#drunk guy in the smoking area was harmless but making me uncomfortable

[calamitys-child]

Love my friends so much I love how important a friend group is to the wellbeing of one another love how willing we all are to go to bat for one another love having people and people knowing they have me

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 9

As promised, two chapters in one day! HBD to this trash rabbit. I just get thirstier with age.

Rating: Explicit.

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it's own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV. DRUG USE IN THIS CHAPTER. Just generally an uncomfortable vibe, thread carefully.

Summary: You're Peter's classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don't know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you're lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: Ooh, boy. This is a whole mess. Angst. [insert drugs owl meme]. Steve doesn't pass the vibe check yet again, stupid old man. Bruce + Tony be like: I CAN'T GET NO SLEEP CUZ OF Y'ALL.

My beta, whomst I love more than cake - @miscmarvelwritings . She's so beautiful though. And so smart. Wow.

The strobe lights pulsated to the rhythm of the music, bodies swaying, gyrating to the tune. The club was banging this time of night, people were living it up like there was no tomorrow. For me, in the VIP zone it was quieter, calmer, but no less exciting. The atmosphere here was distinctly different from the one on the main floor.

It was hard to wallow in misery even if it only took me an hour to stop resisting the gratuitous amounts of white powder on the silver platters. "It's better when you're there to watch them, they'll do it anyway but at least you can know that they're getting the good stuff!" My idiot father proudly announced, looking at me snorting a line through a rolled up hundred dollar bill.

Whiskey and vodka wasn't doing it for me. It made me feel low and Dad, being Dad, of course noticed it and immediately called a guy who knew a guy and suddenly all of his friends and their baby-faced companions had white under their noses. Cash flew like autumn leaves.

As I went out to the main dance floor to get a closer look at Billie Eilish in all of her edgy, beautiful self, the drug hit me like an avalanche. No trace of the grogginess or the mortification that had hitched a ride on me from Stark tower. I danced and sang and saw dad smiling at me in approval, his equally high and important friends all wearing identically predatory smirks. They were good at spotting the obvious - beauty, talent, money. I had no qualms about the fact that dad was off bragging about my close relationship with Tony. If my father was feeling particularly bold, he'd be telling them he knew and encouraged it all along, his buddies pretending to believe the white lie in turn.

I had exchanged my pants and sneakers in favour of a skirt and fishnets with high heels combo, a decidedly inappropriate attire for a daughter having a family night with her father but he insisted I dress trendy. I loved my dad, I really did, and I knew he meant well - I'd definitely be out of place amongst these TVscreen worthy people in my jeans and sneakers but...Tony was one of those people, and he had never ever said anything bad about the way I dress. Even when I obviously and purposely put on obscene clothing just to get a rise out of someone.Tony just smiled and played along.

Tony Stark was the heartless asshole here? Really, press? Really, haters?

"Standing there, killing time, can't commit to anything but a crime..." I sang along quietly as I hurried back to the VIP area. My dad was standing up and so were a couple of his buddies. "Where's ya goin'?" I asked, taking a seat.

"Be right back baby girl, if you find better company then go on without us," Dad winked, throwing a totally nasty glance at one of the girls. She was not much older than me but her body was stick thin and bolt-ons and Botox were her two best friends. She gave me a dirty look and I returned it, extending a waiting hand towards my dad. He chuckled, depositing a neatly rolled stack of hundreds into my palm.

"Dad, I want a new purse," I whined, just a tad. Just to see the girl's eyes go wide with acrid envy. Dutifully, another couple of stacks landed in my palm without any objections and the company retreated towards the back door.

I sighed.

Fiddled with the straw of my drink a bit, contemplating my options. I could always ditch this party and go somewhere more active, somewhere with better music and kinder people.

"Ay, baby girl, you wanna party with us?" A tall, handsome man from dad's previous company approached me. "We'll have some fun." He maintained a respectful distance but the intentions were clear.

