If I tell you all my secrets, they won't be secret.

Mae

I was surrounded. I couldn't think of anything. I couldn't escape. There were cop cars all around and a chopper above me. I needed an escape plan but had none. I tried thinking but the chaos around me became too distracting to think of anything sufficient. They would shoot before I could even put the car in drive and that would end both of our lives. They've already warned me they'd use lethal forces. I couldn't risk moving. It wasn't only my life on the line now.

"Mae, just turn off the car." I put my hand on the key, ready to turn off the ignition, but Alec had stopped me.

"The Devil," Alec gave as a last resort. I knew what he meant and for the tiniest bit, I considered it but knew it was impossible. Alec was crazy. I think he fried a bit trying to help me escape, but it didn't stop me from considering it once more. 

"Are you crazy? Mae, you can't," Zack fumed, turning half his body toward me. I looked at him, and his eyes tore through mine. He was worried and angry that I would even consider something of the sort, but I didn't have any other options. I wouldn't get us arrested. "You know who the devil is."

"Damien."

"Exactly. Last I heard, he hates The King!" Zach whispered-yelled, the two veins in his neck popping out.

"I have no other choice, and they're close by," I looked at Zach, and I knew we both had the same despairing look. We were defeated, had no other option. "Call the Serpents, Alec." The cops waited. I knew they were planning so it gave me time.

I couldn't call Billy because I was still on the Southside. Billy only had a say on the Eastside, this wasn't his part, so he had no say in whether I got to walk away from this or not. Zach was right; Damien did hate The King. Even if Billy asked of a favor for me to Damien, I doubted Damien would have vouched for me to the cops and got them off my back. Damien wanted me off the streets just as much as the cops did.

"Mae, you have no idea what you're doing. You know what he's gonna want! If you don't give it to him, he could kill you without even knowing the truth!"

I knew Damien was just like the rest of them. He wanted to know who was under the hood. Curiosity was a greatness that lusted for others, spreading disease within them and made them eager to find the truth. Damien was one of those people. He wanted to know the truth, but he didn't act as others had. He waited, and I knew this was the moment he had been waiting for.

"I know what I'm doing, Zach. I'm not gonna let you go to jail as an accomplice because of me! You are going to have a future even if I'm not apart of it. It's a lose-lose situation. Either I tell him, and he hates me, or I don't, and he kills me," I reasoned. "I'll tell him before he kills me. I wouldn't do that do you."

He shook his head, but he looked like he was thinking. I heard cars and motorcycles roaring. He was coming.

I saw some threatening the cops, telling them to move back and the cops listened. There were more Serpents than cops. There had to have been hundreds of Serpents. I turned off my car and wait for him.

Damien showed up as they held the cops off. The Serpents didn't let the cops leave. I figured it was a precaution just in case Damien didn't want to make a deal with me. I started thinking about everything that could give me away if I walked out in front of Damien. I was going to have to walk out with Zach because I needed someone to speak for me.

Our height difference. That's what he could notice. Damien could figure out the height difference then understand that I didn't speak. He'll connect those two pieces between the King and with me.

Even if he couldn't, I didn't want to take that chance. Rather be safe than sorry. "Give me your shoes."

"Give me your money," Zach joked.

"What?" I asked, incredulously. Was this really the time for Zach to be joking?! He must have been losing his mind along with Alec.

"What?" Zach played dumb, and I rolled my eyes.

"Hurry! I don't have time. The shoes will give me a couple of inches at most," I looked in the back seat and had found his bag. He had always carried extra items in my car. The windows were tinted beyond the legal limit, so I knew the outsiders couldn't see in.

I got his socks and folded them in half, putting them in both shoes. I got his tank top and put it in the right shoe and put it on. I put his boxers (I'm glad they were clean) in the left shoe and put that one on as well.

