Chapter 26 - Even If Everything Breaks
"So.."
"Law, huh?"
"Okay, you guys can stop with the teasing already." I mutter, face burning. I turn to glare at Rain and Vern only to see their wicked smirks. Sometimes I regret having best friends.
Ever since I told them that I just had my first kiss, Rain and Vern have been non-stop verbally abusing my ears with constant teasing. It got to the point where the whole mob, The Family, knows about it. Noah and Jack even confronted me about it for fuck's sake! Not to mention, that my mafia members have been chasing after me for juicy details (that includes my uncles).
I should have expected this when I told them. I won't be surprised if the whole alliance chases after me by the end of this week.
It has been a few days since the fated kiss- as everyone loves to call it- and I haven't met Law ever since. I'm even starting to think that the kisses he gave me that night was just a fluke.
And that hurts like fuck every time I think about it so I refrain over-thinking about it.. most of the time.
"Can we please get to the meeting? The mafia's at a crisis here." I whine, stomping my foot childishly.
Rhiannon laughs. "We are heading to the meeting. We're just teasing you along the way. I bet Law was such a good kisser."
Vern scoffs loudly, waving her hand at Rain accusingly. "Says the girl who kissed said person's best friend 3 times and loved it."
"What?" Rhiannon gasps in feign shock and poked-shoved Vern on the arm. "A girl who had her boobs exposed and pressed against the boy she's dating has no right to call me that."
"We're not dating! This is the hundredth time I'm telling you this!"
"But you guys are 'on the way'." Rhiannon smirks when Vern flushes a bright red color,an obvious contrast against her pale skin. Rhiannon flips her steel blue hair, the tattooed letters 'UNITY' on each knuckle showing. "Plus, I'm not ashamed to say that I really did love kissing Dom. He has a really skillful tongue, I should say."
I raise a brow at Rain with a smirk. "You're planning on kissing him again, aren't you?"
"Plan's already underway. I'm not going to be the one crawling to him. Pfft, I'm too expensive for that." She scoffs. "He's going to be the one begging for another kiss from me."
"You're too much sometimes." I joke, leaving them behind and walking away. I step into the elevator and hover my hand over the buttons, frowning at them. "Coming or what?" They stumble to their feet and join me in the lift as I press on a button. The elevator roars to life and after a slight jerk, it finally heads down with a few screeches here and there.
It was silent until Vern decides to speak up.
"So when was the last time you kissed Law?"
"Four days ago."
"And when was the last time you met him?"
I sigh, scowling at a focused Vern, seeing her point in the mini-interview. "Four days ago." I tuck my hands into the pockets of my hoodie and stare back at my reflection on the wall of the elevator. "Its the same for you guys too, isn't it?"
Rain chuckles bitterly. "Yep. Last time I saw the ass was at the party."
"Same case over here."
"Bastards just disappear without telling us." I smirk at the irony of our statements although it hurts. "That's some pretty fucked up shit right there." I look up at the elevator's floor number and narrow my eyes before looking back at the two girls behind me. "Gear up, girls. Bad shit coming right up."
We then pull our hoods up, shadowing the top parts of our faces. I adjust the bandanna around my neck and settle it on my nose to cover the lower part of my face and pull on the heavy chain necklace around my neck. Rain puts on a pair of sunglasses and wraps her scarf tighter, tightening her biker gloves at the same time. Vern zips open her jacket halfway to show the sports bra she's wearing underneath and tug a bit at her black cap while messing around with the wristbands around her wrists.
When going to the underworld, its best if you hide everything necessary (like mob tattoos, hair color, eyes or gang accessories. Especially if you're on the wanted list) so that no one recognizes you or dress the exact opposite of who you really are (for example if you're someone who usually dresses nicely, they would dress horribly to the underground).
The elevator dings and opens, the sight of disguised passersby filling the total space of the underworld. We step out, my eyes instantly catching the masked glints of hidden weapons under coats and skirts, and the staring eyes of the people passing by. Suspicion is normal down here. You can't trust simply in the underground.
Sharp observation is key if you want to survive in the dark side of the plastic world.
We walk forward, our boots sounding on the tiled marble floors. When someone thinks of the underworld, they would usually think dirty, poverty or messed up when its the exact opposite. With high rollers being mafia leaders and big names wanted on the hot list, the underground is filthy rich, squeaky clean, luxurious and systematic.
Rain's voice comes on, my bluetooth earpiece vibrating a bit. "Its fucking packed nowadays."
Privacy and precaution is also important here. You won't want someone unwanted to eavesdrop on what you're saying to one another which is why people usually use earpieces when they visit the underground.
"Seems like the underworld is the new black now."
