The Devil is Marvelous

Chapter 50

Rylee ^

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-Ava's POV-

I was absolutely torn after Jaxon left my house on Sunday. I wanted to be angry that he mislead me so much. I wanted to be angry he was in a gang.

But I wasn't.

I actually felt horrible for him. I couldn't believe he was stuck in such a dark place. Forever serving the Crimson Blaze. Having his life constantly on the line. Having to hide such a secret like that from the people closest to him.

Everything he told me was a lot to process, and it was all I could think about the past few days at school. I was distracted in class, and it showed at work too. Esther told me to take a couple days off to relax, but I couldn't relax. I cared about Jaxon too much, and the worry was starting to consume me.

That night my nightmare was a replay of the night Nathan was killed, except Nathan was replaced with Jaxon who was shot by his gang.

I had to figure out how I wanted to proceed. I didn't want to stop being around Jaxon, but being around him could mean my life, or worse, his life. My heart ached when I thought about cutting ties with him. I didn't want him out of my life. If anything, I was starting to yearn to be around him at all times.

Everything was becoming so fucking complicated. Fuck. my. life.

It was now Wednesday, and I was sitting around the coffee table in my living room with Lucas. Rylee sat on the windowsill with her camera, fiddling around with it. My friends had come over around dinner time to "work on homework", but I knew they were just checking up on me. I am sure they could tell how distracted I had been the past couple days. Thank god neither of them asked too many questions, however, they did insist on being around me.

As my friends joked back and forth, discussing school and normal teenage shit, my mind was stuck on Jaxon. Of course I had seen him at the school the past couple days. I tried my best to act normal, but nothing was normal. The guy I was falling for was a part of a gang that could quite literally kill him off at any moment-

"Earth to Ava" Lucas said, giving me shake.

"You've been staring off into space for like ten minutes" Rylee sighed, crossing her arms. "We're not idiots we know something is wrong-"

"Nothing's wrong" I smiled, praying my eyes didn't give away my emotions. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

She raised an eyebrow, but turned back to her camera. Lucas was also giving me the side eye, so I stood up to go grab a snack. Once in the kitchen I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind.

It is not my place to tell them Jaxon's secret... but... I freaking hate keeping secrects from my friends...

"Damnit" I muttered, angrily grabbing a bad of Doritos. "What a mess."

I returned to the living room with the best fake smile I could muster. "Okay, lets get going on this homework"

"You know what? Let's get out of here!" Lucas announced, hopping up. "Why don't we go get some actual food" he said, snatching the Doritos bag from my hands.

"Sounds good to me" Rylee nodded, turning off her camera. "We should ask Melissa if she wants to come."

"You guyssss" I groaned, not wanting to get up. "I don't want-"

"HEY MELISSA!" Lucas shouted, ignoring my protest. "Want to go to dinner with us?"

Melissa poked her head of her room, nodding. "You read my mind" she said, "i'm swamped with work, I could use the break. Give me a minute to look presentable."