Jaylee's POV
I stood by the door with anxious thoughts clouding my mind despite the multiple minutes that were ticking by. I played with my fingertips in hopes to distract my distress but I couldn't get myself to stop fiddling. My heart was racing as I glanced at the wooden white door, only now noticing the multiple splinters that were sticking out.
I couldn't get my heart to stop racing in an uncomfortable rhythm as I twiddled with my thumbs and index fingers, praying something good was going to come out of this. I didn't want anything to happen to my family or the guys. They all meant the most to me and I didn't know what I would do if I lost either of them. I just really hoped they were all going to be okay.
I couldn't stop wondering if everything had gone correctly or if it all went to shambles. I hated not being able to do anything about it. I hated just standing here, only wishing things would turn out alright. Why couldn't they take me with them? Why did I have to stay? They were my family weren't they? I should of gone and risked my life for my parents. Not them.
This was all so frustrating yet so distressing at the same time. I just wanted everyone to be right in front of me so that I know they're safe. I was filled with many questions. As to how they even got a lead on my parents. How they got a lead on this mysterious gang. And why they so badly wanted me to stay. It was for the right reasons no doubt, but the reasons weren't good enough.
I sighed as I slouched my tense shoulders before I made my way towards the couch, plopping myself down and surrounding my mind with even more anxious thoughts. I began picking at my nails, scratching the palms of my hands in hopes to distract myself from wanting to scream. I hated being here all alone. I hated not doing a single thing. I hated waiting. Because I didn't know what could possibly come next.
4 hours later-
The door finally swung open, causing my body to immediately jolt off the couch and race towards the entrance. My heart was beating rapidly against my chest as I saw the guys enter inside the house with their heads hung low.
I stared at all of them intensely as they marched into the house slowly one by one, careful not to trip over each other.
"Where are my parents? Did you find anything?" I didn't hesitate to ask as I looked at Zayn, then Louis who both refused to look at me.
Liam sighed softly before he closed the door and shoved his hands in his jeans, slowly looking up at me as I watched.
"Jaylee... why don't we sit down for a moment." Liam said as I narrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"Why? Why do I need to sit down? Why can't you just give me a quick answer. It's a yes or no question." I spoke with slight bitterness as my patience was wearing thin.
All of them glanced at each other before Zayn approached me and grabbed my tense arms, causing me to blink up at him. "Jaylee... I think you should sit down for this." Zayn sounded sympathetic as he stared deeply into my eyes, causing my heart to stop for a split second.
I then decided to listen, knowing I couldn't take the suspense anymore as I turned around and walked towards the couch. As soon as I sat down everyone else crowded around and took a seat as well, each of them looking defeated.
I studied all of their faces intensely before I saw Zayn kneel down in front of me, slowly grabbing my hands in his. "What's going on?" I asked before Zayn sighed while he looked down for a moment.
"Jaylee.... I don't know how you're going to take this." Zayn said softly before my heart began racing all over again.
"What? Just tell me." I pleaded as I tried to search for answers in his eyes.
"When we went to the spot where we believed your parents where.... we were right." Zayn confirmed as my eyes widened.
"But..... we weren't expecting to find out that.... they were dead." He added on as everything slowly started to feel numb.
"W-what?" I whispered as he looked at me with pain in his eyes.
"I don't understand." I shook my head before Louis sighed.
"We don't know how it happened.... but when we checked out the sight.... we found them under a pool of blood. They were probably shot by the Raptors." Louis informed as my heart was pounding violently against my chest.
"This doesn't make any sense.... why .... why would they do this? I haven't done anything to them." I started to get overwhelmed as I fought back the tears.
"Jaylee... we don't know. None of this makes sense." Louis replied.
"No. This- this has to be wrong. Are you sure it was them? I mean.... do you even have proof? There's no way it's them. That's literally impossible." I denied as I shook my head and began to feel my breath increase.
"Jaylee.... we are one hundred percent positive it was them." Louis said sadly before he pulled out something from his pocket.
My eyes grew wide as he slowly handed me a very familiar bracelet that I began to gently hold with my fingers. My heart broke as I traced my thumb across the brown beads, completely recognizing the shape and texture of the jewelry.
My mother use to wear this bracelet around her wrist every day after my father gave it to her on their 1 year anniversary. It meant the world to her. And she never took it off of her, not even for the shower. There's no other way they could of gotten this. It's just not possible. I knew this belonged to my mother. There's no way it belonged to someone else. It was a special bracelet.
