-Blake-
I feel like I should have run but I didn't. Maybe I should have burst into Nick's apartment and ordered that we move because she's gone but I didn't do that either, there was no need. We knew they'd take her. It was apart of the plan.
Instead, I walked to the apartment calmly and knocked on the door following a breath. After a few seconds, Jason opened the door and without a word, I was let in. We didn't need to say anything, just me being here alone was enough to let the whole house know.
We walked through and joined the rest of the guys in the dining room where they were sat silently. They didn't lift their heads to greet me but that was fine. Jason and I sat down on our own chairs and for a minute, that's all that happened. It was weird to have us be so tense, especially with all of us here. Zack didn't make his normal comical remark. Jake didn't laugh along. Nick didn't tell them to shut up. Jason didn't shake his head in an attempt to hide his own amusement. None of it was there.
Finally, Nick sucked in a breath and asked, "Was she hurt when they took her?"
Shaking my head, "No," I answered and he let out a sigh of relief, as did some of the other guys. It had meant that our worst-case scenario of her being too hurt to fight against them as they took her was avoided. It was my main job, I was our precaution against it and although she probably didn't need me there, I'm glad that I was.
"Alright," Nick started, "You guys know the rest of the plan. We ignore the kidnapping." I had some of them glance my way to make sure that I was still okay with this. Their worry was justified. When we were first drafting out this plan, I wasn't happy about it. How could I be? God knew how they were treating her and I didn't want her to be trapped alone like that with them. But I also knew Nick's underlying intentions behind this because if he wanted to, he would definitely still have Dominic fight with us.
He was protecting her.
Having Dominic stay out of this fight was the best way for him to go on without having to constantly look over his shoulder to make sure she was okay, even if he didn't necessarily need to. What Arthur said has hit him hard and he wasn't going to be able to just shake it off of him. I understood his feelings. I would take a bullet for her as many times as I had to but I'd hate to imagine a time where I wouldn't be able to save her from one.
"While Texas has her, we have to get ready to ambush California. Ottawa will meet us there where we should also expect to fight Florida, Michigan and Colorado according to London's data."
"London still can't help us?" Jason asked, "We'd have a much better chance at getting through this with them on the field with us."
Nick nodded in understanding but we all knew the answer he was going to give. "I agree with you but with the money being spent on gear, there's no way for them to get here in time." This was definitely annoying all of us because-
"But they're the biggest group out of all of us! Florida is taking charge and has only 10 in their group and London has double them! We're outnumbered without them!" Jake exclaims as if reading my mind. Nick knows this already though, we all did. There was just nothing we could do about it.
"Our next shipment of gear should be here tomorrow. We leave the day after. Make sure you guys are ready and well-rested." Of course, we had to leave as soon as we could, this wasn't a surprise either since we were well warned. Aside from the fact that our producers and drug clients will all have knives at our throats if Nick doesn't buy and sell in time, if Arthur doesn't hear anything from Dominic in the next few days and finds out she's been kidnapped by our own gang, I seriously think he'll kill Nick and the rest of us.
"We'll win this, I have faith that we will." Nick finished, that piece of motivation being all we needed. We were confident. We had no choice but to win.
---
"Well, your plan doesn't seem too bad so far. With the gang being all across the country this is the best you can do. I'll try to keep Arthur at bay until you guys are back."
Xavier walked towards where I was punching a punching bag, putting a hand on my shoulder which makes me look up at him and into his eyes which held seriousness. "Make sure you all come back." He says in a voice I could have sworn had concern in it.
"Are you-?" I was about to ask if he was worried but he seemed to read it out of me and scoffed.
"You wish. Aside from Dominic, I couldn't care less about te rest of you, you can all get killed by each other for all I care."
I rolled my eyes with a little smirk of my own, "That's pretty harsh but unfortunately for you, wherever Dominic is, there's a good chance I'll be there too," I answer and step in front of him where we both got into position.
"Remind me to have you uninvited to my funeral." He says and we start our fight.
This was starting to become normal now. He's been training me for long enough for me to be able to go against him for a good while on equal grounds. There was a good chance he was still going easy on me but I've improved nonetheless.
"By the way," Xavier then starts in between throwing me a punch,
"Yeah?"
"Are they good people?" He asks me which puts me off guard for a second. In that second Xavier kicks and trips me over, earning him a groan of pain from me.
"Is who good people?" I ask back, rubbing my head with a wince.
Xavier extends a hand and pulls me up but when I stand, he doesn't let go of my hand straight away. He waits to make sure I'm focused on him. It's then when I see real concern in his eyes. "The people who took Dominic, are they good people?"
I wanted to tell him that of course, they were, they're our family, we've grown together, we used to trust each other and had each other's backs no matter what. But I couldn't tell him that, not with certainty anymore and realistically, I never could.
All of our gang members are formed from people who either lost something or never had anything to begin with. We ranged from addicts to orphans to criminals and so on. The fact that we were all social outcasts were what made us 'family' in the first place. It wasn't love.
Perhaps the best thing about us was our shared feeling of belonging with one another.
With some of us, that made us better people. London, where our divisions first started, are tight-knit, we have great chemistry, we have always cared for each other and made sure everything always went to plan. That's why they're the biggest group. There are more like that too.
However, there were definitely other people who got worse. It was less about belonging and having a home and more about getting power, money and status. It's what drove the Florida division to where it is now but I didn't know about Texas. Not anymore anyway. I would like to believe that with Tara there, Dominic will be treated right but after seeing them after so long, I came to realise that while most of them were still the same, they're not all who they used to be.
Xavier seemed to understand my hesitance but he didn't seem saddened or disheartened.
"If not, that's great!" He exclaims happily which confuses me.
"Great?"
"Yeah," He pauses to grin at me knowingly,
"It means she'll having something to entertain her."