Chapter Forty-One

Skylar's POV:

I tried my best to keep my calm while Alex drove to God knows where. The streets had started emptying up by now and the sky had completely darkened up. I was still clutching onto my seat and I was still panicking, my eyes darting from Alex's face to the windows. I was just trusting God at this point.

After what felt like awfully long hours, he finally stopped his car. And when I looked outside in alarm, it took me a while to recognize where we were. "Where are we?" I almost cringed at the strain in my voice. I didn't want to be scared, I wanted Alex to tell me that this was fine; everything was fine.

"My house." He replied and failed to spare me a single glance. I noticed the emotionless expression on his face and that made the situation seem ten times worse. "Come on now."

I watched him get out and close the door behind him. I didn't know what I was doing until I quickly picked up my phone from the center console, typing in a quick text and sending it to Caden. Almost the next instant, Alex opened my door as well.

I pushed away my phone, hoping that it was really Caden who I sent that text too. I really, really hoped that he'd see it. Even if all my life I had believed that Alex would never hurt me, his change of demeanor just right now made me think the exact opposite.

And that hurt.

"Alex—" I heard my voice cracking and I hated myself for sounding so pathetic. I just wanted him to tell me that this all was a joke; maybe a prank that he was playing on me.

"For God's sake, Skylar!" He said out loud, an irritated look passing over his features. "I'm trying to explain this to you. Why the hell are you making this more complicated?"

I controlled the sudden flinch. "I'm not—"

"Just get out, will you?" He frowned at me, stepping away a little so that I could get out.

I kept my eyes on him before getting out. I wanted to run away, I didn't want to be near him. But nothing about his expression told me that he'd let me go unless he told me everything.

"A-All right." I whispered as he closed the door. Before I could say anything more, he gripped my arm –not so harshly– and started walking towards his front door.

A part of me hoped that his parents would be in there, but then I saw none of his parent's car in the driveway and realized that I might just be wrong. His parents weren't here, the house was empty, why else would he bring me here?

Once we were inside, he closed the door. Though, I was kind of thankful that he didn't lock it. He moved further inside while I stayed where I was, closer to the door.

"Why was there blood on that gun?" I asked him, and there was no mistaking the fear in my voice.

He glanced back at me and I saw how tensed he looked at that moment. He wasn't the only one. "That wasn't my gun."

"You have a gun?"

"That's not the point—"

"What have you been hiding, Alex?" I cut him off, raising my voice even if it quivered a bit. I really didn't want to hear it, whatever that he hadn't ever told me. I didn't because I knew I'd be the one who'd get hurt in the end. He wasn't losing anything. "What is it that I don't know?"

He raked a hand through his blond hair, regarding me with the same tensed look. "I knew about those gangs way before you."

I felt my stomach clenching in an almost sick way.

"And...are you a part of it?" I asked him, wrapping my arms around myself. I wanted to believe it was the cold I was trembling because of, but his house wasn't cold. Every single time, his house was warm and homely.

But not right now.

He rolled his eyes out of frustration. "Would it matter if I was? I'm still your best friend, Sky." And when he inched closer towards me, I found myself stumbling backwards against the wall.

"Are you?" I repeated the question.

He dragged a hand through his hair again and I saw the way he clenched his jaw.

"Yes. I am a part of the East Gang."

All I could hear at that moment was my own heart beating so wildly in my ears. There was just silence as we both stared at each other. I felt sick and lost. "How long?"

"Way before."

Slowly, and gradually, my mind starting placing it all together. The days that he started getting distant, always making excuses because of his exhaustion whenever I asked him to hang out with me. All that time, and so much more.

And as I pondered over his words a little more, I felt the familiar stinging sensation at the corner of my eyes. I felt cold.

"Were you the one who broke in my house that day? The first time, that gash on my hand?" I asked him, willing myself not to cry. I couldn't cry, not until he told me everything. What had I done that he did this to me for? Was this some sort of revenge?

For what?

"Sky–" He stepped closer.

"Were you the one who locked me inside the school gym?" I asked him, and the lump was growing painfully large in my throat, preventing the words to escape out of my mouth. I didn't feel anywhere near fine right now.

"No—" He stopped then, and his eyes seemed to plead with me. Plead for what? "Yes. Yes, it was me."

