Kelsey's Point of View:
It had been about three hours now since Justin called the guys and they huddled together in the living room to discuss business. The air around us became tense as the seconds ticked on by causing the nerves in my stomach to multiply.
It was nerve wracking to say the least. Not knowing what they were saying or what they were doing... what they were planning.
You never knew exactly what was going to happen until it actually did... and by then, it's already too late to fix what's already been done.
Biting the inside of my lip, I paced the floors of Justin and I's bedroom as Carly sat on the bed, staring up at me with wide, worried eyes. She knew just as much as I did that this was bad and that there was no going back from this once everything was set in motion.
The Snipers were a bigger problem now than they were before and it scares me to think about what's going to happen in the next couple of days.
"Are you scared?" Carly whispered, afraid that if she spoke any louder, she'd put us at risk.
Looking up at her, taken back by her question, I placed my hands on my thighs, wiping the perspiration that formed on my palms as I nervously caught her gaze, "Scared?" I murmured, shaking my head, "I'm terrified." I breathed out, finally managing to take a seat next to her in order to calm myself down.
Carly nodded, "Me too," She admitted quietly, her hand grasping mine, "I've never seen him so angry before..." Trailing off, her eyes glistened over in tears, "I was just coming out of the grocery store when they came up to me."
Widening my eyes, I felt my breath hitch as I realized she was going to tell me exactly what happened last night. Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, I silently waited for her to continue.
"I didn't know who they were but I knew by the way they confronted me and how they stood that something wasn't right." Bobbing her knee up and down nervously, a bad habit of hers, Carly turned to me, "They asked me how I was and at first, I assumed they wanted money or something. They were going to hassle me a bit, take my purse and leave..." Letting out a shaky breath, she shook her head, pulling her eyes from mine instead finding interest in her hands instead. "But they didn't. They were creepily nice; they used a tone that you would if you were talking to a child or something. They cornered me against the car, played with my hair, tried to pull me into them but I pushed them off. They told me that I could push them away all they want but it wouldn't matter because everything they want, they get... even if it'll take some time to get it."
"Then they left. Just like that. I was so shaken up that I nearly forgot to take the groceries..." Wiping her eyes, Carly took a deep breath, releasing it into the air, "I called John as soon as I got in the car. He told me to stay put and that he would come get me and when he did, I ran out of the car and rushed right over to him. I told him everything from the moment I got out to the second they left... his face, Kelsey..." Whimpering, Carly shook her head, willing herself to stay strong, "He looked as if he's seen a ghost... then he got red. He got so angry; he left a dent in the car and began kicking anything he could find. He wouldn't even come near me because he knew he was too angry to hold me or even touch me."
"I've never, ever seen him that livid before Kelsey." Carly shook her head, swallowing hard. "This thing with the Snipers..." Pausing, she choked back a sob, "It's bad."
Feeling my heart plummet to the ground, I held myself together as I clung onto Carly's hand tighter, "We're going to be okay... they're going to be okay. Justin and John won't let anything happen to us..." Smiling softly, I felt my eyes pinch, "I promise."
Forcing herself to look forwards, a distant look overcame her usual sparkling eyes. "What did we get ourselves into Kelsey?" Carly whispered, tears falling down her cheeks as she sniffled, her shoulders falling in defeat as the pressure came down on her.
"Carly... don't go there. Okay? We already talked about this. Everything's going to be fine-"
"How do you know that?" Carly exclaimed as she pushed me away, standing to her feet, "Huh? How do you know that when the guys go after those douchebags they won't die? How do you know that they won't hurt us?" She screeched and I could see it in her eyes... she was breaking.
Hesitantly I got to my feet, keeping a fair amount of space between us. "I don't know, okay? I don't know anything but what I do know is that John loves you and would do anything to protect you! Same goes for Justin. They wouldn't let anyone touch us. They rather die than to have us take their place. You know that so why are you suddenly freaking out?"
"I'm not used to this!" Carly threw her arms in the air, her cheeks streaked with tears, "I don't know what to do or how to act..." Running her hands through her hair, Carly tightly closed her eyes, "This has never happened to me before. John would just go and do business and then he'd come home. I was out of harm's way! Now all of a sudden everything is changing and I don't know what to do..." Letting her hands drop to her sides, Carly looked at me with pained eyes, "I don't know what to do..." She repeated in a hushed whisper.
Knowing exactly where she was coming from, I felt my heart constrict as I took a few cautious steps towards her, "You can't do this to yourself... thinking will only making it worse. What happens from here on out is not in our hands, okay?" Stopping in front of her, I felt my throat close, "I spent way too much of my life being afraid and I'm done. I can't sit there and drive myself crazy thinking about what will happen if this happens or that happens." Shaking my head, I latched my teeth onto my bottom lip, "All we can do is trust that they know what they are doing and won't do anything to jeopardize that."
