“Mother, I am fuckingcryingand all you can talk about is nicknames? Oh, forget it!” I hissed, pushing her to the side, and barged into the pub. I didn’t have the patience for her at the best of times. Now was certainly not the best of times.
“Rachel!” I heard her snap from behind me, her heels clicking on the tiled floor as she followed me. “I won't be spoken to like that, young lady! I’m sorry you’re upset, but this is completely unacceptable! I thought we had finally made peace with each other after our little chat this evening. How can you think it’s appropriate to speak to your own mother as though she’s dirt you picked up on the road? Honestly, Rachel…”
She continued droning on, but I drowned out her voice as I looked around the crowded room, trying to see Crash’s large figure, but it was impossible with so many people around. They were all huddled together, having seen Vienna grab the shotgun off the wall. None of them knew what was happening, but they were all hanging around, waiting for word that they would be needed.
That was a lie.
They were all too busy making bets on who would come out the fucking victor. They wereenjoyingthis. Even the club whores were laughing, reminiscing about long-ago times when Dante and Macbeth had fought over the most ridiculous things.
This isn’t a ridiculous fucking thing, and you’re concentrating on all the wrong stuff!
All the voices were overwhelming. My mother was still yapping on about nicknames and how useless they were. I could hear Vienna shouting upstairs. All the laughter from the room, the sounds of glasses being put down on tables, the incessant buzzing in my ears… It was all too much. My head grew dizzy as I tried to focus on what was important, and yet I couldn’t because everything was bundled together in an over-stimulating mess.
My fingers began to tingle as anger coursed through me, building into a frustrated crescendo that made me want to rip someone’s head off. I grew tired of scanning the room, and knew I needed to do something before I went back upstairs, grabbed the shotgun and started firing at the next cunt who made a noise.
I grabbed hold of a bar stool and hopped on top of it, using it to climb on top of the bar.
“Go on, Rachel!” shouted one of the club whores, thinking I was getting ready to put on a show.
It made me want to snap her useless fucking neck.
“Oi!” I shouted instead, as loud as I could, noticing every pair of eyes immediately turn in my direction. I took a deep breath as the noise finally quietened, and I could take a brief moment to process. “Just stay quiet. For the love of God, just shush. I need to know where Crash is?”
“He took Mama for a ride,” someone shouted, although it was impossible for me to make out who.
“Can anyone get hold of him?”
“I can,” Zach said, frowning as he pulled out his phone and waved it at me. “Is everything okay?”
“Do it, call him,” I snapped. “Tell him it’s urgent.”
“What’s happened, Rachel?” He asked, his frown deepening as he looked up at me, his thumb hovering over his phone.
“Just tell him he needs to get here immediately. Where’s Doc?”
“I’ll get him,” Hacksaw said, immediately jumping to his feet and raced out of the door.
Thank God someone had the intelligence to actually look at me and realise I wasn’t fucking around!
“Jenna?” I asked.
“I’m here, Rachel,” she said softly, walking towards me. I locked eyes with her and pulled a sympathetic face.
“You need to go upstairs. Shark’s been hurt. He’s okay but—”
“Get the fuck out of my way!” She hissed, pushing past the men in front of her, and raced up the stairs before I could finish my sentence.
And that was when the penny dropped.
The music was turned off, the pints of beers were placed on the nearest surface, and conversations dwindled down to a stop as everyone finally realised that this was not a lovers' tiff, and something was seriously wrong.
I looked out at the worried faces staring at me and swallowed deeply, knowing it was down to me to give them something, anything. They had a right to know what was happening.
Fuck,I thought, looking through the sea of faces. I had always hated public speaking.
But these people were Dante’s family. My family. And they needed someone to take control in Crash and Dante’s absence.
If I didn’t provide them withsomething, one of two things would happen. Either the rumour mill would fill in the blanks, or they would go upstairs to see for themselves.