"You.... got this... from my mom?" My lips began to shake as I looked up at Louis while he stared at me with pity.
"I took it from her wrist.... to show you we weren't lying." He replied as my heart sunk.
I was then speechless as I began to take everything in, wondering how I came to be at this exact moment. Questions began to fill in my head of why this happened, and why it was happening to me. Why did it happen to my parents? My amazing, wholesome parents. They didn't deserve this. They had nothing to do with this. It was all my fault. It was entirely my fault. I should of looked out for them. I should of been there to protect them.
"I lost them." I whispered before I looked down and felt a tear involuntarily fall from my eyes.
"Jaylee....." Zayn sighed as he looked down at me.
"I lost my mom and dad..... it's all my fault." My voice trembled as one tear began to fall after the other.
"Jaylee no it's not your fault." Zayn whispered as he rubbed my arm.
"I should of been there to protect them.... why did this happen to them? Why did I have to lose them Zayn? Why did this happen?" I questioned as my hands began to shake as I had a break down.
"Come here." Zayn sighed as he pulled me off the couch and placed me onto his lap, curling his arms tightly around my body.
I began to cry despite the fact that it embarrassed me, allowing Zayn to hold me while I shook against his arms.
I had no words left to say as I released all my emotions and leaned against Zayn's body, feeling his warmth attempting to comfort my aching body. Everything hurt inside of me, both physically and emotionally. My heart felt like it had been thrown into a blender and got stabbed multiple times. It was an unbearable pain. And I didn't know what was worse, accepting the fact or pretending like it didn't happen.
I began to sob aloud into Zayn's bicep as everyone else just stared at me, completely unaware of what to do. I'm sure they've never experienced comforting someone when they lost a loved one. But at least Zayn was trying his best.
"It's okay.... I got you... just let it all out." He whispered as he rubbed my back while I squeezed my eyes shut and continued to cry.
There was too much going on inside my head. The regret of being with these guys for so long. The regret of not being with my parents more. The regret of not being home when they were taken. The regret of not holding them longer or saying enough I love yous.
The anger I had for being a part of this cruel world. The anger of not knowing this was going to happen. The anger of not being able to stop it. The anger of being the entire reason for it.
It was too much. Too much emotion and feeling running through my mind. I couldn't take it.
I then wrapped my hands around my ears before I clenched onto my hair tightly and bent forward, letting out a loud scream to channel all of my anger out. And despite it being awfully loud, none of the guys did anything to stop it. They could see right through me how badly it pained me to lose both my beloved parents in the blink of an eye.
"You should eat something.... it's been awhile." Zayn suggested as I stared at the table with multiple plates of food on it. I had my arms crossed over my stomach as I slouched on the chair, keeping my eyes lowered and mouth shut in a sense to prove I wanted to block everything out.
"Jaylee..." Zayn tried as he leaned over and slightly touched my arm, his eyes pleading for attention.
"I'm not hungry, but thank you." I rejected softly as my voice came out weak.
My throat felt dry and hoarse after screaming and crying ever since I got the depressing news. It was only now had I stopped crying, trying to collect myself back together and think about what I'm going to do with my life.
I never thought this day would come. I never pictured this happening. I never thought I would have my parents be taken and killed by some unknown mysterious Gang that wants revenge for whatever reason.
Why would they even do that to me? How do they even personally know me? I did absolutely nothing to cause this. What did I have to do with them wanting to kill off my family? None of it seemed to add up. And it was too depressing to even go over.
"Do you want to talk about anything Jaylee?" Louis asked while the others remained quiet in their chairs.
I felt all eyes on me as I stared down at the wooden table, not taking interest in anything at the moment. After all I've been through this was the first time I actually felt numb. This was the first time things truly dug deep. And I wasn't sure what I was going to do.
"I don't know what to do.... at all..... I lost my parents..... for.... who knows why. I don't even know what I did to deserve this terrible consequence. I thought I was no part of this... gang life and yet here I am... suffering all the consequences immediately. And ... nothing happened to you guys even though you're the gang who won. I just... I don't know. None of this makes sense, I'm just lost." I said with sadness in my eyes as I avoided eye contact.
"We don't understand it either Jaylee. We're still trying to solve this ourselves. And we will take revenge as soon as we can. But right now we want to be here for you." Louis sighed as I shook my head.
