Finding Life | Finders Keepers #2 ✔️

20. The House

Dean

I've been staring at her for a while now as she drove. The days went by so quickly that it was already Saturday and we were on the way to her home. She's been agitated throughout the days and even when we were together at night, I could tell that she was still struggling to actually tell me what she's hiding. I've been giving her time and opportunities to tell me but she always ends up with either a "never mind" or an "I'm going to the bathroom" or "Rose and Chloe are asking me to call them" type of excuse.

I've been patient but now that her fight to actually leave the gang is coming up in a few hours, I can't help but feel agitated. The stillness between us in this car isn't helping either. She offered to drive because I was still sleepy when we left but now, I can't even sleep.

All I want right now is to stop this car and actually ask her what she wants to say but I know her better than me, she'll never go for it.

She'll tell me when she's ready. I can't push her.

That's the thing with Blythe. If you push her, she pushes ten times as hard. If you hurt her, she hurts you way worse. She built herself that way from her past starting at the time she decided to run away from the orphanage. She never really did tell me what they did to her to make her run, only that she had to get away and just live somewhere else. I remember her talking to me at the phone that night when we just got back from school.

"I was ready to live in the streets because that was much better than the position I had back at the orphanage."

When I pushed further, she just dismissed it and made me talk about anything I was interested in. I proceeded to talk to her about football and even though I knew that she wasn't really interested in football, she still stayed up late with me to actually ask questions about it to at least have a basic knowledge of it. For me, it confirmed that she wanted to continue the friendship and it just made me like her even more.

For the rest of the ride, we were silent. I didn't say anything. She glanced over to me and said that we're close when we were driving by a forest but that's it. I've never really seen the house. Blythe felt like I would just get myself in trouble inside but now that I insisted on being there for her initiation, she had no choice but to bring me.

When we got out of the forest and stopped at the house, I can't help but stare at it with my eyes wide. This wasn't even considered a house, maybe a mansion, sure. The windows were covered with nicely decorative curtains, the doors were wood and furnished, and by the door, two men were outside sitting, probably at mid-twenties, their arms crossed.

"Dean, stop staring and get out," Blythe orders, grabbing her gym bag and getting out of the car.

I follow her suit, getting out the car but not before grabbing my own bag full of clothes for the weekend.

She walks around the car, tossing me the keys, and before we could walk in, she grabs my hand to stop me. Her golden eyes are gazing at mine. The nervousness etched in her face no matter how much she tries to hide it with her usual stoic expression. "No talking to anyone about what I'm like outside the gang, don't mention your name, don't mention where you live, go to school, or used to go to school, don't touch anything, and please, for the love of God Dean, do not wander around without me. These people are smart and dangerous."

"I thought you considered them as family?" I furrow my brows at her.

She nods, letting my hand go. "I do. I would die for them and they would die for me, gang member or not. They play too much and like seeing people squirm. They'll take as much information you can give and they will either use it to play with you or use it to play with me. Especially Antonio. He couldn't stop annoying me when you first met him. You gave him a lot of details about your life."