The Gang Leader's Girl

Chapter 5

I stare at the wall as I hear them walking down the hall. I start squirming in the chair the set me in. As he walked in he looked at my weakened and scarred body, his twisted smile growing. I've only been in here for a few days, but I quickly adjusted to the rules very quickly. 

1. Don't look him in the eyes unless he tells you to.

2. Don't scream, it only makes things worse. 

3. Don't move, he'll punish you.

4. Only talk when he asks you a question.

Watching his every movement, he walks over to the table that held all his torturing devices. Taking a quick glance at them he turns back to me. I quickly look back the floor, avoiding eye contact. "What shall I do to you today my little pet?" I take it as a rhetorical question and keep my mouth shut. I feel a sharp pain on the side of my face where he had slapped me. "Answer me when I talk to you bitch." He growls. I watch as he grabs a knife from the table. "You should know better than to disobey me." He says as he slices my wrist open. I bite the inside of my lip to keep me from screaming. The torture continues all night long. I've been bad, I'm the reason my parents are dead. I deserve this.

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I wake up in a cold sweat. I quickly hop out of bed and grab my keys and pack of smokes. As quietly as possible I open the front door, and shut it as lightly as I can. I quickly lock it and head for the stairs leading to the roof. The warm air hits my face instantly warming me back up from the cold building. I walk to the edge pulling out a cigarette lighting the end with the lighter I hid in the pouch. I lean over the edge propping my elbows on the concrete. I take another hit letting all my worries flow out with each blow of smoke. The longer I stayed there the sky got lighter and eventually I seen that the sun began to rise. I heard the roof door open behind me. I look back and seen Ryder walking up to me. "Another nightmare?" He asks as he does the same as me. I nod and look back at the sunset. 

"We can't do it again. You're my brother's best friend. It's wrong." I tell him looking down at the busy city. He nods as he lights the cigarette between his lips. 

Exhaling the smoke he says, "I know." He mumbles quietly. I should feel guilty for kissing him, but don't. I look over at him taking in all of his small features as he stares at the city below us. He has a sharp jawline that could cut diamonds, there's a slight stubble littering his chin. His hair is slightly flopping over his eyes making him push it out of his way. I've never really paid much mind to his nose piercing, but noticing it now only adds on to the attraction. Ryder must've noticed me staring at him because he turns to me. I quickly dart my eyes back to the street, heat creeping up my face. I can feel his eyes on me but I choose to ignore it. All of a sudden he says, "I don't think we could ever be just friends." He says as he takes one last hit from the cigarette before swiping it across the ledge we're leaning on. 

"We have to at least try. Just say we do hook up or get together, but then we decide not to be together anymore. It won't be fair to Ace, if he has to decide who's side to be on. It's just not something that either of us need to be thinking about. It was one kiss and that's it." I say turning to him. 

"Fine, but answer this one question," Ryder says as he puts his hands on either side of me holding on to the ledge. "If Ace wasn't my best friend and we were just random people who happened to bump into each other, would you let me kiss you right now? "He asks me quietly. 

My heart began to beat out of my chest and I my breath got caught in the back of my throat. "Yes." I answer honestly. Ryder looks down at my lips for a few seconds, then back up at my eyes. He takes a step back and walks to the door and steps back into the building. Leaving me alone with my thoughts. 

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It's been a few hours since this morning, all day I've been avoiding Ryder as much as possible. My brother left with Brooklyn an hour ago, and I think Ryder left around the same time they did. Meaning that I had the whole apartment to myself. I decided to make a frozen pizza after they leave. I set it in the oven, and walk over to the couch, grabbing the remote I turn on the TV and surf through channels until I find an old episode of Criminal Minds. Eventually the timer goes off on the oven, I take the pizza out, and cut it into even slices with a pizza cutter. I throw a few pieces on a plate and walk back over to the couch. 

Another hour or so passes and I'm already two episodes deep into my shows. As commercials play on the TV the door jiggles and I can hear keys fumbling on the other side. A few seconds later the door opens and I watch as Ace and Brooklyn walk in making out. "Hey, get a f*****g room!" I say loudly. 

"Holy f*****g s**t!" Ace yells, pulling away from his girlfriend. Brooklyn turns a deep red and I start dying laughing. "Shut up." He says throwing one of his shoes at me. I catch it before it hits my head, while he walks toward the kitchen I throw aim the shoe at the back of his head but end up hitting his lower back. He looks at me unamused, I just innocently smile back at him. He returns my smile and walks into the kitchen. 

