The Escort

19. I Love Her

 Justin and the crew wasted not a second as they geared up and prepared for battle once Ashlyn had called and told them what happened to her.

No one dare say a word, especially to Justin. It was dead silent as they geared up. They knew Justin needed to keep sane when it came to Ashlyn.

None of them had girlfriends, or people that they cared about closely, so no one knew how he was feeling.

And it didn't help that Ashlyn was too hysterical to tell them exactly what had even happened, so they didn't even know what they were getting into. All anyone knew was that someone broke into Ashlyn's apartment and made it known they were there before they left.

The truck was started and sped off into the street before Franko could get his door closed.

Justin flew down the streets of Detroit, not caring about the possibility of being stopped by the police.

Ashlyn was more important than him getting a ticket or spending a night or two in jail.

The deep silence was broken in a matter of seconds. "Look you guys, Ashlyn is my girl no matter if we have a label or not. I have to do whatever I can to keep her safe." Justin spoke out as he looked in the mirror to see if any cars were behind him.

Everyone nodded.

He momentarily closed his eyes before opening them again. "I love her with everything I have, I just can't keep letting her get hurt because of me." he sighed loudly.

The car was silent for a moment as they took in his words.

"Man we know. I love her as much as you do, she's a part of us. We wouldn't be anywhere without her." Franko looked over to Justin from the passenger seat. "We got her back, no matter what." he finished.

The agreement was unanimous.

"If I have to shoot a nigga or two to protect my girl, I will." Kai nodded as he spoke. Everyone shared a group laugh.

It was good to have a light moment in such a fucked up time.

Justin was thankful that he had such great people by his side. And he was happy that they would go to the same lengths that he would to help or save Ashlyn.

He had definitely been blessed to be surrounded by friends like this. His thoughts drifted back to meeting Franko.

That night he wanted to kill Steve but Franko beat him to it. He smirked at the thought of his best friend killing someone who owed him money. It was sick, but what he did for a living.

The night Justin met Kai was the night that The Hitters was pretty much formed into an actual gang.

The house party was in full effect. Music was booming, bodies were grinding, drinks were pouring, and smoke clouds filled the entire room. It was a Friday night in Detroit, which meant one thing. Parties.

Justin and Franko were posted up in a corner of their house, scoping out the place to make sure everything was going smoothly and nothing was suspicious. Everything seemed to have been running in order.

They didn't normally throw parties, as it wasn't their thing, but tonight was Franko's birthday. And he wanted to let loose.

Justin was so wrapped up in making sure that the party was going smooth that he didn't even see Missy walk up to him.

"Hey baby," she wrapped her arms around him. He smiled down at her as his lips kissed her forehead. An bigger smile went across his face as he felt her arms tighten around him.