"Nope," I popped the sound, not even sparing him a glance. A few lines of cocaine stared at me from the table beckoning with a better high, a stronger sense of euphoria, confidence and energy to dance, to sing, to be happy. I picked up one of the discarded banknotes, quickly rolling it by a sheer force of habit and cleaning up the tray. One line.

"Holy shit, is that..."

Two lines.

"The fuck?!" I recognised that voice. I have been hearing it every day in the labs, I've been hearing it in my dreams.

Tony was gaping at me, in front of me.

"Hey, Tony. Fancy seeing you here." Any other time, I'd be cringing at my lame greeting but I was feeling way too good to care about trivial things like being clever or being appropriate.

"I was looking...for you," He slowly said, putting a single finger on the tray with the last line of coke and pulling it out of my reach.

"That's funny," I snorted, hastily wiping at my nose to cover the tracks of my very bad, very immoral, very illegal activities.

"It's not, Princess, it's not funny at all," He frowned. "C'mon, we're leaving." And extended his hand. I decided to follow along - there was nothing for me to do at this club anyway, the music was lame and the people were stuck-up.

"I look like a prostitute, Tony, I'll take the back door," I attempted to pull him towards the aforementioned but he didn't budge, just stared straight ahead and towed me along like he was wearing one of his iron suits under the stylish jeans and tee get-up.

He stopped in front of the exit, giving me a critical once over. Wiped my face, again, brushed my hair back. Gave me his shades - I dutifully put them on, figuring the manic look in my eyes was anything but attractive right now. "Jesus Christ, Princess," He sounded desperate. "You're beautiful, don't you fucking worry."

And we made our exit, arm in arm, me trying not to stumble in my high heels, Tony being my rock, my solid foundation. In other words, I was hanging onto him for dear life trying not to fall over and give a reason for a sneaking paparazzi to make a scandalous headline.

"You're doing great, Princess," Tony helped me into his Tesla, slamming the door behind me and hurrying towards the driver's door. I managed to unclasp and kick off my shoes, curling up comfortably into the passenger's seat.

I watched the man as he started the engine and watched him wrestle with whatever personal demons that tormented him as he peeled off and raced into the Friday night city.

"What in the everlasting fuck..." He started, stopping abruptly mid-sentence. "How did you even get in there?"

"I came with dad. He literally ditched me to fuck some whore, like, twenty minutes before you showed up." I shrugged, eyeing the modified panel of the car. It was very obviously Tony's own design. I wondered if he could introduce me to Elon Musk someday.

"What the fuck? And correct me if I didn't hear you clearly," Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your father took it upon himself to drag you to a club, get you drunk, gave you cocaine and fucked off with some groupies?"

"Yah, that's about it. My dad is all about cocaine and whores, the more the better," I replied, leaning in to take a closer look at the car's panel. "Hey, could, like, introduce me to Elon Musk someday? That would be fuckin' awesome."

Tony went eerily quiet, I saw his knuckles on the steering wheel go white. Vague expletives were muttered under his breath. "I'm guessing you're good on sleep?" He finally asked through gritted teeth.

"Sleep? Don't know her," I laughed. "I wanna dance, Tony."

"Of course you do, Princess." His smile was tired and forced and full of pity. "You know, I don't think I'll be able to sleep now, either," He admitted, taking a sharp left. "How about we get some McDonald's and camp out in my lab?"

"Sure, whatever," Not like I had much choice in the matter. What I really craved was a good, long, hard fuck (by Tony himself preferably) but if science calls... I have no choice but to comply. "Get me two Big Macs," I demanded least he try to joke and get me a Happy Meal or some shit.

He did get me the food without any usual grumbling. I didn't like this Tony. Tired Tony, sad Tony, angry Tony. Wrong Tony.

"Huh?" He said and I realized I'd said the last part out loud.