I chuckle. "You got that right, Vern." I glance at a bunch of young thugs who seemed to be around 15 to 19 heading our way. They're definitely new and don't know anything since they weren't wearing disguises and acting like big shots. Definitely a stupid move. "Everyone wants a taste of a bad job now. It pays way more than surface careers."
"Fastest way to climb up the food chain, huh?" Rain suggests, narrowing her eyes at the group. We stop when they finally approach, their cheap weapons on show. They're also showing off their gold jewelry and cash- because its poking out from under their pockets. Its also obvious that they don't know anything about true fighting. Fights down here usually end up with someone getting sent to the hospital and your fists all bloody.
"I didn't expect to see such beautiful girls here." One of them slurs, eyeing each one of us.
"I bet you bad ladies are bad in bed as well. How about we go back to our hideout?"
Rain steps forward. "Piss off. We've got work to do."
They cackle maniacally. "And what is that? Whoring around?" They continue to laugh like crazy, I could see Rain's eye twitching from where I was standing.
Vern clicks her tongue in annoyance. "Move out of the way kids. You don't want to mess with the big guys."
One of them was about to retort back when he suddenly narrows his eyes at me. He then glances to the huge ass hanging screen where the lists were being shown before staring back at me. "Hey, you look a bit like that girl who's number one on the Wanted List." He steps forward and slicks his tongue out in a creepy way super close to my face. "You won't mind if I call you Wrath, would you? I bet you would cost just as much as that girl on the board of th-"
"Now that's going too far." Rain hisses, stepping towards the guy and punching him right on the nose. He screams and stumbles back, pressing his hand to his now bloody nose with widened eyes.
Vern swiftly flicks out her double handguns from under her jacket and holding them in both hands. Rain cracks her knuckles menacingly and stares them down. "Now fuck off, you dumb fucks, before I send each of you back to Jesus."
Vern makes the threat clearer by shooting the floor a few inches away from the guy closest to her and aiming the gun's hot barrel at the middle of his forehead. "Did you get what she was trying to say, boys?" Vern asks sweetly, lacing her voice with venom. "On your knees, little shits." She narrows her eyes wickedly, a crazed smile finding its way onto her lips. "Or I blow you cunts' heads off."
They instantly obey what Vern said, getting on their knees at lightning speed. Especially when Rain whipped out her P90. "You're lucky my assault rifle isn't here. I would have enjoyed wasting my ammunition on you guys." She smiles, opening her jacket with one hand to show the dozen ammo chains and guns underneath. "Or maybe you guys want these guns instead."
"That's enough, guys. They're scared shitless already." I announce, making them both lower their guns slightly. I move closer to the boys and smile. "It was a rookie mistake. But I'm sure you won't mind if I took this." I say as I gently take every shiny valuable that was showcased on the guy in front of me who was sweating and looked like he was about to cry. "Thank you."
I motion to Rain and Vern and they just nod, putting back their guns to its original place. We were about to leave when I suddenly remembered something. I retraced back a few steps until I was in front of the boy with the bloody nose. The one who had approached me.
"Also, think twice next time, sweetie." I say sickly sweet, lowering my bandanna to show them my face. They gasp and gawk when they realize the person they had jokingly mocked was indeed me. I smirk, adjusting the cloth again before finally leaving.
Rhiannon chuckles. "That's putting too much pressure onto them, boss."
"They needed it." I say with a small smile. "You need to think twice before wanting to join this dark place. In our cases, we weren't even given a choice." Rhiannon and Vern glance at me before nodding.
It was true though- we were forced into this by our family. Merely because of our bloodline. Its tougher on Vern and I because we're next to the throne.
We walked at a fast pace towards the staircase at the opposite side of the underground. As we passed through the large space between two buildings, my blood froze as I felt a familiar stinging and intense gaze- a bit similar to that of my father's super sharp eyes. I turn my head a little, peering from the corner of my eye to see three guys in disguise standing to the side and watching us. The one observing me blinks before his eyes widened only slightly as recognition crossed it.
It doesn't take a fool to know who these three were.
So this was where they have been the past 4 days, huh?
I paid no heed to them, pretending like they were mere strangers and just continued forth. I look over to both Rain and Vern to see that they also had undoubtedly realized who they were. Rain grins as Vern smirks.
"Fucking idiots, that's what they are."
We walk fast but it was hard to not notice and trying our best to resist the urge to turn around to look at the three guys now stalking us. They're really fucking stalking us. That surely means that they also realized who the three of us are.
The three of us share a look before finally nodding- we have to lose them. They can't possibly follow us. Noah and Jack would be at the front door expecting us and if they followed, they would see and finally realize what's going on. That would just throw all of my effort of staying hidden out the window.
