Let Me Be Your Home
Chapter 3

It was nearing one am. The town was soundless and vacant, not a soul to be seen. It was silent enough for crickets to be heard. Oddly enough, I liked the quiet of it all. Taking a shortcut through an alley, I pulled my hood over my head. My hands were stuffed in my hoodie’s pockets. The chilly breeze pricked my skin, making the tip of my nose feel numb.

I halted in my tracks. Further down the alley, near some trashcans, I noticed the silhouette of a figure. The street lights caused their shadow to tower over me on the bricks walls.

I sighed deeply as I walked over, stopping in front of Phil.

He was tall and lanky with a boy-band-singer vibe to his look. Soft doe eyes, brown hair parted in the middle – very 90’s Leonardo DiCaprio of him. His looks were deceiving. Phil was reckless with a short temper, careless to the bone and someone whose bad side you did not want to meet.

His l*p tugged upwards in a sickly-sweet smirk. His eyes were filled with sin and sorrow – sorrow that you would feel, not him. “Don’t you know it’s not safe for a tiny woman like you to be roaming the street alone at this hour?”

I stared at him dully. “It warms me when you’re concerned, Phil.”

Phil laughed a dry, taunting-sounding laugh. Could it have been a forced laugh? “If only I had an ounce of decency in my bones to spare being?concerned.”

He spoke the word as if it were poison on his tongue – concern? He had never heard of such a thing. What a bizarre thought, to waste so much mental energy actually?caring?for anything.

I licked my lips that were starting to feel chapped from the wind. “Just because Cole died does not mean I am required to finish his business. Whatever his duties, those were on him. Not me. I did not sign up for any of this.”

Phil laughed deeply, genuinely replaceing humour in my words. “Really? Think again, sweetheart. It does lie on your shoulders.”

For the briefest moment, less than a split second, I could almost see Phil’s eyes soften. As if he weren’t believing his own words.

“Too bad he died, leaving you hear to finish his dirty-work.”

I glanced behind Phil to see two more familiar faces coming out of the shadows.

What a way to be dramatic.

“Derrick Smith and Henry Billard.” I couldn’t help laughing. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Phil can’t go anywhere without his little side-kicks. You’re like the mean girl in every teen rom-com.”

Phil stared down at me with dark and icy eyes. He wasn’t laughing anymore. “Watch your tongue.” His words spit out like fire.

I shook my head slowly. “You used to be the most loyal person I knew.”

Phil’s eyebrows raised. “And what was it you used to be into- baking? Song writing, was it?” He snorted, clicking his tongue as if mocking me.

In my pockets, my fists balled up. Mentally, I was throwing acid in each their faces. I exhaled sharply through my nose.

Calm. I will remain calm. Don’t poke the dragon.

The street lights behind us at either ends of the alley were the only thing giving us a faint look at each others faces. All their faces were twisted with sinister barbarism, you could see the glint of pure evil in their eyes.?

They were soulless.

Behind us, the sound of a can hitting the ground sounded. We all turned towards the main street but there was no one in sight.

It must’ve just been the wind.

Henry took a step forward. “Our little arrangement with Cole was actually quite a big deal. You don’t want to contravene and end up like him, do you?”

The muscles in my jaw jerked. The pit of my stomach was boiling with rage that was dangerously proliferating. “I can give you what I have on hand but that’s it. I’m leaving town.”

Phil exhaled deeply, annoyance flashing through his eyes. He nodded curtly as he held out a hand. “Hand it over, sweetheart.”

Gritting my teeth, I pulled out three cards from the back pocket of my black jeans. “These are hard to retrieve, for the record.”

Phil only snickered as he snatched the credit cards out of my hand. “All the more fun using them, knowing what a difficult grab they were for you.”

I took a small step backwards.

“Nu-uh.” Derrick quirked an eyebrow at me, his eyes challenging as if he were daring me to leave. His lips twisted in a bemused smirk. “Are you forgetting something?”

If I had continued to clench my jaw any harder, I was afraid my whole face could split in half. I pulled a small plastic baggie out of my pocket, throwing at Derrick who had caught it with the utmost ease. “I don’t owe you guys jack shit.”

