Flawed (Caught By The Bad Boys Book 2)

by Raathi Chota

  “We can’t just stop. It takes time to get over something. Like I said, we should just slow down, then by summer we should totally stop.”

  “Aidan quit smoking. Tiffany didn’t like it, so he slowed down, then eventually he just stopped,” Ethan spoke up.

  “I’m trying,” Keene groaned as he pointed to himself.

  “Then we should try too. You, me, Carter, Axel, and hopefully Levi when we see him this summer.” I smiled and looked at Blake.

  “Yeah, you’re right. It won’t be easy, but we’ll do it.” He nodded, then locked eyes with me. “Now what did you want to talk about?”

  “H-how did you know I wanted to tell you something?”

  “I just had a feeling.”

  “Okay, well, err…” I mumbled. “Benny has agreed to make peace if you’re willing to do your side too. I mean we can all be friends if you two are just nice to each other.” I shrugged. Blake scoffed, then glanced around the diner. I turned to Ethan, who gave me a sympathetic look. I turned to Keene, who nudged Blake.

  “Come on, Blake, for me, please? Think of it this way: there will be less drama.”

  “Have you spoken to Levi?”

  “Yeah, he said he’d try,” I mumbled, but I cut out the part where I literally begged him as I sent many texts because he didn’t answer his phone.

  “Fine. I’ll try too, but it won’t change how I see Benny.”

  “You promise?” I asked, then stuck out my pinky finger. He narrowed his eyes, then stared at my finger. Keene did an awkward cough, then elbowed Blake. He sighed, then stuck out his pinky finger too. We entwined our pinky fingers, and he gripped on mine a bit too hard, but I ignored it. As I pulled away, he grabbed my hand and ran his thumb across my fingers. He stopped at my ring and raised a brow at it.

  “Couldn’t he afford the other side? Or did you break it already?” Blake looked at the ring. I pulled my hand away and pursed my lips as Keene and Ethan laughed.

  “He has the other half, you idiot.”

  “Right, he has the other half of your heart,” Blake mumbled.

  “Lana, I’m drinking your milkshake,” Keene announced, then took my glass and sipped it.

  “Sure, you can have it,” I said, then watched as he slurped down my milkshake.

  “So what are we doing on spring break?” Ethan asked.

  “I’m using it for studying.” I raised my hands.

  “Oh, come on, Willson. You’ll do great. We can go to your beach house,” Blake said as he answered Ethan’s question.

  “You have a beach house?” Keene and I said in unison.

  “Yeah…two, one here and another one in California.” Blake nodded, and Ethan rolled his eyes.

  “Oh! I got an idea! Let’s have a road trip to that beach house in California then we ca—wait! Then we can surprise Levi!” I squealed as I tugged on Ethan’s arm.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, Lana. I’m not even sure yet if I can have you all over. Besides, spring break is like in a week.”

  “Plus, Levi doesn’t like surprises,” Keene piped up.

  “Oh yeah,” I mumbled as I thought back to when we threw him a surprise party, and he was pissed.

  “Well, even though I’d love to ditch today because we have P.E, we can’t, so let’s go,” Blake said as he slid out of the booth.

  “What about you?” I asked Keene as I paid for my milkshake.

  “Oh, I texted a friend before we got here. He’ll be here soon. Don’t worry. Bye.” I hugged him. I walked out of the diner and toward Ethan’s car. With my bag over my shoulder, I pushed my glasses up to see Blake open the door for me. I gave him a strange look, thanked him, then got in the car. I sat in the back while Ethan drove and Blake sat in the passenger seat. As we drove to school, I thought about Ethan’s beach house and how awesome it’d be if we could all go for spring break. I remembered when Miranda had a crush on Ethan; she must know about his beach house.

  “Maybe we can go to the beach house that you have here?” I suggested as I looked at Ethan through the rearview mirror.

  “Yeah,” Ethan replied.

  “Great, we’ll talk to Miranda and everyone else, and we could all go for a few days,” I said, because that would do us good after what had happened.

  “Err…I don’t know about Miranda, though,” Blake said. I crossed my arms over my chest as I raised a brow at them.

