"Don't you want to? Don't you want to hold the gun? Don't you want to? Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."
♫ Bang by Sohodolls.
✰ ✰ ✰
I woke up to the sound of rain, the smell of maple syrup, and the view of a foggy lakeside sunrise and a cuddly Harlow curled up in between my legs.
He was always a messy sleeper. He'd flip around ten times and kick me in his sleep. He's end up on top of me or upside down, he was never still, but he was always close.
In this case, he was held onto my stomach; with both arms wrapped around it. His cheek was smushed up against my belly-button, flushed, with soft breaths escaping his mouth. Along with some snores.
His legs were spread out in a mess, only his boxers on but we never even got to sleep from the jet lag, so we were beyond exhausted.
Fall was near. It was officially September.
The time for Halloween and holidays was just around the corner and I was so excited, despite the current events, to spend that with Harlow.
We'd get our snow back soon enough.
I rubbed my swollen eyes that were red from crying all night with him and ran my fingers through his messy long hair; playing with it.
We'd talked all of our crap out and it was overwhelming enough to make me cry myself to sleep.
I was up even after Harlow dozed off, but he woke up to comfort me and hold me more than once.
It felt really good to let everything out.
I got some clarity but at the same time, I did feel weaker. To sum it up, I was really vulnerable and that was okay, I just hoped it wouldn't last super long.
"Oh my god... g'morning." Harlow suddenly croaked against me, groaning softly. His morning voice would always give me the scariest butterflies, it was so deep, and so raspy, "Please don't stop, feels so good."
"Morning." I smiled, continuing to scratch his scalp, and brush his hair back. A few strands fell back in front of his face and he blew them away but I snatched them back with my fingertips and he buried his face back into my stomach.
"It smells like pancakes... is there pancakes downstairs?" He asked sleepily into me, "I really want pancakes, and eggs, and toast, and coffee, and... pussy for breakfast. Can I eat you out before we go?"
"We almost died yesterday, literally - there's someone out to kill us, and you're worried about that? Get off me!" I laughed, shoving his face away from my navel as he gave me love bites and kisses, "Ow! You bitch!"
"God, I'm starving, mommy, please—"
"I hate you!" I laughed when he tickled my stomach as he kissed up it, his hair draping and dragging along my skin so much that he had to tuck it behind his ear.
He made it all the way up to my chest before I pulled him up and kissed him gently. I tried to thread my fingers through his hair but he grabbed my forearms and pinned them down above my head, leaving them there.
"You feel okay?" He asked in between kisses, his hands roaming my body and caressing parts of me in a soft and loving way. I nodded and closed my eyes when he kissed down to my neck, simply being sweet.
It felt good to just have a moment of normalcy or routine because the past twenty-four hours had been everything but normal. And we always spent our mornings together like this.
I felt his lips latch onto a part of my neck, sucking and swirling his tongue around my warm skin to leave a mark and I got chills up my spine.
My hands shot to his back in reaction to them, my nails digging into his shoulder blades gently, "Harls..." My body involuntarily moaned just slightly when I spoke.
"What d'you need, Cherry-kiss? Hm?" Harlow lifted his head from my neck trailing a wet spot there. His necklace dangled in my face as he placed one hand on one side of my head and slowly draped the other down to my leg to grab it and place it over his shoulder.
He took my other along with it and then kept my legs held back, hooked on his arms.
I grasped his necklace and pulled him back down, making him smirk against my lips as he kissed me, "I'd much appreciate it if you'd use those words. Don't get all shy on me now, you've got a filthy mouth, I know it, I created it."
"Actually Zayn created it." I whispered, making him stop kissing me to stare down at me with annoyance that only made me smile, "If you wanna get super technical-"
"God, you are so fucking spoiled -- I spoil you, you know that? You're about to get taught a lesson in a second if you keep playin' with me."
"You're so cute." I pinched his cheek and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. I was only poking the bear but I kinda wanted to. "A lesson. So funny. Boop." I poked his nose once too.
"Cover your mouth, go ahead." Harlow cleared his throat and shoved my legs off of his shoulders to reach onto the bedside table and grab a hair tie.
