Fixing Me ∞ Hood

Chapter 53 - Visitor

"It just... It doesn't make any sense." I shook my head.

"What doesn't make sense? They're trying to kill you." Smith huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What doesn't make sense is why they're abducting and kidnapping girls with the name Jordan, or with the last name of Peterson."

Everyone just stares at me, both confused and intrigued. I've always had a different view on things and could always recognise other things that the rest of the gang can't. Their stares beg for me to explain.

"Most people, if not everyone, in Castigo know what I look like and where I am. It doesn't make sense for them to go after girls with my name to try to find me when they already know who I am. Those first three girls they kidnapped probably just to taunt me, but they had completely different names. Now all the girls with the name Jordan are being taken."

No one in the gang seemed to catch my drift, the only people who did are probably the least likely people to know about any of this; the four boys who seem so out of place among the gang.

"So, there's someone else coming after you?" Luke questioned with a frown. "Someone, or a group of people, who know about you, but don't know what you look like or, really, who you are at all."

"Exactly," I pointed to him. "There's someone else trying to find me, maybe even another gang."

The four boys sitting on one of the lounges to my right all have sullen looks on their faces. I know this must be kind of daunting for them I guess, hearing all of this information and trying to make sense of it when they don't really know what's going on.

Calum let out a long breath as he scrubbed his face with his hands, then went back to bouncing his legs up and down rapidly as he chewed on his bottom lip and looked around nervously. He's been doing that most of the time even since we sat down to have our usual gang meeting, and I can't take seeing him so wound up any more.

I pushed myself out of my chair and walked past a few gang members - who's eyes watched me like hawks the whole way - until I reached the lounge where my three best friends/brothers and my secret boyfriend sit.

I sat down on Calum's lap slowly, making the four boys look towards me. I can tell they feel uncomfortable here, but when I'm closer they seem to relax a little - making me feel bad for not sitting with them in the first place, I just got so caught up with all this gang talk.

"You okay?" I asked Calum gently and placed my hand over his.

He gave me a small, uneasy smile that is completely unconvincing. "It's just... It makes me anxious talking about people wanting to kill you."

"I know," I frowned sympathetically and rubbed his arm soothingly. "You get use to it after a while."

He let out a quick and quiet chuckle, that I can barely even call a chuckle because it only lasted a second, it was more like a hiccup.

My heart dropped as water started to well in his eyes, which made me realise that maybe I'm not thinking about how much this is affecting the boys. They've never had to deal with this sort of thing before in their lives, let alone sitting with a gang and listening to them talk about how another gang wants to kill me and how other girls with the same name as me are being kidnapped and we're not really doing anything about it.

I have to start thinking about how this looks to outsiders.

I turned around in Calum's lap and leaned back against him, letting my head rest against his shoulder as I let him wrap his arms around my waist. He nuzzled his face into my neck and let out a shaky breath, causing me to place my hands on top of his and gently rub my thumbs in circular motions over his tanned skin, not knowing how else to comfort him other than being right here with him.