Bailey
I didn't sleep the rest of the night, as usual. Adrian wanted a midnight snack, so I made him some pancakes, with strawberries on the side. Normally things would have been awkward between us after the beach incident, but it wasn't.
We're still friends.
It's still 2AM, so we have plenty of time before the other awake.
"What do you want to do now?" He asks and I shrug. It's starting to get hot in this sweatshirt, but I don't wear anything other than these so I'll have to manage. "You should take off your sweatshirt," He tells me noticing that I had started fanning myself.
"No... I couldn't."
"Why not?"
I look down at my feet, somewhat embarrassed. "Don't really like my scars..." I mumble, barely loud enough for him to hear .
"You shouldn't be insecure about something that wasn't your fault," He states loudly.
Suddenly I find myself drunk with his kindness, and my lips start getting loose. "But it was my fault, Adrian. I'm the one who's unwanted. I'm the one who's a burden everywhere I go. I'm a burden to you, and my dad," I tell him, as tears start welling up in my eyes.
He frowns. "You aren't a burden to me. I want you here, don't you see? I didn't kill you, not only because Blake asked me, but because I knew you've been through so much more worse than death. I was hoping that maybe if I kept you here, then I could help someone for once rather than hurt."
Oh. Adrian Black wanted me to stay here. He didn't do it because Blake basically begged him to. "Oh..."
"So take off your sweatshirt, because you shouldn't be in something you're not comfortable in," He says with finality. Good thing I'm wearing a shirt underneath. Reluctantly, I slip off my sweatshirt. Underneath, I'm wearing a plain black shirt.
"See, not so bad," He says. "Can we bake a cake?" He asks randomly.
"A cake?" I ask, a little confused.
"Yeah, I've always wanted a homemade cake, but none of us can cook," He explains.
"I've never baked a cake before..." But looking at his adorable face makes it difficult to say no. "But there's a first time for everything."
"Yay!" He exclaims excitedly. I give him a small smile, and start searching up "how to make a cake".
"Okay, we need all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, milk, vanilla extract, salted butter, veggie oil, granulated sugar, whole eggs, and egg whites," I list, and Adrian gapes at me.
"That's so much!"
"Cake baking isn't easy."
"We need to go to the store, but none are open!" He whines, and I shake my head.
"Then it'll have to wait till morning," I tell as a matter of factly. He looks quite disappointed. "Ice cream?" I ask, trying to brighten the mood.
"Yes please," He says, his face lighting up again.
"Then help me," I tell him. He walks over to the kitchen, and looks around nervously.
"What do you... um... need?"
"Flour. Eggs. And Strawberries."
He hands me the bag of flour, and a few eggs and a bucketload of strawberries.
"You can't eat so many!'
"Yes I can," He says like a stubborn four year old. I switch on the stove, which always makes me queasy considering that I've been burned with it. "I can flip the pancakes if you want..." He says.
"No, it's fine, I wouldn't want you to burn yourself," I tell him.
He takes my right hand, when he notices the burn mark from a few years ago. His frown deepens, almost as if he's about to murder someone. His thumb grazes another scar from a deep cut, and I pull my hand away. "This is why I wear sweatshirts," I tell him bitterly.
I mix the pancake batter, as he just stands there. The pan is heated by now, and I pour the batter onto the pan. He shuffles uncomfortably.
"You make good pancakes."
"Thanks. I work at a pancake restaurant. Or at least I used to."
I flip the pancake, and then put it onto his plate. I place many strawberries on the side, and hand it to him. I flip three more and put them all on his plate.
"What about you?"
"No, I'm fine."
"I can't be the only one eating. That's bad manners," He says, as he gives me two of his pancakes.
"Are you sure?" I ask him and he nods without a second thought. "I'll only take one. You know I don't eat two."
"One for you and one for me, which makes two," He says, as he gives me two pancakes.
"If you only eat one, then I'm going to think that you didn't eat the one that I gave you," He says, almost sounding like one of those moms.