"E—excuse me?-"
"No? Okay." Harlow placed a hand over my mouth after putting his hair up in a bun faster than I could calculate and his other hand went straight in between my thighs, "You wanna have an attitude? This is what you fucking get, keep your pretty eyes on me—"
Just as he slipped his fingers past the band of my underwear, our bedroom door was busted open by Zayn, leading Harlow and me to whip our heads to the door and scrambled to cover up, "Cherry! Zack is okay! He's here and -- oh! Oh my fucking god!"
My dad popped up right behind Zayn from the stairs before he could close the door, eager to see me, "Alice? Are you here, are you — hey! What the fuck is goin' on in here?! Harlow, you better have pants on!"
"Oh shit!" Harlow scrambled to get away from me and I flushed bright red, pulling the covers up to my chest nervously, "D-dad?! Oh my god, dad, get out! Get out!"
"Boy, have you lost your mind cause I'll help you find it! You get away from my daughter or I'll—" Zayn grabbed Zack and started shoving him out as fast as he could, whispering 'sorry' before closing the door swiftly.
We were met with silence and I facepalmed myself, glancing over at Harlow who looked torn between wanting to kill himself and laugh.
"Did we just get busted like two teenagers by your dad?" He gulped.
"Kill me now..." I sunk down in the bed as he started to laugh and then raised my fist to punch him in the stomach, "This isn't funny!"
"It's a little bit funny. But we better go, before it's really not funny."He slid up out of the bed and I groaned, rubbing away the embarrassment.
Luckily, he didn't see anything but it would've been a mess had he come in ten seconds later.
"Fuck, how is he here?" I quickly snapped the blankets back and grabbed my sweatpants from the floor.
"He's the one paying for the lake house, Cher. He had the idea. And he told us that if he managed to get away from Aurora he'd come to see us... tell us what her plan was or tell us how many people she had running this stupid fucking revenge scheme."
"He's playing both fields in a way. She's gullible enough to fall for it."
"Our plan, it really was just a hail mary and it worked. We got lucky." Harlow said as he whipped a black Nirvana shirt over his chest and took his hair out of his bun, shaking it free.
"What are we gonna do, Harlow?" I breathed out, hopping as I placed socks on my cold feet.
He frowned at me, walking closer, "I dunno, baby. But, we'll figure it out together, okay? All of us."
He pressed multiple kisses to my lips and cheek sweetly, calming my anxiety just a bit with a momentary boost of serotonin, "And... we'll finish what we started later, kay?"
"God, ew."
I cringed and let go of his hand to walk out of the room as my brain had the nerve to remind me of the events prior.
"Did you just say ew?" He followed me out with a gasp, "Bitch!"
"Yep-" I was cut off by a swift slap to my ass and I winced, covering my butt while running ahead of him.
I slowed down once I reached the stairs and then slowly collected myself as I walked down them.
Time to pretend like nothing happened!
When I got to the bottom, I saw my dad sitting at the counter with Koi, conversating away. She was being her charming self like usual, telling jokes and making him laugh.
But that laughter was gone with the wind when he saw Harlow and I coming down the stairs.
"Great... look what the cat dragged in." Zack sipped his coffee with a menacing glare on Harlow.
"Be nice. Hi, Zack." I murmured with a small smile, stepping forward. He greeted me with one back and I accepted the hug that he offered.
"Hey. Are you okay, pumpkin? Are you hurt?" He squeezed me tightly and rubbed my back, "You gave me a right good scare. Was worried sick about you."
"I'm okay... just uh..." I pulled back, "A little sore. Got a couple of cuts and-"
"A nasty bruise..." He frowned, brushing his thumb down the one on my face, "Harlow."
"Hm? What?" Harlow whipped his head around from the fridge, a piece of cheese in his mouth and an arm full of snacks.
"Put the damn snacks down and get some ice for Ali. Now."
"Who? Oh, uh, y-yes sir." He nodded and quickly shoved everything back into the fridge.
"Call me Cherry and -- leave him alone, it's really fine. M'glad you're okay too..." I murmured, sitting down on a chair next to him.
"I'll go busy myself somewhere else." Koi left quickly with a kiss on my cheek.
"How are you? I mean... before we get into all this, y'know? How do you feel?" Zack asked, watching Harlow with killer eyes as he walked around the counter to hand me an ice pack that I didn't even need. I took it anyways and he scurried away, but before I could answer his question, Zack grabbed my hand to examine my ring, "W— the fuck is this?"
"Oh no." Harlow squeaked.
"It's my engagement ring." I answered easily.
