11

❦𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮❦

My body feels weak as I start to wake up. The first thing I notice is that I'm laying on something soft.

Something isn't right, the backseat of my car has never been this comfortable.

My eyes are still closed as I try to bring myself back into consciousness, I try to open them but I'm so exhausted it feels like my eyelids are glued shut. My head is pounding and my mouth is dry.

I know this feeling all too well. Panic attack.

But why can't I remember what happened and why don't I know where I am?

I force my eyelids open, but I'm met with total darkness. My hands shoot around trying to find something, anything that's familiar, anything to tell me what's going on.

My hands slide against soft blankets and fluffy pillows, and my confusion grows. I don't own anything like this, so where am I?

My fingers brush against something hard and cold, a table maybe? I move my fingers across it until I find an object on it, I use both hands to figure out what it is. I find a switch on it and flip it, silently hoping it's a lamp and not a self detonation switch.

The harsh light fills the room causing me to squint and my headache to pound against my skull.

I look around.

I'm in a bedroom? Why am I in a bedroom? Think Rose, think.

Bits and pieces of what happened flood my brain, the job, the men who attacked me, Isaiah, Blake, and then being thrown out by security.

It was too much and caused me to have another attack, but why am I in a bedroom instead of waking up on the side of the building where I assume I passed out after I let the attack get the better of me.

Gosh, I'm such an idiot. Why did I let the events send me into a panic, I should be stronger than that.

I need to be stronger than that. You're so pathetic Rose.

I can't remember anything after the security started pushing me through the crowd. Did some random person take me home with them? Oh no, please, please don't let it be the two guys.

I throw the blanket off of me in haste and stand up. My body sways, still weak from passing out and my vision blurs.

My hand finds the wall and I use that to steady myself as I regain my balance. I need to get out of here before something bad happens to me.

I walk over to the door, light on my feet just in case someone is listening for me to wake up. I silently open the bedroom door and the room outside it is pitch black, the light from the lamp is too far away to light up beyond the door.

I run my hand just inside the door on the wall until my fingers skim a light switch, I flick it on, squinting my eyes until they can focus after being attacked by the bright light.

It's a... bathroom, great I found the bathroom. That doesn't help me out at all.

But the light from the bathroom is bright enough to light up the bedroom. I see another door on the left wall and walk over to it, still using the wall to support me. I slowly open the new door and peek out.

There is a dim hallway with a room off to the right that light shines out of, I look the opposite way and the hallway ends a little ways away from me.

No way out that way, best guess is my way out of here is where the light is coming from. Instinct tells me that whoever owns this house is also there though, and that sends pricks of fear down my spine.

I close the door and walk quietly over to the other side of the room where the window is. Maybe I can climb out of it, but that idea is crushed as soon as I realize how high we are and that the only thing that would break my fall would be concrete.

I have to go down the hallway, but I'm not doing it empty handed. I search the room for something to take with me as a weapon and end up with a metal water bottle. I fill it up in the bathroom for extra weight and tiptoe to the door again.

I take a deep breath as I reach for the handle.

"What the fuck? You ate the last cookie? Asshole, I was saving that!" A loud familiar voice booms.

Isaiah? Isaiah was with me before security separated us, did he find me after I passed out? But this isn't his house, I got all too familiar with the surroundings of his house as I was trapped on the roof for hours, so where am I?

I open the door, not frightened anymore and walk towards the voice. I'm slow, as I push one leg in front of the other, I have to put all my energy into each step.

I make it to the lit up room, standing half way in it and half way still in the hall.

The room is a living room with three familiar boys sitting with bags of empty snacks laying around them.

"Shut up, you eat my food all the time." Blake scolds Isaiah. He lets out a disappointed grunt as he swipes a bag of chocolate off the coffee table.

They haven't noticed me yet, and I feel slightly creepy watching them like this. So I step farther into the room, all three heads instantly snap in my direction.

"Rose." Blake whispers out. "Here, sit down." He brushes the crumbs and empty bags off the couch, making a clean place for me to sit.

His eyes flicker to the hand that is supporting me on the wall and quickly jumps up and walks over to me. "Let me help." He mummers and grips my shoulder lightly guiding me over to the couch.

"Why do you have his water bottle?" Isaiah asks, puzzled. I forgot I had it still clutched in my hand.

"I- I didn't know where I was and this was the only thing I could find, just in case, You know..." I imply and his eyes widened slightly confirming that he understood what I meant.

