Thirty Six

Sheer panic ran through me as I realised just how much shit I could possibly be in. Dewees was already out of his seat and heading towards the door, his expression enough to tell me I had limited time to find a place to curl up and hold my breath in.

I went for the cupboard under the stairs, knowing that there was no time to get up the stairs without making too much noise. Especially when Dewees was already at the door, waiting for me to be completely hidden before he let that thug into his house.

"Just coming!" He yelled, trying desperately to stall as I threw myself into the confident space, pulling the door shut behind me and behind grateful for once of my short legs that just about fit when I curled up in that cobweb-infested hole. Thank god I wasn't too claustrophobic, or I really would've been in shit.

It was dark in there, to the point where I could only just about see my own hand in front of my face. So I had to rely on my hearing to know what was going on outside. And luckily, it wasn't exactly hard to overhear when Ian had such a loud, booming voice.

"Finally!" I heard him exclaim "What the hell took you so long? Three of us have been waiting out here in plain sight for five minutes now."

"Sorry" Dewees was quick to reply. Much like a small, obedient puppy really "I was listening to music and didn't hear the knocking at first."

"Why am I not surprised?" Another voice sighed "You sure you really want to trust this idiot Ian? Dosen't exactly look like the sort of person I'd want to put in charge of a fucking goldfish."

"Piss of Rob" Dewees retorted to this new voice before calming down his tone to adress Ian again "Is that why you've showed up so suddenly? Did you need me for something?"

"Unfortunately, yes" Ian quipped "And as much as I don't need advice from you Rob, you have a point,but we don't have any other options here. If the cops find even so much of a whisp of evidence linking you to me, they'll be able to get a search warrant on you too. And even on Kyle here." At least I now knew the names all three thugs visting now.

"Wait what?" Dewees sounded like he was trailing after them into the kitchen "What's going on?"

"We need somewhere to stash our... supplies" Ian seemed to choose his words carefully.

"Our old hiding spot isn't safe anymore, one of our guys got taken in for questioning and we think he might have leaked Ian's name" That was Rob guy's voice again. It was starting to irritate me even though i'd never seen his face. There was definitely a nasally tone to it.

"Basically we're all on tenterhooks and we need someone who'd never be associated with us" A third voice, which must have belonged to the guy named Kyle, spoke up. His voice was more gruff than Rob's, but still not holding the power than Ian projected with his.

"Wait, you mean me?"

"Is that a problem Dewees?" All of a sudden Ian's tone of voice was threatening, almost territorial and downright scary. "We need you to step up for once and be part of this. Is that too much for you to handle?"

"N-no" Dewees all but spluttered "It's just... Where am I suppose to hide all of that? There's so much of it and I can't be caught smuggling it in and out, I just can't. I mean I-"

"Shut the fuck up a minute" Ian snapped so suddenly I found myself flinching from my place in the cupboard.

"What is it?" nasal Rob piped up.

"Is there someone else here Dewees?" Ian asked, making my blood run cold. How the hell could he possibly know? I didn't bring any of my possessions with me and if they were in the kitchen they wouldn't even be in sight of my hiding spot.

"What do you mean?" Even I could hear the nerves in his voice that all but gave it away.

"There's two cups of coffee here and they're both still warm" Ian spoke slyly and no doubt smugly, but i was too terrified to bring myself to even dwell on how much of an asshole he was. "So Dewees, are you going to tell us who's here, or are we going to have to make you tell us?"

"Ian please-"

There was the sound of fist meeting flesh, a sickening noise that made my eyes go wide and my body curl up in a more fetal position, just waiting to see if Dewees could muster up a convincing lie within the next few seconds.

"Where are they? Who are they?" Ian all but shouted, and I heard a small whimper come from Dewees in response. Great.

"Why don't we just beat him until his little friend comes out from wherever he's hiding?" Kyle spoke, and that was the moment when I decided I hated him even more than Rob. "I mean, if they give a shit about Dewees here, then they'll come out soon enough. Especially when I break his fucking nose." Dewees just whimpered again, muttering faint pleases and apologises that weren't directed at anyone in particular.

"Go on then" Ian seemed almost happy with the situation "this will be interesting if nothing else."

The sound of another punch filled the air, following quickly by a second one, and then by the sound of what was no doubt Dewees falling over with a cry of pain. He still didn't speak, obviously trying to protect me as best he could.

The dilemma set in. I couldn't let my friend get beaten up for me, even though I knew that once they saw me and recognised me, there was no telling what they'd do. From what i'd just witnessed I knew that Ian had no problem with violence, in fact it seemed like he got off on the stuff. But I guessed that it would just have to be something i'd have to endure if it meant doing the right thing.

It took the sound of a kick to make me cave, throwing open the cupboard door and crawling out. It took me mere seconds to get up and run into the kitchen, hands up and a wild look in my eyes as I saw the three men standing around a curled up Dewees.

"Stop!" I yelled, making them all turn around to face me "You win, okay?"

Everything sped up after that.

Before I knew it, one of the guys who I think was Rob was blocking the doorway, whilst Kyle all but charged at me. He grabbed me roughly by the back of my t-shirt and chucked me towards the floor, making me fall to my hands and knees infront of Ian. My palms stung from the force at which they hit the floor, but I hardly had time to even register that before Ian's foot flew into my face.

