Vengeance

||26|| Expect The Unexpected

Oakley POV

I'm no stranger to anxiety.

As someone that experiences panic attacks, when anxiety gets to the point where it's unbearable to handle. Where I can't breathe, choking on my fears and wanting nothing but to leave the place I was in previously.

I've had two panic attacks since I've met August. Two times where I thought I might die because of it. Or at least that's how it makes me feel. Like I'm going to die.

One of those times, even though I hadn't wanted to admit it then, I was thankful for August. He helped me, and he stayed with me. When I was in school curled up on the floor and undergoing a panic attack, no one had done that. No one cared until August.

And it pulls at my heart, ripping it out of my chest to know that person I came to trust the most has now been the cause of one of them.

I tried to discard the memory of my panic attack at the warehouse. But for more than a week, it's all that seems to cross my mind.

And I don't understand myself. I don't get why I keep this ring on my finger. Or this necklace on my neck.

But all I know is that twisting and fidgeting with this ring is the only thing keeping my nerves at bay as I watch Caleb's car pull up to the building. I recognized the large building, its faded-out green stone accents on the roof. The building I accidentally shot Olivia in.

And here we are again, only this time we're not alone.

Caleb pulls to a stop across the street from the building. Instrumental Music spills out from the building as people dress like a thousand dollars and a mask over their face walk in.

What fucking century are we in? The 1800's?

I inhaled deeply as I watched the same door guard I threatened before make everyone take off their mask before entering.

"Shit," I say, turning to everyone inside the car. Slasher and Axel sat beside me in the back seat. Olivia sat in the front with Caleb. You would think we were going to a funeral with the all-black attire we currently wear.

"You see that too? Their checking faces, probably because of the shit you two pulled off last time, Oakley," Caleb says to Olivia and me.

Olivia slaps his shoulder, "Oh shut up. If we didn't, then you couldn't have met me." The gaze they share after her words make me look down at my fingers. Filled with nothing but love. A gaze August and I once shared.

To my surprise, a hand goes to my thigh. Axel's hand. He rubs at my skin gently with his thumb while the others continue to come up with a plan. I look up at him questioningly, wondering whether or not to tell him not to touch me. But I realize the only reason he put it there was to stop my leg from shaking.

A toothpick balances between his lips. A dark curl that always seems to stray from the rest of his gelled back hair lay on his forehead.

Axel and I haven't talked much within the time I've known him. Other than that time at the sanctuary, I tried to use him to get August jealous...

"You alright, Boss?" He whispered, taking out the toothpick with his other hand.

I tilted my head, "Boss?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "That's what you are now. To those people right there." He points through the window at Mafia Dynemo filing in, "I told you once before that you're just as powerful as Mathew. Don't let one setback stop you from being the boss I've always seen you as."

I press my lips together and nod just as Slasher's german accent booms through the car, "Hellooo! Are you two Riss Köpfe (Crack heads) listening or what?"