White Raven

Chapter Nine: His Territory

It had been exactly nine days since Ary had moved out from her parents' place and she was happier than she could ever remember being. She felt relieved not having to walk on eggshells with every move she made, wondering if that would be the thing that set Juliana off.

Ary hadn't talked to any of her family since the big fight, other than to reply to the messages her Uncle Jack had left her. Apparently, Juliana tried to file a missing persons report on her and when that failed, she tried to convince Jack that Ary was being abused by a controlling boyfriend. Jack had dismissed it immediately. He knew there was no way Ary would let a guy do that to her. Afterall, he had been the one to teach her how to defend herself against big, strong men that were twice her size.

Juliana was just upset that she couldn't control Ary, like she did Scar and Maddie. Ary had learned through her uncle that Maddie had reconciled with Beau and that the wedding was set for the first Saturday of October, and that Maddie was taking an entire semester off from school to plan for the wedding and to spend more time with Beau.

Maddie had called and text Ary more than anyone else, but Ary ignored her. Ary didn't want to see her sister ruin her own life, but it was Maddie's decision. Ary was tired of listening to Maddie whine about what she should do. She was an adult and she could make her own decisions, without having Juliana or Ary telling her what to do.

Ary was putting most of her free time into keeping an eye on Luke. He was her priority right now. She had to rely on Rave to keep Luke alive, but Rave couldn't protect Luke from himself, not that Rave seemed to care about Luke one way or the other. He was just interested in the money she kept throwing his way.

Ary had only been to Luke's place once before and that was right after she moved back to Illinois. That was how she first figured out that something was up with him.

Luke's house was a few blocks away from what was considered Bloodbath territory. It was a ranch style home that had seen its better days. The paint was chipping off and there were a few shingles missing from the roof. The yard had it worse. The grass was in desperate need of mowing and there were beer cans hidden in the bushes.

Ary rang the doorbell. She waited nervously for someone to answer the door. She wasn't nervous about talking to Luke or even being close to Bloodbath territory. She was nervous because the little old lady watering her garden across the street was giving her the death glare.

Ary didn't have the best of luck with the elderly. The one time she had been to visit her Great Aunt Ida, the old woman had swatted her with a cane because she tracked mud into the house. She had been seven at the time. After that incident, she was terrified of old people.

After what seemed like hours, the door to the house finally opened. A guy, no older than Ary, answered. He had short, spiky blonde hair and deep blue eyes that widened when he saw her.

"Hey sweetie, it's a little too early for a booty call, isn't it?" He flashed her a broad smile.

"It's not too early for me to punch you in the face," Ary replied, giving him her own smile. The guy looked a little startled and just stared at her. "Okay, it was nice chatting with you," Ary pushed passed him and went into the house.

If she thought the outside of the house was bad, the inside was a million times worse. There were beer boxes lining the entryway and even a pyramid of empty beer cans in the living room. There were also old pizza boxes stacked on the kitchen table and she was pretty sure flies had started to swarm. She was glad to see that Luke wasn't just wasting his life like other guys his age.

Ary made her way to the back of the house, where she remembered the bedrooms being. She tried to avoid touching anything. She didn't want to get any diseases. If she went over the house with a black light, she'd probably go running for the hills. She shuddered at what she might find.

Luke's room wasn't that hard to find. It was the first door on the right side of the hallway and it had his name spray painted on the front. Ary prayed that he was alone as she opened the door.

The room was actually pretty clean, at least compared to the rest of the house. There were a few articles of clothing thrown about the room and the bed was a mess, but other than that it was mostly organized. She remembered how Luke always liked to have everything in its place.

"Bella?" Luke was sitting at the desk, using his laptop. He looked better. Most of his bruises had gone away. Ary, herself still had a faint yellow and green bruise on her cheek, but it was easily covered with the help of some concealer.

"You chopped your curls off?" Ary asked, walking farther into the room and closing the door behind her.

"Uh, yeah," Luke mumbled, running a hand over his buzzed head. It looked like he had just done it recently. "So, uh, what are you doing here?" he asked, awkwardly.