Letting out a scoff of disbelief, Carly laid her back against the wall, her tired eyes resting on mine. "How can you be so calm about this all? Didn't you hear John? They're not after them but us too..."
"If we let them get inside our heads then we might as well just give up now." I inquired softly, "They want us to be scared. They want us to have our heads in the clouds so that it makes it that much more easier to take control. We can't let that happen no matter how scared we are."
Letting it all sink in, Carly slumped back against the wall, sliding down until her butt hit the floor. Burying her head in her hands, silence overcame the room. "I'm sorry." She mumbled quietly though I heard her loud and clear as if she had yelled it out. "I don't know what's gotten into me..."
"Fear does that to you sometimes." Sharing a smile, I sighed following my best friend as I sat down beside her, bringing my knees up to my chest as I looked over at her through droopy eyes, "You're not alone in this, okay? Not only do you have John but you have me too. I'm not going anywhere."
Sniffling, Carly looked over at me and for the first time since I'd seen her tonight, she looked relieved as if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. Wiping under her eyes, Carly nodded her head in acknowledgement, "Thank you." She whispered, "For everything... I don't know what I'd do without you."
"What are best friends for?" Opening my arms, I pulled her into a hug, feeling at ease for the first time in my life. "I've missed you."
"I missed you too." Pulling away, Carly faced me entirely, crossing her legs over like a pretzel. "I was hoping to try and get some girl time in earlier tonight but John refused saying that Justin had something important to do with you or something." Shrugging, she waved her hand dismissively, "Though I'm sure it was just a lie to make sure I keep put."
"Well," I squished my face together, cocking my head to the side, "I don't think he was lying..." Letting out a breathy laugh, I avoided Carly's curious eyes as she warily stared at me, wondering what it was I was hiding.
"What are you talking about?"
"Uhm..." Laughing nervously, I scratched the back of my head, "Well, you see..." Pursing my lips, I tried to think of a delicate way to put this without freaking her out. "Justin kinda... proposed to me tonight." I slowly formed the words, flinching once Carly's breath caught.
Blinking, Carly's lips parted in utter disbelief as a blank look fell over, illuminating her face. Clearing her throat, Carly shook her head, "Wait a second... he what?"
"He..." Fumbling my fingers together, I absentmindedly twirled my engagement ring around my finger which instantly caught Carly's attention.
"Holy shit!" She screamed, bolting upright as she stood over me with wide eyes, her hand cupping her mouth in surprise, "What is that?!"
Looking down at me hand then at her, I felt myself grow hot. "Wow..." Fanning myself, I awkwardly looked around the room, "is it hot in here or is it just me?"
"Kelsey Anne Jones, you little bitch!" Carly shrieked as she pounded her foot against the floor, "How could you not tell your bestest friend in the whole entire world that you are engaged?!"
Baffled, I slowly got to my feet, expecting an entirely different reaction out of her. "I'm... sorry?"
"You better be!" Slapping my arm, she ignored my hiss of pain while hurriedly grabbing my hand, lifting it up to her eyes as she examined the ring with fascination, "I can't believe I'm finding this out now! It's against the girl code you know." She glared at me, "I'm the best friend, and I should get first dibs on this shit. What the fuck?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so inconsiderate. The moment he proposed I should of dropped everything just to call you, how stupid of me..." I muttered in sarcasm, rolling my eyes at her childish behavior.
"Duh!" Carly shook her head, "At least you know now so we're okay but holy hell, Kelsey, he must of spent a fortune on that ring! How much did he kill for it? One grand?"
"Uhm..." Scrabbling on my feet, I avoided her intense gaze, "try almost three."
Nearly choking on her spit, Carly looked at me like a deer in the headlights, "You're kidding!"
"Nope," I shook my head, "He told me so himself."
"And I thought he was cheap," Humming in incredulity, Carly let go of my hand after looking at it once more. "Guess not."
"Carly!" I scolded.
"What?" Putting her hands up in defense, she shrugged, "I'm just saying."
Shaking my head, I glanced down at the ring, a whole other feeling overcoming me.
"My best friend is going to get married before me... this is unbelievable and to Bieber of all people!" Shaking her head, Carly tucked her hair behind her ears, "I better be the bridesmaid." She pointed a finger at me, a smile etching across her face.
"Bridesmaid?" I tapped a questioning finger to my chin, "I was thinking more along the lines of maid of honor..." Breaking out into a grin, I laughed as Carly gasped, squealing in happiness.
"Oh my God, no way! Are you serious?!" She jumped up and down like a school girl causing me to laugh some more.
"Yes, I'm being serious, can you stop jumping now? You're making me dizzy." Grabbing her shoulders, I sighed in relief once she settled down.
