I went up to my room and reluctantly went into my closet, searching for some dark clothes to cloak me in the darkness tonight. I took out some dark blue skinny jeans, a black tank top and my black military boots. I pulled them on slowly because honestly, I didn’t want to go on another job. When I finished, I hopped down the stairs and went to find Ryan.
I walked around the house until I found him in the kitchen sucking down a bottle of water looking like he just finished a workout. His shirtless torso was glistening with sweat, making his abs more obvious than usual. He caught me staring and said, “You know you can have it back whenever you want, I would be glad to call you my girlfriend again.” He smiled cheekily and threw his now empty water bottle in the trash bin.
“I think I’ll stick with being single and die alone.” His smiled faded and turned serious. I ignored it and continued. “Where are the two turd balls?” He looked down at his feet and then said, “In the workout room.” I nodded silently and walked away from him in the direction of our family gym. My boots clocked against the hardwood flooring that held memories of pain inflicted on my head. When I reached the gym I saw Turk slumped against the wall panting and drenched in sweat while Chris and Jake were clobbering each other. They both wore black basketball shorts with boxing gloves and each of them were sweating but the contrast between Jake’s soft caramel skin and Chris’s paler complexion was surprising.
I cleared my throat and immediately all eyes were on me. Panting Chris said, “You ready?” I nodded silently and he pushed Jake towards the door as Turk stood up and followed him. Jake stepped around me, carefully trying not to touch me and Turk stopped and winked at me before he continued following Jake.
I rolled my eyes and Chris beckoned me with his finger. I walked up to him and he walked out of the gym towards the entrance of the house. I followed him silently and he walked to the closet by our front door. He opened the door and pulled out a jacket; my mother’s favorite leather jacket. He handed it to me and said, “So you’ll have your mom with you.” I took the jacket from him gingerly, trying not to damage it in any way as he walked off towards the kitchen. I ran after him and he walked over towards the special drawer with the fake bottom. He pulled out my father’s gun and my two knives that I had tempted Turk and Jake with. “Take these and don’t go dropping your knives. You might not get them back.” I smiled and he said, “Okay go down to the SUV and I’ll get the boys and meet you down there in two.” I nodded and walked off towards the car.
∞
After five minutes of endless waiting, Chris, Turk, and Jake piled into the black SUV. I was stuck in the back with Jake and he literally did not speak a word. Chris and Turk argued in the front about strategies on how we should scope out the area. According to Chris, the potential danger was in a two mile range so we would have to be split up into two groups. “Natalie.” Chris’s voice snapped me out of my gaze. I looked at him and he kept looking at the road but trying to keep eye contact with me. “You’re going to go with Jake while I go with Turk. I only need you to cover one mile and I just need you to look for drug activity, violence, gang activity, prostitutes or anything suspicious.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “Is that all or do you want me to look for all crime activity in this town?” He smirked but said nothing. Not ten minutes later, we rolled to a stop by an abandoned warehouse. I opened the car door and discreetly stepped out, trying not to draw any attention to any pedestrians. I looked up at the old warehouse and it was so typical. You could tell the building used to be a vibrant red from the fading paint on the crumbling brick structure. Multiple windows were smashed in, creating jutted designs that resembled the shape of an abyss.
