Lucas:
Brunch was interesting.
Nothing unexpected given our family's... unique personalities.
But the surprises, that weren't very unsurprising, never fail to be accompanied by unnaturally high levels of embarrassment. And shame.
That I have my parents as my parents.
I mean seriously. They just wouldn't stop!
They just kept on switching from gushing about my relationship to gushing about their own.
Do they have no fucking dignity?
I don't want to hear about that time when. Like ever.
I'm their son for god's sake! I shouldn't be the one to tell them to cease inappropriate behaviour at the table. Or anywhere, for that matter.
The car ride home almost made me fucking gag.
I don't think I can ever look either of them in the eye again.
They've been way too obsessed with each other lately. I'm terrified I might find them in a compromising position one of these days.
It's giving me hives.
But I don't need to think about my suspicions on that matter right now. All I'm focused on is getting this thing done.
I told them and Della that I'd be away for a few days. That I'm doing something with the boys, which is technically true. They just don't know the details.
I'm sure they can put two together and understand it's probably something that isn't necessarily innocent and mundane, but they could never guess what it actually is.
Della potentially could. If I gave her enough. But until it's done, I don't want to worry or upset her.
"Hey, Luca!"
Darius's voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I turn to him.
He inclines his head for me to join the rest of the guys as they pile into the car and I quickly follow suit.
I slide into the passenger's side. Mads next to me behind the wheel, Dare, Angel and Oak in the back.
Gio and Cas didn't come. Gio's grandmother isn't too well. He was obviously reluctant so I told him to stay back to take care of her and Cas currently isn't in the country.
So it's just us five.
It'a only an hour or so to the private airport where the jet is waiting, maybe slightly less. But that's an hour or so trapped in a car with a back full of fucking juveniles.
"Can you move your fucking leg!" Angel snaps at Oak.
It's currently early morning so I get the irritability. But getting up at the ass crack of dawn also means that my tolerance levels are borderline nonexistent.
"I'm not even touching you!" Oakley argues.
Dare groans and covers his eyes with his hand, banging his head against the window. "Both of you shut the fuck up."
Yeah, he probably should have sat in the middle.
"Aw." Oak coos. "Is someone mad about not getting to see a certain black-haired beauty for a few days? Don't worry, buddy. I doubt she'll go disappearing in the next ninety-six hours."
He reaches over Angel and punches his best friend in the stomach. "I told you to shut the fuck up!"
On second thought, perhaps opposite sides were the best decision.
"Wait." I turn to him. "There's a girl?"
"No." Dare grits his teeth.
"Please." Oak scoffs. "He stares at her every chance he gets."
I raise a brow.
"She's pretty. That's all. She's a pretty girl. There are lots of pretty girls. She's one of them."
"Okay."
"Oakley, I swear to god. If you don't shut your ass up in the next two seconds, I will haul it out of this car."
"You seeing this?" He looks at each one of us, his eyes wide. "You see the attitude? This is how I get treated on a daily fucking basis. He's been even worse since he got paired to do that project with her-"
"That's it." Darius shoots over Angel and grabs Oak's collar. Pulling him forward and then slamming him back into the seat.
Angel gets in between and tries to extinguish the situation.
Key word, tries.
"Guys! Come on. Use your words."
"Oh, I'll use my words." Dare grits. "This motherfucking, son of a bitch, piece of-"
"Nice words!" Angel scolds. "I meant nice words."
"All of you calm the fuck down." Mads speaks up. His voice is not even half way in the direction of being raised but his command carries like that of a king.
It takes a minute, but they ease off and return to their respective personal bubbles.
"It's six in the morning." He continues once the car has quietened. "We're all tired. So take a fucking breather and sort whatever drama you have out when we're all not heavily prone to killing each other due to lack of sleep in a confined space, Yes?"
"Fine."
"Whatever."
"Good." He sighs and hands me the aux.
I plug in my phone and start up a random playlist, letting the base from the speakers preoccupy everyone until the ride is over.
I should have known.
The headache in the car was bad. Now that we've been in the jet...
The light is fucking calling.
"Will you just drop it! I've known her for barely a month!"
"And yet, you're already in love."
"That's it. If none of you get to him within the next minute, he's out the fucking window."
"I think you mean door. These windows are way too small for me to fit-"
And Oakley gets punched in the face.
"Ahh." Angel sighs in contentment and takes a sip of his drink, turning to me. "This reminds me of when I teased you about Della."
"You're right." I nod. "But come to think of it, I don't think I ever hit you. Let's remedy that."
His smile vanishes. "Let's not."
"I think it'd be a great idea. A full circle moment."
"You probably hit me about seventeen times!"
"And why stop there?"
"You can all hit each other later." Mads comes out of the bedroom and takes a seat opposite of me. "We need a plan."
"Darius!" Angel shouts over to the boys who are currently rolling on the ground. "Down boy. Get over here. Being the beta."