"I don't like a sad Tony,” I said. "It's the wrong kind. Sassy, snarky and perpetually caffeinated Tony is the best Tony. The only proper kind, in fact." I stated with seriousness, shoes dangling from one hand and my McDonald's in the other. Man, I have been seeing more and more of this god-damned elevator recently.

"You're high as a kite, darling," He chuckled then, a real laugh.

"Who's high?" Bruce's voice came from the kitchen.

In a state of blind panic, I jumped behind Tony. "Not me."

Tony palmed his face.

Steve came over from the fridge, leaving the rummaging to Bucky. He took one look at me and suddenly I felt small, insignificant like an ant. I didn't like it much. "Holy hell, the fuck happened? Tony, explain." The Captain demanded, giving me the world's biggest stink eye.

"It's her piece of shit of a father, dragged her off to some night club and left her hanging with his buddies, fucking off god knows where. It's not her fault so lay the fuck off, Rogers, with your self-righteousness," Tony exploded all over Steve, the pent up frustration rearing it's ugly head.

I mustered enough courage to tiptoe around the dick measuring contest to sit at the counter. My appetite was gone and my burgers were turning colder and soggier with every passing second. Just like my life.

"Hey, Princess," Bruce's gentle voice halted my train of thought. He approached me carefully, ignoring the men behind me in favour of simply wrapping me up in a quiet, comfortable hug. "You feel alright? Want some water?"

"Nu-uh," I mumbled, unwilling to part ways with the warmth of this embrace.

"... Steve, I found her snorting miles of coke all by herself while an some jackass was waiting for her to be even more out of it. It's rare that I say this but I had literally zero words." Tony punctuated his words by tapping his fist against the wall multiple times.

Bruce tightened his hold on me, a sudden influx of strength accompanied by a quiet, low growl in his throat.

I felt the sudden need to clarify the situation. "Tony, chill. It takes me a lot more to be out of it, I'm fucking coherent and I'm talking sensibly. It's not my first rodeo."

Apparently I'd gone and said the wrong thing because all the men in the room were suddenly growling. I even totally forgot about Bucky who had the uncanny ability to exist in a room without making absolutely any sort of noise.

"The fuck do you even mean by that, Princess?" Tony screeched, probably already knowing that answer.

"From one rich kid to another, you should damn well fuckin' know," I spat, unwilling to admit my misery.

He sighed, audibly deflating behind me. I refused to listen to him, refused to be humiliated and exposed like that for my perfectly human desire to be happy. To not be a disappointment, to not be disappointed in everything and everyone. Bruce was nice and kind and warm and selfless but even he couldn't love me the way I wanted to be loved. Cherished, taken care of. All that mushy stuff. I was selfish, so I snuggled in closer to him, muting the world around me, replacing it with the smell and feel of him.

Cocaine made it a whole lot easier to imagine. Maybe that's why it was so addictive.

"Guys, calm down, you're stressing everyone out," Bruce rumbled quietly. I loved the way his deep voice seemed to reverb throughout his chest.

"Get me a cup of coffee, would you, Buckaroo?" Tony sighed again. I heard the sound of him slurping at his coffee. I heard Bucky's metal arm clunk against something equally metallic before the supersoldiers bid everyone good night and walked off.

Only then I removed my face from Bruce enough to take a good look at Tony. He was eyeing me, too.

"We have a caffeinated Tony," I said, softly. "Now we just need some science to have a happy Tony."

He smiled but it came out watery. He wanted to say something but choked on his words. "C'mere," He finally said, turning in his chair and opening his arms.

I unashamedly made grabby hands, the universal gesture for ‘I want, gimme’, and Bruce delightfully deposited me into Tony's waiting arms. It was like my birthday and Christmas came out all at once. Tony's embrace was warm, like Bruce's, but tinted with an unexpected familiarity. He smelled like motor oil and fancy cologne. It was heavenly.

