Ready to hide

It wasn't him.

I held my breath and blinked to make sure it was true. Celine and I stared out the window and couldn't stop. I couldn't believe my eyes. Blake and Elliott.

Celine jumped up and stormed out of my office. I hurried after her. She ran outside where the two stood. I thought if the two were here, Alec would be too. Joy, confusion and nervousness came up in me. What are they doing here?

When we were outside, Celine stopped. She looked at Elliott and Elliott looked at her. I could see a smile on Elliott's lips. Celine also seemed very pleased. There was no sign of Alec.

"My beauty." I heard Elliott say and he opened his arms. Celine giggled and ran towards him. She jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms and legs around him. It was like in a movie. He spinned with her and the two laughed. "You are still as beautiful as you were then. No, even more beautiful!" he raved in love. It was really cute.

"I missed you so much." said Celine when he dropped her back on the floor. Celine pressed her lips to his and they kissed. Somehow that didn't surprise me. I knew that their love was still there, even after three years. I probably would have kissed Alec too, if he were here. Where was he anyway?

"I told you we'll meet again." he said after the kiss and she laughed. I came up to the three. Blake stood with his arms crossed and grinned a little. He still looked very serious, even while he was smiling. That has probably not changed.

"Magnus! Man, I missed you. Come here!" Elliott said now and hugged me tight. I smiled and returned the hug. I had missed him too. I had missed everyone. "Woah, mate, did you work out? You look really good!" he asked and I laughed. I let go of him. After Celine hugged Blake, I smiled at Blake.

"What are you doing in New Jersey? And where's Alec?" I asked. Actually, I was only interested in the second question. I missed him the most. He was always with them, so where was he now? And why are they back?

"Can we talk about it anywhere else? Where no one is listening to us?" Blake asked seriously. I frowned and nodded. Somehow I had a bad feeling. It was all very weird. Elliott and Blake came back here after three years without Alec. It is not a coincidence. They probably didn't just want to drop by.

We went to my office and I locked the door. Nobody would listen to us here. Celine sat in her chair, I sat in mine, Elliott on the table and Blake stood. Of course he had crossed his arms. There was no other way.

"So why are you here?" I asked curiously. Celine grabbed her burger again and continued to eat it. She wouldn't just leave it.

"We need your help." Elliott said now. He also seemed pretty serious, and I didn't like it that much. I mean, Blake is always serious, but Elliott? It must be bad. "It's about Alec." he noted. I swallowed. Somehow I suspected that, but I tried to find another excuse for it.

"What about him? Is he okay?" I asked. Was he in trouble? Wasn't he always in trouble somehow? Why exactly did they ask us? After all, we shouldn't have seen each other again.

"He was arrested. Here in New Jersey." Blake let us know. I frowned. Wait what? How could I not know? Why didn't I find out anything? "And it seems like you didn't even know that." he said. I nodded.

"No, I didn't know." I said. "Because of what?" I asked confused. What has he done?

"Murder." said Elliott now. My heart stopped. Murder? Alec killed Liam, I knew that, but why would he kill someone again? "He was arrested for murdering a woman." he added. A woman? No, he wouldn't.

"What, why?" Celine asked in shock. "I understand that with Liam. It was even self-defense, but a woman?" she asked confused. I thought the same.

"We got into a fight with these junkies because they touched this woman. At some point the guys ran away and we ran after them. Alec stayed with the woman." Blake told us. "When we came back, the woman was gone, as was Alec. He came back to our apartment late at night. He said he accompanied the woman home." he explained to us. "The police were with us two days later and he was arrested for murder." he said. I swallowed.

"It wasn't him, Magnus. You know that, don't you?" asked Elliott. "He would never murder an innocent woman! Never! You know him!" he said. I nodded.

"I know, Elliott." I said, hoping that we were talking about the same Alec I met three years ago. Things could have changed. „Okay, did the police interrogate you?" I asked and they shook their heads.

"No, they didn't see us. We were just outside and saw only how they brought him out of the apartment. Alec gestured for us not to say a word. We only heard the police say that he should have murdered this woman." he explained. That was good because they didn't know they belong to Alec. Alec would never betray Blake and Elliott.

"When we went back to the apartment there was a letter there. It had to be written before the police could storm the apartment. He must have seen it coming somehow. He said we shouldn't come and see him. That would just create problems for us." Blake explained. So he knew he was going to be arrested?

"So Alec was gone with this woman, that means you don't know what Alec did to her?" Celine asked and Blake looked at her horrified.

"Are you saying that you think Alec murdered this woman?" Blake asked angrily. Celine shook her head.

"No, I'm not saying that, but he didn't tell you that anything happened?" she asked. The two shook their heads. Knowing that Alec was now arrested for something he probably didn't do was terrible. He didn't deserve that. Alec was not a bad person, definitely not. "Alec knew he was going to be arrested. Why?" she asked confused. "If he just brought her home, he couldn't have known that." She said. She was right there, but he wouldn't do that, would he? What reason would he have?

"I don't know, okay?" Blake asked rather desperately. "All I know is that it wasn't him!" he explained. "He said in this letter that we shouldn't involve you two in any way, but we have no choice." he said. Alec didn't want my help? Didn't he say we'll see each other again as soon as someone gets in trouble?

"We will help you." I said. Of course we would, I would never let Alec down. Even if it was three years ago. It felt like it was yesterday. "We'll get him out of there and prove his innocence." I meant. Yes, we would.