"Shit, fuck. I should have thought about that. I'm sorry." Blake apologizes.

I take a seat on the couch and place the bottle on the coffee table in front of me. My brows furrowed in confusion, why is he apologizing to me?

"Are you ok? Do you need anything?" Isaiah asks. I feel my cheeks redden with embarrassment, nobody has seen me have an attack in years. I feel like I involuntarily shared a part of myself with them and I'm not sure how to handle it. "I don't need anything." I reply.

Actually, I'm thirsty, hungry and beyond tired. But I can't tell them that, I can't seem to ever tell anyone when I need things like that. Blake sends me a knowing look, turns around and disappears into another room. He returns seconds later with a glass of water and a granola bar.

"I'm sure your body needs fuel." He says as he hands me the items. I gingerly reach out my hands and take the items from him whispering a thank you.

He takes a seat on the other side of the couch, silence follows after. Minutes pass and I can feel the tension in the room thicken, I know they want answers, but I'm not sure if I want to give them.

The silence is broken by Ace clearing his throat. "Do you want to talk about what happened?" He asks, keeping his voice soft. It confuses me whenever he speaks, I always expect a deep grumbly voice to match his build, but end up hearing a gentle caring voice instead.

"Not really." I speak truthfully.

"Ok, I understand that. But could we ask a few questions, just to clear a couple things up? You don't have to answer them if you don't want to." He says.

I take a deep breath, holding the water and granola bar close to me and nod my head yes. They helped me, and even though I don't want to talk about anything that happened, I feel like I owe them at least that much.

"Ok, thank you, Rose." Ace says with a reassuring smile on his face.

"Are you scared of Blake now?" He asks the first question. I tilt my head, uncertain of what he was implying.

"Why would I be scared of Blake?" I voice my confusion. I mean sure, I'm not totally comfortable around him, but I'm not with anyone. But the way he asked that question made it seem like he thought that I might be terrified of him.

Ace raises an eyebrow and shoots a look at Blake. "See, I told ya." He shrugs and leans back in his chair.

"Huh?" I look between them and notice that Blake seemed to relax slightly after Ace spoke.

"Blake was worried he caused your panic attack, because you saw him fighting before you got dragged away." Ace added.

Memories flash, Blake did look frightening as he stalked around the fighting cage, but for some reason that I don't understand, I'm not scared of him. "I don't do well with fighting," I explained. "Or blood, or big crowds. Especially when I'm alone. I can usually handle it better than I did, but a lot happened in a short amount of time." I admit.

"I'll say. What happened with those two punks before I found you?" Isaiah question.

My muscles stiffen, my hand holding the glass of water shakes slightly for a moment before I force it to stop. "I don't want to talk about that." I breathe, keeping my voice steady.

"Ok. Could you at least tell me if you knew them?" He pries.

"I didn't." My voice comes out as a whisper and I mentally scold myself for being so weak around these guys. Ever since I met them, my brain has been disoriented, not being able to stay firmly to thinking of them as strangers and staying away from them, instead I keep imagining them as being some sort of acquaintance or even more outrageous, my friends.

I find it hard to not be somewhat comfortable around them and that takes my guard down, making me say or act in ways I never thought possible with people my age. The events that just took place cause my brain to work overtime, I felt safe when Isaiah found me... a feeling that has become so foreign to me. A feeling that when felt, almost feels like a lie. I shouldn't feel safe around anyone, especially not guys, but the three guys sitting around fussing over me. They make me feel safe.

It's not ok.

"Assholes, I'm gonna beat the living shit out of them the next time I see them!" Isaiah proclaims.

The two other guys nodded in agreement. "Did you get a name or a license plate? Anything that could help us track those bastards down?" Blake says, his eyes darkening as he leans towards Isaiah.

"Unfortunately, no. However, they've spent enough time at the fights that they knew I was associated with you two." He says pointing at Blake and Ace. "So I'm sure we'll run into them at a fight eventually. I have their dirty faces burned into my memory, so I'll keep a lookout and let you know when I spot them." He adds.

"Are you ok?" Ace asks, looking over at me.

"You look really pale and worn out." Blake adds, he leans across the couch over to me and places a hand on my forehead. I peer up at him confused, and he sends me a small smile. "Just making sure you don't have a fever." He mumbles.

