Elaina Basset
When Angela told me that the guys would be working in her living room tonight, I expected that work to be a little more...professional.
I get that they're a young group of men, but with their line of business I was expecting the behind the scenes process of something like this to be serious and formal. But so far, Liam and Louis have argued about the sofa chair and who gets to sit on it and Angela and Niall argued about using the bathroom...you see, Niall had to pee and Zayn was in the washroom already, and the only other washroom was in Angela's room and she refused to let Niall use that one so he had to piss outside.
The more time I spend with them, the more I'm questioning if they're actually criminals or just giant toddlers with tattoos.
I've received the scoop of what happened tonight from Zayn. I knew they had a job tonight but I didn't know what it was. He told me about how they were compromised and beaten up. Just thinking about it made my stomach hurt.
Just by looking at the guys, I can tell that the people who beat them were ruthless. Zayn's barely been able to move because of his ribs. Louis has a busted open lip that's beginning to bruise. Harry's nose is bruised along the bridge, and his bottom lip has a gash on it that he cleaned up about an hour ago.
"Are you almost done, Ang?" Harry asks from his seat on the couch.
I sit on the counter next to Angela as she stands and does a bunch of shit on her laptop that I can't understand. She's breaking into this guys phone that Harry stole. Apparently she's done it hundreds of times.
"Oh, I've been in for five minutes already." she says, "I'm looking through his camera roll...this guy's dick is so little." she laughs as she looks at her laptop screen.
I bite my lip to try and suppress my laughter as well. I couldn't see the screen, and I didn't want to, but the fact that she's just been scrolling through this man's photos is kinda humorous.
"Jesus Christ." Harry grumbles under his breath at Angela's comments as he stands up and comes over to the counter. Niall follows, then Liam, then Louis, while Zayn remains on the couch because he can barely move. Soon enough, there were six of us at the kitchen counter crowded around Angela's laptop. I stay sitting on the counter, leaning over to look.
"Where do we start?" Niall questions.
"Messages." Harry directs, and Angela brings the cursor over to the green messages app. Her computer had the set up of Alec's phone laid out on her screen, so it was just like using a phone but on a laptop.
The app opens, and we're met with a list of names and numbers. Some messages were opened and replied to, while some weren't. Angela slowly scrolls through, all of us watching intently.
"Click on that one." Harry says, pointing to an unanswered message with no contact assigned, just a number.
Angela brings the cursor to where Harry pointed, opening the thread between Alec and this number that was unknown to us.
There were only two messages between Alec and this unknown number. Neither of them were from Alec.
'I'll be in Sicily on Saturday. Bring the package.'
'You have a hotel room booked under the name 'Anchelo Rossi'. Be there by 8am.'
"Looks like this fucker is running away to Sicily." Niall says.
"He's got some business there?" Liam questions.
"I'm guessing it's another drug deal." Zayn says from the couch.
"Check his notes app." Harry then directs.
My eyes flick to him standing about two feet away from
me. I take in his stance and his gaze at the laptop screen. His brows are slightly creased in focus. His thumb and forefinger on his right hand have his bottom lip between them, playing with it mindlessly.
Angela opens up the notes app, revealing an already opened note.
From what I could see, it was just a bunch of numbers and letters that didn't make much sense to me, until I saw the word 'Fentanyl'.
"Holy sh—"
"I fuckin knew it." Harry exclaims, cutting Angela off.
I furrow my brows. "What does this mean?"
"He's dealing fentanyl? In that large of a dose?" Angela questions.
"No, he's lacing the cocaine." Harry murmurs as he looks at the screen. "He takes the drugs, then he adds the fentanyl and distributes it. That's my guess."
"What? How do you know he's lacing it?" I ask with a naive tone. I probably sound so stupid to them because they actually have all the experience, but I'm still curious.
"He was gonna make Harry take it." Niall answers.
Hearing this made my stomach churn unwillingly. My expression fell. "W-what?" I instinctively look at Harry.
His eyes meet mine for a moment. His lips close and he averts his eyes. "It's not a big deal."
