by Smyth, R. A
Sophie’s settled opposite me, her legs crossed, a blanket over her knees to keep the cold air away from her bare legs. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are a little glazed from the alcohol, but the tension from earlier has drained out of her shoulders. Watching her now as she laughs easily at some remark Aiden makes, it’s good to see her back to her normal self. I hate seeing how much all of this is getting to her. Things are escalating and our attacks on the one-percenters are nowhere near enough. We need to be doing more.
Aiden is sitting on my right, seated half way between Sophie and I, completing our little circle. He’s got one leg stretched out in front of him, the other bent at the knee, his arm resting on the top of it. The bottle of scotch hangs loosely in his hand as he stares at Sophie, bathing in the natural light that exudes from her as she laughs. He watches her the way I do, the same way we all do—like she’s our whole friggin’ world.
Between us, we’ve drunk about half the bottle so far, the three of us talking shit and pretending we’re not stuck in an otherwise empty school at night with a crazy gang leader stalking the perimeter.
“Suuure,” Sophie agrees easily, slurring her words slightly, a sloppy smile on her face. Someone’s a teeny tiny bit drunk.
“Seriously?” Aiden sighs, taking a swing from the bottle before passing it back to me.
“Me first, me first!” I exclaim, bouncing up and down. Huh, maybe I’m a little drunk too. “Sophie, truth or dare?”
“Truth,” she responds, giving me a smug smile. Damn, I was hoping she’d say dare.
“Okay...okay...truth…” I muse, trying to think of something good to ask her.
“Have you ever gotten yourself off?” I ask curiously.
“Of course I have,” Sophie snorts.
“You have? When? Who did you think about?” I quickly fire at her, suddenly feeling like I need to know all the details, the thought of her fingering herself making me shuffle on the floor so my hardening dick isn’t pressing painfully against my zipper.
“No, no. One question at a time,” she smirks.
“No fair,” I whine, pushing out my lower lip and pouting at her. It totally works when she does it to us, so I figure it must work on her too.
No such luck though, as she just laughs harder. Am I doing it wrong? Do I need to pout more? Squinting my eyes, I try to add a puppy dog look, but I’m pretty sure I just look constipated. It’s definitely not having the desired effect when even Aiden bursts out laughing. I swear in all my years I’ve never heard him let loose a laugh like that. Great, that I could finally get him to lighten up a bit, but damn, so not what I was going for.
“Aiden, truth or dare,” Sophie says, still laughing as she turns to look at Aiden.
“Truth,” he responds, his face back to its usual serious expression.
“What was the first crime you committed?”
Ooh, interesting question. I’m mentally flicking through my memories, trying to recollect what the crime would have been when Aiden’s eyes meet mine, a small grin curling at the corner of his lips, having reached the memory before I do.
“It’s probably not what you’re thinking,” he says, a small chuckle escaping him as he looks back at Sophie. “It was about a week after Ty showed up…” he begins, his words drawing me back to that day.
My universe had just been turned upside down. I’d been dumped in this loud, male dominated life which differed completely from where I’d come from. I was used to spending most of my days alone, fending for myself and only talking to my mom and whatever douchebag she was using at the time to score drugs.
Aiden was the only other kid around the compound. There was something about him. Even then he was withdrawn, barely saying anything or interacting with others. He was always covered in bruises, clear evidence of his father’s abuse. Not that anyone gave a shit. I think that’s what drew us together. I had never been anyone’s punching bag, but we both harbored the same type of pain.
Although he had grown up in a life of crime, he hadn’t a clue how to actually commit a crime himself. Unlike me, he hadn’t had to grow up shoplifting and pick-pocketing in order to survive. I’ll never forget the look on his face that day when he caught me shoving chocolate bars down the front of my pants.
“What are you doing?” He hisses at me, his gaze flicking all over the corner shop we’re in, making him look suspicious as fuck. “You’re gonna get caught!”
“I am if you don’t keep it down,” I gripe, shoving some more candy in my pockets.