"We're going to have a lot of planning to do. I hope you're ready." Carly warned playfully, "We can totally start looking at dresses too if you want." Pulling out her phone, she opened up the safari app, "This is going to be so much fun!"
"Carly, slow down!" Grabbing her hands before she could pull up David's bridal, I shook my head, "We're not even getting married anytime soon. It's not the time besides with everything that's going on..."
"And?" Carly shrugged, "I refuse to sulk and moan. You were right. I can't keep thinking about it and the only way it'll keep me from screaming my brains out is if something distracts me and this," Waving her phone in the air, the bright screen flashing in my eyes, nearly blinding me, she brought it back down, "Will help me."
Sighing, I gave up, "If you say so..."
"Yay!" Grabbing my hand, she rushed me over to the bed where she sat us both down on. "Okay, let's see what they have on this website..."
Justin's Point of View:
"I'm going to kill him!" John barked as he slammed his closed fists down on the table, his face red with fury. "It's one thing to come to me or one of us. It's a whole different ballgame when they start threatening my girl." He seethed through clenched teeth, "I've been patient with those motherfuckers even after I found out they were the ones behind Justin's shooting but I've lost all patience and I'm ready to hand their asses back to them."
Shrugging, I settled back comfortable on my chair, "Works for me." I mumbled while taking a sip out of my water bottle.
"No," Bruce shook his head, "I understand your frustration John but if we retaliate now, they'll know we're coming. There's no point in taking a hit when we're only going to end up getting burned."
"The only people getting burned in this situation are those fucking bastards who had the nerve to approach my girlfriend tonight. Talking about how he'll take her and she won't be able to fight it. I'd like to see him fucking try after I cut his God damn fucking fingers off!" John growled, venom dripping from each word that came out of his mouth completely taking me back.
John has a pretty high tolerance when it comes to bullshit... but this-I've never seen this shit in my life. "You've gone off the deep end man."
"You shouldn't be fucking talking," John spat, "Because if this were Kelsey, you would've ripped their balls off and have them swallow it in the next second."
Opening my mouth, I closed it, knowing I had nothing to say to that. "You have a point."
Rolling his eyes, John turned his attention back over to Bruce. "I'm done Bruce," He warned lowly, "I'm not going to sit around and wait for them to strike us again. Since they came here, all they've done is waltz all over us. We warned them and they didn't listen. They attacked us more than once, they nearly killed a fellow member and now they've threatened Carly. I'm done waiting."
"It's true. We fucking told them not to come here and cause trouble. We warned them what would happen if they crossed us, they took it as a joke, followed me out to the cabin, and tailgated my car while Kelsey was with me, putting her in danger, burned their tag on our front lawn; put a bullet to my chest and now they approached Carly, telling us she's a target. If we keep waiting, they'll keep attacking us. I can't just sit back and let them do whatever the fuck they want to my town."
"Our town," Bruce corrected with bitterness, shooting me a glare. I shrugged, watching as he began playing with the box of smokes on the coffee table, flipping it on all corners, deep in thought. "If we attack now... you do now this will be the beginning of a problem."
"They're already a fucking problem." John hissed venomously. Laying his hands down on the table, he weighed himself into his palms, getting in Bruce's face. "I want them dead."
"No." Bruce shook his head, "You want to meet up, discuss shit, and let them know you're not playing games? I'm in, we'll schedule something tonight but there is no way in hell blood will be shed tonight. We're not prepared for a blood bath and the last thing I fucking need is for us all to end up in prison."
Before either one of us knew what was happening, I stumbled out of my seat, taken back to see John taking hold of Bruce by his shirt, rounding him over before slamming him down against the table.
"Fucking hell!" I spat, "What fuck are you doing John?" I stared incredulously at them.
"Shut the fuck up!" He roared the veins in his neck showing as he violently gripped Bruce. "I don't give a shit what the fuck you want tonight Bruce because whether you like it or not, a bullet will be present in each of their fucking skulls, do you understand me?"
Forcing his hand up, Bruce clocked John in the face, sending him backwards. Standing up, he pinned John under his arm against the wall. "You listen to me you little fuck, I'm the one who calls the shots around here not you. You want to get yourself sent to fucking prison? You do that on your own fucking time but what good will it do your girl if you're behind fucking bars? Hm?"
Clenching his Jaw, John brought his knee up, hitting Bruce in his lower abdomen before slashing his knuckles against his cheek. Forcing Bruce up against the wall, John spit blood beside him before looking him square in the eye, a sick bloody grin taking place. "You know what? You're a waste of fucking space. What good of a leader are you if you keep letting people shit on your fucking title? People around here probably began to think we've gone pussy because you haven't done shit to show 'em we're still in the game." Slamming him back into the wall, John licked his busted lip, his face contorting in the utmost loathing, "All you've wanted to do lately is fucking talk and you know what? I'm done fucking talking. I want these assholes to pay for the hell they've caused."
