A/N:Usual disclaimers apply. This is my first real story here, I hope you enjoy it. Reviews and ideas are welcome, as well as constructive criticism. I'm queen of the Type-O's I'm sure, let me know if you find anything funny. Also, I'm from Scotland, so some words might be spelled differently than in the States, but...tough ;) Updates will probably be fairly random, but I'll try and not leave you hanging. All this applies to the rest of the chapters I post.
"I can't believe she left," Pogue mumbled, staring down into his half-empty glass. Yeah, definitely half-empty, considering the mood he's in, thought Reid.
Things had been awkward between Kate and the rest of them since the 'incident' with Chase. Sarah had hated keeping secrets from her best friend, but she had recognised that it wasn't her secret to tell, so instead she'd settled for nagging the boys to tell Kate. Incessantly.
Kate had known something was up and she hadn't bought the idea that everything that had happened around Caleb's birthday had just been coincidence. It hadn't helped matters when everyone got jumpy at the beginning of December, around Pogue's eighteenth birthday.
Eventually it had been too much. She'd told Pogue that if he didn't tell her what was going on, it was over between them for good. Not really knowing why, Pogue had still been unable to tell her.
After the Christmas break was over, Kate hadn't come back from visiting her family in California. All her shit had been moved out of the dorms, and Sarah had received and email from Kate saying that she had transferred to a school closer to home.
Which was why Pogue was hunched over a grimy table, mumbling to himself and drowning his sorrows. Unfortunately, he's chosen Nicky's for his self-pity session, so he was drowning his sorrows in a glass of Diet Coke. The man had very strict rules on underage drinking. Usually involving a baseball bat if you pushed things too far.
"Look man, it's not your fault. If you couldn't tell her, you couldn't tell her. It was her choice to go," Tyler said, trying, like Caleb, to cheer Pogue up.
"But she left. I didn't think she'd leave. I can't believe she'd fuckin' leave!" Pogue groaned out. The conversation had been going in similar circles for a good twenty minutes, and Reid was getting tired of it. It had been entertaining earlier, when Pogue had kicked the shit out of his new Ducati, but once he'd gotten all the anger out, he just been depressed. And a depressed Pogue was kinda…depressing. Not to mention scary.
"Yeah man, she's gone for good. Get over it," Reid sighed, finally putting in his two cents.
"Reid, that was nothelpful," Caleb admonished, joining Tyler and Pogue in glaring at him.
As much as Reid would rather being playing pool than having this conversation, he hadn't said it to piss anyone off. Pogue was his brother, and he didn't want to see him this upset. Plus, Pogue and Kate had been together forever, and it was kinda freaking Reid out that they were suddenly not.
"Look. Even if she hadn't moved away, would you have told her?" Pogue slowly shook his head. "Well then. It wasn't fair to keep lying to her, now at least you can both move on." The three other guys were staring at him with shocked expressions. "I'm just sayin' is all," He mumbled, unsure why they were looking at him like that.
Pogue slowly nodded. "I need alcohol," was his only reply.
Everyone looked at Caleb. He shook his head. "Sorry Pogue, mom made me get rid of it all when she joined AA,"
Reid shrugged. "My folks are out of town again. Actually, they may not have come back from the last trip. Anyway, the house is empty, and the booze is free," he offered, grinning.
They quickly downed the last of their cokes, at left the bar, nodding to Nicky on the way out. They were just about to get into Tyler's hummer when they felt it.
"Did you…?" Ty whispered.
"Yeah," Reid replied. The four of them looked at each other with wide eyes, then down the dark, empty streets towards where they felt the power spike.
"Chase," Caleb growled.
They took off on foot; following the feeling until it suddenly disappeared. They came to a halt in a dingy alley, and they saw a shadow moving at the far end of the alley, briefly showing a masculine outline in the opposite alley mouth, before disappearing around the corner.
They were already in pursuit when a pained groan brought them to an abrupt halt.
"Shit!" Reid cursed when he found the origin of the groan. A young woman was on the ground next to one of the dumpsters, bloody and bruised. Tyler quickly called an ambulance on his cell while Caleb knelt next to her, to keep an eye on her breathing and checking her wounds. Reid and Pogue watched either end of the alley, keeping alert in case Chase returned.
Reid looked at the girl. Her black jeans and hooded top were torn and her long dark hair was tangled and matted with blood. Her face was a mass of cuts and bruises. He choked back the vomit threatening to come up. Tyler wasn't quite so lucky, bending down on the other side of the alley and emptying his stomach.
"Why would Chase do this to her? We don't even know her," Tyler asked, his voice slightly lost. It was impossible to tell what she looked like, but the only girl close to them just now was Sarah. Reid was the only one of them who was…friendswith a lot of girls, but he preferred blondes.
"Chase is a bastard. And crazy. He probably did it for kicks," Pogue answered, his voice bitter. The discussion ended there, because they heard the shrill scream of sirens getting closer.
In a whirl of flashing lights and rapidly moving paramedics, the girl was whisked away to the local hospital, with the Sons in Tyler's hummer following close behind.