invasato [h.s]

37

Car keys in my hand, I head for the door. I'm aware that I'm gonna have to tell the guys about Elaina, and I need to do it quickly. If Angela beats me to it, then I look like a dumbass.

My feet carry me down the front steps of Angela's place, walking down her clean driveway to my car. But, as I'm about to open the car door, my phone rings in my pocket and stops me.

I roll my eyes and take my phone out, not even looking at the screen as I accept the call and bring it to my ear, assuming that it's Niall or one of the guys.

"Hello?" I speak.

"Wow, wasn't expecting you to actually answer."

I freeze.

That voice. That fucking voice. It makes my whole body stop, and my eyes go wide for a moment as I look behind me to make sure I was alone.

My hand clenches around the phone as I have to try to prevent myself from chucking it.

"The fuck do you want?"

"The hostility is unnecessary, son. I just want to talk."

Son. I hate when he calls me that.

My father's voice invokes anger in me, especially hearing it out of the blue like this with no warning nor context. I try to avoid talking to him as much as I fucking can.

"You never just want to talk." I murmur.

"Can't we just have a conversation?"

I don't know what he wants to talk about, nor do I care. I honestly want nothing to do with him.

I hear Angela's front door open, then I hear the voices of the three girls.

"No, we can't." I say quietly into the phone. "Delete my number." I say before hanging up.

I turn around to be met with Angela, Bianca, and Elaina walking toward me. Bianca walks with a skip in her step while Angela still looks pissed at me and Elaina looks a little nervous.

"I was just leaving." I tell them.

Bianca walks right up to me. "Good, then you can take us to Murphy's."

Murphy's is a tattoo and piercing shop here in Milan. It's open to the public but the owner and everyone who works there know who we are because they did some jobs for the organization and now their business is funded by us. We're all pretty close.

My brows furrow. "Murphy's? Why?"

Bianca gestures to Elaina, who stands next to Angela and looks at me with her lips formed into a line. "She needs her tattoo."

My eyebrows raise as I look at Elaina, then back at Bianca. "Now? It hasn't even been a day."

"It doesn't matter how long it's been." Bianca says, "Plus, she wants to do it."

Her words cause me to look back up at Elaina. We meet eyes as she bites her cheeks.

"Do you?" I ask her for clarification.

If she's being pressured into a tattoo by Bianca right now then I'm not taking them. She can get the tattoo whenever, it doesn't have to happen right now.

"Yeah."

I wasn't expecting that answer from her. I was taken aback a bit. "Are you sure?"

She nods at me. "I think so."

She seems genuine in her answer, like this is her choice and not someone else's.

"See?" Bianca says. "Let's go. I get shotgun." she exclaims as she hurries over to the other side of the car, opening the passenger side door.