Page 61 of The Rescue

“Where are you staying?” I ask her, ignoring the part about making amends. I’m not so quick to forgive.

“With a friend, in the next town over. Until I get back on my feet.”

I peer over my mum’s head, and catch Angus whispering in Crystal’s ear, she’s laughing at whatever he’s saying. I want this conversation with my mum to be over, I can’t stand Crystal getting cosy with Angus any longer.

“If you want, you can have a couple of shifts a week cleaning the cafe after we close for the day. Just until you get back on your feet, and it’s on a trial basis,” I remind her.

A large smile spreads across my mum’s gaunt face.

“And as far as making amends goes, I don’t think I’m there yet, sorry.”

“I won’t let you down, I promise.”

“Yeah. Excuse me,” I cut her off. Her promise falls short on me, I don’t expect much from my mum when she’s let me down so many times before.

I brush past her, and make my way through the crowd towards Crystal.

23

Crystal

I spotted Rabbie as soon as I walked in the hall.I was hoping I’d feel nothing when I saw him. But seeing him wearing a kilt, standing tall above most of the hall with his messy blonde hair was hard. I’m wearing his clan’s tartan. I picked it out as a surprise the day before we went up to the cabin. We hadn’t even kissed at that point, but I thought it would be nice to show my appreciation for him by wearing his clan’s tartan.

I knew that Dylan was wearing the MacTavish tartan and Fiona would be wearing her own clan’s. But, after last night I feel like an idiot for wearing it. I tried to get out of wearing it, but I didn’t want to raise too many questions with the girls.

The girls ditched me as soon as they saw the boys, but I wasn’t going to make it that easy for him.

I saw a group of the locals who I’d got to know in passing as they were regulars of the cafe. They waved me over as soon as the girls went to the bar. They were a nice group, a mixtureof guys and girls. One of them who I’d seen a few times around the village introduces himself. I’d caught him staring at me a few times when I’d see him in the cafe or at The Drunken Duck. He was okay to look at, but he’s got nothing on Rabbie. He’s a lot shorter than Rabbie, only just skimming my height by a couple of inches, and I’m short. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I like my men to tower over me. He has buzzed brown hair, and brown eyes, there’s nothing striking about this guy at all. I’ve already forgotten his name. He’s holding out a glass of whisky for me, I look down at his smallish hands. If I accept this drink from him, he’s going to think I’m interested in him.

This is a dangerous game to play, because I’m not interested in this guy, not even in the slightest. And I don’t want to lead him on, but I also want to mess with Rabbie a little bit. I can feel Rabbie’s stare burning into the side of my face from all the way across the room. I look over at him, and a small seed of satisfaction starts to bubble away inside of me.

I’ve never seen him like this, he’s usually the happy-go-lucky guy with a smile on his face when he’s around his friends, but tonight he looks moody and annoyed. I take the whisky from the guy with the biggest smile I could muster, and take a sip of the drink. He smiles at me, as he steps in closer to dance with me. I see Rabbie’s shoulders tense as he downs the rest of his beer, his face is blank as he turns his back to me to get another drink from the bar.

Great, now I’m stuck with this rambling drunk, who’s getting a bit too frisky for my liking. I try to break off from this guy and join the group I’m with to make it look like we’re all dancing together, but this guy keeps shimmying up to me. He clearly isn’t getting the hint. I glance over at Rabbie, and his face is like stone. I can see Dylan trying to talk to him but his eyes are glued on me. Usually he gives people their undivided attention, but hisattention is on me. I’m not proud of it but I’m a little satisfied that I’ve gotten under his skin.

After the humiliation of last night, I just want to let my hair down and have fun. I wish I was dancing with Rabbie, and not this guy. His stale breath is making me gag every time he breathes on me. He puts his hands on my hips and I try not to look like it’s made me super uncomfortable. His hands feel wrong on me, they don’t come close to Rabbie’s large beautiful hands, not one iota.

I look over at Rabbie, and his face is like thunder. He finishes his drink and puts it on the bar behind him. He excuses himself from the group and starts to make his way through the crowd. I can feel the anger radiating off him as he slowly stalks through the crowd towards me. My stomach bottoms out, and my mouth goes dry. I’ve never seen him this pissed off. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him pissed off about anything.

He’s so close to me, I can smell his musky scent. It fills my nose, and I try to keep some composure. I don’t know how this is going to go.

He’s about to storm over when his mom stops him. Where the fuck did she come from? She just popped up out of the blue. Rabbie stops in his tracks, and looks down at his mom. His face has gone pale, and I see his eyes dart to the exit. He’s in fight or flight mode. He shifts uncomfortably on his feet, and I hate that I’m not over there with him. The pained expressions across his face tells that it’s not a pleasant situation for him. He isn’t saying much, not that I can hear anyway. They’re deep in conversation, I can’t hear them over the loud music. Guilt drowns me as I look at him.What am I doing?

Andy. Antony. Whatever his name is, grabs me and twirls me around so fast that the dram of whisky I had to drink nearly makes a reappearance. I try to focus on Rabbie but I’m so dizzyI can’t see straight. I’m giggling from the heady feeling, when I collide with something rock solid.

I slowly look up to a smouldering Rabbie looking down at me, his nostrils flaring, his chest rising.

“Mo beag. What are you doing?”

He looks down at me with a murderous glare. I didn’t see him finish his conversation with his mom. I want to ask him if he’s okay, but I’m still mad at him. He’s waiting for me to answer. Good, he’s finally getting a taste of his own medicine.

“Havingfun, what does it look like,” I emphasise the word fun.

Rabbie is standing close enough to me, I can feel him shaking with anger.

The touchy feely guy grabs my wrist and tries to pull me back to dance with him. Rabbie stares him down.

“Fuck off, Anderson.” He snaps.

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