As I waited patiently in the car, I fumbled through my phone, hoping to pass some time. I had a text from Kristen, but I honestly couldn't deal with having to explain all of this right now. I just wasn't ready.
"Kelsey!" I heard someone yell.
I snapped my head up and towards the direction it had come from. After searching for a couple of seconds, I saw Derek wave his hands from the building. I climbed out of my car, and proceeded towards him.
"What? I thought I needed to stay in the car." I questioned.
He cleared his throat and gave me a strange look. "They want you to come in. Just stay quiet and stay near me at all times."
This sort of scared me because he seemed so nervous. I wasn't sure what I was really getting into, but I could tell that it wasn't going to go well.
We walked through the door and into a very dim room. There were several couches in there, and multiple guys were sitting on them. As soon as they heard us come in, they directed their attention towards us and kept their eyes in our direction. Derek grabbed my hand tightly as he continued to pull me further towards them. The whole place reeked of week and alcohol, and it was making me very nauseous.
"Soooo, this is the famous Kelsey..." some guy said as he walked towards me and Derek. Derek grabbed me tighter and pulled me closer to him.
The guy let out a light chuckle and walked closer to us. "Relax man you aint gotta hold onto her so hard. I aint gon hurt her."
"Yea why don't you guys have a seat." A familiar voice called out. I turned around to see that it was Brian. "Slide over Paul. Let them sit beside you."
As soon as I heard the name, I snapped my head around to look at him. He smirked, slid over, and patted the couch beside him. Flashbacks of the other night came into my mind and all I could think about was him and Brian's threatening little visit to my house.
"Im sorry." Derek whispered into my ear as we walked over and took our seats on the couch. I tried sitting the furthest away from Paul possible, but he grabbed my hand and sat me down next to him. Derek followed and sat beside me.
"So.." Brian started as he paced the floor in front of all of us. "You may be wondering why I had Derek get you out of the car." he looked straight at me and smiled.
I tried to reply, but all I could do was shake my head.
"Well, I had him get you because you are involved in this now, so you probably need to hear it all. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Umm yes-" I tried to agree but Derek cut me off.
"No she actually doesn't. She does not need to be involved, and she won't be. Come on Kelsey lets go." He grabbed my hand and started to get up when the guy who first greeted us walked up and forcefully pushed him down.
"I don't have time for your shit Derek." I looked up and Brian's face had turned from happy, to really annoyed and pissed. "Just get me my damn money or else we will start coming after you and your little clique." He looked over at me when he said that.
"Leave her out of it!" Derek growled.
I quickly reached up and interlocked my fingers with his as I gave them a gentle squeeze. I was trying to get him to chill out before he got us into an even bigger mess.
"But why?" Brian cocked his head to the side. "Why is she so special to you? Its not like you are dating or anything. Unless..." he stopped and flashed a huge smile towards Derek. "you like her don't you?"
I felt his hand twitch in mine and he looked down at the ground.
"Well now I know why you protect her so much but why does Justin?" he tapped his index finger to him chin as he thought. "Oh shit! Does Justin like her too?"
Derek started getting fidgety and I could tell he was uncomfortable. I decided that now a good time to try and stop all of this. "Look you told us that we had 5 days and I'm pretty sure that we have a couple of days left so how about you just let us go, and we will have your money." I didn't quite know how much money they owed, but I had a feeling that we wouldn't actually able to get it paid back so fast.
"No Kelsey there is no we. You will not be involved in this." Derek said, looking into my eyes.
"Damn Justin let the girl make her own decisions. No wonder she probably likes Justin more. I mean everyone does really. Especially Emily-" Before I knew it, Derek had jumped up off of the couch and lunged at Brian. He got one good blow in before two huge guys grabbed him and held him back.
"What the fuck man. I was just stating the truth." Brian said as he picked himself up off of the ground. He looked Derek up and down a couple of times, and then all of a sudden charged towards him. With the two guys holding his arms, Brian punched Derek straight in the stomach and he yelped in pain. He then made a fist and swung it right into Derek's jaw. Pretty soon, blood started to drip from his lower lip.
Brian then raised his arm again for another hit, but I jumped up and ran in between them. "Stop Please!" I was trying hard to keep from crying.
"Just stay out of it Kelsey." I heard Derek's weak voice call out from behind me.
I ignored him and continued talking to Brian. "We will have the money by the deadline."
He looked into my eyes and sighed. "Okay boys let him go." They let him go and he immediately fell to his knees from the pain. I went over to help him up, but Brian grabbed my arm and jerked me back around. "If you guys don't have my money, you know what will happen to you right?" his eyes were now cold and emotionless.
I gulped and nodded my head. "Y-Yes."
"Good. Now get out of here."
I turned around and walked over to Derek. I wrapped my arm around him and helped him get back on his feet. We then slowly began to work our way back out to my car. When we got outside, I helped him over to the passenger's seat and then walked back around to the driver's seat.
Once I got in, I gave him a strange look.
"What?" he asked as he grabbed him stomach.
"What the hell just happened?"
"That's the gangster life for ya." He started to laugh but immediately stopped grabed at his side. "Ahh shit!"
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yea I just need to go home and sleep it off I guess."
"You look like you need to go to the hospital Derek."
"Kelsey just take me home!" he snapped.
I rolled my eyes and started the car. I backed out, and proceeded to his house. The whole car ride was silent and I didn't dare speak. I could tell that he was pissed off, and I didn't want to make it worse.
When I finally reached his house, I pulled up in the driveway and let him out. "Wait wher is Justin?" I asked, noticing that there was no car home.
"I don't know. Probably out with Rebecca or something."
Just the sound of her name made me cringe. "Well are you gonna be okay here alone."
He rolled his eyes and opened the car door. "Im 18 Kelsey, not 8."
"I know. I was just making sure."
He completely got out, shut the door, and turned around as I rolled the window down. " I really appreciate that you care though. Thank you."
"You're welcome." I said as I smiled back at him.
He leaned out of the window and gave me a wave before turning around and going up to his house. I waited for him to get completely in before backing out and going to my house. I had gotten halfway out, when I decided to go back. Derek said he would be fine, but I just wanted to make sure.
I pulled back up and cut the car off and walked up to the door and knocked. After about 10 seconds, he opened the door with a huge smirk. "I knew you would come back." He then grinned and pulled my into a huge hug.....
