Hornet's Nest Ch. 05

Yes, apparently it was still happening at university.

I followed the flow, towards the campus carpark. Caught a glimpse of two police cars. Oh boy.

The crowd wasn't a terribly compact throng. All in all, not too many people. But still enough. I pushed through to see what was going on.

My heart leapt to my mouth and I froze to the spot. It was Violet. Of course it fucking was. She was moving, shifting and sidestepping, pacing around, as if making sure that the officers couldn't grab her while she was talking to them. They were watching her like hawks, ready to lunge should she make a run for it.

I moved closer, she saw me. Broke away and came over.

"Right here, this is my boyfriend," she said. She reached out, grabbed my right hand with both of hers, and gave my arm a tug, pulling me forwards. "Babe, tell them I only sell weed. I don't do any of the heavier stuff."

She was putting on an act, like a dumb bimbo or something, as if it would help. But it wasn't that. I felt something plastic against my hand.

She was fucking palming me something.

"Madam," one of the officers said. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

I was amazed at how deftly I took what was palmed, hiding it with my fingers, then pushing it into my jacket sleeve once my arm was hanging back at my side.

"Babe," Violet said again.

"She only sells weed," I said.

The officer scoffed and Vi looked around at him. "You see? The day you catch me with some on me, you can give me a slap on the wrist. But until then, fuck off."

"Well, if you've nothing to hide you won't mind us taking you to the station for a search, will you?"

"You can't do that."

"Yes we can."

"Fuck off."

He still hadn't released her wrist and another officer was closing in. "You can come easily, or you can make this harder for yourself."

She threw her head back with a scoff, keeping up the bimbo act. The second officer held her arms behind her and she didn't bother to fight it, letting him push her towards a car.

I just stood there, watching it happen, heart thudding sickeningly in my chest. I stepped forward again.

"Excuse me."

"Don't worry, lad," the first officer said. "If she's got nothin' on her then she'll be out in less than hour."

She climbed co-operatively into the backseat, multiple doors slammed shut, then both cars drove off.

The whole crowd was staring at me. Slowly spreading and dispersing. Murmuring.

I walked away. Out the campus gates, down the street towards my flat. Apparently her 'drug dealer' reputation was catching up with her. I felt like I had to get distance before I checked what she had palmed me, and even tossed a paranoid glance over my shoulder.

I pulled it out of my sleeve - a sealy bag, filled with a white powder. What was it, cocaine?

For fuck sake, Vi.

For fucksake.

Anger flared up and I didn't even think to try and dispose of it, just shoved it into my pocket. I crossed the road to head for the town centre, for the police station.

I was five minutes away when I received a text - "I'm out now."

"I'm right around the corner," I replied.

"You were right place at the right time."

Yeah, apparently I was. What the fuck would have happened if I hadn't been there?

I saw her up ahead. I was pissed. I wasn't even trying to hide it. "Vi, what thefuck?"

She shook her head, hurrying to cover the remaining distance, and spoke in a low voice. "I got set up, okay? Someone ratted me."

"Who-"

"Someone convinced me to get them some coke, and they must've tipped the police where I'd be to get me caught."

"Who, Vi?"

She gave me a hard look. "Myles."

I can't even explain how I felt. Too many things at once. I was shocked, furious, confused, and yet somehow it just made sense. Because Myles was a dick. It seemed like something he'd do, even if I couldn't explain why.

"Do you still have it?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Give it here."

"No, I'll fucking give it to him myself."

I turned and stormed off down the road. I didn't even care if she was following or not, and once I glanced over my shoulder a few minutes later, I saw that she wasn't. Maybe she had to go see someone, clean up some mess that this had caused. I didn't know what she got up to, did I?

The parkour training was kicking in. I had somewhere I wanted to be, so I started to run. Turned off main roads. Hopped fences.

The running should have worked in burning my anger out. I was trying to think rationally about it the whole way. Nothing helped.

Myles was in my view the moment I stepped into the flat, leaning on the back of a sofa, talking to - or arguing with - Claire. He looked around to me, and there was an expression on his face. People have it sometimes, when something has just happened and it's clouding their thoughts, and they're not good at hiding it.

"David-" he started as I moved over.

My fist connected with his face.