Zach put on his slippers that were in the back seat while I pulled my hood up and opened the door. Zach did the same, following me out. I wanted to tell him to stay in the car, but I knew it was no use. I needed him, and I knew he wouldn't be willing to let me go alone.

I walked next to Zach and stood straight while squaring my shoulders. Despite being in a life or death situation, I had to fight the urge to laugh because I was about an inch shorter than Zach. So this is what James felt like when he stood next to Zach.

Damien was standing under a light post next to his parked car, but I stopped before stepping into the light. I looked for his friends, but they weren't with him. It was just him and other guys I had never seen before. I stood in the darkness as he stood in the light. I was scared. I didn't want anything bad to happen between us.

James was right, I was trusting. And a lot more than I was willing to believe. I didn't want to lose Damien. The thought of never speaking to him again felt painful. I didn't want to lose him again. I lost him freshman year after I was starting trust.

I didn't want history to repeat itself, but history had a tendency to repeat when you didn't learn from it. Would it repeat this time? What was the lesson? Trust?

Zach stopped walking a little ahead of me so that half of his body was in the light and half was out in the darkness. I was worried the entire time. Damien was smart, he could figure out I'm the one under the hood.

At that moment, I wondered if it would have been such a bad thing for Damien to know the truth. The whole truth, everything. To know who was under the hood and to hear me speak. To know everything about me and not hold back from him, and if he didn't like it or couldn't handle the truth then oh well. That would have been a loss in him.

Ultimately I decided it was a very bad thing. He hated the King. He would only end up hating me as well.

"Zach?" Damien asked and held a look of shock. He was trying to figure out why Zach was with me and all I could do was hope he wouldn't figure it out. "What the hell?" He looked at me, but I knew he couldn't see me because my hoodie was too far extended outward. Damien gave up trying to see who was under the hood and looked back at Zach.

"We need you to call off the cops," Zach said.

"As much as I like you, Zach," Damien looked at me, curling his lip in anger and continued. "I don't think I can."

"You don't think you can? Or you don't think you want to?" Zach snapped. They were both angry and for the first time, Damien was having a hard time concealing his emotions.

"Everyone wants to know who's under the hood," Damien mocked.

Please don't do this, Damien. Please.

"Yeah, and everyone wants to hear Mae's voice and you know how important that is to her," I looked at Damien, but I couldn't read him. At the mention of my name, all emotions were concealed. I began wondering what he was feeling. I also began doubting. Did he feel anything for me? If he did, he wouldn't have been able to conceal them that fast, right?

"Why are you bringing up Mae?" Damien asked and looked at me. My heart accelerated. He would connect the two. I was sure of it.

"I should let her tell you, not me," Zach told him. I looked at Zach and shook my head. Please, don't tell me he was going to do what I think he was going to. "Don't worry I have a plan," Zach whispered. I knew Damien couldn't hear, he was too far away to hear something I barely heard.

"Just tell me," Damien demanded, and Zach looked back at him.

"I shouldn't. I'm sorry, Damien but do this for Mae," Zach pleaded, desperation leaking from his eyes.

"Okay. I'll do it, but you have to tell me! Spit it out, Zach." Damien looked worried and impatient. Zach told him what I least excepted. Out of all the things he could have said, he chose to say that.

"The King is Mae's boyfriend," I looked at Zach like he lost his mind. What the hell? Why would he tell him that? I looked back at Damien and he laughed. He was shaking his head, laughing. "I'm serious, Damien." Damien slowly stopped laughing until his laughs were chuckles. He took in Zach's seriousness and all humor was gone from his face. He looked heartbroken and livid.

I had to play along, but I couldn't help but feel sad. I felt like a monster for hurting Damien. I was so worried that he would hurt and betray me, I ended up being the one who hurt and betrayed him. I could see it in his eyes. He let his guard down for just a moment but it was enough to see how he was feeling. He looked at me and all emotions were gone. I never wanted to hurt him. I'd rather get caught by the cops.

