Warning: there are mature themes in this story. The reason it's still rated 'T' is because I believe there is nothing written here that any teenager hasn't heard before. Maybe I just have too much faith in teenagers, but oh well.
If you are offended easily, just don't read. It's really quite simple.
--
Warm yourself by the fire, son,
And the morning will come soon.
I'll tell you stories of a better time,
In a place that we once knew.
Before we packed our bags
And left all this behind us in the dust,
We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch.
--
"Butch!" The old woman's voice was sharp and loud as it called for me. I walked out from the room I shared with my brothers and five other boys and went to the edge of the stairwell. On the bottom floor Mrs. Falun, the woman who ran the orphanage, stood waiting for me.
I jogged down the steps when I noticed her ire. She wasn't the type of woman you aimed to piss off. Unless, of course, you were me, in which case I tended to piss everyone off without even trying. Most people just dealt with it but Mrs. Falun liked to try her hand at punishing me. She'd grown bitter with age and I knew that I'd miss a meal if I kept her waiting. Taking away dinner was her favorite punishment.
"What the hell were you thinking, boy?" She asked when I reached her. Her arms were crossed over her large stomach and her mouth was pulled into a scowl.
"Can you first tell me what I did?" I said sardonically. "That way I can tell you what I was thinking of while doing it."
"You know what you did," She was really mad, her cheeks were flushed red and I thought I saw her eye twitch. Huh. "I just got a call from the school. Your teacher said you were fighting today at the playground. That's the third time this week, do you know what that means?"
"It means…the other kids aren't taking the hint?" I tried.
Her eye twitched again. Okay, so I got that question wrong.
"Try again," She said, her voice tight.
"It means I'm not getting dinner tonight, doesn't it?" I sighed.
Great, and I was hungry too.
"Good deduction," She shook her head. "Honestly, I do all I can for you kids. I take you off the streets, give you a place to live, somewhere to sleep, food three times a day, and look how you repay me! I don't even know what to do anymore. If you think…"
I tuned her out, having heard this speech numerous times since I'd come to live here. I watched her rage on for a short while, shifting on my feet and shoving my hands in my pockets. I noticed my jeans were already getting too short on me, but until my next birthday I knew I wouldn't any larger ones. You only got new clothes on birthdays or Christmas. I just hoped I wouldn't grow too much taller until then.
"Butch!" She cut through my thoughts. "Are you listening to me?"
"Yes ma'am," I replied, my eyes shifting briefly towards the door where I could hear some screaming and joking coming from outside. The other kids had probably started a football game in the street and I wondered if I could go out and join in real quick.
"Do you even have a good reason for fighting?" She asked with an edge of weariness to her tone.
I looked over at her tired face.
"They pushed Boomer down," I explained, a little put off that the teacher hadn't already told her that. If they were going to call and rat me out they should damn well give the whole story. Public schools were seriously going into the toilets if this is how they were run.
"And so you fought them?" She seemed to grimace. Why didn't she see the logic in that? "What would your mother say?"
I flinched, feeling cold.
"He's my brother," I said, ignoring her second question. "I can't just let people push him around."
My mother would have understood…
"You're only seven," Mrs. Falun tried to catch my attention but it just kept wavering to the game being held outside. "You're just going to end up like every other punk on the streets if you keep up the way your going. Is that what you want? Do you want a life of dodging the law and barely scraping by?"
I frowned.
"I'm only seven."
She pinned me with a look. "Yes," She shook her head. "But sometimes it scares me how old you act. Your eyes are too old for a seven year old. And you're too angry. Seven year olds aren't supposed to be angry already."
I shifted my weight. "I'm not the only kid here who gets in fights."
She snorted. "No joke. It feels like every other minute I'm getting a call from some parent about one of you beating up their child. But you, you're different. I can tell you'll be trouble every step of the way."
I felt flattered that she thought so.
"Can I go outside now?" I asked.
"No," She sighed. "Go upstairs and take a bath. It's straight to bed for you and no food for the rest of the night. I'll send someone up with an icepack later for your eye. You're aware that you have a black eye, right?"
"I kind of got the feeling I did when it swelled shut," I said coldly. "But don't worry too much about it ma'am, I'm sure it'll be better after a few days. I only need one eye to see anyway."
"Cute," She said snidely. "You just keep fighting and see where you end up. You're going to regret pissing people off and pushing others away with your bad attitude when you're older. I wish I could be there when your past catches up to you."
"You're very cynical," I said, tilting my head and regarding her closely. "You aren't one of those women who get off on seeing others in pain, are you?"
"Go to bed," She sighed tiredly as she turned to head towards the kitchen.
I ran up the steps, the stairs creaking with each move I made. I could always sneak out the window and join the game outside.
"Oh, and Butch!" Mrs. Falun's voice made me halt and I gripped the rail and gazed down at her. "That last comment earned you no dinner for a week."
"Perfect," I muttered.
She acted as if I had a promising future anyway. Who was going to adopt a seven year old boy who couldn't stop fighting and already had a knack with theft? Besides, I had my two brothers and I wasn't going to go anywhere without them. People didn't exactly adopt triplets.
No, my future was destined to be bleak. She was kidding herself for thinking anything different. I was only seven but I knew how to be logical.
And so I'd keep fighting, and stealing, and pissing as many people off as I wanted…
…it wasn't as if I was ever going to really need anyone but myself anyway.
--
The storm hit the city with a vengeance. Thunder echoed off the sides of the buildings and rain fell from the sky at a harsh angle. With the sudden change in the weather it was only expected that a storm would generate, but still each flash of lightening seemed to shake people.
I stood under a small awning across the street from the diner. My body was soaked and I pressed my back against the wall to try to keep away from the sheet of water falling off the edge of the tin cover above me. I watched as women scrambled frantically to gather their laundry from the lines between the buildings and the store keepers worked hard to move their outside displays into the safety of their stores.
A flash of tan caught my eye from across the street and I took a long drag from my cigarette as a familiar blonde exited the diner. She brought her hands over her head as if that would protect her from the rain. I frowned and shook my head at her valiant effort to keep dry.
