《 CASPER》
I sat down on the cold metal chair, facing the thick glass as I met the eyes of my brother - a smile on his face. I picked up the phone that connected to the phone on his side.
"Damn, you've grown up." Were the first words out of his mouth.
I hadn't been able to stop and see him as much lately as I would like to. Always seemed to be on the road.
"Guess I have." I replied, laughing. His smile grew wider - but there was a bit of sadness in his eyes as he had to keep both of his hands up to his head in order to hold the phone, the handcuffs still attached to his wrists.
"I don't like that you have to come here to visit me, Cass." He said quietly.
"It's fine, bro. You're gonna get out of here and things will be better then."
"You know it's not gonna be that simple. You should know that by now."
It was true, I knew it. He had been in and out of jail for as long as I could remember. And every time he got out, he kept straight for a couple months and then went back to the gang and got caught all over again.
"Try harder. Next time you're out I won't be at home to pick up the pieces of mom and dad when you fuck up again."
He nodded, his eyes shifting down to the metal table. "You know what I'm looking forward to most, whenever I get out of here?"
"What?"
"Getting to come see you perform. I've never gotten to see you actually perform, Cass."
I smiled, "Well you'll have to make sure to stay out long enough for me to do a show in LA."
He smiled at me. "So any girlfriends?"
"Nah, not currently." I said, shrugging. "Been too busy with the group."
It had been a couple years since the X-Factor and my schedule hadn't gotten any less busy. If anything it had just gotten busier as the time had gone on.
Cade had already been out once since I had been on the X-Factor, but he was back in before I could get home to see him. Because I had been on tour at the time.
"Times up." The guard said behind Cade.
"Gotta go, kiddo. See you later." My brother said, hanging up the phone and standing up.
I placed the phone back in its holder and waved at Cade, earning a smile in return from him before I walked back out of the prison.
Alby was sitting in a rental car in the parking lot, waiting for me. "How'd things go?"
"Pretty good." I said, sitting down in the passengers side. "I'm just hoping he gets away from all the shit whenever he gets out."
Alby nodded, starting the car up. "The girls are at the house."
"What?" I asked, my head snapping in his direction.
"Yep." He said, driving off.
The second we pulled up into the driveway, he shut the car off and got out - walking up to the front door. I lagged behind him some, not sure about this whole get together.
I was used to Ally, Dinah, and Normani being around our house whenever we were all in town. And Melo normally went out to visit Camila. But Lauren being there threw me off, honestly.
I slowly walked through the door into the living room, and was met by multiple pairs of eyes.
"And look who it is, the resident bad boy of 8S2M." Dinah said, smirking over at me.
I smirked in return, "At your service." I said, laughing as I sat down between Dinah and Dougie.
Dinah wrapped an arm around me, pulling me in for a hug. "Missed you, asshole."
"Missed you too, DJ."
I looked across the room, meeting the bright green eyes across the room. She smiled over at me and I returned the smile. I immersed myself into the conversation that was started up around me.
It was about how we had all been doing, and what was going on in our lives. It was good to catch up with everyone. But I couldn't keep my gaze from drifting back to Lauren. I just couldn't do anything to stop it from happening.
"So, Cass - You dating anyone?" Camila asked, smiling over at me.
I shook my head. "Nah, me and my girlfriend broke up about a month ago. No big deal, it just didn't work out."
"She wasn't in this lifestyle, gave him too much shit about being gone all the time in my opinion." Alby said, shaking his head.
I rolled my eyes at Alby, I didn't exactly need all of my business out there for everyone in the room to know. Although I had to guess that the majority of the people in the room knew. Actually probably everyone except for Lauren had known all about the breakup.
《●》
I had gotten into the car as soon as I was off the phone. He was out early on good behavior, something I hadn't even been told was a possibility for him to get.
I knew I wouldn't be able to visit him often, especially not if he didn't get out of his old lifestyle. It wouldn't be a good look for a band member to be associated with a gang leader, even if he was my brother. Even if I was already more than just associated with the gang.
