Chapter 8

Wednesday evening found me walking through the front door and making it as far as the sofa before flopping down and kicking off my heels, rubbing the soles of my aching feet I sighed as the pain in them began to subside. I picked up the remote and switched on the tv, flicking through some channels, I passed through the music category, when a good sounding song started up. Deciding to leave it on I tossed the remote back onto the sofa and walked to the kitchen, the soft fluffy feel of the carpet against my bare feet was like walking on a cloud.

Opening the fridge I pulled out a carton of orange juice and poured a glass, then made my way back into the living room, just in time to hear my phone chime with another message. I paused, the glass poised just before my lips as my eyes honed in on my phone. The blinking blue light signalling the waiting message. I had a good idea who it would be from. He hasn't stopped messaging me since that day in the park a few days back. My heart thumped in my chest as I remembered that moment between us, the feel of his lips on mine. That kiss had been on my mind almost every moment, every day that had passed since it happened, as had that moment where I had pulled away and run off. I hadn't heard his explanation about the arrangement, hadn't listened to what he said about him and Mel. Instead, for the first time in my life, I panicked and ran away. I could still hear him calling after me. He had texted later that night, he'd called several times, left voicemails. I hadn't replied once. My heart had ached with longing when I listened to his voice as he practically pleaded for me to pick up the phone, to text back, to hear him out. But I forced myself not to. I had to stop this right here, no matter what was going on, he was still engaged to Mel... to my own sister. Even though we aren't close, especially after the other day, we are blood. I can't be getting close to her fiancee, fake or not. Can I?

"Oh for fuck's sake Rox." I scolded myself covering the rest of the distance to the table and picking up my phone. I took a deep breath as I unlocked the screen and stared at the message in front of me.

What do you say to a drink and a game of pool at the pub? x

I laughed as I saw Evan's name above the message, texting a quick reply to him.

Sure, Green Archer, half an hour? x

It was the perfect distraction, a good simple, quiet night out. Barely a second later he had replied, agreeing. Clutching my phone into my hand I went upstairs and in to my bedroom, throwing my phone onto my bed I took hold of the zip on my dress, sliding it down and slipping the straps off my shoulders before letting it fall to the ground, pooling at my feet. Stepping forwards I pulled open the doors to my wardrobe, grabbed a pair of light skinny jeans from the shelf, a black long sleeved top and a pair of wedges and got changed. I'd just finished putting on my shoes when my phone rang. Sighing I crossed the room, scooping it up and answering it without even checking the ID.

"Gimme five minutes Ev-" I started before a voice cut me off.

"Not Evan." Mel said calmly, "I take it you two are off out again tonight?"

Rolling my eyes and mentally kicking myself for not checking who it was before picking up I replied.

"You mean to go get drunk and be a slut?"

I picked up my small cross body bag and shoved my purse inside then moved out of the room, walking down the stairs as Mel continued.

"I never called you a slut."

"Pretty much, anyway it's clear I have plans, so what do you want?" I said coldly, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. I heard Mel sigh on the other end.

"Okay, I guess I deserved that, I just wanted to talk to you."

An uncomfortable silence stretched for a few beats until Mel caved and continued.

"I sent you a gift the other day, but I never heard back from you, did you get it?"

"Oh you mean the expensive looking charm that served as a pathetic attempt at an apology? yeah I got it."

"Seriously? You're not even going to say thank you?" Her voice rang out a few levels higher, anger lacing every syllable.

I picked up my keys, opening the front door and stepping outside, closing the door behind me before speaking up, my own anger rising to match hers.

"Thank you Mel, for once again choosing to try to buy my forgiveness, just like every other time you've fucked up. I really appreciate it, but you know what? I have somewhere I'd really rather be, so bye." Not even waiting to hear her reply I hung up and thrust my phone into my pocket and started to walk the way to the pub.

The Green Archer pub wasn't far from my house, I made it there in just under ten minutes, as I walked through the doors I scanned the room looking for Evan. Realising he wasn't there yet, I moved towards the bar, several pairs of eyes turned in my direction from the men that were sitting drinking at and near the bar. I'd barely made it there when I heard Evan speak up from behind me.

"Y'alright Rox?"