"Betty!" I said, raising my arm to motion her over. The rain swallowed my words but somehow she saw me and she looked both ways before running across the street to reach me.
I shifted so that she could get under the awning too. She panted slightly and settled back against the wall. Her shoulders brushed my arm as we leaned comfortably beside each other under the small, make-shift shelter.
"My god!" She laughed brightly. I looked down at her and her blue eyes were shining with an odd since of relief. "I love the rain."
I stared impassively at the drenched city before us. "What's so great about it?"
She smiled brightly and stuck out her hand so that the rain could hit her palm.
"I don't know, I guess I just like the sound of it," She said thoughtfully. "And everything smells better after the rain too. All fresh and clean and…I'm rambling, aren't I?"
I looked down at her again to see her grimace slightly, embarrassed.
"I'd tell you if you were annoying me," I said simply and from the corner of my eye I caught her smile. "So, ready to head home?"
"Home sounds great," She nodded. "I felt like work dragged on forever today…but you don't have to walk me home you know."
"If you don't want me to-"
"No!" She said quickly and I smirked slightly before blowing out a puff of smoke. "I don't mind the company. And to be honest I thought you were avoiding me after the other day. I didn't think…I wasn't thinking when I was asking about your mother. I'm sorry."
Her tone was sincere. Everything she did was sincere and honest and unplanned. I wished she had the commonsense to hide a bit of what she was feeling. People got hurt when they didn't block some of their emotions and yet she never tried to filter her own.
But despite that thought, I knew I didn't mind her honesty too much. It was oddly refreshing to be around someone who didn't have ulterior motives or secret meanings behind everything they did. And her little impulses (like grabbing my sleeve randomly or kissing my cheek like she had done the other night) weren't exactly much to complain about.
"Forget it," I said briskly.
She nodded, appeased. We watched the rain fall for a moment and I let her enjoy the sound of it against the tin cover for a while. I didn't care too much for rain either way but I saw no harm and letting her stand there. I had to finish off my cigarette anyway.
"Come on," I said after tossing my cigarette onto the sidewalk and stepping on it. I reached out and grabbed her wrist lightly, tugging it so that she'd follow after me. Together we stepped out into the cold, pelting rain and began walking briskly towards the apartment building.
It was slightly difficult to navigate the street as people shouldered against us in their own effort to get out of the weather. I held onto her wrist a bit tighter and dragged her along, creating a path for her with my body. Rain slipped off my hair and into my eyes and already a chill had worked its way through me as my clothes became drenched.
"Okay, maybe I like the rain when I don't have to be in it," Bubbles said from behind me. She pulled her wrist from my grip in an effort to brush some hair (and water) from her face.
"We're close," I told her simply.
We turned the corner, the building finally in sight, when Bubbles stepped awkwardly on the slick curb. I saw her slip and caught her roughly around her waist before she could face plant into the wet cement.
"Whoa," I breathed out, her body knocking the air out of me as I brought her roughly against my side.
"Ouch," She hissed, her voice barely carrying over the sound of the storm around us. Lighting flashed forebodingly above us. "God, can I be a bigger klutz?"
I chuckled. "Can you stand on your own?" I murmured against her ear in an effort to be heard over the rain. It wasn't as if I minded her pressed up against me but-
"Yes," She said curtly, pushing roughly against me in an effort to step away. "I can most definitely walk on my own."
I frowned and released her. She ducked her head, her blonde hair spilling around her and blocking her face from sight. She rolled her ankle as she stood, testing it out. Despite the fact that I couldn't see her face I could still see her shoulders flinch with pain. I scowled at this.
"We're almost there," I said. "Can you walk just one more block?"
"Sure," She giggled but her voice was strained.
I stood still, watching her carefully as she took a step and-
"Or not," She muttered dryly as I tried to balance her, my hands on both her shoulders to keep her from crumpling to the ground. She frowned down at her feet and then smiled brightly up at me. She blinked a bit as rain fell into her eyes. "Just leave me, Butch!" She said in a playfully dramatic voice. "I can't go on! Save yourself!"
People rushing by us to get out of the rain sent us strange looks. They undoubtedly thought we were insane and I wasn't blaming them. But I wasn't exactly going to chastise the girl in front of me either. She smiled through her pain which was more then most people could accomplish.
"Hop on," I said lowly.
I didn't give her a chance to question me before turning my back to her and reaching behind me. I was lucky she was so light because it made it easier to practically haul her onto my back and settle her against me. She squealed in shock, her arms impulsively circling my neck and her legs wrapping around my waist.
Okay, sue me. It seemed like a decent (if not chivalrous) idea at the time. But once she was actually on me, her chest pressed against my back, her thighs squeezing my hips, and her breath hot against my ear…well…I realized about then that I was going to have issues.
One of those issues being the severe urge to pin her against the side of the closest building in order to fuck her.
"Am I too heavy?" She asked, her breath hitting my ear and making my jaw clench.
I said nothing, not trusting the sound of my voice. I knew it'd be raspy and low and I didn't need her inching closer in an effort to hear me. So instead I began to walk, my hands coming up and gripping her legs to keep her from slipping. Her uniform had risen up due to her position and her pale skin was wet from the rain and smooth beneath my hands.
"I haven't been carried in a long time," She was saying. I had trouble concentrating on her words and mentally thanked God for the cold rain against my skin. I knew it was the only thing keeping me remotely sane and I tried to focus on it.
'Only one more block…' I thought, my pace quickening. She bounced against me and clutched me tighter. 'Walk faster, idiot.'
I was about to cross the street, the entrance to the building only a few yards away, when something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I stopped, my grip on Bubbles' thighs becoming painfully tight when I noticed about three Audley Boys walking rapidly towards us.
"Fuck this," I cursed as I saw one pull a blade from his pocket and squint at me through the rain. "Betty," I murmured to girl on my back in a serious voice. "Can I trust you to do as I say?"