"Can't a girl pay her favorite cousin a visit without there being an ulterior motive?" Ary asked, giving him an innocent smile as she took a seat on the very edge of the bed. Just to be safe.

"A girl, yes. You, no," Luke said. Ary glared at him, but he just smiled. "I know you too well for that fake charm to work. So, what is it?"

"First of all, my charm is definitely not fake," she snapped. He just rolled his eyes. "And secondly, I'm worried about you."

"Bella," Luke groaned.

"I know that thing last month was not a car jacking," she added quickly, before he had a chance to dismiss her completely.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What else would it be?" Luke demanded, angrily. He seemed scared.

"You need to get your s**t together before you end up getting seriously hurt!" Ary told him, a worried look on her face.

"Geez, Bell," Luke groaned, rolling his eyes. "Don't you ever get tired of being righteous all the time?" He got up from the desk and went over to his closet, grabbing a clean t-shirt.

"Yes, I do," Ary nodded, also getting to her feet. "Because asshats like you make my job-holy crap, Luke!" Ary exclaimed when Luke took off his t-shirt. His body was covered in bruises.

"They're from the carjacking," Luke explained, quickly putting on a clean shirt.

"Like hell they are!" Ary went over to him and yanked up the hem of his shirt. "These are fresh, like less than four days ago!" She glared at him.

"Lay off, Bella," Luke pushed her away from him.

"I will not lay off, Luke," she sneered his name. "Now tell me who did this?" she demanded.

"Why? So you can go beat them up for hurting your little Lukey?" he taunted.

When they were little, Luke had been a scrawny crybaby and was always getting picked on. Ary would always have to come to his rescue and would beat up anyone that made her Lukey cry.

"God, Bella, we're not five anymore. I don't need you defending me," he sighed, going around her to grab his cell phone from the middle of the bed. He scrolled through his messages. "Look, Bells, I gotta go. You should really go home."

"Luke!" Ary blocked his exit. He easily elbowed her out of the way and walked out of the room. "Lucas Anthony Lawson, you get your butt back here right now!" Ary yelled after him, like she was yelling at a disobedient child.

Ary followed Luke after he got into his truck and stormed off. She was tired of people lying to her. It was about time she knew exactly what her i***t cousin was up to.

He went straight into Bloodbath territory. Of course. She should have figured that he was going to meet one of his gang buddies. It was still hard to believe that her cousin was in an actual gang.

Ary was thankful that her uncle had given her the Jeep. She'd be a sitting duck if she still had the Snot Machine. Nothing screamed rich white girl more than a sparkly little VW Bug.

She followed Luke until he parked his truck across from a gas station and got out. She parked the Jeep a few spots away. Before she got out, she piled her shoulder length hair onto the top of her head and crammed a Chicago Cubs baseball hat on the top of her head. It was a reasonable disguise.

She slowly walked down the sidewalk, acting like she took that route everyday. The key to blending in was to act like you belonged there. Her outfit of faded jeans, worn tennis shoes, and a flannel shirt over a rock tee wasn't that out of place for a poor neighborhood like this one.

She followed Luke as he headed into a dinky little house on the corner. Two guys greeted Luke as he entered the house and she saw that one of the men had a gun in the waistband of his jeans.

Ary immediately went into panic mode. Luke did not need to be going into creepy houses with guys that had guns. Guns that were probably unregistered! She started to walk towards the house.

She was about to cross the street when someone grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her into an alleyway. The person who grabbed her spun her around and shoved her against the side of an old brick building.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" a familiar voice growled.

Ary looked up to see Rave glaring down at her. He did not seem too pleased to see her, even though it had been five days since they last saw one another. He said he was busy with the gang and had been ignoring most of her phone calls and texts.

"I was just taking a nice little stroll," Ary replied, innocently.

"You need to leave. Now." he growled. There was no hint of humor in his blue eyes and Ary wondered what had him so on edge.

"I'm not leaving until I know Luke is going to be okay," Ary pouted, folding her arms across her chest.

"I could drag your ass out of here," Rave threatened, giving her a look that said he wasn't messing around.

