CHAPTER 26: THE GANG LEADERS TRUTH

I don't know if I have posted this photo already but oh well

"It appears the couple known as 'Claudiac' had posted a few pictures from their wedding and

wedding shoot on all of their social media accounts. So to all the people who don't believe

their relationship is real it's definitely real! Stay tuned for Justin Timberlake's interview."

He switches off the television with a massive grin, he holds his hand up for a high five and I

slap my hand against his with a smile. He yawns and stands,"well I'm going to bed," I nod.

"Me too." We walk up the stairs together and he stops at his door and I stop at mine,

"goodnight."

"Night," he mutters and I walk into my room shutting the door behind me. Quickly I brush my

teeth, I already had a shower since it's night time and I'm glad it's the weekend tomorrow.

Jumping into my bed I pull the covers up to my chest but I can't seem to fall asleep- thoughts

are swarming around in my head like that guy who broke into the property even with the

amount of security we have. He took a photo of me sleeping and that scares me, like he

could break into my room with the balcony right there near my bed.

My heart rate accelerates, I'm so paranoid. But you would be freaked out too. For the past

couple of nights I couldn't fall asleep which led to me falling asleep in class and I'm honestly

exhausted. I groan and swing the covers off my body, I slowly walk my way to the door and

open the door. Nervously I walk to his door and open it slightly, I peak my head through to

see darkness and the silhouette of his body lying on the bed breathing evenly. The cool

room relaxes my body and I bite my lip.

Swallowing I close the door and walk further into the room and walk my way I've to the bed.

Quickly I slide under the covers, the warmness of the blankets protecting me from the cold.

Zac stirs and I look at him, he groans. "Claudia?" He mutters, luckily I can't see his face and

he can't see mine.

"Yeah," I whisper.

"What are you doing?" He asks confusion laced in his voice. What am I meant to say? Eh

the truth.

"I can never fall asleep at night ever since someone took a picture of me and I want a decent

sleep tonight. So I came in here," he doesn't reply for a moment but I freeze in surprise when

his arm wraps around my waist and pulls me to his chest.

"You can stay in here as long as you want, I don't want you to be afraid in your own

bedroom." He mutters, I place my head head on his other arm that's on the pillow and he

stills in surprise. Just for tonight. I tell myself but even my subconscious isn't so sure. He

relaxes and I feel my eyes closing as I fall into deep slumber.

~~

It's so warm but cold. I feel so nice, safe and protected. Knowing that it's probably because

Isaac's arms are around me I open my eyes, I was correct. He looks so peaceful, his dark

hair falls over his skin and his long eyelashes almost touch his cheeks. His pink slightly

chapped lips are parted and he looks so adorable honestly.

"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer," he grumbles and I jump back in surprise with

wide eyes.

Snapping my eyes closed I mutter, "well I wasn't looking at you." He chuckles letting me

know that he doesn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either.

"Sure, sure," he says not believing me at all. He removes his arms from around me and

stands up, now I notice that he wasn't wearing a shirt and he has a small tattoo on his

shoulder- it's a Lily.

"You have a tattoo." I state the obvious, he looks at it and a sad smile spreads on his lips.

"What does it mean?" I ask not wanting to overstep the boundaries but I'm just curious.

Curiosity killed the cat. Oh well.

"It was my mums favourite flower," he whispers, I freeze not expecting that and I duck my

head.

"Oh... I'm sorry," he shakes his head and I look up to see him shrugging.

"Doesn't matter," nodding I stand up. It's the weekend and I want to do nothing at all. Nothing

but eat, sleep and repeat. I walk out of the room and down the stairs not caring how bad I

look, I notice Matt sitting on the couch on his phone. I feel really bad cause he like works 5-6

days a week and doesn't get a break on the weekends. I think the weekends should be his

day off.

"Matt you don't need to work today," I know I shouldn't be doing this but I feel too guilty and

he deserves it. He's done so much for us.

"Um... I don't think that's a good idea," he reluctantly says looking around.

"No, I think it's a great idea," comes a voice from the stairs, we both look to see Isaac. My

mouth parts in surprise. Did he say what I think he said? And without arguing on it!

"Sir it's okay I can work-" he holds his hand up cutting smart off.

"From now on you work Mondays to Fridays but if I need you for something you are to come

in, okay?" He grins and nods quickly and happily.

"Of course sir!" He chirps.

"Great, you get the rest of the day off," Zac dismisses him, he stands and walks out of the

room and most likely out of the house. Zac smirks when he looks at me taking note of my

expression, "you know it's not up to you to give my employees days off."

I shrug, "well I just did." He smiles and looks at a piece of paper that's in his hands, he bites

his lips and looks at me again. He holds up the piece of paper and I freeze. It's a drawing of

him... that I drew. I feel so embarrassed, he found a drawing of himself and he doesn't show

any shame or embarrassment when he smirks holding it proudly.

"So you remember my face off by heart?" He chuckles, scowling I scoff at his ridiculous idea.

"No actually. It's called looking at a picture then using that image to draw something."

His lips quirk up in amusement and he looks at the paper once again, "you can draw." He

states and I roll my eyes, "you're really good."