"What?" Her tone was confused and I knew my sudden stop had worried her. I felt her hair hit my neck as she looked over and caught sight of the approaching danger. She went rigid against me and I felt my stomach clench with an intense surge of protectiveness. It was becoming a familiar feeling, seeing as I had begun to get feel it often times I was around her.
"I'm going to set you down and I want you to stay behind me, okay?" I instructed, letting go of her legs and allowing her to slide down into a standing position. I knew she couldn't make a run for the building but I really wished she could.
"Butch," Her voice was painted with worry. "Let's just walk away. If they hurt you-"
"Butch!" One of the men shouted at me, cutting her off. I glared stonily back it him, not recognizing any of them but realizing that they were all a little bit older then me. "You know why we're here."
Thunder clapped loudly, making the windows around us vibrate and I fought the urge to turn and glance at the blonde girl behind me. I knew it would do me no good to see her standing there, frightened and soaked and miserable. I needed to stay focused.
"I already told your friends, your car is in the bay," I said dully.
"We're not here because of the car," Another one shouted. "You'll pay for injuring members of our gang. No one hurts us and gets away with it."
I felt like rolling my eyes. They couldn't care less about those five young punks I'd beaten up. They just wanted a reason to fight me and this was their best excuse. Pathetic idiots.
"If five of you couldn't take me, what makes you think three can?" I called out arrogantly.
The one on the left smirked at this. "We have a different angle now," He said back. I watched as a gun surfaced from his pocket and he leveled it quickly at….Bubbles?
Shit.
"I thought I said to stay behind me," I bit out at her, cursing her inwardly. Stupid, stupid girl.
She looked at me from where she stood about two feet away. Her blue eyes were wide and she frowned before turning her attention back to the man pointing the gun towards her.
"I-I thought…" She was trying her best to act brave, I could tell. I then noticed a lead pipe gripped in her hand behind her back. She must've seen it and moved to grab it when I hadn't been paying attention. Brave girl, but a pipe was no defense against a bullet. She should have stayed behind me.
"So, what do you say Butch?" The man with the gun yelled for me. I felt my blood boil and my vision bleed red at the audacity of the man. How dare he raise a gun at her? "Are you ready to listen to our reasoning? It won't be long before we're running this place; you might as well start acting accordingly."
In a move so fast (since I had barely any time to even think) that they had no time to react, I grabbed my pocket knife from my jeans and hurled it towards the man holding the gun. The blade embedded itself in his hand and the gun clattered unthreateningly into a puddle on the ground.
"Damn!" He hissed, clutching his hand against his chest and blood flowed steadily from it. He tried to remove the blade but it was too deep.
I didn't give them the time to recover before rushing forward and laying one out flat with a punch. Another one tackled me from the side and pinned me to the sidewalk, using his weight to keep me there. My back scraped against the wet cement as I wrestled him off. He punched me in the stomach and I stumbled back a step before regaining my balance.
With as much force as I could gather, I grabbed him and tossed him against the brick wall near us. His skull hit the wall and he slumped down to his knees. Smirking and my blood pumping, I turned to the last one…only to meet the barrel of the once discarded gun.
"You're fast," The man commented, my knife still sticking from his hand that was holding the firearm. "But even you can't dodge a bullet. Especially not at this range."
I ignored him, my eyes flickering around, trying to catch sight of the blonde girl but I could see her. A sick sense of rage boiled in my gut and I felt the urge to slaughter the man before me, despite the gun in my face. He must've done something to her when I was distracted.
"If you so much as touched her, you son of a bitch, I'll kill you as slowly and painfully as possible," I managed to say around the rushing of blood in my ears. I didn't care if the gun made my threat seem void. Fury killed my logic.
"What are you-" He began to ask, his mouth frowning and the gun pushing against my forehead. He didn't get to finish his sentence, though, before a dull crack was heard and his eyes rolled back into his head. His knees buckled and he fell uselessly to the ground, drenched with rain and blood flowing from his hand.
"Wow," Bubbles whispered in disbelief, staring down at the pipe her hands as if she'd just realized she was holding it. "It worked."
I let out a breath before stepping over the unconscious man in order to reach the girl. I grabbed the pipe from her hand and tossed it back into the alley edge where she'd most likely found it. I placed one hand on her neck and with the other I grabbed her chin and raised it up so that she was staring into my eyes. Rain fell against her pale cheeks and her blonde hair stuck to her skin. She was panting slightly (whether it was from shock or the pain of moving on her ankle I wasn't sure) and she stared blankly back at me.
"Are you okay?" I asked. She blinked but said nothing. Her blue eyes were clear and unsure. "Did he hurt you?" I pushed. I moved my hands to grab her shoulders and I shook her a bit. "Betty."
"I want to go inside now," She said, her voice tinted with panic.
"Yeah, of course baby. I'm going to take you inside," I assured her, my hand coming up to smooth the wet strands of hair from her face. I ignored the soothing tone of my voice and instead chose to focus on the now shivering girl before me. Rain dripped from her eyelashes and her uniform was plastered to her body like a second skin.
I bypassed the piggyback ride and instead grabbed her around the waist. Her legs effortlessly circled my hips (this time from the front) and her arms gripped my shoulders. I sighed as she buried her face into the side of my neck, her hair soft against the underside of my jaw. Her chest was pressed against my own and I tried to ignore the fact that this position was a lot more intimate then the one before.
'It's a hard fact to ignore…'
I held her close as I walked across the street and into our apartment building. My shoes squeaked against the floor and water fell from us like a drainpipe. I didn't turn back to see if the fallen men had made an effort to get up. I didn't care.
I did, however, care about the girl clutching at me like a leech. She was shivering harder now as the cool air in the building hit her wet form. Her nails dug into my shoulders and her quick breathing made her breasts brush against my chest repeatedly. I ran my hands against the wet fabric of her uniform, the lines of her bra against my palms, as I made unconscious soothing gestures.
"I'm sorry," She whispered against my neck. "I should have stayed behind you."
