Hey! I'm so sorry I haven't been updating in nearly 2 weeks. It's been so crazy lately, and with school starting up soon...UGH! But I'll try my best to update as soon as possible.

Enjoy!


Astrid POV

There was a lot to do today. Mostly running errands around town with Ruff. The rent had to be paid, we had to buy more food, Ruff's mom was having a cookout too so we had to get stuff for that too. Good thing me and Ruff got our paychecks at the same time. And me getting paid extra for that one day.

Ruff turned up the radio to her favorite song. She was jamming the whole time ever since we left home. Lucky for her, I had to drive the whole time.

"Dance with me, Ash!" She said waving her arms in my face.

"You want us to crash don't you." I said ignoring the fact her hand was covering one of my eyes.

"We're not gonna crash. You're more experienced than me."

"But this is a highway, Ruff."

"And?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed her hand away. "And it doesn't mean everyone around us is as experienced as me."

"Then they're fucking dumb to try and drive here." She stuck her foot out the window, covering the mirror.

Oh my god. She's gonna get us killed.

"Can you do something helpful for me?" I asked her.

"Like what?"

"Tell me what exit I'm supposed to take on my GPS."

She took my phone, looked out the window, and to me.

"Dude. We just passed it."

"WHAT!?"

I swerved a bit and the car in the other lane honked at us.

"Yep. But we can take the next exit."

"That'll take longer though." I whined, "We're already running behind."

"Loosen up, Ash. I'm pretty sure my mom won't bitch about us being late."

True.

I felt my back crack as Ruff's mom gave me a bear hug. She did the same to Ruff and leaded us into her house.

The house didn't change a bit. It was exactly how it was since me and Ruff were 13. Picture frames of both of us and Tuff doing crazy stuff, countless unreturned books from the library on an old desk, and dusted up shoes in the corner of the living room.

The smell of food filled the air as I walked in the kitchen. I had no idea what to look at, it was so messy. Probably because she had to get ready for the cookout.

"Mom," Ruff started, "All this isn't necessary."

"Pffft!" She guffawed. "Me marrying your father wasn't necessary but I did anyway."

"Damn," Was all I said as I watched Mom turn over fried chicken in a pan.

"Would you girls go and check the food on the grill, please?"

"Yes ma'am." We both said and stepped out the back door to a huge grill.

"It's been a long time since I saw Mom this frantic about something," I said as I batted flies away from the grill. "Got any ideas why?"

"I don't know," She said grabbing a hotdog, "Maybe it's that time of the month."

I prodded her in the side with some tongs and she yelped. At that moment, Mom came out with more food, setting it on a table.

"Stop play around, girls." She scoffed. "Where's your brother anyway, Rochelle?"

I saw Ruff roll her eyes to 'Rochelle' but quickly answered "I don't know."

Mom shook her head in disappointment. "He better come. He missed the last few family events."

"He's probably fucking around with his friends somewhere." She said bluntly.

"Watch your mouth." Mom scolded.

I snickered and she punched my arm.

"You know what," Mom started, angrily, "Instead of sitting around, doing nothing and abusing Astrid, you can be setting up tables in the yard, Rochelle."

She growled and stomped off in the house. After Ruff was out of sight, Mom walked towards me and put more food on the grill.

"Could you please call or text Tahbias for me." She mumbled so low that I could barely hear.

I nodded and went into the house. Ruff stumbled pass me, carrying a table over her head.

"Need help?" I asked.

She ignored me and kept walking. I rolled my eyes and dialed Tahbias's number in my phone. It rang a couple times until it was put to voicemail.

Great. I knew he wouldn't pick up.

Then my phone started ringing. I didn't even look to see who it was and picked it up. "Hello?"

"I'm coming right now. I just got caught up in…stuff."

His voice was really raspy and sounded like he struggled to talk.

"Are you okay? You sound like you just woke up."

"Yeah I'm fine."

I raised an eyebrow, knowing he was lying. "Bro, you can tell me what's up."

He gave out a long sigh on the other end.

"I'll tell you when I get there."

I scoffed. "Yeah. Okay."

I hung up and Ruff was coming back in the house for more tables.

"Was that Mr. Disappointment?" She growled.

"Yeah. He said he was coming but we all know how that ends."

...