"You keeping tabs on me, huh? Coffee, science and sass? That's your recipe for happiness?" The engineer asked me, a seriousness that didn't match the joking tone of the conversation at all.

"I think I got you figured out. Peter, too, is important for happiness. But in controlled amounts," I said, giving it a careful thought.

Tony chuckled, sounding a little bit shocked. "What about you?" He said after a brief moment of silence passed, interrupted only by Bruce's tea kettle coming to a slow boil.

"I don't think you need me for happiness," I said, meaning it. "But let's be honest, I'm a nice addition."

He stilled under me, briefly. Bruce cleared his throat.

"Brucie needs me, I think. He's lonely," I told Tony with a sudden influx of desire to be completely honest and 100% transparent. "And it makes me happy, because I need Bruce too. He's the best," I finished.

"Is that so?" Tony sounded vaguely tearful so I attempted to pull back to take a good look at his face. He didn't let me though, gently but firmly pressing my face back into his chest. "And me?"

"I do need you, Tones," I admitted without spilling any unnecessary details.

There was a child within me, small and scared and lonely, like Bruce. I hated her, hated being so soft and needy when everybody else obviously (and understandably) was busy with figuring out their own lives. I wished, desperately so, to just boom-boom-whoosh her away like Doctor Strange magicked away unwanted visitors.

Tony said nothing but his hands betrayed him. They shook and they held onto the skimpy see-through fabric of my top like he was a drowning man and I was his only floatie. For the moment, I closed my eyes and let myself believe he needed me, too.

"I'll catch a wink or two, wake me up if you need something," Bruce broke the silence, having finished off his tea. I didn't notice the time pass so quickly, too lost somewhere between here and there and Tony. In short, I was being lovesick all over the billionaire.

"Bwucie," I leaned backwards, pushing until Tony caved and let me rest my back against the counter, elbows on top of it, legs dangling freely on the sides of his legs. It put a lot of me on display. Tony had called me beautiful earlier so none of my usual habits of being appropriate around the man concerned me. He thought I was pretty!

"Princess," Banner came over to wrap me in a hug that was quite awkward, considering the fact I was sitting on Tony. It took some maneuvering to get it right.

"Night night," I said the usual and got a brief kiss on the cheek before Bruce shuffled off, yawning.

Tony was watching us with an unreadable expression. As soon as I turned my head to look at his face instead, something in him changed. His eyes grew big and round, the crease between his eyebrows disappeared. The corners of his mouth tilted up.

On a sudden impulse, I reached over to run my palm gently over the neatly trimmed line of his beard, following from his chin to his jawline, to his soft tousled hair. His eyelashes shook, fluttered, as the engineer leaned into my touch with the grace of a cat. "Kiss him, kiss him" my brain chanted. I knew I was a coward, I wouldn't do that. "Pretty," I said instead, the word coming out in a whisper.

He gulped, audibly. "Princess, you have no idea..." Shaking his head, as if he was surrounded by a swarm of mosquitoes, Tony briefly looked away. "You have no idea what you're doing."

"Nope," I agreed solemnly. "But at least it feels good. It feels right."

"God," He frowned, one of his hands coming to nervously card through his hair. "Nothing about this is right."

My face fell. Just like I thought, Tony wanted exactly nothing to do with a clueless little teenager. It stung and tears pooled in the corners of my eyes where I stubbornly refused to let them escape and make me into a crybaby. "Whatever you say, Tony." I was ready to agree with anything he said, really, if he would just keet holding me like that.

"Don't," He raised a palm. "Don't close yourself off like that."

Now I was genuinely confused. What exactly did he expect from me? I shrugged.

"You're clever, brilliant and beautiful, you can and should do so much better than all of this," He vaguely gestured towards me, towards himself, towards us and the whole damn city.

I contemplated my answer, briefly. "A lot of people tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing. Don't I get a say?" The bitterness had fought its way out and won. "I just want to be happy for a bit. All the usual bullshit."

