Page 40 of Perfect

Considering the look on Connor’s face, Nathan made the unwise decision of remaining exactly where he was.

“I’mfuckingjoking. Calm your shit down!” he snapped back, his face rigid.

Someone in the room behind me whistled, as if to say,nota good idea as Nathan put a hand on Connor’s shoulder. Was it to warn him off or appease, you couldn’t really tell?

My stepbrother eyed where his friend (if you could call him that) had touched him, blatantly not happy that Nathan had madephysicalcontact and he released his death grip on my elbow. The skin burned from where his fingers had been. And not in a bad way.

Adrenalin bubbled in my stomach as I helplessly watched the scene unfold, not really knowing if any interference from me would help or make things worse.

The two men stood squared up to each other, their body language fierce. I recalled what Tom had said about the troubles of the past as my eyes grazed the cluster of people. There was now a large group gathered around us, like coyotes waiting for the scraps.Wastedcoyotes of course.

Connor shrugged Nathan’s hand forcefully from his shoulder, his words dripping with menace.

“If you want me to calm down dickhead, I suggest you back the hell up,” he spat his lip curled, disbelief radiated from him in waves. “Iwarnedyou at The Crown that she’s off limits. Youshouldhave sent her home. You touch her, you die, simple.”

The situation was fast escalating to full-on aggressive action. These boys were about to come to blows and it was all my fault.

Butterflies fluttered in my chest and I started to feel like I was floating. At least my legs did, which was odd considering the incident about to explode in front of me.

That annoying Natalie girl drifted past us, blatantly eyeing up Connor as if one of her ovaries was about to burst and I wanted to grab her by the hair. Yeah, that’s right,keep on walking bitchI thought, shocking myself. The alcohol appeared to be making me meaner too.

I refocused my attention. Nathan seemed to be weighing up his response to Connor’s comment, a stubborn angle to his jaw. It was definitely the alcohol giving him courage as Connor’s stance was foreboding.

“We were talking,that’sit! You don’t have to act like a fucking psycho. You get me? Or do I need to shout it in your good ear?” Nathan almost sang theatrically, a strange smirk on his face. I tried to register what he meant by ‘good ear’.

Fury twisted Connor’s features and he took a menacing step forward into Nathan’s space, getting in his face. My arm was now free and I wobbled beside him. Was the room spinning?

Tom shuffled towards the two men, attempting to calm the situation, which was brave and so not the actions of a ‘vagina’ as Nate had called him. His face was a picture of panic that would have been comical under any other circumstances.

“Come on guys, let’s not do this. It’s my fault Connor, I brought her, I fucked up, OK?”

I heard someone behind me say something about Connor and his ‘meds?’ What the hell? What kind of meds were they talking about? I’d never seen Connor take anything.

“He’s going to lose his shit,” a guy to the left of me said.

“I know, this is fucking awesome,” another chimed; clearly relishing the entertainment. There were a couple of girls to my left who were giggling, apparently excited by the thought of these two guys laying into each other. I couldn’t think of anything worse. One of them then said something about Connor fucking up Nathan at last year’s party.

My mouth opened and closed in a fish-like motion and the twitchy eye thing kicked in. Genuine horror at the thought of it getting ugly faced me like a rabid dog. Panic beat behind my ribcage. If it did kick off, my dad would certainly find out and I’d be screwed. I had lied by omission at the end of the day.

I took this as my moment to speak.

“Connor? Please?” I began with a croak, but he cut me off, darting me a dark look.

“Get in the car,” he roared, before turning back andshovingNathan in the chest,hard. Thank God the guy had the sense to step back, and he did so with both arms raised in a gesture of surrender.

“Fucks sake bro, cool it.”

Connor sneered as Nathan backed off.

“That’s what I thought youpussy,” he spat. “Now I suggest you walk away before I knock you thefuckout.” That tone held no idle threat. Connor’s low voice growled promise.

Nathan eyeballed him warily, weighing up his options. I sure hoped he made the right decision and walked away.

“If you walk away now Nathan. I’ll leave you the use of your legs,” Conor bristled in a threatening voice. A shiver shot up my spine at that tone. It was dark and relentless.

His voice dipped. “Whatever man, don’t lose your shit over nothing.”

“But maybe that’s what I want,to lose my shit. We all know I get off on it,” Connor sneered.

---