Behind

Chapter 12

I laid my hand on Nash's arm, but he shoved his shoulder so I'd move. 

"What the hell?" He yelled. 

"I'm so confused." Aaron spoke up, his hand on his forehead. 

"Yeah," I leaned against the wall. "Well you're not the one who they're after."

"Not directly," Nash said sharply. "They have a tendency to go after our loved ones." I looked up at him when he said "loved ones", and he definitely realized what he said and didn't take it back. "I just don't understand. If they weren't the ones after you before, then who is after you?"

I shrugged my shoulders and Aaron did the same. I walked up to Nash quietly and I noticed his breathing coming down to a calm. I grabbed his arm and escorted him back to the booth. He needed some sort of restraint before he went ape and punched a wall. Nicole stood up out of the booth when she saw us returning. 

"What happened out there?" 

Aaron pushed her shoulder back into the booth. "A lot, we'll tell you later." She sat back in the booth, abiding by Aaron's unsaid commands.

More doors shut outside and I saw the whole Magcon crew start piling through the doors. Funny how that all worked out. They're here after we needed them.

"Woah!" Matt yelled as he entered the diner. "Is this a date?" 

I finally gained access to my words. "No, no." I laughed nervously. Nash looked down at me to try to convince me otherwise. 

Shawn walked through the door and looked immediately at Nash, then to me, then raised his eyebrows. I shook my head 'no' at him.

Bart and Jack worked with Gilinsky to push all of the tables together to form one, large table. The four of us slid out of the booth and sat next to each other, Nicole on my left and Nash on my right. The two couples that remained in the diner quietly checked out and left the building. Kendra passed the exiting couples and strode in to join us.

Gilinsky eyed Nash from across the table. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nash clearly lied.

Gilinsky pressed his palms to the table and leaned in towards Nash. "Spill what's on your mind." Nash just looked at him. "Now."

The whole group looked at us and Nash rolled his eyes irritated and spoke up. "O2L showed up."

Cameron inched in closer. "Did you beat the shit out of them?"

"One punch." Nash smirked. "But that was the least of my problems." Nash explained to the crew quietly about his encounter with JC and had me explain the exploding box episode. Kaitlyn shuffled in her seat awkwardly when we mentioned the fact that O2L was previously targeting her.

"So.." Carter spoke up. "We're dealing with more than just O2L?"

"That's what it looks like." Bart put in. "But I don't understand. It's only ever been Magcon and O2L, there's never been anyone else. No one dares intrude on the deadly drama." The group sat quietly as the waitress brought out our food timidly. I had lost my appetite. 

The waitress skidded back into the kitchen and no one talked. A few people scraped at their plates and others pushed their plates away from them, their stomachs set off from the news that had been explained. 

Gilinsky screeched his metal chair against the floor, smashing through the awkward silence. "Well now, you're all going to watch each others' backs. And your own. Being in this group, you know that you're never safe, but now we're going against something we're not sure of plus O2L. I don't want to lose any of you for any reason." We all nodded.