I held him in my arms for the first time in a long, long time. Everything stopped moving and all the voices became a distant hum. All I could feel was our heartbeats singing in unity.
I'm finally home.
"Okay, you two! We get it, you're soulmates and we're the forever alone squad. Can we please go home now?" Said Jace, cutting our sweet moment short.
"I hate you Ross do you know that?" Said Jaycee, taking my hand in his. The way it felt will always be indescribable.
"Dude. What the hell happened to CJ!" Exclaimed both Ashton and Jace simultaneously.
"Why'd he lose his entire body weight? Is he dying? Lexi answer me!" Yelled our Jace, holding his best friend's hand in his. "CJ what happened buddy? Wake up. Alexis why isn't he waking up!"
"It's what Lucas and Blake did to him Jace. He said they injected him with a lethal virus and he's been like that since I first got here. He's been coughing up blood and it took all the willpower in me just to get him to come with me." I reply, my voice shaking.
Jaycee felt my grief and just hugged me so tightly and kissed the top of head.
"It's okay Lexi. You're okay. It's okay baby girl."
"Hey! Don't we get a hug too?" Yelled out Ashton, extending his arms.
I chuckled. "Of course you do." I went over to hug him, Jace, and Aaron.
"Hiya there. The name's Zander. Alec Zander." Said the guy with the British accent; winking with a smirk.
"Yeah, she's not interested Mr. Compound Name." Said Jaycee, pulling me towards him.
"Okay. I can see that you can tell there's a difference, but all I'm hearing is Alexander." Shrugged Jace, starting to wheel CJ's chair.
"I will hurt you." He glared at Jace, then continued, "But hey, why don't we let the chick decide?" He said, winking at me again.
"Do you really want to lose your front teeth?" Sneered Jaycee.
Ok. Calm down caveman.
I pushed his arm off of me and stepped up to that six foot something guy.
"First of all, my name is Alexis; not chick. And second of all, you heard the guy, I'm not interested. And third and most importantly; it's just Alexander. That's all I hear. Pretty sure that's all anyone ever hears." I finished, flipping my hair and hi-fiving a laughing Jace.
"That's my girl." I hear Jaycee say under his breath; smiling.
"Damn. LA girls are feisty. I like that!" He said.
"One more wink out of your eyes and I'll make sure they're permanently shut." Warned Jaycee, pointing his finger at him. Alec just raised his hands in surrender and walked away.
"Okay okay, I've been here for a while and I really need to get the hell out of here please. Just fight later or something." I interjected, before world war whatever broke out.
"Yeah. We need to get CJ to a doctor or a miracle worker or something." Said Jace, looking very lovingly yet worriedly at CJ.
"I don't know man. Looks like you can only get him the angel of death." Said Alec.
What the hell.
"Dude that's not cool! What the hell is wrong with you?" Screamed Ashton and Jace at the same time.
"I double dare you to say that again." I said, tilting my head way up to be able to just looking at him. "Say it again!"
Something about my miniature scaled body seemed to frighten him, so he just apologized.
"Sorry. Guess I get kind of flustered and nervous around pretty girls." He said shrugging. "Or girls I like." He added.
"You met her like three seconds ago Casanova okay? chill." Said Ashton, this time standing in front of me himself.
Dear God what the hell is up with them?
"Okay gentlemen. I just got a message from Sabrina that they're starting to detect movement in the nearby vicinity. My guess is that it is Giovanni's gang. So no matter what happens; we're sticking together. We'll try to leave this place without anyone getting hurt, but if it comes down to it, are you willing to fight?" He asked taking out his....gun?!
What?
Wait!
Hold up!
"Why in the name of the lord do you have a freaking gun!? How are you even authorized to carry one?! What else don't I know?!" I yell out all together, which might've caught him off guard.
"Ummm well..." he started, anxiously scratching the back of his head.
"Okay, this here looks like a family issue." Said Ashton, pointing between us. "We're just going to wait by the door at the end of the hallway." He finished, practically running off; followed by everyone else, including two guys I haven't noticed before.
I turned to face Jaycee.
"You've got some explaining to do mister!" I said, putting my hands on my hips.
"Alexis, sweety, we really don't have time for this. We really really need to leave right now. Any dent in our plans will make getting out of here a little harder than it already is." He tried to reason, but I wasn't having any of it.
"I'm not leaving here before you tell me Jaycee! I'm done with the lies and the hiding and being afraid of telling me things to 'protect' me! I'm not a kid bro and I can handle whatever truth you'll throw my way."
He sighed and probably counted to ten before he spoke next.
"Okay. Fine. Two years ago, we created a street gang because one of our friends was being severely bullied. We decided to get in shape, engage in various street fights until we created a name for ourselves and our influence spread across nations. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd freak out..."
"Freak out? Freak out?! This is beyond freaking out! Jaycee you almost died! And that almost ruined me! How many more heartbreaks do you think I can take before i completely lose it?!"
Before he had the chance to say anything, Ashton spoke to him through an intercom.
"Hey. Psst! Lover boy! We need to leave, like right now! We've got company. And thed don't really look too happy to be here. Kinda like you when someone wakes you up or eats your food."
"Why the embarrassment jeez. Ok copy that. Over!" He said into the intercom and then looked at me, and put his hands on both my shoulders. "Lexi I'm going to need you to trust me. I know what I'm doing. Your love for me kept me safe from a lot of things, now please let me save you."
'You already did' I thought.
"Please?" He said, extending his arms out for a hug. And I hugged him.
And it felt right.
It felt like home.
It felt like there was no other place I'd rather be.
"Okay Jay. I trust you and I love you so much, you know that right?" I reply.
"Damn straight baby girl." He replied, hugging me back. "Now come on, let's get you the hell out of here." He said, taking my hand in his; kissing it.
"We need to get CJ to a doctor Jaycee. I don't want to lose my brother, like I almost lost...." I say, tearing a little.
"Hey, hey, you won't lose him Lex. I'll make sure you both get out of here alive, even if it's the last thing I do. I got you, and I always will. We've got the place surrounded." He said smiling.
"Freaking gang leader? Really? You couldn't like, be a secret ballet dancer? A secret unicorn enthusiast? It just had to be a secret underground death maker huh?"
He chuckled, putting his arms around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. Clearly not caring that I might smell like dead sewer fish.
"I guess so? It seemed like a good idea at the time because you know me, I'll protect my friends at all costs. Then word spread out pretty fast and before we knew it, we were spoken about nationwide, which was crazy! Then we started having allies and whatnot. Maybe you should meet their leader, you might like her."
Excuse me?
"Her? Who the heck is 'her' Royce?" I spit out, jokingly trying to annoy him.
"Her? Did I say her? No I meant him. In which case never mind, you're not meeting any 'hims'."
"Nice save, buddy." I replied, patting his back.
Walked in silence for a grand total of three seconds before he stopped.
"Hey Alexis?" He said, sounding unsure of whether or not he wanted to say what he stopped me for.
"Yeah? Everything ok?" I said, caressing his cheeks.
"It hurt you know? When you left me, it really hurt me and broke me, and I promised myself that I would never let anyone have that type of power over me again. You left with no explanation, with no note, without even a goodbye. I spent ages trying to get over it; and I'm not even there yet. It was like trying to walk again after you've been paralyzed for a long time. It took time, effort and too much damn strength, but I finally somewhat made it through. I finally found myself again without you.." he said, looking deep into my eyes.
"What are you trying to say Jaycee?"
He took a deep breath.
"Well Alexis..."