Chapter Ten

I lay helplessly on the ground as blood rushes out of my side. I put my hand over the wound to try and stop some of the bleeding, but it doesn't work.

I look back up and see Selena with her tear stained cheeks and puffy red eyes while Liam is behind her, holding her arm with a death grip.

"Justin!" Selena cries out for me.

"Don't hurt her!" I scream at Liam.

Liam only laughs at my warning. I watch as he brings his gun to the side of Selena's head making her start crying harder. He brings his lips close to Selena's ear as he stares at me, a devil smirk plastered across his face.

"It's a shame you had to be brought into this mess," Liam says into Selena's ear, but it's loud enough for me to hear. "You could be living a happy life right now. But he had to drag you into his messed up life."

"Please, just let me go!" Selena pleads.

"I'll do anything if you just let her go," I say.

"You're already dead, Bieber. Or should I call you by your real name?" Liam says, his eyebrow raised.

"Real name?" Selena questions.

No. No, no, no.

"You don't know who he really is?" Liam asks, dropping the gun away from her to point it at me.

"Don't, Liam." I beg.

"You know Selena, you've been spending your days with a criminal? His name isn't Justin." I mentally try to block out Liam's voice from my ears. "His real name is Jason-"

➰

I'm jolted awake by someone shaking my shoulder. I snap my eyes open and quickly sit up in the bed.

"It's okay," Selena says, putting her hand on my shoulder. "It was just a bad dream."

I check my surroundings and realize I'm still in Selena's bedroom. I run my hands through my hair as my heartbeat continues to rapidly beat. I can feel little beads of sweat running down the side of my face. I try not to pant, but I'm too shaken up from the dream.

Thank god that was only a dream.

"Are you okay?" Selena asks, worry on the edge of her voice.

"Y-yeah." I reply after I take in a few deep breaths.

"You kept squirming around and it woke me up. I knew you were having a bad dream, so I shook your shoulder multiple times and called out your name to wake you up, but I guess you were too deep in the dream to hear me." she explains.

My breathing starts to slow as Selena's hand moves to my back and begins gently rubbing up and down. I feel my body relax almost instantly at her touch.

"Sorry," I apologize.

"For having a bad dream?" Selena asks, a half smile on her face.

I find myself chuckling. "Yeah, I guess."

"I'll be right back." she announces.

I watch as she leaves the room and I would be lying if I said I wasn't checking out her ass.

I try to push away the thought of the terrible dream I had just experienced so I could focus on what's actually important at the moment; Selena's safety.

I want to bring her back to where I live, but I'm afraid that will put her into more danger. For example, if the boys and me are out on a job and leave Selena at the house, what will happen if Liam happens to drop by the house for something? I feel like no matter what I decide to do things are going to end badly.

I could just come over here every night and spin the night with Selena. At least for now that would be the best thing to do until I figure something out.

Selena comes back into the room with a glass of water in her hand. She walks over to the bed and hands me the glass.

"I figured you needed something to drink." Selena says, sitting next to me again on the bed.

"Thanks." I say.

I take a sip of the water just as my phone starts going off. I dig into my jeans pocket and pull my phone out with the screen having Alfredo's name lighted up across it. I groan.

It's way too early in the morning to hear him questioning where I was last night.

"Hello?" I answer his call.

"Where the fuck were you last night?!" Alfredo yells into the phone from the other end.

"Good morning to you too," I say.

"Seriously, Justin." Alfredo says annoyed.

"Give me the phone!" I hear Ryan's voice in the background.

"Would you two just calm down for a minute. I was just out, okay? Nothing happened." I explain.

If they knew I was with Selena they would flip.

"Out where?" Ryan questions me.

"What are you, my mother?" I ask.

Right as I bring up my mother I feel a pain in my chest. It's been so long since I last saw her. She wouldn't even recognize me now probably. If she did recognize me, she would still see the same son; the criminal. Nothing's changed. I know she still hates me to this day.

"Just get back here. We got another job from Liam." Alfredo says.