  “Does this have to do with when she was yelling at you on Saturday night on my porch?”

  “Yes and no,” Ethan replied, and I tilted my head. As I opened my mouth, the car came to a stop. I looked out the window to see that we’d arrived at school and the bell hadn’t rung yet. I sighed, then grabbed my bag. I was surprised when I saw Blake open the door for me.

  “Thanks,” I said as I got out of the car. I pushed my glasses up and noticed his lips were up in a smile.

  “No problem. See you later,” he said, then looked over his shoulder. I followed his gaze to see Benny, Nick, and Melissa near the school doors.

  “Yeah, I’ll see you around,” I said as he turned back to me. Ethan stood next to me, and I smiled at him. “Thanks for the ride.”

  “Anytime,” he said, and I walked toward Benny. The bell rang, but I managed to reach them in time. Benny swung his arm around my shoulder when we walked into the school building. Some people looked at us, probably to tell Britney and Kelly we were back in swing, but I didn’t care. As we walked, we spoke about college. Benny wanted to go to Boston along with Nick, while I tried to go to Connecticut. Thankfully, those places weren’t too far from each other, and if we got in, we’d most likely see each other. We entered the classroom and decided to sit in the back. Benny sat on my left while Marcus strolled in and sat in front of us. As we waited for Mrs. Singleton, I saw Britney enter the room. I bit my lip to prevent a smirk as I saw her gape at us.

  “Keep walking.” I eyed her up and down as she walked past. Benny laughed, then swung his arm around my shoulder.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” he said, and we watched Britney huff as she sat down next to Jennifer. Carter came into the class and smiled. He sat down on my right, then turned to us.

  “So I guess you won’t need a ride home anymore?” He looked at Benny’s and my position.

  “Yeah,” Benny replied as I opened my mouth. Carter raised a brow at his tone but laughed as he opened his book.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I whispered, and he laughed.

  ***

  Benny and I entered the cafeteria and finally sat at our table. A smile crept up my face when everyone joined. Things finally went back to normal.

  “Oh! The gang is back together!” a recognizable voice cheered behind us. Benny and I turned around to see Liam skip toward us with his camera. We turned back, and he swung his arms around us and peered through. “I missed you, Lana.”

  “I spoke to you in the hallway just five minutes ago,” I pointed out.

  “I know, but it felt like months ago!” he said, then hugged us. “I’m just glad we can all sit together again!”

  He backed away, then skipped toward Carter and hugged him. He did the same to Nick, who narrowed his eyes at the brunette. I bit my lip as Liam walked past Marcus to hug Blake.

  “Don’t touch me,” Blake stated as he raised his hand.

  “Everyone loves hugs!” Liam cheered, then pushed Blake’s hand aside and pulled him into a hug. I laughed as Blake tried to push Liam.

  “Yo, where are the grapes?” Aidan asked after he hugged Liam. Both looked down at Marcus, and Liam folded his arms.

  “It’s Marcus’s turn to buy,” Liam said as he hugged himself.

  “Ugh fine.” Marcus groaned, then stood up to buy grapes. Once he returned with two bowls of grapes, everyone was settled.

  “Oh! Before I forget, what are we doing for spring break?” Tiffany asked as she shared grapes with Aidan. Everyone conversed, and I turned to Ethan. He was already staring at me but shrugged.

  “There’s th
e festival in the city?” Liam suggested.

  “No, no, no, we’ve done something like that already, which led to Lana getting stitches,” Carter piped as my fingertips brushed over the scar by my chin. As everyone else threw in their ideas, I looked around the table. Maybe things would go back to normal. If we came up with something that we all agreed on, it would do us good. Something caught my eye when I saw Marcus going through Liam’s camera. My eyes widened because he might see something. I nudged Benny under the table. He turned to me, then followed my gaze. We watched as Marcus’s nose wrinkled up as he went through the pictures. The bell rang, and he put the camera down but still had a lost expression. Benny and I turned to each other with worried looks in the hope he didn’t see anything he wasn’t supposed to see.

