The Seven Day Gangster

Chapter 28

We were in the house for a long time after, long after the police had taken away Mike and his gang and long after they had questioned us and filed a report of the incident.

I had found the interview extremely tiresome. I mean, the police had been asking all of us really ridiculous and obvious questions. Like, 'who was threatening you with a gun' or 'who owns this house' and that kind of stuff.

I guess I was just incredibly lucky that no one decided to phone my dad because I was a legal adult and all and therefore could file a complaint or whatever on my own.

Before the police arrived, we had reached an unspoken agreement to just say that Mike and his gang had been trying to trespass and rob me. It was a plain and simple story, one that really wasn't that hard to believe.

But throughout my questioning, throughout my talks with the others, I couldn't get Nathan's look out of my head.

The last time we had made eye contact, his face was just cold and totally unreadable. I hadn't been able to figure out a single feeling or emotion he was having.

And it freaked the hell out of me.

I would be lying if I said I knew Nathan well enough to not be scared by something like this.

Because I didn't really know him to that extent.

And after everything I had heard and after everything was in the open, or so I thought, Nathan had just turned completely stone cold.

In fact, after he had done his small little interview with the police, he left without a word back to the house in one of the two cars the rest had arrived in.

I had pretended to be listening to something Logan was saying, but I had seen Sam put a hand on Nathan's shoulder and say something. And Nathan shrugged off Sam's hand and almost growled something back in return. I was too far away to really hear what he was saying. But it sounded angry and coarse. And it made my hands feel clammy and fidgety.

It was the evening now, and the police had left.

I had drifted away from the group, walking to an isolated room down the hall, the one where most of the previous events had taken place.

I crossed my arms and stared out the window, trying to gather all my feelings and thoughts together into one coherent statement.

"Arianna."

Alex's voice jerked me out of my thoughts and I spun around, to see her at the doorway, her face hidden by the darkness of the room.

"Yeah?" I asked, feeling a bit apprehensive.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down. "I-I had no idea about any of this. I swear."

I looked away, down at the carpeted floor.

The funny thing was, I couldn't be mad at the guys. I just couldn't.

They had wanted to get out of the deal and they had eventually told Mike that the deal was off.

Yes, it stung a little to know that all of this was to con me and my dad into losing loads of money.

Was, I reminded myself, rubbing my hands over my cold arms. Not anymore.

The guys were different.

We were different.

And I just knew that none of the guys would agree in this moment to do the deal. Call me naïve, but it was just a good gut feeling I had. And my gut usually was right.