"Is this true?" Damien asked me so I nodded. He laughed but it was more vicious than humorous "You really think I'm gonna help you, now?" He sounded cold and hurt. He was far away from agreeing to helping me now and I felt screwed. The cops were going to arrest me, and they'll take down my hoodie. Damien will see it's me and I'll be humiliated.

"Please, Damien. For Mae."

"Why, so she could be with her boyfriend? No, thanks," he spat harshly.

"It's not only him you're helping. It's me too. Come on, Damien. Mae asked me to do this with him. I'm here because of her. This is my future too." Damien thought about it, but he was still livid; until he held a cold look and smirked.

"Fine, I'll call them off. On two conditions," he looked at me, so I nodded. "The first condition, I wanna fight. In two weeks' time where the fights usually happen. If I win, I get to know who you are. If you win, then your identity stays a secret."

"And the second condition?" Zach asked. Damien looked at me with a smug smile.

"The second condition is that you have to break up with Mae. You don't deserve someone like her. She's too good for you." I didn't know how to feel. Should I have felt happy he thought I was too good or sad that he was willing for me to get hurt?

"He'll do it," Zach said and I nodded. At this moment I didn't have anything else to lose. I lost Damien, his trust, my dignity, what else could I lose?

"Just like that?" Damien scoffed and I nodded again. "You're a coward. You just proved my point. You'd rather hurt Mae to save your own skin. Just know, you're making a deal with the Devil. But I'll tell you what, I'll give you an out. You could either, let the whole town know who you are. Right here, right now and keep Mae. OR you could let me know and hurt Mae." I shook my head.

He looked at me with disgust before he walked away and called the cops off.

A guy walked up to me with a duffle bag. He held it out to me, so I reached for it, but he dropped it on the ground and spat. So this was how they treated his enemies.

"What's that?" Zach asked.

"That's from Deacon," Damien called out. He looked at me with the same disgusted look, and I wondered if he would look at me like that at school. Would we still be friends? "In two weeks, don't forget." He got into his car and drove off.

I looked at Zach and he looked relieved. He walked to the duffle bag, picking it up and walked back to the car. I followed with slumped shoulders and got into the car. I felt tired. For the first time, I knew what it felt like to lose. I started the car and drove off.

This was my fault. If I wouldn't have been so stupid and got caught, then this wouldn't have happened. Zach wouldn't have needed to lie for me; he shouldn't have needed to escape when he was with me. If I was normal, none of this would have happened. I almost put his entire future on the line.

"I'm sorry, Zach. I'm such a horrible person," I said but he laughed. I glanced at him then back at the road.

"I should be the one apologizing, Mae. I know how much Damien was starting to mean to you. It was the only way." I knew he was right, so I wasn't mad at him about it.

"I know. Alec, activate."

"You never deactivated me."

I laugh at him and continued. "Check if anyone's following us."

"Calculating," I couldn't believe Damien was going to know my secrets in two weeks. He was never going to forgive me or talk to me, again. Not that he would want to talk to me anymore. "No one is following you. I already lifted the first floor. When you get to the storage, pull in."

"No, Alec. You always pull out," Zach chuckled, making a sex joke, and I shook my head. Leave it to Zach to forget his worries so easily.

"Nah, your pull out game is weak," Alec said, and it sounded funny because his voice sounded so normal.

I laughed and Zach slapped my arm, making me laugh harder. "You programmed him to say that?" Zach asked and I nodded. I stopped at the light and kept laughing. I stopped and looked at Zach. He rolled his eyes and grumbled something incoherent.

"Thank you, Alec. Deactivate." I laughed.

"You're welcome, Mae. Deactivating." he turned off by the time I pulled in to the storage. The door closed and we got out.

After I walked out, I pressed the button to bring down the first floor and closed the door. Zach put the duffle bag in the back seat of my Camaro, and we got in. We drove off and headed home. The whole drive home I kept thinking of Damien. When I got home, I had a text from him.