Stronger with You (With You Trilogy) (19 page)

“Jelly, come sit with me,” he said, his voice kind again.

I scuttled off the sofa with a little help from the twins and went to sit next to him. He motioned for Rick to turn the television off when we heard Jake running down the stairs again.

He almost fell into the room with beads of sweat on his forehead. I heard myself gasp at the sight of Nelly in his hands and I found myself grinning when I saw that he hadn’t hurt her.

“Well?” Ian snarled at Jake, leaning forwards on the sofa and giving him a glare that I most definitely didn’t want to be on the receiving end of.

Jake hung his head and didn’t make eye contact. He took a few clumsy steps towards me, approaching from my far side, away from Ian.

“Sorry, Jelly,” Jake mumbled, not making eye contact as he handed Nelly to me.

I grabbed her away from him quickly, unsure as to whether they were playing a joke on me. I looked up at Ian and he smiled at me. He’d figured out that Jake was up to something and stepped in to stop it. I threw my arms round him, still clinging to Nelly and hugged him in appreciation.

“Was that why you weren’t talking, Jelly?” He asked me softly.

I looked up and nodded.

“Are you going to start talking now?” He asked, his voice still calm.

I kept my eyes on him but couldn’t answer. I wanted to but I didn’t want to lose the sliver of strength the silence had given me. I didn’t shake my head but I didn’t nod either. I knew I must have looked confused.

After a while, Ian sighed and looked up at my brothers. He ordered Jake up to his room and asked me to wait outside the lounge. I did as I was told, trembling slightly because I thought I was going to be in trouble for not answering him.

I sat outside in the hall, leaning against the wall opposite and hugging Nelly tight. I didn’t dare sit too close in case they thought I was eavesdropping, if they’d wanted me to hear what they were saying, they wouldn’t have asked me to wait outside. The thought made me nervous. I could hear their low voices talking but I couldn’t make out the words.

When Ian opened the door, I looked up at him nervously but he smiled kindly and motioned for me to come back into the lounge. I followed him, confused as to what was going on. He signalled for me to sit down on the futon and I obeyed, staring up at my brothers opposite me.

“Jelly, I need to ask you some questions. You can just nod or shake your head, okay?”

I nodded that I understood, scanning my brothers faces for any hints of anger. I didn’t find any.

“Did you stop talking because Jake took Nelly?” He asked.

I nodded, hugging her tight to my chest.

“Do you want to start talking again now?” He queried, his face still kind.

I hesitated, I didn’t want to make him angry but I really didn’t want to talk.

“It’s okay, Jelly. We won’t be mad. I just need to know so that we can look after you. Do you want to start speaking again?” He smiled and the others mirrored the expression.

None of them looked nervous or uncomfortable so I shook my head cautiously.

“Okay, that’s up to you,” he nodded.

I couldn’t help but gape at him. I hadn’t expected him to just accept it. I hadn’t expected him to understand, but he didn’t look mad at all. He was still smiling.

“Does your throat hurt? Does it feel like it might hurt if you talked?”

I shook my head. It didn’t hurt, I was sure I could talk if I made myself.

“Has something bad happened? Something you’re scared to tell us?”

I racked my brains. The only bad thing that had happened was Jake taking Nelly away from me and threatening to hurt her. I had her back now then and I hugged her tight again as I shook my head.

“Okay,” he nodded, apparently relieved. “You take your time, Jelly. You can talk to us whenever you’re ready. We wont push you.” Ian’s face looked concerned now as his eyes scanned me.

I smiled and nodded my understanding, grateful that they were giving me this concession. I knew I was being stupid, but I wanted my words to be just for me.

“However, we need to be able to look after you and make sure you’re okay,” Ian continued, standing up from the sofa and standing by the fireplace. I swivelled round on the futon so I could carry on looking at him.

“If you need to go to the toilet, or you’re hungry or thirsty, you need to be able to let us know.”

I frowned at him, I didn’t understand how I was supposed to do that.
Maybe I could write it down?