Ace scoffs and Isaiah rolls his eyes mouthing a 'yeah right'. Blake grabs the granola bar out of my hand and opens the packaging before handing it back to me. "Eat this, and then you should get some more sleep." He sighs, sitting back in his seat.

I slowly take a bite of the granola bar and follow it with a sip of water. It took me minutes to finish my food and water. The guys had started a conversation about something that I wasn't paying attention to, I was just glad that it took the attention off me as I ate in silence.

"You done?" Ace questions as he notices the empty wrapper in my hand. I nod my head and place the glass on the coffee table, then put the empty wrapper in a grocery bag Blake was using as a trash bag to clean up the mess they made before I woke up.

"You should get some sleep then." Blake says.

Oh... I guess it's time for me to go. I thought maybe one of them would give me a ride to Jack, but I guess they've done enough for me already. I'll just walk back, hopefully I'll be able to find my way, I currently have no clue how far away I was taken.

I nod my head slowly and scan the room looking for the front door. My eyes land on a door with shoes around it, and I spot my shoes as well so I stand up and make my way over. As I bend down to pick them up, a firm hand grabs my elbow.

"What're you doing?" Blake asks with a scowl on his face.

"Going back to my car?" I try to state, but it comes out as a question. I thought they wanted me to leave?

"I don't think you're in any condition to drive." Ace speaks up as he stands from the chair, his face holding a slight scowl as well.

"You should stay here." Blake suggests. My mouth drops open in shock. "Or if you really aren't comfortable with that I could drive you home. But I agree with Ace, you shouldn't be driving." He adds after taking my look of shock as one of horror.

Little does he know that he only gave me one option there. I can't explain to them that my home is my car.

"It's late, Cupcake. You can take Blake's room again. It has a lock so you can lock yourself in if you don't feel comfortable." Isaiah proposed. My eyebrows furrow. What about them? I didn't see another room when I was walking down the hallway earlier.

"What about you guys?" I voice my thoughts.

"Don't worry about us. We'll sleep out here." Blake says sweetly, trying to coax me into staying.

I look over at Isaiah who is giving me puppy eyes then at Ace who is looking at me expectantly. "Ok, if it's really fine? Are you sure you'll be ok out here? There's only one couch." Why do they even care? And to give me the only bedroom, that's just absurd.

"I said don't worry." Bake scolds. His grip on my elbow tugs me towards his bedroom.

He only lets go when he leaves me standing beside the bed, and completely confused. Turning around he starts to rummage through his dresser drawers, he pulls out a shirt and shorts with drawstrings then hands them to me.

"If you want something more comfortable you can change into these." He mumbles, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Thank you." I accept the clothes with a smile on my face. My overalls were starting to get uncomfortable, and the shirt I wore had dried blood on it. Not something I really want to be sleeping in.

"Bathrooms over there." He says pointing to it. "The guys and I will be out in the living room if you need anything." He adds.

I nod my head in understanding.

"Ok.. well, get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." He says, then turns around and shuts the door on his way out. I walk over to the bedroom door and click the lock. I may feel oddly comfortable around them, but I'm not stupid. I don't really know them and sleeping in an unlocked room just screams stupidity to me.

After the door is safely locked I walk to the bathroom to change. I end up only wearing the shirt he gave me, it reaches my mid thighs anyway, and the shorts no matter how hard I tried refused to tie tight enough.

I'm pulling the blanket back when I hear a soft knock on the door.

I rush over and open it slowly. Blake stands on the other side, I see his eyes roam over my body before he quickly snaps his eyes to the wall beside me.

"Yeah?" I question, confused that he knocked on the door but then just stood there.

"Right. Uh, I forgot to tell you that there are spare toothbrushes and stuff under the sink, you can use them if you want." He says, his eyes still focusing on the wall. Weird.

"Ok, thanks." I tilt my head to the side a little.

"Yeah." He chokes out, clearing his throat after. His eyes flicker to mine for a split second before he abruptly turns around and disappears down the hallway. I close the door and lock it again, wondering what the heck just happened.

Going back into the bathroom I find a toothbrush and toothpaste, brush my teeth and then hop into bed.

Today has been a roller-coaster of events, I think I might have aged five years.

Not that I would mind that either, maybe then people would think I'm my age instead of a teenager. Nobody believes me when I say I'm twenty, most of the time people guess I'm sixteen.

It used to bother me a lot, but now it only bothers me a teeny tiny bit.