a prospect cut, he was shocked but elated. However, since seeing how I lived after moving out, the resentment has hit him, even if he tries to hide it now that he’s a brother.

“Why don’t you call her?” Piston asks, and I sigh.

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