He's My Bad Boy ✔️

Chapter 16 - Conditions

~Jade's POV~

I sat back down on the couch watching Blaze intensely. It's like he's showing me certain feelings but he's hiding others; I don't know the full story. He sat back down on the same couch opposite me.

"I need to explain everything to you, then if you have any questions you can ask me after, okay?" I just nodded at him waiting for him to start. He seemed really nervous as if he was about to tell me something really bad.

"In freshman year, my parents were always arguing, i'm sure you remember that right?" I looked at him to see his face void of emotion as he started telling the story. I nodded for him to continue.

"Well I never told you how bad things actually got between them. They used to fight, not just verbally but physically too. Sometimes I would get caught up in it as well. When they argued I used to try and leave the house so I wouldn't get hurt too. One day I ran into some trouble, just like you did tonight with me, except that time Marcos was there to help me. He was the leader of this gang and he was like a brother to me. We were so close." He looked pained as he retold the events to me.

"Marcos was seven years older than me so at that time he was around 20. I told him about all the problems at home and he told me he would help me to train as a fighter. Except when I started to fight, I became the best fighter he had. He asked me to join his gang, saying he would protect me from anything and that he would let me live with him and leave my parents. Obviously I accepted and that's how I became part of the gang."

I watched Blaze as he stood up slowly and began pacing around the room. He looked over at me and then continued on with the story.
"That's how I met the rest of the boys since they were already part of the gang. We got closer over a few weeks and then something happened. Marcos's pregnant girlfriend was shot. Marcos told me that I had to sever all ties with anyone outside the gang if I cared about them. Otherwise they would suffer the same fate. That meant I had to let you go, so I pushed you away. To protect you."

I stared at Blaze in shock. I didn't even notice any changes in him before he stopped being my friend. All of this happened and I didn't notice? I was such a bad friend.

"Letting you go was the hardest thing I ever did, and hurting you in the process only made it worse. But I couldn't risk anything happening to you Jade." He came over to me and sat down, making sure to leave some space between us.

"I stayed in the gang ever since then. I became untouchable after a while. Since Marcos's family was all dead he treated me like his son despite the small age gap. He told me everything that was going on in the gang in terms of business and everyone knew that they couldn't mess with me. When you came back I finally thought we could be friends again, and that everything was stable with the gang and you would be okay. Especially when you got hurt, I couldn't let you go again after that." Blaze looked at me with truthfulness shining in his eyes.

"Then why did you? Why did you leave me again?" I couldn't help the angry words slip out of my mouth in response to Blaze. He nodded as if he knew I was going to ask him that question.
"Everything changed again. That day when we were outside under the bleachers, Marcos was killed. Since I was the only one he trusted and prepared, I took over the gang after him. I became the youngest gang leader of the biggest, most powerful gang in California. That meant that as soon as anyone found out about it, they would have attempted to take over the gang, thinking that I was weak and inexperienced. That also meant you would have been in danger once again, except this time it was completely different. It was a certainty that you would have been killed."

I stared at Blaze in shock as he told me the story. I knew he was in a gang but I didn't know how serious it actually was. And now he's the leader of it all.
"The boys became my inner circle, Aidan and Preston are my right hand men. They were all forced to sever any links with anyone outside the gang for the same reason; to protect them. So that's why I stopped talking to you, not because I didn't like you or anything because Jade, I really do. You're my best friend and you always will be. Your feelings towards me may have changed after what happened but mine have never changed towards you. They've only got stronger."