Chapter Seventeen

[Justin's POV]

I pull up into the driveway of my house. Well, it's more like a dump then a house. There's ivy growing all around the house, the bricks have lost their color and are slowly crumbling apart, the windows are shattered in some places, and the house looks as if it is almost leaning to the side. No wonder why this place was abandoned when I found it.

I climb out of the car with a groan leaving my lips at the shooting pain that runs throughout my arm. I'm still bleeding kind of bad. If I'm not mistaking, I probably just got shot in the same place I did back when I escaped jail.

Great.

I walk around the car to the other side and open the passenger door. Selena looks at me through the few pieces of her hair that have fallen over her face. I go to move her hair out of her face but stop when I realize my own blood is all over my hand.

"C'mon," I say, stepping to the side so she can get out of the car. She slowly climbs out and stands by my side. I nod my head towards the house and she follows me up to the front door.

I unlock the door and push it open. I step inside with Selena by my side. I don't see Ryan or Alfredo anywhere, but I know they're here because I can hear Alfredo's stupid ass music playing from somewhere in the house.

"Guys?" I call out.

I hear footsteps making their way from the back of the house. In a few seconds, Ryan and Alfredo appear around the corner.

"There you-" Ryan stops mid sentence when his eyes land on Selena. "What the fuck?"

"What the hell happened to your shoulder?" Alfredo questions, noticing my bloody hand and now blood stained shirt.

"I'll explain everything," I say before they're able to ask more questions. "But first I need one of you guys to take this fucking pain away in my shoulder."

Ryan and Alfredo look at each other. The way that they look each other I know immediately something is up between the two.

"Fine."

➰

I bite my lip and close my eyes as my hand clenches into a tight fist when I feel Alfredo pull the bullet out of my shoulder. The feeling of the bullet getting taken out of me suddenly makes all the pain fade away from my shoulder.

"Got it," Alfredo says, tossing the tiny bullet into the trash can that is next to him. "Now you need stitches."

"I fucking hate stitches." I groan.

"Shouldn't have been an idiot and got shot." Ryan comments as his body leans up against the doorframe.

I give him a death glare. Giving him the warning that if he doesn't shut up I'll shut him up myself. Alfredo notices the tension between Ryan and I.

"How did you even get shot?" he asks, gathering all the things he needs to stitch my shoulder back to new.

"Yeah, it's time for your ass to explain what the hell is going on." Ryan says, bringing a chair over close to me and taking a seat in it. "Why the fuck is Selena here?"

"I had to bring her here." I say. "To protect her."

"Oh, so now you're protecting her?" Ryan raises an eyebrow. "Why does she need protecting? Is she afraid a monster is going to crawl out from underneath her bed?" He laughs and I can feel myself starting to boil inside with anger.

"No, you asshole." I pause, a groan escaping my lips as I feel Alfredo starting to stitch myself up. "Liam is after her, and I don't know why."

I catch Ryan take a glance up at Alfredo and mouth something to him. Okay, what is with these two? Ever since they saw Selena they've been on edge. It's time for them to spill the beans on what's going on.

"What is with you two? You both have been acting weird since Selena stepped foot in the house." I point them out.

"Nothing. We just..." Alfredo trails off.

"We just, um, have a weird vibe about her." Ryan finishes Alfredo's sentence. I know that isn't the real reason why they're acting weird, but I'm too tired to deal with them right now. "Anyways, how is bringing Selena here going to protect here?"

"If you're trying to protect her bringing her here was a stupid decision. You know Liam comes here sometimes." Alfredo points out.

"I know," I say. "But there was really no other choice other than bring her here."

"Really? You couldn't just leave her at her house?" Ryan asks, anger in his voice.

"No. Liam was stalking her. He would use this ladder to climb up so he could peek inside her bedroom at her. The other day when I left after I got that call, it was Selena. She had found Liam's phone laying in the grass by the side of her house." I catch Ryan and Alfredo look at each other again, but I continue explaining. "That's why I've been running off a lot lately. It was to make sure she was okay. And I didn't tell you two because I knew you guys would flip."

"Okay, but how the hell did you get shot?" Alfredo asks.

"I had slept the night over at Selena's house," I pause as Ryan and Alfredo's eyes widen and a smirk form on their faces. "And no, we didn't fuck or anything. So get your minds out of the gutter."

"I was about to say, Justin got some last night!" Ryan hollers with a clap of his hands.

"But I guess you're still a sad virgin." Alfredo teases. If he wasn't stitching my shoulder right now I would hit him, hard.

"Shut up, Alfredo." I growl. I'm glad Ryan and Alfredo are enjoying teasing me about how I'm still a virgin. Makes me feel really great. Note the sarcasm.

