Chapter 4
"Xanthe, are you awake?" I heard a feminine voice call, and I groan, sitting up slowly.
"Ameena," I muttered, giving her my warmest smile with my eyes slanted.
It's super bright.
Ameena laughs and shakes her head at me, her long, black hair waving slightly. I sigh.
"Has anyone ever told you your hair is absolutely awesome? Or did you just dye it?" I ask teasingly, poking her side. She snorts.
"I've never tried to dye my hair another colour, my dad would've killed me."
I narrow my eyes at her.
"Why?" I ask, and she waves it off as if it's nothing.
"Oh, you know, desi parents," She laughs, rolling her eyes.
"Wait, I don't get it. What does desi mean?" I ask, and Ameena bursts out laughing.
"It's what a South Asian would call another South Asian, sort of," Ameena explains, shrugging.
"Ohhhhhhh," I nod my head. I look at her again. "You're...?"
"I was born in Pakistan, but we moved to Alaska when I was three and a half," She says.
Suddenly, Ameena's eyes light up.
"Hey! How about we get to know each other better? I know you're meant to be a hostage or whatever, but since the boys aren't home, I guess I can take you to the local mall. We can have a girl's outing," Ameena says, and I laugh.
Finally. I've been waiting for this moment to come since...I was born.
"I thought you hated malls," I point out, as I get up and into the bathroom. Ameena snorts.
"I do. But that's only because I have to go alone and the boys hate going to the mall. I mean, seriously, if they hate shopping so much, then where do they get their clothes from?" Ameena asks incredulously, and I burst out laughing.
"I know right! I swear, it's a miracle. Now shoo, unless you want to watch me shower," I laugh, making Ameena scrunch up her nose in an adorable way and rush out of the bathroom dramatically. I snort.
Once I've undressed and hopped into the shower, the nice, warm water hits me like a wave, and the familiar smell of Arsen's cologne almost lulls me into a deep trance. I completely lose track of the time.
Until I hear banging coming from the bathroom door.
"Xanthe, hurry! If you haven't died in there yet, then I'll let you know that you've been in there for thirty-five minutes! Aren't you prune by now?!" Ameena shouts from the other side of the door, and my eyes widen.
Oh, man, really? That's nowhere close to my limit. I was going for two hours straight in the shower.
Kidding.
I decide to take Ameena's advice and hurriedly come out of the shower since I was turning into a grandma, courtesy to Ameena for pointing that out so kindly.
Once I'm dressed, I rush down the stairs and find Ameena eating pancakes on the kitchen counter and talking to a different looking maid than the one I saw yesterday. The maid scurries off and Ameena waves at me.
"Had a nice shower?" She asks, smirking, and I laugh.
"Yes, I did," I tell her, stuffing the huge pancake all into my mouth.
Ameena laughs at how ridiculous I look.
"Whoever finishes their breakfast first, is the queen of everything," She says.
I look at her as if she's bogus.
"You wanna bet?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. She nods smugly, and this time, it's my turn to smirk. "Three, two, one...GO!"
We both stuff our mouths with huge slices of pancake. I take mine two at a time, focusing on my pancake only since looking at how much she's got left will distract me.
"DONE!" Ameena shrieks and I swallow my last bite, throwing my fork down in mock aggravation.
"God, dang it! I so thought I was gonna win," I sigh. Ameena shakes her head, laughing.
"Let's go," She says, racing me to the front doors.
Just as we're about to open them, they're thrown back for us. But, unfortunately, there are five boys standing there, all looking flushed and tired.
"Where are you guys going?" Ace asks curiously, and Ameena and I share a look.
"Pool," I quickly say.
"Beach," She says at the same time.
Before Ameena can say anything, I quickly speak.
"Where's Arsen?" I ask the boys.
"He had something to do...and since you girls are already ready, you're gonna have to ditch your plans for the pool and--" Noah's cute off by Jax.
"They're going to the beach, dude," He points out, and Noah glares at him in turn.
"You're going to have to ditch your plans for the beach and come with us. There's something we have to do," Noah carries on, with a serious expression on his usually soft face.
I share a look with Ameena and we both raise an eyebrow simultaneously.
"Yo!" Kade shouts from the car that's parked out front, and we quickly rush over to Noah's Mercedes.
If Arsen's Jaguar isn't here, then he's definitely gone somewhere. Besides, he's the type of person who'd never lend his car to another person.
Who am I kidding? He's a gang leader! Obviously, he wouldn't share his car.
I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that right now, I'm going to be sitting in a car with a gang.
"We're not all going to fit in," I tell them cautiously as we walk over to the car, and Jax smirks.
"I guess Ameena'll have to sit on my lap, then," Jax winks at her, who sticks her tongue out at him. Xander hits Jax up the back of his head and looks over at me.
"Come on, Xanny, you can share with me," He points over to his Land Rover Defender and I smile thankfully at him.
I get in shotgun. Xander gets in on the driver's seat.
"So, where are we going?" I ask as Xander leads the way, Noah's car in the back follows, and an extra car follows them.
Must be back up. Or bodyguards.
"You'll find out," Xander answers sneakily. I just smile slightly.
Is this the part where they do to me what they did to Xena?
The rest of the drive is in complete silence. Comfortable silence.
By the time we reach wherever we're meant to go, I'm already tired of sitting down. I'm literally jumping in my seat to get out.
"I didn't realize how much I hate sitting," I laugh, and he snorts, shaking his head.
"Xanny, it's literally been fifteen minutes, are you that impatient?" He asks.
"I'm not impatient," I say and Xander smirks at me.
Once we're parked in this random abandoned parking lot, he starts to do everything slowly.
I know what he's doing. I'm just not going to give in.
Five seconds...