"Oh my god I'm so sorry you had to see that." Brooklyn apologizes as she takes a seat beside me. 

"I've honestly seen worse, you have nothing to be sorry for." I tell her giving her a reassuring smile. She nods and faces the TV. A few seconds later I feel my shirt being tugged on and something cold sliding down my back. I shiver and look back to see Ace running off to his room. I quickly rotate my arm behind me trying to grab the piece of ice. Once I've got it in hand I take off running to get my revenge. I catch a glimpse of him trying to close his door. I get there just in time to slip my foot in between the door and the frame. I take the ice and pull on his shirt, I drop it in and wipe the water that melted on my hand onto his shirt.

 As fast as I can I run out of the room and bump into something hard and warm. Instantly my head starts to pound and my cheeks heat up. I take a step back looking at the abnormal wall in my way. A guy about my age stands in my way. A few strands of his blonde hair falls over his green eyes. He looks down at me and smirks, "Hey there beautiful." 

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Chase what the hell are you doing?" I hear a deep voice say from down the hallway. Ryder walks around Chase and looks at me. "Hey." 

"Hi." I reply. 

"Are you not going to introduce me to your new roommate, Ryder?" Chase says crossing his tattooed arms. 

"Um, Chase meet Scarlet, Ace's little sister, Scarlet meet Chase, one of my friends from The Pit." 

Chase grabs one of my hands and kisses the back of it. "Nice to meet you Scarlet." 

I pull my hand out of his grasp and let it drop to my side, "Nice to meet you too." 

"Now if you'll excuse us, we have some business to attend to." Ryder says dragging Chase into Ace's room and shut the door behind them. 

I walk back into the living room to find that Brooklyn changed the channel to Grey's Anatomy. I sit down on the couch and prop my feet on the coffee table in front of it. I look over at Brooklyn who now has tears in her eyes and is focused on the TV. I look at the TV and I realize why she's crying. She put it on the episode of the plane crash and  Mark was confessing his feelings for Lexie. Soon enough I was focusing on the TV as well. Soon enough we were both crying and throwing s**t at the TV until the final credits rolled. "It's not fair!" Brooklyn sobbed, "They loved each other so much and we never got to see them have their happy ending!" 

"What the writers did was just unacceptable. Every single time one of the characters is the happiest, or is finally on the way to happiness something like this happens.  They're the reason I have trust issues." I said as I wiped my eyes on my shirt.

 I hear a door from down the hall open, a few seconds later I see the guys walk out of the hall. A cold hard look on the three of them. Chase walks to the door and opens it, all three of them step outside for a minute before Ace and Ryder walk back in. Ace looks at Brooklyn and his eyes soften. He walks around to her and picks her up bridal style before carrying her back to his room. . I'm really happy for my brother, he's always been one of my biggest supporters, even when Mom, Dad, or Rachel wasn't around. "Scarlet, you wanna go up to the roof?" Ryder whispers in my ear from behind the couch.  

A shiver shoots down my spine, but I ignore it and reply, "Sure." I grab my stuff and walk towards the door. Ryder opens the door for me allowing me to walk out first. I step out into the hallway and head for the stairs that lead to the roof. Once we get up all the steps I open the door and the hot summer heat hits me, instantly warming me up from the cold building. We walk to our usual spot, as were walking I pull out a cigarette and light it. I exhale the smoke into the air as I watch the people and cars below us. 

"You've been avoiding me ever since this morning." Ryder says flatly.

"No I wasn't..." I lie. I steal a glance at him only to see he's just lighting the cigarette he's had in his hand. 

"We both know that's not true." I look up at him, he's now leaning against the ledge, with his head turned towards me. 

"We have to keep our space, Ryder. Ace is going to flip the f**k out if he found out we were anything more than roommates." I tell him. 

He doesn't say anything, he just turns back around and knocks the ashes off the tip of his cigarette. After a few minutes pass he asks me, "How's your lip?" 

"It's fine, there's just an ulcer left now." I tell him. 

"That bruise on your face looks better too." He tells me lifting his hand to move my hair behind my ear. My cheeks heat up as I lift my cigarette up to my lips to take another hit. He watches me as I blow the smoke in his direction. The whole time I look him in the eyes making eye contact. He looks at me for a few more minutes before doing the same thing I did to him. I watched him as he put out the cigarette before putting the butt in his pocket. I do the same, then prop my elbows on the ledge and watch the sky between the buildings in front of us. A few minutes of silence pass, before Ryder finally speaks, "Do you want to go out on a date with me?"