Playing With Fire (Previously Burning The Bad Boy) (UNDER RECONSTRUCTION)

{24} Hello Darkness My Old Friend

"Is it too much to ask for you to keep your mouth shut?" Bax huffed under his breath, leading me back toward the house with his hand on the small of my back. I shot him a look but didn't give him the satisfaction of responding.

"All you had to do was stay away, but you were too caught up in all your little fantasies to listen." he grumbled. "I don't know what the hell it is that you chicks see in us, but it always ends up killing you in the end."

I bowed my head, feeling Bax's grip tighten on my arm as we stepped back into the house. I waited until we slowed to a stop to peer up and over at Craig.

He wasn't at all as I pictured him; tall, dark hair, and a sadistic smile. The thing I had gotten right was how much the drugs had aged him. He still wore a boyish smile and had a youthful look in and around his eyes, but the wrinkles that lined his face, the scars, made it appear years older.

"Hello." he saluted me with a laugh. "Aren't you going to introduce me, Bax? I thought we were all friends here."

Bax met his bosses eyes. "She's nobody, man. Just let me drive her home."

"Who is she, Baxter?" Craig repeated, a slight edge to his tone.

My eyes wandered the room, falling a couple smoking on the couch and a girl doing the same opposite of them on a chair.

There wasn't any sign of Damon.

"She's just a junkie, Craig. Doesn't know where she is." it was shocking how fast Bax came up with a believable lie.

Craig closed the distance between us and outstretched his hand in an attempt to touch my face. I jerked back, slamming into the wall hard.

"Isn't she a little young for you, Bax?" Craig questioned, clearly entertained by my rejection of him.

Baxter snorted. "I'm twenty-four, not a huge age difference. You know how it is, don't you. The younger the better."

Craig didn't appear to take in the younger boy's words, but kept his eyes trained on me.

"Go then, kid." Craig muttered. "Get her out of here before we shoot him."

Bax relaxed against me, his grip loosening on my arm. He started to pull me back toward the door, but I dug my feet into the ground. "Damon!"

The man from the mall, Luka, had Damon's hands tied behind his back. Damon's face was smeared with so much blood he was hardly recognizable.

"You!" Luka hissed through his teeth, then turned to his boss. "That's her, Craig."

Bax grabbed my arm roughly and forced me behind him, looking back and forth between the three men before us. Damon's dilated blue eyes met mine, but there wasn't any sort of familiarity in them. He looked as if he had no idea who I was.

"Baxter, hand the girl over. I won't hurt her." Craig spoke softly, a smirk slowly creeping its way across his face.

"I'm sorry, Craig, I can't do that. She didn't do-" before he could defend his actions any further, another man tore him away, leaving me in the open a few feet in front of Craig.

I started to back away, but he caught my shoulder and shoved me back against the wall before I could. "Where the hell do you think your going, little girl?"

I gasped for air, my nails digging to the hand cupped around my throat.

"I knew the kid here was stupid." he gestured toward Damon. "But I didn't think anyone in their right mind would come after the little shit. What the fuck is wrong with you, girl? Willing to risk your life for a pathetic boy?"