New to New York

“Like…the topping?” Did she really just hear him call this place Carmel? She tried to picture Jake growing up here, walking down this street to the beach board in hand or over head or however you carry it around.

“Not quite. Its full name is Carmel by the Sea but people around here just usually call it Carmel. It’s a pretty sweet place though.” Dominic smiled back at her and laughed. Until then she hadn’t realized her fists were clenched tight, her nails cutting little crescent moons in her palms, and her stomach clenched with a worrying amount of excitement and anticipation. “Hey, you okay?” his smirk had faded to concern in a matter of a second.

Jake turned around in his seat puzzled. Something about his look made guilt rear its ugly head in her mind. A slideshow of Jason flashed through her head, him back on that first night at Quin’s, him showing her his tattoos oh so cautiously, and then the night they first slept together – oh that night was pure bliss. It came to end though with the last image she’d seen of him with his face stuck to that blonde’s.

“Yeah,” she cleared her throat, “yeah, I’m okay. Just tired; nerves ya know?” She looked around herself and realized too late that there was nothing of hers to gather; just old fast food bags and empty board waxing cases. “So you gonna show me the house or what?” she made her voice perky to mask all bits of doubt and bounced out of the car.
Behind her she heard Dom ask, “Is she BI Polar?”

“Nah, just being a girl,” Jake’s replied. It was followed soon by the sound of both their doors slamming shut and the heavy thumps of feet up the old, wooden porch steps.

The entrance to the little bungalow was an old screen door with chipping red paint that had to be at least 20 years old. The fence was sticks of driftwood chained together and stuck into the sandy dirt around the yard. Everything about this place nearly screamed beach getaway. From inside she heard Sublime mingle with Beastie Boys with some Swayze thrown in.

Willow took a deep breath and felt something almost settle inside her. It wasn’t like in New York when she realized she’d start an exciting adventure. No, this was more solid, like a boulder rolling into place. This was something that both scared and delighted her.

Dom opening the door pulled her out of her inner analysis and back to the present. She was surprised to find her mouth turned up in an easy smile and her stomach unknotted, almost relaxed like she was coming home.

The first thing that greeted them was a pixie like girl with deep, emerald hair. She reminded Will so much of Addi her eyes began to water at the thought of what she must be going through not knowing what happened to them. What Jason must be going through.

She quickly banished that thought with white hot anger. No doubt he was being comforted by the blonde bimbo, herself just a distant memory.

'“Jake!” Pixie girl squealed and ran up to Jake who towered her almost as much as he did Addi. “Ohmigawd! I missed you so much!”

He scooped her up and swung her around in a loose circle that was identical to something you’d see of a brother - sister reunion on Disney. The girl giggled as Jake set her down again, he held her at arm’s length to examine her top to bottom. “Kiwi…” he said after a while.

“You like it? It’s sort of new.” She put a hand on her green hair and smiled. “I’ve yet to hear anything but compliments by the way.”

Dominic chuckled behind Will. “That’s not true, what was it I told you? Oh yeah, I said it looked like those horses off the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City.”

“And I take that as a compliment,” she said defiantly. Willow instantly liked her.

*****

Rob had called Jason into his office and sat him down for a one-on-one, heart to heart as he liked to call it. He was gonna offer his prized fighter the promotion of a lifetime and with his little delicious latte treat out of the way there wasn’t anything to stop him from taking the job.

Yes, this was working out exactly as he wanted it too.

*****

Dominic stood stone still like a protecting statue next to Will as the living room slowly emptied out as people came to greet Jake like a long lost brother. A golden, brown boy with deep golden hair loped in first, giving Jake that handshake all guys know. “That’s Kennan,” Dominic whispered low to Willow. She ignored the goose bumps on her skin and the tingle of her spine. “He’s 23, the oldest around here. Kiwi is only 20, she’s runaway since 17 so she’s pretty tough.”

Then a dark haired guy who looked like Dom himself out of the corner of her eye stepped into the doorway. “Jake, bro, where you been? East coast not treating you right?” he snuck a glance in Will’s direction before anyone could see, but she and Dominic noticed.

“That’s Paul. He can be an ass so take everything he says in strides. I blame where he’s from; Alabama.” After he said that, Paul’s accent became more pronounced to her ears. Next came a dark skinned not quite a man, but older than the title of boy, with pretty light green-grey eyes. He reminded her of Jake but younger, less stressed.

“Mark, he’s a cool guy. Stick with him and everything is pretty chill.” The affection in this description made Willow turn her head and search his face. He sounded almost brotherly even though there couldn’t be any shared blood between them, the way she saw him changed in that moment and she was no longer apprehensive.

“Hey, Mark,” Jake said shaking his hand. “How’s it going?” he gestured to Mark’s left leg as he shrugged.

“Same old, same old. As long as the weather is okay, I’m fine.” He smiled the kind of smile that washes worlds of worry away. “Don’t worry ‘bout me anyways, man.” Mark was also the only one to come and introduce himself to Willow. “Hey, I’m Mark but I’m sure Dom has already told you that.”