I blinked in disbelief. "How could you?" I asked him, my forehead furrowing up as I tried blinking away the tears. The mere fact that I had almost called him when I had been trapped in the gym made me feel sick. How would he have helped me when he was the one who locked me inside?

"Did you do this because of me?" I asked him and he looked absolutely lost for words. "Best friends, Alex. Why—" My voice broke into a small sob and I further backed away from him. "Did...Did Blake make you do this? You could’ve stopped him. You could’ve stopped him, Alex!"

He shook his head. "Sky, please, I'm sorry. I can explain—"

"You think sorry is going to fix this?" I shouted at him, before shaking my head just like him, taking another step towards the door. "I think I have to leave."

He waited for absolutely no time before striding over towards me, finishing off the distance between us just as quick. "No, this isn't what you think it is."

I panicked when he gripped my arm once again, not letting me leave. I don't think I couldn't stood there so close to him one more second. He wasn't the same Alex anymore. He wasn't the Alex that I was sure wouldn't ever hurt me.

"Let me go!" I tried pulling away. "I don't care about this, Alex. Let me leave."

"Sky, please listen—"

I managed to break away from his grasp and ran straight for the door. Fortunately, I wasn't wearing any heels, and unfortunately, the bottom of my dress got hooked against a loose screw on the front table.

I didn't care about that dress anyway, and I personally didn't care when I yanked on it and it tore away, scraping the side of my thigh in process.

My vision blurred with founded tears when he seized my wrist once again, "Skylar, you don't have to do this."

Do what? What else was I supposed to do?

"Please, just calm down. I'll explain everything, Sky. You won't hate me after I explain. I promise." There was this desperate edge in his voice and for a second, I did want to believe him. But would that even matter?

I shook my head frantically, my hair whipping across my face. "No. You can't—You can't force me." And somewhere along my constant struggling, I knocked out the flower vase right beside me. It fell on the floor with a loud shatter, breaking into pieces.

Caden.

I could only hope at that moment.

••••••

Aden's POV:

I wasn't expecting to hear from Skylar so soon, not after that night at her house. But I did hear from her, and it was just a message, Alex's house.

That's all it read. I really had no idea what she meant by that. I didn't even know if that was supposed to be urgent. Why would she even ask me to go over to that imbecile's house?

I called her then, and it went to voicemail every single time. That irritated me a lot. Why wasn't she picking up? Frowning at that, I finally exited the small house I was staying in; the house I had spent days in to search for answers, any kind of answers. My parent's house.

But once again, I had failed to find anything.

Starting my bike, I sped off towards the familiar street where his house was. Of course I knew where it was; few blocks away from Skylar's house. I think I knew everyone's house in this town.

That didn't surprise me.

I just hoped Skylar had sent that text for a valid reason. I didn't think I had it in me to face her just for random reasons. It was hard enough to be there when she had called me that night, for that locker. I didn't want things to complicate any further.

Few minutes passed by as I reached that specific street, stopping in front of Alex's house. I kept on sitting on my bike, raking both of my hands through my hair. Nothing seemed out of the blue here. Why had she asked me to come here then?

Had she even asked me?

I narrowed my eyes at the closed front door and tried to come up with any possible reason behind that text of hers. All the while, my mind kept drifting off topic. Every inch of me was aching for some sleep; I was beyond exhausted. Yet every time I tried, I just couldn't sleep. How was I supposed to sleep if I was staying in that house?

Last place I had taken some sleep in was her house.

It was the sudden crashing sound that made me look up in alarm. Without wasting one more second, I ran for the front door. I pushed it open and was surprised that it wasn't even locked. Something was definitely wrong, I didn't need to be told twice. I slowly stepped inside the house and looked around, not sure where I was exactly supposed to go. However, I stopped when I heard voices, "I swear to God I didn't kill anybody!" That sounded like Alexander.

"I-I don't care. Just let me go!"

Stepping into view, my eyes widened a little when I saw Skylar trying to pull away from the grasp on her wrist. I truly had no idea what the hell was even going on.

Not soon after, Alex's gaze flew up towards me and I saw how quickly his expression changed from disbelief to a deadly one. Skylar turned her head around as well. The fear on her face got mixed up with sudden relief.