I said nothing and instead pulled her impossibly closer, her hips teasingly rubbing against my own as I ran up the stairs and towards my room.
I had to find a place to set her down real quick because it seemed my body was fast to forget the fight and overlook her fear. It was reacting to the way she was held against me and I fought for control. I only hoped she was truly naïve enough to not understand what was pressing so closely against her.
--
"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Bubbles asked curiously. She was sitting on my bed (which I'd left pulled out from the night before), wearing a pair of my flannel pajama pants and one of my t-shirts. She was much too small for the clothes and the cotton material swamped her form completely. Her hair was combed and wet and a blanket was pulled up around her shoulders.
"I don't know," I shrugged as I handed her a cup of steaming coffee. I wasn't sure if she drank the stuff but she smiled appreciatively and inhaled the scent.
I stepped back and took a sip of my own mug. The hot liquid felt good on my throat.
"I have to admit," She laughed. "I was kind of scared there at the beginning."
I recalled the feeling of her going rigid with fear against me and the look on her face when she'd seen the gun aimed at her. Both memories caused a bad taste to rise in my mouth and a low twist of anger to tighten my stomach muscles.
"Sorry, again, for stepping out from behind you," She looked bashfully down into her coffee, avoiding my gaze. "You really had to move fast in order to save me. And you lost your pocket knife…sorry…"
"Don't think about it," I said uncomfortably. "You did well. I would have been sleeping with the fishes tonight if you hadn't bashed that guy with that pipe."
She blushed at that and glanced up at me from beneath her dark lashes. "Oh, I don't know," She smiled teasingly. "You probably would have found a way out of that situation. You were like…Jet Li out there. They couldn't keep you down for more then two seconds. You would've been okay."
I smirked, foolishly glad she'd been so impressed. We lapsed into silence and I sipped my coffee again, crossing my other arm across my stomach and leaning against the wall. I didn't have anywhere to sit besides the couch/bed so I opted to stand. I frowned and kicked the pile of our wet clothes out of the way.
"Do you want me to make you something else to drink or eat?" I asked suddenly. She looked at me in shock before glancing down at her untouched coffee. A worry line creased her brow.
"Oh! I'm sorry," She said quickly. "I don't usually drink coffee; I didn't mean to appear rude. I'll just try it, I'm sure it's-"
"Betty," I laughed at her flustered ramblings. I moved forward and grabbed the mug from her hands. "It's fine, I'll just make you something else."
She was looking at me oddly, her eyes practically dancing and her smile wide. I raised an eyebrow in question.
"You laughed," She explained. "I've never heard you laugh before. You're usually stony, or smirking, or rarely chuckling…but…"
I cursed myself as I felt my face heat up with a blush. I turned towards the kitchen to avoid letting her see my reaction to her awe. I'd never thought anything of my laugh before, but the way she reacted you'd think it was the single best sound in the world.
"Do you like beer?" I asked, looking into my refrigerator. I heard her giggle. "Okay, or not," I looked around the practically bare shelves of the fridge. "How about…beer?"
"Here," She said, her voice surprisingly close. I turned to see her standing a few feet behind me, her eyes amused and her lips quirked with a smile. "I'll fix us some dinner. You go in there and rest. You had a big day playing hero for me and you deserve to kick back and relax."
I scowled.
"I'm not a hero," I said, detesting the very sound of the word.
She limped a bit as she walked and I fought the urge to pick her up and carry her back to the couch. She leaned into my fridge, a smile on her face. Her wet hair fell around her shoulders and dampened the back of my large shirt. The green flannel pants dragged the ground and the waist was tied as tight as it could go to keep them from falling off her slim hips.
"Yes, you are," She looked over her shoulder at me. Her eyes were very blue. "You're my hero, so deal with it."
Well…it didn't sound too bad when she said it like that.
Though, I'd never admit to that. The last thing I needed was to be considered as someone's hero. God, the guys would get a laugh out of that one. I could practically hear Ace's sarcastic comments and stupid wit as it was.
"How does rice and fish sound?" She asked, gazing into my now open freezer.
"I have fish?" I asked.
She moved the pack over and read the date. "Yeah, and it is okay to eat too."
I shrugged. Who knew?
"Fish sounds fine," I said nonchalantly. I hadn't cooked a meal in my apartment in… forever and it was weird to think of eating an actual home-cooked meal. I don't even remember where my pans were.
Take-out and piazza delivery was more my style.
"What do we have to drink?" She asked. I cursed my inability to keep a bottle of wine around. I didn't normally entertain guests and the ones that I occasionally did weren't the kind to drink wine…or stick around long.
She didn't seem to mind though…or notice.
"Well…we have water," She smiled and then reached into my fridge. "And for you: beer. Ta da!"
I smirked and grabbed the beer bottle she'd pulled out for me.
"Now go get your TV out and watch it while I make us some dinner," She ordered bossily. "I'm new to this whole cooking thing and I don't need an audience."
The 'new to this whole cooking thing' had me worrying slightly but I conceded easily enough and went away. I grabbed my TV from my closet and set it up in front of the bed. It left little room to walk around but I ignored this as I flicked in on and opened up my beer bottle and took a sip.
I had a lot to think about. The Audley Boys were getting reckless. Which was dangerous. I'd win if they fought fair but if they were going to try and trick me I was going to have to watch out. I wondered if Ace was having any issues with them.
"The fire extinguisher is beneath the sink," I said loudly to the girl in the kitchen. I tried to push the thoughts of the earlier fight from my brain.
"Ha. Ha." Her voice was dry and I smirked. "Very funny."
--
"Quiet," Brick hissed at Boomer.
We were crouched in a back alleyway behind a small jewelry store. The rain was only a light drizzle now but it was enough to keep most people inside. Which was a good thing. That meant less people were out to hear my blond brother trip over trashcans.
"Sorry," He griped. "It's dark, I didn't see it."