Dominic looked down on him, he was a good foot and a half taller, and smiled sheepishly. “You caught me, I’m over here playing news caster.”

“Need an assistant?” he asked taking Will’s other side. Dom shrugged, and Mark offered his hand to Will.

“I’m Willow, but I mainly go by Will.”

“Well, that’s good. We’re big on nick names here, right Dom?” She want sure if it was the poor lighting or what but in that moment Mark looked swallow and pale under his dark skin.

Dominic flashed him a smile before going to his statue stance as a ginger guy with freckles and messy hair walked in like he just woke up.

“Nice of you to join us,” Kennan said from the corner he was leaning on, arms crossed. “Will, this is Lionel. He’s our PG, person ginger, but don’t ask him anything math related cause the pot smoking has screwed that part of his brain up.”

Lionel shot a lazy grin in her direction with half closed eyes. “Hey, there chica. What’s happening?”

“Nothing much, you?” she smiled back at him as the rest of the group started hushed laughter.

He shrugged his shoulders and turned back into the room he came from. Apparently the conversation was over and Lionel had a bowl to smoke that needed his full attention.

“Are there any more people living here?” Willow leaned towards Mark and half whispered. Dominic had turned to Keenan talking about a swell later that week and Kiwi was in deep thought about something Paul had said after giving her a long, hard look over. “This house can’t be that big…”

“Oh, it’s not. Lionel and Kiwi live down the street in a light blue house, Paul and I live here with Dominic sometimes; he’s kinda a drifter in a sense, then Keenan stays with Nate and/or Oliver; whoever isn’t in Hawaii at the time.” She was trying to log this all in the super computer people called the human brain, but everything was starting to come into full focus now that she wasn’t worried about Dominic or Mark or anybody here really. Well, maybe a little about Lionel but since Jake was acting fine about it she wasn’t going to put a spotlight on it.

Will reached up to run a hand through her hair but found it caked with salt from the air, dirt, and a little blood. It occurred to her that she must look completely scary, zombie-ish even with the remains of whatever make up had survived the tears, and kidnapping. She tried discreetly to peek over at Dominic then internally scolded herself. Why should she care what he thought of her appearance anyway? She was a recently dumped kidnappie for Christ’s sake!

But all this was too late because Mark had already noticed her peeking around. His thoughtful, observant eyes would be a problem if she didn’t figure out a poker face soon. It was about time she learned to control her emotions like she’d seen Addi do on so many occasions. Especially considering the people she’d been keeping company with for so long.

“The bathrooms are down the hall, to the left at the end.” He said nodding toward to the doorway Lionel had gone down which had smoke wafting out now.

His voice was loud enough to pull Dominic out of his conversation and place his eyes on warily on her dirty, smeared with makeup face and to top it all off she had started blushing under his examination. “I can show her. With those directions she’s bound to get lost in that hallway,” he smiled warmly and reached for her hand to guide her.

A few things happened concurrently at that moment. As he reached for her hand, heart sped up, her eyes ran paths up his arm to his face and lips then back down again. The blood was rushing so fast to her face that there was a quiet ocean roar in her ears that drowned out the rest of the room which had stopped in suspended time as they all watched. There was only the noise of the Boomerang channel followed by Lionel’s deep laughter.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Dominic seemed to come to his senses but he’d be damned if he’d let these people see him shrink back from something he wanted. He knew all eyes were on him, saw the color rising in this beautiful girl’s cheeks, and knew he wanted her to be with him and him alone. He wanted to take her mind of whoever had hurt her back in New York, part of him even wanted to find those pricks that stole her.

So he followed through with his reach and cupped his hand around hers. His pulse quickened. Will’s hand was so small and soft, perfectly fitting in his, somehow being light but grounding. “It’ll only take a second and then Kiwi can give you some clothes to sleep in and other stuff that you’d need; right Kiwi?”

“Right,” she said from across the room, it sounded like it through clenched teeth though. “I might have some stuff left over here.”

He didn’t let his smug satisfaction show, but felt its full force bloom in his chest. “Follow me and I’ll show you the way to comfort.”

&&&&&

“Jason!” Addi chased the retreating figure through Jimmy’s narrow hallway. “Jason!” she yelled again.

“Addi, stop fucking following me; I don’t need a mother fucking babysitter!” he yelled over his shoulder, the walls shook with just the promise of violence in his tone. “I heard what Rob said earlier, heard what he did just to manipulate me! Me and you by the way. And you want to know what else? I think you had it already figured out.” He stopped two thirds down the hall and Addi ran into his back which had become leaner than normal with the extra workouts and fights.

“You did,” he said turning around. His face was stone cold, nothing but white hot anger for his loss. “You knew and you let me stay in the dark, being played like a fucking puppet. What? Were you in it too? Did you help plan it just to climb the job latter; tell me, are there more benefits higher up?”