"Yes it is." I say, spilling the words that no one, not even myself, expected. Harry looks at me again, a small furrow to his eyebrows. "It would have killed you." I finish, looking at him.
I'm seeing a pattern with him. When he gets harmed, he brushes it off. When we were held at gunpoint, when Leo
and Marco attacked him, and now when he was nearly forced to take drugs...all those times he simply swept it under the rug like the risk of his life wasn't a huge deal.
Why do you do that, Dreamboat?
Is it because he survived these attempts? Or is it because he doesn't value his own life? More and more, I'm starting to recognize that he has more depth than I could have ever predicted.
"So he's going to take this load of drugs you gave him and lace it with fentanyl?" Angela speaks, changing the subject and causing Harry's eyes to avert away from mine.
"I guess so." he clears his throat.
"But why?" Angela questions, brows knitted as she slightly shakes her head.
"Well, either he's a psychopath who just wants to kill people." Liam speaks, "Or, he has some sort of motive."
I sit on the counter and listen.
"This doesn't explain why he hasn't paid his dues, though." Zayn speaks from Angela's couch. "He's gotta be rich, yet he's being hunted for owing thousands of dollars."
"You're right." Harry murmurs. "A lot of this doesn't add up. There's something we're missing."
I feel sort of useless sitting here and listening to them. I don't have any sort of input that I can give.
Niall let's out a tired sigh. "Okay, well if we're gonna be figuring this out all night, can we at least order some burgers or something?"
We all look at him. There's silence for a few seconds.
"You want to order food to my house?" Angela glares.
"Genius idea." Harry remarks with sarcasm.
"A food delivery driver is not gonna give a fuck about where you live." Niall shoots back.
"Do you normally order food to your place?" Louis questions Niall.
Niall just shrugs, not answering verbally but ultimately giving the answer we were all thinking.
"Idiot." Liam grumbles.
"Okay fuck! Can we go drive to get food? I'm fuckin' starving." Niall throws his hands up, frustrated.
"You go." Harry shakes his head with annoyance.
"Fine. I will." Niall retorts.
Like I said before, these guys are like overgrown toddlers.
But thinking about it, I am pretty hungry and burgers actually sound amazing right now..
"I'm kinda hungry too." I speak up, making all eyes land on me.
Niall smiles. "Thatta girl. Let's go."
I hop off the counter, ready to fill my belly up with a greasy burger from a fast food restaurant.
"Wait. I'm coming." Harry announces almost immediately, making Niall and I stop to look at him.
"I thought you didn't want to." Niall patronizes.
"I changed my mind." Harry speaks nonchalantly as he walks past Niall and I towards Angela's front door.
"I'll come too, I guess." Louis then says.
"Same." Liam follows.
"Bring me back fries!" Zayn shouts from the couch.
"Me too, please!" Angela adds.
"Christ, see I told you getting food was a good idea." Niall exclaims as he grabs the car keys.
What was supposed to be a quick trip to a fast food shop with just Niall and I, turned into an entire fucking field trip with five people.
I quietly follow the guys to Angela's car, watching as Niall bounces her car keys in his hand.
"Angela is just gonna let you take her car?" I question.
"If she wants fries then yes, she's gonna have to." Niall answers, getting in the driver's seat. Louis hops in to the passenger side before I could, meaning I had to sit in the back.
Liam gets in on the right side behind Louis. I press my lips into a line as I stand there awkwardly for a moment on the left side of the car, until Harry opens up the door.
He holds it and gestures for me to climb in.
"Why do I have to be in the middle?" I grumble.
"I have broad shoulders." Harry says straight-faced, making me roll my eyes before climbing in to the smaller middle seat beside Liam.
Squished between Harry and Liam, I struggle to get my seatbelt on before Niall takes off driving.
He floors it, my back pinning uncontrollably to the leather seat at the speed that everyone else seemed to be used to.
Am I gonna fucking die here?
As soon as we get onto the main road, Niall brings his hand to the radio, preparing turn it on. But, Louis acts quickly and smacks his hand away.
"Ow!" Niall reacts, whacking Louis on the chest. "That hurt, dickhead. What was that for?"
"Your music taste is shit."