I rolled my eyes from where I was picking the padlock. I'd already cut the wire that ran to the alarm from the small power box on the wall. I shifted the pick slightly, my gloved hands holding the lock, until I heard a distinct click. With a smirk I yanked, causing the lock to open and the chain to fall from around the door handle.
"We're in," Brick said, coming from behind me to enter the store first. I followed behind him, looking around the dark building and shifting to allow my other brother room to get in as well. Cloaked in darkness, the three of us stilled and waited.
"So…are we just going to grope around for the jewels?" Boomer finally asked. Brick cursed at him but we both knew it was a good question. We couldn't see a goddamn thing.
"They're supposed to have a flood light on," Brick said, annoyed. "It's like, a requirement or something."
"Well," Boomer sighed. "I, for one, think they deserve to get robbed if they don't follow city codes. I mean, honestly, this way they can file for insurance and afford a flood light. They owe us. The fire marshal wouldn't have been happy."
"Guys," I muttered, feeling my way around. "I don't think they are missing their flood light, I think they lost power. The light I'm touching now is real cold and they've only been closed a few hours. Industrial lights stay hot for a long time."
"The storm must've knocked their power out," Brick said, his tone elated.
We all knew what no power meant.
No security cameras.
I sighed and tugged off the black ski mast I'd been wearing. No matter how many times I'd donned one of those things, the rough material against my nose was still annoying. Even if it did make it impossible to recognize me on camera footage, I hated them.
"I found the diamonds," Brick called from somewhere in the darkness behind me.
"I found the…um…jewelry," Boomer said, from somewhere to my left.
"I got the cash register," I said as I worked the draw open.
I grabbed the cash inside by the handful, shoving it carefully into the sack I'd carried in. It was dark so I made sure to grab all I could, feeling around to see if I'd left any behind. The sack was barely heavy.
"They don't have too much money in the register," I said, frowning.
"I guess a jewelry store in this part of town has trouble staying afloat," Brick said from somewhere else. I heard the scrape of a blade against glass and knew he was breaking into a case for more jewels. "This one is probably struggling to stay open."
My frown deepened.
'You're my hero,' Bubbles' voice replayed through my head. I remembered her eyes, so wide and blue and trusting. I remembered how she'd looked at me as if I was such a great guy. As if I was upstanding or honorable.
She'd looked at me like she'd looked at her fiancée. With admiration. With appreciation.
As if she liked me.
How would she react if she could see me now?
"The bank pays them back for all we steal, right?" I asked, my tone carefully void.
"If they have the right insurance company," Brick replied.
"I got all I can grab," Boomer said. "Let's go."
"Yeah," Brick sighed. "I'm good too. Butch, you ready?"
Hero…
Right.
I was no hero.
I was just a fuck up who barely got by. I lived to steal and fight and piss people off. I stole from stores who were struggling more then me. I fought people who I knew couldn't win. And I did things that I knew would drive others away.
God, what would she say if she saw me now? Cloaked in darkness and taking anything I wished. It was sick but it was natural to me. This was what I was used to. Not tennis or lavish parties. This was what I was raised around. This was what I did.
This is who I am.
"Butch?" Brick asked, somehow nearer to me then before.
"Yeah," I said plainly. "I got the cash."
I tied the bag up and threw it over my shoulder. I felt my way around until I found the back door. I kicked it open, using my free hand to pull my mask back into place. The cold, wet air met me as I held open the door.
"Come on," I urged my brothers. They filed out, sacks full and smiles undoubtedly lighting their faces beneath their masks. I moved out of the way and let the door fall shut, it clicked behind me.
"Let's bring it to Ace," Brick suggested. "He knows where to keep stuff so that the cops don't ever find it."
We weren't too worried about cops pinning us to this heist, but it was always better not to have the loot stored at your place.
Together we ran deeper into the city, our shoes padding softly as we weaved through alleys and around buildings. Night was our friend and kept us invisible. The rain dampened the roads but couldn't damper the moods of my two brothers.
When we were far enough away we took off our masks and gloves and tossed them inside the sacks.
"Screw getting a job," Boomer laughed, his blond hair an unkempt mess around him. "I'll be living well for a while now."
"You're getting a job," Brick said harshly. "And none of us can spend too much for a while. Keep a low profile and act as if nothing ever happened. It'll look suspicious if we're suddenly loaded with cash."
I didn't pay too much mind to him. I'd heard it all before. It was the same routine with every job we did. Nothing ever changed. We always stole, we rarely got caught, I pretended to barely get by, and everything was okay. It's how it always was. Nothing changed in the life of a criminal. Nothing at all.
.
"Maybe Butch can find a diamond bigger then the one on his girlfriend's finger," Boomer said, snapping me from my train of morbid thoughts. "She might leave her fiancée if you have a better offer, Butch."
I pushed him roughly.
"She's not some kind of gold digger," I said plainly, but anger tinted my tone.
"I know," Boomer laughed. "I'm just saying, if she's marrying the dude for money all you have to do is prove you can give her more then him. Girls get like putty if they think a man can provide for them."
I didn't think I could provide for her, I knew I could provide for her. And besides, I didn't want her like that. I looked after her, and that was that. If it ever escalated she'd be a quick screw and that was all.
And besides, I had a sick feeling that money wasn't why she was marrying Andrew. She wasn't the type to be that petty. She loved him or something like that.
But whatever.
It wasn't my business.
I didn't care.
She was rich and spoiled and completely incompetent. She wasn't my type. I wasn't her type. It was simple. She went with dorky, clumsy, socially awkward men. I went with fast, experienced women. She owned silky blue dresses that clung to her like a lover should. I owned a ski mask and a handgun.
And all of that didn't matter because things like that don't change.
I was born a thief. I was born a fighter.
I was born to be overlooked by girls like her.
I was no hero.
--
"The Audley Boys are pissed," Ace said as we lounged in his living room. He'd already sent Snake off to store our loot somewhere safe. We'd filled our pockets with enough cash but we'd have to come back for the rest later.
"We can thank Butch for that," Boomer smirked at me.