I turned to see him standing about a foot away, his usual half smirk on his face and those twinkling eyes of his fixed on me in the way that I loved. Even after all these years Evan had this effect on me, one where no matter what was going on with me, in my life, my emotions... whenever he was there, I felt at ease. I felt safe and I felt like I could just let it go. Be myself and relax.

"Yep, you?" I smiled back.

"Me? ace as always sweetheart." He waved off the comment, moving forward to lean against the bar raising his hand in a wave at the barman, to get his attention.

"Hey guys, what you drinking?" The guy behind the bar asked, he seemed familiar, I recognised him as a guy who had served us in the past, but his name evaded me.

"Two Coronas please mate." Evan asked grabbing a ten pound note out of his wallet.

The barman disappeared for a moment before coming back and handing us the bottles. Evan handed him the money, telling him to keep the change before nodding his head towards the other side of the pub where a large flat screen tv was fixed to the wall above a long pool table. We'd barely made it half way before a guy sitting at a nearby table stood up and walked over, his steps were a little clumsy and the smile on his face was one I was used to seeing on the drunken sleazes that frequented the clubs on some weekends. He sidestepped Evan, pausing just in front of me, blocking my way, running his hand through his strawberry blonde hair and letting his glassy, grey eyes land on me.

"Hey there pretty lady, can I get you a drink?"

"Already got one, thanks." I stated bluntly, holding up my bottle and moving to step round him.

"Well how about you drink it with me then? Give Pretty Boy the elbow?"

Typical, I thought as I tried to refrain from rolling my eyes at him.

"I think I'll stick with 'Pretty Boy'." Before I could move around him, he held out an arm to block my way again.

"Oh come on, we can have some fun instead, sure I can be better company than him." He gestured to Evan with a wave of his hand. I looked over to see Ev, taking a drink from his beer, leaning casually against the pool table with a grin on his face, amused by the whole situation.

"I doubt it, 'cause sorry, but I'm just not interested." I gave a small shrug, his smile disappeared as I dodged his arm and closed the remaining distance between me and Evan.

As I reached him he let out a hearty laugh, earning a small shove from me as I took a drink from my bottle.

"Rack 'em up." I spoke over my shoulder as I picked up a cue and set my drink down on a small shelf that lined the wall.

Evan set up the balls then stood back and lined up his shot, taking it he managed to sink two red balls. His next shot wasn't so lucky as his ball missed the target, bouncing off the edge and sailing back up to the other side of the table.

"Awww unlucky." I smirked taking up a position at the side and bending low, setting up my shot and taking aim. Making my move I hit two balls, sinking one and lining up another in the perfect place for my next shot.

The game continued, a close call at the end result, both of us being pretty evenly matched, this wasn't an unusal occurance, most of our games turned out this way. We reset the game and continued to play. With every passing hour I felt myself relax more, the stress and heartache that I was feeling, longing for Sean stinging a little less, cushioned by the presence of my best friend. We were well into our fourth game when I heard someone move behind me, the drawling voice from the drunk guy earlier spoke.

"Damn I'm loving the view babe."

I took the shot and looked up to see Evan staring daggers at the guy. His protectiveness was shining through now as he looked at the guy like a hunter would look at it's prey. Picking up my drink I gave Evan a small smile and a wink, knowing that he'd calm down if he saw I wasn't bothered. It seemed to work a bit as he unclenched his jaw and continued to play, still maintaining a close watch on the guy who had taken a seat just beside the table, nursing a pint and watching me intently. As I sunk another ball I noticed I had to take the next shot from the side of the table where that guy was sitting, sighing slightly I walked around and took up position, lining up the cue, he suddenly let out a small moan before speaking.

"Bend down just a bit lower, let me get a better view of that ass."

"Keep talking to me like that and you'll get a better view of this cue, as I ram it down your throat." I said coldly, without looking up from the table.

"Awww girl likes it rough." He laughed.

"Hey, back off!" Evan said stepping forward, his hand clenched tightly around the cue in his hand.

"Nah, don't think so," he replied, before I could straighten up from the shot, I felt a sharp slap on my ass.

For a second I felt stunned, barely seeing Evan throwing down his cue and marching around the table, but before he even got there, the fire inside me had returned as I spun round and swung at him, my fist catching the drunk guy right in the face and knocking him on to the floor.

