( Quick a/n: No. Xanthe isn't a replacement. You're making me go crazy with your comments lmao)
Chapter 2
"Stop!" I cry, jerking up in my seat and looking around.
Jax.
He was the one who was poking me. Which makes it harder for me to be both scared and mad.
"Told you it would work," He smirks to Kade, who just raises an eyebrow.
"Now you made her all grumpy," He mutters, and they both look over at me.
"I'm not grumpy," I mutter, glancing down. I look around the car and realize that Arsen and Xander have left.
"You're probably wondering where the other two went," Jax states as if reading my mind. I nod.
"We don't know either, they left after dropping us off home," Kade states bluntly, pointing out of the car window.
I look out.
And my mouth falls open.
Oh, boy!
Arsen's Jaguar is parked in the driveway of the coolest house in the world.
All you can see is the bright-yellow lights flooding out from the multiple glass windows, except for the few windows at the top, which are dim and dark.
Double glass doors on the left, right and middle, T-shaped pool a few meters away from the main doors with a path leading towards them, and I can't help but have a private stare off with the house.
Being in a gang gives you enough money to live in a house like this?! I'm even more frighteningly in awe.
"This house was made for me," I murmur, slowly getting out of the Jaguar.
Once I'm out, Jax snorts from my right and Kade scoffs from my left.
"Yeah, right," They both say simultaneously.
How can they be so chill about being in a gang? I doubt they're any older than me.
The last time I heard about mafias was in a movie, and those type of gangs were scary as hell.
Is this gang like that, or am I wrong and maybe this is just a huge college prank being played on me?
"Come on, Xanthe!" Jax shouts, and I shoot my head up to realize that they're already at the front of the house.
I dash towards them and quickly slide through the doors just as they shut behind me.
"Whoa," I breathe as I walk in.
The house has that cozy, comfy feeling to it, and since we're on the brink of winter, the warm air is a relief from the cold, September wind outside. And although I was in gang territory...it felt surprisingly good.
I felt like I'd come home.
"'Whoa' what?" Jax asks, and I snap my head towards him.
He literally just came out of nowhere.
"You guys have a maid," I laugh. Kade rolls his eyes, dropping down on the couch and taking the drink that the maid gave to him.
From a silver platter.
Yeah. So?
It's a silver platter, Xanthe.
Yeah, that's why I said, 'so'?
Ugh, you don't get it?
No.
"Excuse me, can I get you something to drink?" The maid says, coming up to me. I raise my eyebrows.
"Um...uh...no?" I kind-of ask, not wanting to be of any trouble.
I don't want to push my luck. They aren't locking me up, so I better not give them a reason to.
Then I remember what Arsen said. 'I'm not being kidnapped' apparently.
"So, where did Arsen and Xander go again?" I asked, sitting down next to Kade, who's already turned the huge flat-screen TV on.
Wow.
"He just texted me saying that he and Xander went to get the others," Jax answers, passing me a packet of gummy bears.
That was surprisingly nice...for a gang member.
"What do you mean, 'others'?" I ask.
"What do you mean?" Jax sings from my other side and I resist the urge to laugh silently.
"Well, there's me, Jax and Xander. And the members you haven't met, Noah, Ace, Ameena, and then Arsen," Kade smirks, and I gape at him.
He lost me at 'well'.
"We're pretty worldwide, by the way. Our branches are located in Canada, China, New York, Russia..." Jax says. I whip my head over to look at him.
"Who's from Russia?" I ask, and Kade and Jax look over at me.
"The boss," They both say.
Wait...what?
"So, Arsen is from Russia?" I ask.
I never would've guessed.
"What? No. Arsen may be this gang's leader, but he takes orders from the man upstairs, our real boss is the man who is in control of the whole entire mafia," Kade explains.
I'm surprised he's telling me all this.
"Dean - the big guy - was born in Russia, his whole family business originated there," Jax says.
I'm tempted to ask if I should even know this information but I keep my mouth shut instead.