“Aren’t you gonna take some?” I ask when he only stands there gaping at me like a fucking idiot.
“It’s not a free-for-all. You can’t just take what you want. You gotta pay for it.”
Duh. What sort of dumbass does he think I am? Giving him a look, I grab one final thing and head towards the till.
“That’ll be fifty cents,” the cashier says, holding out his hand as I drop the change into his palm. The guy doesn’t give me a second look as I turn around, making my way back towards Aiden. He’s still standing there gaping at me.
Jesus, what is with this kid? Does he not realize he’s growing up as part of a criminal gang? He’s never going to make it in this life if he takes issue with simple shoplifting.
“Let’s go,” I say, shoving him towards the door.
Once we’re outside and away from the shop, I round on him. “Dude, what the hell? You nearly gave me away in there!” I give off.
“Me? What about you? Why were you even stealing that crap?”
I shrug my shoulder, not really having a decent answer for him. It’s just become habit, even though, since coming here, I haven’t had to steal any food at all.
“What’s it matter? Your dad is in a gang. He does way worse shit than this. One day you’re going to do way worse shit than this.” Aiden looks at me, my words registering with him. “You need to start working on your criminal career now, with the small stuff. That way when they ask you to do something bigger, you’ll be ready.”
“How do you know all of this?” He asks, looking at me skeptically.
“I pay attention,” I respond, giving him a ‘what the fuck,’ look. “I’ve only been here a few days and I’ve already got a better lay of the land than you do. I’ve been watching you, you’re too lost in your own head. Do you even know what the hell is going on around here?”
When he doesn’t say anything, I just shake my head at him. How he has grown up here, in this compound, surrounded by these hardened men, and not have a single clue what they’re involved in is beyond me. He’s fucking lucky I came along so I can help him out. God knows he’s not going to survive this place without me.
“Dude, you’re lucky I’ve decided to be your friend,” I tell him, giving him a toothy grin.
“You have?”
“Yeah,” I shrug. “I mean, I’ve never had one before, but I figure it can’t be that difficult, right?”
“I dunno,” he responds, scrunching his nose up, not looking too keen on the idea. “I’ve never had one either.”
“Right, well, you can only be my friend if you can get me free chocolate, so come on, I’ll teach you.”
And with that, Aiden committed his first crime—stealing a bar of chocolate.
“A bar of chocolate?” Sophie laughs, the light tinkling sound drawing me out of my thoughts and back to our huddle in the library. “Shoplifting was your first crime?” Tears leak out of the corner of her eye, she’s laughing so hard. Even Aiden has a sparkle in his eye, a fond smile on his face at the recollection.
“Hey, we’ve all gotta start somewhere,” he justifies.
“True, I just, I dunno...” She says, trailing off as she shakes her head.
“Expected the big bad gang member to come into the world committing greater offenses than minor theft?” I supply.
“Yeah, basically.”
“Nope. He was a total pussy before I entered his life,” I joke, ducking as Aiden swings his palm out, trying to hit me
round the head. “Really, he’s fucking lucky I showed up. I can only imagine what would have become of him,” I smirk.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffs. “I’m pretty sure I’ve saved your ass more often than you’ve saved mine.”
“Probably,” I agree with a smile, not even denying it. That kid Aiden used to be is long gone now. He’s still as withdrawn and serious as he used to be—if not more so—but he’s now always aware of what’s going on around him. It’s totally saved my life way too many times to count.
“Okay, my turn,” I sing, clapping my hands together, totally ready to take on whatever they lay down. “Give it to me.”
Rolling his eyes, Aiden reluctantly asks, “Truth or dare?”
“Dare. Obviously.”
“Alright, I dare you to pole dance for us, for a whole minute.”
“What?” I snort. “Dude, there isn’t even a pole.”
“Use your imagination,” he jests, waving his hand for me to get on with it.
Damn, well as embarrassing as this is going to be, I can’t back down.
Getting to my feet, I down one more mouthful of scotch before shaking out my limbs, prepared to give them both the best dance of their lives.
