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“It wasn’t a set up to have her kidnapped!” Prez interjects, irritation blooming.
“Did I say that?” Phisher barks incredulously. “God, you’re both so damn big headed you just can’t see it. I honestly thought you were both fucking with me and just decided to ignore Knuckles. As I was saying, he left her without any warning. Yeah, she stayed behind and ordered him to keep going. Yes, if she gives an order, they have to follow it. Fine, acceptable. But for him, that’s his best friend and from what I have heard it may be more than that. So, even though we now know it was a set up, it wasn’t public knowledge then. We didn’t know that, and he left her only for her to be grabbed by the man who put her through hell. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
It clicks. Slumping back in my chair, I can finally understand what Knuckles is going through. There’s no way for me to know it too personally, but I think I understand why Knuckles feels like he can’t go. I can’t sit here and pretend that I don’t know any of this.
I stand and make my way out of the church hall, following the crowd until it’s time to break off. Taking the stairs two at a time, I make my way to Knuckle’s room. The door is closed, so I knock. After not hearing anything for a few minutes, I try knocking a few more times. Again, silence.
“What the fuck are you doing?” His voice calls from behind me. Startled, I swear I jump a foot in the air. Bumping past me, he unlocks the door and tries to slam it shut. I slide my boot between the door and the frame, stopping it from closing. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under with the way he’s glaring at me.
“I just want to talk,” I start, only to be cut off by a snorted laugh.
“You can talk in the comfort of this hallway,” he snaps, trying to kick my boot out of the way. I put more pressure on the floor and it doesn’t move. Once he realizes I’m not going to relent, he huffs and pulls it the rest of the way open. He sits himself on the edge of the bed and clasps his hands on his lap. “Start talking.”
Walking into the room, I gently shut the door and perch myself on his dresser. Neither of us say anything for long moments as I try to figure out what all I need to say.
“If you’re not going to say anything-”
“I’m sorry, Knuckles,” I start, cutting him off. “I know it wasn’t ideal and it was a shitty way to find out. For that, I’m sorry. If I could go back and change it, I would.”
He gawks at me, as if he’s never been apologized to in his life. Now that I have started, I don’t want to stop. Once I stop, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So, I just need to get it all out.
“The intention was never to hurt anyone. I didn’t leave Big D because they had things over me. Blackmailing me to stay or they would turn me into the authorities. It’s shitty, but I didn’t know they were trafficking children. They didn’t pitch it like trafficking, and it was all set up to be drug runs in containers. I didn’t think anything of it until I opened one of the containers and saw…” trailing off, I realize something within myself. I’m disgusted. I may not have condoned the behavior, but I didn’t do everything in my power to stop it.
Swallowing thickly, I shove both my hands in my pockets and play with the small piece of lint. I don’t register that Knuckles moved until he’s right next to me, his head leaning on my shoulder. He’s a lot shorter than me, and the rightness of him curled into my side has me wanting to air out all of my dirty laundry to him.
“You don’t have to tell me,” he whispers, one hand curling around my bicep. Closing my eyes, I can’t keep the smile off my face.
“I need to get this off my chest, and you have a right to know…especially if I can look forward to your forgiveness…” Looking down at him, I watch his lips curl upward.
“Maybe,” he shrugs, pinching the material of my shirt.
“I swear I didn’t know,” I whisper, unable to speak any louder with the outrage within myself.
“I know,” he nods.
“There was no way out. Surveillance didn’t look good in my favor. Then, Daryn showed up. I wanted to move out of the ranks there and wanted to dissociate myself with them because of the trauma. Daryn heard that his sister was running with the gangs and wanted insight. Turns out, she’s a fucking executioner,” I laugh, unable to stop the glee in my heart. “She made something of herself and tried to be the ender of all things bad.”
“Where did Heckles come into it all?”
“He wanted to continue moving kids because it makes quick money, and it’s a heavy payday. We didn’t want to anymore for obvious reasons. He tried to kill Daryn, Daryn put him in lock up, Heckles broke out.”
“Did he know about Leather’s relationship with Heckles?”
“I don’t think it clicked for any of us until Heckles told me himself when he was trying to recruit us to join him. He wanted revenge on a girl that was threatening to ruin his livelihood. I didn’t think anything of it with the way he described her. I was under the guise of looking for Blaine, Daryn’s sister, and locating the female that tried to ruin Heckles so that he didn’t ruin me, and then also get out of that fucking club. Turns out the two assignments became one. Then that one assignment turned into a hell of a lot more. I wasn’t expecting the smart mouthed woman that strutted her stuff on that stage.”
He laughs loudly, enjoying the shitty jokes.
“So, what now?” The question that’s been burning in my brain since the beginning. I knew that this would eventually come to an end, and yet I still haven’t figured out what I am going to do. I don’t want to be Vice, that’s for fucking sure, but the connections I made with the club has me wanting to stay even more.
I didn’t want to leave, but it was always an option that I had to consider.
“Are you going to stay?”
“Are you asking me to stay?”
“Only if you promise to keep an open line of communication from here on out,” he counters, leaning back and looking up at me. We lock eyes, and I’m immediately drawn in. His hazel eyes grip me tightly and threaten to suffocate me if I’m not careful. The way his eyes slide to my lips and back up has me second guessing my good intentions.
“Can I kiss you?” I mutter, glancing down at his soft, plush lips. He nods, though with a quirk of my brow, he rolls his eyes.
