Dragon's Queen

Chapter Six

"Evelyn wake up, you're safe, wake up, it's just a dream" Someone was stroking my face in my dream. It was nice but it wasn't a normal part of my dream. That's when I realised that it wasn't part of my dream, somebody was actually stroking my face. I jerked awake to come face to face with Jackson. His hand was running up and down my cheek trying to soothe me. Oh God was the only thing I could think, he saw me, he saw me have my nightmare.

"OMG, OMG, OMG" I chanted over and over again.

"It's okay Evelyn" he was trying to calm me down and assure me it wasn't a big part but God it was.

"NO!" I leapt from the bed and began pacing.

"You can't be here, neither of you should have seen that. I can't handle you being here, seeing that!" I was yelling at both Jackson and Carly who I had only just seen peering around Jackson with a worried expression on her face.

"What are you talking about, it was a bad dream" Jackson breathed out, clearly confused at my outburst.

"It wasn't just a dream" I whispered so quietly.

"Ev, it's okay, we're your friends." Carly spoke up now, trying to reassure me that everything was okay.

"It's not okay Carly, nothing will ever be okay again, she's gone and it's my fault" I started sobbing and fell to the floor, Carly embraced me and let me cry, rubbing circle on my back. I barely registered Jackson standing up and leaving the room, God he was probably so freaked out, this is why I liked to be on my own, nobody understood and nobody treated me the same after they saw me having a nightmare.

I couldn't believe that I had had another dream, I hadn't had one for three months; but more importantly I couldn't believe that Carly and Jackson had witnessed it. I had been reliving my sister's death for months after the accident and then finally the dreams had started becoming less frequent until finally, they had stopped altogether. I thought it was finally my chance to move on, until today I had truly believed that I was starting to heal. But now I realise that couldn't have further from the truth. I wasn't moving on and I wasn't going to, this was going to be a part of my life for good and I needed to deal with that fact. I needed to realise that I don't deserve happiness. Brittney was wrong, there was nothing redeemable about me, I had killed my sister and I needed to live with that.

Carly had a tutoring session and as much as she had said she would skip it, I knew she shouldn't. I wasn't willing to make Carly suffer just because she thought I needed at babysitter. I was looking through my family photos when my phone signalled a text message.

Hey gorgeous, want to hang out?

It was Garrett, I wasn't in the mood for company, but I knew Garrett could distract me from myself and brighten my mood.

Sure, meet me at the dorm

I felt a surge of guilt but pushed it down; I liked Garrett and there was nothing wrong with meeting him. The truth was though I was hurt after Jackson tore out of our room this morning, as much as I wanted my past kept a secret and I never like people knowing my weaknesses, I still wanted him to stay. I wanted him to console me; a part of me knew that Jackson would hate me meeting Garrett and I that’s why I agreed. I wanted him to be jealous, I knew using Garrett was wrong but in that moment, it didn't matter.

I took off my pyjama pants and threw on a pair of daisy dukes; I put my hair up in messy bun, grabbed my bag and went to go meet Garrett. I headed out the front door and saw Garret leaning against the side of the building. He smiled when he saw me and walked over to embrace me. He gave great hugs but all I could think was this isn't Jackson. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind, shoved it as far down as I could. Jackson clearly didn't want anything to do with me, so I wasn't going to put myself through any heart ache for someone who doesn't feel the same way about me.

"Hey beautiful" he smiled as he pulled away.

"Hey" I smiled back, I could be with this guy, he liked me and he was hot.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked him, hoping for something casual and fun.

"Let's go grab a coffee" he smiled and grabbed my hand, leading me towards his motorbike.

I stopped walking and gently tugged on Garrett's hand to halt him.

"I didn't know you had a motorbike" a small smile played on my lips.

"Of course, darling" he smiled at me before it quickly disappeared.

"Is that okay? I have a helmet for you. s**t I never thought, if you don't want to get on it its fine we can go somewhere else" he was really panicking about the fact that I might not like bikes. On the contrary I was so excited to get the opportunity to ride on a Harley. Garrett just got another big tick from me.

I let go of his hand and walked up to the bike, reaching my hand out and running it over the bars with a smile on my face. I barely registered Garrett standing directly behind me.