"I--what?" He widened his eyes, "Te vas a casar?"
"We got engaged months ago. You'd know that if you'd called or answered when I did, but you didn't." I said with a passive-aggressive laugh, taking my hand back.
"Right..." Zack quieted down, "Look, Mija-"
"I really, honestly don't want to hear excuses. I'm not in the mood for that. It's whatever, you were busy, you have a band and a life, I... I get it, I do. And I really, really don't wanna talk about this right now so let's just get into what matters alright?" I made it very clear that it really wasn't a topic for discussion.
And reluctantly, he agreed, "Okay, alright..."
"So, what the fuck are we supposed to do about Aurora?" I asked, gesturing with my hands, "We can't exactly —" Zack made me pause when he shoved the ice pack in my hand and forced me to put it on my eye. Then I resumed, "We can't exactly go to the police."
"I don't know, but what I do know is that Aurora spent the entire night last night talking my ear off and recruiting me to her cause to get revenge against that Niko friend of yours. She wouldn't let me leave, wouldn't let me do nothin' and when I tried to talk to her about lettin' it all go, she shut me down faster than a cat on a mouse. I have to play my cards right, she's so fragile." He shook his head and took another sip of his coffee.
"But she trusts you?"
"I believe so, yeah. Sorta had to trash talk you and your bastard mama pretty harshly to get there, but... yeah. She thinks I'm off to get brunch with some family friends we know down'ere. She wants my approval so badly that... she thinks I'm on her side as long as I say I am."
"She's got Jess watchin' your house to make sure if you come back, she'll have her way. As long as we don't go there, we're in the clear. She's so unstable, she's not thinkin' even remotely clearly..." He said with a sigh.
I nodded, pulling the ice back from my face, "And you know what she's done right, who she's been hanging out with? Amara was dating Axel and he's the one who-"
"Took Harlow's precious baby, yeah, I know." Zack gave him a sympthatic glance when he looked up from his snacking but neither of them held eye contact for long.
Until, it seemed like Harlow realized something, "Uh, Cher, I didn't tell him about... about you and..." He looked sick just even trying to say it.
"Oh." I slowly nodded, scratching my head, "Oh okay."
"Didn't tell me what?" Zack looked back and forth between the two of us.
"It's your story to tell, Cher, I didn't wanna do it without your permission."
It was gonna come up sooner or later.
"Why don't you two go outside and get some fresh air. I'll keep a plate warm for you." Harlow nodded toward the back door that was open and waiting with fresh, misty air in the distance that looked much more appealing than this suffocating indoor air.
I got up without saying anything and Zack followed curiously outside.
I crossed my arms and pulled my hood up over my head to protect me from the cold that threatened to freeze me over.
"What's this about?" He asked, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. I took one without even asking and he scoffed, nudging my shoulder. I snatched his lighter too, flicking open the flame that brightened in the cover of my hand and when I inhaled, I relaxed just a bit.
"It's about..." I plopped the lighter back into his hand and kept walking along the shore slowly, "Axel."
Fuck, I hated his name on my tongue so much, he didn't deserve it.
"What about him? I thought Harlow told me everything."
I scoffed, "I mean, it's not anything important to... Aurora or to what's going on with her but in a way it is important to me and I sorta need you to understand the severity of this in order to see it through correctly, so jus' - don't talk until I'm done, okay?"
I gave him a look and he seemed nervous but agreed.
I took another drag of my cigarette and kept my gaze focused on the water to steady me, "Months ago, um, right before Harlow had found his daughter, and the case was busted, I had an accident..."
I began to explain the story bit by bit; and kept my eyes on the colored rocks beneath my feet.
I couldn't bare to look at him, to see his reaction. Re-telling it for the first time in so much detail was causing disassociation in me. It felt like I was back there. But, I made it through.
"He told me if I didn't go with him he'd kill Bella. And... I couldn't bare the thought of that, so I just, I went. I wanted to help, I thought I was saving her. But it didn't g-go how I planned and I ended up getting taken, and as--" My voice naturally broke and I inhaled, finally looking up toward the sky.
I took a deep breath and stopped in my tracks, praying my eyes would stop burning.
I rubbed my forehead with the sleeve of my sweater to give me something to do.
"I was assaulted. By several... men that day and he was one of them." I put in a short sentence that didn't require much more elaboration.