  ***

  I decided to spend my night with Benny because I had to tell him about the whole Christo thing. I was sure he knew about James Cornelius. I was on top of him while my head rested against his chest. Our legs were tangled under the blanket while his arms wrapped around me. I leisurely closed my eyes when his fingers ran through my hair.

  “I spoke to Blake this morning,” I said as I raised my head, then rested my chin on his chest. He looked down, then put a lock of hair behind my ear. “He agreed, and so did Levi when I spoke to him last night.”

  “Okay, then we’ll see where this takes us.” I moved so that I laid next to him. Benny turned so that we looked at each other. He placed his hand on my cheek and stroked it. I considered his brown eyes and saw how genuine they were. As I stared at them, I realized I couldn’t keep the James thing a secret from him anymore. “You know…” he began when I opened my mouth to speak. “I just want to say I love you.” He raised my chin with his index finger. “Like you don’t even know how much.”

  He moved closer, then kissed me. My eyes instantly closed as I felt his plump lips against mine. His hand moved from my face, then traveled down to my hip. I felt the bed move as he slowly turned me so that I laid on my back. He pulled away, and I glanced up to see him straddle me, then pull off his shirt. I bit my lip when he came back down and continued to kiss me. I ran my palms along his bare skin because I wanted him. We stopped, and Benny rested between my legs. I smiled down at him as I ran my fingers through his brown hair.

  “Thank you again for the ring.” I smiled at him.

  “My pleasure,” he replied as he took my hand in his and twirled the ring.

  “Why half a heart, though?”

  “Because we need each other to be sane,” he said, then took his chain and joined the heart so it’d be one. “It shows even though we’re broken, together we’re stable.”

  “How cute, Benny Nielson,” I said, and he smirked.

  “What can I say?” he said as he started to undo the buttons of my flannel. He kissed up my neck and wholly ignored the chain Blake got for me. I was still suspicious as to why he didn’t ask about it.

  I decided to stay a bit longer since Benny had to look after Sam. I didn’t get the chance to tell him about James, but I realized Nick and Liam had to know too.

  The following day, Benny and I drove to Liam’s apartment. I bit the inside of my cheek to what seemed to be the millionth time. I was nervous to tell them everything. Benny knocked on the door, and like always, Nick answered the door. We walked in and found Liam’s grandma on the sofa. She smiled at us, then returned to her soap opera.

  “Why is the TV so loud?” I asked since she was only a few feet away.

  “She’s old, Lana. This is her Saturday thing whether there’s people here or not,” Nick replied, then walked down the hall.

  “How does he know that?” I asked Benny as we followed him.

  “We always help Liam with his grandma. This one time she was baking a pie but forgot one ingredient so he called one of us to get it since she wouldn’t sleep until the pie finished,” Benny explained.

  “Why couldn’t Liam go out with his skateboard to get the one ingredient?” I whispered as we entered his room.

  “It was three o’clock in the morning,” Benny said, and my eyebrows rose.

  “Finally!” Liam exclaimed as he approached us, then pulled us in for a hug. “I am dying to know what news you have!”

  “Okay, err…you guys should sit down for this,” I said. They nodded, and I watched as Liam sat by his desk while Nick and Benny sat by his bed. They stared at me, but I didn’t know where to start. “Do you know a guy named James Cornelius?”

  “Cornelius.” Liam snorted, and I glared at him while Benny and Nick squinted.

  “Isn’t he that wanted drug dealer that I saw in the newspaper?” Nick asked. Liam scoffed.

  “Dude, you read the newspaper? Are you old or something? Ever heard of the internet?” Liam asked, and I closed my eyes for a moment as they went back and forth.

  “What about him?” Benny asked as I opened my eyes.

  “He, err, well…as a drug dealer, he’s in contact with a lot of people. He’s also good with fake identities.” I noticed the puzzled looks they gave. “One of James’s men was, err…undercover or in hiding, I’m not sure yet, but his name was Christo Aimar, and he was undercover as Jack August.”

  I finally looked at them, and their expressions were unreadable. Nick looked at the floor; Benny’s lips parted as he stared at Liam and me. He spun around in his seat and typed on his computer.

  “You mean, the guy we buried who randomly disappeared was working for James?” Nick tilted his head. I slowly nodded, then put my hands behind my back.

