Hiraeth

17

A few days later

Leo

"It's taken care of" I say to Jennifer on the phone.

When I hang up I see Sage standing in the door frame.

Fucking hell

"What is taken care of?" She asks

"Nothing" I say not wanting to talk about it.

"Leo. Please just tell me. If it is already taken care of then why are you so afraid to tell me" she says

"I'm not afraid." I say

"Then what is it?" She asks again.

"Dammnit Sage!" I say raising my voice. "It's too dangerous for you to know!"

"What do you mean dangerous?" She asks not backing down

"Just leave it alone Sage, I'm serious" I say

"Just tell me" She demands

"Leave it alone" I hesitate but she still doesn't back down, "Fine. Remember how I told you about my dad? Well after I killed him, I found out he was the leader of a gang, because they came after me one day. They wouldn't let me go until I paid them back for what I did" I say

"W-what? Your dad was a gang leader? Wait, what do you mean pay them back?" She asks with a hint of scared laced in her voice.

God her voice is so innocent. I shouldn't be telling her this stuff, but she needs to know how dangerous it is to be around me.

"They beat me for 3 days straight. No water. No food. After that they gave me a 1 day rest before they told me I had to work for them until they thought my debt was paid off. It lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. For a whole year, they sent me on drug trades and sent me to kill random people. When they finally found a new leader, he wanted nothing to do with me so he let me go. But now he wants me back. I guess he finally realized how much of an asset my dad was. My dad had connections everywhere and I took that away from them. So, he sent someone out to spy on me and they saw me with you." I explain, "Once they found out that you were someone in my life, they found out every little detail about you and they are the ones who ruined your dresses."

She stares at me with her hands on her mouth in shock. I mean I told her my dad was a terrible person who beat up my mom but I never told her that he ran a gang.

"U-Um. You've killed people?" She asks. I don't say anything. It has never been a problem for me to admit that I've killed people before, but for some reason, I don't want to admit it to her. When I don't answer, she asks me another question. One I don't want to her to ask because I know I will have to tell her the truth, "Are they after you?"

"Technically yes. They want me to join the gang again." I say

"And are you going too?" She asks

"Not exactly. I told them I am not going to join it but that if they need me to do a job I will do it" I say

"Why would you even agree to that?" She asks in confusion

"Because it's the only way to protect you." I say

Her eyes go wide.

"Protect me?" She asks

"They said if I don't help them then they would come after you". I say looking down at the ground now. "...and I can't let that happen"

"No. You can't do this!" She says

"I can and I will" I shoot back

"NO!" She says, "It's too dangerous! It is fine if they come after me, I have dealt with enough stuff in my life, I will just add this to my list, you can't risk your life doing this stuff to protect me! Wait a second... they just let you decide that you aren't going to be in the gang without a punishment?"