Boundaries

Creep.

I woke with a start, visions of hooded figures surrounding me in my dreams.

My heart sinks when I realize Hero isn't next to me. I try not to panic, wondering where he could be.

What if he had gone back and confronted the guys last night?

What if something happened to him?

I know that if I continued to think like this, I would drive myself insane. So I quickly get out of bed and take a shower.

My thoughts were jumbled, but I managed to get ready in record time for work.

I pull my hair up into a pony tail before pulling on a peach colored sweater, black jeans, and Chelsea boots. I apply a little bit of concealer to cover the bags of exhaustion under my eyes before grabbing my bag and coat.

I make my way across the street to Pâtisserie, a sense of hope overcoming me that Hero could possibly be there.

When I see him sitting at a table through the window, I let out a sigh in relief.

He looked just as exhausted as I did, wearing his black hoodie and a pair of sweatpants.

His hair was a mess, more so than usual.

Hero looks up when I open the door, and a small smile spreads across his lips.

"Morning." I say, taking a seat across from him.

"Sleep well?" He asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

I shake my head no, and he nods in agreement. "Me either."

"Did you um..." I didn't want to ask. I knew it wasn't right for me to, but I had to know what the hell they were doing at the festival last night.

Hero seems to catch on to what I was going to ask, and he shakes his head. "I didn't. From what Felix told me, they were meeting up with someone to do a deal. Stupid move on their end, they nearly got caught by the feds."

"You talked to Felix?" I ask, a bit too harshly. I know Felix was doing the best he could to be a buffer between Hero and the gang, his loyalties lying with Hero as much as they could.

But part of me told myself not to trust Felix regardless of whether he was trying to help us or not.

 He was still one of them.

"He stopped by this morning." Hero shrugs. "I'm not going to stop talking to him, Jo."

"I didn't say you had to." I retort.

"You didn't have to!" Hero snaps. "I can see it written all over your face. I don't know what to tell you, Jo. Aside from you, there's not really anyone I have to talk to!"

"What about Alex?"

"Please." Hero rolls his eyes. "No matter how hard we try, I know that relationship isn't salvageable. Besides, he has Khadijah."

"That just sounds like an excuse." I cross my arms over my chest.

"Would you stop fucking dictating shit to me? I don't complain about your new job and the assholes you spend your day with. So don't fucking complain about who I spend my time with!"

I look around the shop in embarrassment, hoping that nobody had witnessed the scene we were causing.

Thankfully, there was only one other person in the shop with a pair of headphones in. It was unlikely he heard anything.

I hated that Hero has been on edge recently. The more he acted like this, the more I began to grow suspicious about him hiding something.

If he was hanging out with Felix, who's to say he hasn't been hanging out with the others?