Silence. That's all I heard, no one was saying anything. Luke and Caleb were just staring at me like I had grew another head, but honestly I would be doing the same thing.
"No..." Luke whispered looking down.
Caleb looked at Thomas for awhile before he actually spoke. "H-how long have you known?"
Caleb asked with a blank expression.
"Since the beginning. I was walking home from school when a car pulled up beside me, I was confused at first, but then my dad stepped out of the car and told me to get in. I didn't think much of it because it was my dad. There were a couple of men in the car with him and your dad was one of them, but I didn't know that at the time."
He stops, taking a deep breathe and then continues.
"My dad said it was something he wanted to pass down to me, like a family business. He said it was time that I started to learn about it. That's when I started to become distant, I had a lot on my mind at the time and I didn't want to get you guys involved, but then John found out I was friends with you guys and told me he was your father. He had planned to make both of you apart of the gang when you were older, but then he and your mom got divorced because she found out what he was planning and she was tired of all he was doing. So she threatened him saying if he came near you guys that she would go to the police and tell them everything."
He stopped giving everyone time to process what he was telling us, well except me I already knew how this story ended and how this whole thing began. Luke and Caleb looked shocked, like they didn't want to believe what he was saying, but they could tell he wasn't lying.
"He wanted me to get you guys into the gang, But I was against it believe it or not. I didn't want you guys to have the life that was instore for me so instead of getting you guys completely into the gang I gave you small jobs that couldn't really get you into much trouble or get you hurt. I thought you guys would push me away when I started having you do things for me, but you guys stayed. You were still my friends after everything I had done, that's when the gang wanted me to get you into the gang, but I knew you would never do it. So they made me force you to do stuff, made you do worse things, made me do worse things."
He says taking a deep breathe closing his eyes. I put my hand on his arm without really thinking about it. For some reason I felt bad, I knew that at heart he wasn't a bad guy he had just fallen into the wrong crowd. I seen Caleb tense up when I put my hand on his arm, but I didn't move it because I knew Caleb would understand when he heard the end of this story, plus it's not like Thomas had any feelings for me like that, or any girl for that matter.
He looked over at me and nodded his head to tell me he was fine.
"I didn't have a choose in the matter anymore, but just so you know if I did I would have never let you guys get involved. When you guys were starting to stop doing things I asked I got happy and thought you would be done for good even if it meant not being able to be your friend, but then John found out about Emma over here." He says nodding his head toward me.
"He figured that you guys would do anything to protect her, so he made me go after her. I tried to tell him that this wouldn't work, that he should just drop it, but he didn't."
Thomas looked down at his hands and fidgeted a little. "I-I'm sorry. I know you guys hate me" He says barely above a whisper.
I looked at the guys waiting for their reaction. Caleb just stood there for a minute and then walked out, which wasn't really a surprise. Luke on the other hand stayed there and so did Mason and Dylan.
"S-So you were forced into this?" Luke asked, not really showing any emotion on his face.
Thomas looked up from his hands and nodded his head, I could tell he felt bad after all these years. I thought Thomas was this big bad guy, but he actually has a heart. It was just hidden underneath all the years of suffering.
"We don't hate you. We're just disappointed, that's all." Mason said, finally speaking for the first time since Thomas came in.
"That's an understatement." Dylan said with a small sarcastic laugh.
Thomas didn't say anything, I mean he was their enemy for sometime, but then again he was their friend for longer.
"Why didn't you just come to us, tell us what was going on?" Luke says furrowing his eyebrows together.
"Because I knew you guys would try to help, I knew you would get involved." He says matter of factly.
Luke didn't say anything after that because he knew Thomas was right.
"You can still make it right, you can help us take down John." Mason says looking at Thomas hopefully.
Thomas kind of laughed, "I don't really have a choice. He already knows somethings up and once he finds out I was involved with it he'll come after me next."
"Good, but don't think you're off the hook for all those years." Dylan says narrowing his eyes at Thomas.
"I know." Thomas said with a faint smile forming on his lips. I could tell Thomas really missed them.
"Someone needs to go get Caleb, he has been gone for awhile." Luke says looking at everyone, but mainly at me.
I nodded my head, "I'll go get him, but it might take awhile."
I walked out of the kitchen to go find Caleb. When I didn't see him in the living room or his room, I knew where he had went. I walked out onto the back porch; our spot.
"You okay?" I asked walking over to where he was sitting and sat down next to him.
He was looking off, not really staring at anything. I could see anger in his eyes, but I could also see hurt and sadness. I already knew the answer to my question.
"You know he feels bad about what he did.I'm not making excesses for him, I'm just.....I'm just saying. I don't expect you to forgive him right away, I don't even expect you to like him anytime soon, but we kind of need his help, he is the only one who can even try and stop this."
I say looking at him trying to get him to say something.
He looks at me and then looks down, "I-I should have known.....i-it's my fault....everything is my fault."
He looked awful, he looked sad and hurt. It pained me to see him like this, it actually broke my heart.
I put my hand under his head lifting it up so he was looking at me, "Hey, look at me...this is not your fault. How were you supposed to know Thomas was doing this? How could you have know any of this?" I saying raising my voice slightly to get my point across, but not loud enough were it would seem like I was mad.
He shook his head,"I could have stopped it, I don't know how, but I could of...maybe then Luke, Mason, Dylan and conner wouldn't be in this mess."
I was getting mad. He couldn't possibly be a fault for this, he was the one who was keeping everyone safe, the one who had always done more of the dirty work so the others didn't have to get involved too much.
"Caleb, look at me. Do you really believe that you're to blame? You started this because you have a good heart, whether you believe me or not. You did this to try and help a friend. You need to stop blaming yourself. I know this isn't something you even thought of , but it's actually your dads, he did all of this, not you."
I say putting my hand on his cheek, rubbing my thumb over it. He was leaning into my hand, with his eyes closed.
"My mom left him because she wanted a better life for us, but we still got involved somehow. If she finds out she's going to be so disappointed..she'll hate me." He says opening his eyes, sadness feeling them.
"Caleb, your mom could never hate you. She did this for you and Luke, which means she wanted a better life for you, she wanted you to grow up right and have a good heart and you do. She might be a little shocked, but she's your mom. She will always love you. If I can understand then so will she."
"You're a good person Caleb. I promise." I leaned in closer, trying to get his attention.
He looked at me for a couple seconds and then before I knew what was happening his lips were on mine. I soon started to kiss back. It was a gentle kiss, soft and slow, not like last time. He pulled back with a slight smile on his face.
"I don't know what I would do without you buttercup." He says leaning his forehead against mine.
A big smile was plastered on my face,"I know, I know, I'm amazing." I say with a small laugh.
He lets out a small chuckle and then stands up reaching out his hand for me to grab.
"As much as I would love to stay out here with you, we need to go back in before they started looking for us. I need to get this figured out."
I gave him a small smile and took his hand. "Then let's go."
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Hey guys, thank you for reading my book, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
This chapter shoutout goes to steph772 thank you for reading my book.