A few weeks fly by fast as the wind and we're already in July now. I fell into a routine here. I don't have friends to hang out with and my social skills are debatable, so my only best friend currently is a three-year-old girl. Rosanna comes as the next one. And that explains how pathetic my life is.

Sam also came to visit once. She said she was busy with work at the tattoo studio. But when she came here, Alexander was also in the house. She wanted to talk to us both together while we were in the same room. It didn't end well.

Alexander kept glaring at me and having sarcastic remarks on everything I said. He was being mean and he made sure I knew he didn't like my presence. So, I shut up and went away from them to give them space.

I'm done taking Alexander's mean words and him being a bully to me. He's no greater than me and he has absolutely no right to act like he's above me.

Rosanna hinted on him acting this way because this is his way of dealing with his own issues. He has many, Rosanna told me. As if she needed to. I would have to be blind not to notice that. But that's not an excuse to be an asshole to everyone around him. And I'm not forgiving him just because he has 'issues'. We all have issues. We all have troubles we have to deal with. That doesn't mean we can take it out on other people who are not responsible for what's happening in our life.

We build our own path. How others act to us, is not on us. How we act – that is on us. And no one else is to blame here.

Alexander's 'friends' also came to visit him once. Truthfully, I don't know what they were to him. Just three cool guys coming in with him, looking all badass. They looked a bit older than him, not much, but I couldn't tell for sure. They were serious and intimidating, all three having their whole faces pierced and were covered in tattoos.

It was that day that I crossed Alexander again.

They were staring at me as I was sitting on the couch and mindlessly scrolling through the channels on the TV, trying to find something good to watch.

They all sat down on the couch, making me uncomfortable. I didn't want to look at them, so I pretended I'm really interested in how the elephants reproduce. Just my luck to find a channel like this on a TV.

"Hot damn, Sin. You live with that?" One guy asks. I feel their eyes on me.

"I'm a person. Not a thing. I breathe and talk," I say, still staring at the TV.

Someone whistles loudly. "I didn't know babysitters looked like this. Hell, I'm thinking of hiring one for myself now."

They all chuckle. It takes a lot to keep my poker face and not turn into a grimace.

"Goddamn, Sin, I get why you're all grumpy now, man. Daaamn!"

I chance a look at Alexander and see he's glaring at his companions with a stoic, hard face that's pretty familiar to me by now. "Can you two stupid morons shut the fuck up?"

Then, as if sensing my eyes on him, he snaps his own into my direction and turns his glare on me. "Don't you have anything more important to do?"

I should become used to his words by now, but they still surprise me every time. And I still feel like he punches me in the stomach every time he says something hurtful. Because, damn it, I don't have a switch. I can't turn my emotions off. I'm not a robot. I have feelings and Alexander's hurting them every time he opens his mouth.

"No," I reply.

Alexander walks to me and grabs the remote, turning the TV off. "Then go find something. You can't be here."

"Tu sais quoi, Alexander? Va en enfer!" I snap at him, stand up and just walk away, tired of him treating me like that.

I hear one of the guys ask, "What does that mean? What did she say to you?"

I just keep walking.

•••

On Saturday, Sam surprises me with her visit. I'm alone in the house since Alfred drove Amelia to some birthday party of his cousin's little boy.

"Finally I get to have you all to myself!" Sam says and plops down on my bed, looking around. "Nice place you got for yourself."

I look around too and smile warmly because I like this place too. It became my safe haven. "Yeah, it's nice."

"You probably have no idea why I'm here, but –"

I gasp. "You're not here to keep me company since I'm all alone in this enormous house?" I ask her mockingly.

Sam rolls her eyes and chuckles lightly. "Yes, yes. But I'm also taking you somewhere tonight."

I eye her attire. She's wearing a mini leather skirt, some ripped stockings underneath, a black shirt that comes to her belly top and a black leather jacket alone with black ankle boots with spines out of them. "Uhm," I start, uncomfortably shifting on my bed. "Where to?" I ask her, almost afraid of hearing her answer.

"It's a surprise, duh," she states. "Oh, don't look so scared, Pretty face. I won't harm you." She pinches my cheek, transforming her voice as if she was talking to a child.

She grabs my hand and drags me after her towards my closet. My eyes widen and I plant my heels on the floor, stopping completely.

Sam turns to me. "What?"

"I don't think you're going to find much in there, I'm afraid." I eye her attire one more time in a sceptical way.

Sam rolls her eyes. "Try me," she says and moves forward like a hurricane on a mission.

She opens the closet widely. She stares at it and falls silent. Then she looks at me again. "That's it? That's all you have?"

"Hey, I don't need much," I protest.

Sam sighs and places her hands on her hips. "We'll work something out," she says in exasperation and starts digging into my closet. I feel a sudden surge to launch forward and throw myself on all those close to protect them.

I just bite down on my lip and helplessly watch her sort through my clothes with a pure disgust written on her face.

"Honest to God, Gabby, even my grandmother wouldn't wear the clothes you have in here and she's been dead for years."

"I'm sorry." Sam throws me a questionable look. "About your grandmother," I clarify.

She stares at me for some more moments with disbelief clear on her face. She looks as if she's waiting for me to burst out laughing. When she finally gives up on searching my soul for answers to the questions she doesn't say out loud, she shakes her head and turns back to digging through my clothes. "You're the purest of them souls, Gabby, girl."

Sam takes out something from my closet and when she unfolds it, I see it's a skirt. A miny skirt. She inspects it and my eyes bulge out. "I'm not wearing a skirt," I blurt out in panic before I can stop myself.

Sam looks at me over her shoulder, wearing a mischievous grin. "The hell you aren't." She throws the skirt on my bed.

