Aurora sat in her lesson on thursday, bored out of her mind. She forgot what class she was in, she only knew Atlas and Axel didnt have it with her. She did however, have it with Sunshine, but he didn't bother to show up. She never usually payed attention in this class anyway, always finding too much fun when annoying Synn. Maybe that's why she didnt know what the class was.
"Ms King" Aurora looked up at the old man that was her teacher. He always wore the same crisp white shirt and black slacks, but a different tie every day. His habit to wear a different one reminded her of Alfred's ritual to have a different handkerchief every day. "Can you tell me at least one thing I have said throughout this whole lesson?" He asked tiredly. He was fond of the young girl. She was the only one that said hello and goodbye to him at the start and end of each lesson. At his age, he appreciated the small things like that, but my god, did she make it difficult to not give out to her every class. He knew she never payed attention, but seeing her interact with Synn Reeds was such a rare sight, he never really stopped it.
"I would sir, but I'm not very good at memorizing math equations" Aurora quickly responded with a smile. The teacher, Mr. Goodings, shook his head at the girl. The class responded in a fit of chuckles, making Aurora confused.
"This is British Literature, Ms. King" He corrected. Auroras jaw slacked.
"Well duh, no wonder I'm not paying attention. I'm Irish, and still pretty salty about the whole taking over our country thing" She sassed with a raised eyebrow. She turned and looked at the person to her left, who was already staring at her with a smile, much like the rest of the class. Aurora shook her head and rolled her eyes, quietly whispering 'I couldn't care less', before turning back around to Mr. Goodings with an innocent grin. He looked at the girl with a wrinkled smile, seeing her gesture very obviously. He could do nothing more than shake his head and continue with the lesson, with hope that she miraculously won't fail the next assignment.
The bell rang and Aurora quickly gathered her stuff and raced out of the classroom, though not before thanking and saying goodbye to Mr. Goodings.
She headed towards the library, where she hoped Synn would be. She used to find him out behind the school but lately he has been sneaking to the library instead. He gave up reading books without her help, so now he looks at the pictures.
Surely enough he was there, in behind one of the bookshelves, trying to find another easy graphical book. While doing so, he suddenly felt a light punch to the arm. He scowled and looked down, only to see Aurora beaming up at him with a wide, proud grin.
"That felt like a good one" She said with an extreme amount of aggressive excitement. Synn raised a brow then turned back to look at the spines of the books.
"Yeah, definitely gonna leave a bruise" He said monotonously. Aurora could hear the sarcasm in his voice but still chose to ignore it. Instead she kissed her non existent bicep proudly.
"Well, that was for leaving me in British literature. Did you even know we took that class?" Aurora asked in amazement. Synn hummed in response, busying himself in the books along the shelves. Aurora leaned her back against the shelf right beside him.
"I'm surprised Mr. Goodings hasn't called home, or sent me to the principals office" She said thoughtfully, playing with the pearls around her neck.
"You're lucky your pretty" Synn responded. Let's be real, it was clear this girl got away with most things because she was simply beautiful. All she had to do was drop a pretty smile and stare at you with her mixed eyes and suddenly she could do no wrong.
"I know" She shrugged, giggling to herself. It was a quick response to mask the blush creeping onto her skin and the flutters she felt in her tummy. Synn shook his head, oblivious to the young girls feelings.
"Aurora" The girl turned her head upon hearing her name. Synn also turned and scowled once again when he seen Jace Matthew's, one of Noah's little friends. He was staring at Aurora, who was currently tensed at the sight of him. His face was somber, hands stuffed into his varsity jacket. He glanced at Synn before speaking.
"Can I speak to you, alone?" He asked. Aurora began to panic slightly. She knew she shouldn't be talking to anybody from the Knights gang. Jace knew he shouldn't be talking to her too, he could get into big trouble. Synn stared at the fucker, well, glared. He never really liked him either. Well he didn't like anyone truth be told, but Jace just annoyed him. All he did was lick Noah's ass. Synn looked down at Aurora when he noticed she hadn't replied yet. She was just staring at Jace, her face torn. Synn turned his body so he was leaning against the bookshelf, his front touching Auroras side, her head just about reaching the top of his chest.
"I don't think that's a good idea" His tone was cold as he spoke. Jace looked up at him, unsure of where to look to be honest. He never really heard the Freak speak, always just keeping to himself.
"I wasn't asking you" He shot back. This pulled Aurora from her trance.
"You shouldn't even be here, watch your tone, mister" Aurora scolded, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned to face him, her back now pressing against Synns front. Jace looked at the two for a moment. They truly were an odd pair, but somehow looked good together, as much as he hated to admit it. "Whatever you wanna say, you can say it in front of Sunshine" Aurora stated, nodding at him to continue. Jace glanced up at Synn, confused at the nickname. Meanwhile Synn was cursing the little bitch for using it in front of him.
"I just wanted to let you know that I heard about what Noah did to you that night and I'm sorry. It was completely out of line" His tone was sincere, and he was. He knew Noah was bad but he never though he would be so disgusting to harass a girl. If Noah wasn't currently hospitalised at the moment, he wouldn't have been able to come here to Aurora, though he still had to pick his moment and make sure her two brothers weren't around. Aurora nodded and gave him a small smile, showing her gratitude. Synn, however, thought it was bullshit.
