Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (13 page)

After another ten minutes, my Dad walked in the door. I squealed and threw my arms round his neck, hugging him tightly, I hadn’t seen him since Saturday morning when I left for Stacey’s. “Hey pumpkin, how was your weekend?” he asked, kissing my forehead grinning.

I smiled happily, “It was awesome actually. What about yours?” I asked, biting my lip as my thoughts instantly flicked to Jamie, I could feel the blush creeping up in my cheeks and I prayed my Dad didn’t notice.

“It was ok, quiet without you here making your usual amount of noise and causing trouble,” he teased as he flicked my nose.

“Michael, you should get changed, the Barrington’s will be here in about half an hour!” my Mom called.

My Dad turned his nose up at me playfully, making me laugh. “Come help me close a shirt for tonight.” He winked at me, nodding towards his bedroom.

“Sure. I’ll be right back to help with the vegetables, Mom,” I called over my shoulder, skipping off after my Dad before she could stop me.

I flopped down on his bed, watching as he opened his briefcase and pulled out a bar of white chocolate and threw it at me. I laughed and instantly tore it open while he sat down next to me.

“Nice choice,” I told him, breaking it up.

My Mom didn’t allow candy, it wasn’t good for the ‘healthy body image’ that she was so keen to portray, so my Dad bought it for us in secret. This was a regular thing, us sneaking into his room to eat when he got home from work.

“So, you and Mark got back together?” he asked, shoving in another piece and chewing quickly. We had to eat it quick in case we got caught, the lectures were relentless but to be honest the risk made the chocolate taste better, it always had done since I was a little kid.

I shook my head, “Nope. We broke up, not back together.”

He looked at me confused, “Then why the hell are the Barrington’s coming over for dinner tonight?”

I sighed and shrugged, “You know what Mom’s like, she wants me with Mark. She won’t accept it, she thinks it’ll blow over,” I muttered, trying not to get annoyed about it again.

He rolled his eyes, “It does usually blow over, but I thought you said on Friday night that this was it now, that you weren’t getting back with him.”

I nodded in confirmation, “I’m definitely not. She’ll see in time. Tonight should be a real barrel of laughs.” I winced at the thought of how painful this evening would be.

He groaned, “Great, I’m looking forward to this already!” he said sarcastically, jabbing me in the ribs, making me laugh.

“Yeah, me too,” I said, offering him the last piece of chocolate.

He shook his head, “You have it, pumpkin. Right then, should I go for the blue?” he asked, heading to his closet and pulling out a blue button down shirt.

“Yup. I guess I’d better go back out and help with the veggies. Same time tomorrow, and I’ll buy,” I said grinning as I skipped back to the kitchen. I loved my Dad, he really was the best in the world.

Half an hour later the doorbell rang and I felt my heart sink, I guess in a way I was hoping that Mark would cancel or something, but wishful thinking never get’s you anywhere. Both of my parents looked at me expectantly. “Great, I’ll get it then shall I?” I asked, rolling my eyes and heading for the door.

I opened it to see Mark’s parents standing there, smiling politely, holding a bottle of expensive looking wine and a basket of fruit. Mark’s parents really were wealthy and it probably pained them to think that their son was dating a girl like me. Not that we were poor or anything, actually my Dad did really well for himself. He was a financial adviser and we definitely weren’t short of money, but compared to the Barrington’s I would imagine that we looked kind of like vagrants.

“Good evening, Ellie. How are you tonight?” Susan asked politely.

How was I? Uncomfortable, embarrassed, harassed and annoyed.

“I’m fine thank you, Mrs. Barrington. How are you?” I replied, smiling and ignoring the way she was looking me over in my casual clothes.

“We’re very well,” she said smiling awkwardly.

“That’s great. Come on in, dinners almost ready,” I said, opening the door wide, trying not to make eye contact with Mark who was grinning at me wickedly from behind his parents. My Mom appeared and thankfully took them off of my hands, showing them into the lounge for drinks. I took their coats and headed to the cupboard to hang them up.

Mark followed me, as I knew he would, and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Hey, forgiven me yet?” he whispered, biting my earlobe.

I elbowed him in the stomach and pulled out of his arms. “Mark seriously, stop it! I told you I don’t want,” I started, but he turned me around and kissed me full on the mouth. I pushed on his chest and pulled my head back, glaring at him. “You are really starting to piss me off! I’m sorry, but we’ve broken up, this is it now, don’t keep thinking that I’m going to change my mind, I won’t!” I growled quietly, still not wanting to cause a scene.

