Josh was talking to me but I was too transfixed on Finn and Ben across the street. I nodded my head out of habit.
"Lacey," Josh snapped, tugging on my arm. The two across the street continued to stare at us.
My eyes pulled away from the two of them to Josh. "What?"
"Aren't those the ones that used to hang around Casey? Dylan and Owen have their pictures, I've seen their faces up on their board," he said and squinted to get a better look.
I kept peeking in their direction, worried that they would vanish. "Yeah."
They didn't make any attempt to come towards us. Or leave for that matter.
"Let me go talk to them," I suggested and before I took one full step, Josh was grabbing my jacket to stop me.
"Are you crazy? They're the ones that kidnapped you."
My eyes widened. How did he know that?
It took me a second to realize he meant the Casey gang as a whole and not just Ben and Finn. I also realized given the panic on his face, he probably wouldn't take too well to the fact that they were the exact two who kidnapped me.
"We need to call for back-up."
I scoffed, "To do what? It's not a crime to walk down the street. We don't have anything that will hold up in Court."
"You can testify to who they are," Josh argued, still holding onto my sleeve.
"I don't know any of the things they did. I don't even know how they make money," I said slowly, trying to get him to drop it.
"Well, you're not going over there alone."
I clenched my jaw. He was making this difficult, which I should have expected. "It'll be okay. They're familiar with me. Maybe I can get some information out of them. If not, oh well. They can't do anything with you here."
He looked over at Finn and Ben, his eyes narrowed. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm not a child. I'm in the same program as you."
Finally, he let go of my jacket. "You have five minutes and then I'm coming over."
I wanted to sprint over there and hug them both but that would understandably send mixed signals to Josh. So instead, I looked both ways and crossed over to where they were still waiting patiently, hiding a smile as best I could so Josh wouldn't see it from the side.
"Hi," I piped out quietly.
They continued to stare at me, making me a bit self-conscious. Both of them looked considerably the same except bigger. They had more muscles, Finn more so than Ben but Ben had grown a bit taller. Ben's hair was longer, bits falling into his eyes which stared at me softly like he was sad. The biggest difference was a faded black eye Ben was sporting. I couldn't stop looking at it.
"What are you doing here, Lacey?" Ben asked.
I wasn't really expecting that as a reaction but I took what I could get. "I came to help."
They didn't say anything, but both seemed to be looking over me. I felt uneasy under their judging eyes. I wanted them to say something. Anything, but they remained quiet so I decided to speak up again.
"What happened to your eye?" No response. "What happened to Travis and Cameron?" I tried and Ben immediately held his head down.
"I think you know," Finn said, no longer smiling.
When Ben found my eyes again, his were cold. "I don't really think you should be wearing Travis' jacket when you've got a shiny badge on underneath. It's insulting to his memory."
I flinched. "I don't have a badge," I argued quietly. "So they're...Travis is...?" I drew out.
Ben kept a steady glare aimed in my direction and I couldn't finish my thought.
"Why are you guys here then?" I kept my voice low. "You wanted to leave, Cameron wanted to leave. What's keeping you here? Go. There's no reason to stay in the gang."
Finn looked at me oddly. "What gang? Do you know of this gang she's referring to, Ben?"
He shook his head.
I tightened my lips in frustration. "I'm serious-"
"Why don't you have a badge?" Finn interrupted, pulling himself closer to the light pole and resting his head against it.
I glanced behind me, making sure Josh was still across the street. "We're here on a trial basis. We're not officially there yet. Glorified interns."
"Uh huh," Finn said, tapping his chin and nodding a few times but he still had a dramatic look of confusion on his face. "But what are you doing? Who told you to do this little side project you're on? I mean, I can't ask Cam but it just seems a bit, what's the right word for this..."
"Unlikely. Unrealistic. Not a chance in hell that he'd tell you to do this," Ben offered, tilting his head in Finn's direction for a moment.
Finn pointed to Ben and snapped his fingers like it was the answer he was searching for.
"What?" I asked, confused. "I told you, I'm here to try to help. I want to help take care of Sterling and these guys, they're not like the dirty cops here. They do this kind of stuff all the time. You can trust them."
"Ignoring all that bullshit," Finn continued, "I just don't get this phase. Is it a phase? When did you talk to Cam about this change of profession?"
I clenched my jaw and held in a sigh. "Cameron didn't tell me to do-"
"Ah!" Finn waved his hand up in the air like he'd just found the cure to cancer. "He didn't tell you. He didn't tell her," he repeated, this time to Ben like it was vital information.
"He didn't tell her," Ben echoed, nodding in fake understanding. There was heavy sarcasm coating each syllable that came out of their mouths.