"Also" Jace started, eyes darting to Synn apprehensively. "Tuesday night, Noah was going to tell Mr. King about you and Reeds here. He wanted to win over your brothers trust, and possibly his approval by spilling a few lies about him" Jace said, gesturing to Synn. Aurora gritted her teeth and stomped her foot childishly. Synn wasn't entirely fazed.
"I'm only telling you this cause you deserve alot better than Noah. Watch your back cause he might use it as a way to try win back his trust, not that it would work but Mr. King would still no doubt stop whatever you two are at" Jace finished. He felt alot better now that he had that off his chest. He knew he'd be shot if anyone from his gang ever found out about this, but he felt it was worth it. Aurora King was the Mafia princess, and despite people's expectations, shes a very sweet girl that deserves alot more than what anyone in the mafia world could offer her. If she felt happy with Synn Reeds, though he didnt really know why, then who was he to judge her.
"Thanks Jace. I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about, but I do appreciate it" Aurora said genuinely, with a gentle smile. Jace smiled back and nodded at her. "And what me and Sunshine here are at. Well, lets just say there has been many wild lunches behind these shelves. You're lucky you came when you did or you could have witnessed some porn-" Aurora was cut off when a big rough hand slapped over her mouth. She kept mumbling through it though, despite her words being completely incoherent. Jaces eyes widened at her words. He looked up at Reeds who merely motioned with his head for him to leave. He quickly obliged.
Aurora pried Synns hand off her mouth, giggling to herself. She tilted her head back and looked up at him goofily. He shook his head at the girl. His hand dropped and wrapped around her throat lightly, gently brushing her cheek with the pad of his thumb. Auroras giggled quietened down at the sensation of his skin on hers.
"Completely infuriating" Synn whispered. Aurora smiled up at him, knowing he really meant it.
~*~
Synn walked into Dunes that night, adjusting his hood as usual. He made his way over to the bar, where Bruise was drying glasses with a towel. Synn leaned forward on the bar to get Bruises attention. Bruise looked up at the boy and pursed his lips. He nodded his head towards one of the doors, placing the glass down and throwing the towel over his shoulder. He made his way to his office with Synn following behind.
Synn shut the door behind him upon his entry. He turned around and seen Bruise behind his desk, rooting through the stacks of scattered files on his desk. The whole room was very crammed. There was bottles, books, clothes, everything thrown around the room in a mess. It was small enough as it was without all this stuff. Even the tiny sofa to the side was occupied with Bruises wardrobe. Synn made his way over to the desk and stood in front of it just as Bruise handed him a bunch of files.
"I dont know how we didn't realise who we were dealing with sooner" Bruise commented. Synn looked up at him, but he just gestured towards the papers. He opened the file and on the first page was a picture of Lorenzo King, one of the most notorious Mafia leaders in the world, despite him being dead. Synn knew of him as people still talked about him around here. He scanned the page that held a bunch of details about this man, until he halted on the title 'children'. This was when things started to click, when he seen all to familiar names on that list.
His heart began beating wildly in his chest. He had an inkling that night in the King household, but couldn't have been too sure. It just seemed so unrealistic, so he made Bruise do a background check. He was skilled at this, finding more information than most would, and certainly more than the King family would like.
Synn turned over the page and seen the familiar face of the eldest brother from that night, Levi King. He placed the papers down on the desk in front of them and hastily flicked through them until he came to the picture he desperately didnt want to see. Auroras big mixed eyes stared back at him. She looked younger here, maybe twelve but it was undoubtedly her. She looked over her shoulder, blonde curly locks cascading down her back as she stared at something in the distance with big innocent eyes. Synns shoulders slumped and he closed the file.
"Fuck" He whispered to himself, though Bruise heard. He went nearly his whole life avoiding people. He never made any friends, barely even spoke to anyone. Yet the one girl he does manage to somewhat tolerate happens to be the Mafia princess that any man would kill for. Literally.
Truth be told, he didnt know what to do. He felt all these things. Betrayed. Guilty. Angry. All things told him to look away from Aurora and not get associated with these people. They would kill him if they found out about him spending time with Aurora, and they nearly did, thanks to Noah. But they didn't. And Synn didnt want them to.
His mind drifted to Aurora instead, just Aurora. He wanted to be angry that she never told him, but he knew it's not something she could just casually tell people. Besides, he wasnt the most open person on the planet himself. He thought about all the men that he heard speak of her. That was before she even moved here, and more recently their gossip began to grow, now he knew why. The thought of all these men thirsting after her made him sick. All the danger she could be in. Weirdly, he began to feel responsible, protective. That night in the library could be the first of many. He knew her brothers could obviously look after her, but he felt he needed to also. Now that he knew who she was, if he just dismissed her and something happened to her, like that night, he could never forgive himself.
He felt torn. But he knew he really wasn't. He could try and stay away from her, and even if he could resist her, he knew there is no way that stubborn little bitch would take the hint.
Synn looked over at the clock on Bruises desk. It was almost midnight. He was going to be late, and she was gonna kill him.
"I'll come by and get them later" Synn muttered, then leaving Bruises office without another word. Bruise stared at the papers wordlessly. He had no idea how Synn felt about this new information. He knew it was probably best if they didn't do work for Alaric King any more, just to be safe. Besides, they would most definitely get caught by their boss if it continues. That wouldn't end well.
What Bruise didnt know was that Synn disagreed with his thoughts. Right as he left the office, he made his way to the bridge where he knew his Mafia princess would be waiting with a scowl seeing as he took so long.