A Soft Devil (COMPLETED)

Chapter 46

"Eventually I woke up in a hospital bed getting the news I almost died, I have ten stitches in a leg, I'm extremely dehydrated, I have third degree burns on my elbows, and I got blood from a complete stranger with my blood type. They said I'm very fortunate to be alive, yet my life got even more fucked up in that moment right then and there."

"How?"

"They told me my brother and his friends all got arrested, so I had to be placed in a group home in Harlem since I didn't have any relatives in New York. I spent a little more than a year in that hell hole."

"That explains a lot."

"Like what?"

"Why you fit so easily into my lifestyle, but also why you always keep your guard up."

"And since I'm putting everything on the table, my real name's not Cindy."

"Am I being set up or some shit?"

I laughed, "nah, but my real name's Cassiopeia."

"Why Cassiopeia?"

"My mom was into astronomy."

"Cassiopeia August Yonga. I like it. It's not boring."

"Thanks."

"I appreciate you sharing all that with me."

"If we're gonna be in a relationship, I might as well tell you everything about me."

"Can I ask you something?"

"As long as I can ask you something."

He shrugged. "That's fair."

"Ask away then."

"Is the group home how you met Kayla?"

"Yep. Been best friends ever since then. Okay time for my question."

"Oh no," he said in a joking manner which made me laugh.

"It's not that bad in my opinion."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"How did GFA all come together? Like how did you guys all become a gang?"

"We all either came from fucked up lifestyles or the hood. Like Chris and Alex, they were already homies before we all knew each other. They were both from South Bronx. Frank's from Texas, and he moved up here after he got kicked out by his mom because he killed her boyfriend for beating the shit out of her. Frank met Alex because he fixed up Alex's car. He fixed it so good that Alex gave him an offer in joining their little gang at the time. Ethan and I moved up here after our meth head mom dated her drug dealer who treated us like shit."

"It's always hard having a drug addict family member. You can't hate them because you know that's not really them, but they also ruin about everything in your fuckin life."

"It's worse when they refuse treatment."

I nodded my head in agreement before he continued.

"We ran away from home when we were 17, and came up here. Ethan was the one who got us into the gang because he applied for a job at the same place Frank worked at. They hit it off good, so Frank told Alex to meet him."

"Then how did you get in if they only met Ethan?"

"Ethan told them about me, so then I met with Chris instead of Alex because he was doing something that day. We hit it off, and that's how I got in."

It all makes sense now how the guys treat each other and why.

"Okay now it's time for me to ask you a question," he said gaining my attention.