Claire let out a short scream. Myles hit the floor. He scrabbled back as I kept stepping forwards. The moment he was on his feet I swung again. He didn't fall over this time. He tried to block my third swing but I broke through it.

"David!" Claire screamed. "Stop!"

I swung again. He staggered back. His nose was already bleeding. "David," he gasped.

Then I fully lost it. A low growl erupted into a roar and I lunged into him. He staggered and tumbled, I grabbed his shirt and threw him onto the nearest sofa. I tried to pin him, he struggled, I threw him into the coffee table with crashing and clattering.

"David!" Claire shrieked.

I punched him over and over, in his stupid fucking face.

There was more shouting. Adrian's voice. Melissa's voice. Amy's voice.

Myles was trying to fight back, trying to defend himself. My fists clenched in the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the coffee table again.

"David!" Adrian yelled. "Fucking stop!"

Then finally Wesley was there. "David," he said with quiet panic. "David."

I glared at Myles, who stared back at me, blood from his nose smeared all over his face. "David," he wheezed.

"Fucking nice one," I growled.

"Man, what?"

"Violet. Setting her up."

His eyes widened. "David, David no-"

I slammed him again.

"David he didn't!" Adrian piped. "He didn't set her up!"

My eyes shot around to him. He backed up as if I'd lunge and swing.

"He was getting coke for the party on Friday," Adrian continued, hurriedly. "He didn't fucking rat her, David."

"I didn't," Myles agreed, voice strained through the pressure of my arms and elbows in his ribs. "I went to the carpark and saw the cops there. It wasn't me. I swear."

"Then who?" I said. "Who else knew?"

"I don't know! I don't know who did it!"

"David," Wesley said. "Please. Stop."

I released Myles and straightened slightly, but still felt the tense weight in my shoulders, ready to lunge again. Myles pushed up on an arm, touched at his bloody nose, then gave me a glare.

"Fuck sake, David." His hand went to my stomach and shoved.

That was all it took to set me off again.

Wesley let out one of his rare cries of anger. "Myles you fuckingidiot!"

Myles was once again trying to fight back, it just wasn't working for him. The coffee table almost went flying, because it was in my way. I didn't know how much punishment Myles' body could take before I really broke something.

Wesley wasn't going to let it get that far, desperately diving between us, trying to shove me back.

He was fucking brave.

I didn't think I'd hit Wes, but then, I'd never thought I'd hit Tyler.

There were voices and frantic knocking at the door, and Melissa opened it. Three more guys came in from the flat below, pushing past her. They saw me, all riled up, trying to side-step Wesley who was stepping to follow me, keeping himself in my way, trying to protect the bloody and battered Myles behind him.

"Dude," one of them started. "What the f-"

I knocked past Wesley and scored another hit in Myles' face.

I don't know why I couldn't fucking stop. The other guys were now joining in. Hands gripped at my arms and shoulders, fists in my jacket. They tried to rip me away. I struggled free. I punched one in the jaw, slammed another into the wall, kicked him in the stomach when he doubled over. The first cracked his knuckles across my face, so I hit back even harder again.

"Stop!" Wesley roared. "Don't you fucking get it?! He's got anger problems! You'll make him worse!"

It was completely burning through me. I wasn't even angry. I was unnervingly calm, simply locked in some sort of 'mode'. I wanted to fight. Anger might unlock it, but this, what I was feeling, was something else. I wanted these guys to go for me. I could shatter every jaw in that room. These weren't rough gang kids who had bested me in younger years, they were just average guys. And I was...

What was I?

Everybody backed away from me. I stood there, panting, trembling with adrenaline, slightly in control. That tension was still under the surface. It wasn't going away.

Claire was quietly sobbing. Adrian didn't look much better.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out the sealy, and threw it at Myles. "There you fucking go."

It hit his chest and he clumsily caught it. "David it wasn't m-"

"Oh shit," one of the other guys interrupted. "You're Violet's boyfrie-"

The tension came out with another swinging punch before I even knew what I was doing. The guy let out some shocked yelp of laughter and staggered out of my way.

"Idiot!" Wesley barked.

They couldn't understand like Wesley did. They didn't know that the only way to calm me down was a calm environment. Any stimulation would set me off again. I knew it, though. And I was trying to get myself under control. I walked out.