"Okay, we're done." Alfredo says once he's able to stop laughing.

"Anyways!" I say, wanting to move on from this conversation. "This morning, Selena's ex had came over. And let's just say he may have gave away who I really am."

"What?!" Ryan yells.

"She knows you're...you know." Alfredo says.

"Yes. She knows I'm Jason McCann. But before you two freak out anymore, she won't turn us in. I promise. I know she won't." I think back to Selena's house when she actually did call the police. She was just scared. She wouldn't actually call the police on us. At least I hope she won't.

"I swear Justin, if she calls the police and puts our asses in jail, I'll-" I cut Ryan off from his babbling.

"Calm down, would you? She won't." Ryan doesn't look at all convinced but stays quiet. "But like I was saying," I continue on. "She found out and when her ex went to leave there was a gunshot outside the house. I went out to see what it was and Liam was there. He shot and killed her ex, then he chased after us. And the one time he took a shot at Selena the bullet hit me in the shoulder instead. That's how I got shot."

"Wait, Liam was trying to kill you both?" Alfredo asks, now taking a seat in a chair that was off to the side since he had finished stitching my shoulder.

"I think he was mainly aiming to kill Selena, but it felt like he was trying to get rid of me too. And that's why I don't trust that bastard anymore. I think we need to stop working for him and move to a new state." I explain.

"We're not going anywhere. Not until we get our money that Liam owes us." Ryan states.

"Well I'm saying we leave now. Selena isn't safe here and-" I get cut off by Ryan raising his hand up.

"When did everything start revolving around this dumb ass chick? Who cares if she gets hurt. She's just a distraction for you and the last thing we need is you getting killed because you're mind is too busy thinking about her." Ryan stands from his chair. "Get Selena out of here if you want her to stay alive."

"What the hell does that mean?" I yell, standing to my feet which results in the chair I was sitting on to fall backwards into the floor. "You guys are supposed to help keep her safe."

"The last thing I want to do is protect that slut." My hand clenches at my side and before I can stop myself my fist collides with Ryan's jaw. The blow sends him to the floor and I can feel my blood boiling inside of me, minus the pain I'm feeling from my shoulder right now.

"You lay one hand on her or in any way try to hurt her, I'll kill you." I hiss.

"Justin, calm down." Alfredo says, putting his hand on my right shoulder, the one that isn't in pain.

"No, I won't 'calm down'. If any of you hurt Selena-" Alfredo cuts me off.

"We won't, I promise." He's trying to make me calm down, but it's not working. My heart is beating fast and the thought of Ryan or Fredo even trying to hurt Selena is driving me insane.

"You're stupid if you're going to let this chick come in between us." Ryan says, picking himself off the floor while his hand is holding his jaw.

"Why don't you go check on Selena," Alfredo suggests, trying to calm all of us down.

I shake my head in disgust and brush past Ryan to head upstairs. I want nothing to do with him for the rest of the day nor do I even want to see him. It's bad enough I got shot today, so the last thing I need is to blow up on him.

I head upstairs and head into my bedroom. I told Selena to come up here while Alfredo cleaned me up. My knuckles gently knock on the door before I grab the doorknob and twist it. The door is unlocked and I open the door.

Selena is on my bed, curled up in all of my blankets. I cant help but admire how cute she looks. Her hair is hanging down in front of her eyes as her hands hold my pillow close to her. I find myself smiling when I go and sit on the edge of the bed.

"Selena?" I say, taking my hand and brushing the hair out of her face so I could see how beautiful she really is. She doesn't reply, so I decide to leave her alone while she sleeps.

She's probably exhausted from today. I knew today was going to stay with her for the rest of her life, seeing her ex getting killed right in front of her eyes and then having to run from somebody who is trying to kill her next. And it doesn't help that she also found out about me.

"Justin," Selena's soft voice calls out my name stopping me from walking out of the bedroom.

"Yeah?" I say, turning around.

"I-I," Selena tries to say something but a flood of tears start streaming down her face instead.

"Hey," I go over and sit on the bed again. I would ask 'what's wrong' or 'why are you crying', but I already know why she's crying. "I'm sorry about Nick."

"E-everything happened so fast. He was there with me and then a few minutes later h-he gets killed." Selena cries.

I take my hand to her cheeks and let my thumb wipe away the tears. "If I could have saved him, I would have. Hell, I should have at least tried to save him even though I was hurt. I shouldn't have just left him there." Now I feel like an asshole for not even trying to save Nick.

"You couldn't have. Your shoulder," Selena pauses as she sits up in the bed. "Is this where you got shot?"

I look down at where her finger is pointing before nodding my head. "Yeah. Not the first time I've been shot there."

