I Need You. Jane Lark

       Chapter One

       Billy

      Jason’s hand gripped my shoulder as we walked. “I’m glad you agreed to this. It’s cool we’re talking again.”

      Glancing sideways, I smiled. I felt good. We’d had a few beers, talked and the world seemed a lot better. We hadn’t talked for months but he’d texted earlier and said, “Rach had the baby. A boy. We’re calling him Saint. And, Billy, I need someone to go wet his head with… I want it to be you.”

      I’d wanted things to be right for half the months we hadn’t talked; I was glad he’d made a move to fix it.

      Stars pin-pricked the black sky above. But the street lamps lit the ground white and smothered the true splendor of the night sky. Out at the lake you could see millions, not thousands, of stars. They were up there, just hidden by the brighter, closer, streetlamps, and yet if you were in space, each star was a sun, and it would be loads brighter.

      Jason swayed and his fingers gripped my shoulder firmer for a moment, before falling away.

      We weren’t that drunk, although I was drunk enough to be into philosophy––and I’d definitely had too many to drive, so we were walking home, and laughing like we hadn’t laughed since we were kids.

      “The store.” Jason pointed over the road, like he announced The White House, on some tour bus journey.

      I laughed. The store was his dad’s. Nope. Jason’s now. His dad had signed the business over. He’d been telling me all that shit earlier.

      “Hey, why don’t we go in and steal the spray paint, like we did when we were kids.” Jason’s words slurred together a little.

      “’Cause you’d be stealing from yourself and we aren’t kids.”

      He laughed. “I’ll never forget Mr. Dent’s red face when he charged out of his house…”

      “And you had to do it to your dad’s neighbor. The guy knew us, there was no getting away.”

      Jason grinned. “That guy shouldn’t have taken my ball hostage.”

      “You’re an idiot.” A surge of the camaraderie we’d shared for years hit me as I looked over at the store.

      A figure, a woman, sat slumped forward a little on the steps. “Shit! Jason! There’s someone over there!” I looked left and right, checking the street was clear, then crossed.

      “Shit.” Jason ran past me. “It’s Lindy!” His ex-fiancée, my ex one-night-stand, and the reason we’d not spoken for months.

      Her head came up and her body swayed. She looked sick.

      Pity, need and anger kicked my gut. I loved and hated her.

      The bracelet on my wrist felt like it tightened, like a rope pulling me in her direction, with an urgency that pissed me off. I’d done enough chasing, but my stupid fucked-up heart refused to let her go.

      Jason squatted down next to her, his hand on her shoulder. “Lind, are you okay?”

      She wasn’t. She was wasted. She’d had more to drink than either of us. Her head rolled on her shoulders.

      She turned away from Jason, gripped the step with her hands, and threw up.

      Attractive.

      She and I had fallen out partly ‘cause of her drinking. She’d stopped being herself.

      She retched. Jason rubbed her back.

      I stood there with my hands in my pockets, watching, like I’d always done. The leopard I’d had inked on my chest sank its claws of jealousy into my skin.

      I still craved her. I hadn’t spoken to her in months, but I still craved her. My best friend’s girl had been my secret addiction for years.

      “Lind, is someone coming to meet you? Have you got a ride home?”

      When she stopped retching, she took a breath, wiped her mouth on her sleeve then glared at Jason. “Just fucking leave me alone! Don’t touch me!” That was the other reason she and I had parted ways, as friends. We’d never really been anything else, but finally I’d given up on even that option––because when Jason had finished with her, he’d opened up her vicious streak. It could hit at anyone, anytime.

      Jason lifted his hands, stood up and stepped back. “Okay. I’m not touching you. But you need to get home, and you’re in no state to get there.”

      I stepped forward, my hands slipping out of my pockets. “Lindy, it’s Billy…” I touched her shoulder, but her arm swiped out to knock me away. “Get off me, you’re no better. Just leave me alone!” That wasn’t an option.

      I squatted down.

      “I’ll call her dad,” Jason pulled his cell out of his pocket.

      Great,