...ten seconds...
...fifteen seconds...
...twenty--
"Xander!" I cry, but not as harshly, in case he pulls a gun at me or something. Instead, he laughs out loud.
"Told you," He chuckles, smirking. I shake my head and get out of the car, sighing with relief because I can finally stretch my aching legs.
"You seem happy," Kade says to me as the others also get out of their car.
Ameena is shoving Jax for saying something. Noah and Ace are arguing about something, and Xander has walked over to the third car and is talking to the two guards who tagged along.
"Yeah, I can finally stand," I sigh. Kade snorts.
"Right. Who knew sitting could be such hard work?" He mocks, giving me a pointed look. I laugh.
"Come on, Xanny, unless you want to camp out here for tonight," Xander says suddenly.
I turn and follow him towards the ramshackle building that the others are already walking to.
I bet you're scared.
No, I'm not.
You are.
Am not.
Shut up.
You shut up.
Gladly.
"What is this place?" I ask, looking around and trying to figure out the dark, gloomy hallways and endless tunnels.
"It's a haunted house," Xander replies in a deep voice.
I gasp a little as I hear loud booms of voices. As if they're shouting at each other.
"Xander, where are the others?" I ask him, and he moves a finger to his mouth to tell me to be quiet and points toward the shadows of the five in front of us.
I breathe out a sigh of relief and continue to go wherever they're going.
"Guys!" I hear Ameena hiss and we look to our left to see her crouching behind a huge boulder, everyone else waving us over to hide.
I rush over to them and crouch down next to Ameena, realizing a second later that they're waiting for someone.
Arsen, probably.
After a while of just leaning there, I hear Xander clear his throat.
"Dude, can you not?" He hisses, probably to Jax who's sitting next to him.
"I didn't do it, I swear!" Jax hisses back.
Ameena and I are confused for a second until the smell hits us.
Ew, gross.
"Get your fucking feet out of my face!" Ace hisses, probably to Xander who growls back.
"How the hell are my feet in your face, Ace?" He bites back. Before anyone can utter a word, Ameena inhales.
"If you guys don't shut your mouths within the next two seconds I will throw you to the coyotes that they probably have for night-watching!" She whisper-shouts so firmly I cover my mouth to stop from laughing.
The guys shut up, though.
"What's taking him so long?" I hear Noah whisper after a while. No one speaks, so I'm assuming somebody shrugged to answer his question.
We wait.
And we wait.
...and we wait.
When the loud voices of the men slowly subside, we hear footsteps hurrying towards us. We all hold our breaths as the person comes closer.
The footsteps stop.
"What are you all doing?"
It's Arsen, and everyone immediately gets up, dusting themselves clean. Jax casually walks up to Ameena and drapes an arm around her shoulder, Kade's standing next to him, and Ace and Xander are glaring at each other.
"We were waiting for you, Arsen, you do realize we're in someone else's territory here, right?" Noah asks, coming forward to stand next to me.
Arsen's eyes flash between him and me very briefly before the amber turns back to Noah.
"Yeah, I realized. I had a deal with this man and he didn't keep it. I don't like it when I don't get what I want," Arsen growls, his voice cold and icy in the even colder air.
I swallow a little as he glares intensely at Noah, who shrugs.
"Boss, meddling with these types of people is dangerous," He points out.
"Who cares? The old man will probably start going to church after seeing Arsen," Jax snorts, fist-bumping Kade who laughs. Ameena just rolls her eyes.
"Arsen presumably had a good reason for doing this," She says, coming up to Noah and giving him a gentle look.
I narrow my eyes, realizing that I just heard something.
Suddenly, Arsen shushes everyone which stops them from speaking. Obviously.
"Did you hear that?" He asks, looking over at Xander. He nods his head, and they both look at each other for a while.
Why are they looking at each other like they're in love?
"I heard it again, bro," He says all of a sudden, and everyone looks at each other as if the two have gone bonkers.
Must be strict 'brother from another mother' code talking. Through the eyes.
"What? You heard what?" Jax asks. Ace and Arsen share a look, too.
What is it with all the looks?
"Someone laughing, idiot, how did you not hear that?" Xander asks.
"I heard it too," I say, and everyone looks over at me.
I can give you a hundred percent guarantee that my face was paler than a ghost's dress right then because the laughter sounded scary and perverted.
As if they were mental and were looking at something inappropriate that made their mental brains horny.
I knew that laugh too well.
"Xanthe, come with me. All of you go back to the cars and grab your guns from the trunk. If you hear a gunshot from me, you come straight away, got it?" Arsen orders and everyone nods curtly before rushing off quietly back to the way we came from.
Arsen walks off, indicating that I follow. Which I unwillingly do.
Oh my God, is he purposely doing this to prove to me that I can be killed?
No, you idiot, he said at least twice that you're not a kidnapped victim!
Then is he going to do what his dad's gang did to Xena?
Oh, my--NO!
Or maybe he's actually going to kill me...
"I'm not going to kill you, Xanthe," Arsen suddenly says, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I stop walking.
Wait, wha--
"Will you move?" I hear him hiss, turning to glare at me.
He growls and grabs my wrist tightly, my arm shooting with electricity so harsh I'm tempted to pull it back and check what's wrong. Instead, I just ignore and let him drag me on.
Once we come closer to the door, I realize the laughter is coming from here. Arsen drops my wrist slowly and pauses, before pressing down on the door handle and walking in with me close behind.
I look up.
As soon as I see who it is, my eyes widen, and my heart fails to beat properly.
"Antonio?!"
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2754 words.
Ooh, drama, I know. Now everyone's going to go off and spread the rumour of 'the lamest book and most boring chapter ever!'.
Thanks for reading, though, and remember...
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