(Got lazy writing the cookout part)

After everyone left, we had to stay to cleanup a bit. Mom was in a 'somewhat' better mood than earlier but was pissed when Tahbias didn't show up. She ranted on and on to us while we packed washed some dishes.

"I can't believe he didn't come. He knew it was today and bailed out like he always does!"

Mom slammed down a box on the counter, and threw in a couple dishes.

"I haven't seen him ever since he left once he turned 18. And that was like 3 years ago! He can at least see his mom sometimes, but no! He decides to fuck around with drugs and shit."

I jumped when she slammed the cabinet shut and stomped away.

I looked over at Ruff and she was shaking her head. "I don't like seeing her like this at all." She whispered.

Then I heard the front door open and shut quietly. I could barely hear the footsteps coming down the hall with Mom stopping around upstairs. A head peeked around the corner and stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey guys." Tuff said quietly.

"Well look who decided to show up for once." Ruff boasted.

"Yeah. And why do you have sunglasses on and a bandana over your mouth?" I added on to Ruff.

He was silent for a while and said, "I wanted to look cool."

"That's the worst fucking lie I've ever heard." Ruff scoffed.

I went up to him and hesitated before taking off his sunglasses. He had a huge, gushing, black eye, the other eye slightly bruised.

Me and Ruff gasped at the sight. "What the hell happened to you?" I said as I untied the bandana.

When it was off, I stumbled backwards when I saw a long, deep, cut going across his cheek. He gave his best half smile to not irritate the wound.

"I kind of, uh, picked a fight with someone." He said hoarsely.

"Oh my god, we need to get mom." Ruff said rushing to the door.

Before she could get to the door, he pushed her away with one arm. "No! Don't tell her, anything but that!"

"Don't tell me what?"

Mom was coming down from the top of the stairs with some huge, stacked boxes. In no time, Tuff threw his disguise back on and hid behind me.

"Uh, nothing," I improvised, "Just talking about some…rumors I heard."

"Ok then. I'll be right back," She put down the all the boxes and grabbed her purse, "I'm going around the corner to get some bins."

Me and Ruff waved bye, not moving until we heard her leave the driveway. Without hesitation, I ran to the supply closet where I was sure a first aid kit was. I came back to the kitchen to see Tuff taking off his disguise.

"That is one nasty cut," I took a good look at it, "I don't know how I'll be able to fix that up."

"Who even brought you here?" Ruff asked.

"Myself." He responded, bitterly.

I stared at him for a moment, processing what he just said. "So your saying, you drove all the way here with one fucked up eye, and another that isn't any better? With that being on the highway!?"

"Also with a lot of bruises." He lifted up his shirt to show his whole side basically purple.

Are you serious?

"Bro, who did you even fight?" Ruff asked, kneeling down, poking his side.

He didn't answer. He tried to move away from her poking but failed.

"Tuff," I started, "You said you would tell what's wrong."

Moments later, he sighed and looked at the ceiling. "A couple days ago, me and Ruff didn't tell you that Scott was looking for you. So instead of telling you, I went to him myself…" His voice drifted off and he cleared his voice, now looking at me. "I wasn't gonna have anybody mess with you."

It was like I couldn't move a single muscle in my body. So many thoughts were running through my head that I couldn't quite grasp.

When I snapped out my trance, I found myself balling my fists up. My eyes watered up and my face turned hot. I wasn't getting angry, but instead I was very upset.

"I always knew… that he would go crazy that I left him," I said slowly, "But I never knew he would take it this far."

"What?" Ruff asked confused.

"There's two reasons I broke up with Scott. He was a player, and he's the head of a gang. Thing is, since I know about his gang, I can get him and his members in jail. And he doesn't want that to happen."

"That's not all though." Tuff said, "I have a lot more to tell you."

I stood and helped Tuff up. "You can tell me that later. Right now I need to fix your face."

"What are you gonna do about the situation then?" Ruff asked.

I thought about it and answered, "It's me he wants, so I'll have to go to him."

"I hope you have a plan, blondie." Ruff said, "You can't just wing something like this."

"Oh, believe me, I do." I looked intentionally at a knife on the counter with a smirk.

Ruff and Tuff followed my gaze, slowly. Then they both turned towards me saying, "Astrid, no."

"Astrid, yes."