I woke up the next morning alone. Dodger was gone from my side and the others were no longer in their beds. I sat up from the bed and stretched. Once i brought my arms back down i notice Dodgers red bandanna tied around my wrist. I looked down at it, last night ran threw my head making me smile. Bringing my wrist up i could smell his body spray.
Dropping my hand i stood and changed. I stepped outside to see if maybe they were outside, but they were no where to be seen. Going back inside i didnt really know what to do. Looking around everything seemed so large without anyone here. But looking around some more, it also was vary dirty. I sighed.
They dont clean vary well. But they are vary quick to run off with out me to get Oliver. I didnt know where the house was, or even what park of New York they went to. So, now that i couldnt stop thinking of everyone else and Oliver, i decided t keep my mind on something else.
I started to clean, but i started to regret that choice. There was so much trash, so much dust. Living on the streets looking threw trash for food seemed less hard compared to this. When it came to the others personal stuff, i didnt touch it. I left their stuff and beds alone. After a couple of hours it looked a lot better. Cleaner.
My heart jumped when i hear the others laughter comes. Hearing Dodger laughing and joking with the others, i felt my stomach turn, and suddenly i was worried about how i looked. I dusted down my cloths and patted down my hair, hoping i didnt look like more then a mess then normal. The door opened making me drop my hands down to my sides.
They were all smiling. "Hey it looks great in here." Rita smiled
"Thanks." i nodded.
"What about Tito and Miss 6 times national champion?" Dodge said joking with the other guys, making them all laugh. When he say me he smiled and walked close.
"You feeling alright?" he asked with a small smile. I smiled back and nodded. I gasped when he pulled his hand out from behind him.
"Oliver!" Oliver jumped into my arms and i hugged him close.
"See . . . i told you i'd get him back." Dodger smiled again. I looked up at him.
"Thank you Dodger." I looked past his to everyone else. "Thanks guys."
I pulled Oliver up to look at him. He looked . . . great. He was clean, nails clipped, fur brushed out. He Had a blue collar around his neck with a gold tag. Before i could do anything Oliver started to wiggle around. I put him onto the floor and he ran over to the stairs. He looked back at me an meowed.
"Oliver whats wrong?" i asked. He hoped up onto one of the steps and meowed again. He seemed like he wanted to leave, like he wanted to go back. I didnt know what to think, but my heart started to hurt.
"I . . . i think he wants to go back man." Tito said looking at Oliver.
"Nah." Dodger waved his hand off. But i could see in Oliver, that he really did want to leave, he wanted to go back to that house.
"We need to take him back." i say seeing Oliver trying to go further up the stirs.
"What?" Dodger got in front of me again. "We risked alot to get him out of there."
"I know but. . . He doesnt want to be here." i sighed. "He wants to go back." Dodger rubbed his eyes, i could see the frustration in him face. "I have to take him back."
"He must have gotten attached to the little girl." Franky says looking up at Rita.
"Little girl?" i sighed. "She must why he wants to leave. Better then living on the streets."
"But your not on the streets anymore." Dodger snapped looking down at me. He then squinted his eyes at me, like something just clicked. "Were you still planning on leaving?"
"Dodger-"
"You were." Anger was written all over his face. "What? This place isnt good enough for you?" He smirked, but this time it was in poor taste. "Dont want to mix with the rift-raff?" He scuffed.
"I didnt say that!" i looked at everyone's face. They didnt know what to really do. "I like you all, i do but-"
"I should have just let you walk past me." Dodger waved me off. "Let you mooch off someone else."
I felt my anger rise. "Excuse me?" I turned back to him.
"Thats all this is right?" He walked around me.
"How dare you!" I stepped up to him.
"We should have never taken him." Rita sighed. "We should have left him there."
"You want to leave so bad?" Dodger pointed to the stairs where Oliver was. "Theres the door."
I stood my ground against him. That was my plan. To leave once i knew the old man paid his dept. An he knew that. So why did it hurt so bad to say, "Why would i ever think about staying here with someone like you?" Once that left my lips, i wished i could take it back. The look on his face. Anger. Pain.