"You bitch!" he yelled as he clutched his face, staggering back up to his feet. He stared at me, then lunged forwards, he'd barely managed to close his hand around my wrist before Evan had pulled me back and swung a punch of his own, this one landing hard and causing him to crumble to the floor in a heap, this time out cold.

"You okay Rox?" Evan asked taking my face in his hands and looking into my eyes.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." I smiled. Evan shook his head with a small laugh and wrapped me in his arms holding me close as the barman stepped round the edge of the bar and came to a stop just in front of us.

"Shit, you two okay?" He asked looking between us and the unconscious guy laying on the floor between us.

"Yeah we're fine." I said pulling back from Evan's tight embrace.

"Good, sorry I didn't know he'd take it that far, I saw he was wasted, I should have chucked him out."

"It's cool, don't worry about it, it's not your fault the guy's a sleaze." Evan said with a shrug.

"Cheers mate, look, the cops are on their way, the other barman called them when things started kicking off, I'm going to need you both to stick around until they get here."

"Oh great, fanfrickintastic," I sat on a nearby bar stool and looked back at the barman who gave me an awkward smile. "Well can I get another beer before they get here?"

He let out a small laugh, went behind the bar and pulled out two more bottles of Corona, handing one to me and one to Evan. A few minutes later they'd arrived, four cops came bursting through the doors, all poised and ready to jump into the middle of a fight. They looked around, a sign of confusion echoing on each of their faces. The guy at the front looked our way then looked at the barman.

"Someone reported a fight breaking out here?"

A female officer and one of the other males split off to look around the bar.

"Yeah my colleague reported it, It wasn't much of a fight, just this guy," He directed the police officers to the corner where the drunk was still laying, "He was harassing this woman here, and things got a little full on."

"So how come he's the one laying unconscious, if he was the one harrassing you Miss?"

"Because I defended myself, and then when he came back for more my friend here protected me."

"I see, and can anyone corroborate that chain of events?" Asked the officer, staring down at me as his colleagues rejoined him and the other two men went to check on the drunk and pull him up off the floor.

"Yes, I can, and my colleague." The barman spoke up.

The officer gave a nod to the male officer next to him, who stepped forwards and began to take notes into a small notebook as he spoke to the barmen.

"Very well. Nell, Rick, get him up and take him to the hospital to get checked over."

The girl and one of the guys heaved his unconscious form off the seat where the other two had sat him and steered him out of the pub and into the waiting car, then drove off. The cop that had been speaking to us directed his attention back to us.

"I'm going to need you two to accompany us to the station to make a statement."

"Are we being arrested here?" Evan asked.

"No sir, due to the fact that you have witnesses confirming what you have said as the truth I doubt it will go any further, but we need to get your statements down at the station."

Evan nodded as we both stood up and followed the officers out into the car park.

When we arrived at the station we were steered through a back entrance and through a small office looking space where several other officers were all standing. We were standing there for a few seconds when I heard someone calling my name.

"Roxy? Roxy Parks?"

I looked around to see one of Mel's friends and the son of my parent's close friends, Justin Kendrick.

Shit! Just what I don't need. Immediately I knew this was going to come round to bite me in the ass, the one person with more connections to my family than myself! Justin would be here. He always was close with Mel, I could practically see him mentally noting down what to tell her as soon as he had the chance.

"Justin." I greeted him briefly as he stopped in front of me. Every bit the immaculate professional, his uniform was crease free and his sandy coloured hair was slicked back, a perfectly clean shave had left him with a younger looking face than was natural for his age and his smile was professional and formal rather than warm or welcoming.

"What on earth are you doing here Roxy? and Evan." He asked looking round me to see Evan, now sitting on a plastic chair at the side.

"Got bored, thought we'd come here and liven things up, you know have a few drinks, dance along the desks in the offices." I shrugged sarcastically as Evan laughed behind me.

Justin's professional smile slipped away leaving him looking tense and irritable. Before he could say anything else, the officer who had brought us in reappeared.

"Officer Kendrick, can I help you with something?" He asked as he took in the scene before him.

