THE EXPLANATION
Tia POV
"I fucked up." He admitted.
"What have you done?" I asked. He shook his head, refusing to tell me. We were sat on a grassy bank not far from where we'd stopped the car.
I think he gave me whiplash.
"Why would they want to hurt you?" I had so many questions running through my mind, I felt scared, confused and frankly a little pissed off. I never asked for any of this.
"Because I hurt them." Oh god. He looked at my panic stricken face and grabbed my chin. "Please don't look at me like that, like you're scared." What did he want smiles and fucking unicorns. Everything I thought I knew was wrong, who the hell was this guy?
"But I am scared Hunter because I have no idea what is going on. You keep texting away on your phone, you've told me barely anything so far, how do you expect me to act?" I ranted. "Hunter please tell me."
"You'll hate me." He said simply with a sad smile.
I'll hate you more if you don't tell me.
"You won't know until you tell me, if I am in danger I have every right to know no matter how you feel." I expressed.
"It's for your own benefit, the reason I'm not telling you is to protect you. How can't you see that?"
"I need to know what you're protecting me from!" I snapped. "You either tell me right now else I'll walk." I stood from the grassy bank, letting him know I was dead serious.
"Promise me you won't run then!" That wasn't fair of him to ask me, I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't run for the hills.
"I can't promise anything Hunter," I admitted, "Hunter if you are in danger maybe I can help you, keeping me in the dark will only cause problems for the both of us."
He didn't say anything for a good couple of minutes. My patience was wearing incredibly thin.
"Ok." He blew out a breath he was holding before he dived straight in. "Have an open mind please Tia." I nodded, he continued. "Mr Jones, Liam's father is my dads arch nemesis he's tried to sabotage me and my family for as long as I can remember, it's an ongoing feud, they hurt us we hurt them. See my dad and big J as they call him go way back, I don't know the full extent behind the feud and I've never asked. My dads getting on now Tia so is Big J, so I took over my dads business, and some of this business is not exactly legal, a year ago before I came back, my dad had worked with someone over seas to bring over this shipment containing the date rape drug that was meant to be a huge thing and a huge money maker, but this batch of this drug was faulty if you like, the people that had tried it tragically died hours later whilst they were sleeping." He paused to check I was still following.The drug id been spiked with? Oh hell no.
"So my dad backed out of the deal and the plan was to destroy them by dumping it at sea, but there was a snake among us who went feeding back to the Jones family, of course a drug so deadly it could kill was ideal for them so in the middle of the night they made their move and stole it. We never heard anything from them since, now this drug is pretty distinctive to spot it's bright blue powder baked into a tablet, so I'd spot it anywhere, so imagine my shock when I'm in town and Stacey trips over in front of me and the contents of her bag fly everywhere, and I spot a bag of blue powder, that's why she was my date I used her for information that obviously I didn't get because she had other intentions."
"She spiked me with that drug didn't she?"
I asked. He nodded giving me the confirmation I needed. "I got spiked because of one of your dodgy drug deals?" I couldn't believe this.
"You have to believe me when I say I had no clue she intended to slip one into your drink." Did I believe him? How was there any way I could trust him.
"Why did I not die in my sleep then?"
"Because luckily we were all there with you, jack managed to flush it all out of your system before it could cause any underlying problems."
"Do you think she intended to kill me?"
"I didn't," He said immediately. "But after your run in with Molly, I'm not so sure anymore."
"So why are they now after me? Wasn't being spiked enough." I muttered, Jesus what's a girl gotta go through.
"This is where I fucked up." He rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking at him closely, he had huge bags under his eyes he looked like he hadn't slept in days. "When Jack showed me your results, I was angry Tia you have to understand that, I also knew Stacey wouldn't be the kind of person big J deals with so then all signals pointed to her friend Molly, I assumed like me, big J had stepped down and his son had stepped up, I wasn't aware there were two sons though. Unfortunately I picked the wrong one which leads to today."
I digested the information slowly, trying to process it all quickly so I could take full advantage of this boy finally giving me some answers, what a rare occasion.
"You went for Liam." I stated eyes wide. "Have you killed him?" I whispered, oh god oh god what has he done.
"God Tia no, we just interrogated him a little." He admitted, but I didn't quite believe him. "We had to get answers."
"And did you find any?" I asked.
"No." He said deflated. "Jarred seems to think that he really is clueless on it all."
That would make sense, throughout our relationship Liam barely mentioned his brother.