"There's no need for revenge. Just stay away from them. I can't loose you too." I denied.
"But Jaylee, they were your parents." Louis implied as I closed my eyes.
"I can't and won't lose you too. I stayed here for you now can you just please stay here for me." I said before I opened my eyes.
"Okay Jaylee.... we'll drop it. We don't want to upset you any further. But if anything happens to you, which it won't, we'll kill them." Louis defended as I just blinked at the table.
"Do you want to talk about what you're gonna do? Like where you'll live." Liam asked as I sighed.
"Jaylee.... if it's alright with you.... we are more than willing to have you live with us. You're always welcomed here and you're part of our family. If you don't feel comfortable being on your own, you can stay with us. We'll take care of your needs and protect you. Everything will be safe and secure." Louis offered as I thought about it.
"That's too much to ask." I whispered.
"No Love, it's not. We're going to buy a new house soon and you can have your own bedroom. We'll provide everything for you and you'll still have the freedom to walk around, just as long as you're safe. And we'll take care of you. We'll never let anything harm you or get to you. You'll be safe with us." Zayn said before I finally looked up at him.
"A new home?" I questioned as his eyes lit up slightly.
"Yeah, we have been house hunting for a while cuz we're quite sick of this place. And we're gonna have a major upgrade. It'll be a nice fancy house and you'll be able to have your own room. It'll be nice and safe and you'll have us as company. I think you'll love it." Liam chimed in as I looked over at him.
"But what about my house.... my job.... my friends?" I questioned as I raised an eyebrow.
"We'll help you take care of it. We have so much money coming soon that you'll be able to afford whatever you need. You won't need a job anymore and you can just tell your friends you're moving away. You can still keep in touch. Visit them whenever you want." Louis informed as I blinked at him.
"And just leave everyone like that? I won't be able to hang out with them much if I'm with you. It's not like I can have anyone over. I won't have a normal life if I'm with you guys." I spoke honestly as they all looked at me.
"I know, that's the only downside Love. But think about it.... you'll be safe and taken care of. Nothing can hunt you down or harm you." Niall said.
"It's not a guarantee. You saw what happened to my parents... it was so out of the blue." I mentioned as I shook my head.
"We're moving somewhere no one knows and it'll be very private and secure. We can guarantee that." Harry replied.
"I really appreciate your guys' love and support... really... I do. But if I chose to stay with you guys.... I'll be throwing my entire life away. I mean, you're a gang... it's not like I can invite anyone over and everyone is gonna know you're name soon. I don't want to have to explain how I know you either. It's just a hot mess. And it's a massive decision." I explained as they nodded their heads.
"We are aware of the cons you will have if you do decide to be with us. But we would do everything we can in our power to make you feel at home. We won't hold you against your will and we would allow you to do whatever you wish freely. Just as long as we know where you are and if you're safe. You know, like how a family would." Louis informed as I began to ponder over it.
"I do love my job.... I love working hard for income and I love my friends...... it would just be so unlike me to leave everything behind." I said as I looked down.
"But they would understand that being there is too much for you and that you need a fresh start. They can't decide this for you, it's your decision. Plus if you wanted to go back home, we would be deeply concerned and worried and constantly check up on you. And I'm sure you don't want us near your place anyways for precautions." Niall responded as we made eye contact.
"You can decide wherever you want to go Jaylee.... but we think it's best if you stick with us. You know how much we love and care about you. We'll keep you safe. Now that you're known in the gang world you could be a possible target for others. We need to keep you safe now more than ever." Louis mentioned as I looked over at him.
"It doesn't make sense how I'm already known. Why are they targeting me instead of you?" I questioned.
"Cuz we're powerful, and they must of found out somehow that you're involved." Liam answered.
"But if I'm with you guys, wouldn't they fear me too?" I asked.
"Not if you're on your own. They sensed a weakness somehow and took it from you. That's why we think it's best if you stay with us. They'll leave you alone for sure if you do." Louis explained as I nodded my head.
"Whatever you decide, we will support you. Cuz we love you Jaylee." Zayn said as I looked down and thought about both choices.
I then licked my lips as I narrowed my eyebrows, weighing out the costs before I finally decided.
"Well... if all of this is true.... then.... I guess it is best ......" I then paused as I looked at all of them, realizing they were all staring at me intensely.
"If I stay with you guys." I finished before all of them began to smile.