I didn't know Killahead was a whole gosh dang Mafia.
"So, you have a girl in your gang?" I ask, as the maid comes up to me with chocolate cake, which I take immediately.
Actually, no, I don't take it.
I snatch it.
"Yeah, Ameena, but she's the only girl," Kade explains, and I raise an eyebrow, stuffing my face.
I don't know who bought it, or who made it, or how it was made, because this is by far the best chocolate cake in the whole GALAXY!
"I made it," A boy says, coming into our room, a few others in tow.
My mouth drops open. And Jax quickly shuts it before the chocolate cake comes out.
Thanks, Jax. I owe you a solid.
But I don't know what I'm surprised at the most. The fact that he can read my mind, or the fact that he's really good looking.
Is having good looks part of the whole job description of being a gang, or something?
I take a deep breath.
"Hi, I'm Xanthe, call me Xanny though," I greet them, getting up and shaking the guy's soft hand. He smiles at me, and his green eyes crinkle in the cutest way from the corners.
I think I just died for a few seconds.
"Hey, Xanny, I'm Noah," He shakes my hand back politely. I'm about to smile but stop myself.
"You didn't tell us to call you Xanny," Jax whines from the couch, and I roll my eyes and turn to him.
"Because you kidnapped me!" I tell him, and he nods his head with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Fair enough," He shrugs, and I turn back to the new arrivals.
"So, you must be the new 'victim', huh? Finally, another girl! I'm Ameena," Ameena says, and instead of shaking my outstretched hand, she gives me a huge bear hug, which makes me laugh.
Damn, she has the darkest hair I have ever seen. In fact, I've never seen a girl with hair as black as hers before.
"Don't get comfortable, I'm not much of a hugger," She mutters, and I laugh.
"I'm not much of anything. I doubt I should be telling you though, you're in a gang," I whisper the end bit in her ear as if it's a curse saying it out loud.
She laughs instead of being offended.
"I like her," She smiles, pointing at me and looking over at the last boy to enter, presumably Ace.
Dang, he's hotter than Noah. It's official. Noah is in my 'Cute As A Puppy' list, along with Kade and Jax, and Ace is in my 'Arsen Reed's Hotness' list, along with Xander, and, of course, Arsen.
But I still hate him, and I silently hate everyone else, too.
"You probably already know me, right?" Ace asks, holding out his hand to shake. He gives me a brief smile.
"Yeah, I do, those two explained it to me. They're kind of annoying," I say, gesturing to Jax and Kade. Ameena laughs along with Noah and Xander.
The two annoying ones just glare at me and I smile.
"Stop wasting time. I have to take her to my room because we all have something to discuss." Arsen commands, raising an eyebrow when he sees me looking at him.
"Why can't I join in with the discussion?" I ask.
Ameena snickers and Xander clears his throat in an 'uh-oh, messed with the wrong dude' kind of way.
"Because you're not supposed to join in. Now hurry up," Arsen glares at me, and I hurriedly follow him up the stairs before his glare burns me. His eyes are literally made up of fire.
He's an irritating human being. It wouldn't hurt to be polite once in a while. But he wouldn't know that, would he? His stone-cold, handsome face can only flare. And it's so annoying.
Once we're up, I see five doors lined up, three on one side, two on the other. I narrow my eyes.
Where am I going to sleep? Ooh, am I going to bunk in with Ameena? Yay!
"I don't think there's a spare room for me," I point out, and Arsen exhales.
"That's why you're sharing," He says coldly, walking over to the first door on my left, which is on the side where there are only two doors. Once again, I narrow my eyes.
"Who's rooms are these?" I ask, gesturing towards the door we're about to walk in through, and the other door next to it. Arsen runs a hand through his hair.
Dang nabbit, that gets my heart racing.
Ew, that was cheesier than cheese.
Be quiet.
"The one you're staying in is mine. The other one is Xander's," Arsen explains.
I freeze.
"I'm sharing the same room as you?" I ask.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, OH NO!
Arsen looks at me and nods his head, his face void of any emotions.
