Corrupted Values

Chapter Seven - Locking Up

It's been a couple of months since I moved in with Remi. I met Crumbs, her so-called pet crow that comes to the balcony occasionally for food. Remi and I haven’t talked about what happened at the club since that night, but she never pushes for me to talk about it and I’m thankful for that. We went out and did some shopping so I could have more clothes and personalise my room a bit. After a few days of settling in, I started working at Arise with Remi. We’ve fallen into a routine since I moved in.

I look at the clock, “Six o’clock,” I say out loud. Time to wake Remi. I roll my eyes as I make my way to Remi’s door. I bang my open hand on the door before opening it.

“Come on, get out of bed, we have work. Don't make me drag your ass out like last week.” I say flipping the light on and off.

“Ugh work again. I hate having to get up so early. I’ll be right out.” She says before I close the door with a slam hearing a groan on the other side, making me laugh. I make my way back to my room to change into my uniform, which is just a grey shirt and black leggings. I brush out my hair and put it up in a high ponytail. Once ready, I walk out to the kitchen and start making eggs and toast while I wait for Remi. Ten minutes later, Remi emerges from her room and sits on the other side of the counter as I place a plate in front of her and sit on the stool next to her.

“Morning. Thanks for breakfast.” she says with a yawn and a smile.

“Morning sleepy head and you're welcome, but if I don't cook what else are we going to eat? Cold pizza every day?” I say as I take a bite of toast.

“Hey, don't hate on cold pizza.” She says with a stern, tired face, looking at me.

“Okay, okay, sorry I guess you don’t want what I made. I can grab you a slice out of the fridge instead.” I say going to grab her plate before she pulls it away.

“Well, you know a hot and fresh breakfast is always nice. I'm cool if you want to continue doing this instead.” She shrugs before taking another bite of egg.

“Uh huh,” say as I roll my eyes and continue eating my breakfast. We chat while we eat before it comes time to leave for work. We clean up our dishes and head towards the front door.

“Come on, you don’t wanna be late now, do you?” She says grabbing her car keys.

“What does it matter if we’re late? If we die on the way there anyway?” I ask, crossing my arms.

“What do you mean?” She asks, holding her hip.

“I think you know.” I respond.

“Oh stop it. You do this every day. You won’t die! I’m a great driver. If I wasn’t, would I still be alive?” she asks in a cheeky tone while smirking. I roll my eyes and we make our way to the car. As I strap in, I feel dread rise in me when Remi starts the car. We quickly make our way to the coffee shop, cutting people off and accidently run a few red lights. Once Remi parks the car, I jump out, thankful the ride is over.

“See I’m a great driver and we’re here five minutes early thanks to me.” She states walking to my side of the car.

“Yeah…” I say looking at her with an annoyed face.

“Oh don’t give me that look.” She says, rolling her eyes. I look away from her and a face catches my attention. Marco’s across the street talking to a few other men. I quickly avert my eyes back to Remi.

“Come on, let's get inside.” I say smiling and walk towards the entrance. We start our shift and get ready to open. Remi brings the mugs and glasses out from the back to be set up and ready for customers while I tie on an apron with my name sewn in the high left corner before I set up the front, wiping down tables and setting up chairs. After a while, we’re ready and we turn on the open sign at the front.

The shop quickly fills with customers. We work for a few hours and the shop slows down. A few hours later, noon rolls around and it fills back up again. I hear the door open and the chatter goes quiet. I look to see what's caused the sudden silence. My eyes lock on his dark ones. Marco slowly walks towards me, making my heart quicken and goosebumps cover my skin. He stops in front of me.

“Have you been avoiding me?” He asks, staring down at me, and I look away, breaking eye contact.

“Azzy?” He says before talking again “...Why have you been avoiding me for three months?” He asks and I look back, meeting his dark eyes with my light ones. Looking into his eyes, I can’t help but think that he is part of the people who killed my mom. I feel tears start to build in my eyes and look at the ground to be sure no one sees. Before I can say anything, I hear someone walk up and stop behind me.

“Hello. Can I help you?” Remi asks, causing me to let out a breath of relief knowing she's with me.

“No, actually I'm hoping to talk to Azzy.” He says, looking at her.

“Well, we’re working right now, so maybe another time. If that’s all, we need to get back to work.” She says as she gently pulls my arm and I gladly face away from him. Once we near the counter, I look back to see he’s still looking at me, watching my every step. I look straight ahead and follow behind Remi. We walk through a door and come into the small kitchen where we do the baking.

“Cassie, man the front.” Remi says in a serious tone. Without question, Cassie goes to the front, going back through the door. Cassie is a sweet girl. We’ve talked a couple times but she usually stays in the back baking all the pastries and sweets. Once Remi’s sure Cassie is gone, she turns to face me.

“Are you okay?” She says, putting her hands on my shoulders. I look up at her on the brink of crying and bring my arms to wrap around myself. Remi brings me into a hug, making me lose all hope of not breaking down right here. I cry on her shoulder while she holds me.

“It’s okay, let it out.” she says while she gently rubs my back.

“T-Thank you.” I barely stutter out the words.

“You never have to thank me for being a friend. It’s what friends are for. I wouldn’t be a good one if I knew you were uncomfortable and didn't help you.” She says pulling away and smiling down at me. We stand there for a few minutes till I calm down before continuing on with the day. By the time we come out, Marco is gone and the rest of the day goes by smoothly. Soon it's ten o’clock and it’s time to close up. Remi takes the trash into the back alleyway while I lock up the front. I hear someone approach behind me and quickly turn around to be greeted by someone's chest. I cautiously look up to meet warm brown eyes.

“Nico? What are you doing here?” I ask curiously.

“Azzy… Can we talk? I promise I won’t hurt you.” He says in a serious tone along with hopeful eyes. I sigh looking towards the ground before slightly nodding.

“What do you want, Nico?” I ask, meeting his eyes with my own.

“I won’t lie to you.” He says, shifting his stance before continuing “Marco doesn't usually take an interest in anyone, not like he has with you. To be honest, I thought maybe I had a chance with the guy from how much he keeps to himself.” He says in a presumptuous tone, smirking, making me unable to hide my soft laugh as I put my hand over my mouth.

“Look, I don’t know what happened…” He trails off, getting distracted by the roaring of a car engine before I can process what’s happening. Nico turns around and guards me with his body. I quickly hear the all too familiar sound of guns going off, but these ones are continuous. Nico quickly turns around, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me to the ground. The sound of gun fire dies out once the car reaches the end of the street and turns right. Nico slowly pulls himself off of me, grabbing his left hip.

"O-oh my god, Nico.” I say inspecting him.

“It’s fine Az, really. It’s just a flesh wound,” He says in an unconcerned voice. My eyes widen at how unbothered he is about being shot.

“Azzy, there you are, are you okay?” I hear Remi yell from the alleyway while running out to where we are before stopping in her tracks.

“Nicolas?” She says in a shocked voice while taking in the scene of us on the ground.

“I’m fine, but Nico’s been shot. We need to get to the hospital.” I say in a rushed voice.