"Thanks," I smile.

"Oh by the way, your fans want you to make your own perfume," he informs me and I throw

my head back groaning.

"I don't have fans. You aren't serious right?" I study his features to see if he starts laughing

and shouts how gullible I am then I sulk. But that doesn't happen.

"100 percent. Now go and make your perfume," he chuckles.

"No thanks!" I want to meet knew people tomorrow. Make more friends because I only have

four, Carter, Joey, Aaliyah and Matt the guard! Maybe Patrick will be my future friend... "I

have an idea!" I thrust my hand in the air I'm enthusiasm, he raises an eyebrow.

"Does it include perfume?" Scoffing I shake my head.

"Let's go to the club, we'll invite our friends! Wait, you don't have friends do you? Oh god this

is awkward," I fan myself to try and fan away the awkward air.

He glares, "you really think that low of me? Of course I have friends! I think this sounds like a

great idea, you'll get to meet my friends." He grins but I think inside he's thinking 'oh god I

need to buy me some friends' am I being harsh? Nah.

"Great! I'll call everyone," I walk away and grab my phone, making a group chat including

Amelia I ask everyone if they want to go clubbing tonight then I tell Amelia to invite Patrick

cause I don't have his number and I haven't seen him around. I'm mostly sleeping so that's

most likely the reason.

They all text me back agreeing and I grin, tonight is going to be great.

||

"So Zac, where's your friends?" I tease. He scowls at me and looks around through the

crowd, we are sitting at the table while Carter and Joey are dancing together and Matt and

Aaliyah and dancing with each other. I don't know where Amelia and Patrick disappeared to.

He grins and I follow his eyes to see a really tall guy with dark brown hair, green eyes, olive

skin and yeah he's just really tall. There's another guy- he's a monster. Like he doesn't look

like one it's just the height and muscles, he's got a full sleeve of tattoos on both arms, black

hair, olive skin and massive muscles. A woman too innocent is holding his hand, her hair

bounces and she's obviously curled it perfectly. Her chocolate eyes look through the crowd

and her pale skin glows. She's really beautiful. Beautiful but innocent for a guy like him, he

looks like a dude in a gang not to the mention the stoic face he's got there. But when he

looks down at her.... you forget about the guy with tattoos on his arms and a big build as in

muscle. She says something and he grins at her, he looks back up and glares at a guy who

looks at her.

Zac looks down at me and smirks before walking off to them, I look at him in shock. Did he

pay them? I trail behind him and grab his hand when we stand in front of the big guy. He's

just taller than Zac. Isaac grins and shakes their hands with the opposite hand that I'm

holding. "Mike, Val," he nods, they both smirk and I huff. Zac looks down at the pretty

woman, "Willow."

She grins, "hey Zac!" She looks at me and smiles then wags her brows, "is this your lovely

lady that you've been telling us about?"

In confusion I look up at Zac, he's scowling at her. "Um, yeah..." he trails off.

She pulls me into a hug, "nice to meet you I'm Willow Davids!" I hug her back in surprise and

she pulls back after a moment.

"I'm-" she cuts me off.

"Claudia," my mouth parts open and I snap it closed.

"Yeah.... is he paying you guys to be his friends?" I ask out of the blue. They all look at each

other and start laughing, holding their stomachs laughing. Except the big guy- Val. He's

chuckling.

"Oh.... oh my god haha!"

"I like this girl already," says Mike. I blush in embarrassment, oh god he didn't pay them! I'm

an idiot. I look up at Zac and he chuckles and leans down to my ear.

"See, I told you I have friends," I ignore him and look at them, they sober up muttering how

funny that was. Well Willow and Mike sober up. Val already stopped laughing.

Willow nudges Val and he looks at her his brows cocked, "introduce yourself, be nice

Valentino," he sighs and looks down at me. He thrusts his hand forward and reluctantly I

shake it, "now you say your name Val." she informs him like he's a child.

He looks at her, "I know that Willow, I'm not dumb." She shrugs like she's just making sure.

"I'm Valentino Lacuna," I cock a brave eyebrow.

"Are you Latin or something?" He groans and Willow laughs.

"No, my great great grandfather was so I barely have any Latin in me," he grumbles and I

nod. Zac grabs my hand and I look down at our joined hands. Valentino never smiles, I

swear!

"Willow wanna go and dance, I'll introduce you to my other friends!" She grins and nods

following me. "Hey guys this is our new friend- Willow Davids!" All of them grin, Carter hugs

her straight away and my eyes widen when I see Val charging towards us, his eyes on

Carter and Willow.

When he's a foot away I quickly shout, "he's gay!" Val stops, his tensed shoulders relax. He

looks at me and nods slowly backing away.

"Wow, who was that hottie? I'm Carter by the way," Willow looks at Val giving him a certain

look and shakes her head turning back around.

"My boyfriend, he's really protective."

"I'm Joey!" Joey introduces himself.

"And I'm Aaliyah," Aaliyah grins and wraps her arms around Willow. They pull apart and

Willow grins. "I've never really had much girlfriends," she tells us.