They weren’t paying me for my services – for the stolen cards or the weed. This was only making my own financial burdens more worrisome.

In their sick and twisted minds, I owed them, they?owned?me – to some extent at least. I wasn’t easily scared but this was not the type of crowd even I was stupid enough to say no to.

Derrick held the bag up, analyzing the weed. He looked back to me, quirking an eyebrow. “Then why are you doing everything we say?”

I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from saying anything.

Oh how I wished I could wipe the cocky, menacing look off his face. The brick wall only made me more tempted- ramming his head into the bricks, watching his eyes bleed-

Breathe.

The amusement that flashed in their eyes, the twisted smirks and mocking tones – they knew they were riling me up, they were trying to and it was working. To them, this was nothing but entertainment. They didn’t need me for a little weed or pilfered credit cards. They were just sadistic and replaceing hilarity in this.

Like dogs digging for bones.

In this case, they were digging up ways to bring me unnecessary misery.

Derrick took some steps towards me. I stayed frozen in spot. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of watching me shrink under his perverse gaze. “You’re scared of us, aren’t you? You can’t say no even though you want to. You have no power and you hate it.”

My lips pressed into a straight line as I glared up at him. He was only inches away from me, a tactic to make me feel intimidated.

Derrick cocked his head to the side. He brought his hand up, sliding one finger across my jawline. “We could have so much more fun with this, if only you were less uptight.” His voice was low, his breath smelling like cigarettes and fanning my face.

My b***d ran cold.

As if my entire vision had turned red, I grabbed his wrist, twisting it backwards. “Keep your hands off me.” My heart was racing. I thought I might pass out.

Derrick winced before his eyes turned black, deathly black. He snatched his hand back before his other hand wrapped around my throat. “You might be a hot piece of a*s but try that again and I swear I will ki-“

“Stop!” Henry stepped forward and pulled Derrick away from me. I started sputtering coughs when his hands finally let go of my throat. My hands immediately reached up to my throat that was surely going to brui

se.

Derrick looked like he were fuming, practically blowing steam out of his nose. He shoved Henry off himself, taking a few steps away from me as if forcing himself to stay restrained.

Henry stared at me, his face straight but eyes filled with upheaval. “Control yourself. We?will?hurt you. You know that.”

Momentarily, I glanced at Phil. He stood his ground and remained silent but the tiniest shred of guilt flashed in his eyes-for the briefest moment that I almost wouldn’t have caught it. It wasn’t because he actually cared. It was because we had history. He had changed from the guy I once knew and adored-that was where the guilt rooted from.

It wasn’t enough for him to do or say anything.

Once upon a time, Phil and I were close both physically and emotionally. We leaned on each other, we kept each other grounded. We had equal amounts of stress, grief, and trauma that we shared with only each other.

Things changed.

He chose Derrick over me- which did shatter me. He went off with Derrick, I grieved the loss of just about the only person I had, even though he wasn’t dead but he may as well be.

With time, I got over it.

I always knew I couldn’t rely on anyone other than myself, that at the end of the day, the only person I would have left was myself and that?needed?to be enough – Phil was a monumental example of that.

I looked up at Henry, scoffing. “Do it. Hurt me, you bastard. Does it look like I give a shit? If you haven’t realized, you took?everything?from me.”

Henry jaw tensed. He took a step towards me, bringing a finger under my chin and raising my head. “You’ve got quite the tongue on you.”

My skin felt like it was on fire, despite the cold breeze outside. I was a time bomb, one whose timer just hit zero. I shoved Henry away from me. “Don’t f*****g touch me.”

My fists were practically trembling, my vision blurring from the rage that I was no longer able to control. I was losing my shit. I couldn’t see anything but red.

I wanted them all dead.

If I could achieve that, even if it meant that I would end up a corpse myself, it would be worth it.

Derrick crossed his arms over his chest, a twisted smirk resting on his face once again. Oh, he thought this was amusing? I wonder how entertaining he would replace it once I had my hands wrapped around?his?throat.

