Skylar's POV

I glared at Caden for the fifty-seventh time before looking away. I didn't know how much time had passed since he had practically dragged me inside my own house and I personally didn't care.

How could I let him drag me into my own house?

"Come on, Anderson. It has been a whole damn hour." Caden looked annoyed. "Will you say something?"

I refused to meet his gaze, crossed my arms over my chest and slumped down on the couch I was sitting on. Caden, on the other hand, had stopped pacing and was looking at me now--with a so not happy scowl.

"I'm not going to talk."

And when I couldn't have helped myself, I took a quick glance at him from the corner of my eye to see him frustratedly dragging both of his hands through his hair.

"What do you want me to do? Apologize?" He made it sound like that suggestion alone was the most disgusting thing he had ever said.

"Maybe."

He looked at me like I had just broken out of a mental asylum. "And what do you want me to apologize for?" He demanded.

I gave him one of my best glares. I wanted to tell him that everything that had happened since the day we first talked was his fault, something that was actually worth an apology. But I knew that wasn't true. And although I was still angry, much lesser than an hour ago, I couldn't just put all the blame on him. That wouldn't be right.

"You, ordering me to act along with Blake so that he could kill me is worth apologizing for." I kept the glare directed towards him. From somewhere around the house, I heard Chicken's soft purrs and that seemed to calm me down a bit.

"I did not ask you to befriend Blake so that he can kill you." He gave me an incredulous look. "Why would I do that?"

I looked away from him and shrunk further back into the couch. "Because you hate me?"

A few silent seconds went by before he exhaled sharply, looking up at the ceiling as if praying for a way to get out of this mess. I couldn't help but stare at him then, something that I did quite often when he was around, even if I was angry.

"If I hated you that much, I would've killed you myself." He told me.

I've never heard anything more romantic than that. It almost melted my heart.

"I need to know what he's after and I can't do that directly. He's got people around who can sense me or anyone from my gang." He added, looking back at me with a much less frustrated look, almost as if he was trying his hardest to explain this to me. "But you can get it out from him."

"Why do you care what he's after?" I asked him.

It was Caden who looked away this time, contemplating with that frown on his face.

"Blake's always after something." He clenched his jaw. "And when he's after something, he ruins everything in the way."

My eyes widened a little. "Well, isn't that another reason for me to not be involved with him?"

Caden's eyes found mine. "You're already involved. And he won't hurt you. Not directly."

"Wow, Caden, that is so reassuring." I rose my hands in the air. "So he won't directly kill me, yes. Should I be concerned? Oh no, I'll be fine getting killed indirectly."

I saw him rolling his eyes. "You know, you're not worth this much of my patience." He told me.

I glared at him.

"I won't let him hurt you, all right?" His hands were in his hair again and I had a feeling that's what he did when he was seconds away from losing his patience. "You give me information from his side, and I promise I'll protect you."

I blinked at him and my heart rate spiked for some reason.

"What is he after?" I asked him, then sat up a little. "I mean, why me? What is he after that's related to me?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying. You must know something."

"I don't, Anderson." He frowned. "It's complicated. He's complicated. If I knew what he's after, I would rather not waste my time asking you for help."

"Why do you hate him so much?" I asked, curious now.

"That doesn't concern you." He stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "Now tell me, what did Blake do that made you act so imbecilic."

"Hey." I frowned. "That doesn't concern you."

Before Caden could've said something, I added, "Is he really your brother?"

Caden continued scowling.

"He looks nothing like you. What about your parents? Adrian told me--why are you in a gang anyway? What is this really about? What has Blake done before that you're sure he will ruin everything again?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Anderson."

"Well, you have to--"

"I don't have to answer you anything." He cut me off, and his guards were up again. With full force. There was something he knew, something bad that made him close off from the surroundings.

How bad was it that he couldn't even speak about it?

"Fine." I kept staring at him, a lot confused now, my anger long forgotten. "I'll do it."

Because I was connected to this too. Somehow, my parents were as well. Something was going on around me that I didn't know. I didn't think I wanted to know either.

"I'll help you," I added. "And I hope I'm not making a mistake."

I couldn't trust him. I couldn't trust Caden or Blake or any of them. Who was I to trust?

Caden seemed a little taken aback. He blinked in surprise, or maybe he was just thinking about something. I thought he'd let those walls down a little, but he didn't. Squaring his shoulders, he took a step back and merely nodded.

That was that then.

"And if I get killed--"

"You're not getting killed, Anderson."

I wish I could've believed that.

•••••

"I'm tired, Sky. Get the hell out of here." Alex spoke out loud, which didn't matter since his words got muffled into his pillow anyway.

I crossed my legs on the huge brown beanbag I was sitting on--along one corner of Alex's room. Mrs Carter, Alex's mom, had already warned me of how much weary Alex had been acting since the past hour, even if it was just 9 pm right now.

I guess the love for sleep was in the blood. Best friends blood.

"It's not even midnight yet, Alex," I told him, picking on a loose thread from the rug below me. "You never sleep so early."

