glitch | jack hughes (rewritten)

chapter 68

disclaimer: usage of drugs, mentions of blood, mentions/usage of knives. This could be triggering to some, please take care of yourselves! I love you!

josephine lee

Once we arrive at our third stop in our European tour, I'm quick to play the mother role and get all of my ducks lined up behind me. "Stay inside and don't move." I tell the boys, walking outside to look for the car I'm supposed to get in so it can take us to the hotel. I wait a few minutes before calling Marjorie and whip my head around to call my brother over, but instead, I am met with the sight of a hooded and masked man standing across the street. 

I drop my phone as I stare at him, staring right back at me. As I struggle to grab my phone, I hear Marjorie's voice start coming in through the line. "Hi, yes, yes. I'm here. Sorry, I dropped my phone." I tell her right as the SUV pulls up in front of me, blocking the masked man from my vision. 

"Boys!" I shout, waving them over to the car as my new security guard named Marcus helps us load our bags into the back while I explain to Marjorie why I had called. I hang up before settling into the car with the boys. "She's at the venue?" Theo asks as he buckles himself in. I respond with a simple nod and subtly look around to see if the masked man is still around, only to find out he's nowhere to be seen.

I try keeping my discomfort at bay since I don't want to freak the boys out over nothing but question myself a hundred times on the whole way to the hotel. Who is this guy? Why was he staring at me? I think about this the whole way to the hotel, and it's not until Marcus opens the door that I realize we've arrived. 

Before jumping out of the car, I look around discreetly to make sure he's not around. Marcus stays as I get out before moving to the back of the car to grab our luggage. "Let's grab our keys so we can get our things up there." I say to the guys through a heavy breath as if I had just run a marathon. 

While I walk up to the front desk, wearing my best smile as I check in for us, the boys help my security guard with unloading the back. The young woman at the front desk notices what my brother is doing and holds a hand up to stop them. "Let us, Miss. Lee." She says, quickly going to the back to grab another employee. I thank her, watching the guys help load up the hotel cart with our belongings. 

Once things get settled into our respective rooms, Theo, Bobby, Ryan, and Josh barge into my room with mischievous smiles. I get nervous about what they could want and slowly ask them as I unpack a few things in my room."Should we go explore the city?" Theo asks with an excited smile. 

I think about the masked man, and then I weigh out both of my options. Risk him catching me in my bedroom or risk seeing him again on the streets while I'm with four boys. I don't think he'd approach me if I had company, so I say, "Yeah, let's go." with a soft smile, grabbing my wallet and shoving it into my pocket.

Josh opens the door for us and leads the way out of the hotel towards the city. "Wait, we didn't invite Alex." Ryan says, stopping in his tracks. We all look at him for a few seconds, holding our breaths for a moment of silence before turning around and walking straight ahead. "Right, sorry." he says. 

Alex never wants to hang out unless it's to drink and do drugs, and when we do invite him out, he ruins the entire thing. We shouldn't have invited him on tour with us, even though he is literally in the band. "Let's go in here first." Bobby says, pointing to the small gift shop to our left. 

I start walking towards the store and turn my head just to look at the other stores and see him again. What the hell? "Josie, store. Come on." Theo says, holding the door open for me while I stare at absolutely nothing. Gone. How is he gone already?