"They didn't just go after Butch," Ace rubbed the bridge of his nose under his shades. "They cornered Big Billy and Lil' Arturo."
"Anyone get hurt?" Brick asked, rubbing his five-o'clock shadow. He'd shaved since he gotten out of jail. And got his hair cut. Which was good, he looked like hell before.
"Not really," Ace shrugged. "Lil' Arturo got stabbed in the arm but it won't stop him for long."
"They're really trying to get us out," Boomer said, fiddling with a diamond that he'd kept. God knows why.
"They want to run this place," Ace agreed. "I've already got both the docks and the Westside following my orders. The people there didn't object too much and since I don't make them pay me for everything they do I doubt they'll try throwing me out."
"We're stronger than the Audley Boys anyway," Brick confirmed. "If you have the people living near the docks answering to you and the people over in the Westside, we've already doubled the loyalty they have. And my brothers and I run our neighborhood. No one would risk getting a blue skull on their face from our block."
"But we've still underestimated them," Ace sighed, seeming much older then he really was. "They know we run most of the city and they've always grudgingly accepted the strip of buildings on 14th Street as their own before…but now their adamant about taking everything."
"That's true," Boomer balanced the diamond on the tip of his nose. "I've never even thought of the Audley Boys as a threat. Where did they come from all the sudden?"
"Well, I've looked into it," Ace leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his sunglasses sliding down the bridge of his nose so that his dark eyes could meet us all. "It seems the Audley Boys have taken up camaraderie with some big time dealers."
"Shit," Brick groaned, shoving his hands into his rusty hair in annoyance. "So if they're dealing drugs now, they're going to need more territory to spread out into."
"And we've got all the territory," I continued.
"And we're not going to give it back," Boomer smirked.
"And the big time dealers aren't going to be happy if the Audley Boys can't sell their share of the shipments," Ace finished. "Which leads to the desperation we've been witnessing. They can make big money off this stuff and they know it. They also know if they fall through, there are consequences."
"So basically, if they don't overthrow us, they're dead," Brick shook his head. "Man, this won't be pretty. Men do stupid things when their lives hang in the balance. We need to be prepared so some desperate shit thrown our way."
"I'm ahead of you on that," Ace smirked.
He stood up from his couch. Though his house was smaller and slightly broken down from the outside, inside the furniture reflected his position in the city. His chairs were all leather, his tables an expensive wood, and I knew for a fact his sister's room had all the works. He knew, however, that no one would break in. People were desperate, but not stupid enough to rob Ace.
"I've already told Butch this," He continued, nodding towards me. "But you were in the pin Brick, so I'll fill you in. I've-"
"What about me?" Boomer seemed put-off. "Why didn't anyone think to inform me about whatever we're talking about?"
"I'm informing you now," Ace smiled slickly and Boomer was hardly appeased but quieted anyway.
"As I was saying: I've started dealing with this man from Atlanta who smuggles weapons from artillery factories and other places that I'm not exactly supposed to question him about," Ace smirked. "We've made some deals and I've got a few different forms of ammunition if you three want your pick."
"How much do we owe him for it?" Brick asked, watching as Ace lifted up the surface the coffee table to reveal a shit load of guns. All three of us leaned in unconsciously, gazing at the different kinds. There were a few revolvers, about six rifles, a shotgun, some guns that were definitely not allowed to normal civilians, and packs upon packs of ammunition.
"Man, you better be careful with Jazz around," Boomer frowned. "She could find this and hurt herself."
Ace shook his head. "She's a smart kid. She knows not to touch my stuff and she'd never play with guns. Besides, she won't be lifting up any coffee table tops to see if there's a secret storage space. I think we're safe."
"How much do we owe this man?" Brick repeated, his eyes glued to the guns.
"Not too much," Ace shrugged. "I'll get it out of the loot you got tonight to pay for what you take. I'll set a meeting up so that you can meet him too, in case you want some of your own deals. I've already ordered some silencers and about two machine guns. He says he'll try to get them by next Wednesday."
"Sounds good," Brick nodded. "I'll ask him the rest of my questions and see what he has to offer."
We were silent for a moment, contemplating.
"…So can I get a gun?" Boomer finally asked.
"Yeah man," Ace laughed. "Take your pick."
Boomer rubbed his hands together in excitement. "Wow, a robbery and a new gun all in one day…it's like Christmas."
--
"Is my limp noticeable?" Bubbles asked as I was turned, locking my apartment door.
I looked to where she had just walked out of her own apartment. She was frowning down at her ankle as if it could sense her displeasure and her blonde hair was braided messily down her back. Her diner uniform was slightly wrinkled and her hands rested on her hips.
"Walk and I'll tell you," I ordered, shoving my key into my pocket and leaning back against my door.
She took a few steps, her face calm and unflinching. No signs of pain. Her gait seemed normal, if not slightly less bouncy, and I could barely notice the way she gingerly stepped on her bad ankle.
"It's better," I confirmed indifferently.
"Good," She sighed. "Work was no fun when I had to limp everywhere. I swear my boss contemplated firing me but Victor forbade it. I swear that cook thinks I'm his daughter. And some costumers got really rude too. Something about it taking longer for me to deliver the food than it did for Victor to cook it."
"Fuck 'em," I shrugged and she smiled at me.
"What're you doing today?" She asked, shutting her door and locking it as well.
"Work," I said. "Then probably the bar later with Ace and my brothers. Maybe the Gang Greene Gang too." We had a meeting with that weapons guy from Atlanta that I needed to be present for.
"Is that his gang?" Bubbles seemed almost shocked. I was surprised she'd even heard of them. "People talk about them at the diner. They talk about you and your brothers too."
"What do they say?" I sneered. People talked entirely too much.
"Well," She frowned as we descended the steps. "They mostly talk about how they remember when you guys were younger and how they can't believe you all have taken over so fast. Sometimes they talk about fights you guys have been in. It's like you're a celebrity boxer or something. Everyone seems really up to date with gang activity around here."