"Well now you have sisters," she smiles at what I say. We start dancing, jumping up and

down and we all make sure not to brush up against any guys because there's three

protective guys over there talking to each other- except Mike. I don't know if he has a

girlfriend, I observe him and notice the silver band on his left hand wedding finger. "Is Mike

married?" I ask in surprise, Willow grins.

"Yeah! She couldn't make it, she's having dinner with her sister. How old are you two?"

Willow asks, we all stop and walk over to where the guys are sitting, Willow slides in next to

Val, Aaliyah slides in next to Matt and I sit next to Zac. Joey and Carter sit next to each other

holding hands and I awe at the sight.

"We're eighteen and nineteen, how old are you?" I ask.

"21," she answers. "Val is 23, Mike is 23 as well," we both nod.

"Wanna stay over tonight?" I shout over the loud music, it's practically making my body

vibrate. She grins and nods then turns to Val who is talking to the guys, she taps him on the

shoulder and he looks down at her.

"I'm staying at Claudia's and Zac's tonight with Aaliyah as well," she says, he raises an

eyebrow.

"Okay well then us guys might as well stay," Val replies with a shrug. Mike looks at his phone

then looks back up shaking his head.

"Can't sorry guys, I gotta get back to the misses something's happened." Quickly he stands

up, waves and rushes out. We look at his retreating figure in confusion then turn back to

each other.

"We'll ask him tomorrow," Zac shrugs.

~~

"You're so handsome," Willow slurs running her finger down Val's jaw. "The rest of you are

ugly! Why are you so handsome?" She mutters, his lips quirk up happy that in her drunk

state she thinks other guys are ugly. After all it's said that when you're drunk you spill the

truth.

"Well that's good, princess." He chuckles moving her hair from her face, I never see this side

of him in front of anyone but her.

"How long have you be dating?" I whisper quietly, Aaliyah passed out on top of Matt, Zac fell

asleep on the floor, Joey and Carter are too drunk to care. He looks at me in surprise.

"She said we were dating?" He whispers running his thumb across her cheek.

"If I'm a princess does that mean you're my prince?" She interrupts us. He turns back to her

and grins.

"Of course I'm your prince," she giggles and lays back on his lap into his chest and yawns.

"Goodnight Tino," she mutters her eyes drooping.

He holds her protectively and looks at me again, "yeah, she said that when Carter asked

who you were. She said 'my boyfriend, he's really protective!'" I quote remembering her

words. "Are you dating?" I ask looking between the two, it looks like it.

"No actually," he mutters and smiles in happiness. "She likes me," he mutters.

"Why wouldn't she?" His face turns cold and bitter from my question and his jaw clenches.

"I'm a bad person, Claudia. I'm in a-" I cut him off already knowing where this is going.

"A gang? Let me guess, you're the leader?" He looks at me in surprise and clears his throat.

"How did you know?"

"Well it's pretty obvious dude. You have tattoos everywhere let's not forget to mention you're

massive! You have a dangerous vibe and that cold look on your face that has no emotion.

You obviously love her though, you like only smile at her," I say. I feel smart and observant

for once in my life.

"Wow, well since you've got me all figured out what about you? You have more than you let

on," he says staring at me.

Looking down then up again I exhale, "what do you mean?"

"Don't lie and say that you're so happy. I know people like you, the happy ones. They're the

broken ones," he mutters and clenches his eyes closed.

I don't answer, what can I possibly say? He's a freaking gang leader! "Tell me something

first, why don't you ever smile? Like being in a gang is no excuse."

"Well for starters I don't like people to know how I'm feeling, they can use it against me. It's

just easier to hide everything from the world. I'm a monster Claudia, a complete monster. I

kill innocent people and the thing is I enjoy doing it, what kind of person am I?" He spits

disgusted with himself. He then looks down at Willow, "but when I'm with Willow I don't feel

like the monster I am. She knows what I've done but she treats me like I'm an innocent

person. When I'm with her it's like all my demons go away and I can finally see the light. All

because of one girl. It's hard to be away from her, I finally see the good when I'm with her.

Wanna know how we met?" He doesn't even wait for me to say yeah, "I killed her brother,

that bastard. Then I just claimed her as mine, she hated me- probably still does but I can

never let her know that I killed her brother for a good reason because then she will just feel

guilty for hating me and causing so much trouble and everything she knew would have been

a lie. Everything would come crashing down and I don't think I can handle handle seeing my

princess- my light in so much pain. I don't know why I'm telling you this."

I stare wide eyed at him trying to process everything. He killed her brother! "Wow, that's a lot.

You love her though am I right?"

He nods slowly, "I do." He admits quietly then looks at Zac, "you love him right? You're

married and all. He obviously loves you."

"No, I don't love him and he doesn't love me," he cocks an eyebrow looking at me in

confusion. Shut up Claudia! Shut up before you do something you'll regret.

"That's a lie, right? It looks like you two love each other."

"He forced me to marry him! He threatened to kill my family and take their money leaving us

poor, my dad sent me off willingly and I hate him for that. But it kills me that even though Zac

forced me into this I could never really hate him. So yes, I totally love him after everything

he's done." I snap sarcastically.