Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

I scanned her body from head to toe as soon as she entered the bar, studying every inch of her beautiful body. I couldn’t help but look at her in that damn beautiful and short dress.

Behind her stood Landon.

Of course, he was with them.

All that was missing was Tyler showing up here somewhere. If I liked Landon, I’d pat him on the back and pay my respects for going after two best friends.

I looked at Henry to see his reaction, but all that came was a wave in their direction.

The three sat down at the bar with their backs to us.

My eyes watched every move of her.

Luna’s brown hair was curled, and when she put her hair to one side, her bare back was exposed, and I would love to leave a line of kisses on her skin.

The fact remains that I screwed up, even if I hated to admit it.

I leaned forward to my drink so the girl next to me would stop playing with the cords of my gray hoodie.

What was her name, anyway? Riley? Miley?

I wonder if she had introduced herself.

‘My name is Brenda.’

I turned from Luna’s back to the blonde’s cleavage beside me before looking her in the eyes.

‘What?’ I asked her, confused, wondering if she had any witch powers and could see inside my head.

‘So you know what name you should remember forever.’

I’m sorry, what?

The only name I wanted to remember was from the one person who will probably never talk to me again.

‘Dude, stop staring at Luna so morbidly. You haven’t even taken your eyes off her since she walked into the bar,’ Carter whispered unobtrusively in my ear. Despite the thick air between us earlier, when we talked about all that shit at my house, he called me anyway and asked if I wanted to come.

But I did not look for the conversation with him. Only the most necessary.

I drove here myself and didn’t pick him up because I didn’t want to listen to his bullshit while we were alone.

Now it was Henry, the blonde named Brenda, Trevor, Lucy, and the two of us. Just then, Charles came out through the red curtain and ran up to us when he spotted us in the bar. ‘Sorry I’m late, but I had to finish this crappy term paper.’

I stared at him with wide eyes.

The term paper.

I completely forgot about it throughout all of this.

‘Stop staring at me like that, or are you just realizing you have a crush on me?’ laughed Charles, sitting across from me.

‘Shut the fuck up, Charles.’

Yet another reason to be angrier was that this fucking term paper is to turn in on Thursday, and I’ve done almost nothing yet.

I rubbed my hand over my chin and looked back at the bar as Landon stood up and took the drinks from the bartender. It boiled inside me as he put his fucking hand on Luna’s bare back and whispered something in her ear.

Landon must have said something funny because I heard her laugh. I wanted to be the one who made Luna laugh. Not this guy.

A lump formed in my throat at the feeling of Landon touching her. Jealousy spread through my body.

Landon was the one who made Luna laugh, not me.

I wanted to tell him to stop flirting with her. His hand was still on her back, and I couldn’t look at it any longer.

‘Okay, that’s enough,’ I growled, and as I stood up, Carter held his hand in front of my chest.

‘I don’t think that would be such a good idea.’

The boys looked at Carter and me in confusion.

Lucy followed my gaze, which led to the three at the bar.

‘You’re jealous,’ she said.

But so was I, and it bothered me.

‘Who or what should I be jealous of?’ I asked Lucy leaning her head against Trevor’s shoulder.

‘Because you fucked up.’

Carter snorts next to me.

‘How would you know that?’

‘Wes, I’m not stupid. I have eyes in my head.’

Why did everyone, really everyone, have to be so incredibly demanding today?

I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the bench seat.

I gave one last look to Luna, who was biting into a lemon after taking a tequila shot with Landon and Aria.

I stared at the honey-colored liquid, watching the beer’s tiny bubbles tingle against the glass. Carter raised his hand and pointed four fingers toward the bartender, who nodded in our direction and filled four shot glasses with tequila.

I didn’t even feel like drinking anymore.

That crappy country music blasted throughout the bar, and as Carter got up to collect the shot glasses from the bar, I took the chance of the free bench.

I downed my beer and grabbed Brenda by the hand, pulling her out of the bench behind me.

‘Weston,’ Lucy grabbed my wrist. ‘Don’t screw up,’ she continued.

‘I already did.’

I wanted to mess it up even more and screw up what I might have had to punish myself with.

‘If you do this now, then yes,’ Lucy switched her gaze to the girl behind me.

