02; Not So Joy Ride

The two friends walked down the pavement, making small talk and getting caught up until they arrived at the pub, Black Prince.

Eggsy was never a big fan of the place since Dean and his thugs hung out there, but unfortunately, it was the only decent place to drink in walking distance. Plus, it was hard to find any place nearby that Dean and his crew weren't a part of. It was something he just had to get used to.

Reaching out to open the door, Eggsy motioned for Taylor to walk in first, then came in behind her. He glanced around to look for his other friends and noticed they haven't arrived yet.

He turned to ask Taylor if she wanted to wait at the bar and saw her shiver for a moment when the door slammed shut behind them and caused a cold gust of air to pass by them.

When she saw him looking at her from the corner of her eye, she turned her head toward him and gave him a shrug. "It's fucking freeze."

"Jacket not doing it for you?" he questioned with a smirk. "It looks warm. Matter of fact, it also looks a bit familiar too. Have I seen it before?"

She playfully rolled her eyes at his comment, then said, "Yes, okay, it's your jacket, Eggsy."

"This is why we can't have nice things," he said with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh, whatever." She chuckled, then pointed a finger at him, "This is your fault. You left it at my house."

Eggsy scoffed and shook his head. "No, you nick it last time you were home."

"That is so untrue, Eggsy. I borrowed it, not stole it," she pointed out.

"Is it really borrowing if you never return it?" he teased.

"Fine, here," she said with a loud sigh as she went to remove the jacket until he laid a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Don't. I'm joking, Tay." Shooting her a wink, he added, "It looks better on you anyhow."

Taylor wrapped the coat tighter about her body and felt her cheeks heat up at his compliment. After all the teasing about the jacket, she felt like she didn't need it anymore when he laid a hand on the small of her back to lead her to the bar and felt a warmth spread throughout her body.

Leaning on the counter, Eggsy grabbed the barman's attention to order two pints of their favorite, then turned his head to look at her and shake his head when he saw her remove the jacket and drape it over her arms.

"Now she takes it off." He chuckled.

"I'm hot," she pointed out with a shrug.

He raised his eyebrows and worked hard not to check her out. He knew she meant it the other way, but she did look hot in a pair of tight black jeans, ankle boots, and low-cut blouse. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her what he thought, instead he changed the subject.

"How long you here for?"

Instead of answering his question about when she would go back to school, she shrugged her shoulders and folded her arms across her chest while glancing around the room. He knew it was her way of avoiding, but he wasn't going to let it go. She should know by now he was too stubborn to let something go when it came to her.

"That ain't an answer, Tay," he said, turning more toward her and resting his elbow on the counter.

Placing his head in his hand, he continued to watch her and rolled his eyes at how hard she was trying to avoid looking at him. He knew it would eventually annoy her enough that she would answer him, he just had to wait her out a few more minutes.

With a huff, she finally turned her head to look at him. "I don't know."

"How do you not know?"

"Because I don't know if I'm going back or not, okay?"

"Why?" he asked as he raised his head and dropped his arm onto the counter.

"It's not the school for me," she stated as she gave him another shrug and avoided looking at him again; a clear sign to him that she was lying.

"It's the bruise, innit?" he quietly asked, leaning toward her to keep the conversation private. "You told him to leave you alone, right? Has he?"

"I thought we decided not to talk about this, Unwin," she said, shooting him a quick look.

"No, you decided. I would very much love to talk about this," he said back.

When she looked away to avoid him again, his anger got the better of him. Slamming his fist on the counter, he hissed, "Damn it, Tay, look at me!"

"Calm down!" she scolded, her eyes shifted around the room, noticing a few patrons sitting at the bar looking over at them.

"Calm down?" he repeated. "Are you fucking mad? Someone hit you, Tay-"

"Shh!" Cutting her eyes at him, she added, "Drop it, Unwin. Now!"

Seeing the front door open from the corner of her eye, she jerked her head to the side and saw Ryan and Jamal walk in, talking loud and laughing about something. Nodding over toward them, she added, "Besides, your friends are here."

"This ain't done," Eggsy whispered in her ear as the barman sat two glasses in front of them.

