"Let's play a game, yeah? I ask you a question and if you don't give me the correct answer, you get shot. I like to call it the killing game," I smirk deviously.
"And what do I get out of it, huh?" he snaps at me.
I place my finger on my chin as i...
Zipping up the suitcase I had just recently bought, I walk out of the apartment and close the door behind me.
Leaving the keys in the lock after I had locked it like the land lord had instructed me to do, I check to see if I have everything before walking to my car, seeing the silhouette of a person in the passenger seat.
The window is rolled down, a habit I have of doing, and I quickly notice it's West. What is he doing exactly?
"What are you doing?" I question him. "I have to leave."
"Get in," he instructs softly, me not having the energy to argue with him. Throwing my suitcase into the trunk of the car, I notice a duffle bag as well.
Stepping into the car and sitting in the driver's seat, I look over at West expectantly.
He looks over at me, his face letting me know that he's completely miserable. "I want to explain myself to you. I want you to know why I became attached to you so easily, why I want to get to know you, why I want you out of everyone. I want you to know before you leave what it is about you that drives me insane," he says.
Clearing my throat, I refuse to look at him directly. "Okay," I say softly, urging him to continue.
"Before I tell you everything, I need you to promise not to get angry at me." He grips my hand into his causing me to frown and finally lock eyes with his own.
"You know I can't promise you that," I state. He nods slowly in response before clearing his throat.
"When I was seventeen, I lived in Michigan," he begins, me wincing at the name of the town in which I was born. "I met this man and he took me under his wing and became a father figure seeming as I didn't have a father; my father had left before I was born. He showed me around his business. I needed a good job because I was taking care of my sick mother; she had pneumonia and she didn't have long to live. It was a very serious case and there was nothing the doctors could do.
I was forever grateful to this man and soon enough, I was over at his house almost all of the time. At the time, I didn't know he had any kids and I knew his wife was dying from cancer. But then I saw her. . . she was beautiful. She was his daughter and he had warned me that if I had ever tried anything, I would be fired from the business. My career was on the line but I had to know her.
So I attempted to talk to her at the Spring Formal that year; It was an annual dance the town held every year. She was drunk out of her mind and so I took her home. She was adorable and overall irresistible and I learned so much about her that night. Dropping her off at home, the man was seething. He was so angry with me that he stated he didn't ever want to see me again. I was heart broken with no way to get my mother the help she needed so I took over the gang my deadbeat father had left behind for me.
I paid for my mother's appointments from drugs and other things that the dangerous business provided. She was getting so much better that I had hope that maybe she would beat whatever this was but she passed away shortly after. I didn't know what to do with myself so I left Michigan and moved here to Los Angeles where my gang grew and became so much more hostile and well known.
I left the girl that I wanted so badly, behind." He then pauses to observe me, my face becoming pale in realization. "Ava, that girl was you. That man was your father. I have known you for longer than you could have even imagined and when you showed up here to Los Angeles, I knew I couldn't let you go. So I'm searching for Dana with you."
My attention averting over to him quickly, I shake my head. "I don't think that's a good idea, West," I warn, my voice cracking slightly.
It's taking everything in me to hold it together─all of the horrible memories of my mother and father flooding back one by one. How I used to get drunk out of my mind because I couldn't cope with the fact my mom was dying. I was a horribledaughter and I regret being like that everyday. I wasn't even able to say good bye.
"You don't always have to be so strong, ya' know?" he whispers, pushing my hair out of my face.
I shake my head and fight back the urge to break down successfully. "Yes I do because no one else is going to be strong for you but you and that's what I've learned over the years of me being my only friend."
He places two fingers underneath my chin softly and slowly lifts my face up, my eyes meeting his own.
"Well from now on, you have me to be strong for you as well."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I needed you to see West's background and as to why he came on so strong in the beginning.