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to calm my nerves. They'd always been so welcoming and now they just screamed go back to the hole you crawled out of.
"They would have been here with or without me," I said, trying to get them to see reason. "They've been watching you guys ever since I wound up in the hospital. I swear, I've been trying to help them get Sterling's guys only. You shouldn't even be out right now. They're all out familiarizing themselves with Melkin and looking for you."
Finn smiled but it wasn't friendly. It screamed danger. "Don't you think we know where they are? This isn't a town for badges of any kind, even if you try to cover it up with Travis' jacket. It's not a side you want to be on, little one."
I bit my lip and looked down at the gravel underneath our feet. "I didn't know how else to help."
As fast as a snap of the fingers, their faces lost their tension and they immediately looked more relaxed and welcoming. For a moment, I was confused by what brought this on until I heard the scuffling of Josh coming up behind me.
Finn waved and Josh's face looked as uneasy as I felt. But I could tell his was from nerves and not from feeling rejected. I was pretty sure this was his first time interacting with anyone of this nature.
"Another great officer in the making?" Finn addressed Josh. "Come to check out our little slice of heaven called Melkin?"
Josh looked between the grinning Finn and Ben, who had a neutral expression on. "Uh, yeah. Just checking things out. You're Ben Acker, right?" he accused, pointing to Ben. It was a little bit blunt as the first thing to say to a suspected gang member, I'll admit.
Ben nodded and titled his head back, looking at the sky.
"I don't think I'm familiar with your name," Josh added, looking at Finn, who didn't seem frazzled in the slightest.
The blonde extended his arm for a handshake. "Finn. Nice to meet you. That's F-I-N-N, for your notes later." A wide grin stuck to his face.
Josh hesitantly shook his hand.
"Wow, what'd you do?" Finn asked, flipping Josh's hand over in his a few times to examine the blood on his sleeve and the bandaged finger.
"Just some glass." Josh's tone was short as he jerked his hand back.
"Damn, look at this," Finn said and pulled up his jacket to reveal a bandana tied securely around his wrist. With his fingers tilting the edges of the bandana up, a large burn mark was displayed.
I sucked in a breath at the fresh wound that was about four times the size of Josh's small cut. "What did you do, Finn?"
Proudly, he proclaimed "Firework."
"What do you need fireworks for? Do you currently have any?" Josh stood up straighter.
I held in the groan that was pressing against my lips, eager to come out after that obvious of a question. I wasn't sure if fireworks were legal here or not but either way, there was no chance that Finn was going to openly admit to that. He wasn't that stupid.
"Nice try. You'll get there," Finn said enthusiastically dismissing Josh's question. "How old are you, kid?"
Josh narrowed his eyes. "Twenty-two. You?" I could tell he was trying to mentally store as many facts about Finn as possible as he stared at him.
"Thirty-seven," Finn nodded casually. "Yep."
This time, I did sigh. If I did my math right, he was now maybe twenty-five, give or take a year. He must have heard me because he sent me a wink.
My eyes wandered over to Ben, who still had his head arched up.
"So what made you want to get a badge, kid?" Finn asked.
Before Josh answered, I walked close to Ben and looked up at the sky similar to how he was. "What are you looking at?" I whispered due to the lack of distance between us.
Ben looked down at me, but with him being taller, I didn't have to move my head to lose eye contact with him. "My phone said it was supposed to rain today," he said with a small smile. Even though it was a barely there smile, it was still nice to see.
I moved my eyes away from him back towards the blue sky. "I think your phone was wrong."
"So it would seem," he said politely, sounding more like his usual self.
"Forgive him," Finn interjected. "He's been gloomy lately what with the whole Travis and Cam thing and likes it when it rains. You know, can't tell when he's crying and all, so he says. I try to take him out on walks. Get him some exercise. Vitamin C. That kind of stuff."
"It's vitamin D," Ben said plainly, all warmth evaporating from his voice again.
"Same thing." Finn shook his hand. "Anyway, we found something we thought you guys would like."
Josh perked up. "What?"
Finn ignored him. I was still standing next to Ben with Finn on my other side. "We found this," Finn said, turning to address me as he produced a tiny security camera from his jacket's pocket. "Thought it was yours and it looked important. I'm not really sure," Finn started holding the broken camera up to his face like he was perplexed with the thing. "It's not really my thing. Ben?"
Ben shrugged, "Technology goes right over my head."
I pursed my lips as they made it sound like they had absolutely no idea how a security camera worked.
"Where was it?" Josh asked, completely oblivious to the lies the duo was rolling off their tongues.
"Right over there, just chilling on the ground. I think it came off of this," Finn said, smacking the lamp post. He put his hands back in his pockets and grabbed all of the parts of the camera, some of them broken but it was all small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He held his arms out to me.
