Rivalry

Chapter 5

"Hey Vik." Vik raised his head to see Simon standing next to him. Vik slowly rose to his feet.

"What do you want?" he asked, albeit a little hostile. He came out here, in the middle of nowhere, to be alone.

"I heard about your punishment and-"

"And what? You thought'd you come and make fun?" Vik accused.

"No. I'm here to ask if you want help training," Simon offered, understanding that Vik was annoyed.

"I don't need your pity Simon," Vik growled.

"It's not pity Vik! I'm offering to help you!" Simon exclaimed.

"And I don't want, nor need your 'help'," Vik mocked.

Simon huffed. "Fine." He headed out the door and called over his shoulder. "But Vik, if you took your head out of your ass once in a while you might understand why the rest of the gang doesn't like you."

"Right," Vik scoffed, watching Simon's retreating back. Why was he forced to suffer? The only thing that he had done was to try and make sure peace, however temporary it may be, was kept. Why the FUCK couldn't JJ understand that!?

"I hate this," Vik grumbled, and then took another chug out of the bottle in his hand. He had never been fully drunk before, but he was getting there, and fast.

"Hey Vik!" A voice called out. Could it be Callum? It seemed like it was Callum.

Suddenly, he was grabbed and shoved against the wall. "Did you that Josh was a friend of mine?" he snarled in Vik's face. "And he's dead, because of you. And the rest of the gang and I couldn't get revenge, no, because JJ was protecting you. Well, he's not protecting you now." There was a couple laughs, but Vik didn't know who they were. And why was the room starting to spin?

"He's drunk!" A voice called out. There was some laughs, but Vik didn't focus on that. Instead, he was focused on Callum's fist, which was slamming itself into his face, his stomach, any part of him Callum could hit. It wasn't long before the others joined in. Vik knew that, because all of a sudden, he was on the ground, and multiple feet were leaving bruises on him. Vik had a feeling he should fight back, protest, but to be honest, he couldn't give a damn. Let them beat the shit out of him, maybe JJ will change his mind. Or maybe not, and if he didn't, then Vik knew the guys would come and beat the shit out of him again, and again, and again.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Was the last thing Vik heard before he slumped into unconsciousness.

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"C'mon Lachlan." Lachlan groaned. His whole body ached. "Shh, take it easy there buddy."

"Hey Mitch," Lachlan rasped.

"Hey Lachlan."

"How ya doing?" Asked a second voice.

"I don't know Jerome, how does it look like I'm doing?" Lachlan replied. "Do I look fabulous? Like I'm the next runway model?"

"Very funny Lachlan," Mitch sighed. "Come on buddy, you need to move your feet." It took a moment for Lachlan to realize that he was no longer chained to the ceiling.

"Right. Um.. Mitch, where are we going?" Lachlan asked as Mitch and Jerome half-helped, half-carried Lachlan away from the Pack's main base.

"We're taking you to my place," Jerome replied.

"Huh. Didn't know you had a lace Jerome," Lachlan answered, looking slightly puzzled.

"Yeah, well, no one knew." Jerome paused. "Except Mitch that is," he amended.

"Great," Lachlan muttered groggily, before the world went dark and he collapsed.

<>

"How do you feel now?" Mitch asked when Lachlan woke, again.

"Like crap," Lachlan answered. Mitch gave him a funny look, then shrugged.

"You up for taking a walk?" Jerome asked.

Lachlan stretched and nodded. "Of course. Besides, if that was the worst Rob could do, then he's sht at beatin people up.
"I don't know man," Jerome replied. "You loo pretty bad."

"Sure, I look bad but I don't feel bad." Lachlan grinned. "I'll be fine in a couple of days."

"Where do you think you're going?" Mitch asked, pausing Lachlan from making his escape.

"I was leaving," Lachlan answered slowly, afraid to make a wrong move.

"Not like that!" Jerome protested.

"Yes like this. If Rob and Preston see me, Rob will feel good because he 'beat' me," Lachlan said, making quotations around 'beat', "And if Preston sees me, he'll feel that I've learned my lesson."

"Have you though?" Mitch asked, ut only when Lachlan turned to leave.

"What was the lesson Mitch? I got beat up because I let a poor kid go free? I wasn't going to beat him up. You saw him. Did he look like a dangerous criminal to you? Did he look like someone who'd try to hurt anyone of us?" Lachlan protested. "So if the lesson was that I can't help a kid escape torture, then no, I suppose I haven't learned my lesson." Lachlan rolled his eyes. "Now, anymore questions or am I free to go?"

"Go ahead," replied Jerome. Mitch exchanged glances with Jerome while watching Lachlan walk away.

"He's going to get himself killed," Mitch commented.

"He's made to lead, not follow. And right now, he's being forced to follow. That's not going to end well for him or Preston," Jerome added.

<>

Lachlan had been walking around for little while when he heard the noises. He knew a fight when he heard one. Lachlan broke into a sprint, dashing around the corner to find a bunch of guys beating someone up, who was lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, Lachlan realized that the person on the ground was Vik!

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" he yelled, causing the four boys to lock their gazes onto him instead of Vik. They smiled, their eyes glancing over his bruised and beaten body, the way he walked, like he was still sore.

"I'd suggest you leave if you know what's good for you," a boy called out. He had raven-black hair, and seemed to be the leader.

"Like hell I will," Lachlan shot back. Vik wasn't moving. They must've knocked him out or.. Lachlan shook his head. He didn't want to think about the other option.

"Your mistake," the raven-haired boy replied, before running to attack Lachlan.

Lachlan scoffed and step aside. One by one, each of the boys tried to knock him down, to beat him up, and one by one, they failed. Lachlan rolled his eyes at how easy it was. These boys didn't train together. They didn't know what the other was going to do, they weren't coordinated. They just attacked, each with their own plan. And sometimes, their plan got in the way of someone else's plan, making it easy for Lachlan to pick them off. If they had worked together, it would've been a closer fight. But they still would've lost. Lachlan was one of the best. He was the best fighter the Pack had, although Preston and Rob refused to admit it, and at the end of the day, these Sidemen members would've still lost.

When they were all groaning and moaning on the ground, Lachlan walked over and scooped Vik up. He laughed silently to himself. "One person leaves Jerome's medical room, another one enters, even worse than the first." Because Vik was definitely in worse shape. But he was alive, his slow pulse accounted to that. And as long as he was alive, Lachlan would do everything he could to make sure Vik survived, stronger and better than before. Nothing was going to hurt this boy while he was around, ever again. Lachlan would make sure of that.