"Rave, I can't just let my cousin hang around guys with guns!" she told him, stomping her foot on the ground to emphasis.

"He's been doing it for the past six months. He'll be fine," he told her, rolling his eyes. He wasn't taking this seriously.

"He is not fine! He's constantly getting the crap beat out of him!" she objected. Rave raised an eyebrow in question. "He has fresh bruises all over his torso," She explained.

"Oh, those," Rave said, as if it were no big deal.

"Oh, those!?" Ary gave him an incredulous look. "Do you know what happened to him!?" she demanded.

"It's nothing. He's fine," he shrugged, repeating Luke's exact words from half an hour ago.

"Rave!" Ary had meant to sound stern, but her voice hitched as she fought back tears. Everything was starting to catch up to her.

"Don't cry," Rave ordered. His jaw was clenched tightly and a look of panic crossed his face.

"I'm not gonna cry," Ary growled, biting her lip to keep herself from crying. She didn't need to start bawling like a baby in front of Rave.

"Ary," Rave groaned out her name. He ran a hand through his dark hair and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm the one who hurt your cousin," he admitted.

"You, what!?" Ary's eyes widened in surprise before she narrowed them to glare at him. "You're suppose to be protecting him, not beating him up!"

"Technically, you only asked me to be his friend," Rave defended.

"You don't beat up your friends!" Ary exclaimed.

"You beat me up," Rave replied, giving her a huge grin.

"We are not friends," she stated, firmly. He frowned at her. "You need to stop hurting Luke, or I'll-I'll beat you up again," she said, trying to sound threatening. It didn't really work out.

"You're not very scary. In fact, you look about as threatening as a twelve-year-old kid," he replied, looking her over. For her looking like a little kid, Rave still eyed her like he wanted to rip her clothes off and take her right in the alleyway.

"I will punch you." She glared at him, wrapping her loose flannel shirt tighter around her body.

"I like it a little rough," he grinned, leaning in towards her.

"Okay, that's enough," Ary shoved against his chest. He didn't budge. "Rave," Ary glowered up at him.

"You won't be able to resist me forever," he told her, giving her an intense look. He took a loose strand of hair that had fallen out from underneath her cap and tucked it behind her ear.

"You need to get laid," Ary told him, pushing him back so she could escape his trap. "And no, I wasn't offering," she added, before he could open his mouth to reply.

"Where are you going?" Rave asked, following her out of the alley.

"To stalk my cousin," Ary said, heading towards the house that Luke had gone into earlier.

"No, you're not," Rave said, sternly. He grabbed her arm and dragged her back towards the Jeep. "You're going to go back home," he told her.

"Rave, you don't need to treat me like a child," she growled, wrenching her arm from his grip. "I can take care of myself."

"You know, you sound just like Lawson," Rave taunted, grabbing her arm again and pulling her closer to the Jeep and farther away from her cousin.

"Seriously, Rave! What the hell?" she growled, trying to get free. It was no use. Rave wasn't going to let her go this time.

"I have my hands full with your cousin. I don't need to babysit you, too," he told her, shoving her towards the Jeep.

"I don't need a babysitter," she snapped. She brought her arm around to give him a nice solid punch, but he easily blocked it.

"Don't embarrass yourself," he sighed.

"Don't worry, I won't," she sneered, bringing her other arm around. He blocked that too.

Rave now had both of her wrists clasped in his hands and he wasn't about to let go. He gave her an amused look. That just pissed her off more. As he was grinning at her, she took the opportunity to bring her leg up and give him a solid kick to the gut. It held enough power that it knocked the wind out of him and he stumbled back a few feet, releasing her so that he could clutch his stomach.

"Go f**k yourself, Colt," Ary spat at him, before she hopped into the Jeep and sped off.

She glared at him in the rearview mirror. What the f**k was his problem? She wasn't paying him to play her personal bodyguard, not that she needed one anyways. He should be focusing on Luke.

The lifespan for a gang member wasn't very long, especially for outsiders like Luke who didn't grow up in the home neighborhood. She was afraid her cousin wouldn't make it through the summer.