"What!" Niall's jaw drops in genuine offence.
"He's right." Liam agrees from next to me.
Niall's mouth closes and he shakes his head with annoyance. "I would be nicer to the guy driving you shitheads around." he murmurs.
"It's not even your car." Harry retorts.
Niall's huffs, his one hand gripping the steering wheel as he continues to drive and the banter ends only because he shut up.
I stay quiet in my middle seat, feeling awkward and also slightly nervous with how quick Niall is driving. I'm sure it's nothing to him and the guys, but to me, it feels like I'm on a damned rollercoaster and the operator is a 5 year old.
As we drive, I notice that I feel warm...the car is getting hot. A blanket of warmth coats my skin as I realize the air shooting around the car is heated air.
I become hyper aware of it too quickly. I feel the hot streams of air wrapping around my body as I sit. And suddenly, like the product of my nightmares, it's too hot.
No one else seems to notice nor care...but I feel myself balancing on the verge of what could form into a full blown panic attack...and I will not let that happen in front of these guys.
Quickly, I clear my throat.
"Uh, N-Niall...could you turn down the heat, please?" I ask, trying to appear unbothered and nonchalant about it even though my heart is pounding.
"Yeah, why is the heat on in the middle of summer?" Liam chimes in.
"I don't know, it's Angela's car." Niall says as he turns off
the heat. Immediately, I feel the hot air drift off to leave me in a state of relief. "Is that better?"
I nod, swallowing. "Thanks."
I try to casually take deep breaths to get my pattern back to normal. None of them know what happened to me and I want it to stay that way, and I just came so dangerously close to panicking over the heat.
The hot air coming in so swiftly yet abruptly like that just sent me into an unwilling flashback—how quickly the unbearable heat absorbed everything..
"Red?"
I snap out of my thoughts, hearing Niall's muffled voice say his nickname he gave me. I blink and look up, seeing his eyes on me through the rear view mirror.
"Huh?" I mumble as I'm pulled out of my head.
"I asked what you're getting. Like food." he says.
"Oh." I clear my throat out of awkwardness, looking out the window to see we've arrived at the restaurant. "Just a cheeseburger."
"Just a cheeseburger?" Niall says in return. "No fries or anything? No drink?"
I shrug. "I'm not that hungry."
Niall shakes his head as he parks the car by the curb next to the restaurant, like he was disapproving of my answer. "Nah. I'm getting you a milkshake too or some shit."
"But I-"
"Not up for debate, Red." he insists.
I press my lips together and just accept it. I guess the gesture of buying me a milkshake was sweet, so I'm not gonna complain.
"I'll be back with the food." Niall says as he unbuckles his seat belt and opens up the driver's side door. "Try not to kill each other."
When the door shuts, I sigh through my nose and lay back against the seat. My stomach was tight with starvation, anticipating the food and making my mouth water in thought.
"I have weed." Liam says into the silence from next to me.
Louis turns over his shoulder from the passenger seat. "You brought weed on a seven minute car ride?"
"I have a joint in my hoodie pocket." he says. "I forgot it was there."
He then goes into the pocket of his grey hoodie to pull out the pre packed and rolled joint. He grins as we all look at it.
"Anyone got a lighter?" he asks.
"Here." Harry answers, his hand reaching into the front pocket of his jeans and pulling out a baby blue colored lighter, handing it to Liam.
"Perfect."
He pulls on the door handle, letting the summer night breeze into the back of the car as he steps out into the night.
Then, Louis gets out. Harry is quick to follow as well.
So now, I have two options.
I can stay in this car by myself as they smoke up outside, or I can join them.
I'm trying my best to be more inclusive of myself in situations like this. I haven't known the guys for long but it seems that I can't escape them or their troubles. I might as well join instead of sitting in this car like a complete loner.
I get out.
The guys all gather on the sidewalk, adjacent to the glass doors of the restaurant so they couldn't be seen. Joining them, I smell the weed as Liam lights up the joint.
It's so late at night, there's nobody out except for a few cars here and there driving down the road. I stand in my grey sweats and black hoodie, looking around—over my shoulder and behind me. I feel paranoid, or maybe my fear is completely valid. I just don't want to be watched—especially after those pictures I received.
