Life Goes On

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"Yes it's me dummy!" I exclaimed.

"Come over here and give me a hug," Charlie replied. He stood up and pulled me out of my seat. His arms enveloped me in a giant bear hug. My arms wrapped around his waist and we hugged while people around us watched.

Happiness spread through me as I realized I had my friend back. Over the past five years I had really missed him. Even though I had only known him a few days we had become attached at the hip and losing him had felt like losing a limb.

"Char I need air," I choked. Charlie was muscled now and very strong. He smiled and let me go.

"Sorry Cherry baby. I've missed you a lot."

"I've missed you too Char. So tell me how you got up here and why you're back in a gang."

"Well after you and your mom left I tried to find you. It was hard. You guys paid in cash for almost everything and I had poor connections back then. However, you guys slipped up a few times. It was Carla's fault right?" he asked. I nodded. Carla was my older sister and she didn't seem to think she needed to watch her back.

We had been on the run when my father died. I stole something very important and only my mother knew about it. We ended up moving around a lot because of it. Somebody was always looking for us. Even at twelve I had more sense than my sister. She thought that we had finally lost whoever was chasing us with every new town.

"Yeah it was."

"Well I snuck on a train and then hitchhiked until I got here. It was a few cities from you. That was two years ago. I gave up after that. I was living on the streets when Damon's cousin Stephen found me. It was die on the streets or join a gang and make money."

I slowly absorbed the new information while I finished off my grease between buns. Then I moved onto my ice cream. Charlie seemed to remember he had a burger and dug into it. We were silent for a few minutes before my mind began to wander.

"Does the Firehawk gang have any clue who I am? Or was?" I asked slowly.

"Damon knows of you but he hasn't really made the connection. He's heard rumors before he took over and though he has files he never really pays them any mind. In his mind nothing about you is connected to the Bluejacket gang," Charlie said. He paused and took a bite of his burger. After he swallowed he continued. "If he really wanted to know he could have looked it up. Other than that nobody knows."

"I'd like to keep it that way please," I said. His eyes met mine with sympathy.

"Sure. Don't look now but here comes trouble."

I turned around to see Damon walking towards us. His eyes flashed with anger. I smiled and blew him a kiss when he reached us. He scowled deeper and tipped me out of my chair. My butt hit the ground hard. My hand met the back of his head once I was up and resulted in a loud slap before I plopped myself into his lap and began eating the rest of my ice cream.

"Get off me!" he shouted. I rolled my eyes. As he opened his mouth to yell at me again I stole Charlie's burger and stuffed it into Damon's mouth.Charlie looked like he could barely hold in the laughter. With a dot of ketchup on my finger I drew a uni-brow and mustache on Damon before he realized what I was doing.

I was thrown off his lap as he quickly stood up and spat the burger out. My smile could've cracked my face in half. He flipped me the bird and stalked out of the restaurant. I did a victory dance and was still dancing when he turned around and came back. Then he bent down and his hot breath his my neck as he put his head beside my ear.

"Watch yourself," he whispered.

"You too. I could be cooking then accidentally cut your head off," I replied. The smile I gave him was sickly sweet. His face turned a slight shade of red and my grin grew along with his anger.

Charlie let loose his laughter and I quickly reached up and kissed Damon's cheek. He was shocked. Internally I laughed. Just the reaction I wanted. Though I must admit I did like the feel of his freshly shaven cheek against my lips. His eyes flickered down to mine.

"Don't mess with me. You'll get burned," I whispered before walking past him and out the door I got in my car and waited for Charlie. When the door opened it wasn't Charlie but another guy that got in instead.

"I'm Demetri," the stranger said.

"Demetri Melcove. Age twenty. In the Firehawk gang. Hmm. You are to be engaged to Abby Marchaud. Arranged marriage for some reason. I might have to look into that," I replied. His eyes were wide.

"How did you know all that?" he asked. A sly grin spread across my face.

"Shh it's a secret."

"You can trust me," he said.

"I have my sources. Now what is this about an arranged marriage?"

"My parents believe in old crap like that. They think I need to settle down and leave the gang," he replied. "They think a pretty girl will manage to make me walk away. I don't even want to be married."

"Why can't you call it off?" I asked.

"She is the daughter of a billionaire who has the right connections to put me in jail for years."

"So why are you with me right now?" I asked. He scanned my face quickly. It was obvious he was deciding whether or not he could trust me.

"Damon told me to follow you and watch what goes on in your life. He wants to know something. I don't know what."

I leaned forward and put my head on the steering wheel as I let out a string of curses that would have any mother in the area running for cover with their children. When I looked up Demetri was watching me and an amused smile played across his face. I wanted my reaction to be calm and careful but that's not really what happened.