"You like it?" he asked hopefully.

"I love it!" I beamed, this was something me and Britt had talked about doing and the only thing that she had missed off the list.

Garrett reached around me and grabbed a helmet off the bike and helped me fasten it.

"Cute" he was laughing at me but I would forgive him because he was cheering me up.

I hoped on the bike and held out his hand for me to join him; the amount of power I felt underneath me when he started the engine was incredible.

It was only when he was fastening his own helmet that I noticed his jacket. No not a jacket a cut. The same one he had been wearing when we first met.

The back read in big letters REAPER'S MC.

I clutched at him not from excitement but from a small amount of fear. I shook the fear off and chastised myself for even thinking that Garrett would hurt me, I had spent the previous night with him and he was the perfect gentleman.

He kicked up the stand and we took off, speeding out of the car park. Before long we had pulled into a space just outside a coffee shop. He put the stand down and turned the bike off. I hoped off the bike and took my helmet off, handing it back to him. He grabbed it before sorting himself out. I cast another glance at his jacket, I was confused as to how I didn't know that he was part of a motorcycle club, I'd been at his place and nothing tipped me off. I was also a little pissed at Carly for not mentioning it to me before I hooked up with him. I knew I had to ask him about it, I was just wasn't sure if I really wanted to know the truth.

We walked into the coffee shop and ordered out drinks; we found a place to sit in the back and got talking. We talked about all our likes and dislikes and the conversation flowed but I knew if I didn't ask him about his cut I knew that it would continue to bother me.

"I didn't know you were in a club" I said eventually pointing to the cut. He sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head.

"I knew this would come up." he rubbed his hands over his face before continuing.

"Reaper's. It's my father's club. He's the president and has been for years. I'm VP, got patched in when I was 17."

"Patched in?"

"Clueless country girl hey." he laughed but his face was serious.

"You don't need details darlin', the less you know the better." I wasn't going to push him, because I knew that it was useless but I was going to grill Carly when I got back to the dorm.

"Okay I won't push. I know I only just met you the other day Garrett but you can trust me. I like you" I gave him a smile and grabbed his hand that was lying on the table.

"I like you too beauty" he smiled at me and then took another sip of his drink. Something drew me in at the front of the coffee shop so I looked up and my gaze connected with Jackson. He was scowling at me and Garrett. I quickly withdrew my hand and turned back around to face Garrett just to see the look of hurt that passed over his face and just as quickly it disappeared. He looked mad and I got it, it was obvious that Jackson affected me and I was supposed to be on a date with him yet I was focussed on Jackson. Garrett sighed and ran his hand down his face.

"You want to know something Evelyn, I like you but you need to figure out if you like me even half the amount that you like Rowe." I looked at him shocked.

"You can wipe the shocked look off your face, I see the way you look at him." he gave me a weak smile and turned to look out the window.

"I do like Jackson, but as a friend. He has a girlfriend and even if he didn't he doesn't like me like that. I do know that I like you Garrett. You're a nice guy." I gave him a warm smile in the hopes that he would drop the subject.

"You're wrong Ev, he does like you. I'm not giving you up without a fight though." this time he gave me a big lopsided grin and took a sip of his drink.

~

Garrett dropped me off at my dorm and after making plans to meet him at his show on Friday I ran up to my dorm. I opened the door to see Carly making out with Stix on the couch.

"URGH!" I covered my eyes and turned my back so that I wouldn't accidently see something that I would never forget.

"s**t! Sorry Ev" Carly said before bursting into fits of laughter followed by Stix. I stood there and lightly chuckled.

"Can you guys at least hang something on the door when you're fixin' to get frisky."

"Well I wasn't expecting you back yet" Carly was still laughing like a hyena.

"You can turn back around" Stix said all while covering Carly's mouth.

"You sure? I don't wanna see something that might lead to me having to bleach my eyeballs" I turned around and wandered over to my bed and kicked off my shoes. Stix gave Carly a quick peck and then stood up.

"I need to be going anyway" he said before saying his goodbyes and walking out.

"Jeez Ev bad timing on your part" she giggled. I rolled my eyes and checked my phone again for any messages.