"And I didn't wanna tell you, I didn't wanna tell anybody 'cause... I don't want sympathy, I don't want you to think I'm any different or that you should treat me differently."
"I've been through a lot in my life, but I am better for it. Harlow too. I'm not a quitter, I wasn't raised that way. And at the end of the day, I'm okay."
I turned back forward and kept walking again, leading him to stumble a bit and follow me.
Even the falter in his step had my heart breaking.
"I'm telling you this because Aurora, she's protecting the people who did that to me. Whether she knows it or not. Whether she was manipulated by Axel and Amara, or not."
"And I know she's your baby, she's your daughter just as much as I am but I don't see this ending any other way except one. Either she gets killed or she kills someone I love and I refuse," I stopped in my tracks once more and finally looked up at him, "I fucking refuse, to lose another person I love." I was firm in my statement.
"I have a life to live, a career that I've spent my entire life dreaming of, friends who'd take a bullet for me, and a man who's... the perfect, most caring, most thoughtful, most beautiful, funny person in the world. One who loves me far more than I deserve."
"I have it all because I fought for it. And I'd like to keep it that way. I can't lose anyone else, I won't. I don't care what it takes, Zack. So I guess what I'm asking is, am I gonna have to lose you too?"
Zack seemed stunted by so much information at once and I couldn't say I blamed him.
He looked angry, sad, frustrated, and confused all at once.
But the most he could do was hug me.
I was abruptly scooped up in a hug, his warmth practically cocooning me in an embrace of love.
"Oh, Alice..." He squeezed me tight and I slowly accepted it, trying so hard not to cry.
"It's okay. I'm okay now." I murmured.
"It doesn't matter, this never should've happened to you, you never deserved this. This isn't your fault." He whispered, "I love you and I'm so sorry I wasn't there..."
"It's okay, you didn't know," I murmured, closing my eyes against his shoulder.
"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch, I'm gonna kill him. My baby, my mariposa..." He sniffled and ran his hand down my head in soothing. And the longer we hugged, the more natural it felt, "You should've been with me, you should've grown up safe and loved and I'm so sorry that I haven't been there, I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to step up, but I'm gonna. I'm gonna protect you. We'll figure this out."
"I hope so." When he pulled back, I pulled a pack of tissues from my pocket and offered it to him with a slight smile.
"My devil, you just know the answer for everythin' don't you?"
"I wouldn't say that. If I did, I'd know what to do about Aurora." I shook my head and turned us around to walk back in the direction of the house, "I probably sound crazy to you, talking about fucking... murdering your own daughter. Yeah, I-I sound crazy. I sound like a crazy person."
"It's not something I predicted to happen and... Mija, as much as I love you, I can't let you do that."
His words don't surprise me.
"I can't bring myself to let that happen. I'd rather put her away, lock her up where she can get help, where she can't hurt someone. I much prefer that to the alternative. I've already lost one daughter 'cause she didn't get the proper help."
"Aurora isn't sane, that's obvious. But I think maybe a hospital would do better for her. Someplace where she couldn't hurt herself or others."
"How do you suggest we do that? She's not going to go willingly. And if we force her then she's just gonna blab to someone about what Niko did, landing him in jail or investigated, or worse. What if she tries to kill us, what then? Are we supposed to let her, Zack?"
"I'm not the expert here. T-This is all so..." The worried, fearful stress in his eyes was par for the course, "I don't have the answers, okay? But, I don't want her to die... you can understand that, right?"
I nodded once.
I was still even having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Niko killed my older sister. I couldn't blame him for being scared or hesitant.
It sort of felt like we were all in this paralyzed state of being where suddenly, fighting for our lives and killing other people was okay, or a thing we did.
I didn't like how the notion made me feel, but I wanted to protect myself and my family.
"Zayn will know what to do. Come on." I took his arm and nodded back toward the house.
It was a noisy mess, Mikey, Kristen, Niko, Naomi, and Koi were all watching TV in the living room, talking and smoking. While Harlow and Zayn were in the kitchen.
Harlow was stuffing his face with pancakes.
He stopped with a mouthful and looked up at me, smiling mid-bite, "Hey!"
"Move. I'm hungry." I hip-bumped him when I reached the counter and snatched his fork, taking a bite of his vegetarian sausage and eggs.
"So how did it happen, huh?" Zack asked as he sat down at the bar, "The engagement?"