He looked taken aback, really. Like he hadn't even considered the option. Typical.

Meanwhile, I continued my word vomit. "I want someone to give a damn about what I want and what makes me happier. Until then, I have no other choice but to take care of myself the best way I know how. Like everybody else does," The weight of his arm landed on my waist, pulling me close to his chest yet again. I didn't resist. No fight left in me. The tiredness seeped deep in my bones, chilly.

The sudden change of altitude startled me. The engineer had picked me up and started walking off towards the elevator, directing it to the lab. His personal lab. The tiles felt cold under my feet where he put me down to make his own beeline for the bar. I would've joined if not the drug in my system - the last thing I wanted was to land in a hospital yet again.

I took the moment to browse my social media, untag myself from all the unflattering pictures, post my usual shitpost. A tiny skirt, equally tiny top and fishnets - I felt out of place in his lab although I've worn more outrageous things previously. I was raw, torn open, bleeding my misery all over the room. That was not in my plan, but then again, when did ever life go as you planned it?

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[highfivecalum]

Wouldn’t Miss A Chance {CH} 11

Previous Chapters: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten

❋ ❋ ❋

CALUM GROANED AT THE feeling of Sophie shifting in her sleep and pressing her bare butt against his clothed crotch. She was still naked from the night before, but when Calum got up to use the restroom in the middle of the night he put on a pair of boxers, so he wasn’t completely naked anymore. “Good morning.” Sophie mumbled against the pillows as she woke up.

“Mornin’,” Calum ran his fingers up and down her back and left light, almost teasing, kisses on Sophie’s bare skin. “I think I could get used to this.”

Sophie gigled and flipped so she was facing Calum instead of having her back towards him. “Oh yeah?”

“Definitely,” Calum grunted as he sat up and pulled Sophie’s naked body on top of his. He left light kisses on her exposed skin, catching one of her nipples in his mouth and in between his teeth and Sophie let out a breathy moan. She didn’t expect morning sex, but she sure as shit wasn’t complaining about it. “Might have to take you in the shower again.”

Sophie let out a content sigh at the feeling of Calum’s breath against her skin and closed her eyes. “I wouldn’t mind that.”

Before either one of them could say or do anything else, Calum’s bedroom door was bursting open unexpectedly, and Sophie let out a loud squeal at the sight of Luke standing there like a deer in headlights. Sophie rolled off of Calum and quickly hid under his blankets to hide her naked body, even though Luke had already seen it in the few seconds he was standing there. “What the fuck, dude?” Calum raised his voice only slightly, scared of Ashton hearing him. “Does nobody know how to fucking knock?” 

They hadn’t heard the front door slam shut, too distracted and lost in each other, but Calum thanked the Gods above that it was Luke who walked in on them and not Ashton. “Can you get my clothes please?” Sophie’s voice was muffled by the blankets but Calum and Luke could hear her perfectly fine.

Calum shot a glare at Luke and got up, covering his hard on with his hands and picked up a pair of sweatpants and the shirt Sophie was wearing from the night before. She quickly got dressed under the bed and panicked when she heard Ashton whistling down the hall. “Shit.” Calum and Sophie both cursed. She didn’t bother saying goodbye to the two as she sprinted through Calum’s bathroom and into her own, slamming the bathroom door shut and holding her hand over her heart as it felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.

“Didn’t see that one coming,” Luke let out a surprised laugh, not seeming too phased by it. He had never in one million years expected Sophie and Calum to hook up so he was surprised. “Since when has that been a thing?”

Luke knew that Calum was attracted to Sophie and it was obvious that she felt the same way, knew that living together and sharing a bathroom would get a little complicated, but Luke didn’t expect this. “Not long,” Calum shook his head. “Few days.”

