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Wild Pagan Heart

Chapter 2: Nicky's

"Look at those assholes. They walk around like they own the place," Aaron grumbled referring to Garwin and Simms. I rolled my eyes. For someone who claimed to hate the Idiots of Ipswich, he sure talked about them a lot. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Aaron had a secret suppressed homosexual man-crush on them.

We were sitting at a small, circular table at Nicky's with barstool seats. It was Aaron, Bordy Becklin, Ryan Bael and myself. Bordy and Ryan were Aaron's lackies, for lack of a better word. He was the Harley Keiner to their Joey the Rat and Frankie Stechino. To put it bluntly, they were stupid boys. It astonished me how they even got into Spenser. Then I remembered how rich their families were. All of our families were, except for the few who were granted scholarships, but they were generally treated as insignificant.

Distracted, I watched Garwin make his way over to the pool tables, Simms right behind him. He did one of those man handshake-hugs to the guy that was holding the table and the two of them began to play a well-matched round. I don't like the kid, but Garwin was an exceptional pool player. He emptied Aaron's pockets almost every Friday night here during the school year.

Garwin leaned over the pool table and that was when I finally noticed I was paying way too much attention to him. Even as that registered in my mind, I continued to stare. And then it was too late. He caught sight of me staring as he got ready to make his shot. –Wink-. Idiot. I made a disgusted face and couldn't look away fast6 enough after that.

"Lux!" Aaron yelled almost over the jukebox.

"What?" I hissed back, feeling as though he'd caught me watching Garwin like some stupid, lovesick… hungry animal. Jesus Christ, why did he have to catch me? The last thing he needed was that kind of ego boost.

I guess the point of all this is to show that, if I had never in fact interacted with Reid, I would probably be jumping on his dick at his beck and call instead of Aaron's. But unfortunately I hadn't been blessed with only ever admiring him from a far. I knew him personally, and that in itself was why he was so atrocious.

"Can you at least humor me and pretend to pay attention?" Aaron humorlessly requested.

"Yeah, I guess. Sorry," I muttered and lazily put a ketchup-covered fry in my mouth. Jesus, does Aaron ever shut up? He's going on and on about NOTHING! There is no part of me that gives a fuck about the swim team.

"Any takers?" Garwin announced form the pool table. Well that was a damn quick victory. I looked back over at the pool tables and saw him shoving his winnings into the pocket of his worn, designer I'm sure, jeans. Garwin stared right at me, smirking and noticeably checking me out.

Aaron followed his eyes and sneered at Garwin. The sheer audacity of him to look at a girl that Aaron was with, despite their relationship. But Aaron could get awfully possessive. He wasn't a big fan of sharing his toys, though he chose his battles more wisely with time. Tonight was going to be one of those nights, clearly, since he stood up, cronies not far behind and marched over to the pool tables. Here we go, another battle of the alpha male between Abbot and Garwin. Aaron slapped a wad of cash on the table and I raised an eyebrow. I hope he knows he's picking up this tab. If I'm allowing him to be seen out in public with me, so he'd better have more where that came from because realistically speaking, that money is going to end up in Garwin's pocket. Aaron just couldn't accept that pool was not his game.

Garwin smirked and I knew what he was thinking. How stupid could Aaron be? Garwin always beats him.

Garwin grinned and slapped his own wad of cash on the table. "We need a… neutral party to hold onto this," Garwin said picking all the cash up off the table. He scanned Nicky's and stopped on… guess who? Lucky me.

Garwin strutted over to the table I was sitting at and stopped in front of me. "Be a peach and keep this safe, 'kay baby?" But it wasn't really a question. He smirked and before I could do anything, before I even saw it coming, shoved the wad of bills into my cleavage. I jumped back and whacked him hard on the shoulder. Garwin just snickered though before backing away. I pulled the money out of my shirt and shoved it in my pocket. Stupid pig. I should go spend it all right now.

I walked over to the pool table after Garwin and stood with my arms folded over my chest. It was always interesting to watch these two guys in particular beat their chests in macho shows of aggression. "You better never do anything like that again Garwin," Aaron warned him as he racked the balls.

"What? Afraid she might want to be around someone with a functioning penis?" Garwin quipped back. Simms put his hand over his mouth to cover up the laugh that threatened to escape. I made a disgusted face, though part of me did want to laugh a little at Aaron's expense.