“No music?” I ask, giving Aiden a ‘come on’ look.
“Fine,” he grouches, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it until he finds something he likes.
Pressing play, the first notes of Shaman’s Harvest version of Dirty Diana come over the speakers. As he turns the volume up to max, I let the music flow through me and, keeping my eyes on Sophie’s laughing ones, I sway my hips to the beat, tapping my feet as I trail my fingers down the front of my shirt, undoing the buttons as I go, until it's lying open on my chest.
Sophie’s heated eyes push me on as I grind my hips, ignoring Aiden’s snort of disgust. This was his dare, so he can just suck it up and watch my mastery.
Spinning around, I place my hands on the table, arch my back, jutting out my ass and slowly swivel my hips, feeling all kinds of sexy right now as I thrust against the table.
Looking over my shoulder, I let my shirt fall down my arms until I can throw it away before grabbing hold of an imaginary pole and spinning around it, dropping low so I’m at the same height as Sophie on the ground, winking at her before I bounce back up, hooking my thumbs in my belt buckles and rolling my hips. At this level my crotch is in her face, the dirty suggestion making her blush.
Moving around the rest of the limited space, I continue to shuffle my feet, thrust my hips and swivel on my imaginary pole, loving how Sophie’s eyes flare with every move, her cheeks reddening as she bites on her lower lip. Damn, I’m totally going to give her a private show some day.
As the song comes to an end, I drop to the floor, stalking across it on my hands and knees until I’m right in front of her, shifting forwards, leaning my weight on my arms so I’m hovering just above the floor, I lower my hips grinding against the hard ground, the friction only making my dick harder than it already was, before rising and tilting my lips over hers, kissing her deeply as the last notes die.
“Wow,” she breathes when I pull away.
Giving her a dirty smirk, I shuffle back to my original spot, grabbing my discarded shirt and slipping my arms back into it. Buttoning it, I turn my smirk on Aiden, laughing as he rolls his eyes.
“Okay, Sophie, truth or dare?” I ask, chuckling as she squirms on the floor opposite me, trying to hide how fucking wet I know her panties are right now.
________
It’s super fucking early and a brass band is doing some sort of fucked up march in my head, when I hear a noise that drags me back to the land of the living the next morning. Who the fuck thought downing scotch was a smart idea?
Oh wait, I did.
Fuck, I’m an idiot.
Another noise, the sound of a door banging and footsteps, has me on alert as I whip my pistol out from under my head, my finger hovering over the trigger as I aim it towards the blurry person moving towards me.
“Dude, what the fuck?!” Barrett whisper-yells. Fuck, he still looks blurry, but I couldn’t misinterpret his whiny voice anywhere. Ugh, maybe I’m still drunk.
“Sorry,” I grumble, lowering my weapon as I try to rub the sleep out of my eyes. “What fucking time is it?” I moan. Not having any windows in this room means there’s no clue to what time of day it is, but based on how shit I’m feeling, it’s fucking early.
“Four A.M.”
“Ugh,” I gripe. It’s way too early to function, and I’m pretty sure something died in my mouth last night. I’m in serious need of a shower and a toothbrush. Glancing around the small study room, I notice Sophie is curled up in the blankets beside me, but Aiden isn’t here. It doesn’t even look like he slept in his pile of blankets.
“He’s keeping watch out in the main library,” Barrett says before I even need to ask. Well, now I feel bad. While I was in here sleeping off a hangover, he’s been up all night making sure no psycho gangbangers try to sneak up on us. Damn, I’ll owe him for that.
Sophie stirs beside me, our whispered conversation waking her.
“What’s going on?” She slurs, still half asleep.
“We gotta go, baby girl,” Barrett whispers, his voice much softer with her than it was with me. Fucking douchebag.
“Hmm,” she mumbles, her face scrunching up as she stretches, trying to wake herself up. We must have only gone to bed a couple of hours ago, after drinking the entire bottle of scotch between us. It totally seemed like a good idea at the time.