"Go. No one is stopping you." Dodger walked past me hitting his shoulder against mine.
"Hey Dodger man lighten up-"
"You lighten up." He snapped at Tito. He walked over to the chair. "If she doesnt like it here, then let her go." He sat in the chair not looking at anyone.
I looked up at everyone's faces. They all had sad looks, torn of what to do. I turned my back to them, blinking my tear back. Before i could walk to the stairs, Fagin had came down, picking up Oliver on his way down.
"Its hopeless. . ." He said. He looked so tiered. He walked right past everyone, looking like he was ready to cry. Dodger quickly got up from the chair letting Fagin sit down. "Whats this?" He asked feeling the collar on Oliver. "So thats where you've been . . . Doing pretty good for yourself. Your owner probably spends more money on cat nip then we do on food in a month. He's probably worried sick about ya." Hearing him say that made me feel much worse. "Only got his money to comfort him."
He was quiet for another moment before suddenly jumping out of the chair. Everyone jump and moved out the way as Fagin ran around looking for stuff. He had found an unused piece of paper and a pencil.
"Dear Mr. Vary rich-" He mumbled as he wrote. Leaning over i could see that it was a ransom note.
"Wait Fa-" Rita pulled me away from him. I looked at her confused.
"Dont." She told me.
"Rita she just a little girl."
"With rich parents. I've seen the inside of that house. They have the money to pay his debt. Much more even." She looked at me with pleading eyes. "Please . . . we dont have anymore time."
I sighed. I did want to make sure Fagin paid the money. And i guess Oliver would be going back once this is all done. "Alright. . ."
"Franky, go put this in their mail slot." Fagin say's passing the letter to him. "Dodger your coming with me." He then turned to me passing me Oliver. "You to Danni."
"Where are we going?" i asked.
"To see Sycks."
"No way." Dodger walked after Fagin. "She's not coming with us there."
Fagin looked up at him. "And why is that?" He crossed his arms at him.
"She'll get in the way."
"Screw you Dodger." i snap.
"Oh really?" He snapped back. I gritted my teeth at him. "Cause you almost did last night, remember?"
"Why would anyone even want to be with you, you ass hole?!"
"Better then being with trash like you." His words hurt alot more then i would have thought.
"Enough!" Fagin yelled. "Now i dont know whats gotten into you guys, but she's coming." Dodger looked back at Fagin. "End of discussion." Fagin then started to walk up to the stairs."Now lets go."
With out looked at Dodger i walked past him, wish i could reach out and hit him. Fagin and I got into the truck while Dodger sat in the back. The drive was quiet, and i was happy that Fagin didnt ask about Dodgers comment about last night.
He drove us to a large warehouse that just looked scary. Getting out of the car Fagin grabbed Oliver and safely put him in his pocket. He started to go over what he was going to say to Dodger. Alot of it sounded a bit much, but i just wanted to get far away from here. After going over it again, we fallowed him up to a back door, and he rang the little door bell.
"What, who is it?" a loud, deep voice called out, making Fagin jump. The little security camera moved pointing down at him. "Fagin, its you. What a surprise, why didnt you say so?"
"Funny question, but ah if your busy we could come back another time?" he said scared out of his mind.
"Dont be silly just push the door." There was a loud busing sound as Fagin started to pull at the door. "I said push!" the man yelled after a few seconds.
Fagin smiled at the camera and leaned on the door, making ti swing open. Dodger and I quickly fallowed after him. We ended up on an elevator, taking us down to the bottom floor. I slightly turned my head to get a look at Dodger, and he looked tense. Seeing his on edge like that made my nerves even worse. Once at the bottom we fallowed down the hallway and to another door. Fagin opened it slowly stepping inside.
"Fagin come in, ill be right with you." I hear.
"Stay behind me." Dodger whispers walking in front of me.