Liam passes the joint to Louis, who takes a prolonged puff before blowing the smoke out into the atmosphere. I'm used to being around people smoking weed because Isaac and his friends would do it all of the time...he hated the idea of me trying it though.
My stomach tenses when I think about Isaac. I still haven't talked to him about the cheating. He hasn't texted me, respecting that I want to be left alone—or maybe he's just out cheating on me even more. At this point, it all feels too messy to care.
Louis passes on the joint to Harry. He takes it between his fingers, bringing it to his pink lips to draw in smoke.
"Do we think we're gonna get anywhere with Alec?" Liam brings up the new subject.
Harry blows smoke out of his mouth. "We have to." he says, his voice tight from inhaling. "If not now, then we'd have to find him again in two weeks anyway."
As they speak, I cross my arms over my stomach and look off to the side. I see the edge of the sidewalk, and think about how nice it would feel to sit down on. Without much thought, I scrape my shoes along the concrete over to the edge, plopping myself down on the curb a few feet away from the boys.
After less than a minute or so, I hear shuffling of feet behind me. Then, I feel a figure standing over me at the same time as the joint is held down in front of my face. I look at the hand holding said joint, seeing the familiar rings. I glance up, tilting my head back to see Harry standing tall over me. I look back at the joint that he was holding out for me, then I accept it.
I take it between my fingers and bring it to my lips, closing my eyes as I feel the filter between my lips and slowly inhaling so I don't cough up a damn lung. As weed smoke fills my mouth and tickles down my throat, two long legs come from behind me to next to me, then bend so they were sitting on the edge of the sidewalk next to my body.
I try to hide the furrow of my brow as Harry sits next to me with his wrists resting on his spread bent knees. Soon, Louis and Liam are joining us. Liam sits on the other side of me while Louis sits on the other side of Liam. I was slightly taken aback at how they all came and sat with me, I wasn't expecting them to.
I blow the remaining smoke out, letting it linger in the air.
Never would I have thought I'd find myself here, sitting on a curb in Italy smoking weed with four gang members. Sounds like a fever dream.
I take another puff of the joint. Two long puffs like this will probably be enough to give me a buzz. After that puff, I pass it off to Liam next to me.
"Did you know you can buy acid soaked cigarettes?" Liam says as he looks at the joint.
"Acid soaked?" I question, coughing a little.
"Where would you get something like that?" Louis asks.
"I don't know." Liam shrugs. "I saw it in a movie. It looks fun."
With the chime of a door, the four of us look to the side to see Niall coming out of the front of the restaurant with two paper bags of food in his arms and a tray of drinks in his hand. I sit up with what is now a deeper hunger than before, excited to eat.
Niall sees us on the sidewalk and comes to sit himself down next to us, on the other side of Harry. "You guys smoked without me!?" he says with offence.
"You're driving." Louis says as he blows smoke.
He opens up the paper bags and begins distributing the food. "Could've waited til we got back to Angela's." he murmurs.
I watch as he passes Harry a large fries and a chocolate milk. I tilt my head to myself, finding the sight of Harry holding a kid's chocolate milk...almost endearing in a way. In a way that just made me question how a tough guy like him can have little quirks.
"You like chocolate milk?" I ask, not thinking before speaking.
"Please," Niall speaks before Harry can, "this has been his fast food order since we were kids. Large fry and chocolate milk."
I don't know why, but I smile a little bit.
"Okay, whatever." Harry mumbles. "It's good."
"And extra salt on his fries—"
"Okay, she gets it." Harry cuts Niall off. I can't help but chuckle.
Niall hands me a wrapped up cheeseburger, I take it with gratitude and eagerness. He then goes for the drink tray.
"I didn't know what kind of milkshake you like so I just got you vanilla." he says.
I smile. "That's my favorite."
I take the milkshake and immediately take a sip, not realizing how much I actually wanted one until it was in my hands.
I feel Harry looking at me as I sip the thick drink. "What?" I question.