"No," I say, laughing shortly. Arsen glares at me.
"We're not going to be sharing the same beds. I'm having my bed, and you can sleep on my couch," He points towards it as we walk in.
I ignore the fact that this is his room and look around.
It's amazing.
Black and white, which was expected. And the couch he pointed towards was not a couch since he knows nothing about them. It was a chaise lounge, which explains why he thinks it's comfortable for me.
I smile.
I'm not being held hostage in a dark cellar, I'm not being tortured, or beaten, or tied, I'm getting a proper place to sleep on, and Arsen hasn't said anything bad to me - or anything at all.
"Wait!" I call as he's about to leave the room.
He pauses.
"Why am I allowed to know everything about your gang? Aren't people being kidnapped not supposed to know about their kidnappers?" I ask, genuinely curious. Arsen glares at me.
"You're not being kidnapped. If you were, I wouldn't have done it this way. The only reason I'm letting you know most things about us is because we're not letting you out of our sight." Arsen explains, his voice ice.
With that, he slams the door shut and leaves me shocked and alone in his surprisingly cold room.
Now I know what they mean by deafening silence.
So, if he didn't "kidnap" me, then why am I here?
You know, it wasn't as scary as it is now.
I get up to roam the room, not at all tired and wanting a distraction.
I walk up to his desk of drawers and open the top one, which has about one million photos in it. I pick up the first one that I see, and I smile.
There, in the photo, is Jax, Kade, Xander and Arsen, all smiling goofily at the camera.
Except, they look more like they're five or six, and that makes the picture even cuter. Actually, no.
Arsen makes the picture even cuter.
I stare at his smile for a while, wondering if he still can. Because anything close to a smile as gorgeous as that is his devilish glare. Which isn't even close to a smirk.
I eventually put it back and pick up another one, and this time, it's a photo of people I've never seen before gathered around Arsen, who's blowing out candles that say '12' on them.
I smile, put it back and pick up another.
It's a picture from the same day, on his twelfth birthday, except there are a man and woman hugging him from either side, and the young, handsome Arsen is happily laughing at the camera lens. And what makes it even cuter is that the man and woman are his parents.
Or, at least they look like his parents. So I'm guessing they are. Besides, they look too young to be grandparents.
Another picture is of him and his dad. He looks about fourteen in this, and they're both holding huge fishes in their hands.
He doesn't look that happy with his dad, as he did in the picture with both of his parents in it.
Then I remember what he said in the car on the way here.
He's the gang leader because his dad died. I hadn't taken it into much consideration since Arsen's stone-cold face showed that he didn't care.
But...did he actually?
All of a sudden, I notice a photo in the back corner of his drawer, almost as if it's purposely been pushed that back. I pick it up.
As soon as I see the picture, I gasp, my whole body freezing over.
Xena Jacox.
My sister.
Standing next to Arsen Reed, who has his arm draped loosely around her neck. She's laughing at something, and Arsen's amber eyes are glinting down at her, something visible in them.
A sharp feeling flashes through my heart. I drop the photo into the drawer and slam it shut.
My sister...knew him? Were they friends before she died? Or, more importantly;
Did they have something going on?
I fall onto my chaise lounge, and try my hardest to stop the tears.
We were so close, my sister and I. How come she never told me?
We were so close.
After a while of laying there and thinking about how my sister never told me the biggest secret she could've ever kept from me, I slowly fall asleep, finally letting the tears fall from the grief of losing my closest sibling.
How long had she known Arsen? And Arsen knew my sister?!
They clearly looked comfortable in that picture, so, if he knew my sister, then he most certainly knew me.
But, what made my heart hurt, even more, was the fact that the picture looked like it was recent.
Almost as if it were took a few days after Xena was kidnapped.
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2487 words.
Sorry for the, uh, boring...ness. Like I said before, in a few chapters, you'll be wanting more - lol, hopefully.
Right now, I'm just getting the story together, so please, people, hang in there!
Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading!!! Remember to...
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