"He surprised me with a room full of rose petals." I swooned.
And a strap on.
But, that's not my dads' business.
"Rose petals? Harlow, really?" Zack deadpanned, "Are you gonna get married in JC Penny? I give you my blessing and you don't even get creative?"
"Wait, you what?" I gulped down the pancakes I started to chew, "You asked my dad for his blessing?"
"Mm. Well," Harlow tipped his orange juice glass toward me as he chewed, "It was either him or a headstone, so..."
"When was this!" I gasped.
"The night of the dinner."
"You sneaky little bastard!" I punched him in the arm lightly and then looked back at Zack, "And you too, you old fart. You--" I paused when I noticed his cheesy, almost creepy grin, "What?"
"You called me dad." He looked like he could cry.
"Oh... guess I did, didn't I?" I blinked.
"Twice. The first time was when I busted you and Harlow doing the do upstairs-"
"Okay, no! La-la-la-la-la! Nope." I shook my head, scrunching up my nose.
"Alright, okay... b-but at least lock the door next time?" Zack cringed, "Hang a tie on the knob?"
"How about Zayn knocks next time?" I rolled my eyes and glared at him over my shoulder.
"How about you two lock the door!" Zayn rebuttaled, swiftly smacking Harlow on the butt with a rag like a whip, "Fuckin' horn dogs."
Harlow was unphased.
Zack gently picked his coffee back up with a pointed look at me, "At least tell me you're using protection-"
Harlow laughed as I facepalmed myself, "O'my god."
"You need me to buy you condoms?--"
"Zack--"
"Birth control?--"
"Dad!" I exclaimed, "No. I have all of that already, okay?"
That was only half of the truth. Harlow had a big box of condoms, but we rarely used them because we were fairly monogamous.
And... Harlow called himself a creampie connoisseur. Fucking loser.
"I'm just sayin'..." Zack sipped his coffee, "I saw a picture of Bella, she was a beautiful baby, but I'm not quite ready for grandkids yet. You're too young. Give it some time."
"We're gonna give it a lot of time. I don't want kids for... years. Years. You're in the clear, don't worry." I laughed, taking a spoonful of eggs.
"But when we do we're gonna name the baby Clementine." Harlow chimed in cheerfully. "Like the fruit. After Cher." He said proudly.
"Alice. Don't let this white boy name your children after fruit."
"Heyyy...." Harlow squeaked.
"I like the name too!" I chucked a grape at him jokingly which he caught with his mouth.
"Do you have better ideas, old man?" Harlow replied with attitude, crossing his arms.
"Rosalía. After your grandmother." Zack pointed at me. The name was really pretty.
"Clementine Rosalía Silver... it fits better as a middle name in my opinion," Harlow said with a shrug.
"It's not Rosa-lia." Zack mocked his posh accent and I snorted. He pronounced it correctly, with the accent, "It's Rosalía."
"I can't roll my r's right," Harlow proceeded to try over and over, making my dad just stare at him with an unamused look, "Son... sit down."
Harlow gasped, "Can you teach me Spanish? Cherry refuses and I wanna be bilingual so bloody bad." He ran around the counter with a bowl of oatmeal and then sat down next to my dad.
"Does he have an off button?" Zack pointed at him.
"No." Harlow answered, "How do you say, 'I love boobs' in Spanish," He cracked a laugh.
"Get away from me."
I proceeded to watch Harlow beg my dad to teach him Spanish while I ate breakfast and it was the funniest shit on the planet. He annoyed the fuck out of Zack, but he also warmed up to him a bit more. Everyone else eventually came to hang out and it became like a TV show to watch. Harlow learned how to roll his r's and his pronunciation got a bit better, but he got tongue-tied so much, and couldn't keep a straight face if it killed him.
I did think it was pretty sweet though when he asked how to say things like 'I love you' or 'You look beautiful.'
I knew one day he'd whip em' out on me and think he was the shit.
Regardless it was a good morning.
Although I knew it wouldn't last long.
"So... you don't want us to kill her, but you want us to risk getting caught by police in some hail mary attempt to incapacitate her somewhere akin to a mental institution or psych ward..." Harlow slowly said as he sat sideways on my lap on the couch, "That's just death with extra steps, mate."
