Vote - Comment - Share (You don't have to but please do, I'd really appreciate it!)

- - - -

- - - -

evangeline blackwood

"Adonis!" I call out as he stalks away from me, shouting Morgan who's looking over at us. "Dee!"

I charged down the path towards them both. Morgan's face drops as Adonis speaks and I can see the fury in his eyes.

"Morg-"

"You're not stopping me." I hear Adonis say, leveling Morgan's stare with one of his own.

"Obviously not. Friend or not, she's one of ours." He cracks his knuckles, before turning to look at me. His eyes narrowed at the mark on my cheek.

Adonis doesn't even spare me a glance as he walks over to Apollo, leaving me stood with Morgan.

"Morgs-"

"Look, he hurt you. Let me handle it." He cuts me off.

"Just stay here, please." I beg, my voice breaking. "It's a minor."

"Behave." Morgan snaps, "Have you seen the state of your face? He put his hands on you."

"Morgan, you've got a temper on you, all right?" My palms are sweaty as panic begins to accumulate in my chest, "I can't have you get hurt because of me, okay?"

"I've got a temper on me?" He spits back before taking a deep breath and realising what he said. He signs, "E, I know you're upset but he shouldn't have hurt you. There ain't any justification."

"Look, I'll do anything. Please don't go after him."

He nods his head, "Fine, tell Logan what Michael did."

"No-"

"They're getting away with it and brainwashing Logan. E, I know it's hard but you gott-"

I cut him off, raising my voice. "If I snitch, I'm dead! Do you not understand that? I'll do anything but that."

Taking a deep breath, I lower my voice as Morgan's jaw literally drops. "My silence doesn't mean they got away with it. They don't know that I know and I can't risk Logan grassing on me. If they put a hit on me then...Michael's hits are never not carried out. You know this."

"Logan won't fold on you. Not if he knows the truth."

"You don't know that." Flinching back as my voice breaks, I rest a shaky hand on Morgan's cheek. "Morgs, you're my best friend and I love how you always try to see the best in people but it's too late. He's gone."

"We can protect you, we can fight-"

"I know, I know. But I don't want you to, I can't talk about it, okay? I'm not ready yet."

"You'll never be ready. You just gotta jump, even if you aren't ready, because if you don't you'll just be stuck in this labyrinth your entire life and you can't live like that."

"Let me think about it, alright?" I ain't thinking about it, it's not happening. "I'll go speak to him, I know where he'll be."

He nods his head and then embraces me. His arms feel snug around my body and I lean my head into the crook of his neck, melting into his hold and breathing in his scent.

"I'll see you later. I'll phone you if anything happens."

I'm not even down the road before I feel another hand on my arm and I flinch back, drawing my fist back ready to attack the first person I see.

But luckily, I stop before my fist goes into Adonis' face.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I ask, pushing my hands between his chest so he moves away from me.

"You're going to see him? Seriously?"

"There's something going on with him. There has to be. He wouldn't do that." I try to reason, "Why are you even here, Adonis?"

"I'm worried about you, okay?" He admits, "Fuck, Eva. I know people like that, they're toxic."

"You don't even know him."

He searches my eyes, "I know what I need to. You're trying to save him and I get it, trust me I do, but you're just going to end up getting burnt."

"Tough, I'm going to find out what the fuck is wrong with him and then I'm going to sort this mess out."

-----------

"Lo?"

Blue eyes meet mine instantly, callousness embedding his features. I actively avoid looking at Michael or Mohammed, my heartbeat raising considerably at being in such close proximity to them.

"What?" No soft tone, no gentle smile. It's like we're strangers.

"Can we talk?" I say with my head held high, swallowing a lump of anxiety in my throat.

He looks to Michael at first, as if asking for permission. At Michael's nonchalant expression, Logan stands up and starts walking with me walking beside him.

"What's up, Evan?" He questions, but I notice how he refuses to look at the bruise on my cheek.

Searching his eyes, I simply find nothing. No emotion. Yet unlike Michael and Mohammed, Logan didn't have a wall built up to protect himself. He refuses not to feel. I realised then, once you're forced to stop caring, you become less human.

And, without my knowledge, it seems like Logan was forced to stop caring a long time ago.

"What's going on with you, like for real?"

"Just realised a few things lately."

Look at me, Logan. Look at me.

"Oh yeah?"

He promised me forever.

"Yeah, what about Jonah?"

"What?" My eyebrows furrow, "What about Jonah?"

"That he liked to mouth off. Michael told me what sort of person he was, I'm not surprised someone decided to put him down."

Blinking back the fluid in my eyelids, I freeze. "You don't mean that."

He kisses his teeth, moving to walk away. "Fuck this."

"You're not going. Fuck, Logan. You're not leaving." I grab his hand and, once again, he reacts by striking me.

But this time I don't fall as he backhands me. My face stings. My eyes sting. I don't fall.