Tossing some money down, he roughly grabbed his glass from the counter and ignored the bit that spilled onto his hand. He wiped the liquid onto his pants, then smiled at his friends and gave them a slap of the hand, before leaning forward in a half hug.

Taylor rolled her eyes and grabbed her drink. She had a feeling it was gonna be a long, stressful night.

It's not that she hated his friends or they were that bad, they were just a bit rowdy at times and not the most mature, and when Eggsy was around them he had a habit of making certain decisions he wouldn't have usually made. They were a part of his crew when he turned to a life of crime, but she had to admit they stayed loyal to him when he left for the Marines and tried to straighten his life out- which said a lot about them, but still, her main concern was them pulling him back into something.

Minutes later, the four sat at a table; Taylor mostly sipped her drink and kept her mouth shut while Ryan and Jamal took control of the conversations. She noticed Eggsy mostly sat back in his chair with his arms crossed, which was a clear sign that he was still pissed off at her shutting him down earlier.

He couldn't stand the thought of someone hurting her and it made him feel helpless- a feeling he always hated. How the hell could he protect her if he didn't even know who he needed to protect her from?

"What is it with you two?" Ryan questioned Eggsy and Taylor, who was sitting on the other side of the table with their chairs pushed far away from each other. Which was unusual for the best friends who usually sat so close together they could basically share the same chair.

"Lover spat?" Jamal added with a laugh.

As Eggsy shook his head, Taylor spoke up, "No. No kind of spat." Taking a swallow of her drink- drinking most of it all at once- she sat the glass down and added, "I'm just enjoying my drink and contemplating on getting another one."

"Good plan. Get good and plastered tonight," Ryan said. "Perhaps you should get something stronger next time."

Taylor looked from Ryan to Jamal, seeing both of them having identical grins, then turned her attention to Eggsy, who was trying to hide a smirk from behind his glass.

Turning her head back to look at Ryan, she asked, "What did you mean by that?"

"Meant nothing by it," he said back with a shrug.

She kept her eyes on Ryan and had a really good feeling she knew exactly what he was talking about, and if she was right- she was gonna murder Eggsy.

When a new song began to play on the jukebox, Jamal let out a low whistle, causing her to look over at him. He pointed toward the jukebox and asked, "You like that?"

"It's okay," she answered slowly and narrowed her eyes at him, knowing what was coming next.

"Perhaps there's a guitar lying around...and you can hum a few bars." Jamal snickered.

With wide eyes she jerked her head to the side and snapped at Eggsy, "You told them?"

"You mean did our boy tell us that you got completely shitfaced and serenaded him?" Jamal questioned before letting out a laugh.

"No, no, no. That is not how it happened!" Taylor exclaimed as she pointed at each boy at the table.

The last time she was home, her mom and stepfather, Thomas, had gone on an overnight trip, leaving her alone for the night. Eggsy had come by to keep her company and the two had grabbed a bottle of Thomas' whisky. After several drinks, she had began to play a few of her favorite songs.

"I was playing my guitar earlier- before Eggsy even got there- and later when he saw it, he asked if I would play something." Cutting her eyes to her best friend, she said, "I cannot believe you told them!"

"It slipped out," Eggsy said before taking a sip of his drink.

He honestly didn't mean to tell them about the private concert she gave him, it did slip out one night while he was gushing about how talented she was.

Outside of her family, he was the only one who has heard her play. He had tried several times to get her to perform at an open mic night, but she was always too intimidated to get up in front of a crowd of people, so until he could help her feel confident enough to do that, bragging about her talent is all he could do.

Taking a sip of his drink, he thought about what happened later that night between them- thankfully that didn't slip out when he told his mates the story, that was something he would never share with anyone.

As that night went on and she drank more, she took him by surprise when she leaned forward and began to kiss him. Next thing he knew she was straddling him and moaning against his lips about how bad she wanted him, causing a certain part of his body to come alive. He wanted nothing more than to tangle his hands in her blonde hair and drag her closer to him. If it were up to him, he would put his lips to work and teach her a thing or two, but not like this, not when she was that plastered.