"Okay," I say and stare at the two pancakes on my plate.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
After eating the pancakes, it's now 4AM. I'm currently laying on my stomach, on the sofa that can be converted to a bed. Adrian is sprawled out with one leg about the sofa's backrest and one dangling off the edge.
"I'm getting bored," Adrian complains.
"Then go to sleep," I tell him.
"But then you'll be up alone."
"Like every night."
"But I'm already up with you, it would be rude if I fell asleep," He tells me.
"You need your sleep."
"Well so do you," He argues back.
"But I'm used to it. You're not."
"You have no idea what I'm used to and what I'm not!" He yells, clearly aggravated.
"Oh... I'm sorry," I mumble quietly as I get up and head over to my room. At least he'll go to sleep if he thinks I'm asleep.
"I'm going to bed. You should too."
But that's when a loud sound breaks the silence. I hear windows breaking and I see Adrian quickly and alertly get up onto his feet and grabs a gun from the TV stand.
"What's happening?!" I yell across the loud noise. Anna and Blake both rush out of the same room which makes me wonder what they were doing.
"Blake, grab a gun. Anna, you take Bailey and head to the basement!" Adrian orders, as Anna grabs my hand, and runs toward a hallway I never knew existed. She opens a door that leads to a staircase.
"What was happening?" I question.
"It's a shoot out."
"A what?"
"You know how Adrian's a gang leader and all that, well this is a part of being in a gang. It's normal, but he always turns out fine though, so we're good," She explains, as she leads me into the basement.
It's another paradise down here. With glistening white tiles, and a comfortable couch with a kitchen and TV. Someone could live down here.
"I know, fancy. What do you want to do, when Adrian and Blake sort it all out?" She asks. Her hair is messy, and lipstick looks smeared. There are purple marks on her neck, which means that Blake and Anna weren't exactly sleeping. "Hey, you're wearing a shirt!"
"Yeah, it was getting hot, and Adrian coaxed me into it," I tell her.
"So... what were you both doing up... at night... together?" She waggles her eyebrows at me.
"I made pancakes for him."
She looks a little disappointed. "That's it?"
"Yeah."
"No... um... cute stuff?"
"We went to the beach," I tell her while leaving out the holding hands part and all.
"So... how are you feeling?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you cuts healed? Does it still hurt?"
I'm starting to hate it when they ask me about it, because I know they're there, but I really want to try and forget that they are for a while.
"No, not yet, but it doesn't really hurt much," I tell her casually, trying not to make a big deal out of it.
"I'm sorry, I should probably stop talking about it. I'm guessing you don't like that," She tells me, guiltily.
"Yeah, kind of. But it's okay."
"Hey, you wanna see the dungeons?" She asks excitedly.
"The what?!"
"The place where Adrian keep prisoners."
What?! He keeps prisoners? This just got a little more dangerous.
"Sure," I say, because curiosity gets the best of me. She moves aside a bookshelf to reveal a passageway. The hall is dim lit, and there are ten cells on each side.
"Be careful though, some are really a sight," She shudders. "The ones at the end are the ones that Adrian hates most. The ones here are the people that Adrian just... dislikes."
"Why are they in here?"
"Caught off territory and trying to steal our things."
"Oh."
She heads towards the end of the hallway and nearly shrieks at someone. "Damn son, what are you here for?"
Like I said curiosity gets the best of me and I join her too see a terrible... terrible sight. His face is covered in bruises, and his mouth is bleeding like crazy. Where are his teeth?
"Um... Anna... What the hell happened to him?" I gasp. He looks so tired out, and is curled up in a corner, moaning every now and then. I look closer, and his facial features get a little clearer.
He looks around his mid-twenties. He has blonde hair, and he's a little less than seven feet tall.
I look around all the other cells, to see a brunette, and two others.
Oh. My. God.
These are the guys from that night.
Adrian has them in here.
And they're very badly beaten up.
But the first thing in my mind that comes up is... who the hell told him?
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and oh my gawd, get me a guy like Adrian.