I took a deep breath and suddenly whistled at a very high-pitch, Vern instantly throwing two smoke grenades behind us and Rain doing the same but with a flashbang. The three guys step back and cover their eyes at the blinding shock as the rest of us immediately escape through a tunnel that directly leads to several paths- one of them leading to the staircase we're heading for from the beginning.
We move fast but at the same time, making sure our footsteps didn't cause a lot of sound. It was fine the first few moments but when we reached the split paths, we began to hear quick footsteps behind us.
"Shit, that's a goddamn fast recovery." Vern curses, pushing us down our path in a hurry. She picks a stone up and throws it the opposite way, the stone hitting the wall of a different path- trying to deceive them by making sounds.
We race down the staircase and used the long hidden way and when we were totally positive that they're already off our asses, we finally headed for where our meeting's being held. As we approach the building, Jack and Noah emerged from the shadows and crosses their arms at us.
"What took you guys so long?"
Rain scowls and curses under her breath. "Fucking hurdles."
"Hurdles?" Noah questions.
I look over my shoulder to see no one and finally breath out a sigh of relief. "Nothing. Just some distractions along the way. Now let's get inside." I say, patting Noah on the chest and walking pass them into the rundown coliseum.
Jack lets out a single laugh in one breath before the pushing the rest in. "Follow what the lady boss say, retards."
I grin back at them, looking straight ahead into the dark tunnel- thinking back to when I caught his eye a few moments ago. He definitely saw what ensued between us and the gang of rookies but I'm very certain that he did not see me show my face to the boys as my back was facing them. I'm sure it was nothing-
But I can't help but think that Law's small smirk that he sent my way in that split second meant something.
**
I take a deep breath, appreciating just how beautiful and peaceful the blue sky looked. The grass swayed softly, tickling me a bit on the cheeks as I lay down under the sun. I close my eyes and just enjoy myself- it has been a while since I had some time to myself.
I'm at a large grass field by a small river, practicing my shooting at first but I don't know how or when but my training somehow switched to relaxing in the warm sun.
I loosen my grip on the Ak-47 in my hand, watching a few birds fly by. After a while, I finally sit up and stretch a bit before staring at the mess I've made. In front of me is a weapon's canvas with a LOT of different guns and ammunition on it. During my short training, I managed to mess up the neat arrangements and now the guns are all over the place.
I sigh, viewing the many trees that now have bullet holes in them. I'm just a threat to nature now. Great.
The reason I chose this place was because it was quite far from the main town. Here, its quiet and there's the occasional cars passing by but its fine- there's a huge cemetery just a little bit down the road anyway. This green clearing is directly beside the cemetery on its left-hand side. Well, not really directly beside it but yeah, its still beside the graveyard. That's how I found this place after visiting my father's grave multiple times.
I look back, seeing my car parked by the road and a huge wheat and corn field across the road. This clearing is a bit hidden by the surrounding trees but you could still see what's going on from both sides if you looked close enough.
I've always practiced my gunning here- I feel more focused and able to aim better. Maybe its because its close to where my father rests now. Dad used to teach me how to shoot which was why this place is the perfect place for it- I feel like my Dad's present to watch me practice. But of course, I'm not the only person who knows of this place. There's a bunch of other people and I sometimes bump into some but occasionally, its empty and reserved for me to train.
I smile at the thought of the possibility of Dad actually being here with me, resting my arm over my eyes to rest. Possibly a few or ten minutes passed or maybe even half an hour went by with me just laying there in the silence. I don't know exactly how long it was but I supposed I fell asleep mid-way.
Until I was disturbed.
"Fancy meeting you here."
I shriek in surprise, jumping up and hitting my forehead against the person's head. I groan in pain but pause when I hear the person probably groaning in even more pain than me. "Oh God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- Law?"
"That's one interesting way of saying 'hey' back to someone you haven't met in a while, hot-stuff." He says while moaning as he presses his hand to his temple. "You have a steel head or something? This fucking hurts." When I don't answer, he opens his eye only to blink in surprise at me. "Ava?"
I bite on my bottom lip before pouncing onto him until he fell to the ground, hugging him tight. "Where were you? Its been six days! Its fucking Friday afternoon now!" I unwillingly sob into his chest, whimpering slightly as I grip onto his shirt. "I missed you, idiot."
Law chuckles, hugging me back just as tight but sitting up and pulling me onto his lap. "I'm sorry. I was a jerk for not telling you beforehand. I had some business to attend to." He caresses my back a few times, letting me tear up just a bit more. "I missed you too, babe."
Law examines me, wiping my tears off with his thumb. I rest my head on his chest, closing my eyes and hearing the sounds of his steady rhythmic heartbeats. It was just quiet for a while before I open back my eyes and frown at him. "Jerk."