Reaching forward, he cupped both of his hands around my outstretched one, dropping the items in mine. However, the slight crinkle of paper tickled against my palm and I froze.
Finn stared intensely at me before letting go. I quickly pocketed the items. Keeping my hand in my pocket, I felt around at the pieces of camera he'd given me, making sure I wasn't going crazy.
I wasn't.
Sure enough, my fingertips felt a small piece of paper in the bunch. I kept my hand tight around it as my insides flipped.
Without saying anything, Ben turned and started walking down the alley they must have come out of.
"I think he's got to cry again," Finn whispered before turning and running to catch up with Ben. Halfway there, he made sure to yell a "See ya, kid," over his shoulder.
I stared at them as they disappeared around a corner down at the end of the alley, trying to make sense of everything. This was Ben. Ben who used manners as often as possible and walked around in sweater vests and khakis most days. The same Ben who just turned around without so much of a goodbye.
Josh started rambling but I wasn't listening as we turned around and started walking back to where we came from. I wanted to get back to my hotel room to look at the note in peace. My hand was still tight around it but after about a minute, with my blood pumping faster with anticipation, I let go and took my hands slowly out of my pockets. I didn't want it to fall out but I didn't want my hands to get so clammy it smudged whatever was on the paper. If anything was even on it. Maybe he'd just given me a scrap of paper that was supposed to be trash that he had in his pocket. Maybe it was a gum wrapper.
Their earlier words ran through my head. Finn and Ben had never spoken that harshly with me. They were always making light of the situation and trying to cheer me up. I couldn't remember one time either of them were that angry with anyone. Well, maybe during fights but I couldn't really focus much during those moments.
But I also wasn't working for a special group designed to bring gangs down. So, I could understand where they were coming from in that regard. I guess they had their reasons for being angry. I didn't want to lead the group to them, though. I wanted to bring Sterling's men down. I wanted Sterling's gang to pay for everything they did and all the pain they caused Cameron's guys. I wanted my friends to be free.
I tugged on the sleeves of Travis' leather jacket, it wasn't feeling as comforting as it had earlier today.
"Are you even listening to me, Carson?"
"No. I'm sorry. I got distracted."
I didn't care about what Josh was saying. Ben's face as he talked about Travis ran though my head. He looked like how I wanted to look when I found out. I didn't want to feel anything. I wanted to shut off my emotions. I still wished I could do that when all I wanted to do was get in my bed and cry some more.
Travis didn't pop out halfway through our chat and yell "Gotcha!" They didn't laugh it off like it was some practical joke. Ben mentioned Travis' memory. I groaned, trying to shake the thoughts from my head.
"Are you kidding?" Josh snapped, not appreciating my lack of interest in whatever he started saying again.
"I'm, I'm-" I struggled to form a sentence as my voice wavered. The last few clear images I had of Travis wouldn't leave my head. Him standing in front of Sterling who was aiming a gun at him. Him cradling me close and whispering that everything would be okay as he loaded me in the car to take me to the hospital.
I put my hands on my hips and started taking deep breaths.
"Hey, it's okay," Josh said, appearing in front of me and putting his hands on my shoulders. That only caused me to freak out even more.
"Don't say that right now."
Instead of talking, he just rubbed my back every now and then until my breathing returned to normal a few minutes later. "Don't look at me like that," I told him when I saw him glancing over at me.
His face looked like he was afraid I was going to break down at any second. I was fine. I'm fine now, at least. He went to speak but I cut him off.
"Let's just go. Can you not tell anyone about that when we get back? Just let me have the night to get back on track," I questioned. "Please."
Josh looked like he was struggling with himself and I wouldn't doubt if he was weighing his options to get a new partner that wasn't about to freak out. Shortly after, he agreed and we continued back to the car as it was starting to get dark.
I kept my eyes on the ground, not willing to go down memory lane any more tonight. However, I cautiously went back to thinking about Finn and Ben and their incessant mentioning of whether or not Cameron told me to do this.
After walking another block and lulling over their words I realized what they were talking about and I halted in my steps, seemingly tripping for a second over my own feet.
Cameron only had one rule he stressed over everything else.
I say jump, you jump. I say duck, you duck.
But that didn't count anymore.
Did it?
"Lacey," Josh said hesitantly from beside me. I glanced up at him, trying to prepare for whatever he had to say. He wasn't looking at me though. He was sending a quick glance behind us. "Everyone keeps watching you."
I didn't see anyone around us. "Huh?"
"I thought it was just a coincidence at first. But anytime someone passes that isn't some hobo looking type, they stare at you."