When he had felt her hands grabbing his shirt, he had to force himself to push them away- which was even more difficult when her hand slipped under his shirt and he felt her fingertips graze his stomach. A swear word had slipped past his lips, sounding more like a moan as his head fell back against her headboard. When she shifted around on his lap, he quickly sat up and whispered in her ear that this couldn't happen before he pressed his lips against the side of her head and waited for his heart to stop racing and to catch his breath.

Seeing a hurt look on her face afterward destroyed him, but he explained to her that she had too much to drink and needed to rest. He had asked her several times if she understood until she finally nodded her head and moved off of his lap.

Needing a few more minutes for certain body parts to calm down, he had gone into the kitchen to grab water for her and by the time he made it back to her room she had passed out. He had looked down at her for a moment and felt like a saint for having the courage to turn her down. He had many dreams before that started just like that night, but she was always sober and was aware of what was going on.

After making sure she was out for the night, he had draped a blanket over her and dropped a kiss on top of her head, then went into the living room. He had slept on the couch that night and was relieved when she didn't remember any it the next morning- making him assume she didn't even mean it anyways.

She just had too much whisky and got a little frisky- it happened sometimes.

"Okay. I'm definitely grabbing another drink," Taylor mumbled as she drank the last of her beer, before standing up from the table.

"Stay away from whisky," Eggsy joked, then groaned when she slapped him in the back of the head.

"It slipped," she teased as she stuck her tongue out at him on the way to the bar.

Eggsy chuckled at her antics and heard his other two friends hooting and hollering at her comment, then while they started a new topic of conversation, his eyes followed Taylor across the room and watched as she ordered another drink from the barman.

His drink was long forgotten as he leaned back in his chair and watched her chatting with some girl standing beside her. Not wanting to get busted staring at her, he dragged his eyes away and joked with his mates until he heard her laugh. He could hear her laughter over everyone else in the pub, causing him to look back over at her- wondering what had her laughing so hard.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw the girl from before was gone and a guy was standing beside Taylor now. He glanced back and forth between the two as they chatted and tried to read their lips, never realizing his friends had stopped talking and were now watching him.

"You gonna go for it?" Jamal questioned, getting his attention.

"What?" Eggsy asked confused as he looked back at his friends across the table.

"You ain't looking at her like a friend, cuz," Jamal added, nodding his head over at Taylor.

Eggsy scoffed and shook his head- the denial sounded hollow even to himself. He took a big swallow of his drink, then cleared his throat and nodded over toward her to say, "I was just checking on her. That guy talking to her seemed a bit troubled."

"So you say, bruv, but I say go for it. She's looking well fit," Ryan spoke up.

"Oi! Watch it!" Eggsy exclaimed as he shot him a look- it was the truth, but he didn't need his mate talking about her in that way.

Ryan looked over at Jamal beside him, both had a knowing smile on their faces. It was clear to them that Eggsy was feeling more than friendly feelings for Taylor. It was something they became aware of a couple of years ago when Eggsy had punched a guy for slapping her butt. Eggsy tried to brush it off as he was just protective of her- which was true- but even they could tell it was more than that.

In their opinion, there was a difference between being protective and being jealous, and Eggsy was definitely jealous anytime a guy got close to Taylor. It became a game to them, watching him flip out and try to deny there was more there.

"What's got you peeved then, cuz?" Jamal asked Eggsy, wondering what was bothering him if he wasn't up to admitting his true feelings.

Eggsy took another sip from his glass, then leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. He couldn't tell them about the bruise he discovered on Taylor, he knew she wouldn't want that information to get out, so he went to another subject that always pissed him off and he had ranted about many times before- his ass of a stepfather.

"If Dean treat your mum's so bad, why don't she leave him?" Ryan asked after he told them what happened earlier that night.

"Low self-esteem. That's her problem," Jamal answered, even though he knew the question wasn't aimed at him.

"Fuck off. Why would she have low self-esteem? Eggsy mum's well fit," Ryan pointed out with a laugh, causing Jamal to laugh along with him. Remembering his reaction to calling Taylor fit earlier, he quickly looked at Eggsy and added, "No offense, bruv."

"It's all right," Eggsy said, flashing him a quick smile. Turning serious, he added, "One of these days, I'm gonna smash his face in."