“Oh, so this is the girl that is replacing Sarah?” Luke cocked an eyebrow. He knew that Calum didn’t do relationships. Not well, at least, so we wasn’t sure how it was going to end up with Ashton’s little sister. “Gotta say,” Luke clicked his tongue and smirked widely at Calum as he teased,  “I’m kinda jealous.”

Calum glared at him but exhaled a laugh through his nose. “Fuck off.”

“Does Ashton know?”

Luke already knew the answer to that: no. Because if he did, everyone would know, and Calum would have a black eye and a busted lip or two. All the guys knew that Ashton was protective over Sophie, even if he didn’t show it much, he still cared about her more than anybody else in the world. He watched Sophie get her heart broken once before and he sure as hell wasn’t going to watch it happen again.

“Think I would still be alive if he did?” Calum cocked an eyebrow.

“Good point,” Luke nodded his head. “You gonna tell him?”

“Eventually,” Calum’s stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of confronting his best friend about sleeping with his little sister. It was definitely not something he wanted to do. And definitely not yet when it was that early on in whatever the hell it was they were doing. “I’ll tell him eventually.”

“Tell who what eventually?” Ashton spoke and Calum’s head snapped up. He didn’t know he was standing right there and he hoped that he hadn’t heard anymore of the conversation. He wasn’t in the mood to get his ass beat by Ashton just yet.

“About the Halloween party Cal is planning on throwing.” Luke quickly covered for him and Calum breathed out a breath of relief. He wasn’t too good under pressure and Luke knew that and he didn’t want Calum’s secret to get out. Not yet. “You in?”

“Seriously? You shot me down when I suggested that.” Ashton scoffed.

Calum shrugged. “Yeah I know. Could be fun, though.”

“Alright. I’m down,” Ashton smirked. Ashton jumped at any chance to throw a party and Halloween was his favorite holiday, so he was glad that Calum finally came around to throwing the party. “Tell Sophie though for me, will you? I gotta to go work.”

“Oh we’ll let her know!” Luke called to Ashton as he stalked down the hallway to his own bedroom. Luke shot Calum a wink before exiting his bedroom and Calum knew that Luke was going to tease and mess with him about Sophie until Ashton found out about the two of them.

❋ ❋ ❋

Three days, a lot of sneaking around on Calum and Sophie’s part, and way too much teasing from Luke, the group decided to go out.

“Oh! Take that!” Sophie whooped as she sunk the eight ball into the pocket and watched as Ashton frowned in defeat. The two of them, along with Luke, Michael, and Calum had decided to go to Suzy-Cue’s, even though it was Sophie’s night off, since it was the bar with the cheapest drinks.

“Why do you keep beating me? How the hell did you get so good at this game?” Ashton huffed in annoyance and Sophie simply shrugged as she re-racked the balls.

“Jack and I had a pool table in the apartment and we played all the time,” Calum furrowed eye his eyebrows at the mention of Sophie’s ex-boyfriend. He didn’t like when she talked about him, even though she rarely did, because that reminded him that she had been with men that weren’t him. He hated the jealousy he felt when it came to his feelings for Sophie. “And I also worked at a bar. I got pretty good.”

“I bet I could beat you,” Oliver challenged as he handed the group of friends the round of drinks they had ordered shortly before. Sophie looked up with a raised eyebrow at the sight of her coworkers cocky expression on his face.

“Doubt it,” Sophie laughed. “But we’ll have to play to find out won’t we?”

Oliver grinned and picked up the stick that Calum was using before and let Sophie do the honors of breaking the balls. The game went back and forth with shit talking- jokingly, of course and mild flirting. Although, Sophie was just nice and talkative when she was drinking, she wouldn’t call it flirting, but Calum would.

