33

❦𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮❦

The boys are currently on the third day of a prank war. I have to sleep with one eye open because somehow I, unwillingly might I add. Am being targeted because of Blake.

The little turds are keeping score, Isaiah and Ace decided that pranks on me count as pranks on Blake.

I'm an easier target than Blake so I've fallen victim a few times already. I've brushed my teeth with cream cheese, been given a glass of what I thought was orange juice, but it turned out to be powdered cheese with water.

They plastered my room with pictures of Blake sneezing, terrifying to wake up to might I add. But also really funny so I haven't taken them down.

Oh they also filled the hair dryer with flour, so when I turned it on it blew it directly in my face.

Blake just about lost it on that one when I started coughing manically from the flour I inhaled.

He threatened the guys, and they agreed to be more careful.

The guys on the other hand are a bit more violent or cruel with their pranks on each other.

Blake stole all of Ace's blankets in his apartment, turned his AC on to full blast then stole the knob. He nearly froze to death that night. Ace heaved Isaiah over his shoulders and tossed him in a dumpster, he then went for me but Blake stepped in with the, you touch her you die eyes, so he backed off.

Isaiah put fake tan in Aces lotion so he's currently five different shades of orange and brown. He also shaved one of Blake's armpits, now he has one hairy armpit and one bare. It cracks me up every time he lifts his arms.

I told him to shave the other but he refuses to.

Blake put a spicy chili in Isaiah's lunch, then gave him a glass of milk curdled with vinegar to wash it down.

I almost vomited at that one.

And countless more parks within the last few days have taken place. They call it a prank war, I say it's just them being stupid.

But they seem to really enjoy it so who am I to rain on their parade.

One of them took it too far today when they stole every bit of food we had in the house. I was supposed to make cookies for Olivia, but literally every edible thing in this apartment is gone.

So that leaves Blake and I having to run to the store to buy ingredients, even though we got them yesterday.

"How long is this prank war going to last?" I ask, exhausted. It's been fun and all, and I love that they are having a blast, but being on edge for three days straight is really taking a toll on me.

"Ends tomorrow at four, whoever has the least amount of points has to buy dinner." Blake confirms.

Of course it would all be for dinner, doesn't seem to matter what it is there is always a bet or challenge for who's paying for dinner.

"Is it getting too much? I can call it off." He emphasizes. He told me at the start that if I wanted them to stop they would.

I wouldn't cancel their fun like that though. And I can definitely handle one more day, it would be another story if it was never ending.

"No it's fine, maybe we can do that one prank you wanted tomorrow." I offer.

"The stink bomb one?" He looks at me hopefully, so I nod my head.

He mentioned wanting to put stink bombs in their car so when they go to drive it reeks. I asked him not to, I didn't want them getting any ideas to do that to the apartment.

But if the war is over tomorrow, they won't have time to get supplies to do it back.

"Nice, but they'll probably have to sleep over and let the cars air out overnight." He laughs.

I really don't get why they like this so much, but whatever.

"Shoot, I forgot eggs. I'll be right back." He leaves his wallet with me just in case the line goes fast. He did this one time, but without leaving his wallet and when I got to the register with no way to pay, I was super embarrassed.

So embarrassed that I refuse to go back to that store anymore.

I made Blake promise to never do that again.

As I wait in line, a boy hands me a folded piece of paper then walks off. Confused, I open the paper and see familiar handwriting. I suck in a breath, scared to read the words.

I'm waiting outside, dear sister. Meet me on the east side of the building. Don't tell your boy toy, or I'll shoot him between the eyes.

He found me... How did he find me? In a supermarket of all places?

Blake and I hardly ever come to this grocery store, so that means he probably was watching us and followed us here.

How long has he been spying on me, how many of my friends does he know about, how many of them did I put in danger?

I should be freaking out, I thought I would be when this happened. But I'm not, I don't really feel anything, and that worries me.

"Ok, got the eggs." Blake puts two dozen eggs in the cart.

"I need to go grab something too, I'll be right back." I mumble. This is the only chance I'll get, if he's not stuck in line he'll follow me around and then my brother will follow through on his threat.

I try to walk away, but Blake's hand grabs my arm. "Are you ok?" Why is he so good at knowing when somethings off? I force a convincing smile on my face and look up at him.

"Yeah, I just need to grab some girl stuff." I say as I tug out of his arm.

"Oh, ok. I'll wait here for you, hurry back." He smiles.

I hate lying to him, but if it keeps him alive I'll do it all day long. I take one last look at him before I walk out of sight.

He's smiling looking at the ingredients we bought to make lasagna for dinner.

He's started making dinners with me, we flow well in the kitchen together. He claims to hate cooking, but for some reason he always asks to help when I'm making dinner.

And he has a smile on his face the whole time, so he can't hate it too much. I burn the image of his smile behind my eyes, I don't know what's about to happen to me. This might be the last time I'm seeing him.