I heard Wesley's footsteps in the stairwell behind me. "David," he called. "You can't fucking do this shit."

I ignored him and disappeared outside, walking straight down the road towards the park. It started to drain out of me, and I was shaking, as if shivering from the cold. I was feeling some pain, on my face, in my shoulder, my knuckles. Maybe I'd taken more hits than I thought.

I went through the park, to the wooded area. Sat myself down at the trunk of a tree. Maybe it was the same tree where Vi had first fucked me.

Shit.

What do I do?

I pulled my phone out and scrolled through my contacts to Dad's number. After a few rings he picked up.

"Son?"

"Are you working, or can you talk?" I didn't even know what time it was. Somewhere around 4pm?

"What's wrong?"

"I've done fucked up."

His tone went flat. "What've you done."

"I beat up a roommate."

"Why."

I swallowed and looked around the trees. "I don't get it, Dad. What is it? I just... I want to fight."

"I know."

"It's like I just want to hurt people. I just want to fight."

"Yes."

"Getting angry sets it off but then, I'm not even angry anymore, and I can't stop."

"What made you angry? What set it off?"

"This roommate. He tried to set up Violet. Tried to get her arrested."

"How?"

"Claiming she was dealing drugs."

"Right. And why did you get so angry if she was innocent?"

It sent something cold through me. Of course, he'd had that week over Christmas to judge her. And he always knew everything about everybody. Always.

"What's she hiding from you?" he continued.

I couldn't handle it. It terrified me. "Dad," I started.

There was silence from his end.

"She knows a weed dealer, so she gets people weed."

"Okay."

"This guy, my roommate, he convinced her to get him cocaine, then told the police where she was going to be meeting with him. So they arrested and searched her."

"Did they find it on her?"

"No. I was in the right place at the right time and she fucking palmed it to me before they took her away."

"Right in front of the police?" He actually laughed. He fucking laughed.

"Yes," I said.

"I hope you don't still have it on you."

"No. Got rid of it."

There was an awkwardly long silence.

"Dad. Please, I just-"

"What?"

"Don't think badly of Violet."

"I'm not."

I wasn't sure if I believed him.

"Son, I think you need to go away and get your head straight over this situation, and call me back."

"The roommate, he might press charges. The landlord might even kick me out if he gets involved, I don't know."

"Then we'll deal with that if it comes to it."

"Okay."

"Calm the fuck down and use your head."

I hung up and sat there, staring at the trees, unmoving, until I was almost freezing. My phone vibrated with another call after however long. Violet.

"David, where are you?"

I grunted.

"I just had Wesley fucking yelling at me down the phone. Apparently you beat up Myles."

"Yeah, I did."

"Oh my God. Why?"

"Why do you fucking think?"

I almost wanted to hang up on her. It was only simmering beneath, but I was still so pissed off.

"This is your fault," I growled.

"I know, look-"

"You've been pissing me off for two weeks now."

"What?"

"Something's been going on with you, something's been bothering you. You won't fucking tell me. Why? Why don't you trust me? Why won't you let me in?"

"David-"

"Then you go about dealing cocaine. What the fuck, Vi? Are you trying to make trouble for yourself?"

"Come to my room, in halls."

"Vi."

"David. Where are you? The park?"

"Yes."

"Come to my room."

She hung up on me. I picked myself up, dusted off, and did as she said. I felt so numb, not just my body from the cold. I almost expected someone to come running outside and start on me in the street when I walked past the flat's building.

Violet was waiting for me on campus. She took my elbow and hurriedly led me through to her room, barely looking at me and not saying anything until we were inside and the door was shut. She placed a hand on my cheek to tilt my head, probably looking for any bruising coming up. She disappeared and re-appeared with a wet flannel to clean the dried blood smears on my hands.

It was all so cold and mechanical, and we were both silent. She finally sat on the bed and after a moment or two I joined her, unzipping my jacket.

"You're stupid," she said.

I scoffed.

"You don't think I can deal with this?" she continued. "You think this is the first time this has happened, or something? I don't need your help."

"Okay. So what would have happened if I wasn't there when the police were?"

"I'd have found some way out of it."

"Like-"

"Because I always do." She gave me a look. "You should have left Myles to me."

"He and Adrian were both adamant that he didn't do it."