I could feel my grip tighten on the glass at the mentioning of Liam's name. I'm griping the glass so tight my knuckles are turning white and the glass could just shatter and make the water spill all over Selena's bed.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be there soon." I say before quickly ending the call.

Selena's eyes meet mine as I look at her. I never noticed how sparkly her eyes are and how they are a light shade of brown. Kind of like mine.

"I gotta get going." I say, standing up from the bed.

"Why?" Selena asks.

"Ryan and Alfredo need me for something." I wasn't going to give her the full details.

"Oh, okay." she says, a fake smile on her face.

"Are you going to be okay here by yourself?" I know the answer to that already; no.

"Yeah, I guess." I know that's a lie. I can tell that she's still scared about Liam maybe coming back.

I rub the back of my neck after I get done sliding on my shoes. "Are you busy today?"

"I'm never busy." Selena replies, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. It was almost like that my question was a joke to her.

"Be ready around six." I say, opening up the window to leave. "I'm taking you out."

"Out?" I nod my head. "Out...as in like a date?"

"I don't do dates." I say.

With that, I climb out the window and make my way down the ladder. When my feet hit the ground I look back up where Selena has her head sticking out the window.

"I'll see you later." I say, before I begin jogging to my car.

➰

"Do you have any idea where this guy is supposed to be?" I ask, checking both ways before pulling out onto an unfamiliar road.

"Liam didn't say." I see Alfredo shrug through the review mirror.

"No, you idiot. He did tell us. He said he was going to be somewhere around this address that Liam gave us." Ryan corrects.

"Bitch." I hear Alfredo say under his breath.

I swear if these two start arguing I'll drop their asses off on the side of the road in an instant. So I suggest they keep their mouths shut.

"That's the address." Ryan points to a house that is literally out in the middle of nowhere.

The house is surrounded by woods and I would say that the next house is about a mile away. Good. No one is going to be able to hear the gunshots when we fire them off.

"Liam said we have to wait until around six to try and get him because according to Liam that's when he's supposed to have this big ass party going on." Alfredo explains Liam's introductions to me.

Six? I'm supposed to meet up with Selena at that time. I look at the clock in the car and see that it is already past three o'clock.

"No, we're doing this now." I say.

"But Liam said-" I cut Ryan off immediately.

"I don't give a fuck what Liam said. As of right now, you two are gonna listen to me, not to what Liam had instructed us to do. Alright? It wouldn't make sense to kill this lowlife while there's going to be a bunch of people around. We could easily be caught in the act. I don't know about you two, but I would like to stay out of jail. We need to kill him now while it looks like he's home alone at the moment."

As I look through the review mirror at Ryan and Alfredo I can tell they're questioning what they should. Either listen to Liam's instructions or mine. If they're smart they'll listen to me.

"Fine. Let's go get this over with." Ryan says.

"Liam will probably kill us for not listening to his intrusions." Alfredo comments.

"Who cares what Liam thinks. I just made this job ten times easier for us." I say.

All three of us climb out of the car making sure we have our guns with us before heading up to the house. By the looks of it, whoever this guy was, he was home alone. If I didn't know any better, he was probably having this party because his parents were out of town. The typical reason why a teenager would be throwing a party at their house in the first place.

"You take one side of the house and you take the other. I got the back." I say.

Ryan and Alfredo nod and quickly listen to my order. I watch as Ryan runs to the right side of the house while Alfredo takes the left. I make my way to the back of the house. When I get there I notice the back door is slightly ajar.

Here's my opportunity.

I quickly, but quietly, make way over to the door. I check inside through the window to make sure the coast is clear before I step inside.

I have my gun loaded and ready at my side while I investigate the home. I walk through the kitchen and see the multiple bowls placed out on the counter. They're filled with a variety of different chips and candy. I then notice the huge punch bowl sat in the middle. I know this wasn't going to be filled up with punch though. Who knows what kind of alcohol this guy has in store for everyone here to drink.