Addi was taking off guard for a moment. She couldn’t really believe he’d accused her of purposely sending two goons after Jake and Willow. Her best friend and someone who much more; her anger flared too and she wouldn’t back down.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, Jason? Because you better be damn sure of the next thing that comes out of your mouth. No one accuses me of anything, especially when I’ve been nothing but a friend to them. I don’t think you realize the power I have over your pathetic existents of a life.” She was about to cross a line, she knew it and he knew it, but she wasn’t backing down anytime soon.

“Addi…” his tone was like a warning hiss from a scared snake in a corner. “Addi, don’t…”

“What Jason? What’s the problem? That’s why you’re here and you know it. Your parents’ saw where your life was going even before you did. I’m even willing to bet your brother did too, that’s why they sent you here after he drunk himself to the grave.”

“Addi…”

And you finally find a nice girl, my best friend in fact, and she’s head over heels for you. But yet, you still can’t keep her around. Can’t protect her. I mean look what happened after she left, you fell the fuck apart.”

“Addi, stop,” he didn’t look at her, didn’t look at anything. Everything he saw was in tints of red, and each word hit home because he’d thought the same thing too. He was completely lost without his roommate, without his Low, and now he was slowly losing Addi.
But still his anger wouldn’t ebb.

“No, Jason, you started all this. That’s another problem of yours; can never really finish something you start. Do you really think she’d want you like this? You’re a-“
Jason felt himself slip in his mind. Everything was falling and there was nothing to stop himself from falling too. He lunged for Addi, pinning her to the wall and holding her there with his forearm pressed to her windpipe. He felt as each breath struggled in and then out of her body.

“Addi, I don’t want to do this,” his voice was just above a growl. “But don’t go pulling out my ghosts, ‘cause baby, I know where yours hide too. You’re no saint, no angel. You’re in denial about everything that isn’t black and white. You think you’ve got Rob wrapped around your finger, but it’s the other way; you’d think your back would from all the bending it does just to please that son of a bitch.”

Jason stared intently into her eyes; the kind that seem like thousand years old, an ocean of secrets. He was momentarily lost in wondering what Will saw in these same eyes, what she saw in his, he didn’t notice till too late the cold metal of Addi’s knife against his neck, right next to his Adam’s apple.

She took a step forward, making him drop his arm and back up, while always keeping the tip of the knife ready. Jason felt the heat of blood well up as she broke skin.

When she spoke her voice was an angry whisper, she was done with warnings. “I miss them too, Jason. Just because I don’t fall apart when they’re gone isn’t any way to measure my feelings. And yeah, I had my suspicions on what had happened. And you’re right, I didn’t tell you. But not because I was benefiting from it, but because I knew this would be the outcome.” She took another step pushing the knife in farther. “So I guess this is the turning point, buddy. I could kill you right now. I don’t want to do that but if you’re gonna be a danger to me or anyone else I see it has my civil duty. Or we could do the rational thing by taking what information we have and finding our friends.”

The moment that followed was the kind where you couldn’t ever guess the outcome, the figurative fork in the road where there was only two choices. Most people would immediately jump at the second offer, but Jason wasn’t afraid of death. He thought it might even be better to die at the hand of a friend than in a bloody fight. The moment stretched on, both of them staring and gauging the other’s reaction.

“Jason…speak.”

&&&&&

The bathroom was a rather small room with one sink on a counter with a mirror above it. Then to the left and right of the counter there were two doors; one leading to a bigger room with a toilet, the other to a bigger room with a tub and standup shower. Everything was in a beach theme with shells and light blues.

“This is it,” Dom said opening the door. He reached into a cabinet behind the door and pulled out a comb and brush, handing them to her.

“Thanks,” she said examining herself in the mirror. It worse than she could have imagined and to top it off her shoulder was starting to ache and lifting it would be a problem. “Could you, um, help me? I can’t really lift my arm.”

“Sure, sure,” he said taking the brush back and running it under the water of the sink. “I have a little sister that would make me play pretend with her.” He pulled the bristles slowly through the nest of hair.

“Oh, I’m so jealous. I always wanted an older brother to hang around with.” She winced as he went over a sore spot on the back of her head.

“Sorry,” he said looking at her in the mirror. “Guess those guys really messed you two up. Jake’s eye looks real bad.”

“It’s gone down an awful lot since he got it. His ear is better too.”

He was silent as he processed this, brushing the same spot on her right said for a full minute. “Could you, I don’t know, recognize these guys if you saw them again?” he said at last.

Willow would always remember Scar face, the way he looked at her and what he did to her life and how she saw the world. But she didn’t want to remember so she said, “No, probably not. They didn’t turn around a whole lot.” Will didn’t look at him but stared at the little silver drain on the sink feeling dirty for lying to someone who’d been nothing but honest. This was gonna be hard if she couldn’t get past these irrational feelings for this stranger.