"Are you mental, cuz? He'd just get that lot to do you, and then pretend he knew nothing…" Jamal began to say as he pointed toward a table off to the side, where several of Dean's thugs were sitting. Realizing they were all now staring at them, he quietly finished, "...about it."

"Oi, you think you can chat shit about us and we won't do nothing, just 'cause our guvnor's banging Eggsy's mum?" One of the thugs, Rottweiler, said.

"Pretty much, yeah," Eggsy said with a cocky grin on his face.

Over at the bar, Taylor turned down a drink from a guy trying to hit on her, then reached into her back pocket to pull out her cell phone when she heard it beep with a new text message.

She blew out a breath, feeling her heart beating in her chest when she saw who the message was from. She thought leaving school and telling him to leave her alone would do the trick, but unfortunately, it didn't stop him from texting her constantly.

First, his text started out polite- he'd ask her nicely to text him back or give him a ring, but the longer she ignored him, the angrier he became and his text began to demand that she answer him or else. It was the same way the short time they dated, he was like two different people- as long as he got his way, he was the sweetest guy you would meet, but once she disagreed with him or did something he didn't approve of, he would snap.

She stared down at her phone and saw the other text messages coming through, one right after another one until she heard a chair scraping against the floor as it was shoved backward and the sound of angry voices.

Recognizing one of those voices, she glanced over where Eggsy and his friends were sitting and saw Eggsy standing dangerously close to one of Dean's thugs, with several others standing behind him. She could hear Jamal telling Eggsy to let it go, as he and Ryan stood behind Eggsy, but it was like their friend didn't hear a word he said, he was too focused on Rottweiler at the moment.

"Shit," Taylor muttered as she slipped the phone back into her pocket, then raced over to the small crowd. She came to a stop in front of Eggsy and laid her hands on his chest to pushed him backward a few steps.

"Come on, Eggsy, let's just walk away, okay? Let's walk away," she said, her soft tone getting through his anger and grabbing his attention.

"You boys have outstayed your welcome. Leave," Rottweiler stated toward Eggsy and the other two guys. Turning his attention to Taylor, he wrapped a hand around her arm and turned her around to face him. With a smug smile, he told her, "You can stay for a pint though, luv."

Seeing him lay a hand on her, Eggsy blew out an angry breath- which almost sounded like a low growl- as he stepped forward and grabbed her other arm to pull her toward him, causing her to slam against his chest. He glanced down at her for a minute to make sure she was okay, then jerked his head up to look at Rottweiler, his jaw clenched as he tried to control his anger.

"What?" Rottweiler scoffed when Eggsy got closer to him. He had been waiting for the day he could put the boy in his place- he swore to himself if Eggsy took a shot, he would wipe the floor with him.

"Eggsy, please," Taylor pleaded with him as she gripped his shirt and tugged on it a bit to get his attention. When his eyes slammed into hers, she softly gasped as she saw the storm of emotion in his eyes.

She gave him a short shake of the head and whispered, "Don't."

Seeing the worried look in her eyes, he blew out a breath and felt his anger slip away. He always hated it when she worried about his temper, she had seen him lose it a few times through the years and it had always frightened her. She knew most of the time he was just protecting her, and she also knew he wouldn't hurt her, but she worried about him getting in trouble or getting hurt over something stupid like a fight.

Eggsy raised his head to look at Rottweiler and said, "I'm sorry about that, bruv."

He kept one hand in his jacket pocket and slipping his other arm around Taylor to hold her against him before he turned to leave with a smirk on his face. He heard Jamal and Ryan's footsteps as they began to walk along behind him. He kept a tight hold around Taylor as they made their way through the crowded pub, only releasing her once they made it outside.

"They weren't fucking worth it, boys," Ryan said as they walked away from the building, referring to Rottweiler and the others inside.

"No, they weren't," Taylor said, agreeing with him as she slipped a jacket on and wrapped it tight around herself as a cold breeze blew around them. She turned her head to the side to look at Eggsy as he walked in step with her. "I'm really proud of you for walking away."

"Plus, you know they don't fight fair, bruv," Jamal added.

