Bonnie And Clyde 2.0 》 Lauren/OC

Chapter Two - Living Fast.

And he did go back. A lot. And the next time he got back out, he had changed and expected me to join the gang. For protection, he said that it would come in handy if something happened and he had to serve long time.

So being the loyal little brother who always looked up to Cade, I did. It only helped that they had a guy who was a good tattoo artist.

Then I was sixteen, Cade was in jail, and music had taken a bigger part of my life. And I auditioned for the X-Factor, and decided to do something with my life that didn't involve being a gang member.

Cade explained to me that he took a lot of shit for me dropping out to go pursue music, but that he had managed to calm things back down.

"Told them you were still riding with us. Just wanted to go do something different, provide for the family." He said, shrugging.

"Great." I said, forcing the word into a positive tone.

"Look I had to do something, Cass. You lucky I'm as respected as I am."

I nodded, "I know."

It was true, if Cade wasn't my brother - I would have been chewed up and spat out a long time ago. I would have never made it as far as I did. It was only cause he was my brother and was as well respected as he is that I made it.

《●》

Cade had been out for a couple days, and was back to the same old shit. But he was my brother and had risked a lot to keep me safe. So I wasn't gonna ditch him.

I walked up to the front door, Cade right behind me. I had already filled him in on how all the guys were.

"Bet you told them you didn't have any gang tattoos, eh?" He had said when I told him about Alby and Melo's questioning when I first met them.

I opened the front door and we walked into the house, finding everyone sitting in the den. Including the girls.

"So everybody, this is my brother Cade. Cade this is everyone. That's Alby, Dinah, Melo, Camila, Dougie, Lauren, Alfie, Kai, Normani, Bash, Ally, and Jules." I said, pointing out who was who.

"Nice to meet you all." He said, nodding.

And normal conversation picked back up after that, which I was desperately glad for. Because I didn't know if I could handle dealing with Cade talking about the gang in front of everyone.

《●》

I was sitting out by the pool, drinking a beer and looking out at the water while listening to Cade telling some story to Melo and Kai. I looked over when someone sat down beside me, finding Lauren sitting there.

"So Cade's out. That's gotta be nice having your brother back."

"Yeah, it's great. I'm just worried about him. He's gonna end up right back in prison, probably for something worse this time." I said, shrugging.

"You can't save everyone, Casp."

"I know. But he's my fucking brother, I thought maybe he'd see how I've turned things around and that he'd straighten up this time."

"Don't think he's going to?"

I shook my head. "Nah, he was acting like he was when I visited him back a couple weeks ago. But now that he's out, he's right back to being the same person that I've known since I was ten all over again."

She leant her head over onto my shoulder, scooting closer than she had been before. "I could tell when you walked in the door tonight that you weren't as happy as you should be having your brother out."

"I care about him, but it's so much easier to deal with him when he's locked up - as bad as that sounds. Cause then he's acting like he's actually going to try figuring his shit out."

"That makes sense, Cass. You're entitled to your thoughts about it being better for him not to be out."

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders hesitantly, "Thanks, Laur. I appreciate it."