Afterlight ✔️

chapter twenty-three

— Chloe Romano

I had been awoken by the sound of banging on the front door. Bang, after bang, after bang, my head started to throb. Justin was next to me, sound asleep, soft snores escaping his lips. His arms were still wrapped around my waist, firmly and his nose was still buried in the crook of my neck. It felt nice, so nice that I didn't even want to move, but all of the banging needed to come to an end.

I jerked at his leg with my hand, shaking it, trying to wake him up. I felt his arms unwrap from around me. He stretched his legs out, as I turned around to see his eyes shoot open.

"Justin, there's someone banging on the door downstairs, trying to get in." I informed him, letting out a tiny yawn.

"It's too goddamn early for this shit." He jumped out of bed, abruptly putting on a pair of jeans. He was clearly not a morning person.

"Good morning to you, too." I said sarcastically.

"Stay up here. I'm going to go check it out." He murmured, rushing out of the door, while buttoning his jeans.

Of course, curiously took over me and I wanted to see what was going on downstairs, so I tiptoed behind him. I tiptoed down the stairs, knowing that the banging on the door had overpowered the sounds of my footsteps. In front of me, Justin had opened the door to his brother, Damien, who was fuming, red as ever. As soon as I got a view of him, I hid behind a wall, still peeking out to see what was going on.

"Did you honestly change the fucking lock?" Damien's angry voice echoed all around the house.

"Yup." Justin snapped, fully unfazed. "I called for it to be changed."

"I can tell. Why did you do it?" Damien questioned, taking a step closer to Justin.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because your pathetic excuse of gang members fucked up my house." Justin spat, grabbing hold of the wall next to the door.

Damien scoffed, flexing his arms out in preparation to shove Justin. That was all interrupted when he peered up at me, straightening himself up. A delightful smirk spread across his face, signaling to me that I could no longer hide from him anymore.

"Hello, Romano." Damien greeted me. I took a step back, seeing Justin cock his head in my direction. He veered over to me, making a protective move in front of me.

"C'mon, Romano. You don't have to be scared of me. There's no need to hide from me." Damien muttered, making his way passed Justin.

He came over to me, taking hold of my right hand. My stomach began to feel uneasy just at the tiniest bit of connection. Damien picked it up, placing his lips on it for a kiss, then looked straight into my eyes. I began to feel a steel lump in my throat and mouth felt like it had been filled with metal. I felt sick. What exactly was Damien trying to do to me He then dropped my hand to my side. I backed away terrified, bumping my back into the wall in fear. The hardest part of it all was trying to get myself back together after what had just happened. Justin came over to me, taking me by the arm. He shot Damien a horrifying grimace, while Damien playfully smirked, as if nothing just happened.

"Take care of her well." Damien murmured, heading into the kitchen.

"What the hell is your problem, Damien?" Justin let go of my arm, storming into the kitchen right behind Damien in fury.