Can't Afford Mistakes.

Twenty-four Part II

sooo Wattpad has been on the fritz lately and I don't know why, but I'm honestly fed up with it; it cut Chap. 24 in half, so there's the other half.

Lucas

I walk around to the passenger side of my car and open the door with my foot. Gently, I lay Arabella into the seat. She groans in pain which causes me to grimace. Shutting the door gently, I walk to the front of the car where Ryan is standing with his hands deep in his pockets.

"You knew about this," I ask Ryan as I cross my arms over my chest and lean on the front of my car.

"Yeah," Ryan admits looking to the ground. "It's my way out. Making sure you give him Sadie was my only way out, Lucas. You have to understand."

"I do," I sigh. "How did we get here?"

Ryan moves next to me, leans against the hood of my car, and rests a hand on my shoulder. "Let's go get Brett," Ryan says softly.

"What are we going to do about his car," I ask gesturing towards this car with my head.. 

"I'll pay for it to have it towed to Arabella's house," Ryan offers.

I nod my head in response. Sliding into the drivers seat, I look over at Arabella; large purple bruises are still scattered over her face. Her face contorts with every breath she takes. I reach over her and buckle her seat belt for her. I glance over Arabella's shoulder and see Ryan on his phone. He quickly hangs up and nods in my direction. He begins to back out of the parking space so I turn my key in the ignition and follow Ryan. 

As I trail behind Ryan, I listen to Arabella groan in pain. After five long minutes, I try the only thing I can think of. I gently place my hand on her shoulder, careful to avoid any bruises, and inhale deeply. Her small hand cover mine and her eyes flutter open. 

"Don't do it," Arabella whispers, "I'll heal on my own."

"No, you won't. Let me help," I argue. I slow down for red light and come to a complete stop. I focus all my energy into my hand and let it flow into Arabella. I watch her visibly relax and the bruises begin to fade from her arms and face. I turn my attention back to the road before I am able to help her finish healing. 

"Lucas," Arabella says weakly. "I want to go home."

"After we get Brett we're going back to your house," I respond.

"No," she whines like a child, "I want to go home. To our home."

"Okay," I sigh with a small smile, "we'll go home."

I steal a glance at Arabella. She stares at the road ahead of her with no expression. Her hands clasp each other so tight her knuckles are white. My heart tightens in my chest as I think that I caused this. I try to take my mind off of it by focusing all my attention on the road. Ryan turns onto a gravel road that leads to the city's unfinished street drains that are supposed to run underneath the streets of the entire city. I stop behind him and roll down my window as he approaches. 

"They stuffed him in here," Ryan says with a nod to the location behind him. "I'll go in and get him. You staying in here with Arabella?"

"Yeah," I reply, "how far down in there is he?"

"Not far. Just far enough to the point where she wouldn't be able to sense him," he says while hanging his head low.

"Let's make this fast," I say as low as possible. 

Ryan nods his head and lightly jogs away. Arabella still sits perfectly still in the passenger seat and staring blankly outside. I rest my hand on top of hers and feel her muscles to relax. She lets out a sigh before she turns her head to me. 

"Lucas, what does he want with Sadie," she asks with no emotion.

"It's a long story," I admit. I silently send a pray up to who is above asking for protection while I tell Arabella everything. "The man I used to work for was Sadie's father. He had this whole double life and had a son, Beau, with another woman. Beau hated his father so he killed him and he took over and now he's my boss. He said the only way out was to give him Sadie."

"So Sadie has a brother, he's an asshole, and now you're officially out," Arabella says blankly.

"Yeah," reply.

"So it's all over now," she cheers, "You're not in the gang, which means you can be normal for now on. We can finally just be normal teenagers! You can go back to being my big brother and I don't have to worry about you anymore."

"I suppose so," I lie. We could never go back to normal. She doesn't know what Beau wants with Sadie. She doesn't know that Beau knew exactly what I told Sadie in the basement. But the smile on her face and the light in her eyes makes me forget all of the bad and be happy to share this moment with my sister. 

Arabella's gasp tears me from my thoughts. I follow her eyes outside to see Ryan and Brett making their way towards us. Arabella struggles to open her door, so I reach over her and open the door for her. She quickly exits my car and sprints towards Brett. I watch as she happily embarrasses Brett. Ryan nods towards me and I nod in response. Arabella and Brett walk back towards the car with their arms draped around each other.

"Time to go home," I whisper just before they reach the car.

LONG TIME NO SEE LOVELYS! Enjoy this chapter! ily