"Caden–"

"You called him?" Alex gritted out the words.

I wasn't really paying attention to him, though. I was looking at Skylar, and I noticed how red her eyes looked at that moment. She was crying. I didn't realize how much angry I got at that until I gripped her other arm and pulled her away from him, behind me.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I glared at him, refraining myself from doing something really bad to his face. I wasn't really looking forward to a fight right now, not when I felt tired like shit, but if Skylar asked me to then I would fuck him up. I never liked him anyway.

"Get out of my way, Miller."

I couldn't help but clench my jaw at that. This guy knew how to test the little ounce of patience I had. Before I could throw a punch on his face, I felt Skylar gripping the back of my sleeve, pulling me back. "Don't. Please." She whispered. And when I glanced over at her, I saw her brown eyes widening with something that definitely looked like fear to me.

Why was she scared?

"I can't believe you trust this guy, Skylar." Alex said. "How is he less dangerous than me?"

To my surprise, I felt her grip on my sleeve loosening a bit as if she hadn't thought about it before, and I really didn't appreciate that. Why was she even paying attention to what he was saying? More importantly, why the fuck was he still talking?

"What did he do, Skylar?" I asked her, fixing my glare on him. I hadn't ever seen her this scared before and knowing that he was probably the cause of it, that made me so fucking angry.

Alex, surprisingly, was also waiting for her to say something.

"He's...a part of the East Gang." There was no mistaking how broken she sounded.

My anger went away just as quick, turning into clear surprise. I most definitely hadn't expected that. I didn't even think this bastard had it in him to be in a gang, B lake's gang.

"You have to listen to me, Sky." He spoke up, and I almost pitied him for the obvious desperation on his face. But when he tried sidestepping me, I got in the way again.

"Don't even dare." I directed the words at him, making sure to not conceal the threat behind them. I really wanted to beat up this guy despite the fact that I wasn't looking for any fights right now. But I also knew that Skylar was still here, and she shouldn't be going through this right now.

"Can you—Can we leave?" She asked me. She gripped my sleeve a bit too tightly when she whispered the next few words, "If that's not a problem for you." I didn't even know why she said that. Did she really think I would've left her here out of all the goddamn places?

I took hold of her hand and directed another threatening glare towards Alex, before leading her out of the house. He didn't stop her, or me even. He knew that I never really stopped myself from beating someone up when they pissed me off, sparing him was probably one of the rarest exceptions.

I'd get to him later, especially now that I know he's in the East Gang.

When we were outside the house, standing under the night sky, she slowly pulled her hand away from me and I had to refrain myself from holding onto it. Instead, I told myself to suck it up for once, and sat down on my bike, starting it. She kept standing there, looking at nothing in particular. For a second, I thought she wouldn't come with me.

But then she walked towards me and got seated behind me without contemplating it for another second. I saw the way her eyes watered, I saw the way her lower lip trembled a bit, and it took everything inside me to not get up and stalk back inside just to hit that fucking shit.

I didn't even know why I was getting so riled up.

Before he could’ve gotten out and made me change my mind, I sped my motorcycle out of the driveway.

••••••

The whole ride, Skylar held onto the back of my jacket as she cried. I didn't know what I could do to make her stop crying, I wasn't really sure there was anything to say that would make her feel better.

I glanced over my shoulder once again and this time she completely pressed her face against my back, her shoulders slightly shaking as she cried. I hated this, but I said nothing.

I stopped when we reached the end of our town, the familiar cliff looking a bit too peaceful under the moonlight. I liked coming here because of that; this place was always quiet.

Skylar mustn't realized that I had stopped my bike as she slowly pulled away, letting go of my back. Few silent seconds passed by before I saw her wiping her eyes hastily, and then she got down from the bike.

I kept on sitting there as I watched her walk towards the cliff, her dark blue dress flapping along with the wind. I had no idea why she was even wearing that; I never thought that she might be the type who wore dresses so casually. But then heavy realization dawned upon me as I stared at her, and there was this strange twist within my chest—something that I had never felt before.

She looked beautiful.

And I wish she wasn't crying right now.

Stepping down from the bike, I started following her. Almost as if she knew that I was following her, she spoke up, "Did you know about this?" She asked in a barely audible whisper. "About Alex?"