"Oh my gosh," Selena's hand covers her mouth. "Are these all scars from-"

"Yeah, they are." I cut her off.

She's talking about all the small scars I have in different places on my chest. I have my shirt off since Alfredo had to put stitches on me, so all my scars are revealed. Not all are scars from getting shot. The one on my left side, which is probably the biggest scar I have, it was from when Liam stabbed me. Then the one on my left bicep is from Ryan when we got into an argument. The rest of the scars are from getting shot. Except for a scar that I have on the back of my thigh, that's from having a piece of broken glass that I fell on.

"They're not all from getting shot." I say. "Some are from getting stabbed or from other things."

"How many times have you been shot?" Selena asks, her eyes still looking over all the different scars.

"A few times." I say, not really knowing myself how many times.

Selena's fingertips run over the scar that runs over the middle of my abs, it also being from getting stabbed. I'm sure you can guess from who. I look up at her eyes as hers are on my scar. I admire her features until her eyes finally meet with mine. My eyes glance down at her lips as I lick my own with my tongue before I look back into her eyes.

God, I want to kiss her...so badly.

I lean my head in making our lips only a few centimeters apart. Selena keeps her eyes locked with mine until I gently press my lips against hers. She kisses back softly, her lips against mine feeling so right. Our lips part and the way our lips move in sync makes me almost positive her lips were meant to be against mine.

I pull away after a few minutes before I allow myself to take this kiss further than it needs to be. Plus with my wounded shoulder and after what has happened to her today I'm pretty sure she's not up for any making out or anything more than that. And neither am I.

"You should, um, rest." I say.

"Will you lay with me?" Selena surprises me by asking.

I figured she wouldn't want me around her right now since she knows who I really am. But then again she just kissed me. Maybe she just wants comfort right now and clearly I'm all she's got. Anyway, I don't care. Falling asleep next to her right now sounds perfect.

"Sure," I reply.

Selena scoots over in the bed and let's me climb underneath the covers. As soon as I'm settled Selena puts her head on my chest and wraps her arm around my stomach as I wrap my arm around her, like usual.

In a matter of minutes I'm asleep.

➰

"Justin!" I hear my name get called multiple times in a row with someone shaking my arm.

I open my eyes and I see Selena sitting up in the bed staring down at me. There's tears running down her cheeks with fear written all over her face.

"What's wrong?" I ask, still half asleep but my senses are on high alert now.

"My mother," Selena says.

"What about her? Calm down," I say, grabbing ahold of her hand and holding it mine to try and calm her down.

"She was at work when Liam came. But she's off work now and she's at the house. Justin, what if Liam is still there? He's going to kill my mom!" Selena explains everything so quickly I almost can't wrap my head around what's wrong. But I understand. "We need to go, Justin. Now!"

"But if she's there I can't bring her here! She might recognize who I am and turn me in." Right when the words leave my mouth I feel like a complete ass.

Here I am worrying about if my ass will get turned into the police or not while Selena's mother may be next on Liam's killing list.

"I don't care if you get recognized! This is my mother and for all I know she might be dead right now! I need to get to the house now-" I cut her off by kissing her lips quickly.

"I'm sorry, okay? Get my keys off the counter and go ahead and get into the car. I'll be down there in a few seconds." I say.

Selena quickly does what I say and races downstairs as I jump out of bed and go to my closet. I randomly pull out a shirt and put it on, which is not easy with my shoulder just getting stitched up. I'm more than positive that I feel a few stitches come out when I lift my shoulder up, but that's the last thing on my mind right now.

I make my way downstairs and Ryan and Fredo are by the front door. They turn and look at me as I make my way over to the door.

"What's going on?" Fredo asks.

"Selena's mom is in danger." I say, grabbing my jacket off the coat rack.

"So? What are you going to do?" Ryan asks.

"Save her." I reply.

"What if she recognizes you? Or-" I cut them off from asking anymore questions.

"I don't care! The last thing Selena needs right now is for another one of her family or friends to get killed. She's gone through enough as it is and I'm not about to let her mom slip right through my fingers if I can save her. So move out of my way." I go off before running outside to my car.

"We're coming too!" I hear Ryan and Alfredo yell as they run out the door behind me.

We all pile into my car, me getting into the passengers seat. Selena is still crying and shaking. I put my hand on her thigh as I pull out of the driveway.

"It's going to be okay." I say, trying to comfort her although I have no idea myself if her mother could already be dead or not.

Please let her mom be okay, please.

________________________

~ Author's Notes ~

I worked really hard on making this chapter long enough for you guys and I was going to make it longer but what happens next needs to be in the next chapter.

What do you guys think will happen next? Will Selena's mom be okay?

(P.S. - keep in mind what Liam asked Ryan and Alfredo to do a few chapters ago)