It was a sharp, painful kick that made me cry out and clutch at my throbbing cheek, which i could already feel bruising beneath my hand.

"That's for the other week you little shit" Ian growled, looking down at my crumpled form with a mixture of superiority and satisfaction. It was obvious he'd been waiting for this moment for quite a while now, making it even sweeter for him to finally be able to put me in my place.

"Wait, this is your mystery guy?" Kyle spoke up from behind me "The one with the fire alarm?"

"Yep" Ian smiled then "guess you're not so much of a mystery after all then. I should've known Dewees here would be involved" he turned to my friend, who was now avoiding all eye contact with anyone, including even me. "Well Dewees? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"He't not even trying to deny it" Rob sneered when Ian was met with silence "I say we make him show a bit more respect that this. Teach him why he should never cross us or hide shits like him" he nodded at me.

"Ian please" Dewees had wide eyes as he finally looked up at Ian "It was never like that. I only just met Frank, but I knew we could trust him not to speak up. I made sure he didn't tell a soul, I promise."

"Don't try and make it out like you were on our side" Ian cocked his head and glanced between the two of us "to be honest with you, i'm struggling with which one of you I was to punch first right now. You're both so tempting."

"Dewees doesn't deserve any of this" I spoke up for the first time since i'd landed on the floor "stop toying with him like food and just let him up."

"Oh should we now?" Rob glared down at me, and I tried to satisfy myself by daydreaming about pulling out his vocal chords. "I hate to break it to you, but you're in no position to even fucking talk right now."

"He can speak" Ian all but cut him off "he'll need to do a lot of talking if he wants to walk away from this one. Let's at least give him a shot. Or lack of one, should I say." He let out a bark at the end, like putting a bullet in me was just a joke to him.

"Why would you bother shooting me? That would just be a waste of a bullet" I tried "I mean, I don't know the slightest thing about your gang. There's nothing I could actually go to the police with."

"Oh you could" Ian sighed like I was just a time waster to him "The police would do anything for evidence on me, no matter how small. And you could be a key witness. That's why i've had so many people looking for you. You've caused me a lot of agro, you know that?"

"Er, yeah. I guessed as much."

"Well guess what kid? I've won now" he kneeled down in front of me, and in one quick movement stole my wallet from my jean pocket. He flipped it open, and instead of looking for money like i'd originally thought he'd do, he instead just looked at my ID. "What's your name then? Frank... how the fuck do you pronounce that one?"

"Eye-ear-oh" I said automatically, so use to repeating it to everyone i met.

"Well Iero, looks like you and me are going to be getting to know each other dosen't it? That's if you want to live" he was right up in my face now, his breath stale and generally rancid. "What will it be then? You going to do as I say and keep quiet, or are you not bothered about going home tonight?"

"Well obviously i don't want to die" I grunted, earning myself another kick to the face, this time by Kyle. It stung even worse than the first one. Mainly because it was on the same side and because I think Kyle was just a violence-happy guy.

"Take it seriously or i'll kick your fucking face in" he spat, and Ian actually had to wave a hand to get him to back off.

"it's okay Kyle, he'll conform." He tuned around then and gave Dewees a sickening smile "Well then Dewees, it seems we've found the answer to your smuggling problems."

"W-what do you mean?"

"We'll keep our supplies in your house, and Frank eye-ear-mouth-oh over here will smuggle them in and out for us. In exchange, we'll let you two live harm-free, so long as you follow my rules and don't breath a word of this to anyone, understood?"

"Wait" i spluttered "You want me to do your drug drops for you?"

"Well it seems only fitting really" he grabbed my face in his hand and turned it sideways, inspecting the bruise his shoe had made with mild satisfaction. All I could think about was the way his fingernails dug into my skin like dirty claws "Seeing as you're so good at finding our drops in the first place, I might as well put you in charge of them. Perhaps you could point out the flaws in our original plans."

"You really want to trust this piece of shit with that?" Rob asked, eyeing my wearily.

"He's in this now" Ian shrugged "And nobody would suspect him to be involved in this, which is what we need right now."

"But I don't have the first clue about any of this!" i tried to plead my case "Come on, you can't expect me to-"

"Oh but I do. And you will. Don't worry, an ape could do your job. Just do as I say and you won't get caught." He leaned closer still, so that i could see the mad tint in his eyes "and don't even think about double crossing me for a second kid. Because if you try anything, then i will destroy you. And your friend over here. Got it?" I merely nodded in defeat. "I'm glad we agree."

"Can I go?" I asked, my voice lacking in it's usual tongue-and-cheek attitude and instead replaced by a fearful one i barley recognised.

"For now. But i'll need your number" Kyle handed over my phone to him, and i watched as he transferred the contact details in silence. "When I ring, you fucking pick up or deal with the consequences, okay?"

"Okay" i gulped, and with that the grip Kyle had on my shoulder was released. Finally I was allowed to get to my feet and watch as they grabbed their stuff, sauntering out of the place like they owned it. Of course, not before stashing an alarming amount of drugs in the cupboard under the sink.

I didn't even say anything to Dewees when i left. I just stumbled out of there, bruised and shocked, wondering just how the hell I was going to get out of this one.

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This book hit 200K reads and 10K votes within a few days of each other THANK YOU!

Anyways hope you enjoyed this unsually-timed mid-week update.

((Good Vibes))

~ H