Henry’s eyes glinted with challenge. He wasn’t mad that I had just pushed him, he was entertained. He laughed sickeningly. He shoved me right back, watching as I fell to the pavement from the force. “Like I said, we are not afraid to hurt you.”

“Derric-” Phil started to speak but Derek was quick to cut him off.

He snapped his ice-cold gaze towards Phil, his eyebrows raising. “You got any protests?”

Phil snapped his mouth shut and shook his head, averting his gaze to the ground.

Derrick was the big-guns, the alpha if you will. Nobody could try to stop Derrick, nobody could speak against Derrick. Phil obviously didn’t have the guts to. He had chosen his fate and one day, that would leave him with an open casket waiting.

Derrick knew that Phil and I had history, that we were once close. Derrick also knew that now, Phil’s loyalty was to him. Whenever it was time for Derrick to deal with me, he would bring Phil along to witness because he knew there was still a part of both of us that would replace it torturous.?

He was sick and sadistic and twisted in a way that was repulsive.

I knew my share of bad people-of sociopathic, soulless monsters but nobody compared to Derrick. Derrick could be the Dark Lord himself.

I pushed myself off the ground, cracking my knuckles. I was going to stand my ground. These morose bastards were not going to make me shrink.

What did I have to lose anyways?

“Back the hell off, Henry. You don’t call the shots. I’m not scared of you.”

Henry laughed. He quirked an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder at Derrick. “Well, Derrick, what do?you?think of that?”

Derrick’s eyes glazed over my body from head to toe, his smirk dancing on his lips. “I think it’s very cute but no can do, sweetheart.”

Henry, taking this as his go-ahead, shoved me back into the brick wall. He dug his forearm into my throat causing me to wheeze as I tried to get air into my lungs.

“I can fight too, son of a bitch.” The words came out in a choke. My heart was racing with rage, my teeth gritting to the point I thought they were shredding off. I ducked my chin as far down at I could, biting his arm. When his hold on my loosened, I shoved him off of me and quickly inhaled.?

Henry grunted as he met my eyes again. His eyes fogged, all the underlying amusement quickly turning?very?sour. Henry pulled a gun from his back that was tucked in the waistband of his pants. “Fun’s over now, bitch.”

I stared down the barrel of the gun, the oxygen from my lungs suddenly disappearing.

I wasn’t necessarily afraid of dying but there was no way in hell this was how I was going to die. Not from the hands of this bastard.

“Henry, come on man jus-” Phil started protesting, shaking his head slowly. He stepped forwards but derrick stretched an arm out and stopped him from coming any closer.

I met Henry’s gaze. He was heaving with anger. “You don’t scare me,” I snarled out, practically spitting the words.

If I acted fast enough, I would be able to knock the gun out his hands. He was just standing too far. If he were even a foot closer, I’d be able to. With the current distance, he would pull the trigger before I had the chance to get close enough.

“Sorry, sweetheart.” Derrick exhaled a dramatic sigh, shrugging with nonchalance. “Frankly, your attitude and desire to pick fights is getting a little old.” Derrick’s eyes were nearly bored, as if he couldn’t wait for this show to be over with.

My eyes darted towards Phil. I knew he didn’t care but if I had to choose which of their three faces would be the last one I ever saw, Phil seemed like the less worse choice.

He was frozen in spot, staring at the gun in Henry’s hand. He preferred his life over mine, hence why he didn’t move a muscle. He knew this is how people like us were bound to die one day.

I knew it too.

Henry let out a hoarse laugh. “Looks like you’ll be seeing Cole sooner than you anticipated. Any last words?”

I shut my eyes, inhaling deeply.

Granted, I could have enjoyed one more chocolate milkshake but at least I was right. There was absolutely no reason for me to still be breathing. I could only wonder why the world decided to keep me thus far.

In the quiet of the night, I heard him pull the slide back. I held my breath. My palms were more sweaty that I anticipated.

I could fight this.

No, I can’t.

It’s two against one, considering Phil would stay frozen in spot. If I moved, the trigger would be pulled before I had a chance to touch either him or Derrick.

I heard the gun c**k.

Then, I’m on the ground.