"It's important to know what's going on around you," I shrugged. I'd never really considered my brothers and me a gang (we were more like a family of fuckups) but I guess it could be perceived like that. After all, what was that saying? You can tell a lot about a person by who they associate with…or something like that.
"I guess," She nodded.
I waited for the surge of questions. The accusations. The threats of calling the cops. After all, I hadn't denied being in a gang. And not just any gang. The gang that was obviously calling all the shots. People were usually asking question after question about stuff like that.
…but nothing came.
She just walked beside me, her arms hugging herself against the cool air and her teeth chewing her bottom lip.
Huh.
"So what time do you get off of work?" I asked, trying to appear as if I was just asking to make conversation. I knew, however, that she could see right through me. I mean, really, when did I ever feel the need to make conversation?
"Oh," She laughed. "I actually have to meet Andy and his parents for dinner tonight, so you don't have to walk me home. I'm going to change in the bathroom at the diner and call a cab to pick me up."
I fought the urge to deny her frivolous comment about walking her home. Although I quite obviously waited for her and went out of my way to meet her after work, I still didn't want to admit that I was doing something that could be considered sweet. It was a stupid habit and impulse that I knew could be mistaken for caring. I didn't want her to get the impression I liked her or anything. I was just watching out for her.
After the fight the other day, she should be grateful someone was looking after her.
I didn't want her to think of it as endearing or anything.
"You're going to dinner with Andy and his parents?" I asked in a deadly calm voice.
"Yeah," She laughed. "Dinners with them are never dull."
I got the mental picture of exactly what their dinners must be like. Candle light, servants, four course meal, lavish furniture, small talk, wholesome teasing…gag me.
"Fun," I said dryly.
I hated this topic and usually avoided it.
"Fun is not the word," She said, her smile faltering a bit. Her eyes got slightly solemn. "I don't think his mother likes me very much."
I frowned. Why would she care? If she loved the guy, his mother's opinions wouldn't matter. The old prude was probably just bitter about a woman trying to take away her son. But still, Bubbles seemed like the type of girl moms would fight each other to get as a daughter-in-law.
"How do you know she doesn't like you?" I asked. I was, despite my better judgment, interested. Trouble in paradise, it would seem.
"Well, she's told me so. Not directly, but I'm not too dumb to miss the meaning of all the little comments she throws at me," Bubbles held herself a bit tighter. "I've been raised just like her but somehow that's not enough. She acts all cordial like she's supposed to but sometimes I can practically feel the heat from her glares. It's like she thinks I'm going to ruin her son or something."
'Stupid hag,' I thought bitterly.
"But I'm just going to ignore it," Bubbles continued, her voice growing determined. "She has to get over her little grudge against me sometime. And I'm going to be at all the same parties and holidays as her, so it's not like she can avoid getting to know me forever. She'll cave in sometime. I'll wear her down."
I smirked.
But the sad truth was, if the bitch didn't like Bubbles now, she probably never would.
Her mistake though.
"It's stupid," I heard Bubbles whisper from beside me. "But I think she thinks I'm going to be a horrible wife or something of that sort. She thinks that me moving to the city is a foreshadowing of me running out on her son…and she hates me already for something I haven't even done yet. For something that I don't even plan on doing."
I said nothing.
It seemed to me that the blonde was running from something. That lifestyle, her overbearing peers, the pressure of having to be perfect, the lack of freedom…I don't know. Something.
But whatever she was running away from, I found it odd that she ran to the city to escape it. Wasn't that what her fiancée was for? I thought you ran to the people you love, not from them.
And if she needed a break, a distance from her old life, did that mean she needed a break and was running from her fiancée as well?
I sighed, running a hand through my unruly hair. "Quit it." I muttered to myself.
I mean, why did I even bother thinking about it? Whatever mess this girl got into with her life back by the country club and gated houses was her business. It wasn't my responsibility to get her out of messes with her future mother-in-law or anything like that. It wasn't my business and I didn't see her making it my business anytime soon.
"Sorry," She said, startling me from my thoughts. "I don't mean to complain, it's just…on my mind, you know?"
I was silent and we walked for a short distance with no words.
"If it's any consolation," I found myself saying for a reason I wasn't sure of. "My mother would have loved you."
She looked up at me, her eyes blue and her mouth smiling.
And in that instant I found myself understanding why I was so determined on watching over her. I began to let myself realize why I cared.
After all, wasn't it so obvious?
She's young, and gorgeous, and mellow, and there. And she'd worn me down in the very way I'd always avoided. She'd gotten me to cave so subtly that I hadn't even wanted to recognize it was happening.
But it had happened regardless.
Regardless of my cold words and cruel nature, she'd stuck around me.
Regardless of the danger and threat I emitted, she'd never been scared away.
Regardless of the fact that I'd never let anyone close enough to even scrape the surface of me, she'd somehow dived right into everything I was.
I didn't know what it all meant. I don't think I was supposed to know.
But what I did know was that she was mine. Somehow, in some way, she'd become mine. She was mine to look after, mine to protect, mine to appease, mine to want, and mine to take. And ultimately, if I so chose, mine to keep.
I smirked with the revelation, looking her over from the corner of my eye.
After all, I always took good care of what was mine.
--
"Butch," Mrs. Anderson called to me as I walked up the steps to the building. Mrs. Botstein was watching me coldly from her spot on the stoop. She hadn't said a word to me since the day I'd seen her smack Bubbles and I wasn't too upset about it.
"Yeah?" I asked the other tenant. She was holding her youngest baby and for once the thing wasn't wailing like a banshee.
"I think there was trouble in your apartment," She said, her voice hushed so that Mrs. Botstein couldn't hear. Not that it mattered but it was the principle I suppose.
"What happened?" I asked stiffly, my mind going over a dozen different scenarios.
"I don't know," She said, bouncing her baby slightly. "I just heard a loud crash from somewhere near your apartment. I listened to see if I could tell what was going on but after that there was only some low murmuring and the sound of muffled bangs. It didn't sound like gun shots so I didn't call the cops. It was more like stuff being thrown around."