“Come on, baby, up you get. I’ll get you coffee when we get back to the warehouse, yeah?” Barrett coos in her ear, pulling back the blankets and gathering her in his arms, while kicking me in the side when I don’t move fast enough.
Giving him the dirtiest glare I can muster with the fucking pounding in my head, I unsteadily get to my feet and follow behind them as they leave the room.
Walking out into the main part of the library, I glance out the window. Yup, still dark out. Meaning we should seriously not be awake right now.
Moving towards the center of the library, by the main doors, where all the study tables are situated, I find Aiden and Preston deep in conversation, but they stop as we approach, both of them taking in Sophie’s half sleeping form in Barrett’s arms with soft expressions.
“Ready to go?” Preston asks.
“Yeah,” Barrett responds.
“What’s the plan?” I ask, enough brain power returning to me to remember Kirk could be waiting outside these walls to ambush us.
“Kirk’s men have all gone, by the looks of it,” Preston tells me. “They weren’t even trying to hide the fact they were watching the gates as we left last night—”
“Yeah, so we went out there and put on a goddamn show,” Barrett interrupts, a stupid grin on his face. “We pretended we couldn’t find any of you anywhere or get in touch with you, so they wouldn’t think you were at the school.”
“Smart,” Aiden murmurs.
“Then we called the police once we got home, told them we saw kids loitering around the school and they should check it out, so they’d do a drive by and hopefully scare off any of Kirk’s men still hanging around.”
“So we're good to leave?” I double check.
“Yeah, we should be.”
“Awesome. I need a shower and a warm bed.”
“Yeah, you smell like an alcoholic hobo, man,” Barrett grouches, shoving me away from him as he carries Sophie towards the door.
Chapter 26
After spending the night in the school, we—of course—missed our chance to enact our plan at the auction. Oliver is our inside man for the job and he was on duty watching the school instead. But after yet another fun weekend of planning, we’ve decided to go ahead with the plan tonight. We can’t wait any longer. There’s no telling when Kurt is going to strike next and, with my father distracted, now is as good a time as any to make our move.
After devising an al
ternative route in and out of the school, we all felt happy coming back today. Like Oliver said, my father can’t do anything to Preston and Barrett. So as long as Aiden, Ty and I continue to sneak in and out of the school, we should be fine.
We still don’t know how Kurt knew our movements, though. That’s definitely a concern, but there’s nothing we can do about it other than keep our eyes peeled and be more strategic. We’ve found several other ways onto the school property and we randomly pick a different one each day so Kurt can’t know our movements, and even if he did, my father would struggle to have enough men on every point of entry at once.
It’s the period after lunch and I’m sitting in Biology with Ty—who’s totally distracting me from whatever the teacher is droning on about—when I begin to feel lightheaded and dizzy.
“I’m gonna head to the bathroom,” I interrupt Ty, who gives me a confused look, taken aback by my abrupt tone.
“You okay?” He asks.
“Yeah, I’ve a bit of a headache, but I’m fine. I just need to splash some water on my face.”
“Okay.” He closes his workbook, preparing to come with me, when I reach out and set my hand on his arm, stopping his movements.
“It’s only the bathroom, I can handle it myself. I’ll be back in a second,” I assure him.
He looks unsure, staring at me for a moment while he debates what he should do. He must finally decide that I’m right as he relents, giving me a nod. Giving him a reassuring smile, I raise my hand, asking permission to leave, and head out to the toilet.
I only make it a few steps down the corridor before a heaviness crashes over me and I stumble into the bank of lockers. What is wrong with me? My limbs feel like dead weight and I can hardly hold myself up. My brain is all fuzzy, making it impossible to think straight.
I start to slide down the lockers, my legs unable to hold my weight any longer, when strong arms wrap around me, holding me up. One of my guys is here.
“I’ve got you,” a voice murmurs from behind me. I know I recognize the voice but I can’t think who it belongs to. Why does my head feel so weird?