Her shitty, oh-so-great, and helpful wisdom was getting on my nerves. With Brenda in tow, I disappeared into the long hallway where the guest bathroom doors were to be found.

We entered one of the bathrooms, and actually, I would want to fall directly over her, put her on the washstand, and let my tongue slide between her lips, but something prevented me from doing so. When I looked at her like that, I knew, even if I had screwed up, that this would be wrong. A small part didn’t want to accept, let alone give up.

I didn’t know the feelings Luna triggered, which scared me so much, but I could only deal with these feelings when I wasn’t doing this with Brenda.

She didn’t have that long, wavy dark brown hair.

She didn’t have those hazel eyes with so much emotion in them.

She didn’t have freckles spread across her nose.

She didn’t wear gold creoles, which she had in every size and shape.

She didn’t drink cocoa.

She would never look as good in my Jersey as Luna did.

She didn’t have white socks where red hearts were on them.

She would never trust me as much as Luna did.

She wasn’t Luna.

I realized all this too late, and now it was truly too late.

‘Do you want a blow job?’

I glanced at the blonde, taking slow steps toward me and unbuttoning her blouse.

‘No,’ before I could finish my sentence, someone grabbed me by my shoulder and turned me away from Brenda.

Before I could even really realize who was standing before me, I felt a fist on my jaw and a firm tug. I rubbed my jaw area and moved my lower jaw, which hurt.

I looked up and saw Carter shaking his hand.

‘You’re such a fucking bastard.’

He punched me again before I could help it. The taste of iron filled my mouth.

‘Fuck you, Carter. Fuck you,’ I lashed out, and my fist met his nose before the next punch crashed against his jaw.

The girl who wanted to suck my dick slid past the wall as we brawled in the hallway and ran out to the bar.

‘Carter, damn it, stop,’ I tried to dodge his punch because the last thing I wanted was to get into a fight.

Especially not with my best friend.

Carter didn’t know when to stop. Communication was exchanged for fists at his house.

‘I’m not going to stop until you finally realize it,’ he pushed me against the wall and punched me again.

‘I’m not going to fight, and I’m certainly not going to fight you.’

He glared at me and hit me again, but not as hard as the other times before.

‘What are you doing? Do you think fucking someone else is going to make the feelings you have for Luna go away? Fucking admit it, Wes.’

‘I fucked up, okay? I didn’t want to admit that I like Luna a lot and I had nothing with that girl. I couldn’t,’ I admitted.

Carter let go with a jerk, his nose dripping with blood, and I could still feel the bitter taste of iron in my mouth.

‘You’re such a dumbass.’ He left the hallway and disappeared behind the door that separated the hallway and the bar.

I touched my lip with my fingers, which had blood on them. I stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall.

Carter had every reason to hit me, which I couldn’t blame him for because I knew he would do anything for his friends. He would stick his neck out for anything and do anything to make you feel better.

Carter came over late last summer when I was off work, like every week. I sat outside in the backyard because it had been so warm upstairs in my room. He had gotten into a fight with his father, and even though I knew Carter could dish it out pretty well, he took a lot of punishment that night.

He always downplayed his father’s behavior. It was not so bad, and  his behavior was only because of the alcohol. He could not remember it tomorrow.

That evening I got to know my best friend from a different side.

We sat there, and he cried.

Carter cried.

He just sat there and cried silently.

The one who was usually so strong and confident. The one who always had something to say at any moment. But he was very calm, and while we sat there, the tears rolled down his face, and we drank one beer after the other.

We never talked about that night, and I never asked him about it, but I thought something had happened to our friendship that night in a good way.

Without talking, we bonded even more.

We both met in high school and hit it off right away.

When we had games, we were usually the familiar duo on the ice: number eleven and number thirteen. One would shoot the puck into the net, and the other would assist.

Since then, we promised each other we would do everything possible to play in the National Hockey League one day.

I walked out and stood in the middle of the bar.

Carter was back at the table, holding a cold pack in front of his nose. I glanced at him before staring in Luna’s direction, who was staring at me with wide, perplexed eyes.

Please, Luna, please stand up and say something. Just one more time.

She shook her head slowly and turned away from me again on the bar stool.