Eggsy nodded his head, agreeing with all of his friends- as much as all of them deserved a beating, he knew he had to be smart about it. The most he could have done was throw one punch before he was jumped by Rottweiler and the others. He knew his mates would have his back, but he didn't want to pull Taylor in the middle of that- besides he knew a better way to hurt Rottweiler.

When he saw Taylor shiver from the corner of his eye, he glanced over at her and asked, "Still cold?"

"I told you it's fucking freezing," she said, repeating herself from earlier.

"Why are we walking then?" he questioned as he pulled out his hand from his jacket pocket and held up a set of keys with a grin on his face- like he said, he knew a better way.

"Is that what I think it is?" Taylor asked with wide eyes as she stared at the keys.

She wasn't that surprised that he jacked his keys- she knew he had a light hand, but she was standing right there.

How the hell did he lift the keys that smoothly without her seeing anything?

"You jacked his fucking car keys, bruv?" Jamal asked with a laugh.

"Yep. Now we're gonna nick his car," Eggsy said, hitting a button to turn the alarm off.

As Ryan and Jamal ran toward the car with Eggsy, letting out a laugh and a loud cheer, Taylor stood in place and clapped her hands- like she was disciplining a dog, and called out, "Eggsy, no! Bad, Eggsy!"

"Tay, quit fucking about and get in the car," he argued.

"No!" she snapped back.

"Ryan!" Eggsy called out and pointed over to Taylor before sliding behind the wheel of the car.

Normally he wouldn't involve her with his illegal activities, but he wasn't about to leave her outside the pub alone. Especially when he had no doubt Rottweiler would come rushing out in a few minutes.

Ryan nodded his head in understanding and ran over to the blonde. Without a word, he wrapped an arm around her waist and picked her up, causing her to let out a loud squeal as her feet left the ground and she felt herself being carried toward the car.

After placing her in the passenger seat, Ryan pushed Jamal to rush him as he began to climb in the back of the car. He threw himself into the back and fell against the backseat with Jamal as Eggsy started the car.

"This is such a bad idea. A very, very bad idea," Taylor mumbled while Eggsy reach across her to grab the car door and slam it shut.

Eggsy ignored her comment as he put the car in gear and began to rev the engine. He heard his friends laughing from behind him when the rear tires began to spin and smoke began to billow out. Turning the wheel, he began to drive in slow circles, then hit the gas hard and caused the car to spin around faster.

He continued to burn donuts and let out a loud laugh when he saw the door to the building fly open before Rottweiler came spilling out yelling at him. They could faintly hear him calling out several threats, but the three boys inside the car ignored him as they began hooting and hollering while flipping Rottweiler off and making other rude hand gestures.

Taylor gasped in surprise and threw her hands out to catch herself on the dash when Eggsy suddenly slammed on the brakes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryan slap the headrest of the driver seat excitedly, before calling out, "Floor it, Eggsy!"

"Eggsy, don't you dare-"

"Seat belt, Tay," Eggsy cut her off.

"Damn it," she mumbled as she reached behind her to grab the seat belt and slap it across her seconds after he stomped on the gas and the car began to race down the road.

After turning onto the road by the pub, they didn't get far when they suddenly saw blue lights ahead of them getting closer. Taylor felt her body jerk forward before the seat belt caught her and she slammed back against the seat when he hit the brakes.

"You good?" Eggsy questioned as he glanced over at her for a moment, before looking back out the windshield at the cop car coming toward them.

She nodded her head to answer, too stunned to speak. As she waited for her heart to slow down, Jamal leaned forward and said, "End of the line, brah."

"Not yet," Eggsy said, throwing the car in reverse and hitting the gas, driving from the cop car backward.

"Holy shit," Taylor breathed out as they went back the way they came and flew past the pub.

She didn't say much else, just held onto the seat belt while he drove down the road, the speedometer climbing over 80 and getting higher. She squeezed her eyes shut and tuned out their laughter as Eggsy easily swerved to miss buses and other cars on the road.

Hearing the siren get closer, she cracked an eye open and felt them widen when she saw how close the cop car was. She recognized the two cops and quickly lowered her head, placing her hands over her face and hoping they didn't recognize her back since her stepfather worked in the same police station as them.