I was genuinely surprised at that. "I would've told you if I knew."

"You would've?" She asked. "Haven't you heard the phrase 'don't tell Skylar?"

I frowned at that. "If I have ever hidden anything from you, that's because of a legit reason." And I wasn't even lying.

She turned around towards me and I felt another strange twist –in my gut this time– when I saw the expression on her face. Something felt bothered inside me when she looked so sad, and that was just too weird.

"So you have." She spoke up, and when I started to say something, anything, she added in, "It's fine. It doesn't matter."

It did matter. This all did matter to me.

"Skylar—"

"I don't even know why I'm here with you." She whispered and I hated the miserable look on her face.

"I didn't know about Alex." I ignored what she had just said. "I would've told you, I swear."

She was silent for a while, but when her warm brown eyes –which were already brimming up with new tears– flew up to mine, I just froze.

"Why didn't you?" Her voice cracked in between. "You would've known. You would've told me."

I would've.

"I know." I said, still looking at her.

She looked away from me before crossing her arms. Closing her eyes, she sniffed again. "I thought I knew him." She whispered. "He used to tell me everything. He must be lying."

"You can't possibly think that." I replied. Now that I knew, Alex was dangerous. The mere fact that he was lurking around Skylar this whole time angered me more than anything. Blake could really stoop down so low sometimes; he knew what he was doing, he knew it would hurt Skylar.

He'd do anything to get what he wants.

"He never meant any harm to me." She said, pushing back her hair away from her face.

"You know that's not true."

When she looked at me this time, I could see the slight anger crossing her features. "He didn't, all right? Being in that stupid gang won't change a thing. He—He's still my best friend, and I know he won't hurt me."

"Don't be stupid." I tried but failed to hide the disbelief from my voice.

"You just said how legit your reasons are for keeping secrets from me. How can you say his aren't?"

I stepped closer towards her. "Because he's working for Blake." And maybe even Kevin, but I didn't tell her that—at least not now.

"And how does that make him bad?" She demanded. "How am I supposed to know who is good or bad? How am I supposed to know everything when I just...don't?"

Wasn't that just a bit too obvious? I couldn't help but feel frustrated at that. "Don't get me started on this."

She shook her head at me. "You can't say that. You don't have a right to say that."

And maybe she was right, but she didn't know Blake like I did. She didn't know him. "He told you himself how dangerous he actually is. Don't you understand? Why can't you just see how people are in reality?"

She just stared back at me and there was just silence for the next few seconds. I knew she was thinking over my words, and maybe I shouldn't have said that much. I saw her blink several times before she turned around once again, walking towards the edge of the cliff. I saw her walk away, I saw her nearing the edge, but before she could literally step right into her death, I pulled her back.

"Skylar—"

"I get it." She turned back towards me. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just...I just don't want this to be true." I looked into her eyes and I saw too many emotions at once, something that was quite usual of her; her eyes always showed a bit too much. She didn't know how to hide what she felt, and I envied that a bit.

I didn't think twice before pulling her closer, against myself, and wrapping my arms around her. I really don't know why I did that, even I was left a bit surprised. A bigger part inside me just couldn't get over the fact that she was crying over that bastard.

She stiffened at first and I realized that she had stopped crying. If I had known that this was one way to make her stop crying, I would've done this sooner.

However, it was my turn to tense up when she slowly wrapped her arms around my torso. I just pulled her much closer when that odd twist in my chest increased.

"What do I do now?" She asked after a while, her voice coming out muffled with my shirt.

Holding her right now, in the middle of nowhere, and feeling her heartbeat against my own was surprisingly the best feeling I've ever had. It felt nice, and peaceful, and a bit too strange. I didn't think I have ever felt this way in a long time.

I was tired not confessing these feelings.

"You don't have to do anything." I replied. I didn't want her to do anything.

"But...I have to ask him why he did this." She sniffed. "I mean, it couldn't just be because of me, right?"

I sighed and looked up at the bright moon. "Right. It's not because of you." It was because of stuff that I wasn't willing to let her know just yet.

She didn't pull away, and I was glad that she didn't.

"I'll find it out, everything that you need to know." I murmured. "Just try to keep yourself out of it."