"You're gonna judge my chocolate milk when your favorite kind of milkshake is vanilla?" he says.
I shake my head. "I wasn't judging." I laugh a bit.
He looks me up and down. "You were definitely judging."
I throw my hand up so it comes down to smack my leg. "I wasn't!"
His lips pull subtly at the corners before he looks at his food, taking two fries at a time and eating them.
"Have you ever dipped your fries in milkshake?" I ask.
This is how I knew I was high...because the thought of a salty french fry dipped in vanilla shake was making my mouth water.
Harry stops chewing and turns his head to look at me with a face of disgust.
"Are you insane?"
"It's good, I promise." I chuckle, my eyes feeling heavy. I begin to open the lid to my milkshake, revealing the white thick sweetness in the cup. "Can I have a fry?"
With a look of confusion, he pulls a fry from the paper container and hands it to me. I take it and dip it in the thick ice cream like beverage.
A mound of the milkshake sits on the top of the fry, I hold it out for Harry to see, then pop it in my mouth.
I shut my eyes. Oh my god, I've never tasted anything better. I can taste the salt and the sweetness of the cold vanilla mixed with the hot crispy fry. The textures and tastes were like a euphoria of—
I'm definitely high.
I feel a shift in my cup, making my eyes open to see Harry going in for his own try. With a fry in his hand, he scoops up some shake and looks at it for a moment before eating it.
His brows furrow as he tastes it, his jaw clenching with every chew.
I watch him intently because I had to know if he was enjoying it as much as I did.
He swallows.
"You're just high."
Damn.
I unwrap my burger after putting the lid back on my shake. Taking a big bite, I let myself indulge in how great a fast food burger can taste when you're high.
Sitting here, I notice how I don't feel any anxiety right now. I'm on a curb with four criminals, but I'm feeling no stress. Maybe it's the weed, but on top of that, I also feel...happy.
When Harry and I were talking...I was genuinely smiling. He was smiling too, and I can only hope that his smile was real as well.
I steal a glance at him again, seeing his bruised up face barely affecting him. He drinks his chocolate milk and eats his fries as if he has nothing else going on.
It's those little moments that make him appear more human to me. Like at Aldo's coffee shop.
I just can't break this exterior he has though. Not that it's my intent...by no means do I need to know him deeply, but curiosity gets the best of me. Especially when it comes to someone like him.
Niall's phone begins to ring.
He groans and pulls it out of his pocket. He looks down at his screen and accepts his call.
"What?" he says, muffled through mid-chew of his burger.
I continue eating, minding my business.
But then, Niall sits up with his brows creased together. "Wait, what?" he speaks into the phone.
The four of us turn our heads to look at him. He runs a hand through his hair.
"This weekend?" he murmurs. "That's barely any notice—"
I furrow my brows, glancing between all the guys to see if anyone knew what was going on.
Niall sighs as he listens to the other person on the phone. "Okay okay. We'll be back soon."
Then, he hangs up.
The four of us sit impatiently, waiting for him to tell us about the conversation he just had.
He slips his phone into his pocket again. "That was Angela." he says. "We're being sent to Sicily this weekend to follow Alec."
I sit up straight, my brows raising.
"What?" Liam questions.
"The organization got in contact with Angela because they found out about Alec going to Sicily. We're supposed to go there and keep eyes on him."
"All of us?" Louis asks.
"Sounds that way." Niall answers as he packs up the food.
I feel my heart lurch in my chest, not knowing what that meant for me. All of them going to Sicily either meant that I was gonna be here alone or I'm going with them...and I don't know which option scares me more honestly.
"She said she'll explain more when we get back to her place. So we need to go."
The five of us get up off the curb. I hold my burger and shake as I get in beside Liam and Harry gets in beside me like before.
The ride back to Angela's was quick. Niall's speeding felt much less scary due to the fact that I was high. I was clearly more under the influence than the guys, because I'm not used to smoking and I had two healthy puffs from that joint.
The city lights passing by the car make it seem like I'm in outer space. I look blankly out the window, probably appearing to not have a thought in my mind. Honestly, I really didn't.