"I don't want her dead, I want her locked up someplace where she can't hurt anyone." Zack made his point once again, loud and clear as he sat down in a recliner chair across the room, "And, tomorrow is our chance. I heard her telling Jess on the phone that they're moving to a different house tomorrow. If we all pool enough evidence together, all of your injuries and her obvious lack of sanity, maybe we could take her somewhere, and I could get her committed against her will."
Zayn shook his head, "Keeping her in a psych ward is not sustainable. If you wanna lock her up, the only suitable way is in prison where's she'd stay indefinitely, which would cause a full-scale investigation. And I worked for the FBI, they aren't gonna just let up because our stories match or call it a closed case. Your way, Niko would end up somewhere horrible just like her, I know it. I'm - I'm sorry but... no."
Zack raised his eyebrows, "No? That's just it - she just has to die because-"
"You act as if we're gonna kill her cause she stole our fucking lunch money." Zayn snapped, "That's not why. We're gonna kill her because she tried to kill my boyfriend and me and all our friends. She doesn't deserve a life, there is no redemption for that--"
"I never said there was redemption--I'm gonna assume you have no idea what it's like to be a fucking father," Zack snapped, "'Cause if you did, you wouldn't be suggesting what you're suggesting to me. I mean, really, answer me, do you know what it's like to create a beautiful baby girl, raise her, love her, take care of her, for nineteen years?"
Zayn grew silent.
"No. No, I didn't think so. And you know what, yes, Aurora, she's destructive, she's turning into something that even I can't recognize--but do you think I can't see that? Do you think it's not hard enough for me to watch her destroy herself?" Zack started to get choked up, "Two years ago, I was driving my little girl to school and going to her theater performances, and now she's trying to harm Alice, over my mistake."
"I didn't love her enough, I wasn't there enough, and instead, Amara took advantage of her and filled her head with nonsense. So, no," He roughly wiped his nose, "I don't want my fucking daughter dead. And so help me, you will not kill her."
Tension boiled in the room. Zayn was so obviously still in disagreement, so I turned the heat down, "Okay. That's... that's enough. We understand. I understand." I emphasized, "The both of you."
"Thank you." Zayn gestured to me with a tired sigh.
"But," I cut him off again with a glare, "That doesn't mean that we should kill her. And to be honest, I'd much rather have her suffer locked up someplace than just dead, getting away with everything through death. That's cheating. No..." I shook my head, "I want her watching me be happy. I want her to see the thing she tried so hard to take away. I want her to witness every ounce of my success moving forward, which means that she needs to be locked up."
Zayn pinched the bridge of his nose, "Cherry, I just said--"
"I said she needs to be locked up, I didn't say where." I cut him off, "Call me crazy, and I'm... borderline right now," I rubbed my forehead. I was still riding out an adrenaline rush, "But what if we just kept her locked someplace only we knew about."
"Someplace hidden, where she can't ever escape. Someone would have to come to bring her food or something to keep her alive, but if we just kept her locked up then maybe we wouldn't have to call the police. Dad, you could go visit her in time, if you really have to, but it'd be our secret."
I glanced at Harlow and he looked lost in thought for a second. His eye contact slowly trailed up to my face, "No one... would have to know, right? Ever. She'd be alive but miserable. Sort of trapped in her own mind. No one will come looking for her, you're her family."
"Exactly." I said, "We keep her our secret."
"Like a... pet we don't want?" Koi mumbled in disgust, "That's kinda scary toots."
"Yeah I agree." Naomi said.
"No, no, it's--fuck, it's brilliant." Zayn mumbled, looking up at Niko in his lap and then taking his hand, "The less police, the better. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna be the one to go feed the bitch. So I suggest we hire someone. Someone discreet. Someone professional."
"We know no one like that..." I huffed, taking Harlow's cigarette from his lips.
"I might have an idea..." Zayn mumbled.
✰ ✰ ✰
"So, who is this guy?"
"His name is Léo," Zayn said as Harlow, Zack, him and I drove down the very long dirt road in the middle of absolute fuck-country nowhere, "He's an ex-con and a friend of mine."
"An ex-con? What'd he do?"
"I arrested him years ago for the murder of his father who'd been abusing his sister in the worst ways since she was a child. He found out in the note she left when she took her own life at sixteen," Zayn solemnly said, "And Léo... in turn, took his. That was it. I locked him up for it, unfortunately, it was one of my first cases."
