In The Dark

Chapter 15

Zach

Grayson was going to get it. He thought that it would be hilarious to talk to my girl. Then, pretending he didn't know me?! I growled as I sped down the highway. I was getting annoyed and him barging in on my life was not helping. First, Ryder. Now Grayson. Something was up and I would do anything to keep my girl safe.

My hands gripped the steering wheel as I pulled into the driveway. Ren clutched her purse, because she knew something was going to happen to her once we got to my house. I wasn't kidding about her getting a punishment. Every word that I've ever said to her was true. I do love her. I will protect her. I will give her the punishment for talking to him. I was about to tear that behind up.

"A-are your friends h-home?" she stammered.

"And if they are?" I challenged. "It's not like they don't know you and you don't know them. What's up with you being weirded out by them being home? Are you okay?"

"You wouldn't dare punish me in front of them."

I chuckled and turned off the car. She was so cute. Even if the boys were home, I would still punish her. They knew I didn't play around. If one of them messed up, I'd beat their behinds, too.

"Huh...I'll still punish you. Don't test me, kitten."

"That's so unfair. What did I do to get a punishment?"

I looked at her for a good moment, making her squirm. Her face said that she didn't want to know, but I was going to tell her anyway.

"You talked to a guy I didn't give you permission to. He seemed to be insisting you do something for him or with him. What was it?" I demanded.

Ren tried to slip out of the car. I pulled her back and brought her close to my face. Her eyes moved erratically, but never landed on my face. She tried to pull away from her and her elbow hit the armrest.

"Ow!" she whined.

"Just listen to me," I growled. "They're home, so I'm most definitely going to show them I am still in control. I will make you cry my name out in both pain and pleasure. Don't think I won't."

I let Ren's arm go and she bolted from the car. There was definitely no way she would be able to get in. I had the key. I got out of the car slowly and made my way to the front door. The look on her face showed her growing discomfort.

Once the door was unlocked, Ren bolted inside. I walked inside and ordered her to go to my room. She huffed and did so anyway. She should know not to cross me. Not now anyway.

The moment I entered the room, I felt like taking her up against the wall. Just to show her who was boss. The way she pulled her lip in between her teeth made so many thoughts flare up in my mind. But, I couldn't do that. It was wrong and I promised Ren I wasn't with her to take her virginity. At first, that was the case, but she proved to be hard to get to the longer we dated.

"Look, Ren, I'm not trying to ruin your life, but you have to realize that in this life, some people do not like us dating. Grayson is in a gang with Ryder and their boss, Devon. They especially don't like me. They've been trying to get back at my gang for something that happened a long time ago. I tried keeping you away from everything involving that, but now Grayson knows you're my girlfriend.

You might be wondering why I'm just now saying this. If I would have told you before about who was in Devon's gang, you wouldn't have wanted to be near Grayson when he introduced himself. You would have pushed him away. I wouldn't have found out if he was a part of the mission that Ryder messed up a long time ago."

Ren looked at me with the blankest expression. I have never seen her so...dead. She looked as if she was trying to remember something. I really hoped that nothing bad was happening to her. I was already scared she was forgetting some things.

Just a few days ago she asked me about my father. I had told her when we started dating that I would never talk about my family with her. When I told her that we had this conversation a while back, she only looked at me and insisted I didn't. I asked her what was up and she seemed to jolt awake. Like she was in a deep sleep.

"Look, kitten, I'm going to get you something to drink," I announced. "You stay here and...don't get bored. I'm not going to punish you."

Ren only shrugged and took out her phone. I exited the room and went downstairs. I knew the boys were probably hiding, so I just went down to the basement where the men from two weeks ago were. I knew that Dominick hadn't killed them all. He wouldn't dare with all the information I could get out of them.

I walked in and stopped. All the boys were in there laughing about something. I just listened to what they were saying and wasn't surprised they were just sitting around Trixie, taunting her. I looked around the room and noticed that the men were gone. Of course they would kill them. I bet they let Kais help.

"Hey, bro," Cory called out. "Ren made you mad or something?"

"No. Grayson thought it was going to be hilarious to try and trick Ren into sleeping with him today. Either that or he was trying to figure out who her boyfriend was," I said.

"Let me guess, you came to pick her up and he pretended to not know you and Ren defended him, claiming he was only her friend?" Dominick asked. I looked at him in surprise and wonder. "Don't ask how I know that. I just know it's something that might have happened."

"...Okay. Well, that's what happened. Now, I think something is wrong with her. I was explaining why I didn't like Grayson and she just stared at me without saying anything."

"I'd ignore you too if you were telling a boring story." Kais laughed. "Just like Trixie. She seems a little...sleepy. Can't you wake her up, Nathan?"

I huffed and watched as Nathan slapped Trixie. She jolted from her stupor and managed to glare at him. In the dying afternoon light, I could see that she was mad at him and would do almost anything to get back at him. Kais laughed at this and looked at me in delight.

"Anyway," I snapped. "I told her I was going to get her something to drink and she only shrugged. When has my girlfriend switched from being scared of me to not caring that I was telling her the reason behind my anger in a matter of minutes?"

"Since she learned you were a gangster," Cory muttered.

"Not funny. I'm going to go talk to her again. Maybe she's...back to normal."

"Why did you come down here anyway?"

"To see if the men were still alive, but apparently they don't deserve to live for more than two weeks after being captured."

"...Well, you should have threatened to kill yourself and maybe Dom would have let them live longer. A week tops."

I sighed and left the basement. Trixie said something and I heard the smack. Serves her right. Just because you were my whore doesn't mean they'll let you get away with anything. I never cared about her anyhow.

"Nathaniel Kalman!" Ren yelled. "Get your behind up here."

I paused on the stairs and prepared to turn back around. She didn't call me. I wasn't in trouble.

"You too, Zacharias Matthews!"

Well, dang.

⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜

✖DAVI