Behind

Chapter 37

"Gilinsky!" I shouted down the hallway. His footsteps never slowed down. He continued walking fiercely down the hallway to the elevator.

I turned around to face Matt. He had his face buried in his hands

"Matt, Matt," I soothed as I jogged over to him. "I'm so sorr-"

"Why is this happening to me?" He asked, tears welling in his voice. The sound of his voice was almost inaudible; so quiet, containing breathless sobs.

"They are all I've got, and- and now I can't even be around them."

I put my hand on Matt's pale arm. His large muscles had toned down due to his immobile state.

"Things will get better." I assured him. "I'll stop by and check on you, and I'll bring some of the others, too."

"But you can't," He whined. "I'm suspended. I can't see them."

"Yeah, you can't go see them." He looked at me curiously and I continued speaking. "But they can come see you."

For a moment I viewed what seemed to be a glimmer of a smile, but it quickly faded. "I think I need some rest."

"Hang in there buddy." I patted his arm before I stood up and edged towards the door. This isn't over. "I'll be back."

He placed his hand on his arm where my hand previously made contact with his skin. "So will I."

***

I walked quickly outside to where we had parked Gilinsky's vehicle, and to my dispair, he was sitting in the car. A part of me sighed in relief and another part of me wanted to drive my fist right into his martially artistic face of his.

I walked to the car and whipped the door open. "What was that?"

He looked up at me calmly. "I did what I had to do. Get in the car and let's go."

"You didn't tell me that was what had to be done." I sat in the passenger's seat and buckled up. "That's too illogical, Gilinsky."

He shook his head and chuckled. "That's what you think. When you've been here for a while, I want you to reestablish your definition of 'illogical'."

I scoffed and turned to face the window as we pulled out of the parking lot. What a mood ruiner.

A few blocks from my street Gilinsky spoke up. "So O2L was behind another murder yesterday. Saw it on the news and knew it was them immediately."

I nodded my head. "Oh."

"Yup, all JC's doing."

JC's name brought spikes through my bloodstream."Uh huh."

He turned to face me. "Alright knock it off with the cold shoulder." He turned down a street that was leading in a different direction than the way to my house. "It's not like I wanted to do this. I'm trying to protect you. Trying to protect all of us. It may not make sense now, but it's for everyone's safety." He didn't stop rambling. "Even if Matt hadn't done it directly, what if someone was using him to get to us? Matt could be apart of whatever the hell is going on and he may not realize it."

I looked at him shyly. "When can he come back?"

Gilinsky shook his head. "Whenever we can figure some more information out."

A silence engulfed the car and forced my head to turn my gaze out of the side window.

"Where are we going?" I eventually asked.

"Emergency meeting." Gilinsky spoke. "Shouldn't take long."

I rolled my eyes and pouted against the ledge of the car door. All my life I had dreaded meetings and lessons and now this is what my life consisted of.

***

We arrived at the hotel and Gilinsky lead us straight to a room on the top floor of the hotel called, plainly, the Meeting Room.

I walked in and the whole crew was there, girls and everything.

All except Matt.

The room was taken up mostly by a large, oval table with large black chairs that had wheels. My child instinct forced the urge to spin and slide around on them alter my brain, but I let the thoughts subside.

Everyone had a bare look on their face and I figured that they had been notified about the Matt news.

Kendra smiled at the group from the head of the table. She seemed to be unfazed by the latest drama.

"Well hello gang." She smiled. In a normal situation, "gang" would be used to simply refer to a group of people. In this twisted situation, it was literal.

"Today I have a special surprise for you. Boys, this isn't any new news to you."

Nash scoffed from his seat and I found it hard to look at him. I felt so awkward considering what had gone down last night and this morning.

Kendra shot Nash a quick glare and returned to her announcement. "I'd like to introduce you to one of our superior members."

Great. More people I had to add into my life.

"He's one of the most specialized guys we have here, believe it or not." She spoke with pride, as if he was her own child. "He has also helped solve numerous crimes as well as saving a few lives here." She let her eyes wander to Nash and then to Aaron.

Oh, more secrets that my curiousity festered but would probably never be acknowledged about.

She waved her arm towards the door. "Come in, come in!"

A young teen boy walked in the room with black shades on that were similar to Gilinsky's. He held his head high as if he lead the gang himself. He chewed a piece of gum and let it snap numerous times as he strode to Kendra.

Nash backed his chair up a little and bumped the kid as he walked by.

The somewhat familiar stranger picked his nails as Kendra spoke. "Girls, I'd like you to meet Hayes."

Hayes looked around the room to the girls and then looked at me.  Lowering his glasses, he directly made eye contact with me and raised his eyebrows. 

"Well hello."