I wanted to stall, to find a way to avoid seeing my brother and his friends, but there was no way out of this situation for me. If I took long to follow instructions, I would be in trouble. If I ran from the house, Bryce would follow and I would be in even more trouble. Even if I listened to everything he said, and followed all of his instructions, I would still be in trouble. After all, there was only one reason Max and Jacob would choose today to come and visit Bryce; they were going to tell him their (accurate) theory as to how Ponyboy escaped the other day. And no matter how much I denied it, Bryce was going to believe them; my heart and mind was racing as I grabbed three beers from the fridge.

"Would ya hurry your a** up," Bryce shouted at me from the living room. "Sorry for the wait boys. She's so worthless that even simple tasks like bringing me beer is hard for her." I heard Max and Jacob laugh at this comment. Plastering as realistic of a smile that I could on my face, I forced myself to enter the room where the three men were.

"I apologize for the wait," I said softly as I made my way around the table and placed a drink in front of each of the males. "Do you need me to get you anything else?" I asked Bryce, who was already taking a swig from the can of beer. As I looked at my brother, I was still well aware of Max and Jacob staring at me.

"Not at the moment," he responded. "Go wait in the kitchen; we're going to need more beer eventually and none of us should have to suffer through that long a wait again." Half expecting Max or Jacob to make a comment saying I should stay, I made my way towards the exit of the living room.

"So Bryce man, what's new with you?" I heard Jacob ask. Bryce chuckled over something, and then responded with some comment that I only half heard. My body was shaking with fear. A part of me hoped that Max and Jacob had decided not to tell Bryce their idea, but I knew that was to optimistic a thought to be true. With that being said, I wasn't sure what they were waiting for. If they were going to get me in trouble with Bryce, I just wished they would get it over with faster. Sitting on a chair in the kitchen, my mind was overwhelmed with thoughts. I watched as the minutes ticked by on the clock. The more the night advanced, the more alcohol the three boys consumed, and the more terrified I became. With the exception of periodically bringing the males food and drinks, I stayed in the kitchen and sat in silence all night. I lost track of how much the boys drank; all I know was that the more the night went on, the more the noise in the living room increased and the more it smelled like beer.

"Hey b*tch get in here and bring us more beer," this call from Bryce was met with hollering support from Max and Jacob. It was past 11 o'clock, our recently restocked fridge was nearly empty, and I had no idea how much longer they were going to stay. Moving into the room, I placed the beers in front of the males. Before I could ask Bryce if he needed anything else or if I could go back to the kitchen, Max decided to speak up.

"This broad ever tell you where she went the other day?"  My heart stopped. I took a step towards the door, ready to run, but Jacob's hand flew out and tightly grabbed my wrist.

"Nah, the ungrateful brat wouldn't tell me the truth," Bryce said with a glare in my direction. "Why ya ask?" Hoping to calm the situation, even though I knew it was broken beyond repair, I spoke up. 

"I just went to get beer," I stuttered out quietly. Jacob's grip on my wrist tightened enough to make me wince.

"No one gave you permission to talk b*tch," he snarled at me. Looking at Bryce, he added "don't ya think it's odd that the traitors brother escaped getting beat by y'all on the same day she disappeared? He was all by his lonesome and then out of nowhere, his whole gang showed up; it's almost like they were tipped off by someone." As much as I hated my drunk and abusive brother, I couldn't deny that he wasn't smart. Even after drinking as much as he had, it only took him a few seconds to get what Jacob was implying. Without a word, he slowly stood up and made his way over to me. Grabbing my arm from Jacob, Bryce pulled me close to him and bent down so he was looking me right in the eyes.

"Listen closely you f*cking piece of sh*t," his breath reeked of beer and his grip on my arms hurt, but I couldn't pull loose. "Did you tip off your old grease pal's about me going to jump the traitors kid brother? And don't try and lie, you suck at it so I'll know the truth no matter what." Unable to answer because I was scared of how he would respond, I did the only thing I could think of. I brought my knee up and kicked him between his legs.

"You little," before he could finish, I kicked him again. His grip on me loosened enough that I was able to pull away from him. Max and Jacob were both already on their feet, but I didn't give them time to react. I turned from the trio and ran. I ran out of the room, out of my house, and away from them. I couldn't run forever, but it was all I could do at the moment. So I ran and prayed that I could get away.