"Let's just play before I kick your ass," Aaron said, getting in Garwin's face, a pretty snarl on his own. It only made Garwin smirk in return.

"Chill out, Abbot. Didn't mean to get under your skin," he replied, preparing to break. Of course he meant to get under Aaron's skin. Reid Garwin lived to get under Aaron Abbot's skin.

Ten minutes later, Aaron threw his cue on the ground, not happy that Garwin had whipped his ass, yet again. Garwin high-fived Simms and gave Aaron a fake apology. He walked over to me. "Came to collect my winnings," he said, reaching right for my cleavage. I was fast this time though and grabbed his wrist, then with my other hand I pulled the money out of my pocket. I shoved the cash into the hand I was still gripping and let him go once he had it in his grasp. He quickly counted the bills and shoved them in his pocket. "Thanks babe," he grinned, then grabbed my face with both hands and…. no he did NOT!

I tried. I tried to push him away before he did it. It didn't work though. He was stronger than me and it took me completely off guard. That asshole kissed me! Right in front of everyone! Wolf-whistles, cat calls. The whole nine yards. This was going to stir up a whole pot of shit.

He didn't linger at all, just smacked me hard on the lips and backed off with a laugh. "That was my bonus."

"You're dead Garwin!" Aaron snarled while Bordy and Ryan restrained Aaron right out the side door. Suddenly, Garwin's face grew serious and he signaled to Simms, the two of them booking it out of Nicky's. Great, I knew where this was going.

I ran out after them and found Garwin and Aaron nose to nose, Aaron huffing and puffing like he was about to Hulk out and Reid about to say something that would surely earn him a hard shove to the chest, or if Aaron was particularly set off, a solid punch to the face.

Reid didn't care though. He always managed to get Aaron to throw the first whatever, ensuring legally that if police intervened, Reid would be in the clear. He was sneaky as fuck, and Aaron was just too much of a hothead to restrain himself.

His hands rose and he shoved Reid hard before charging towards him, the blonde quickly retaliating by sidestepping him so fast it almost seemed impossible.

Aaron really didn't need to be doing this the week before school even started, so I decided I'd better intervene before it got out of hand and the cops were called. Besides, I was the only one present who could get involved in this that they wouldn't pummel the shit out of.

"Hey knock it off!" I said over them as they scuffled around, and I found it easy enough to squeeze between them and had a difficult time pushing Aaron back , who was acting more like a rabid animal than a human at the moment. Reid was so kind as to calm himself down when I got too close for comfort during their little brawl, and I shouted at Aaron again. "Knock it off!"

"You better get out of my fucking way Lux," the curly haired brunette warned. As I continued to hold him back, thankfully being helped by Bordy and Ryan now that their asses seemed to be aware of what was going on all of a sudden.

"Would you get him the hell out of here?" I growled at Simms, who realized that would probably be best for both parties. If Nicky came out and caught them fighting, he wouldn't hesitate to call the Provost and fill him in. Garwin went willingly with his friend, finding all this really amusing apparently due to the little smirk on his face.

Aaron yelled at them and cursed as they drove off, the Hummer peeling out of the lot. I walked over to the fuming boy and put my hand on his shoulder. "Get off!" he snapped and shook my hand off aggressively. Then, as if regretting what he'd just done, Aaron turned to face me and gripped my upper arms tightly. "Stay away from him!" he growled in my face.

"Fuck you! Because I was so throwing myself at Garwin of all people!" I bit back, wiggling out of his grip. I didn't like Aaron treating me like his property, on top of the fact that he knows every reason I hate the Sons of Ipswich, yet would still say something like that to me. "I want to leave!" I demanded, stomping my foot childishly as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Fine!" he shouted back, having had enough himself, and walked over to his car. I followed and we drove back to school in silence. I was tired, and thanks to Garwin I was grouchy now too. We took the elevator upstairs and Aaron stopped behind me when I stopped at my room.

"Goodnight," I said monotonously before I slipped into my room and tried to close the door behind me. Aaron pushed the door open though and let himself in. I sighed and locked the door behind me. Of course his testosterone was flaring now that he'd tousled with Garwin; clearly he'd need something to fuck his aggression out on. Nope, I wasn't going to sleep just yet.