"Where have you been anyway? You were gone when I got back" she looked concerned, no doubt worried I might have a breakdown.

"I went and grabbed some coffee with Garrett" I eyed her warily before continuing.

"By the way, I love how you happened to leave out the fact that he's part of a gang!" I all but screamed at her. She winced and I almost felt bad for yelling at her.

"Club" was all she said, I stared at her with what must have been a 'don't f**k with me look'.

"Alright I'm sorry, but I knew that if I told you about it then you wouldn't go out with him which you needed to."

"I didn't need to go out with him!" I winced as my temper flared again, Carly didn't deserve my wrath; I wasn't really angry at her in fact Garrett being in a club kind of excited me in a way. It was more than likely the danger of it but I loved that it over rid my sadness abut Brittney and my anger at my dad and my feelings towards Jackson.

"Sorry, I'm not really angry at you, I'm just going through a lot right now" I gave her a half-hearted smile.

"Listen Ev, I know I should have told you about Garrett because I went through the same thing last year and I didn't like being kept in the dark myself." she sighed.

"When I found out about Stix being in the club I was petrified, I didn't know what went on but just that it wasn't good and not all of it legal. You need to know that this club is a way of life for these boys and they don't just go into it casually, once they're in that's it, no backing out. I fell in love with Stix not the club so I stayed with him; you need to work out if your feelings for Garrett are strong enough for you to turn a blind eye to what goes on in his life and around the club. If you can't do that you need to let him go because I guarantee that that he won't willingly let you go." she looked at me with such an intense expression that I knew that I needed to listen carefully to what she was saying.

"I know that you like Jackson Ev but you need to forget about him, he isn't leaving Verity anytime soon and all you will get yourself is heartbreak if you go down this road with him. He may seem like the safest choice but that boy has more baggage than an airport. Baggage that he isn't willing to share anytime soon."

"I know" I whispered to her. "I don't know what this thing is with Garret but I like him" and that was the God's honest truth. I may already have strong feelings for Jackson and a strangely intense s****l attraction to him but I was also developing feelings for Garrett as messed up as that sounded.

Carly gave me a weak smile before leaving to go for a shower, leaving me with my conflicting thoughts. My phone buzzed on my desk and then started ringing; a quick glance at it told me that it was my dad. I was in no mood to talk to him so I hit ignore, a few seconds later it began ringing again. I ignored it a few more times before I finally picked up, I figured that it must be of some importance to have him call me so persistently.  

"Dad" was my simple answer.

"Honey finally! Look sweetheart I know I'm not your favourite person at the moment but I still need you to answer my calls." I felt kind of guilty at when he said that because I knew he was right, as much as I couldn't stand being around him he was still my father and he never normally rang just to chat, everything he did was purposeful.

"I know, I'm sorry." I sighed into the phone.

"Look honey, it's about your Mother." he generally seemed concerned which is unusual since when it came to talking about my Mum he appeared indifferent. His tone of voice however was what had me sitting up on my bed and taking note.

"What about Mum?" I was worried now, I had left her alone after all and even though her memory loss was as mild as it could get I was still antsy about leaving her on her own. My father sighed before replying to me.

"I had her put in a special home last night sweetie" HE WHAT! My heart started pounding and my temper peaked.

"YOU DID WHAT!" I yelled into the phone.

"Honey calm down. It's time, she is all alone and that's not wise in her condition." he replied simply.

"HER CONDITION! Don't tell me to calm down, that was not your decision to make father! You forfeited that right when you walked out on us." I spat into the phone with all the venom I could muster.

"You can be angry at me all you like but I did what was best for her. And as for it being my right, maybe not but until you turn twenty-one all medical and legal decisions regarding your mother's health fall to me. It was what she wanted honey." he was as calm as ever and it made me hate him more. My mum may not tell me she loves me or even really talk to me but she was still my mother and I knew that being sent to a home will kill her.

"You can't do this Dad! It'll kill her being in a home! You're killing her!" I cried.

"Oh honey, she'll be fine" I could hear his concern but I couldn't careless, this would be the last time I talked to him. My mother was nothing to him, just a reminder of his old life, of Brittney and so was I. I hung up on him before he could get another word in, I slammed my phone on my desk and curled up in a ball on my bed and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.