He gave me his pleading, puppy dog face, and stepped closer to me. “Ellie please, I said I’m sorry what more do you want? What can I do? I’ll do anything, you want me to beg? I’ll beg,” he pleaded, dropping down to his knees holding my hands, making me blush. Damn, this is embarrassing! “Please Ellie?” he whispered kissing the back of my hand.

Damn it! Why the hell does he have to do this to me? If he was like this all the time then it would be a different story, but he’s not.

“You like my top, Mark?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. He would hate it if I went out in this top, it was just a plain black fitted tank top but I had a red bra underneath that you could see the strap of.

He looked at it and frowned, “Yeah, it’s nice,” he answered immediately. I could tell from the tiny twitch of his eye that he didn’t mean that at all.

“Yeah, I have it in white too. I was thinking I’d wear it to school tomorrow, with that denim skirt, you know the short one that you don’t like….” I trailed off, smiling sweetly.

That did it, he jumped up, “Fuck that! You can’t wear that to school, you’ll look like a slut and all the guys will be thinking you’re easy. Don’t you fucking dare!” he growled angrily.

Now there’s the Mark I broke up with! “Thanks, you just made this night a lot easier for me.” I yanked my hands from his and walked off quickly before he could stop me. Asshole.

All through dinner I ignored Mark playing with my hair and tracing his fingers down the back of my neck. I smiled when I was supposed to, adding my piece to the conversation when I was expected to. When the talk turned to Mark and I going to college, I glared at him warningly. He had obviously neglected to mention to his parents that we’d broken up.

“So obviously, what with you two being in the same college, you’ll be spending quite a bit of time together, do you think maybe you’ll be thinking of living together?” Mark’s dad asked curiously, making me almost choke on my drink. What the hell?

“Maybe, I mean it would be easier if we rented together,” Mark answered before I could even open my mouth. Holy crap, he is seriously taking this too far. As much as he was pissing me off right now I still couldn’t embarrass him in front of his parents.

I grabbed my plate and Mark’s and stood up, “Mark, how about you help me with the dessert?” I asked through my teeth, trying to keep my face neutral.

He stood up and took the plates out of my hand, smiling sweetly, “Sure thing, baby.”

I stormed off to the kitchen, taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. When I heard him come in, I rounded on him. “What the hell was that? Are you not listening to me? It’s over! This needs to stop, I want you to leave, right now. Tell your parents you’re not feeling well or something and leave!” I cried angrily.

He closed the door to the kitchen and shook his head, “You don’t mean that, baby. I love you and you love me,” he said, wrapping his arms around me again.

“If you don’t get off me right now, I’m going to scream,” I warned.

He laughed and shook his head, “No you won’t, you don’t like to make a scene, you hate being centre of attention,” he whispered, kissing my neck. Suddenly he pulled back, his mouth open in shock. “What the fuck is that?” he spat through his teeth.

He sounded so angry that I actually flinched. What’s he talking about? “What?” I asked, confused.

“That! You have a fucking love bite on your neck! I didn’t do that! Where the hell did you get that from?” he growled, pointing accusingly. I had a love bite on my neck? Crap, Jamie must have done it and I didn’t realise! Damn it, I didn’t know what to say. “Well?” he demanded.

“We’re broken up,” I said quietly.

He slammed his hand down on the counter next to me, angrily. “No. We. Are. Not!” he growled, saying each word slowly, “I’m not letting you see someone else Ellie, you’re mine!”

“Screw you, I’ve had enough of your bullshit. What are you gonna do Mark, huh? Nothing, that’s what you’re gonna do. Let’s just go finish dinner, then you can leave, you’re seriously pissing me off right now,” I said angrily.

I turned to walk away but he grabbed my wrist making me stop. “Who was it? I swear I’ll fucking kill him!”

“Dad, can you come and help with the desert?” I shouted, raising my eyebrows at Mark.

As my Dad walked in the kitchen Mark let go of me and stormed out of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief at looked at my Dad gratefully. “Everything ok?” he asked, kissing my forehead gently, grabbing the bowls off of the side.

“Yeah, tonight is going really slow,” I whined, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Come on pumpkin, it’s almost over now,” he encouraged, smiling sympathetically and nodding back to the dining room.