I checked my surroundings more. Josh had his GPS up on his phone to guide us back to the car and we were relatively close. I hadn't realized we'd walked so far already.
"Like this guy. Watch him as we pass," he said, leaning in to whisper.
There was a guy up at the corner now in view that was walking towards us. He stepped off the side walk and went into the street to not get in our way, which wasn't much of an issue seeing as hardly any cars were going by. I flicked my hair in front of my face so that it would provide some cover. Sure enough, when we passed each other, he made sure to glance my way.
"How do you know they're not looking at you?" I countered, glancing behind me to see the guy casually doing the same before he continued forward. My stomach lurched.
"Because I've double checked!" Josh hissed through his teeth. "The last five or six people in a row have."
I glanced around, going on alert. "That's a lot," I said, considering it was getting late and it wasn't exactly a busy town.
Last time I was here with Travis, he had said that the area we were in was protected by Cameron's men and I didn't need to worry. I think. Right? And that Sterling's area was small and off to the side, which was why he was always trying to take more of Cameron's territory. But had that changed?
My pace quickened and my hand itched to look at the note. What if it said something like run? No. Finn would have just said that out loud. I hoped.
"Do you know them?"
"I don't know, probably not," I confessed.
"I think they know you. I can imagine everyone noticed the kidnapee last time you were here. Hot news in the Gang Gazette," Josh said sarcastically, "But do you think the Dacosta organization-"
"Sterling kept trying to find me," I admitted.
Josh glanced around as another guy came out of the alley and just stood on the corner across the street. His head moved in alignment with where we walked. "They're not doing anything. They're just...watching."
Finn's words about not being welcomed played continuously through my head. "Let's just get to the car."
As we neared the alley that had the wall we had to hop over, another burley looking guy crossed our path in front of us. He stopped on the corner of the street still within view but just like some of the others that we had encountered that I'd noticed, he made sure to keep a fair distance away and not get in the way of where we were walking. I started getting goosebumps.
"Those two we talked to. They were some of Casey's right hand men, right? Do you think they're in charge now?" Josh asked quietly.
I thought it over as I stared back at the guy on the corner. He made no attempt to divert his eyes.
"No. I don't think they'd want to." But to be honest, I had no idea who they were now. I changed. They were capable of changing, too. Plus, I'd only known them for a short time. In fact, I'd known Josh longer than I knew them. I wasn't sure I knew them that well at all, ever.
We hopped the wall, making sure not to have any more run-ins with pieces of glass and quickly found the car. The ride and walk into the hotel was quiet, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts which I was thankful for. I was surprised he couldn't hear my heart beating against my ribcage as we waited for the elevator to arrive in the hotel. Anxiety about who those guys were and suspense about the note filled me. I tapped my foot impatiently and as soon as we were in the closed elevator, I decided to break the silence.
"Can we talk about all of this tomorrow? Like, don't tell Dylan and Owen yet. We can use time to think everything over. Or just give me the night to digest it all, I guess," I pleaded.
"Some time to wind down and regroup sounds like a great idea," he said supportively, which surprised me.
My eyebrows raised slightly as we exited the elevator. I was expecting him to want to run to the others and demand he get a new partner so I didn't weigh him down.
"I'll stop by in the a.m.," Josh said when I arrived at my room. He raised his fist out to me.
I shook my head. "I'm not fist-bumping you, Josh."
He laughed and headed down the hall to his room. I didn't waste any time in getting into my room and making sure it was shut. I even put the extra lock on it just to be positive that no one would unexpectedly walk in.
My hands dived into my pockets and I tossed the contents out on the bed. I was right. There was a small slip of paper mixed in with all of the camera parts.
I smoothed it out to read the scratchy handwriting and my stomach jumped.
Get far away from the crowd.
Alone.
Alone was underlined fiercely, which I figured meant I wasn't supposed to go blabbing to everyone about the message. But what crowd? I was alone in my bedroom. I didn't even see a crowd today. Was he going to blow something up? Or did he mean the group I was here with? There was nothing on the back of the paper and I was left with questions buzzing through my head.
My heart beat pounding kept me awake for hours after I went to bed.
________
Ahhhhh :D Let me know your thoughts!
Also, I've made playlists for all of the characters on Spotify. I have one big giant playlist but decided I wanted to make different ones for when I'm focusing on different characters and split some of it up. I've linked Finn's in the external link on this chapter & as a comment here if you're mobile. The rest are available to the public as well if you want to look at some music. Just search my profile on Spotify: xsnickerss and they should all be there. If you have any song suggestions, let me know. I love listening to new stuff!!!
Anyway, I hoped you liked it. Thank you for reading! Have a great rest of your day and don't forget to smile.