They each stand up and walk over. Dare smacks Angel upside the head before taking the chair next to Mads and Oak drops beside me. Although, not before kicking Angel's leg and muttering under his breath, "I'm not a fucking beta."
"You have the information." Madden says to Oak.
A statement. Not a question. Because he knows Oak is always on it.
He grabs his laptop and opens a file.
"Scott Davis. Blond hair. Brown eyes. Seventeen. Parents: Alice and Jack. Football jock. Jake Devens. Brown hair. Blue eyes. Seventeen. Parents: Emily and Daniel. Also football jock. Allie Albrecbt. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Sixteen. Parents: Chloe and Charlie. Cheerleader. Olivia Allen. Red hair. Brown eyes. Seventeen. Parents: Lara and Liam. Head of the school news paper. All attend Crestview Academy." He lists off all of the pieces of shit that hurt her. "Anything else you want to know? I've got family details, college plans, medical records, social history..."
"That's good for now." I tell him. "I'll look through it later."
Dragging a hand through my hair, I look down and take a deep breath.
Fuck.
I've never felt anything like this before. I thought I knew the feeling of rage well. Until I found out about all of this.
And it's not just plainly the fury I'm feeling. But the pure, white hot rage I'm feeling for her.
They hurt her.
They fucking hurt her.
We've been around each other's homes a lot more frequently this past week. Almost everyday. I went over in the evening once and found her taking a nap in her room. I lay next to her. Mindlessly doing whatever on my phone when she started to have another nightmare.
For each tear that fell onto her cheeks, I made a promise as I wiped them away.
I'll make them pay.
Because nobody gets to hurt my girl and get away with it.
Nobody.
"Hey." Dare calls and looks into my eyes.
"I'm fine." I clear my throat and sit up straight. "Let's do this."
"Game plan time." Angel rubs his hands together in a way that resembles an evil, cartoon Disney villain.
"Do we want to do this like we handled the last situation or how Angel and Oakley forced us into dealing with the one before that?" Mads leans back in his seat.
"Oh, come on. We hardly forced you. Besides, it was way more fun that time." Angel huffs.
"Yeah." Oak agrees. "And you clearly appreciated the anger release opportunity."
Madden rolls his eyes. "It was anarchic. We were lucky that route was the better suiting option."
"Whatever." They both say in unison.
"So. What's it going to be?" Darius raises a brow.
"The former. I don't just want to swing and hit. I want them to fucking suffer. We're here for a couple days. We can make our mark now and then let them watch their lives burn in the coming weeks."
"Damn." Oak whistles. "Alright, well, I've sent you the file. Do we want to go after them individually or their families too?"
"What's their families' status?"
"Respected. Respectable. Not on the inside, though. I hacked into their devices and some of them are hiding some bad shit. All but the Allen family. They're pretty decent people. I think the girl is just really fucked in the head."
"Does she have aspirations? Made connections? Solid future?" Angel asks.
"Pretty much. Her dad put in a good word for her with the dean of Brown. She's happy about it. That's where they all want to go."
"Sucks for them." Dare tuts.
"We need to take them to the edge." I say.
Mads nods. "Let them squirm first. Make our moves calculated."
"And then we strike." Darius spins a knife between his fingers before spreading cream cheese onto a bagel.
"Hard and fast." Angel grins.
"You know, I've missed this." Oak looks around at all of us. "I love plotting revenge plans with you guys."
We all blink at him and for the first time today, I feel a tiny smile Grace my lips.
The boys start to laugh and eventually, I join in.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pull it out, reading the sender.
My smile grows into a grin.
"I'll be back." I tell them, standing and heading for the bedroom.
"Hey, is that the Princess?" Angel calls. "Let me say hi!"
"Fuck off." I respond before slamming the door on their laughter.
I unlock my phone to enter the message chat.
Principessa:
Hi
Me:
Hey, baby.
Principessa:
What are you doing?
I'm half tempted to tell her what I'm actually up to, but think better of it.
Knowing her, she'll start to overthink and I don't want to trigger her anxiety.
So instead, I type,
Me:
Nothing. We're still on the plane so there isn't much to do but entertain Angel and Oakley's childish behaviour.
Principessa:
Oakley is the funny one, right? The one who's just like Angel?
I frown.
Me;
He's not that funny.
Principessa:
Yes he is.
Me:
You know, he was teasing Dare about a girl.
I send. Trying to change the subject.
Principessa:
That's Darius, right? The pretty one with the dark eyes?
Yeah. That didn't help at all.
Me:
Are you trying to provoke me into hitting my friends?
Principessa:
What do you mean? Is that not who he is? And why do you always have to resort to violence?
Jesus Christ, this girl is going to be the death of me.
Me:
Never mind.
Principessa:
Okay. Anyway, tell me about the girl. Does he like her?
I settle into the bed, my back resting against the headboard and type back.
Me:
Later. Tell me about you.
Principessa:
What about me?
Me:
Anything.