Troubled One

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Peeta walked over to the bakery door, flipping the sign to 'Closed'. Rye was supposed to take over, but the idiot overslept. Peeta wasn't about to take on Rye's shift, so he closed the bakery for a bit and went for a smoke break. He slammed the door shut behind him, heading towards the nearest smoking corner. When Peeta finally located it, he sat down on the ledge, lit a cigarette and inhaled. If there was no other positive way he could forget about Katniss, he had to take on a negative way.

He was going to defy Katniss, do everything she was against, to tell himself that Katniss was gone and Katniss wasn't able to control him anymore.

He inhaled a long gust of smoke and exhaled, loosely hanging onto the cigarette.

Katniss hated smoking, and she absolutely despised it when Peeta, her very own boyfriend, did it. She always confiscated his cigarettes, sometimes she took his lighter away as well. But Peeta never fretted, for he had Finnick to share with. Katniss, of course, never knew.

"Mellark."

Peeta looked over his shoulder at the raspy voice calling his last name. Cato Ludwig stood there, looking stoned. His face was red, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"Ludwig." Peeta acknowledged this by nodding his head and calling out Cato's last name in return.

Cato slowly walked over to where Peeta was standing, and joined him. Cato pulled out his own pack of cigarettes and calmly lit one. He put it in between his lips and took a few breaths before speaking again.

"You killed her."

Peeta lifted his head abruptly, startled.

"What?" He frowned in confusion.

"You killed her," Cato repeated, raising his voice. "That night, you killed her."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Peeta's eyes darted to the CCTV attached to the ceiling behind Cato.

"You do know what I'm talking about!" Cato snarled, turning to face Peeta. "You were so angry that you killed her. You murdered her without even listening to her-"

Peeta's fist landed square in Cato's face. He had only punched Cato shut him up and make him back up. He was invading Peeta's personal bubble.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Peeta questioned, watching as Cato attempted to mop the blood from his nose.

"You fucking killed her!" Cato screamed, standing up straight. "You killed her, and don't you try deny it-"

"Ludwig!"

Both Peeta and Cato turned to face the voice who yelled out.

Surprisingly, it was Rye. Peeta raised an eyebrow in question. Maybe Rye had taken the shorter way here instead of the route Peeta and Rye's dad constantly reminded them to take.

"Leave my brother alone, man," Rye stepped closer to the two men. "You're drunk, high and shit-faced. Go take a nap."

Cato sent a glare full of hate to Peeta and stumbled backwards before turning away from the two Mellarks.

"Thanks, dude," Peeta rubbed the back of his neck. "He was so stoned."

"I know," Rye snorted. "I'll take over from here. Keys?"

Peeta dropped the keys to the bakery into Rye's palm and Rye took off after a wave.

However unfazed he pretended to be, Peeta was shaken. Had he really killed Katniss? Was Cato right?

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what do you think? is peeta really guilty of something, or is cato? or is maybe cato so shit-faced that he had no idea what was happening? leave your answers in the comments! :)

rye is played by niall horan 🙌

• Chapter 2 •
word count: 546 words 💬

Her image is distorted ⚓️

-A 💕