"And he was supposed to serve twenty-five to life but he escaped the prison and killed two guards, stating he refused to rot away in there for a crime he felt no issue in committing. He was kind enough to leave a note in his cell bidding his farewells. He's extremely intelligent, he's an artist, but he's testy."
"Testy how?" A slight pit grew in my stomach as I glanced at Harlow.
"He's got a temper and... he's easily provoked but not in the way you think, so just be nice and you'll absolutely be fine. The only reason I know where he is, is because he reached out to me when he moved here. He trusts me, and when he was in financial trouble, I helped him out. I don't think he's crazy or wrong for what he did either." Zayn explained.
"Okay," Zack nodded slowly from the front seat, "So, what makes you think that he's the best person for the job?"
"Léo is a kleptomaniac. Before he went rogue and killed his father, he was always getting arrested for stealing little stuff. Uh... clothes, paints, candy, drinks, minor offenses. He wants money and if we offer it, he'll more than likely do what we want. And his house in itself is the other reason why he's the perfect candidate," Zayn didn't even need to explain what he meant because when he turned down a small dirt road, we came upon a house.
"This shit looks straight from fucking Twilight, are you serious?" Harlow pressed his nose against the window.
The house was small, but it looked high-tech and modern. There was a little gate in the front and a perfectly paved mosaic tile driveway that looked like he'd done the entire thing himself. There was no car, and if you happened to miss the small dirt road, you wouldn't have even noticed that the house was here. It was extremely well hidden. The windows as well, were all huge but they were reflective, so you couldn't see inside at all. It was just black.
"How did he afford a place like this?" I murmured, unclicking my seatbelt.
"It was abandoned. A lot of the renovations he made himself. He has a lot of time on his hands and with a place as discreet as this, no one ever comes snooping. Let's go. And Harlow... try not to be yourself, I have a feeling he won't like you." Zayn said as he opened his car door.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Harlow worriedly said. We all piled out of the car and he took my hand the second we did, leaning in my ear, "I'm scared."
"Don't be. We're fine. Besides, he's gonna be doing a big favor for us so, be nice." I whispered.
We all stepped onto the front porch and Zayn raised his fist to knock, but he didn't have to.
The big wooden carved door made a creepy creaking sound, very slowly and I practically got the chills just from the feeling of the dark forest around us combined with the eerie atmosphere of the house itself.
However, when it finally opened wide enough to see Léo, I was hardly scared.
The man looked like a porcelain statue with a permanent melancholy expression carved onto his chiseled face. His cheekbones were sharp, his skin warm-tinted yet cool-toned in the gloom of his darkened abode. The windows seemed to let in little to no light and it definitely helped in his attempt to look ominous.
He didn't even speak either.
"Hey, Léo. Long time, no see, right?" Zayn said kindly, "These are my friends. Zack, Harlow, and Cherry. We're here for a favor, a job we could give you. Can we come in?"
Léo hardly looked amused, and his expression didn't change once as he looked throughout each of us.
Then without a word, he left the door open and silently walked to the side, his shadow disappearing into the house.
Harlow and I glanced at each other curiously, but after Zack stepped in with Zayn, we followed.
We stepped past the door and turned to the left, not expecting Léo to be right behind it, waiting to close the door.
Harlow screamed when he saw him, "Ah! Oh, f-fuck! Fuck-" He slapped his hand over his mouth and squeezed my hand from Léo's momentary stare, "I'm sorry."
"He's sorry. I'm sorry. I think we're all sorry. Come, Harlow." I whispered, leading him toward where Zayn was; standing in the living room.
The only light illuminating the room was a crackling fireplace. The walls inside of the house were concrete, as well as the floors. There was a rug here and there, and a lot of paintings on the wall but it was as grim as I expected.
Harlow and I stood in front of the couch but didn't sit down.
He wouldn't shut up either. He leaned in my ear, "This house is made of concrete, I bet you there're spiders everywhere!--"
"Shh!" I hissed.
As Léo walked into the room slowly, his hands in his pockets, Zayn spoke, "We um, we need help with something and we're willing to pay you money--a lot of money to do it. You wouldn't have to leave your house, wouldn't have to do anything, go anywhere, or kill anyone."
Léo sat down slowly into a big, armchair like a humble king on a throne. He didn't even say anything, but somehow Zayn picked up on that as a cue to explain more.
