out of breath ; hemmings au

twenty one

"We're going too fast, Michael!" I manage to scream louder than the engine and the rain combined.

"I know," Michael said.

He wasn't sitting on the chair anymore. He was on the van's floor, guarding Calum and I from the brusque movements with extended arms; and, at the same time, Calum was hugging me to do the same.

The speed at which Ben is driving is non-sense, all of us could die any minute and I don't see how this could help his business. I wonder why the stupid kid he's with doesn't speak up. He's probably laughing thinking this is pure adrenaline and that he's invincible.

"I think that call make him loose his mind," Michael speak lower than the time before.

"I think we never thought he could drive this crazily when we came up with that," I say. "If anything happens now, our plan would be useless."

"Don't say that, we'll still come out of this one, Moon. I promise," Calum chime in and tried to kiss the top of my head when a sudden movement changed the vans direction for a moment; he ended up kissing my shoulder.

Michael decided to bang the van's side separating the front seats from us again. This time he did it euphorically and repeatedly.

"Ben!" He screams. "Ben, what the fuck? You have to slow down!"

"Something happened that needs immediate attendance!" Ben screams back. "We're not stopping until we get to town!"

"He's crazy," Calum whispered.

"What can possibly make you drive this fast?" Ben doesn't answer. "Ben!" Michael shouts as louder as he can.

The breaks make the wheels skid and the three of us hit the back door. I thought our weight would open it, but thankfully it didn't. I guess the road is too wet because the van didn't stop right there, we make a 'U' turn that left us facing in the opposite direction.

We hear a door being slammed and soon the back door of the van is opened. It reveals a wet and angry Ben, he was fuming and we knew it was because of what he was told on that phone call.

"Tim fucking Rodds want to steal my business and that can't happen! That won't happen! We're going to end him, Pinky! And I don't want to hear any reason to change my mind, you hear?" Ben says fulminating Michael right in the eyes.

Michael nods. I could tell he was holding back the tears and that's how I can tell he's probably thinking the exact same thing as me. Ben will do what we planned he would, but he's going to do whatever it takes, meaning any of us and the other guys involved in the business are in even more danger than before.

"And you're doing it," Ben says. "You'll kill that bastard." With that said he slams the back doors and secures them.

Those words felt as a heavy punch in the chest, one of those that stop your breathing when you need it the most.

"Oh my God..." My voice comes out broken.

Calum hugs me, taking my head into his left hand and pressing it against his chest. Now Michael has to kill someone because of me. Calum and Luke were almost killed because of me and now Michael will become an assassin. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why can't everything be easier? I break down on Calum's chest. I cry as if there was no tomorrow, the guilt was eating me up inside. Luke was right, Ben is unpredictable and a plan against him would never turn out as we wished, but I, being as stubborn and egocentric as I am, thought I could pull it off. Idiot!

"Hey, mate," I hear Michael's voice. "Things aren't going too well."

I look up and I can see tears rolling down his cheeks. I don't know who's in the other side of the line, but I really wish it's Luke. The only thing that could make me feel any better is him being alright and not lost in the middle of the road.

"The call drove him insane! He's driving so fast I'm afraid we might die any second. And he wants me to kill Tim..." He trails off.

Silence invades the back of the van. It's a good thing rain covers the conversation so the men in the front don't hear a thing, but the whole situation has me on edge.

"Who's that?" I ask Michael; he just looks at me.

"Yes, I need a solution! I'm not going to kill him, Ashton!" He sighs and after a moment speaks again, "Alright."

He takes the phone away from his ear and rubs his eyes, then his hair.

"I'm sorry, Michael... I never thought this would be this way," I say between sobs.

"It's not your fault," he shakes his head. "We all agreed to this plan and now we have to figure out how to get out of it."

"What did Ash tell you?" I wanted to know.

"He'll talk to your dad. He was driving to pick up Luke."

"That's good news at least," I say; he nods. "My dad will know what to do, he knows Ben better than anyone... It's our only hope..." I tailed off sniffing.

I rest my head back on Calum's shoulder. All we have left to do is wait until some new information arrives or something happens.

As expected Ben doesn't lower the speed and we hit the van's walls multiple times. Calum couldn't take it much longer; his whole body was hurting from the bruises Ben and the other guy left on him... I'm afraid to ask but I really hope Michael didn't have to hit him under Ben's orders. I don't know why I didn't think of that before. Ben can actually do whatever the hell he wants; I'm sure he can command people to jump of a cliff if he feels like it. I guess it was the fear and worry on Michael's eyes when Ben screamed at him that made me see that. 

I always thought I was a rebel living a hard life making my own choice, going against authority, but seeing how living under it means, I can see it's much scarier. You have to adapt to rules you don't agree to and do things you'll never thought you were capable of but have no choice other than do it. I now see how easy my life is –or was, I don't even know at the moment–, I might've liked my parents to pay me more attention, or be the most popular girl in school and banal stuff like that, but I had nothing really important to worry about- Okay, yes, I was worried to be caught by the police sniffing coke, but at the same time it was the idea, maybe my parent would actually realize I was there having problems and needing their help. But I can see everything from a different perspective now. My life was one of those lives people would ask for and I couldn't even see it.

"Dan's not calling me. Shit," Michael groans pulling of his hair.

I don't speak. I don't know what to say. I have no clue of why my dad wasn't calling to calm Michael down and I was really worried he didn't have a plan B for this kind of situations.

"He's a good man, Mike," Calum says surprising us both. "He won't let you kill anyone; he wouldn't want you to carry that weight on your shoulders."

When those words come out of Calum's mouth I realized how much I needed someone to say good things about my dad. I'm disappointed by him because he lied to me and I feel like I won't be able to really trust him ever again, but hearing he's a good person that cares about other people gives me hope. Gives me hope that he did it with good intentions, that maybe he was actually thinking about my mom and I when he kept his job a secret; and after all he left the business when everything turned cruel. So I smile, I smile because I know my dad can't be that bad.

"Where do you think we're at?" Calum asks Michael after a long time.

"I've no clue but I suppose we're close to town already," he goes silent and we all know he's thinking about what's coming next.

I bit my cheek to stop myself from hammering me with the fact that I'm to blame for his worries. I know I wouldn't be of any help if I focus on whining about my horrible life.

Then a vibration goes off and we all look at the phone Michael's holding. It reads 'Dan'.

▬▬

New chapter!! and there's just a couple more left :/ I really want to thank everyone who's been reading this, it means so much to me I can't even explain! Please keep reading, voting and commenting! I love you all and on that depends the future of moon, luke and calum's love triangle, will there be sequel? Maybe? haha

Oh! I added a cast and pictures through out the chapters, check that out :D

Mel