Just as I'm walking into the living room I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I snap my head up and my eyes are met with a young boy. He didn't even look twenty years old. He looked more like sixteen.

"Who the fuck are you?" he snaps. He doesn't even sound scared. Maybe he's used to having strangers randomly come into his house?

"That's not important." I reply.

"What do you want? If you want money I'll get it for you." This kid doesn't even have half of the amount of money that I want. Only Liam does and the bastard isn't even paying me it for doing his dirty work.

"I'm not here for money." I say.

"Then what is it you want?" I can tell by the wideness of his eyes that he's scared, but he's trying not to show it.

"Do you know your friend Liam?" I ask.

"Liam? Yeah, why? How do you know him?" he questions me as I take a step forward towards the staircase.

"Well I work for him now since you quit on him." According to what Ryan had told me before we got into the car to drive over here, this kid worked for Liam a few years back. "He wanted me to just drop by and see how you're doing."

"That's a fucking lie. I'm smart enough to know after working for that bastard the real reason you're here." he pauses as he takes in a deep breath. "You're here to kill me."

I don't say anything in response. Maybe this kid was smarter than I thought.

Without warning, the boy darts back up the stairs. I quickly chase after him while I call out Ryan and Alfredo's name, giving them the okay to come in. I follow the boy as he's fast on feet to a bedroom door and locks it before I'm able to reach it.

I pull out my gun and point it at the doorknob. I fire a few shots until the doorknob eventually unlocks the door. I swing the door open just as Ryan and Alfredo come running up the staircase.

"Over here." I call to them.

I look at the boy as he hugs the wall on the opposite side of the room. As Ryan and Alfredo now stand to my side the boy finally gives away how scared he is.

"Leave me alone!" he shouts.

"How do you want to do this?" Ryan says to me, completely ignoring the boy.

"You two hold him down." I say.

Ryan and Alfredo nod and close the gap between them and the boy. Ryan tries to grab one of the boy's arms, but is met with a fist to the face instead. Alfredo takes the opportunity and grabs one arm as Ryan recovers from the blow. The boy tries to swing at Alfredo, but Ryan is there to stop him before the contact is made. The boy helplessly tries to wiggle free from their grip and soon realizes Ryan and Alfredo have too tight of a grip on him for him to shake them off.

Now that he's held down, I take a bullet out from my jeans pocket and reload my gun. I can feel the boy's eyes burning into me.

"I'll do anything if you just let me go!" the boy cries out.

"We're smart enough to know that if we let you go: one, Liam will have our asses and secondly, you will call the cops." Ryan says.

"I won't, I swear!" Ryan and Alfredo laugh at his reply.

"Yeah, we believe you." Alfredo says sarcastically.

The boy looks at me, fear written in his facial expression. The corners of his eyes looks like tears are building up.

This will be Selena if you don't keep her safe my self conscious interrupts.

No. I wouldn't let this happen to Selena. I will keep her safe if that's the last thing I do.

"I'll make this quick." I say.

I hold the gun out and point it down at the boy who was now on his knees with Ryan and Alfredo still having a hold on him. I look at Ryan and Alfredo and they give me the nod to go ahead.

I bite my lip as Ryan and Alfredo turn their heads away. I place my finger on the trigger as the boy closes his eyes.

"I hope Liam doesn't turn on you like he did me." the boy comments before I pull the trigger.

The bullet goes straight through his heart, killing him instantly. I always aim straight for the heart so they don't have to suffer in any pain. It's the least I could do. I take a step back as Ryan and Alfredo let go of the boy and carelessly watch as his lifeless body collapses to the floor. Blood starts circling around him on the floor as his shirt continues to become soaked in the red liquid.

"What do you think he meant by Liam turning on us?" Alfredo asks.

"I don't know." I say.

"Liam wouldn't do that. Without us he has nobody to do the dirty work." Ryan reassures.

"Well I hope we don't find out anytime soon." I comment, although I already knew something bad was going to happen sooner or later. And it will not end well. "Let's go."