It All Started With A Tampon

(12)

I wake up to an empty bed. Liam isn't here, and I feel cold without him in here. I shake it off, wanting these feelings to go away. You don't like him. You can't. He's not good for you. I get up, and throw on one of Liam's hoodies, over his shirt and boxers. I head downstairs, and I run into Ben in the hallway. 

"Hey you." He muses. "You feeling any better?" I nod slightly, and smile.

"Thankyou." I say. "For your help."

"No problem." He says. "Breakfasts ready." He leaves into one of the rooms in this hallway, which I'm assuming is his room. I head into the kitchen, and the whole gang is there. Liam smiles at me, and I smile back. I help myself to cereal, and let the boys chatter. Eventually, the kitchen empties, leaving Liam and I. 

"I should get back." I say, putting my bowl in the sink. He frowns, and scoffs.

"Seriously?" He asks. "You know what they're going to make you do and you're still going to go?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" I spit, annoyed.

"Stay here." He protests. "We saved you last night. You can stay here."

"How do you really know my brother?" I ask suddenly. "And don't avoid the subject, I know that it's more serious than you make it out to be." He sighs, and sits down.

"I'm trying to protect you." He says. "It's a dangerous situation." 

"I deserve to know." I spit out. "I know it has something to do with Caleb, and I know that you keep in contact with Josh. Just tell me." I plead. He looks at me, and sighs when he realises he's not going to let it go.

"Just please don't freak out, and let me explain the whole thing to you." I nod, slightly, motioning him to go on.

"Your brother didn't finish uni early." He says. "He didn't even go to uni at all." I gasp, but shut up quickly, wanting to hear the rest. "He runs a gang. Caleb's part of it. They're usually based around UCLA area, so he used that as a good cover. My gang has several branches, and one of them was around his area too. We aren't exactly on good terms with your brothers gang. They have very different intentions, like rape, and women. Yeah, I know we can't exactly talk, we sometimes deal a little drugs. But only when it's necessary. We like to focus on territory wars, and honour. One day, he knew he had cheated us too far. He stole a lot of our money, and took something very special to us." He pauses, obviously treating this as a sensitive topic.

"What was it?" I ask gently.

"It wasn't an it." He says. "It was a she." I look up quickly, not liking the sound of that. "They purposely ran over Dean's girlfriend." He chokes out, the anger overcoming him. "And instead of facing up to his problems, he took his gutless gang and ran away." He continues. "He ran away here. So we followed him. First, it was to settle the money issue, which we did, as you know." I smile slightly, as I remember that I have three thousand dollars cash sitting under my mattress. "So we moved next door, knowing it would drive him mad. And now we're just here, setting up a new branch." I frown, knowing thats not all.

"What are you hiding?" I ask. "I know that's not all. Wouldn't you want revenge for Dean's girlfriend?" He grimaces, looking at me.

"Yeah." He says. "We did. Some still do."

"Did? So what?" I ask, fear creeping into my voice, already knowing. "You were going to kill him?"

"Gemma." He rushes. "I didn't even know you then-"

"You've killed before?" I ask, fear trembling inside me.

"What did you think?" He says bitterly. "I told you we're dangerous. This is a gang Gemma." 

"So what's stopping you?" I ask. He sighs, and continues on.

"When I saw you in the alley, and I found out you were his sister, I hated him even more. I wanted to do it, but then I got to know you. The gang got to know you. So we voted, and we decided not to go ahead with it. We decided to just set up our main base here, and make his life hell, and keep his gang in order. Well, except for...."

"Except for Dean." I finish for him, in a small voice. He nods slightly.

"That's why he wasn't exactly very friendly at the start." He goes on. "But then he realised, it wasn't your fault, and then he wanted to protect you to."

"So what's going on now?" I ask, a little confused. "Is it just general hate, or is something still going on?"

"We will definitely always not get along with that gang." He says. "But yeah. We're in a bit of a territory war with them. Your brother likes to bite off more than he can chew." I nod slightly, it's all starting to make sense. Josh was so angry, when I had any contact with Liam's lot, and the message would have been about the territory dispute. except for one thing.

"So what are we?" I ask, blushing a little bit. He avoids my gaze, and asks what I mean. "Why have you taken a liking to me?" I tease a little bit. He sighs, and stares.

"Gemma, it could never work." He says, and my heart sinks. "If Josh found out, he could use it against me, in so many ways."

"But..." I trail off. "I thought that....He wouldn't have to kn-"

"Gemma, you don't understand." He says, raising his voice. 

"But-"

"But what?" He scoffs. "You thought that I liked you?" I feel tears prickling behind my eyes. "You're just a little girl. My gang aren't heartless. They, and I won't stand by and watch him hurt you." I see his eyes harden, and he looks away. "But-but don't think that means I like you. Because I don't." I let the first tear drop, and I stand up.

"Sure." I said. "Then don't worry about me." I head for the door, and let the tears run down my face. I stop, and look back. He's looking away, and doesn't try to stop me. I storm out the hallway, and freeze when I see the whole gang crowding around the door, obviously listening in. Ben steps forward, and reaches for my arm, but I step out of his reach. 

"Gemma..." He tries, but I back away, and head for the door. I guess I should have known. It was starting to look to good to be true.