  “And I think one of his other men was the one who broke into my house. I don’t know what he wants,” I mumbled.

  “There’s not much about James Cornelius or Christo Aimar, but there is an article where Jack August’s real identity was, in fact, Christo Aimar and that they’re looking for him,” Liam stated as he read off his computer.

  “So what now?” Nick asked.

  “I don’t know, but James wants revenge because I killed one of his men.”

  “Maybe they broke in because they wanted to plant more evidence. I’m assuming that night when we all slept over and found Liam’s shoes, it was James’s men?” Nick asked as he looked at me for clarification.

  “Yeah, his name is Mike. All I know is Mike, Ernst, and James are alive,” I mumbled. “While Christo…”

  “You guys do realize that he’s not gonna stop,” Benny said. “He’s going to continue ratting us out and bringing up more evidence.”

  “I know. Did you lie about the shoes only?” I asked as I sat next to Nick. Liam slowly turned in his seat and shared a look with Benny and Nick. My eyes widened as I thought what else they lied about. Liam stood up and looked at his wall with all the strings and papers.

  “We, err…we don’t know about my old car. We dropped it off, and the guy said he’d take care of it,” Benny said as he rested his hand on my thigh.

  “So? Did you check if he took care of it?” I glared at him through my glasses. Benny turned his head, and I followed his gaze to see Liam awkwardly scratch behind his neck as he whistled. “Oh, my fu—”

  “We didn’t have time to check the next day. We had a football game and Coach made us practice a lot.” Benny held my hand.

  “And the guy said he’s busy, but I paid him an extra hundred to take care of it as soon as possible. Hopefully, he did.” Nick mumbled the last part as I sighed.

  “So now we don’t know anything about the evidence?” I demanded.

  “Nope, but what we do know is that we’re the only ones who know that Christo is dead,” Liam said as the corner of his mouth quirked up. He took a black marker and drew a line between Jack’s name and wrote Christo.

  “Yeah, but we don’t even know where he is!” Nick exclaimed.

  “That is why,” Liam said as he pointed to the sketch of the sewers, “we’re going back in there…because we’re investigators!”

  ***

  When I got out of Nick’s car, I huffed. I didn’t want to do it. The first
time we did, we were lucky that we didn’t get into trouble. To do it for the second time was senseless. We’d clearly get caught. I wore my new high tops Benny got me along with a white tee and baggy cardigan and gray jeans. None of us spoke in the car, and it was understandable because I told them something big. Afterward, I also told them about the drugs that occurred at Ethan’s cottage. That must’ve answered most of their questions.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I asked Benny as I held his hand. I wrapped my other hand around his bicep and leaned on his shoulder as we walked.

  “Yeah, I err…how long have you known about this whole Jack-Christo thing?”

  “Only a week. I found out last Saturday.”

  “That’s why you had that breakdown on Saturday night,” he said and moved so that he was in front of me. I nervously looked down and nodded. Benny moved closer to me and cupped my cheeks so that I looked at him. A corner of his mouth lifted, and he kissed my forehead.

  “Told you it’s still gone!” Liam yelled. Benny and I turned to see them by the double door.

  “What?” Benny asked as he removed his hands from my cheeks.

  “Oh, err…we came here a few days ago just to check up on things, and the door is still unlocked,” Nick replied. I turned my gaze away from Nick to see Liam casually walk in with his camera. Benny and I shared a look, then reluctantly followed them.

  “Aww man! Someone took the cookies!” Liam said as he searched the empty cabinets. I shook my head in amusement as I thought of Aidan.

  “Do we have to be here?” I groaned as we continued to walk down the hall.

  “Yeah, when we were here, we found something,” Liam said.

  “What is it?”

  Liam and Nick grinned at each other, then opened the bathroom door. My eyes immediately traveled down to the tiles, which covered the utility hole to the sewers. Like before, they removed the tiles while I took out the flashlights from Liam’s bag. Once they were done, we stood around the manhole and stared at it. Only then I noticed the mark on the lid. Benny seemed surprised too, but Liam and Nick’s grin extended.