The second I had pulled up to the house, I cut the car off and got out - jogging up to the front door and using my key to open it. I had my arms wrapped around him the second I was inside the house.
"Hey bro." He said quietly, smile on his face when I released him from the hug.
"Hey." I replied, smiling back at him. "I didn't think you could get good behavior time."
"You doubting my ability to play by the rules?"
"Yeah, I am." I said, laughing. "You'll have to come meet all the guys before we have to go back out of town."
"Yeah definitely."
It had always been this way, for as long as I could remember. My family wasn't from the best area of LA. And by the time Cade was thirteen he had found a group to hang with. Soon after that, he was a full time member of the gang.
He had always told me that he would protect me at all costs, and make sure I didn't have to be in the gang. Even if it was what my young self wanted to be doing.
When he went to Juvie at fifteen, and I was ten, I struggled. I got by in the neighborhood cause all of his friends watched out for me. Then when he got back out, they told him to bring me along a lot more - that I needed to know what to do if he went back.
And he did go back. A lot. And the next time he got back out, he had changed and expected me to join the gang. For protection, he said that it would come in handy if something happened and he had to serve long time.
So being the loyal little brother who always looked up to Cade, I did. It only helped that they had a guy who was a good tattoo artist.
Then I was sixteen, Cade was in jail, and music had taken a bigger part of my life. And I auditioned for the X-Factor, and decided to do something with my life that didn't involve being a gang member.
Cade explained to me that he took a lot of shit for me dropping out to go pursue music, but that he had managed to calm things back down.
"Told them you were still riding with us. Just wanted to go do something different, provide for the family." He said, shrugging.
"Great." I said, forcing the word into a positive tone.
"Look I had to do something, Cass. You lucky I'm as respected as I am."
I nodded, "I know."
It was true, if Cade wasn't my brother - I would have been chewed up and spat out a long time ago. I would have never made it as far as I did. It was only cause he was my brother and was as well respected as he is that I made it.
《●》
Cade had been out for a couple days, and was back to the same old shit. But he was my brother and had risked a lot to keep me safe. So I wasn't gonna ditch him.
I walked up to the front door, Cade right behind me. I had already filled him in on how all the guys were.
"Bet you told them you didn't have any gang tattoos, eh?" He had said when I told him about Alby and Melo's questioning when I first met them.
I opened the front door and we walked into the house, finding everyone sitting in the den. Including the girls.
"So everybody, this is my brother Cade. Cade this is everyone. That's Alby, Dinah, Melo, Camila, Dougie, Lauren, Alfie, Kai, Normani, Bash, Ally, and Jules." I said, pointing out who was who.
"Nice to meet you all." He said, nodding.
And normal conversation picked back up after that, which I was desperately glad for. Because I didn't know if I could handle dealing with Cade talking about the gang in front of everyone.
《●》
I was sitting out by the pool, drinking a beer and looking out at the water while listening to Cade telling some story to Melo and Kai. I looked over when someone sat down beside me, finding Lauren sitting there.
"So Cade's out. That's gotta be nice having your brother back."
"Yeah, it's great. I'm just worried about him. He's gonna end up right back in prison, probably for something worse this time." I said, shrugging.
"You can't save everyone, Casp."
"I know. But he's my fucking brother, I thought maybe he'd see how I've turned things around and that he'd straighten up this time."
"Don't think he's going to?"
I shook my head. "Nah, he was acting like he was when I visited him back a couple weeks ago. But now that he's out, he's right back to being the same person that I've known since I was ten all over again."
She leant her head over onto my shoulder, scooting closer than she had been before. "I could tell when you walked in the door tonight that you weren't as happy as you should be having your brother out."
"I care about him, but it's so much easier to deal with him when he's locked up - as bad as that sounds. Cause then he's acting like he's actually going to try figuring his shit out."
"That makes sense, Cass. You're entitled to your thoughts about it being better for him not to be out."
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders hesitantly, "Thanks, Laur. I appreciate it."