Control » l.h

Chapter Ten

L U K E

"Is he tied up tight?" I asked Calum.

"As tight as I can get it." he replied, yanking on the ropes one last time.

We had hid the cop in the basement and tied him up, unsure of how to actually get rid of this one. We didn't want to leave any traces in Ashton's basement that might get him in trouble somehow, but we also couldn't let this cop guy go. He'd tell on us and then we'd all be fucked.

"Put the cloth in his mouth." I instructed.

Calum grabbed the black handkerchief off the floor and stuffed part of it in the guy's mouth. He then tied it at the back of his head and stepped back, looking the guy over. He nodded and turned to face me.

"What do we do when Jemma gets here?" he asked.

"We can't let her know he's here," I decided. "She'd probably freak out."

Calum nodded. He turned abruptly when they cop stirred. That's also when a noise came from upstairs. There were people walking around.

"You go," Calum said, nodding towards the stairs that led back up from the basement. "I got it from here."

I put my hand on his back before spinning on my heels and racing up the stairs. I closed the door and went down the hall to see Michael and Ashton looking around the house. Jemma was on Mikey's back with her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and her face was squished from one side of her face being pressed on Mikey.

"Thank you," I breathed, moving swiftly over to where Mikey stood. I brushed her hair back and just stared at her. "Was she okay? Where was she?"

"She fell, but she doesn't remember how," Ashton reported. "We found her in a shrub on the side of the road."

Jemma's eyes fluttered and she looked around with heavy lids. Her eyes locked on me and a lazy smile formed on her face. "Luke."

"Hey," I smiled. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Just tired." she breathed.

"Will you just bring her upstairs?" I asked Mikey. He nodded. "Jemma, Michael will bring you upstairs to where we'll stay. He'll sit with you until I get up there, okay?"

"Wait," she mumbled sleepily. "Where are you going? Please don't leave."

I gave a half smile as my heart fluttered. Jemma actually didn't want me to leave. "I'll be up there in two minutes. I just have to help Calum with something."

Ashton and Michael's heads whipped to look at me. "The guy?" Ashton asked.

I nodded before turning my focus back to Jemma. "I'll be up soon."

I kissed her forehead before Michael brought her down the hall and up the stairs. Ashton followed me back to the basement, bombarding me with questions. We still had no idea how we would handle this. The only thing we could think of was death, but how would we manage that? It's not like we hadn't had to kill people before, but how would we do it without Jemma finding out about it?

"When should we do it?" Ashton asked as we stood with Calum, watching the cop's breathing. He was still knocked out. Mikey must've hit the guy pretty hard.

"Soon," Calum said. "We can't keep this guy here forever. Jemma will find out about it."

"We have to make sure she's out of the house when it happens." I reminded them.

"Well you can take her out tomorrow." Calum shrugged.

I shook my head. "Do you know what she's been through in the passed six or so hours? She deserves some time indoors to relax. Give her three days. Then we'll have someone take her out for the day or something. We'll make it as fast, clean, and painless as possible."

"When was the last time we killed someone ever clean?" Ashton scoffed.

J E M M A

The room was dimly lit. There were fairy lights strung around the room. The ceiling was high and met at a slant, and the room was small. There was a curtain that Michael pushed back to reveal a queen sized bed with a white duvet and down pillows. There was no room between the bed and the walls. There was a couch in the middle of the room with a short coffee table and a TV, as well as a platform above the bed and the open closet. A ladder led up to a single window with a seat. I couldn't see what else was up there so I had some exploring to do tomorrow.

"So you don't remember what happened?" Mikey asked.

I shook my head slightly. "No. Hopefully I'll remember in the morning," I yawned and stretched. "Hey, what time is it?"

"Close to four in the morning, probably." he guessed.

"Do you live here too?" I wondered, not bothering to open my eyes.

"Yeah," he said. "Calum and I moved in not too long ago. Maybe a few weeks."

"How did you become friends with Luke?"

"We've been friends since school. When we found out about his power, we promised to help him. We're keeping that promise no matter what."

I cracked a smile. "Better than my reaction. I cried."

"Trust me, he told us all about it." Michael chuckled, nodding his head.

There was no sound to indicate someone had entered the room, but Luke stood at the foot of the bed, smiling at Mikey and I. He looked tired and nervous. His cheeks were red and I could tell his breathing was heavy from the way his chest rose and fell.

Michael turned and saw Luke before turning back to me. "Night, Jemma."

He crawled off the bed, passing Luke and putting a hand on his shoulder before leaving our new room. Luke kicked off his shoes before getting into bed next to me. He laid down with one arm behind his head. He stared straight up at the ceiling above us. The beams were exposed and tangled above us.

"What were you doing?" I questioned.

"Unpacking." he stated with a yawn.

"You should sleep." I told him.

He laughed. "Look who's talking."

"I got to nap for a little," I reminded him. "You haven't slept at all."

He smiled at me and smoothing my hair back with his palm. "We've got a couple days to sleep. We can't go out anytime soon since the cops will be looking for you, Michael, and me."

"So what do we do now?" I wondered, even though my mind was hardly working anymore. "They know I'm still alive and with Mikey."

"Wait until they make the next move."