With her head still down, she tilted it a bit to the side to look at Eggsy in between her fingers and saw the huge grin on his face as he continued to expertly drive down the road. Even if she was freaking out on the inside, she had to admit she was a bit impressed that he was able to drive backward this long and couldn't help but wonder how the hell he learned to drive like that.

Sensing eyes on him, Eggsy looked away from the road for a moment to look at Taylor. He shot her a quick wink, then turned to glance over his shoulder as he turned a corner. He felt his eyes widen when he saw a small fox in the middle of the road. He swerved to miss it and lost control of the car, causing it to slam into another car and a lamp post.

Taylor felt her body jerk forward again, then jumped in surprise when the post fell on top of the car. A quick glance beside her told her that Eggsy was okay and she saw the worry in his eyes for her until she gave him a nod to let him know she was fine.

"Foxes are vermin, cuz. You should've driven it over," Jamal stated from the backseat.

Eggsy glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure his mates in the back were okay, then said, "I should've done a lot of things." Keeping his hands on the wheel, he added, "I'll sort this, get out of the car."

When no one moved, he glanced in the mirror again to yell at the two in the back, "I said get out of the fucking car!"

Jamal and Ryan didn't need to be told again. The two threw open the doors and jumped out of the backseat. They ran over to the side of the road, then paused to wait for Taylor, who made no move to open her door.

"Move," Taylor stated, causing Eggsy to snap his head to the side to look at her.

"Move?" he repeated as he lowered his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't understand what the fuck she was talking about or why she was still sitting beside him.

"Move over and let me behind the wheel," she explained. "They'll go easier on me. I'll talk to Thomas-"

"Are you fucking crazy- Get the fuck out of the car, Tay!" he yelled out as he leaned over her to push the door open.

She called out his name to argue, but he ignored her as he called out for Ryan like before. His friend instantly understood and raced back over to the car to pull Taylor out while Jamal joined them to push her head down so the cops wouldn't recognize her as they began to run away from the scene, then hid behind a building to catch their breath once they were far enough away not to be noticed.

The three had started running again until she heard an engine rev, causing her to turn around and head back. She saw Eggsy drive forward and crash into the cop car as a distraction for them to get away. When the two cops jump out of the car and approach the yellow car, she came to a quick stop.

"What is it?" Jamal asked as he and Ryan stopped running and backtracked when they noticed she did.

"We can't just leave him to deal with this alone," she argued. "We have to help."

"This helps," Ryan stated. "Us getting away, you being safe, helps."

"You know Eggsy, he'll get out of this," Jamal added.

"Yeah, but-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jamal grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled her backward behind a building when he noticed one of the cops shining a flashlight to look for them.

"We gotta fucking go," Ryan whisper-yelled as he began to jog backward away from them. Motioning for them to follow him, he mouthed, "Let's go."

"We gotta go, luv," Jamal softly added, knowing this was hard for her to do. Seeing her hesitate, he knew exactly what to say to make her leave. He shot her a small smile and said, "It's what Eggsy wanted."

She blew out a breath and knew he was right. Eggsy wanted her far away and out of trouble, it would make things worse for him if she were to stay because he would be more concerned about her well-being then his own and she didn't want that.

Glancing around the wall, she saw one of the cops putting handcuffs on Eggsy and felt tears fill her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and muttered out a swear word, then turned back to look at Jamal.

She nodded her head toward Ryan, before they took off running to catch up with him- her stomach in knots with worry and her heart breaking as she regrettably left her best friend behind.

•••

A/N; Thank you to everyone who gave this story a read and to the ones who decided to follow it. Also big thanks to EleanorJames, BaDWolF89, basilbeast, GrayRobin, Guest, Rasiel Hasu and Guest for reviewing the first chapter.

Recently I posted a video for Taylor and Eggsy- it's on my tumblr and youtube if you wanted to check it out. My name on both is the same as on here; missecharlotte. If you have any trouble finding it, let me know and I'll link you. I'm also slowly working on a video for the story, but no clue when that'll be done. I'll let you all know tho when it's posted.

Happy reading!
xx