"Yeah, well-"

"Violet. You're not okay. Whatever the fuck is going on, you can't deal with this."

Her eyes went hard with anger and she moved away from me. "You're an idiot."

"Yeah, and so are you."

"I don't-"

"You've spent all this time telling me how you wouldn't get involved in gangs. How you kept away from it. How you escaped it. So why are you caught up in this world? Why do you know these people?"

I think my questions were the last hammer blow she needed. She didn't break down in some dramatic way, start crying, or pour her heart out. She just went very quiet, and sat at the opposite end of the bed. I waited for her while she blinked at the wall, as if stunned. She drew her knees up to her chest and looped her arms around them.

"I don't want to tell you," she finally said.

"Why?"

"Because you'll think things."

"Just talk to me."

Those blue eyes studied me for a long moment. They were blank, emotionless. "My parents are involved with a cartel. Drugs, money laundering, and simple jobs for cash is how they've got by, all my life."

It hit me. I just didn't react.

"The street gangs," she continued. "They're fucking nothing. Not like the people my parents know. I've met lots of them, I've had to do stuff. My parents used to drag me around with them everywhere, whenever they went out on a job. I saw a lot of things. I saw how it all works. It's so stupid. It's all so, so, fucking stupid."

Her forehead pressed against her arms, face hidden behind her knees. "I don't want anything to do with it. I want it all to leave me alone. It's a complicated world, of favours, of people pretending to get along and waiting for their moment. Apparently I owe some favours, and that's why Romain has been hounding me. He doesn't want to, he's just been told to."

"What favours?"

"I don't know. I don't fucking know. These people, they just won't let me go. They think they own me, they want me to be available for whatever they need. They think I'm still in. They won't take no for an answer."

"What about your parents-"

"They're almost as bad," she snapped. Then took a deep breath. "I don't know. It's not their fault, either. I don't know how they got in, it's just always been there, you know? They've never tried to break out of it, even if they bitch and moan about it all the time. Honestly, I don't think they know anything else. What are they supposed to do?"

I moved closer across the bed. Her head lifted and the knees went down slightly.

"You know," she started. "I think I was thirteen or fourteen when I first, really realised that all this stuff was not normal, that it was bad, and that I should get away from it."

"You're doing pretty well so far."

Her eyes snapped to me, but I wasn't being sarcastic. It was genuine.

"You probably think my parents are awful people," she said. "They're not. They're not bad people. They've always done the best they can for me, they've always kept me safe. I was an accident, I was a burden. My mum got pregnant with me when she was seventeen. I could've been dumped, or something, or I could've-" She cut off again, but continued. "I could've ended up like Wes."

I had shifted across the bed enough that I was beside her. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and she leant into me. There was a long silence. She shifted to pull her phone out, and gave it a little wave in the air.

"All these names in here, all the contacts, they're exactly that. Contacts. Pick a name, any name, and I can tell youwhatthey are, but not who they are."

I wanted to say something, but now I was the one hesistating. I could understand why she'd been the way she was. I was feeling strangely protective, too. Like I was about to betray some sort of trust. But I had to say this. I had to make her see.

"Vi," I said. "My dad used to be involved with a drug gang."

She studied me with a long stare, then her brow furrowed, and she gave her head a slight shake. So I explained to her, told her everything I knew, at least everything he had told me. His beginnings, how he ended up in foster care because of his mother's overdose. How he was tossed around between foster homes, partly because he was difficult and nobody could handle him, and partly because a few of them turned out abusive. Perhaps in response to him and his behaviour. How he'd spent so many years on the streets, and how his involvement with things had been inevitable.

As far as I knew, he'd first been dragged into the cartel when he was 12. And he'd only truly broken free once he was 23. What I didn't know, is what things he'd done during that time, only that Tyler had been involved with it all once they were at college and university together. And his guilt in something that happened with Tyler was the last straw he needed in knowing he had to stop.

"I wonder if it's the same one," I said.

"You know what, it probably is," Violet replied. She was stunned by the whole story. "I'd go and ask if anyone remembers a big dude who goes by Keane, but, I'd really rather not."

I smirked. "Well, he wasn't 'Keane' back then."

"No?"

"He took Mum's name when he married her."

"What, really?"