twisted (phan) || book #2

four

P H I L ' S P O V

"She asked me to call her," I began. I looked up at Dan. "Should I?"

He nodded. "It must be important if it's been a year since contact then all the sudden she texts you."

I let out a shaky breath. "Okay."

He sat down next to me, intertwining our fingers for comfort. I hesitated, my thumb hovering over the call button. "It's now or never," Dan whispered.

I gulped, pressing my finger against the dial button. I cautiously raised the phone to my ear. It rang, and she answered right away.

"Phil?" I opened my mouth but struggled to form words, my heart pounding out of my chest. "Hello?"

I shut my mouth before reopening it, replying quickly. "H-hey."

"Oh my god, it really is you."

I cleared my throat. "So what is it?"

"I thought you were dead! I thought Dan was dead too-"

"Bryony. Why did you text me at two in the morning asking for help?"

"It's about Wirrow," she began. I tensed. "He had a pact. A secret group of people he also hung out with besides us."

"So? Why is this a big deal? Wirrow's been dead. Why is this important now?"

"Phil, they know you guys killed him."

I froze. "H-how?"

"They were hiding in the fucking woods, Phil. They saw everything. Wirrow had called them for back up because he figured you would show up, and just in case things didn't go as planned they were expected to come out and help."

"But we shot Wirrow without defense."

"Because Wirrow told them to only come out if you started the fight first. He started it- he brought it on himself. So they stayed in place."

"One important question: how did you find all of this out?"

She let out a breath. "They were going to wait for you to come back to kill you. But one thing: did you shoot a cop recently? With a tranquilizer- a new guy?"

Dan nodded next to me. "His name was Harry," he told me. "I read his badge."

"Yeah, why?"

"His girlfriend. She's part of the pact."

Dan shot up as if I'd slapped him. He covered his mouth, stepping back in shock. "Oh no. No, no, no. . ."

I shook my head, struggling to swallow.

"They threatened me. I've gotten texts and voicemails all day from Wirrow's phone -which they took- saying that they'll kill us all. And yes, by all, they mean me, you, and pastel boy."

"How do we get out of it?"

Bryony let out a halfhearted chuckle. "That's the problem," she spoke. "I have no idea."

"Why should we help you?"

"Because I saved Dan's life. If it weren't for me telling you where we were, he would've killed him. You owe me."

I ran a hand through my hair. "Fine. I'll call you tomorrow and we'll meet, but if this is some kind of sick prank I will put a bullet through your head."

"You're beginning to sound like Wirrow," Bryony responded. "Talk to you tomorrow, Lester."

We hung up and I turned to see Dan tugging on his hair so hard I thought it'd rip out, his chest heaving.

"Dan, stop it," I spoke softly, standing and carefully reaching out to him. He only backed away, his eyes watering but no tears falling.

"I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry," he repeated to himself.

"Dan."

"This is my fault, my fault, my fault, I did this, all of this is my fault, everything is my fault-"

"Dan!" I shouted. He snapped his gaze towards me, dropping his hands and catching his breath.

"We tainted him, Phil. We let him go. And why? To be decent? We're not decent, and skipping out on killing another person wouldn't have suddenly made us good people. We've done all this running, and we're still going to die. They're going to find us," he mumbled. He gasped, looking up at me with terror. "Phil! They know our family! They'll kill our family."

I gulped, my eyes wide. I threw my arm out and snatched his, trying to get him to snap out of it.

"Look at me!" He darted his eyes anywhere but my face. "Daniel!" We locked eyes and I grabbed his face, slamming my lips to his. He reacted, kissing back eagerly, dumping all of his guilt and fear into me. I pulled away, keeping my hands on his face. "Listen to me. We are going to make it out of this. I promise. And if both of us don't, you will- I'll make sure of this. I'm not going to let you die. I dragged you into this mess in the first place, and I'm going to get you out of this, okay?"

His eyes watered again. A single tear slipped from his cheek, which I wiped away with my thumb. "You never started a mess," he muttered. "I already was one before I met you."

I stroked his jawline with my thumbs. "We're going to be okay. Promise."

"Promise?"

"Promise," I forced a smile and reached down to take his hand, raising it up and kissing his knuckles. I tapped his white bracelet, raising up my arm to show him my black one. "Hey, remember?"

Then we said at the same time, "black and white go together, just like you and I."

Our lips touched once more before climbing into bed, clinging to each other tightly, afraid that if we pulled away the other would disappear. Dan snuggled into me, clutching the sheets and nudging into my neck. I drew circles into his back absentmindedly, feeling his breathing get slower minute after minute, indicating that he was falling asleep.

My gaze flickered to the window and I stared, barely able to keep my eyes open. Cars passed, people chatted, music rang from clubs and bars, offices were lit up as well as late-night dine ins.

And in this small hotel room, two boys held each other, not knowing that this would be the last time for awhile. A long while.