Away: A Prequel

Chapter 31

Over the month of Kaleb staying with us, I noticed a few strange behaviours of his; for one, he often stood behind Dex or me whenever we went into a drawer or cupboard that we didn't really go into. He was one to hide his phone whenever a text alert came up if his phone was laid on the coffee table. He just all around seemed shifty to me.

It wasn't until Cora approached me, that suspicions were confirmed; it was raining that day and Cora came with tears stricken down her cheeks - being her best friend I was able to tell she had been crying -. Dex was out that day and Kaleb was exploring the city, so we had the apartment to ourselves. I sat her down, offering a cup of tea. She sat down, agreeing to the idea of tea with a small smile.

"What's got you so upset, Rara?" I asked her, making the cups of tea for us both; I handed her cup and sat down beside her with my own.

"It's Kaleb... I don't know why I didn't tell you sooner, but he keeps making me feel bad whenever I tell him how I feel, especially if how I'm feeling has something to do with him..." She paused, looking into the cup, "Like, yesterday, I caught him talking with his... ex-girlfriend, who isn't really his ex, by the way, and when I told him I didn't like that, he flipped out on me. He literally flipped the table at my place and smashed one of my favourite mugs."

"What an ass... Wait, he's still with his girlfriend?" I raised an eyebrow at her, frowning.

"Yeah, I found that out yesterday."

"You finished with him, yeah? I hope you did with the way he treats you."

"Yeah, I told him I can't be with him if he still has his girlfriend... He made me feel like that I was the bad guy 'cause he said if I had been better looking he might have finished with her earlier. I don't know why he bothered to flirt with me or ask me out if he is still with her... Why he even bothered to come to London, for that matter."

"Dickhead."

"Sorry, what'd I do this time?" Dex smirked as he entered the apartment; seeing how upset Cora was, he frowned, "What happened?"

"Kaleb." We both answered, our gazes followed him to the bottom drawer in the kitchen as he bent down to pack some supplies away.

"You know what we found out, the knobhead is still with his girlfriend."

When I told him this, Dex straightened his back; a large frown was upon his face but it wasn't over us telling him about Kaleb. Without saying a word, he ran to the guestroom, flinging the door open. Cora and I followed, standing behind him. I saw that Dex's fist tightened into a ball as he saw that nothing of Kaleb's was left there. He had disappeared. This caused Dex to punch the wall beside him, indenting it slightly.

"Dex, what's wrong?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him - it didn't work.

"Bastard!" Dex muttered to himself, searching the apartment for whatever he was looking for; he punched things whenever he looked into his hiding places and didn't find what he was looking for. He continued to mutter to himself, "When I find him, I'm gonna punch his fucking lights out."

"What's... What's he looking for?" Cora asked, wiping at her face.

"... Contraband, by the looks of things." I knew that where Dex was looking - and not finding anything - was where he kept his money and stash of drugs, "By the look of things, Kaleb nabbed everything he could before pegging it." I approached Dex as he looked in the last of his hiding places, in the bathroom, "Dex, please calm down, we'll get it back."

"Bastard's long gone, how are we meant to get it back, Kayla?!" He shouted; it was clear he was angry over the situation.

"We'll... we'll find a way..." I tried to think of a reason or a way we would, but nothing was coming to me.

"Knew the bastard was up to something when he kept snooping the place." He muttered again, slamming the cupboard door shut.

"You could start putting locks on the doors of places just in case this happens again?" Cora suggested.

"Little late now, don't you think?" Dex glanced at her, the look of anger still in his eyes; he softened his look a bit, calming down a lot more, "Sorry, Cora, just stressed out is all. That's a good idea."

Cora gave a smile of understanding, "It's alright, Dex,"

Once Cora had left to go to her place, Dex spent the afternoon searching shops for good padlocks; he found one type and bought enough of them to go on each of the drawers. When we got back to the apartment, that was what we spent the afternoon doing: putting the locks on drawers. He then hid the keys in my underwear drawer - why he chose mine I don't know -. While we sat down on the couch, I noticed he messaged Kaleb a few times, telling him that he was going to find him and make him pay for stealing from him. He never got a reply, but persisted with texting anyway, detailing to Kaleb what he was going to do when he found him. It was quite brutal, to say the least.

It was a few days later when Dex and I planned to go to the theatre in Covert Garden, West End; at least that was the plan. As we strolled down the street toward the theatre, dressed quite formally - him in a white shirt and jeans, while I was in a pretty black and white dress -, Dex gave a death glare to whoever he looked at. When I turned toward who he was looking at, I was surprised to spot Kaleb with his bags. It seemed he was waiting for someone. He was quick to spot us, eyes wide as he saw Dex was speed-walking toward him. He began to make a run for it, leaving his bags behind, only to be tackled by Dex - who had sprinted after him as soon as he saw Kaleb spotted him -.

"Dex, I'm sorry mate!" Kaleb cowered as Dex repeatedly punched him; he used his arms to try to protect his face, "I needed the money!"

"You didn't need to take it all!" He continued to hit and punch, not swayed by the panic-stricken tone in Kaleb's voice or the begging he made; Dex knelt over him, raising his fist to continue punching when he stopped and smiled. Still smiling, though now with an eerieness to it, Dex lowered his fist and glanced away for a moment, "You know, truth doesn't cost, mate, but a lie could cost you everything." He smiled back at Kaleb, "Read that somewhere,"

"Dex, c'mon, I couldn't tell you about my girl, she doesn't want people knowing we're back together." Kaleb tried to persuade Dex, and I was able to tell it was going nowhere for him, "I... I wasn't originally going to steal from you... I just saw you had lots to spare..."

"Well, you did." Dex frowned, looking at the bruised and sore Kaleb; he smiled again, telling him, before knocking Kaleb unconscious, "Goodnight, mate."

"What now?" I folded my arms as I watched him grab what he was able to of his money and supples, shoving them all into Kaleb's duffle bag and dumping out its previous contents on the floor in front of him.

"We're gonna call the cops and tell them there's a drunk bum sleeping here, then we'll get on our way before they get here."

"Alright, but will they actually fall for that?"

"Dunno but it makes him look bad though." Dex took hold of my head and led me toward the theatre for the show we had come out to see; luckily we were a few minutes early so we still got to see the show.

"True," I smiled at him, following him; we watched and enjoyed the show. When we came out, we saw Kaleb was being arrested and his bags being thrown into the cop car too.

"I may have also left a little something in there to make sure he was arrested," Dex smirked, shifting the duffle bag back up his shoulder as he took my hand again.

"You're a bastard sometimes, Dex," I smirked in return.

"Hey, no one steals from me and gets off lightly with it, pet."

"I know that now." I smiled.