Before I can protest any further, Sam takes out some black top to go with the skirt. I watch it with dreadful eyes. "I get cold easily," I tell Sam as an excuse because no way in hell am I going to wear something like this.

"It's warm outside tonight, don't worry," Sam says with a grin and throws the tank top in my direction. "Let's get you ready, Pretty face."

•••

"I really hate you for making me wear this, Sam," I say while tugging that tank top up to cover more of my cleavage, but it only makes it hike up higher on my stomach, showing the skin there. It's like having a war where no one can win.

Sam slaps my hands away. "You look hot. Stop that."

"What even is this place? Where are you taking me?"

Sam said she can't tell me where we're going, because it's a secret place. She also said she thought I seem cool enough and she thinks I should see the said place. I didn't question her further, because I was dwelling on Sam saying I'm cool.

Someone like Sam, who's like the coolest chick I've met, said I'm cool. Which is also pretty cool. Cool.

"You'll see, Gabby. It's a cool place."

I like that word. Cool.

We drove in her car through the centre and came into the darkened streets that made my skin prickle and my heartbeat in a faster pace. I don't know why I have that feeling inside of me that something's going to happen and I'll see something I won't like. It's been eating at me the whole drive.

And then when Sam said we can't go further with the car and have to walk there, that's where I started questioning if it's really safe to go with her.

Now, walking the dark, dirty streets with her makes me look behind my shoulder every so often. I listen for every little sound there is anywhere near us and my heartbeat speeds up every time I think I hear or even see something suspicious.

What is this place she's taking me to?

I'm cold, even though I'm wearing a jacket. My legs are bare and it's a chilly night. Also, walking in Sam's high heels is not as fun and easy as she makes it look like. I fear I'll break my ankle or fall on my face with every second step I take and one of my feet twists dangerously.

Why did I agree to go with her again?

I hear something then. Something loud. An unmistakable sound of a revving machine. I stop in my track and look at Sam with my heart in my throat already. "Do you hear that?" I ask her with a shaky voice.

Sam chuckles at my expression and just keeps walking. "Don't look so scared. They won't run you over," she calls over her shoulder.

I gasp and run after her. "They?" I ask fearfully, looking all around me. I swallow. "Who are they?" I whisper in fear somebody's going to jump out of the dark at any moment now.

Sam shakes her head. "Keep walking and you'll see soon enough," she says.

I have to almost run after her now. "I swear I'm never going to let you take me anywhere again. If there even will be another time, because I'll most likely end up dead by the end of the night," I mutter to myself with a harsh, quiet voice, staring down at the ground as the sound of machines running get closer and closer.

It sounds like there are a lot of motorcycles somewhere near. Holy shit, what did I get myself into?

"No one's dying tonight, Gabby." Sam looks me straight in the eyes. "Honest to God," she promises. And I actually believe her.

We keep walking and my fear keeps growing, but I stay quiet now because I have a feeling that Sam's nerves are running thin with me now.

Just as we round the last building in this long street, I get an open view of the scene in front of me. My eyes bulge out and my only reaction is my mouth dropping open so much my jaw hurts.

Dear God! What is this place?

I look all around me, the motorcycles everywhere around and all the people in front of us. There are about a hundred motorcyclists in the ring of people who are revving their machines, driving around or just chilling on their motorcycles, a lot of them having a girl – or girls – on them.

There are also some parked motorcycles in the corner of my left. And there are a lot of people that are around the motorcyclists, having all kinds of fun.

Sam grabs my hand when I stop moving and she drags me behind her as we mix into the crowd of people and get even closer to the whole scene. It's just a darkened, lonely street, lightened by the street lights, but this street is very alive at this moment.

"Sam!" Someone on my right yells and gets closer to us.

If I would have to describe this guy that just called Sam's name, I would say: a gang member. Honest to God. He looks rough, dressed in all leather, an obvious motorcycle uniform, and all black. He looks exactly like those three guys that visited Alexander a few days back.

I step back a little and let Sam go in front of me.

Sam surprises me when she leans up and presses her lips right to the scary guy's mouth. They have a full make-out session right there in front of me and a mass of people around them that start to cheer up for them. I have to avert my eyes away. They're making me uncomfortable here.

When they finish with their kissing and groping, the guy actually smiles at Sam, making him look not so scary anymore. "Hey, Snake," Sam greets him.

Snake? What the hell kind of name is that to call someone?

Snake's eyes go to me and I shrink into myself even more, trying to be invisible. He nods his head at me. "Who do you have with you there?"

Sam looks at me over her shoulder and grins at me. "A babysitter for Sin's little sis. She's living with them."

Snake's eyebrows lift up almost to the hairline and he looks surprised. "She lives with Sin?"

I'm getting kind of tired how people keep talking about me when I'm just right here in front of them, no matter how many times that happened to me already. One would think I would get used to this by now. I didn't.

And why people keep calling Alexander Sin is still a mystery to me.

I see Sam nod. "Yup," she says back.

"Sam!" someone calls her again. And that voice is a bit more familiar and it makes me tense up even more. I hide behind Sam's back and lean down a bit so I'm completely hidden behind her. These damn heels are making me higher and it makes it harder to look small.

I also didn't even think about Alexander being here. But, of course he would be. This seems like his scene, something he'd enjoy in. Goddamn, I'm going to kill Sam for doing this. I want to stay out of Alexander's way as much as possible and she's only making it harder for me to do so.

I know exactly when Alexander comes to us because Sam leans forward and gives him a weird handshake, revealing me behind her a bit. Alexander's eyes immediately spot me and the warm look for his cousin is now replaced with cold anger.

"What the fuck is she doing here?" he demands to know with his eyes planted right on me.