Shoving John off of him, Bruce straightened his shirt, his eyes gone black. "And they will with time. You're not thinking clearly, none of you fucking are!" He shouted angrily, "All you do is think with your fucking ass! I'm the only one who's got a straight mind when dealing with all this shit. Get your fucking head in the game or Carly won't be the only fucking problem you have to deal with!"
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"You keep blinding yourself; they'll come in and take you down before you've had the chance to fucking blink. I finally got some sense into one idiot," He gestured towards me, "I don't need you fucking losing your mind too. I get that you want Carly safe but if you go in shooting without any thought to it, you're setting yourself up for failure."
"We kill them then they're fucking done. I don't get why you don't just want to get rid of the situation when it's staring right fucking at us!"
"We don't know who the fuck they're working for or what the fuck they're doing here. We kill them and all leads will be gone then before we know it, we'll have people showing up left and right trying to destroy everything we've worked for! We need answers before we go killing anyone."
Backing down, John wiped his lip, "So what you're saying is we have to keep playing into their games until we come up with some leverage against them?"
"Bingo."
"Hold up," I declared, waving my hands in the air as if signifying a time out, "If we meet up with them tonight then what happens? We play dumb?"
"No," Bruce shook his head, "We'll send our message loud and clear. We just won't dirty our hands while doing it."
Kelsey's Point of View:
"Finally!" Carly exaggerated, "Human life!"
After practically being locked up in my bedroom for the past three hours with Carly, we were finally allowed to come down.
Chuckling, Bruce rolled his eyes as he gently patted her back, "You okay?" He asked, concerned; his fatherly instincts kicking in.
"Yeah, I was a bit shaken up before but after our girl talk," Smiling in my direction, she shrugged at Bruce, "I should be fine."
"I'm glad." Letting go, he turned to me, "And you? Should I be worried?"
Gasping playfully, a laid a hand to my chest, "Now why would you say that? I didn't do anything. I actually kept my mouth shut for once."
"That's a first." He teased playfully, earning a shove in the chest from me which only caused him to laugh.
"What happened to your face?" I questioned, noticing the bruising on his cheek.
"Had a mix-up but it's been settled."
"Oh God no..." Turning towards Justin, I felt my heart stop for a second only to find relief washing over me once I saw he had no markings on him. Confused, I looked at Bruce. "He didn't...-"
"No." Bruce shook his head, an awkward cough coming from him as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Then who did..." Widening my eyes once I caught sight of John, I had to do a double check to make sure I was seeing correctly. "John?" I asked.
Nodding, Bruce gave me a small smile, "Small misunderstanding. All's good though."
Giggling, I watched as he disappeared up the stairs, leaving just John, Carly, Justin and I, Marcus and Marco having followed Bruce up.
Catching John's eyes, I watched as he approached me, "I'm sorry," He murmured, "For interrupting last night... it totally slipped my mind that he had popped the question. I was just so angry..."
Putting a hand up to silence him, I held onto his shoulder, giving it a slight shake, "It's fine, John. All was said and done by the time you came, you didn't interrupt anything."
"I shouldn't have barged in-"
"Your girlfriend a-k-a, my bestfriend was threatened. You had every right coming here; don't even think about regretting it, okay? If the roles were reversed, I'm sure Justin would have blown the place down instead."
Laughing, John smiled appreciatively, "Thanks Kels. Oh and congratulations," Smirking, he pulled me into an embrace. "I'm happy for the both of you. You're good for him... maybe a bit too good but I'm glad he found you."
Fighting the tears that threatened to surface, I nuzzled into his chest, "Thanks John." I whispered, "That means a lot..."
"No problem," Pulling away, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I'mma go to my girl now." He directed his head towards her. "Looks a bit jealous to me, gotta reassure her she's still mine." Winking, he pecked my cheek before maneuvering over to Carly, planting a kiss to her lips before she had the chance to speak.
Smiling, I found my stomach fluttering with butterflies at the scene. Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I turned to see Justin staring blankly at me though the emotions hidden behind his eyes told me exactly what he was he was feeling.
Feeling the cool metal of my ring burning into my flesh, I looked down at it, the diamond shining in the light making my heart swoon. Pulling my lips into my mouth, I looked up at Justin and without so much as another word, I quickly walked over to him, throwing my arms around his neck and holding onto him for dear life giving him all the clarification I knew he was dying for.
I was here, I was with him and I wasn't going anywhere. We were fighting this battle together, side by side and I was done fighting him on this.
They needed to pay.