"This is gonna sound crazy, but we were wondering if you could watch someone for us. Keep her here, locked away. Her name is Aurora. She's dangerous, she's a murderer, she's insane. But she's also Zack's daughter and Cherry's sister," He gestured toward us and Léo's eye contact flicked to me.
His eyes were like daggers, coaxing me to speak up.
He didn't even have to ask me to, I felt too scared not to do what he said, "I-I know it's such an impossible thing to ask, and your house is probably so quiet and lovely that my sister would ruin it. But she's trying to kill us. Us and my friends who've done nothing wrong but protect ourselves from her insanity." I explained, "Can we sit? Is that okay?"
Léo's eyes didn't leave mine but he nodded once.
I gently sat down with Harlow on his comfortable couch and then began to tell the tale once again, "It's a really long story, but to sum it up without sounding insane, Harlow had a daughter, and her name was Bella..."
I dove deep into explaining the severity of our situation and he kindly listened to every word.
By the end of it, he could probably tell the story better than any of us.
And I hoped he would sympathize.
"So, we think it'd be better if she was just locked up where she couldn't hurt anyone. We'd pay you well to feed her and keep her in a room or a basement," This wasn't a conversation I ever thought I'd be having and I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth, "I know it sounds stupid, but my dad doesn't want her dead and this is our only option. You... you're our only option."
Léo's eye contact finally left me and he looked toward Zack, "Why not?"
I wasn't expecting such a heavy Belgian accent.
"Sorry?" Zack asked.
"Why not kill her?" Léo asked with a straight face.
Zack answered easily, "I'd much rather her be living, thinking of her mistakes then dead, thinking she got away without the consequences of them--"
"What is the point of that? If she is going to stay here, she will not leave. She will not see the light of day. She will not have human contact. Ever. It would be much like death." Léo made it sound horrible, and I could admit I was a bit more apprehensive when he said it like that.
"Cherry put it well. Death is an escape. It's not punishment and as much as I hate my daughter for what she's doing I can't bring myself to harm her or let Cherry." I knew Zack felt horrible for feeling that way, I could tell by the look on his face, "My reasons are my own, I know you don't understand. And you don't need to. So, just tell us, will you do it?"
"How much money." Léo inquired, looking this time, to Harlow.
"Um... a-a lot. We could pay you ten grand up front? And then monthly payments from there on? A couple thousand every month for food and for you," He stuttered, and the slickness in his palm made me let his hand go. He was so nervous.
Léo looked away from him and toward the crackling fire as if he were contemplating.
We sat in silence for five minutes while he decided.
Until he finally spoke, "I want twenty grand up front, and a thousand every month. A thousand, exactly. I do not have a bank account so it has to be cash and I do not leave my house so it has to be delivered to me. I'll need a day to make the room."
Zack exhaled, "Thank you-"
"I'm not finished." Léo cut him off, "If I do this. None of you will ever see her. I don't allow visitors. She will sit in there and rot until the day she dies and if she doesn't abide by my rules, I'll kill her myself."
Damn.
Harlow and I slowly glanced at each other then back at Léo.
"Works for us!" We nodded.
"This is my deal. I make no exceptions, I change no rules. So... do we have a deal?" Léo's eye contact came back to me.
"Yep--"
"Wasn't asking you." Leo cut Harlow off.
"Okay..." Harlow rolled his lips into his mouth.
"Zack, can you live with that? Can you deal with not being able to see her again?" I asked, glancing over at him, "Could you try to make it work?"
Zack ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed at the bags under his eyes.
"Contrary to popular belief, I am not a monster." Léo chimed in one last time, "Aurora will be offered a bed in the room I have in my attic, a bathroom, books to read, things to do, much like they have in prison. Think of it more like a bedroom. She will suffer only as much as she deserves. No more. No less. But like I said: she stays there and she does not ever come up. You cannot ever come here again."
Zack frowned slightly. I knew he blamed himself for how she turned out and he felt like a bad father, like a bad person for raising Aurora how he did. His want to see her was more rooted in that, rooted in guilt.
And although it wasn't what he wanted, he knew he couldn't go back in time and change the past. He knew that what she was doing was wrong and that she deserved to be punished for it.
So he agreed.
"Okay."
Zayn let out a breath of relief and nodded.
"Woohoo!" Harlow pretended to cheer, "Aurora in the basement... A-Aurora.... no? Nobody?"
"Get him out of my house before I kill him."
"Let's go baby."
***