A pang of guilt hits me, I want to go tell him what's happening. I know Blake would take Oliver down in a fight, but it doesn't matter when he'll be shot dead before he gets to touch Oliver.

"Good, you came." His gruff voice slaps me as he pushes off from the side of the building.

I don't say anything, I know better than to talk unless he asks me a question.

"I was beginning to think I would never find you." I can't look him in the eyes, so I settle on his nose instead. "But then I got a call from the police. Looks like my little sister has been hanging around the wrong type of people."

He knows nothing, I've been around the best people I've ever met. "So of course I just had to come find you. A sweet little family reunion after all this time."

I'm not sure why I'm not scared, maybe because I'm not worried about me this time. All I care about is that he never touches my friends.

"Mom didn't want to come. She's still upset with you for leaving." His voice is calm, I expect him to do more hitting and less talking. I don't have much time, Blake will come looking for me soon. So I break the golden rule.

"What do you want?" I spit. His eyebrows lift up in surprise, then his mouth tweets into a sinister smirk.

"You see, I've felt this rage bubbling up inside me since you left." He runs his hands across his chest as he steps closer to me. "It's really affecting my work, my concentration and my happiness." He explains it to me like he's talking about how the rain inconveniences him.

"So I brought my operation here, so we can be closer together." His smirk grows. "Isn't that great, little sister."

No, it's anything but great. And what kind of operation is he talking about?

Then that look I'm used to appears in his eyes, and I know I'm in deep crap now.

I feel myself zone out as soon as his hands are on me. It's like an out of body experience. I know what's happening, and I can feel every hit. But it's numbed. There's no reason to fight back, he'll kill Blake.

So I just let it happen. He slammed me against the wall and when I dropped to the ground he used his boot cladded foot to kick me in the gut.

When he got his fill he leaned down to me and growled, "Anyone finds out about this and I'll kill them. Be waiting for the next letter, I'll be looking forward to our next meeting." Then he walks off.

I'm alive, I'm surprised he didn't just kill me. But he likes to torture me, so I should have guessed he had some plan to make that happen.

I lift myself off the ground, and try to get used to the pain in my abdomen. He didn't touch my face, bruises are now forming only where I can hide them.

After I collect myself I start walking back to the entrance of the store. Blake is probably finished checking out by now and wondering where I am.

Each step I take hurts, but I force on a mask to cover it up. I have to sneak back in, immediately after I step foot in the door I dip behind a display and walk a few isles over. That way I can walk back to the registers and if Blake's looking for me he won't see I've been outside.

Sure enough when the registers come into view, Blake stands off to the side with a cart full of bagged groceries. He's scanning the isles with a frown on his face, I made him worry. Again.

When his eyes land on me I see his shoulders relax. "Did you get it? We'll have to stand in line again, but that's ok." His voice is soothing.

He's ok, I'm alive and everything will be fine. It has to be. "No they were out. I'll get it next time." I shrug, regretting it when a pain shoots up my side.

"Do you need it now? We can go to another store." He's so sweet, I hate myself for getting him involved with my crap.

"No, I can wait. Let's just go home, I'm really hungry." His eyes brighten slightly at my words. He tries not to make a huge deal out of it, but he's constantly worried I don't eat enough.

So whenever it's my idea to eat, it makes him happy. And him being happy right now is what I need.

It eases the pain of what's to come.

I'll handle whatever my brother throws at me, as long as I can keep Blake safe.

⇿♡⇿♡⇿♡⇿♡⇿

The bruises healed without anyone seeing. Blake's noticed something is off but I keep reassuring him it's just because I'm tired.

It's true, my brother hasn't tried to contact me again yet and I can't seem to sleep properly. The fear of me missing a letter and him going on a rampage and killing Blake keeps me up at night.

And if I do somehow manage to sleep I wake up screaming from a nightmare hours later.

Blake comes running when he hears it, he's also the only thing that can calm me down because my nightmares are all about him getting shot in the head. He holds me until I calm down, we usually end up falling asleep tangled together.

I can tell he's not getting enough sleep either. He has bags under his eyes and he drinks an insane amount of coffee nowadays. I wish I could make it stop, but I can't control my nightmares.

I'm losing all the weight I've gained since coming here and I think Blake notices. He's always offering me snacks and trying to get me to eat.

I try to, but I just don't have an appetite. I know I need to, not only for Blake's sanity, but also because I'm malnourished.

Each day that passes without Oliver telling me to meet him gets worse, the waiting makes my stomach turn. I spend all my days trying to figure out a way to defuse the situation without my friends getting hurt.

But I haven't come up with anything solid yet. I was going to try to take his guns, bury them somewhere he would never find. But then he would probably just get pissed and get more.

I want to ask Blake what he would do, he probably would have this sorted if he was in my shoes. But because the threat is on me I already know he's going to get upset with me for not telling him in the first place, then go after my brother.

Ace and Isaiah would be on his tail, ready to help out with beating the crap out of him.

I love them for that, but guns are no match for fists when the person holding the gun is ready to kill and sees you coming.

