Kruz and I were in the couch watching a movie, I with a cup of tea in my hand and him with a bowl of popcorn in his.

Then suddenly door burst open and in came the most horrifying sight.

Dennis and Micah were bringing an injured bleeding and groaning Ryder into the house.

In shock, I dropped the cup of tea I was holding on the ground and rushed towards them, Kruz not far behind.

"What the hell happened to him?!" I asked frantically, all sorts of things running through mind.

Dennis and Micah set him down on the couch gently. Dennis gave Kruz a look and a nod.

"I'll get them" Kruz said before rushing upstairs.

I turned back to the two boys, throwing my hands up in the air signalling that I needed an explanation.

"We were in a meeting with the leader of the Grenel gang to conduct a deal at a restaurant." Micah began to explain to as Dennis tore the shirt off of Ryder to reveal a bloody gunshot wound in his left shoulder. "When we were leaving, a car was driving by and someone in it shot at us. We were able to escape unscathed but as for Ryder....well, obviously, he didn't"

"The bastard shot me in my fucking shoulder" Ryder cursed. I was a bit surprised because I had never heard him say a bad word before.

"Hey!" Dennis exclaimed. "We don't swear in front of her"

I rolled my eyes at them. I looked at Ryder closely. He looked deathly pale and fat beads of sweat were running down his face. He was trembling slightly and there was a dull look in his eyes as if he was about to pass out any second.

Micah caught on to my frightened look. "He's lost alot of blood but he'll be ok. I promise"

Then Kruz came running in with a first aid kit in his hands. "Here" he said breathlessly as he shoved the kit into Micah's hands.

"Took you long enough" Dennis rolled his eyes.

"Oh well, I'm sorry I had to take a few stops to let some oxygen in my lungs just so I could keep living long enough to get you your stupid first aid kit you ungrateful piece of shit!" Kruz said sarcastically.

"Enough!" Micah's deep voice rolled through the room. "We don't need this bullshit right now. Kruz, get Dori upstairs, she does not need to see this" he instructed but I was in complete disagreement with him on the last part.

"No way!" I shouted in disbelief. "I'm not leaving him"

Ryder looked at me with tired eyes and a weak smile. "I'm fine baby, it's ok"

"No your not. Your not fine!"

"I will be. Just give me a few minutes and let Micah do what he does best and I'll be ok."

"But-"

"Just trust me ok princess? Please" he begged, looking at me with sad eyes. "For me"

"Ryder-"

"Ok. Enough of this" Kruz said and the next thing I knew, I was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of feathers.

"Kruz, what the hell?! Put me down!" I said beating at his muscle toned back with my tiny fists.

"You do know that hitting me won't make a difference right?" He asked cockily.  "Besides, you should be happy"

Despite my blurry and obscure upside down vision, I could make out that we had climbed the stairs and were now heading down the hallway to Kruz's room. "And why would I be happy about the fact that you just pulled me away from Ryder in his critical condition, I'm dangling upside down over your shoulder with blood  rushing to my head making me feel dizzy?"

"Oh Dori," he sighed dramatically. "Always being so negative" I rolled my eyes at him the best I could while hanging upside down. "You should be happy because you're getting a close up view of my ass. Not many people have had that amazing privillege you know. At least now you can tell your kids that you did something good with your life. Not many will have this story to tell"

I tried rolling my eyes again, but by now, the blood rush to my head had increased which made me even more dizzy.

"Just Shut up and put me down"

"Ok" I felt him shrug his shoulder then I felt my feet touching the floor.

I turned around still feeling a bit disoriented and realized that we were indeed standing in Kruz's room. I turned around to give him a look that could kill and saw him with a smile on his face as he locked the door behind us.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes and went to sit on the bed. I held my head in my hands and sighed. I felt the bed sink beside me and a hand over my shoulder. He pulled me closer to him and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Relax Princess," he said comfortingly as he rubbed his hand up and down my arm. "He'll be fine. This happens all the time. It's completely nor-"

"This happens alot?!"

"Well, yeah," he said in a tone that meant 'obviously'. "We're in a gang. And it doesn't help that we're the most powerful gang. People shoot at us all the time, especially Ryder."

I was still finding it hard to believe that the boys were a gang. The reality dawned on me that they were constantly in danger. It made me sad thinking about it. Kruz noticed the sad look on my face.

"Hey, stop being such a worry cow" he said and I scrunched up my face at the name. Isn't it 'worry bug?'. "We're gonna be ok. We're more than capable of taking care of ourselves ok? We've been doing this for years. You don't have to worry about us."

I smiled and nodded even though I wasn't completely convinced but I decided to let the problem rest for now.

Instead, I directed the topic to him. "Have you ever gotten shot?"

Kruz chuckled. "Yup. Once" he said scrunching up his face as if remembering the bad memory. "It hurt like hell in case you were wondering"

I laughed. "I know Kruz" I said to him with a grin. "Did anyone else get shot?"

"Yup. Micah got shot about 3 times. Dennis got shot two times and Ryder...well, he's gotten shot more times than I could count on one hand" he shrugged.

The revelation made me shudder. "I guess because he's the leader they always aim for him. If you take out the leader, the whole flock loses their way" Kruz explained. "I've only gotten shot once because I'm the tech guy. I'm not really in the field alot"

I scoffed in disbelief and shock. "You're the tech guy?!"

Kruz let out a dramatic gasp and put his hand over his chest feigning hurt. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I began stuttering and searching for words to make my thoughts not sound insulting. "Well, umm... you're just umm...I thought that...you...you know...umm... Well..."

"Spit it out before you choke on it!"

"Ok fine" I sighed in defeat. "You just don't strike me as the tech guy, ya know. Your weird sense of humor and your....witty comebacks and just your overall....w-weird behavior just doesn't scream 'tech guy' if you know what I mean"

That's the best I could say it without actually hurting his feelings. But I didn't really lie. He was weird.

"You mean I'm stupid" he said hitting the nail in the head with a blank look on his face. Well then...

"You said it, not me" I held up my hand in surrender. We stayed like that for a few seconds until Kruz burst out laughing.

What is wrong with this boy?

I gave him a confused look and he stopped laughing long enough to explain the joke that I somehow hadn't gotten.

"I know I act like an idiot sometimes Dori" he said with a chuckle. Well at least he knows. "But, believe it or not, I'm like, the smartest guy in the gang"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Tell me about it"

We spent the next half hour talking about random gang stuff. How they operate, how they were formed, how Ryder got to be the leader and led them to being the most powerful gang in the country.

In the middle of our little discussion, Micah knocked on the door and poked his head inside.

"Sorry to interrupt" he said with a cheeky grin. "Ryder wants to see you"