© 2018 Shay Spencer. All rights reserved.

Something New

[ Chapter 5 ] Idiot Older Brother

. . . . .

Hayden

11 Months

. . . . .

As the purest form of torture I had endured to get here was now complete, I felt that I most certainly deserved a drink.

"Slow down there," Jay laughed before clapping me on the back. I shook my head, feeling the burn of the bourbon Eddy had sent us as it slid down my throat. "You tryin' to choke, or something?"

"No," I coughed a bit after sucking in a deep breath. Despite Jay's jock exterior, he was actually kind of a lightweight. He'd always cop out during our days with Axel and his merry men.

I still didn't know why Jay had accepted such a lovely gift from our very own mister Eddison after all that had gone down. I half thought we were done with those bastards the second they skipped town. But as luck would have it, both of my siblings seemed to think otherwise.

"Hayden-"

"What?" I chuckled, slamming the glass back down on the bar and waving the bartender back over. "I'm out for the summer, and I've only got one semester left of school. That's it! Then I don't have to worry about Elias breathing down my neck anymore."

Jay rolled his eyes at me, pushing his own glass forward for the barkeep to refill. He may try to do his best around Wren, but I knew I could corrupt him.

For tonight, anyway.

Watching my idiot of an older brother down his shot in under a second, I turned my attention back to the rest of the creepily empty bar. The place was fairly run-down for such the 'one and only nightlife attraction' that this side of Boston had to offer. The dark wood was sticky with old booze and the place smelled like cigarette smoke. There were old photos up on the wall behind Jay and I, along with two currently occupied booths. There were maybe ten barstools lining the bar, but to my knowledge, that was it.

To think I'd driven all the way to Boston for this.

"Jay!" One of the few occupants of the booth called out, his words slurring along with the stumble he took upon attempting to stand up. I couldn't help but feel bad for the guy; seemed as if they lovely lady on his arm was in for quite the bad night. "Heading back to the hotel."

Jay nodded to them as his so called team members fled the poor excuse of a bar, this leaving the place solely to Jay and I.

At least now I could get to the bottom of things.

"Why'd they bounce so quick?" I asked, swirling the ice cubes around as I picked up the glass. "Thought this was their idea."

"Their idea was to get laid-" Jay cut himself short, his ringtone interrupting his utterly riveting explanation.

I didn't have to be sober to notice the wince that crossed his face at the sight of Wren's number flashing across his cracked phone screen.

"Answer it," I nudged him with my elbow. "If it's Wren-"

"We broke up," Jay huffed before sliding his glass down to the opposite end of the bar.

Now that was something I wasn't expecting.

"What do you mean?" I couldn't contain the laugh. I felt bad, I really did, but come on! Wren had him wrapped around her finger since that first night Scar and I dropped her at the mansion.

Jay sent me a glare, "did you not understand?"

"Oh I got it, bro," I said. "I'm just wondering what's up."

Jay crossed his arms on the bar before resting his forehead between his hands. I could hear a slight groan come from him, but honestly, this was one of the funniest things I had ever seen.

I couldn't stop myself from wondering what Scarlett would do when she found out.

"We're moving to Florida," Jay started up again, keeping his head low enough that his words came out muffled.

"But," I stopped myself. Knowing Wren and my brother, there was some twisted explanation.

"I got traded, Hayden," his head shot back up. "Wren and I have to move to Florida."

"So you're back together?"

Jay nodded obnoxiously, "yeah. We fight all the time, it was temporary. Now we're moving to Florida."

"Okay," I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing again.

For some reason, I never thought I would be able to get Jay this drunk tonight. He was spilling his guts to me without me even having to ask.

"Dad and Angel are helping us move, if you want to come to the beach or anything," he rambled on.

"What about Scar?"

Jay shrugged lamely.

"Wouldn't count on seeing her. She disappeared like two months ago," he sighed. "Dropped out of NYU then crashed on our couch for a week. She left in the middle of the night and no one's heard from her since."

I could quite literally feel my heart in my throat, and I've never had that happen before.

"Wren and Angel haven't heard from her?" I prodded, leaning in a bit to watch as Jay's eyes rolled to the back of his head. He was going to pass out in less than a minute.

"No." His face scrunched up at the mention. "Can you call Wren? I think I need to head home."

"Whatever," I brushed him off, making sure to pick up my phone on my way out of this wretched place.

The air was strangely cool outside for it being the middle of May, but I didn't have time to think about that. The only person with the answers I needed, was also Jay's designated driver for the night.

"Hayden?" Wren's voice blared back at me through the phone. "Where the hell are you guys! Jay didn't even answer my call-"

"Calm down, wifey. He got wasted, to put it mildly." Wren merely scoffed back at me. "We're at some dive-bar near the Walmart on the end of town. Do you mind picking him up?"

"What about you?" Wren sighed along with the sound of her keys dangling in the background. "If I'm driving out there the least I can do is pick you up."

"I'm driving back to Philly," I shook my head at the thought. "But before I lose you, when was the last time you talked with Scarlett?"

I could hear her sigh once more before answering, "probably around the time you last spoke with her."

"I haven't talked with her since she drove up to NYU in August."

"Oh god," she whined back at me. "I could have sworn she called you."

"Well where is she?" I laughed back at her, running a hand through my hair as I did.

"Hell if I know!" She shot back snidely. "I haven't heard from her in two months! Why don't you try being her best friend for a little bit. Maybe you'll be better at it than I was."

"What happened, Wren?" I huffed in annoyance.

"She wouldn't tell me the whole story. I kept asking but she said she wanted to forget about it," Wren said. "She wouldn't quit talking about how Zane and Eddy were practically in love with her, which I think is a stretch. I mean, we knew Zane did, but Eddy too? Come on-"

"Wren," I warned.

"Right," I could nearly see her shaking her head at herself. "She didn't know how much more she could take, so she went to Axel about the whole thing. He finally got it through to them that they needed to cool it, and after that she didn't really keep me up to date with what was happening. The only thing she told me before she vanished was that she stayed at Axel's place the night before she left."

It took everything in me not to smash my phone.

"I mean, it probably wasn't like that, but she never-"

"It's fine," I hissed. "Give Jay my hangover cure in the morning before you guys leave for Florida."

"Hayden-"

"No," I shook my head. "If you don't mind, there's someone in New York that I've got to go kill."