𝘿𝙀𝘾𝙀𝙋𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 • 𝙇𝙍𝙃

01. secrets and murder

SECRETS AND MURDER

It was a hell of a way to die.

The girl hadn't experienced anything. Not passion, not life, and certainly not love.

Yet now, as she is shoved into a car with a gun pressed to her temple, she believes she is going to die.

She saw something that made her stomach churn, something that had her lungs ceasing to fill with air.

If she knew that going to that same craft store and taking that little shortcut through the alley like shes taken so many times before would lead her to this, she would have stayed the hell home.

Nothing was worth this, especially not that new set of paint brushes she had been so adamant on buying today.

Or, at the very least, if she knew she'd be getting kidnapped today she would have worn something other than her paint stained overalls.

Sure they were cute, definitely comfortable, but it wasn't the outfit she would choose to die in, you know?

But after this entire debacle is done with, and Lila is faced with the choice to walk away or stay, her answer will surprise her.

She doesn't know it yet, but this will be the ride of a fucking life time.

. . .

After a hefty dose of propofol and a long drive back home, Michael volunteered to hike the girl into the house.

The boys have never done something like this before. They didn't go after innocents. And the fear that they had seriously harmed her was instilled in each of them.

But they couldn't just let her go, not after what she saw.

It was her or them, and they made a choice. It was them, always them.

Their bond was stronger than most, bound by secrets and murder and the blood that was spilled along the streets of New York.

"Are we sure she isn't dead? Feels like I'm carrying a sack of fucking bricks." Michael complained, adjusting his grip on the girl as he slips through the front door.

"Here, set her on the couch." Ashton instructed, watching with disdain as Michael tosses her onto the sofa. "Easy," He grits out. "She's a person. Not someone on our fucking hit list."

Ashton was the softie of the group, the weakest link. Though he had a knack for keeping the boys alive which was enough to keep him around.

He was an intern on the verge of becoming a doctor, until a malpractice suit cost him his career and his medical license.

He was a healer at heart, and the inability to do what he loved drove him crazy.

So he started finding other ways to practice medicine. First it was hanging around bars late at night, waiting for drunk assholes to beat each other to a pulp so he could swoop in and fix a broken nose and a bloody lip.

It satisfied him for a while, knowing he was still helping people, just not in the exact way he wanted.

One night, he heard two people arguing. He assumed they were drunk and followed the two voices, leading to what he assumed to be a vacant warehouse.

In a quick turn of events, he witnessed a man getting stabbed as the other person darted off, leaving the guy to bleed out and die.

Ashton was quick on his feet, grabbing the pathetic first-aid-kit he trudged everywhere and working to save the guy's life.