“If you’re hungry, you can do this,” he said, making his hand into a fist and drawing a big circle on his tummy. “Can you do that?”

I nodded and did the same gesture.

“Good girl. This is how you can tell us that you’re thirsty.” He put his hand to his throat and did a little fluttering movement with his hand, then looked at me expectantly.

I mirrored the movement and he nodded approvingly.

“Sleepy or tired.” He put his thumbs on his chest with his hands palms down and then let his hands fall so that they were flat to his chest. I did the same and he smiled at me.

“And if you need the toilet, do this.” He held his hand out with his palm facing down and tapped it with his pointing finger.

He taught me how to say sorry, please, and thank you, and then went through all the signs with me again, saying a word and then making me do the sign. He also made sure Craig and the twins could recognise each sign when I did them.

When we were done he knelt down in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders.

“You know what the most important sign is?” He grinned.

I shook my head and his grin broadened.

“This one.” He pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tight. “Give us one of those and we’ll know you’re happy and everything’s okay. Understood?”

I nodded and put two fingers on my chin then moved them away, thanking him like he showed me.

“Good girl,” he smiled, pushing back up to standing.

Chapter 15

Saturday, 26th January 2013

We were finally back in the Beast, cruising along in the inner city. It had only taken twenty minutes of Ian and Karl screaming about my inappropriate attire before they’d given up and dragged me into the limo.

I had totally not expected there to be an argument about my dress. I’d gone out of my way to pick one that revealed as little skin as possible. I’d gone for a plain black, slinky sheath dress with three-quarter length arms. A ruched seem ran all the way down the front, adding detail to an otherwise plain dress. It came down to just above my knees and the deep V-cut barely revealed anything because of my small bust. I mean, sure, it was tight and clung to every inch of me, but if it hadn’t been I might as well have been wearing a black bin bag.

The dress was a statement in itself so I’d omitted the jewellery and worn only the beautiful earrings Jason had bought me for Christmas. I loved everything about the earrings, they were delicate and the design was beautiful. The thing I loved most about them, though, was that Jason had chosen them himself, just for me.

I’d paired the dress with a simple but stylish pair of silver heels, which Jason had insisted on getting me because he said they made him want to have them wrapped round his head. I’d been blushing so hard from his comment that I hadn’t been able to protest while he pulled out his debit card and paid for them.

They were probably the only part of the outfit I’d been worried about my brothers reacting to because usually they didn’t like me wearing high heels.

However, tonight they seemed more caught up on the fact that the dress was very tight. After exhausting all their options, going so far as to suggest I wear jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt – to a club, they’d given up and insisted that I had better stay within a foot of one of them at all times. I’d inwardly rolled my eyes in exasperation but bowed to their stipulations just to keep them happy.

We’d eaten a delicious dinner at a really posh restaurant, which had me sending up a silent prayer of thanks that I’d been allowed to stay in my elegant dress instead of wearing one of my brothers’ t-shirts to a fine-dining experience.

My brothers, Craig aside, had all been drinking beer alongside their meals and if the waitress hadn’t been quite so efficient, I’m pretty sure the long table would have been completely covered by the time the meal was over. They weren’t holding back.

It meant they were pretty relaxed and having a good time and Jake was grinning broadly. It made me happy to see them all like this. They deserved to be happy.

“Craig,” Ian nodded to him as we clambered out of the Beast at our next destination. “You’re on Jelly duty. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Craig nodded firmly, apparently not too intimidated by the glare he shot us that promised he’d have the pair of us hung drawn and quartered if we caused any trouble.

We walked a short distance down Collingwood Street before Ian stopped outside a bar called ‘Vilse’. 

Jake grinned excitedly over at Ian. “Is this where we’re going?”

Ian nodded, wrapping his arm around Jake’s shoulders with a playful look in his eye.

“I’ve never gotten in here before, they’re pretty fussy about who they let in,” Jake frowned, looking a little doubtful.

“Won’t be a problem tonight,” Ian smirked.