Law fake gasps in amusement while flailing his arms out. "What?"
"You were gone for so long. I can't believe I actually missed your daily sex jokes." I whine, remembering how tough it was for me to cope with him not being there. I'm just so used to him being beside me and making me happy that I actually forgot how my life was before him.
I've missed him- everything about him. I miss his stares, I miss his constant teasing, I miss his flirting ways, I miss his adorable self, I miss his cold side- just everything! His soft hair, his steel eyes- even his lips now. I can't stop thinking about them since our last kiss.
"See? I knew you loved them." Law teases. "What can I do to have you forgive me, princess?"
I tap my chin a few times in actual deep thought, nothing coming into my mind. I finally shrug. "I don't know. I honestly don't know. Just you being here is enough, I guess."
"No, no, that can't do." He says, shaking his head. He pushes me onto the grass, surprising me even more when he hovers over me- balancing himself with his forearms on either side of my head. His dog tag dangles down, the cold metal touching my neck and he was dangerously close to me with him resting between my thighs. He smirks down at me, eyes gleaming as I try my best to fight back my blush. "What about a kiss then?" He smirk-grins, brushing his lips on mine. "Besides, I have to get back all those kisses I've missed in the past 6 days."
I tilt my head to the side and smile. "Do your best then, sweetheart."
He grins, leaning forward and capturing my lips. My mind goes into a frenzy like how it was almost a week ago when he kissed me multiple times that night. I reach my hands up and wrap them around his neck, my hand gently tugging at the hair on the back of his head. Law lets out a low growl from the back of his throat and deepens the kiss even more, going a bit aggressive as he bites my bottom lip. My legs naturally folded around his strong, muscular waist -pulling him closer to me.
I could literally feel the smirk on Law's lips.
There was something possessive about the way Law's lips softly caressed against mine. Law was the type whose kissing could turn from aggressive to tender real quick- exactly like how he really is. He tastes of mint this time and a bit sweet too- pairing up with that intoxicating scent of his. Each flick of his tongue, every small bite or nibble, every soft sucking- it was damn sweet torture. A torture I wouldn't mind going through everyday.
Law eventually pulls away when he finally sensed that I was already short of breath. He smirks, his lips fuller and redder than before. "Not bad for someone who just started kissing a week ago."
I frown. "Are you saying it was bad before?"
"No, I'm not. I'm just saying that I'm impressed with how fast your kissing skills are improving." Law slowly bites his bottom lip, my eyes watching the motion in awe. Damn, how does one make lip biting so innocent yet so sexy? "I could kiss you all day. If only oxygen wasn't a problem."
I smile, my breathing still a bit ragged and shaky. "I should be the one impressed. Has anyone told you that you're a really amazing kisser?"
"Are you saying this after comparing my kiss to someone else's? Because if you did, I'm proud then." He answers smugly.
I scoff. "I just have a lot of trouble catching up to your pace." I purse my lips and I caught Law's eyes looking down at them. "You're thinking about kissing me again, aren't you?"
"You know me so well." Law presses his lips onto mine but this time, Law was kissing me very softly- like the kiss wasn't even there. His tongue flicked my lips once and that was all it needed to have me opening my mouth. Just like that, Law was back to deepening the kiss- this time, being demanding. Its like he's marking me as his with only a kiss. Law pull away abruptly and grins at me- not even looking breathless whereas I look like I just ran a marathon.
Kissing skills right there.
"I love how you look after kissing." Law comments, catching my attention. "You always look so flushed, I'm in love with it." His voice went low and husky and it really sent shivers down my spine. Oh gosh, his voice is heaven. Law turns his head towards the assortment of guns beside us and hums in amusement. "You've been enjoying yourself." He states innocently like he definitely did not just participate in an intense make-out session.
"I was just practicing my gunning. I just felt lik- oh God!"
Law smirks, just resuming his light kisses down my neck like it was nothing. "Keep going." He murmurs against my skin, goosebumps raising as he peers up at me innocently. He gets entertained by me really fast like I'm his personal entertainer.
"I can't talk if you're doi- Law!"
Law places one last kiss onto my neck before climbing back up and pecking my lips. "Yes?"
"Your acting is really good for someone who's anything but innocent." I say in a flat tone. This only caused his grin to grow wider. He kisses me again but only for a short second before breaking away. "So what're your plans after this?"
Law stays silent, twirling a lock of my hair around his finger. He looks at me and back at the hair between his fingers before smiling. "I guess we see where it goes from here."
"So you won't mind even if everything gets ruined after this?"
Law laughs, his eyes lighting up with pure adoration towards me before kissing my forehead tenderly.
"Babe, even if everything breaks, I'll still fight my way back to you."