My father drags me into Andrew Grey's office where several people are sat around a table - two of those being Colton and Dylan. "Sit down and don't say a word," he says lowly so that no one else hears him. He pushes me into a seat and then sits himself at the end of the table. I play with my hands in my lap and stare down, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone.

"As you all know an attempt on Rose's life was made yesterday but that is not the problem here," my father starts and I am in awe of how he can say such backhanded things in front of an audience. "The problem... is that we have rebels on the loose who are trying to remove us from our stations and this will not be tolerated by any means. This situation needs to be rectified before we can continue. Everyone at this table will be going to the stake out tonight no matter the circumstances," my father is beyond angry and his calm demeanor says it all.

I look up and Colton's eyes are steady on me. He's conveniently sat across from me and is staring into my soul. I look a couple seats down and see Dylan's eyes also glued to me. Could this be anymore awkward? He mouths we need to talk and I nod. I already know what this is about.

"Colton is our finest so he will be leading. All plans will be discussed later tonight in the auditorium and you should be there by nine. No sooner or later," my father explains before standing up and leaving. Everyone leaves prior to that, without a word, but I stay seated. I'm glad to know my father cares so much about me being almost killed, I can tell it really took a toll on him.

***

Dylan walks back in after a while and comes to sit next to me. I've been sitting here for god knows how long, just staring at the wall in front of me. "What's up with you?" Dylan asks and I have to stop myself from laughing.

"Nothing," I shrug and he sighs. There truly isn't, everything is perfectly fine in my brilliant life.

"Is it true?" Dylan asks and I for once have no clue what he is talking about.

"Is what true?" I face him and I can see hurt in his eyes. Why he is looking at me like this, I do not know.

"You slept with Colton," he says angrily and I roll my eyes. Is he honestly joking? All of this is because of what Colton said the other day.

"I slept in his bed not with him," I explain. "Anyway, why would it matter if I did? We weren't together and we hadn't been for a while. We still aren't now," I say harshly and I know I am being short with him but this is the least of both our problems right now.

"So you still slept with him," Dylan abruptly gets up, knocking the chair over from how sudden his movement was. Please get over yourself. "You're such a..." he leads off and it's my turn to get angry.

"Go on, finish that sentence", tears blur my vision but I refuse to show him how his words affect me. He balls his fists at his sides and stays silent. "So I thought..." my voice breaks and I leave the room, not waiting or caring for a response.

I am so sick of everyone and they're constant need to call me names, to degrade me.

They'll get what's coming to them, all of them. I'll make sure of it.

***

Colton

"So I thought..." I hear her voice break from inside the room and I want to murder that scumbag. Rose storms out of the room and briefly makes eye contact with me before stalking down the corridor. She knows I heard everything but she doesn't know what my next move is.

I wait for a bit until Dylan leaves the room. As soon as he is in the corridor, I grab two fistfuls of his shirt and push him up against the wall. "What was that about, hm?" I spit and he smirks at me. I pull him off the wall then slam him into it again, making him erupt into a fit of coughs. I'm glad it's quite quiet in this part of the facility, I don't feel like causing much of a scene today.

"You mad I screwed her?" he laughs in-between coughs. I must have knocked the wind out of him from how forcefully I pushed him against the wall. "You're missing out bro... she is so good in bed, she's so tight," all I see is red as I throw a forceful blow to his jaw. Blood splatters from his mouth onto the floor and I am filled with triumph as I throw another punch.

"You dare speak about her like that again and I will not hesitate in killing you," I hit him one more time for good measure and he falls to the floor with a thud.

I'm sure I've broken his nose but that's his problem not mine.

"You sick twat," Dylan whimpers and I laugh at his limp body on the floor. I bend down so I am close to him, so that only he can hear me.

"Only for her," I'm fully aware of the smug look on my face as I leave his weak body on the floor outside of my father's office and go back to my room. A lot of preparations need to be in order before tonight so I don't exactly have enough time to be dealing with bastards.

****

Rose

Before I know it it's nine and I'm on my way down to the auditorium. Since this morning I have solely been trying to get my mind off of everything and have been training to prepare myself for tonight. Although I have this feeling that something is going to go badly wrong tonight, I am optimistic. Besides, there's no backing out now.

My father would never allow it, even if I wanted to.

I spot Melissa in the crowd and walk over to her. "Hey," I smile and she smiles back.

"You nervous?" she asks. Everyone is dressed in all black uniforms and it's kind of intimidating and very cult looking.