"Be honest with me just this once. You owe me that."

"I've not been honest with you? Is that the issue? What do you want to know, Evan? That Michael got me off the streets long before you ever did? Put money in my pocket? Found me houses to stay in? You want to know that? You want to know that my Dad died on your 16th birthday, but I didn't say fuck all because I didn't want to ruin it for you? What about this?" He pulls his top up, pointing to a mark I've seen countless times."This scar, yeah? I didn't have surgery when I was a kid or get cut while on the streets, the motherfucker stabbed me the moment I told him that I thought I was gay. You don't want to know that he used to let his friends put cigarettes out on me when I was a little kid 'cause they were too lazy to smoke outside or with an ashtray. You don't want to know the shit I had to do as a kid just so I could have something to eat. You don't fucking know me but I didn't lie about fuck all because you never asked."

"I never asked because that's not me! Some people hate others prying so you can't blame me for assuming that you'd tell me when you were ready." I shout back at him, "You're my best mate, Logan. I don't want to lose you."

"Not anymore. Stay the fuck away from me before you get hurt."

I don't react as he walks away. I don't react at the stinging sensation in my cheek because at this moment I literally can't feel anything other than this overwhelming break in my heart.

I've known him for 5 years.

That's 1825 days.

43829 hours.

How can he throw that all away? How can he do this to me?

I text Morgan quickly, just letting him know where I am.

Without warning, someone else grabs my arm and suddenly Julian Parks is in my face.

"What did Wildgust just do?"

I blink, my arm throbbing."What?"

"I said," He takes a step closer to me, gritting his teeth. "What the fuck did Logan just do to you?"

"He..." I trail off, "He just.."

"Wicked Wizard of the West, sorry not sorry, but I need to speak to E." Before I even have the opportunity to respond, Morgan has his arms wrapped around me and is tugging me away.

"Wait." Shockingly, Morgan stops at Julian's words. "Logan hurt her."

"What?" I flinch at the callousness embedded in Morgan's tone.

I can't speak. My hands become clammy and my eyes tear up. Heart racing inside my chest, taking flight, only for my entire upper body to weigh me down and fall into some abyss consumed with utter despair. Can't move, speak, pull myself to get oxygen into my brains and lungs and I can't do this anymore.

"Yeah, he-"

"Fucks sake, not you again." Adonis is here now, with Apollo and Rory. "Don't you get exhausted trying to be me?"

"Adoni-"

"Donnie-."

"Don't get smart." Julian seethes, and they both ignore mine and Morgan's sounds of disapproval.

"Actually, I got you a present." Adonis grabs something out of his pocket, unfolds it and throws it at Julian. "Merry fucking Christmas."

It's one of them paper face masks things. With string coming out the back and the eyes cut out.

And it's very clearly Adonis' face.

He must've got it custom made.

At any other time, I'd be on the floor crying with laughter but I can barely find it within me to inhale and exhale. Everything just aches.

"Someone just hit your girl and you're here being petty?"

Adonis straightens up at this, narrowing his eyes. "What?"

Our gazes meet, his wrath directly attacks my emptiness. That's when he knows.

A twig snaps near us and then Logan's in front of me again.

The next few minutes are a blur, to put it simply. Adonis rushes at him, only to be held back by Julian and Morgan. Logan goes for him too, but Mohammed Osman appears out of nowhere and grabs him.

"Donnie." Logan lets out a growl of anger, attempting pathetically to escape Mo's grip. "What the fuck, man."

"What did I tell you?" Adonis runs his tongue over his bottom lip, eyes wide. His stare makes my veins run cold. It's hard and dangerous and filled with raw anger. His hands are fists and I know he's holding himself back. "I spoke to you about this when I first found out about your mate's extracurriculars. What did I say?"

"You told me to not hurt Evan." Logan replies calmly, not afraid at all despite knowing that Adonis could physically snap him in half.

Adonis nods, "What have you done today?"

"She got in the way."

"I'll kill you." Adonis says without an ounce of hesitation, "I swear to God, I'll kill you if you ever touch her again. I ain't fucking scared of you and your gang of pussies. You think you're big getting about with a blade? You wouldn't even last in a proper fight."

And at that, Logan smirks. "I'll kill you first. I ain't scared of you either."

"Are you joking?" Morgan cuts in, "That girl has had your back more than your motherfucking spine has and you gonna treat her like that? Seriously?"

Logan doesn't reply.

"Logan, you know who the fuck I am and you know I ain't arsed about any of you. But if you ever touch her again, I'll ruin you all and you know I can do it. I'd kill every single one of you for that girl, it's called loyalty."

"Your funeral." He shrugs, "There's a difference between being strong and being stupid, Jackson. And you've just made a massive mistake."

"Fucki

Confession: It's scary how you never really know how people feel about you or what goes on behind your back.