"No Sarge, I was just speaking to Miss Parks here, I am a friend of her family, I was just checking what she was doing here."

"I see, well she was brought in regarding that call out to the bar fight this evening, Miss Parks, if you'd like to come with me, Mr Daniels if you follow Officer Lee," he indicated a pretty Asian officer who had just stepped up behind him, she gave Evan a small smile and walked ahead. "Let's go."

For the next half an hour or so, I was made to keep repeating the sequence of events of the evening and write a statement out. Thankfully as all of the statements matched he informed me that it wouldn't be taken any further and that the drunk had stated that he didn't wish to press charges. It seemed to go on for hours before he finally let me out of the interview room and showed me through to the front office. Tired and drained I slumped into one of the plastic chairs to wait for Evan.

"Roxy?"

I looked up to see Justin standing there, a mobile phone in his hand, he held it out to me.

"It's your sister for you." He said, with an amused looking smile on his face, one that I wanted to wipe off with a strong punch.

"Great." I muttered, taking the phone from him. "Mel, twice in one day, gotta be a record."

"Lose the attitude Roxy! What the HELL were you thinking?! Arrested for a fucking bar fight!" She practically screamed down the phone, I held it away from my ear slightly as she continued to rant down the line.

"Do you want to let me--" I tried to interject, but she ignored me, pressing on with her angry speech.

"I always knew you were reckless, you've always been able to attract trouble, but I never thought I'd get a call saying you were arrested! Drunk again? thought it was a good way to cause drama?"

"Mel! let me bloody speak!" I shouted back finally getting her to shut up, "I wasn't arrested! I wasn't fighting either, I just got brought in to give a statement, maybe you should tell your little sidekick here to get his damn facts straight next time before he opens his mouth, I don't even know why he's called you, it's none of his business and none of yours."

For a moment there was a shocked silence on the other end of the phone before Mel cleared her throat slightly and continued.

"Well I guess there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the lines. It doesn't matter."

"So no apology once again then, no surprise there."

"I am not sorry for being concerned."

"Yeah because concern was really what you were feeling there, try again Mel, if you were concerned you'd have asked if I was okay, not accused me of causing the trouble."

"Not now Roxy, I am in the middle of trying to prepare a last minute set up for a new client."

"Big surprise there then, working long into the night as usual." I sighed.

"Well anyway it means I can't come and pick you up."

"Whoa! I don't need you to come and pick me up, nor do I want you to, I can make my own way home, I always do."

"Don't be silly Roxy, your place is all the way across town, and a taxi this late will be a fortune. I've already asked someone else to come and pick you up. Anyway I have to go, I have to get this finished before morning."

"Wait, what do you mean? who is it?" I asked, but the line went dead. Great, trust Mel to start sending assistants to come and pick me up.

"Thanks for that Justin, such a help. Now kindly piss off." I smiled with false sweetness just as the door beside me opened and Evan walked in.

Justin took his phone back, looking a little sheepish and slunk away through to the back of the station.

"Damn he looks a little down, what happened?"

"He told Mel I was arrested for a bar fight, I've just had to listen to her rip my head off, told her he got it wrong, seems to have bruised his ego." I shrugged.

"Yikes, glad I missed that bit." Evan laughed.

"Yeah, sure you are, anyway Mel's decided to send someone to pick us up."

"Ah that actually works perfectly, I was going to pay towards a cab for you." He started up running his fingers through his hair.

"Wait, what do you mean for me?" I asked confused.

"Well, I have plans." He smiled as the door buzzed open again and Officer Lee walked out. Approaching Evan she gave a flirtatious smile, whispered something to him and then walked outside.

"Bloody hell Evan, only you could get carted into a police station and walk out with a hook up with a cop." I laughed as he gave me a wink.

"Natural charm Rox, I'm irresistible."

"Sure you are Ev, go on get going, before your hook up looks for someone else to take home tonight." I teased. He pulled me into a hug, kissed me on the cheek and then swept out of the front door.

I took a deep breath as I paced the small entrance room waiting for whoever was coming to get here. Walking back into the room I turned to make another pass of the space when I froze. My ride had arrived. Standing in the doorway, just as beautiful as always, even now, with a slightly concerned and confused expression on his handsome face. He was here.

"Sean."