"Very, you?" I reply honestly. After Colton has explained the plan we should be leaving but my legs feel like jelly and I'm not sure I'll be able to force myself out of the exit.

"Meh, not too bad but kind of," I'm glad I am not the only one who feels uneasy about this. I know that I am probably over thinking or just being paranoid but I can't shake the feeling that this is all going to go south.

"Everyone listen up, we don't have all day," Colton shouts from the other side of the room. He is dressed in the same black uniform except he has multiple guns strapped to him on various parts of his body. Colton was intimidating before but now he's just... I don't even know but I'd rather not get on his bad side tonight.

"The plan is that we will leave on the trucks and head towards the city. There are three different trucks so you will all be split into three different groups. Those groups you can choose yourself, I don't really care. The three leaders will be myself, Sanchez and Ruko," he gestures to the two men beside him. "When we reach the outskirts of the city we will stay in our three respected groups and keep a low profile. Your leader will explain where you are going to be setting up. Everyone feel free to grab your weapons and get moving," Colton shouts to the room of people.

I look around and notice that there is a lot more people than I had expected. I suppose that we will need a a large quantity of people because by the looks of things, there is no shortage of rebels. Then I see him. His face is bruised and cut and his eyes darkened. What happened? I begin to make my way towards him as his eyes meet my mine but someone grabs my arm.

"You're coming with me," Colton says and pulls me away. His hold on my arm is firm and I know that there is going to be no way of talking him out of this.

"I need to talk to someone," I huff as he drags me along.

"You're not talking to that someone and you won't ever again," everyone is giving us odd looks and I'm not surprised. I lift my head up to look at him as he keeps his gaze fixed ahead.

"And why is that?" I sigh. The sound of feet pounding against the floor fills my ears and it's hard to focus on anything else. The faint click of guns and small murmurs are all that can be heard over the heavy footsteps.

"Nothing you need to know about," we reach the exit and I yank my arm out of Colton's grip but he places his hand on the small of my back instead.

"You can't resist me, can you?" I laugh and he stops and looks at me. I can't for the life of me read his eyes or what's going on behind them - no matter how hard I try.

"What's that supposed to mean?" it means that you tell me that you're done with me and that you're staying away from me but here you are, back where you started. But obviously I am not going to tell him that because that would be far too easy.

"Nothing you need to know about," I smirk and he rolls his eyes.

Two can play that game Colton.

Two can play that game.

***

We've been in the truck on the way to the city for about twenty minutes now and of course Colton made me stay upfront with him and everyone else in the back. I don't know why he can't just leave me alone, it's getting boring now. I look over to his large tattooed hands that hug the steering wheel and notice his split knuckles and everything comes together.

The bruises and cuts on Dylan's face, Colton not wanting me to go near him.

"You absolute idiot!" I blurt out and realise how that sounds without any context. He runs a hand over his face before focusing back on the road and sighing.

"What have I done now?" his hands tightly grip the wheel making his bloodied knuckles turn white. Colton can't think that I am really this stupid, that I wouldn't put the pieces together.

"You beat up Dylan, that's why you wouldn't let me near him and practically forced me into this truck," I look out the window and move to the edge of the seat so that I am as far away from him as possible.

"You didn't hear what he was saying," he's irritated and I can hear it in his voice.

"What was he saying then? It can't be half as bad as what you have called me," I say spitefully and I mean every word I said. Dylan can be horrible for sure but Colton's done just as bad, if not worse, in the short time that I have known him.

"I'm not repeating it, you don't know what he's actually like Rose," everything in me wants to believe him but how am I supposed to trust him? How can he expect me to trust him after everything?

"I know what you're like though," I fire back and he sighs deeply. He can't think that I am going to forgive him this easily and forget everything that happened yesterday and before that.

"For god sake Rose," he groans and uses one hand to run it through his hair.

"I don't know why you're getting involved in my relationship," as soon as the words leave my mouth I can already feel the anger radiating off of Colton.

"You're joking right," the truck comes to a holt as we reach the edge of the city and he glares at me. I think this is the first time I have ever actually been scared of Colton. The rage burning in his eyes could be seen from a mile away and his tense posture makes me uncertain of his next move. "You can't seriously be with that piece of crap," he spits.

"I'm not and haven't been for a while but I don't see how any of this concerns you seen as you wanted nothing to do with me yesterday," he doesn't get a say on what I do or who I am with.

"Let's go," he says and gets out of the truck.

Well that's one way to end a conversation.