He watched with a locked jaw and his fingers white from gripping the neck of his beer bottle so hard that Luke thought he was going to break it. “Tone it down, would you?” Luke scolded him. He knew Calum was jealous, understood why he was since Luke had been on the end of Sophie’s harmless drunk flirting throughout their years of high school together, but that’s all it was; harmless. But Luke also knew that if Calum didn’t take it down a couple notches Ashton would know something was up. “Stop being so jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” Calum spat at Luke and unhappily took a long gulp of his beer. He watched Sophie grin widely and laugh loudly when Oliver scratched on the eight ball, making her the automatic winner, and he scoffed at the fond expression Oliver had on his face at the sight of his girl. Of Calum’s girl.

“Told ya that you couldn’t win,” Sophie gloated and that’s when Calum decided he had had enough. He slammed his beer bottle on the table top and scooted his chair back at an alarmingly loud volume, bringing everyone’s attention to him. Sophie frowned as he narrowed his eyes at her and stomped out of the bar.

He needed a smoke.

“What was that about?” Sophie mumbled to Luke while Ashton and Michael were busy playing a game of pool. Sophie noticed Calum and Luke talking while she and Oliver were playing and she could only guess what about.

Luke shrugged. “Might wanna ask Calum that, Soph.”

Sophie furrowed her eyebrows and finished her drink before shoving her way through the crowd of people so she could get to the door. The bar didn’t have a separate smoking area, but a back patio and out front of the bar, and that’s where Sophie knew she would find Calum.

He was leaning against the wall; one foot on the ground the other resting on the brick building behind him as he took a long drag of his cigarette. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice Sophie approach him. “Are you okay?”

“‘M fine,” Calum shrugged.

“You don’t seem fine.” She frowned.

“I don’t like that dude,” Calum finally admitted and Sophie tilted her head to the side in confusion, having absolutely no clue what dude he was referring to. Calum looked at her and scoffed. “Oliver fucking Twist in there.”

Sophie rolled her lips into her mouth to stop the laugh from coming out. “You don’t like Oliver? You don’t even know him, Calum.”

“I know he flirts with you,” Calum shot back.

A smirk slowly appeared on Sophie’s face and she walked closer to Calum, the heels on her boots clinking against the pavement beneath her, and stopped when she was right in front of him. He noticed the smirk on her face and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “You jealous, Cal?”

This time Calum did roll his eyes and gripped her waists to bring her closer to him. Sophie’s hands went to grip the sides of Calum’s unzipped leather jacket. “So what if I am? I don’t like seein’ other guys flirt with my girl.”

“Oh?” Sophie’s grin widened, her arms sliding up his sides to wrap around his neck, and Calum could see the amusement in her eyes. “So, I’m your girl now, huh?”

“Only if you wanna be,” Calum shrugged nonchalantly, but he was anything but nonchalant. He wanted Sophie to be his, but he was trying to play it cool because what if she didn’t want to be? He would get rejected by the only girl he’s had an interest in in months and have to live with her after it.

“Hmm,” Sophie pursed her lips and titled her head to the side. “I think I’m gonna have to think about that.”

Calum almost scoffed, but when he saw the devious grin on Sophie’s face he exhaled a laugh and rolled his eyes, and instead of giving her an answer with words, he gave her a heart stopping kiss. But honestly? All of Calum’s kisses were heart stopping, in Sophie’s opinion.

“You have no reason to be jealous,” Sophie assured Calum. And with her lips pressed to his, she added, “I’m all yours.”

Calum’s heart fluttered at her words and he hoped to God she couldn’t feel how fast his heart was beating with their chests pressed together. His hands traveled down her sides to her hips, landing on her butt and giving it a gentle squeeze. He didn’t care that they were in public, didn’t care if Ashton walked out and saw them, all he cared about in that moment was Sophie. But their moment wasn’t interrupted.

“Well, well, well,” A voice that Calum knew all too well taunted, ruining their perfect moment. “Isn’t this cute, Hood.”

Calum reluctantly pulled away from Sophie’s lips and glared at the man standing just a few feet away from him. Robby, a guy Calum used to sell drugs with back in the day, stood before him. Calum swore he would never see him again, with Robby being in prison and all.