"It wouldn't surprise me." I shrugged. "He never spoke nicely of his brother, he speaks very highly of his father though."
"That's why I'm worried. Liam would be the weak link in the family if he's in the dark about all of this, meaning that's the way to hurt them and I'm worried they're gonna want some form of payback, an equal measure, and the only thing I really give a shit about lately is you." My heart leaped. But he quickly changed topic slightly.
"So where is Liam now?"
"Basement of the gym." He muttered. Wow very creative boys. "Jarred's letting him go as we speak."
"So what happens next?" You could tell he didn't know the answer to that one.
"I don't know." He shook his head, "but they will retaliate Tia, I can promise that." I couldn't sit still, I was fidgeting all over the place I wasn't digesting this information well, my brain was showing me images of how my own funeral would look, it became very morbid very quickly.
Was this my life now? I had to wait for some crazy ass people to retaliate and it would most likely be in such a way to cause harm to me? fucking brilliant.
"Does Lydia know about any of this?" Surely she would of told me.
"No she doesn't. And you can't tell her." I looked at him as if he'd gone completely bonkers.
"You expect me to keep this from her?"
"Yes you have too." This wasn't fair she'll go mental when she finds out. "Tia, things I have told you I really shouldn't have, I've gave you an insight into my life that I don't want people knowing about. Jarred keeps her in the dark for her own safety. I involved you and look where it's gotten us." He did have a point didn't make me feel any less guiltier though.
I was kind of hoping this was all a dream and Lydia would wake me up any second and we'd laugh at how stupid this dream was, unfortunately I wasn't dreaming, this was my life and it was frankly more entertaining than the Kardashians.
"So we just wait for them to act?"
Is this how I'm supposed to act now? Constantly looking over my shoulder for bad guys, all because I couldn't keep away from my hot neighbour.
"Yes." He sighed, he grabbed my hands "I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you, I will protect you with my life." He said seriously.
There were still so many questions popping into my head at every given second, some bits were still unclear, it all sounded a little ridiculous.
"Hunter, excuse me for prying." I paused as he looked at me expectantly. "What kind of business have you took over from your dad? No bullshit just tell me."
"I don't think you want to know,"
"Oh believe me I do." I snapped.
"Not the nice office job kind." Was all he stated being very vague.
"The gym?" I asked.
"The gym is the headquarters yes, so you could say it's part of it, that's why it's members only." Made sense. Maybe now I'm clued up I can actually get inside.
He read my mind if his glare was anything to go by. So what I'd gathered to far was there was some family drama between the Jones's and the Blake's, they were both involved in some not so legal things, and they both liked to piss each other off.
I had one final question on my mind that I hoped would ease my mind of something that come to think of it has probably always been in the back of my mind since I met this guy.
"You're in a gang aren't you?"
He hesitated, which confirmed what I think I already knew all along.
"Yes." He looked down.
He was ashamed.
I took a step back from him.
I couldn't handle this right now, it was all too much.
"See I knew this is how you'd react that's why I didn't want to tell you."
"How else do you expect me to react? Y-you're a criminal." I spluttered as he tried to take a step towards me. "You're also a drug dealer."
How could I involve myself with that kind of behaviour? I'd slept in his bed, did he keep drugs there? Jesus Christ I could be arrested at any moment, my chest felt constricted as I began to panic internally, I'm going to jail for the rest of my life for something I had no clue about.
Then there's the fact he kidnapped Liam, although I despise him I couldn't bare to think about the torturous shit Hunter and Jarred had probably inflicted upon him.
"You're a monster."
"It's not like that," he pleaded, "it's so much more than that, you have to hear me out I'll explain everything."
I'd waited so long to hear him finally come clean and reveal those secrets I knew he was hiding but now I wasn't ready for the truth, I didn't want to know, maybe I shouldn't of stuck my nose in least it would be easier that way.
"I-I can't, I can't listen to it right now, I just need a minute." I turned away from him and began pacing along the embankment.
"Tia, please."
"No hunter," I stopped him, "I can't do this right now."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I want you to take me home."
"We have to talk about this." I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready to learn that side of him, my head felt a mess.
"And today is not that day." I was honest with him, "Hunter take me home." I didn't give him chance to say anything else as I was already making my way back to the car.
I needed space, I needed to distance myself from him for a little while, I had no idea what to think anymore. This wasn't how my life was supposed to go.
It scared me shitless.
*******************
Wow.
Ok things got a little deep here.
What are we all thinking? Do we still like Hunter or is Tia right, is he a monster?
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