𝐒𝐓. 𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, b.

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

❝𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫.❞

when jahseh and i got settled down, ski pulled out a hennessy bottle and the boys got all riled up. i knew that a fun night was ahead of us, but i had a couple of things that i had to get off of my chest.

"so i've decided to join mo."

the boys' incessant chatter calmed to smooth silence, and all eyes were on me.

"really?" jahseh asked in a skeptic tone, eyebrow raised.

"it's about time," ski replied.

"yeah, really," i said. "but i guess before i do, i need to know the extent of this. i want to call you guys my friends, to trust you all, but—"

"hold on." ashley stopped me dead in my tracks. "you can't seriously be saying that you don't trust us. especially not by now."

"i killed someone for you," jahseh said in a quiet voice, head tilted and eyes narrowed.

"and i let him do it!" ski exclaimed, swinging his hennessy bottle around. "i'm an accomplice to a murder i didn't even want to be a part of."

"i'm not saying that you guys are untrustworthy, i'm just saying that... i don't know. how do i know that you guys aren't only helping me for your benefit?"

"because helping you doesn't benefit us at all," jahseh said blankly. "truth is, it fucks us up. we'd be better off leaving you on the curb and letting hailey do whatever she wants with you. but we're not, because we're not fucking heartless." he thought for a moment. "at least, not that heartless. we care about you, all of us." he gestured to all of his friends. "we wouldn't be doing any of this shit if we didn't."

"alright, alright," i stopped him, rolling my eyes.

"i care about you too, bil. you've made st. george a lot more interesting and you've only been here for two weeks. i'm too invested in this shit to stab you in the back. and you've made a pretty solid roommate." xyla said.

"i'll do whatever i can to help," quinnley spoke up in her mousey voice.

i sighed, eyeing everyone in the room. to an outsider, i looked selfish. i'm refusing help that's being offered to me. but internally, i'm scared. i'm scared this is too good to be true and i'll get betrayed and i'll be kicking myself for ever trusting anyone in the first place.

but fuck, i'll never know unless i try.

"i'll join, but i know it isn't as simple as saying 'i'm in.'" i eyed jahseh. "so what do i have to do?"

"i'll tell you later," he mumbled, and i could have sworn that i saw mischief in his eyes.

"well." i turned my attention back to the others. "i'm committed to you guys, i'm committed to mo, and i'm committed to stopping whatever it is that's about to go down. i guess this is me pledging my loyalty."

"we're not worried about your loyalty," jaylen chuckled. "we're worried about you pussying out."

i felt my face harden and i bit back venom. "i'm not a bitch."

"you aren't, but you can't slip up and be soft. either you're in, or you're out," jahseh warned me seriously, his eyebrows raised. "i'm not gonna shield you from anything anymore. i won't stop anything else for your sake. like i said when you got here, what i say goes. once you join mo, there's no more bending the rules."