Unpredictable (A Lashton Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty-One - The Big Showdown.

        I was still lying there two hours later when my phone started vibrating. I already knew what it was; it was the text message from Nathan that would determine when and where he finally ended my life. I slowly pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen, ignoring the twenty-some missed calls I had from Ashton and instead going straight to the tiny message icon in the corner. Sure enough, I had one new text from the same blocked number that had been contacting me for the past week. Your time's up, Luke Hemmings, the message read. Meet me at the Seattle warehouse downtown at five-thirty.

        That fight and drama I had with Ashton earlier completely drained me of all my emotions, which meant I had gone completely numb. I wasn't scared or fearful. I honestly didn't feel anything other than a strange sense of relief, relief that I wouldn't have to live with this pain much longer.

        I somehow managed to stand up and walk downstairs, where I found Colin and the others sitting in the exact same positions as earlier, along with Kevin, the guy from the lighthouse. "Hey," I said, and I was surprised at how dead my voice sounded. Apparently Calum noticed this as well, because he stood up and put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "What happened? I saw Ashton run out the door earlier. Did you two have a fight or something?"

        "Something like that," I muttered. I didn't elaborate or tell him exactly what had happened, simply because I wasn't sure I was strong enough to talk about it just yet. "Look, I just wanted to come and tell you guys that we're set to meet Nathan at one of the Seattle warehouses downtown at five-thirty."

        Colin looked down at his watch. "That's less than an hour from now." He glanced around the table before speaking again. "Everybody knows what the plan is, right?"

        Austin nodded. "Cody and I take down Carter, Cameron, and Shawn, Dan and Shay deal with Ariana, and you, Luke, Dimitri, Christian, Russell, and Kevin take on Nathan while Calum and Danielle stay and keep watch outside. Right?"

        "Right." Colin turned to Kevin, who was sitting beside him. "Are you sure you want to fight? It'll probably be safer for you to stay outside. I don't think you fully understand how dangerous Nathan and his crew are."

        "I know how dangerous he is," Kevin said confidently. "but I also know that I can take him down with no problem at all. You'll see."

        We all stood up once more and followed behind Colin, since he was the self-proclaimed leader of this whole situation. "Okay. We've all agreed to drive our own separate cars so Russell and I will take my Jaguar, Cody and Austin are riding with Kevin in his Mercedes, and Christian and Dimitri are taking the Range Rover. Luke and Calum, you can pick who you want to ride with."

        I wanted to ride by myself. I didn't want to talk or deal with anyone, even Calum. The only person I needed beside me right at this moment was Ashton, but every time I started to pick up my phone and call him I remembered how he had hurt me and decided that I wouldn't run back to him just yet. Whether I wanted to or not, I needed to accept the fact that right now, space was the best thing for us.

        I finally chose to just ride with Kevin, since he had the most spacious of all the cars-except for the Range Rover, of course. Calum, on the other hand, rode with Christian and Dimitri, obviously not wanting to deal with me anymore than he had to either.

        We rode in complete silence until we reached a large building that I could only assume was the warehouse. Thanks to the almost nonexistent traffic we had managed to get there in half the time, and I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. I was starting to feel a sense of dread, proving to me that I could still feel emotions after all. "This is it," Colin said once we were all out of our cars and standing in a circle in the abandoned parking lot. "and I hope you guys know that there's a very good chance that some of us might not make it out of here alive tonight." His words had a sense of finality to them, causing everyone to look at each other nervously. Through all of this there had been a sort of silent agreement between us-no matter what happened, we would protect one another. That should've made me feel slightly better about things, but it didn't.