Page 9 of Lost & Found
“Shittin' ya. But I guess the somber and tragic looks are warranted. But that doesn’t mean that it looks good on you. Maybe we need to loosen you up.” He nudges me as if I haven’t spent the last hour trying to doexactly that.
“Thanks for your concern, Mase. But I’m fine."
“No, dude.” He looks around behind us before coming up with a potential.
“Her. She’s cute. You remember Valentina, right? She got a boob job and I heard she fucks like a porn star.” His back is leaning against the bar top while I continue to face the wall of liquor cabinets behind the bar, waiting on another beer.
I don’t even bother to look because I do remember Valentina, she was in her sophomore year when we were in our senior. But we never needed to interact, so we didn't. The only person I ever had connections with who was younger than me by any age was my younger brother or Hollis.
“She’s not even that cute,” I say stalely. But really, Valentina was an averagely pretty girl from what I remember. I'm really not interested.
“Umm, okay.Prettier. Copy. How about…” he pauses while he tries to come up with another name. “Stella. She's blonde now. And she doesn’t have her braces anymore. Remember those things? She had the contraption that wrapped around her whole head. But look at her, Jax.” He elbows me. “She’s a fucking bunny now.” He swigs his beer down and I mentally groan.
Dude can try all night long to find me a one-night stand. And normally, I’d be game as all heck. But tonight, tonight is different. Tonight sucks. And not even a quick nut would fix it. And also, how is it that he can go back to acting like all these years apart haven't separated us, but Hollis can't?
My Holli.
She's the only thing on my mind right now. And I don’t even know why. The last time I saw her, we were trapped in a stupid room together and she-
“Better fuck the back ass up!” I’m shaken out of my reminisce by a loud ruckus behind me—a dude yelling in a loud drunken slur of what sounded like words but didn't form an actual tangible sentence.
“Oh shit!” Mason shouts as he slams his beer down. I turn quickly to find the culprit but all I see is a crowd of people over at the pool tables, so I pull myself together enough to walk that direction, not like I care what’s going on, but my curiosity is piqued.
“I said, back fuck up!” As I get closer and try to maneuver that crowd, I realize that the dude screaming sounds familiar.
I push my way behind Mason to the front of the crowd. And I hear her, before I see her.
“Stop, this is stupid.” Hollis has her back to me when I find my way at the front of the crowd.
There’s one guy next to her in a red shirt, the drunk guy yelling, and another in front wearing a basketball jersey. I don’t recognize the one in front of her, but the one next to her, I feel like I know him.
“I didn’t even fucking touch her!” Basketball Jersey yells.
Hollis is standing between both men; she’s got the sloppy fool by the shirt in what looks like an attempt to stop him from jumping the other dude. He grabs her arm to push away from her hold, and she shoves back slightly.
Anger rises in my blood as I watch the interaction happen so quickly in front of me. When the guy tries to break free of her grip again, he ends up pushing Hollis a little too hard but stumbles a little on his own accord, and that’s when I see his face.
Liam.
My fists ball at my side as I watch Hollis lose her balance from the shove and I don't hesitate to get closer.
“Get the fuck off her.” I yell, not sure if I was loud enough because the five—or was it six?—beers I drank are drowning out the sound.
“Jax, no.” Hollis stands up straighter and steps in my way, her tone stern and demanding. The dude in the basketball jersey says, “I’m out.” as he swipes his hands against each other and dips before I have a chance to truly intervene.
But Liam turns to face me when he realizes what's happening and his brows pinch together.Wow.He’s even more wasted than I am.In fact, he looks fucking fried, his eyes bloodshot red and his face a bit pale.
“I know you. That one guy.” He attempts to point his finger my way but staggers over his own feet, dude wasn’t even walking and still manages to trip.
“I’m gonna need you to back away from her,” I demand in any kind of strong-willed tone I can muster. I walk right up to him, placing my palms out in front of me and push him in his chest. He stumbles back into a billiard table and Hollis gasps.
“What the fuck is your problem?” she asks,yelling at me?
“Me?He just fucking pushed you!”
“He didn’t mean to. And you have no right,” Hollis responds as she reaches for Liam and swings his arm over her shoulder.
I remember a day when Ididhave the right, where I had to stand up for her often when it came to Liam. Except, back then, I couldn’t do much. He always had the upper hand. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t try. In the end, it only got me punched in the face or kicked in the stomach. Or called a loser. Sticks and stones, but Liam was ruthless. But I'd endure it all if only to protect Hollis.I did.