When we pulled into Angela's driveway, I had sucked my milkshake dry and devoured my burger like it was my
last meal on earth.
I'm still hungry.
Harry leads, the four of us following him to the door which he opens after using Angela's spare key.
Angela always keeps her doors locked.
"Finally." Angela says from the kitchen as we enter down her hallway. We find her and Zayn sitting at the kitchen island with the laptop in front of them. "Do you have my fries?"
Niall rustles through the paper bag, pulling out two large fry holders. "You owe me."
As we gather in the kitchen, I realize how dry my mouth is. So, I head over to one of Angela's cupboards and grab a glass, then flip the tap on to fill it up with water.
"So what's going on?" Louis asks, getting down to business.
"Right," Angela starts, eating a fry. "well they called me, and told me they have Alec's whereabouts...in short, they found that he'll be making a deal at this huge party in a casino."
While Angela speaks, I can't control my cravings for every piece of food I could get my hands on. I turn and open her fridge, scanning the shelves while the rest of them talk.
I find a package of tortillas. And a bag of shredded cheese.
And milk...and cereal above the fridge.
I grab all items, holding them in my arms and pacing around the kitchen to find a bowl, a spoon, and plate.
I place everything on the kitchen counter, separate from the kitchen island where everyone was standing around. I put the tortilla on the plate and then spread the shredded cheese on it, then fold it up so it's like an extremely sad burrito—then I pour the brightly colored fruit loops into the ceramic bowl, following up with milk.
And then, I realize how the room had gone silent.
I look over my shoulder to see everyone staring at me. My lips part as I stand there in awkward silence with my second and third dinner in front of me.
"What?"
"Did you guys fucking get her high?" Angela scolds to the guys with annoyance.
"No, no. I chose to smoke." I admit, eating a spoonful of my cereal.
"Baby," Angela tilts her head. "You've got the munchies,
go lie down."
"Can we get back to the conversation?" Harry shakes his head in disregard.
"Harry, you've been requested to be at the party undercover as the rich son of a CEO." Zayn says.
"Okay." Harry nods like it was an everyday thing.
"But," Zayn's eyes flick to me very briefly before looking back at Harry. "you'll have to be there with your...wife."
Harry's brows raise and mine lower as I take spoonfuls of sweet cereal into my mouth.
"Why do I need someone to act as my wife? I can do it myself—"
"Because you and your 'wife' are looking for drugs to take on your annual trip to Sicily..." Zayn speaks, explaining the plan.
I take another spoonful of cereal, feeling clueless.
"So, you and Elaina will be acting as a married couple—"
Like rapid fire, I choke on the cereal milk in my mouth, dropping the spoon into the bowl as the words literally take my breath away.
"Woah, woah, woah. Why us?" Harry reacts.
"I can't do that!" I say soon after.
"Why can't you and fuckin' Bianca act as a couple?" Harry retorts, gesturing to Zayn.
Who's Bianca?
"Bianca needs to be behind the scenes, and Harry you're the front man, so you need to do it."
I feel my head get hot just thinking about how I'm being dragged into the job. "This is insane!"
"The job is on Saturday and we'll be there for three days. That's two days of vacation in Sicily...it'll be fun." Zayn tries to make light of it.
I shake my head, letting out a laugh of disbelief. "This won't work. I'll get us killed."
"It's not that kind of job. You two just need to scope out any information you can find, that's it."
Harry rubs his temples. "Jesus fucking—"
"Think about it." Zayn leans in. "We get there, we get the job done, and then we party on the beaches for the rest of the weekend. It'll be nothing."
I cross my arms and bite my bottom lip as my foot taps in stress. I glance over at Harry, who already had his eyes on me. When our eyes meet he looks away and shuts his eyelids and lets out a sigh.
"I'm going to need copious amounts of alcohol."
"So we're doing this." Zayn's mouth lifts as he taps the counter with his palms, eyes switching between Harry and I.
With the most extreme hesitance I've ever experience, I sigh.
"Fine," I grumble, then I look at Harry. "But I promise you, I'm gonna hate every moment."
"Don't you worry, Picasso. I will too."
//
hehe i doubt that.