"A break in?" I asked, my voice tight.
The Audley Boys.
She shrugged. "I stayed in my apartment until it was quiet and then I rushed down here to see if I could find our landlord but he was gone today. I told that sweet girl, Bubbles, to wait for you and tell you what happened but when she heard the story she rushed upstairs to check it out."
Shit.
"She's upstairs now?" I asked, stress leaking into my tone.
"Yes, she-"
I ran off before the woman could finish. I took the steps two at a time until I reached my floor. I took long strides down the landing to reach my apartment but when I got there my door was shut and untouched. But the state of my door wasn't what caught my attention or made me pause.
Bubble's door…
"It's pretty bad, huh?" Bubbles walked from her apartment and smiled sadly at me. There was no need to open or shut the door seeing as it was snapped in half and pushed in to allow easy access.
"Did they steal anything?" I pushed past her and walked into the apartment after briefly glancing over her to make sure she was alright.
Stuff was everywhere. Clothes were thrown about, chairs were overturned, cabinets emptied out onto the floor. The couch had been sliced open and torn apart. Anything that was glass was broken. The fridge had been cleaned out.
And the worst part of it was that everything had been spray painted blue.
"No, nothing was stolen, but what's the point? It's all useless now anyway. Oh, and I'm thinking this is the Audley Boys' handiwork, don't you think?" Bubbles' voice asked calmly from behind me.
I looked around, my blood pressure rising.
It was a message.
A threat.
They were telling me that they weren't afraid of me. They were saying that they wouldn't hesitate to destroy her like they'd destroyed her apartment. They'd marked everything in her apartment, like it was theirs. They'd made it clear that they were serious.
And I felt myself rise to the challenge.
If they thought they could fuck with me, threaten what was mine, and get away with it they were sorely mistaken. I didn't screw around and play mind games. I was going to hurt them for their overconfidence and I was going to enjoy it.
"We can't call the police either, can we?" She asked and I wasn't sure how she expected me to answer over my rage. "You're not exactly on the right side of the law and they know if we call the police you'd get in trouble too."
I tried to control my breathing.
"What I don't get," She continued, oddly calm and collected despite the hysteria around her. "Is why they did this to my apartment and left your apartment alone."
Because they knew this would make me even more pissed off. I don't know how they knew, but they did. And that was enough to tick me off even more.
"Do you mind if I use you phone?" She asked out of nowhere.
"What?" I turned around, pinning her with a look. Anger seeped into my every move.
"I need to call a cab," She explained.
"Why?" I couldn't think of why she'd want to leave now, of all times. Her place was a wreck, did she think a maid service was just going to come and fix it all for her? Did she not understand?
"Butch," She said tiredly. "My apartment is destroyed, I have no money to fix it, I have nowhere to stay, and I can't call the cops for help. I'm going to go home to my father, tell him I just couldn't hack it, and hope he doesn't ask too many questions. He might not think too kindly on that whole stolen car incident."
"You're just leaving?" I asked, my voice low and waspish.
Suddenly she looked straight at me and I saw tears gather in the corner of her eyes. She set her jaw with determination and raised her chin, glaring into my eyes.
"What do you suggest I do?" She asked, her calm tone wavering slightly and through my anger a felt a tinge of anxiousness. I willed her not to cry. "I don't want to give up and leave but I see no other choice. Do you think I want to go back? Do you think I want to face all those people who said I wouldn't be able to stake it out? Do you think I want to be even more of a joke?"
I ground my teeth together.
"Stay with me," I said against all my better judgment. I thought, darkly, wasn't I supposed to have some filter from my brain to my mouth?
Teary blue eyes stared at me in question. Her brow was knitted together in confusion and her mouth was turned down in a frown.
"What?" She asked, skeptical.
"You're staying with me," I said slowly, as if that settled it all.
"I couldn't-"
"If you're about to say something about money or inconvenience, don't even try to play that card," I cut her off. "You have a job so you won't be free-loading and I'll fix up your place in the meantime. It'll be temporary."
I had plenty of money from the other night. I could buy her a much better apartment if she'd only ask. I could buy her anything she wanted.
"Butch, I don't-" She shifted.
"I won't let the Audley Boys hurt you," I said.
She seemed to hesitate at that one and I knew I was winning.
"If you stay with me, no one would have to know," I said, throwing in the trump card. "You wouldn't have to go home. No one would think you'd given up."
Her last resolve crumbled. I had her.
"Fine," She said quickly. "But I have no stuff," She said with a disbelieving laugh. She looked around at the wreck that had once been her apartment. "I have nothing."
"I have money," I said simply.
She looked at me, sizing me up. Her blonde hair was down around her shoulders. Her chin was raised, her posture stiff. Unconsciously she picked at the fabric of her white sweater and dark pants that she'd worn to dinner.
"Why would you help me?" She asked finally.
'Because you're mine.'
"Because the Audley Boys wouldn't know you existed if I hadn't dragged you into this mess," I said emotionlessly.
"You didn't force me to steal that car," She replied.
"You're right," I agreed, feeling the need to roll my eyes but refraining. "You see, it's really because you made me dinner the other night. I've been trying to figure out how to repay you ever since."
"Ha ha," She smiled despite her attempt at sounding sarcastic. "Just admit it, Butch. You're my friend. Despite every attempt of pushing me away, you've somehow come to think of me of your best buddy, right?"
She smiled teasingly at me, surrounded by ciaos and blue.
I winked at her, a smirk playing across my carefully blank face. "Partners in crime, right?"
--
So open your eyes, child,
Let's be on our way.
Broken windows and ashes
Are guiding the way.
Keep quiet no longer,
We'll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we've lost,
And the lives we've reclaimed
--
….Don't kill me!! I tried, right? That's all I can do. I just hope this was okay.
Butch finally understands that he likes her. He's not accustomed to such feelings which is why he wasn't sure how to explain or comprehend them…but they're there. And that's a step.
Please, tell me what you think. No flames please, try to keep it nice and constructive.
