Amelia is asleep with her head using my bare chest as a pillow when her door swings open to reveal Kate.

Her eyes widen when she sees us, and my head lifts up, which makes my body shake and causes Amelia to wake up. Luckily she's wearing a t-shirt, but little does her Mom know; that's all she's wearing.

"Amelia," Kate says and Amelia snaps her head round to the door. "I was just coming to tell you that i'm heading out to see a house and wondered if you want to come?"

"Uhh, no thanks. I'm really tired."

Kate nods, looking at me and smiling which confuses the hell out of me because I thought she hated me after the rape drug incident.

When she's gone I drop my head onto the pillow and Amelia looks at me. "She'll think we're just having a friendly sleepover."

"Oh yeah, totally." I roll my eyes and she hits me playfully.

"I'm gonna take a shower," she sits up.

"Want some company?"

"No thanks. I still haven't forgiven you for the awkward conversation I had to have with my Mom about why I moaned so loud on Thursday night."

I pout. "Guess I'll just have to lay here and let my imagination run wild thinking about you in the shower."

"You're disgusting."

While Amelia's in the shower, I check my texts, not even bothering to open the ones from Cal. I'm too happy right now, and I'm trying not to think about him. I ignore most of them as they're just texts from girls that Val has given my number to, however I spot one from Ray.

Oh shit. Is Ray actually coming to me to talk? It's probably about the Dad killing someone thing. I respond with:

I wonder if that's where he always goes. If it is, he must be really obsessed with fitness, or maybe it's a way to let off steam.

Amelia comes back into her room, dressed in just a towel that is tied above her cleavage. I watch her intently while she gets dressed.

"Stop looking at me like that," she says while doing the straps of her bra, a hot red one. "Alex!"

I look up at her eyes, my eyebrows raised. "I was just admiring the fine material of your underwear."

When I hear the front door open, I throw on some sweatpants and go downstairs. Ray is sat on the couch, a bottle of water in his hands, and I sit down beside him.

"Qué pasa?"

"Are you working for Dad's old boss?" He blurts out.

"Why would you think-"

"Just tell me."

"Yes," I say, hesitantly.

He leans back on the couch and bites his lip, thinking. "It's not fair that Dad left this all behind for you to deal with. How'd you even see him kill a guy, anyway?"

"Cal had guys pick me up. They brought me to him and Dad; used me as blackmail to get him to do it."

There is a long silence. "You know, I really fucking hate him."

"Cal?"

"Dad."

"Ray, he had to do it-"

"He didn't have to get involved with the whole thing in the first place. Ever think about that?"

Yes, I do. And part of me hates him for it too.

+++

"I still can't believe you kissed her in front of Aarons like that." Jace says, picking up his burger. I think back to the moment my ego took over and I had to prove to Aarons that Amelia was mine.

"Shut up about it." Everyone's been talking about it, and the rumours have gotten creative to the point people are saying I beat him up.

Amelia and Yasmin sit down in front of us, Amelia glancing around the room nervously.

"You okay?"

She nods. "Girls have just been giving me these death glares all day."

"It's 'cause everyone knows you and Alex are together and bitches be jealous," Jace says.

"You can't just say bitches as if it's another word for girl," Yasmin looks at him in disgust and I'm glad.

"True that," Val adds through a mouthful of food and holding up a fry.

"Sorry, ma'am," Jace rolls his eyes. "Didn't mean to offend you."

"You offend the entire female existence every time you open your mouth." She picks up her tray and stands up. "I'm going to eat with my friends."

"Does she really hate me that much?" Jace asks us when she leaves.

"She has every right to," I say and he looks down at the table.

"Why? Did something happen with you two?" Amelia asks.

"Yasmin will probably tell you."

Amelia frowns, looking at Jace who doesn't look up from his food for the rest of lunch time.

When school is over, Amelia and I walk hand in hand to my car that is parked far from the school because we were late again and the parking spots got taken.

Just as we get near, I see a man in a suit, leaning against the hood of my car. Shit.

"Cal? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"You've been ignoring my calls. You gave me no choice but to come to you." He looks at Amelia and I drop her hand.

"Amelia get in the car."

Cal smiles. "Go on, sweetheart. Do what you're told."

Who the fuck does he think he is?

Amelia looks at him, annoyance clear in her eyes then gets into my car.