Walking inside a large man was on the phone behind a desk. He was older then Fagin, and much larger then anyone i ever knew. I felt my skin crawl when the man looked over at me. He had a bad vibe, and all i wanted to do was run. He slammed the phone down once he was dont and turned to Fagin.
"So Fagin, did you bring me something green to make me happy?" He asked with a large grin.
"Now Sycks i have this plan. Clean and simple." Fagin started.
The man ran a hand over his face. "What am i going to do with you?" Sycks asked him.
"Hey little red head." The twins came from behind us circling around to our front.
"Whats the girl here for?" Sycks asked looking over at me.
"See she has this cat and-"
"She's the one that got me." The blue tie smirked at me. I could see a little bruse from where i hit him.
"Is she now?" Sycks waved at me. "Let me get a look at ya'." Dodger stepped in front of me, only looking at the twins. This made Sycks chuckle, but when he looked back at Fagin his humor dropped. He stood from his desk. "Do you have my money?"
"N-No but i have this plan-"
"If you dont have my money then . . ." The man raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The twin ran at the man knocking him down to the ground.
Dodger and i with out a second though ran over. Dodger tackled one brother while i jumped on the other. I didnt know what my plan was to fight a full grown man, but i couldnt just stand by and let them attack Fagin. I wrapped my arm around the guys neck, squeezing as hard as i could. He stood up and tried to pull my arm from around his neck. I used all my strength to keep my arms around him. I could hear him chocking for air, and i thought i might of had an easy win. But he then ran at the wall slamming me into it. He did it a few times, making sure to hit my head each time. After the 4th time, my body went limb falling off his back.
My head hurt so bad i felt like i couldnt breath my self. I could hear the other guy gasp for air before turning to me. He Looked down at me as he took off his coat. "Wrong move red head." He pulled off his tie before kicking me in the side. "Now its my turn."
He came over me grabbing at my shirt. "Get off me!" i yelled swinging my hands at him, but cause of my head, i couldnt see straight. My head spined even more when he punched the side of my head.
He was quick to pin my hands down."Keep screaming." He told me. "Let Dodger hear you."
I started to kick at him as he started to pull at my belt. Fear started to build up inside me, feeling trapped. Unable to protect my self. Once he gotten my belt undone i felt him start to pull at my pants. But before he could get past that, Dodger grabbed him from behind pulling him off me. I scooted back blinking a few times for my sight to come back.
Once it did, i could see Dodger trying to fight off the twins. But once they were able to get the upper hand, Dodger didnt stand a chance. The were able to get him onto the ground, punching and kicking at him. Dodger couldnt even block their hits. "Stop it!" i yelled. And suddenly it did.
I looked over at Sycks, who was now holding Oliver in his hands. I Looked back at Dodger who was just laying there on the ground. I quickly ran over to him and dropped to my knee's by his side.
"Dodger?"
"I have a use for you yet Fagin." Sycks say's as the twins back away to the desk.
Fagin then dropped to my side. "Son?"
I reached down at Dodger tried to sit up. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into me to lean on. "Im proud of you Fagin. Your starting to think big." Sycks went on. "You got 12 hours." Oliver ran to us jumping back into Fagin's pocket. "And Fagin, this is your last chance."
Fagin and I helped Dodger off the ground and back outside to the truck with out a second glance. I hopped into the back with Dodger as Fagin started to the truck.
"Danni . . ." Dodger looked over at me from where he sat. "Did he-"
"Im fine." i cut him off. "Worry about your self." I reached over and touched the side of his head where a bit of blood was. He flinched at my touch. I pulled off his red bandanna that was still on my wrist and reached out again cleaning some of the blood.
Dodger reached his hand up and grabbed my hand seeing it shaking. He pulled me close so he was able to lean in my ear. "I was worried i couldnt get to Disoto in time." He said over the wind.
"Im more worried about you." I lean close to his ear.
"They hit like little girls." He joked making me chuckle. He pulled back a little an leaned his forehead against mine. We closed our eyes, just taking in each others presence. I felt safe again, and i was happy that he wanted me close again.