“Didn’t think I would ever see you again. Out already?” Calum moved Sophie so she was longer standing in front of him, but next to him with his arm around her waist to keep her in place. Calum didn’t like Robby, didn’t trust him after what he did, and he sure as hell didn’t want Sophie around him.

“Got out early,” Robby smirked. “Good behavior.”

Calum glared at him. Glared at the man that used to be his partner, helped him sell more than just weed, and Calum thought he could trust him. Calum did trust him, up until Robby stole a grand worth of cocaine and sold it himself, cutting Calum out completely and leaving him with basically close to nothing. And shortly after that, only a few weeks, Robby got caught and sent to prison for three years. But only stayed in for two.

“What do you want, Robby?”

“Who’s this?” Robby ignored Calum and smirked at Sophie. She shuffled closer to Calum and his grip on her waist tightened.

“None of your business,” Calum snapped at him. Robby smirked wider and reached out to trace a finger up Sophie’s cleavage and up her neck, but Calum stepped in between the two. He didn’t want anyone to touch her, especially not Robby. “Don’t touch her, Robby. Go somewhere else and leave me and her alone. Yeah?”

Calum slung his arm around Sophie’s shoulder and pulled her along with him and he knew she would have questions about Robby and about Calum’s past, but he couldn’t tell her, not yet at least. He knew she would have some judgements and he didn’t want to hear them yet.

The two were almost inside without any altercations, but the hard slap Robby sent to Sophie’s butt stopped her and Calum. At the sound of Sophie’s offended gasp and the look in her eyes Calum knew he had to finally do something about Robby. He had been waiting for as long as he could remember to deck him in the face for what he did to him years ago and now this? Now touching Sophie without her permission? Touching her so vulgarly? Calum finally snapped.

Calum clenched his fist and spun around, leaving Sophie behind him a good few feet, and stalked towards Robby. He sent his fist flying through the air, hitting and smacking Robby’s nose so hard he heard a crack, but that didn’t stop Calum. He took a fist full of his shirt, shoving him up and against the street light pole and throwing another blow to his face. “Did you not fucking hear me?” Calum spat in his face. “I said don’t touch her. Are you deaf or just fucking stupid?”

Sophie was stuck in place in shock at the sight of Calum so angry and violent. It didn’t scare her, just surprised her. At the sound of people gasping, mumbling, and staring at Calum who had Robby trapped between him and the light pole, Sophie knew she had to stop him before he got into any trouble.

“Calum,” Sophie reached out and tugged on the back of Calum’s jacket lightly. She didn’t want Calum to get hurt, even though he was doing the hurting, not receiving, she still didn’t like seeing him fight, especially not over her. “Cal, stop. People are looking.”

The sound of Sophie’s voice calmed Calum down, only a tiny bit, but he didn’t want to fight in front of his girl. He didn’t want her to see him as angry and violent, even though he was when he needed to be, so he listened to her.

“We’re not fucking done here,” Calum shoved Robby away harshly and winced in pain. He had punched Robby several times with his rings on, not a good idea on his part, and even though the rings did more damage to Robby’s face, they also fucked up his knuckles. Calum knew that he crimson blood on his silver rings wasn’t his, but still, he cringed.

Calum’s face softened at the sight of Sophie’s and he took her face in his hands after wiping the blood off on his black jeans. “Are you okay?”

Sophie nodded her head and swallowed the small lump in her throat. “I’m fine. Are you?” Sophie took Calum’s hands in hers and frowned at the blood and the bruises already forming. 

Although Calum insisted he was fine, Sophie still dragged him through the back entrance of the bar and to the employee bathroom. She got a rag and some ice and helped clean Calum’s hand up and he watched her every move. He was happy he had her, so lucky to have a girl clean up his bloody knuckles, even if it wasn’t his blood, and he realized that shit, he was in deep with her already.

❋ ❋ ❋

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