"You can't talk to her like that," I spit, my fists clenching at my sides.

"Your girlfriend is pretty. It'd be a shame if anything happened to her."

"I swear if you touch her-"

"You'll what? Beat me up like you do to my buyers? Kill me? Have you ever even shot a gun before, Fuentes? Or was watching your Dad enough-" I make a move towards him, then stop myself. He laughs. "Smart choice."

"What do you want?"

"I have a couple jobs for you."

"No."

He sneers. "I had a suspicion you'd say that, so I took some precautions."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have your sister."

No. "Where the fuck is she? If you hurt her-"

"She's fine. For now. She's with Johnny, but you know how short tempered he is, and your sister seems to be on the stubborn side."

"Johnny? He's raped people before, Cal!" Why am I telling him that? He probably has too.

"Then you better hurry up and get to the warehouse."

I send him one last deadly glare before getting into the drivers side and driving away.

"What happened?" Amelia asks.

"He has Yasmin," I say through gritted teeth and she gasps. "I need to go straight there to get her, then i'll take you both home."

"And then what? You're going back there?"

"I need to."

She runs her hand through her hair and whispers my name, the sound painful. It's then I realise that my fucked up life is dragging her down too. I'm afraid that Cal will bring her into this all, but I already have just for caring about her.

"Stay here," I tell her when I stop my car outside the warehouse. I walk straight to Cal's office, and find Yasmin sitting in a chair beside Johnny. She has her hands tied behind the chair and duct tape over her mouth. Her eyes widen and she moves around in her seat when she sees me.

"Why the fuck is she like that?" I move behind the chair and untie her hands.

"Because she kept trying to run away, and she fuckin' bit me so I covered her mouth," Johnny scoffs.

Yasmin rips the duct tape off of her mouth with her now free hands. "You're a fucking dick," she hisses at Johnny, then lifts her hand and slaps him hard in the face. "How do you like it, huh?"

Johnny stands up, towering over her with a furious look on his face. I stand in between the two.

"Move," he spits.

"Get away from her."

"Not 'til the little bitch pays-"

I shove him back, making him stumble, but he recovers fast and slams his fist into my face. I'm thrown back from the impact, grabbing a chair to stop myself from falling.

"Stop!" Yasmin yells as Johnny steps towards me, but before he can hit me again, she grabs a pencil from Cal's desk and stabs it into his neck.

Johnny screams out in pain, pulling the pencil from his neck and blood spills from it. Yasmin makes a smart decision by running out the door and I follow behind her.

"Holy shit! I stabbed him!"

"What?" Amelia shouts back, alarmed as I climb into the car.

"She indented a pencil into a guy's neck," I correct, starting the car and driving away.

"That's fucking awesome!"

Yasmin doesn't say anything so I look in the rear view mirror and see her looking out the window. The only time I have ever seen Yasmin cry was two years ago when Jace broke her heart. She cried in my arms all night, but every other time before and after that she's kept a strong face, but that doesn't stop me from knowing when she's about to cry – like right now.

"You're bleeding," Amelia informs. My hands touch under my nose, and blood covers my fingertips.

"It's nothing."

As soon as we get home, Yasmin goes to the bathroom, coming out five minutes later with puffy eyes. I clean my bloody nose while Amelia talks to her Mom in the living room, and Yasmin comes into the kitchen and goes straight to making dinner.

"Yas, you don't need to-"

"Just let me do it, Alex," she says, her voice strangled.

"Did... Did Johnny do anything to you?"

"No. But he threatened to." I close my eyes and take a breath. "Why did they use me to get to you?"

I sigh. "Yas-"

She turns around, holding a vegetable knife towards me without meaning to. I frown and she puts it down. "I'm not stupid, so just tell me."

So I tell her about working for Cal, and she continues to chop up an onion pretending that what i'm saying isn't a big deal. My phone starts to buz in my pocket and I know it's Cal sending me all sorts of threats unless I get my ass back to him in the next five minutes.

"I gotta go." I walk over and put my arms around her shoulders.

"Ah, you tryna make me chop my fingers off?"

I kiss the side of her head and drop my arms. "See you later."

"Bye, loser."

+++

random cute pic of yasmin up the top 👆🏼💓

teaser: amelia learns about the history between yasmin and jace, and alex gets possessive.

vote, comment, follow

ly

-e