"Rose, dinner?" Blake leans across the island with a plate of leftovers in his hands. I hate the worry I cause him. I know there must be a better way to go about this, but I can't seem to figure it out.

"No thanks." I shake my head, my stomach is already queasy. Blake sets the plate down with a sigh.

"What's wrong? I'm trying not to overstep, but I can't sit around silently while you starve yourself." His voice is strained, causing me to wince.

No matter what I do I'm causing him some sort of pain and I just want it to stop. I want it all to stop.

I want my brother to disappear, I want Mary to stop being mean, I want Blake to be happy and I just want to get a full night's sleep. But I don't see that happening anytime soon. I'm about to make a lie about just feeling under the weather when my phone rings.

"I'll be right back." I say quickly hopping off the chair and locking myself in the bedroom.

"Hello?" I was an idiot and didn't even check who called before I answered. "Glad you picked up." Oliver's voice makes my heart stop.

"I'll be sending you an address and time. Be there or I'll make good on my promise." Then the line goes dead. Seconds later an address is texted to me with the time being three am.

My throat runs dry, I have to sneak out of here at three am to do who knows what. How did he even get my number, how the heck does he do these things? I have ten hours until I have to be at that address.

Ten hours before I might be offering myself up for slaughter.

⇿♡⇿♡⇿♡⇿♡⇿

Blake was sleeping like a log when I sneak out, I don't know what I'd have done if he was still awake.

Now I'm standing in front of a closed store feeling like a target as I wait for my brother to show up.

It's two fifty-nine, one minute until I was supposed to be here. I hear a car engine revving down the road and I know it's him.

My palms start to sweat and I'm having an internal fight with myself about how stupid this is. The car skids to a stop in front of me and the car door swings open.

"Get in." His sturn voice sounds from the driver's seat.

I take a deep breath and slide into the seat. He doesn't appear to be drunk, so at least I have that going for me.

"Hold these." He throws a bag of something on my lap. I unzip the bag to see small bags full of pills.

"Oliver." My voice is shaky.

"Yeah, it's drugs, Rose. What did you think I meant when I said I moved my operation here?" He grumbles, keeping his eyes on the road as we head down main street.

"Why did you give them to me?" When he said he moved his operation, I definitely wasn't thinking he was a drug dealer.

"Because you're going to deal for me." He says it with a tone telling me not to argue.

I choke, my hands going shaky. The bag of pills rattles in my lap when he hits a pothole.

He wants me to be his drug dealer? I'm not a drug dealer. I've never even done drugs before.

"I'm in a new territory, I don't know who's toes I'll be stepping on when I start distributing." He turns left into a residential area.

"Sometimes people who buy are planted from the other dealers. Competition is looked down on and eliminated." He can't be serious right now.

We stop in front of a house, Oliver leans across and pushes my door open. "If you manage to stay alive I'll know I can deal here." He smirks.

He grabs the bag from my lap and picks out a bag of pills, then shoves them in my hand. "Price is written on the bag so you don't mess it up. Exact cash only." Then he shoves me out of the car with his foot.

I land on my knees in the grass, dazed with a bag of drugs in my hands. "Get going, we don't have all night." I take in a shaky breath, rise to my feet, walk to the door and knock three times.

⇿♡⇿♡⇿♡⇿♡⇿

He made me sell to twenty different people.

Some of them didn't say anything to me, some said nasty things I'll never repeat and one actually put his hands on me.

My brother did nothing of course. He dropped me off in front of the store just after five am with a bruise forming on my arm from the guy who got physical.

My feet pound against the road, dim street lights eliminate the way.

Blake gets up early sometimes and it would be my luck if he's sipping coffee in the kitchen when I walk in.

Oliver said he needs me so he can make sure it's safe for him to sell in the area. But how long will he continue to make me do this for him? And what comes after?

Now there's no chance I can go to the cops, I'm a criminal now. Maybe that was his plan all along, another way to shut me up.

If I take him down, I'll go with him. I run up the stairs, side cramping and panting for breath. I haven't slept in over twenty-four hours and even though I'm completely exhausted I know I won't be sleeping anytime soon.

When I open the door to the apartment and see Blake still asleep on the couch, relief fills me.

I lock the door behind me and quietly walk to my room. I feel dirty, not only from the sweat, but also just in general. I grab some clothes to change into and turn the shower on.

When I peel my shirt off my eyes wander from the huge bruise on my arm to the trickle of dried blood on my stomach.

It's from Oliver, the zipper on the bag got stuck outside one of the houses. Instead of trying to fix it he threw a knife at me and told me to cut it open.

The knife grazed my skin before it dropped to the ground. I wasn't surprised, he threw knives at me before. I'm lucky that it was only a small cut this time.

My hands grip the counter, squeezing with all their strength, I force my head up to look myself in the eyes.

I don't look like myself anymore, I look like the version of me I've tried to forget.

"Don't worry, I'll get you back." I whisper a vow to myself. No matter what it takes, I'll get the me back that I like to be.