"Where do you know Oscar from?" Jake asks us. Serena looks at me and bites her nails out of nervousity, I remain unfazed by the judging looks and dirty face expressions.
"We met him two years ago" I say with a shrug and I see Jake clench his jaw.
"What did you get into? What did you fuck up?" Jake snaps at me. The look in his eyes are the same ones he gave me whenever I did something to disappoint him, when I was younger.
I'm grown up now, this isn't even my fault. I just tried to protect us, but Jake doesn't know that—because we didn't tell him when we came back.
Our mistake, but the look in his eyes makes me want to act out. I'm not weak, I'm not a child, I'm not irresponsible..or not that much irresponsible.
I can handle myself, my friends can handle themselves and if they can't, we got each other's backs. No one is alone.
Losing my cool, I slam my hands onto the counter and lean forward "Me? I did nothing! He tracked us down—because of you!" I shout at him.
His face falls and I take a step back and Serena puts her hand on my shoulder.
"What you need to know is that we kept them at bay—we kept them away from our home. Four days before we graduated from college we had a race and I beat Oscar and his crew. He didn't like that—he expressed that perfectly clear" I say and my hand instinctively hover over my injured side.
Marcus' eyes flickered to my side knowingly, Claire did as well.
"We escaped and recovered—but the day after graduation, where we planned to return home—they found us. I won Serena a new motorcycle and we handed their asses to them" I say and Louie walks up to me as well.
"Then we came here, they managed to track us down and they challenged us because they wanted to get back at whatever bullshit you guys had with them" I say stating the obvious.
Marcus scoffs and I tilt my head at him in a daring kind of way, telling him to speak up. I want to hear what he has to say, that fucking coward.
"You weren't thinking—you're just a ch—""—Finish that fucking sentence, Marcus. I dare you" I interrupt him and glare at him warningly.
He clenched his jaw and shook his head. That's what I thought, a coward.
"It wasn't just Jake's ass they were after—it was you too, cupcake. So, if I were you I would shut up and be grateful–cause we took lots of hits for all of you and we tried to keep you out of it when they came here" I retorted, making both Jake, Terry and Marcus look down.
"Is that why he knew you were weak, the other night?" Claire asks and clears her throat.
"Yes, he was the one who—you know" I say. Jake raises an eyebrow and looks up at me.
"What exactly did he do to you guys?" Jake asked and Marcus sighed.
"He stabbed me, six months ago he shot Louie in the arm, Micky in the leg and Janet was assaulted" I list the events and keep one hidden.
"Fuck" Jake curses and runs a hand over his face. "Why didn't you say something?"
Jake was feeling guilty, but he had no reason to. We chose not to get help, we had to handle our own business.
With everyone being four hours away, we couldn't just pull them out of their lives, we didn't want to do that to them.
Besides we had a reputation to remain, we handled that city as if we owned it, we had to chase them out.
"There was nothing you could've done. We made our decision" I say and everyone behind me nods in agreement.
"Alex took my hits, I was about to get assaulted as well, but she stepped in and—""—Enough, Rena" I cut her off, they didn't need to know what else they did.
"No– finish that sentence'' Marcus urged her to go on, my scars itched as I kept quiet and Serena as well, my silence communicated with Serena's and she got the hint.
"If I had known I would've—""—What? Driven 4 hours to do what? We had security at the dorms, we were safe enough when we weren't on the streets" I retorted and Jake sighs.
"Right" He mumbles.
He walks up to me and even though he's taller than me, I feel higher than him. He pulls me into a bone crushing hug and I accept it.
"Now since when did you get a gun?" Terry asks. "Three years ago" I say with a chuckle as Jake pulls away.
"You're a Lowell alright" Jake says with a chuckle.
"Yeah" I say and sigh. "The Yilmaz gang is done at this moment, he and his crew won't bother us anymore" I say and everyone nods, accepting the new information.
"We're gonna head home" Tobias says, he,
Micky and Janet leaves and Serena and Louie stays with me, we sit in the garden with a bonfire going and we all sit in silence.
"So– you two used to date?" Louie asks me and Marcus, I glare at him and Jake does as well.
"No we didn't, so shut up, Louie" I snapped at him.
"Alright, alright—just asking" Louie says and pulls me into his side. I roll my eyes and Serena chuckles.
"Thank you, for getting Claire out of there" Terry says to me and Louie, we nod back with a smile.
"Always" I say and shoot them a wink.
"Did you get a job yet?" Claire asks me and I shrug.
"I got a few hundred grand before money becomes an issue, so I'm not rushing" I say and lean back.
"Hundred grand? How the fuck did you make that much money?" Jake asks as he chokes on his beer.
"Well, what else is there to do other than race when you're in college?" I say and shrug.
"Impressive" Marcus calls out with a chuckle.
"Serena even got good" I say and praise my girl. She laughs before shaking her head.
"How many races have you guys ever lost?" Serena asks everyone.
"Three" Jake says.
"Eight" Terry says and Claire grins. "Seven"
"Three" Marcus says and looks at me, probably awaiting my answer.
"I lost eight races" Louie says and looks down at me.
"One" I finish and Jake raises an eyebrow.
"One? Just one?" He asks in disbelief. "Yup" I say popping the p before stealing Louie's beer.
"I hate you" Jake retorts and I giggle.
"What can I say, I can get stubborn" I say and shrug, Serena snorts in agreement.
"I've lost six races" Serena says and I high five her. "That's hot baby, you got skills"
"Shut up, Louie" Claire, Serena and I say in unison.
"Hey, are we leaving soon?" Louie whispers in my ear and I nod and turn my head to him.
"Yeah in a few minutes" I say and he nods.
"I'm just gonna go pee" I whisper and he nods as I get up, I walk inside and go to the nearest bathroom downstairs and do my business before walking back out.
"Are you sleeping with him?" A voice calls out. I look up and see Marcus with crossed arms.
I chuckle softly, it wasn't exactly the first time I had been asked that–I shake my head no at the question. "No, I'm not" I say.
"Good" Marcus retorts and walks past me, I grab a hold of his shirt and stop him in his tracks and pull him back besides me and turn to him.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask and cross my arms. "He makes me want to cut his arms off" Marcus retorts with a scoff.
I scoff in surprise and anger at his words–which I earn a glare at.
"He's too touchy"
"Oh really? What about you and Stephanie earlier then? Huh?" I retort and roll my eyes, a taunting smirk on my face.
"She wouldn't leave me alone—""—And why is that, Marcus? Because we all know how it works with you two. You sleep with her and ditch her and she sticks to you like glue" I retort with a scoff.
Stop playing the victim when you fucked her again. Fucking prick.
"I had to get you off my mind somehow" Is all he says, leaving me in surprise and confusion.
My jaw dropped to the floor and I stared at the space Marcus had just been standing in.
My throat tightened and I attempted to clear it, without success. I exhaled a deep breath, it felt like a slap in the face, he kept trying to be the victim.
He's not worth crying over, he's not. Everyone says so, Serena said she'd give me a chastity belt if he started anything–I believe her.
I swallow the momentary weakness towards him and I pick my head up again and walk back out, getting Louie on my way out.