The rest of the night went without incident, but Mark didn’t stop glaring at me the whole time, making me squirm in my seat uncomfortably. When they finally left, just after ten, I flopped down on my bed emotionally exhausted. He was such a stupid asshole, I wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow at school when he would ask me again about the love bite. I rubbed the side of my neck and laughed, Jamie’s such an ass for not telling me. I got up and went to the mirror looking at it, I couldn’t help but laugh. I grabbed my cell phone and text him, forgetting that I was supposed to be letting him make the first move.

‘Thanx 4 marking me stud, u just got me in trouble! X’
I sent it, then changed into my pajamas and slipped into bed.

~ Jamie ~

“Kid, seriously you still have time to back out,” Ray said, looking at me worriedly.

“Honestly, I’ll be fine, I need to do this.” I pulled out my $25 that I had and handed it to Jensen.

“So, what are my odd’s?” I asked curiously.

He smiled and slipped it into his pocket, “Kurt’s pretty badass so I’ll give you 4 – 1. People won’t bet on you, he’s won the last three competitions he’s entered and no offence Jamie, but you don’t look that tough,” he said, laughing.

I grinned and Ray burst out laughing, shaking his head. “It’s fine, think what you want I don’t care.

So with my bet I’d get $125 at 4 - 1 if I win, right?” I asked excitedly. Damn, that would be awesome, I’d get $50 just for entering then $125 too if I won, all I’d need to do is lose the next round to get another $100 on top of that. Shit, that would pay my rent for over five weeks, even if the scrap yard deal didn’t work out.

I saw Ray pull out what looked like $200 and hand it to Jensen. “I’ll definitely take a piece of that, my money’s firmly on the kid.” He slapped me on the back, grinning.

My fight wasn’t for another half an hour, I was third, so Ray and I went to stand on the sidelines and watch the two other fights. Ray was right, they were brutal, not like what I’d seen here before, this really was going to hurt. I didn’t care though, in a way I welcomed the pain, it gave you something else to think about. I’d learnt to think of it that way and it had helped me out of many a situation.

I watched Kurt discretely, he was so focused, I could see him warming up, stretching. The only thing I would have to my advantage is that he was too confident, because he’d won the last three nights he’d entered, he thought this would be easy. I wouldn’t make it easy for him, I needed this too damn badly. Finally my fight was called, I went to the middle, trying to ignore the people jeering how Kurt was going to kick my ass, and how this was an easy win.

Kurt smirked at me. “I’m going to put you in the hospital. Seriously, I’m going to fuck you up so bad you’re gonna wish you’d never woke up this morning,” he growled, looking at me, trying to be threatening.

“Dude, look were both here for the money, we don’t need to talk trash to each other, it’s not necessary,” I said amused, he was really getting into it.

“I’m going to tear you a new asshole,” he growled.

I rolled my eyes, “Honestly? Can we stop with the small talk? Damn, you talk like a bitch,” I said laughing.

“I’m going to hurt you so bad your grand kids are going to feel it!” he hissed, angrily.

I burst out laughing, “Oh $hit, stop making me laugh, this is a serious fight!” I said shaking my head. This guy was too funny, did he get these lines straight from a ‘talking trash’ book or something?

I was still laughing when Jensen blew the whistle to start the fight. Kurt immediately went to punch me in the face, so I jumped to the side moving out of the way. He rounded on me and came at me again, as he brought his foot up to kick me, I dropped down onto one knee and punched him hard in the groin.

Damn, $hit that must have hurt! It even made me wince at the thought of it. He groaned and staggered back a couple of steps.

I held my hands up apologetically, “Shit man, ouch! That hurt, right? I’m really sorry,” I said, hissing through my teeth, feeling guilty. I could see Ray laughing his ass off with Jensen in the corner.

“Mother fucker!” Kurt growled as he came at me again, he was seriously pissed now. Oh nice one, Jamie, you played the hitting in the balls card too early, good job!

He was actually a pretty good fighter and managed to land a few punches that would definitely hurt when the adrenalin wore off in a little while, but he wasn’t too good on defense. The next time he left his face unprotected, I elbowed him in the nose, I kicked him hard in the top of his thigh, making his leg give out and as he fell to his knees, I smashed my foot into his face, knocking him out cold.