Caden had been deeply repulsed by the fact that I never hid anything from Alex. I told him I wasn't going to be lying to Alex anymore. If I knew something, Alex knew about it too. That's how it has always been ever since we were kids. Alex was my best friend. He's the first person I trust in any given situation (even more so than my own parents sometimes).

"What do you have against my sleep?" He groaned.

"The same thing you have against my sleep."

"Sky."

"Alex." I rolled my eyes. "I thought you'd want to hear the stuff I was about to tell you."

He muttered something incoherent in response but didn't bother turning his head to look at me. Instead, it looked like he was just about to doze off. He didn't even have football practice today. What had gotten him so tired anyway?

I picked up the nearest cushion and threw it at his head. He groaned again at the impact and peeked over at me with a frown. "Just get it over with, whatever it is."

I sighed in response. My eyes flew across his room and settled on his dark blue varsity jacket which was thrown over his desk chair. Surprisingly, it was matted with dirt, just like his sneakers that were thrown under his bed.

"Where have you been the whole day?" I asked him curiously. "Frolicking around in the mud?"

"Could you do me a favour and close the lights?"

I frowned at him before sighing out loud again. Then I slid lower on the beanbag and spoke up.

"Caden's in a gang."

I waited, my eyes trained on him and searching for any reaction. I'd had one too. I was a hundred per cent sure he'd be surprised too. Except that he didn't say anything.

All he did was hum in response.

"Alex!"

"What?" He muttered tiredly. "You came here and ruined my sleep, just to tell me that Caden's in a gang?" He sounded a little miserable. His hooded eyelids and messed up hair made him look miserable.

"You're not surprised?"

Alex sighed heavily before sitting up, finally, and rubbing his face from the obvious exhaustion. "Caden's considered mysterious in many ways, Sky. Half of the people in our school thinks he's into sketchy shit. What's so surprising about it?"

I sucked onto my lower lip and pondered over his words. He was right. I guess my reaction had been a bit dramatic after all. But hearing it and seeing it in front of your own two eyes was different. Half of our school wouldn't know that.

"Well, on the night of homecoming, when you got drunk, things kind of turned bad on the school grounds. Like you may have heard the rumours of--"

"Gunshots, yeah." He completed it for me, looking a little less tired and a little more curious now.

I nodded at him, knowing that I couldn't actually tell him everything at the same time. "They were a bit true. I saw it happening. Caden was there and...he got hurt."

Alex stared at me, not blinking even once.

"I didn't know how else to help him so I took him to my house." I ended it with a small, sheepish grin. This was the part where I thought Alex would blow up.

But to my surprise, his expression morphed into one that said he was seconds away from giving up. And then he flopped back onto his bed, mumbling the next few words in his pillow. "You make me so proud, Sky."

I grinned even more at that, even though I'm sure he meant that sarcastically. Thankfully, his reaction to that hadn't been bad, and I was glad.

"I was just trying to help."

He turned his head towards me and narrowed his eyes in my direction. "And what exactly happened after that?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked away then. I was going to keep the part where I let Caden stay at my house, all to myself. "He told me that he's in a gang after I remained persistent."

"I can imagine how miserable it would've been for him." He muttered.

I looked at him incredulously but it had no use since his face was covered by the blanket now.

"I found out about some other stuff too." I looked down at my lap then, fidgeting with my fingers. "I found out that Caden has a brother, or at least I think he's his brother. His name's Blake and they both don't seem to be on good terms."

Nowhere near good terms, actually.

"Brother?" Half of his face peeked out from the blanket, and I realised he was frowning now. "I thought--never mind what I thought. I really don't think you should be involved in this stuff, Sky. I know this isn't good."

I raised my brows and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't get a say in that, Alex. Mom and Dad know the Matthews. Who also happen to be Blake's parents."

Alex was quiet.

"I don't trust him though. I guess I'll have to talk to my parents about this."

I saw him shuffling a little on his bed. "And you trust Caden?" He asked.

I bit the inside of my cheek again. "He saved my life. I think...I think I can trust him."

There was something about Caden--apart from all that rudeness he carried around--that made me want to trust him. But then again, I knew nothing. I knew nothing about him, just like I knew nothing about Blake.

"I don't know, Sky. Maybe you shouldn't just decide so quickly on who to trust." I couldn't help but notice how his voice lowered on that. Or maybe he was just sleepy. "You don't know him."

"I don't know, Alex."

He let out a small hum at that. "Just be careful. I know how you go with trust. You start trusting someone and you think they can never do you any harm."

"That's not true." But it was. I knew it was true. "Anyways, I've got you. I can always count on you."

Alex took a few seconds to reply. "You've got me."

I smiled at that.

Then Alex broke the lovey dovey atmosphere with his snark attitude.

"Now get the hell out of here, Sky. Or I swear I won't let you sleep for two whole fucking nights."

And that's how you get kicked out of your best friend's room.

________

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Crystal 🌿