It was only half past nine but there was already a pretty large queue forming outside the building. I shivered slightly, not looking forward to standing still for any length of time. To my surprise, Ian walked straight past the queue and up to the bouncers by the front door.

He and Karl exchanged a few words with them and they grinned and chatted with each other like old friends.
I shouldn’t be surprised by this point in time. One of my brothers always knows someone who knows someone
.

“Cheers, Corporal,” I heard Karl say, shaking hands with one of them.

“It’s just Ed now,” the bouncer grinned at Karl, then nodded and waved the rest of us in.

We were greeted by a short, smiley brunette with an official looking neck tag who, after giving my brothers a few appreciative stares, guided us to a private booth. She introduced herself as Kylie and handed out sleek black plastic cards to each of us.

She returned shortly with a whole crate of beers and stressed that they just had to ask if there was anything we needed. She emphasised the word
anything
as her eyes travelled over Karl.

The moment her back was turned Karl shook his head in amusement. “I should have brought Elise,” he frowned.

“Need her to protect you from all the scary girls?” Matt laughed.

“You know damn well they’d need protecting from her,” Karl grinned. “Besides, there’s only so many polite ways you can tell a lass that this well oiled machine is not meant for them.” He gestured to his toned body, his voice deadly serious.

And he thinks Craig is the cocky one
, I laughed inwardly and turned my head away from them to observe the dance floor. The bar was really tastefully decorated. The walls were all red brick, like the building had once been a factory, but elegant chandeliers and subtle lighting added an element of sophistication.

The clientele seemed to be mostly well dressed. There were a lot of men in suits and women wearing shoes that definitely weren’t Primark specials. There were a few of the compulsory night out girls with orange faces and push-up bras but they weren’t as predominant as usual.

Craig dragged me to the bar and ordered a water for himself before asking me what I wanted. I almost asked for a water as well but then Jason’s voice popped into my head and had me ordering a J2O. I grinned to myself, knowing he’d be happy with my choice. Craig handed over his black card and the bartender filled a tray up with the drinks he ordered. He kept his arm around my shoulders as he guided me back to the table, balancing the tray in his spare hand.

Aside from the juice and the water, the tray was almost entirely filled with shots of vodka. I eyed them curiously,
that’s a lot of shots
.

Noticing my curiosity Ian leaned over to me and pointed at the shots. “Birthday ritual,” he grinned.

Since this was the first major birthday any of my brothers had celebrated since I hit the legal drinking age, this was a ritual I had yet to witness.

“He has until midnight to drink all twenty-one shots. For each shot, or set of shots, he has to complete a task. If he fails, he has to drink it, if he succeeds, he gets to pick one of us to drink the shot instead,” Ian explained, grinning mischievously.

“He can’t make me drink it can he?” I asked, a little panicked at the prospect of being force-fed that much alcohol.

“No,” Ian said firmly. “You won’t be drinking tonight.”

I pouted automatically. I didn’t mind not drinking, it didn’t bother me, but I was a little upset at how easily he made the decision for me.

“I don’t want to hear you complaining, Jelly,” he warned.

“I wasn’t going to, I promise,” I reassured him.

“Good. If you’re drinking then I’ll have to keep an eye on you and then I can’t enjoy myself,” he explained.

I nodded my understanding and rested my head on his shoulder. I figured he deserved a night out without worrying about me. He’d been looking after me for so long without a break. Thinking like that made me forget the small things, like the fact that he was currently in possession of my phone.

“Are the tasks hard?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation back to safer topics.

“Some are easy,” he shrugged, but I got the impression those were in the minority. “I’ll show you.”

He grinned mischievously and shouted Jake’s name across the table. He raised his beer and we all clinked bottles and toasted Jake.

“Task one,” Ian grinned, drawing the family’s attention. “You have ten minutes to get three phone numbers, for three shots. Choose a witness. Time starts… now,” Ian ordered, pressing a button on his watch to start a timer.

Jake looked around at my brothers, evaluating his choices. He tugged at Danny’s arm and dragged him to the bar towards a group of women.

“Witness?” I asked Ian with a grin.