The Bad Boy’s…What?

“Noooo!” I fall to my knees and I swear I feel the familiar sting of tears in my eyes as reach with my hands for empty air. “Why must this happen?” my gaze connects with blue eyes across the room.

“What is wrong with you?” Sammy shakes her head at me.

“How can you be so calm? We were just about to find out how everybody got into this whole mess only for your dad to fall asleep,” I point as Mister Collins’s limp body. Sammy removes herself from her father’s side and places a small blanket over his body. I can see the small dark bags under his eyes from my current spot on the floor.

“Because he’s here now, he’ll have the chance to tell us later but he needs to get better. For all of our sakes,” she grumbles the last part under her breath. I look at her questioningly and she sighs while running a hand through her brown hair. She motions me closer to the door and I scramble myself up eagerly to at least get some answers.

“Right now a lot of people think my dad is dead, that means somebody would have to take up the head of the gang,” I nod to show I’m following along. “Usually, it would be Drew ass the heir and first son, but since he’s gone someone else has to take up position. There are some bad people around there who’ll probably just cause a lot of problems,” she explains warily. I can see where the problems would come from, I mean, what would you do with so much power? Me, I’d probably pay to abduct Luke Hemmings or something, while we’re at it Matt Healy as well.

“Can’t Drew step up now?” I question curiously.

“No, last time we were at the house wasn’t pretty and by now I’m pretty sure a certain bastard took place,” her jaw tightens and her small fists clench at her sides in anger at whoever it is she’s thinking about. It reminds me of the look you get when you’re supposed to visit with those family members you’re supposed to act like you like them. I only had one of those, a distant family member whom I dreaded seeing all the time.

“You must really hate him,” I remark as she opens the door to the room, she gives her dad one last glance before stepping out and I follow suit. I make sure the digital box is locked and push some coats hanging in the closet to cover anything that might be in sight. Sammy opens the door an inch, watching for anything out there before casually exiting the closet. My exit could’ve been as flawless if I didn’t trip on that one very convenient jacket that was lying around on the floor.

“I’m okay,” I groan before getting up and shutting the door to the closet close. I have to remember to get Mister Collins something to eat later.

“Coordination just skipped you in genetics, huh?” Sammy jokes. It might be a joke to her but sadly, that is my life. An uncoordinated mess of fandoms.

“Yes, Kohl got the coordination while I received the wit and charismatic sense of humor,” I nod with an overly dramatic sigh. She laughs before heading over to the kitchen. I follow after and take the cold can of soda she gives me before taking a seat on the stool.

“So, if Drew were to take up his father’s place, what would happen then?” I’m like a cat, the curiosity will literally kill me. There’s a nagging part of me that wonders what would happen if Drew were to be reinstated into his family’s gang.

“If Drew were to take over he’s do what my dad did. He’ll have to take care of the family businesses that may cover up any underground work. He’ll be the tough hand of the gang and he’ll have to implement boundaries to his people. Just because it’s a gang doesn’t automatically make him a killer but it can happen,” she explains. Would Drew kill someone? He’s usually such an easy going guy, note the sarcasm. But no, I think the only way he’d send someone swimming with the sharks would be to protect his family. He is one over protective idiot sometimes.

“Is there a chance that the gang can disband?” I take a gulp of the fizzy liquid in my hand and let it cool my throat. She drums her fingers thoughtfully on the kitchen island before looking up at me, blue eyes glinting.

“A total takeover, if another gang declares war and wins they’d automatically take rule. Or if there was some sort of friendly takeover, like if the gang was relinquished the new owner would take over the gang’s dealing. But some of the businesses remain in our family because they’re not linked in that way,” she explains. Would that be possible, to hand over an entire gang without any form of conflict?

“What are you guys talking about?” Adrian walks into the kitchen with his usual scowl in place. His eyes brighten when his gaze lands on Sammy and heads over to place a sweet kiss on her forehead. They’re so cute it’s disgusting.

“Nothing, just girl stuff,” Sammy winks my way. Yeah, just girl stuff that includes possible murders, weapons and family businesses, nothing to worry about. When did I become Allison Argent? Well, that’s not a bad person to be.

“You’ve got that creepy smile you always get every time you’re thinking about being cool when you’re not,” Adrian snaps his fingers in front of my face before I swat him away.

“Hey, I am cool when I want to be,” I snap. He gives out an unceremonious snort.

“You must never want to be cool then,” he chuckles as Sammy punches his shoulder.

“For your information if we were a book I’d be, well I wouldn’t be the heroine. But, I would be the charismatic character that kept everyone together. Without me, you’re all doomed,” I grin victoriously.

“Oh yeah, where’s Drew? Where’s Lucy for that matter,” Adrian smirks.

“Lucy is with Claire and they’ve gone to the park. Drew, I haven’t seen him since he left, weren’t you supposed to be out looking for him?” I throw back.

“Yeah, and he’s upstairs,” he answers. I turn on my heel to leave when Sammy and Adrian get that look in their faces, that lovey dovey one. Not wanting to be witness to another pregnancy scare, I decide to take my leave before I hear Adrian calling my name.

“Yeah,” I turn to look at him.

“If Drew asks you something and you don’t hear because you’re fangirling over how his touch gives you tingles, just say yes,” he smirks and I roll my eyes. Drew’s touch does not give me tingles. It’s more of the steady rhythm of an electric current.

“I do not fangirl over Drew’s touch,” I defend.

“What were you doing just now?” he retorts. I glare at him and mentally hope he gets eaten by wolves.

“I’m going to go and I choose not to answer that because I can,” I mutter before hurrying out of the kitchen. My eyes light up as Claire walks in through the door with Lucy in her arms and Roger in tow.

“Hey,” I beam and head over and take the little girl in my arms. She smiles up at me, her blue eyes seeming more vibrant than ever.

“She’ll be falling asleep shortly, she definitely had a tiring day,” Claire smiles lovingly at me.

“Yes, and Claire is as overprotective as ever. She almost freaked out because Lucy crawled onto the grass,” Roger rolls his eyes. The old man dodges Claire’s elbow that for sure was heading towards his ribs. I smile at the both of them.

“Thank you for taking care of her. Claire, could you make extras for dinner tonight?” I ask, trying to seem as casual as ever.

“Why?” Roger immediately pins his suspicious gaze on me. It’s hard to fool people who’ve known you for such a long time and know every little one of your tricks.

“Just really hungry, thanks,” I kiss Claire on the cheek. Roger bends down to my height as I give him an expectant look before giving him a kiss as well before going upstairs with Lucy in my hands. “How was your day?” I coo at the little girl. She merely giggles and claps her hands in response. I place her in the crib and watch as she dances around, not quite tired. I hear her mumble something but I brush it off as some sort of wishful thinking.

“Ma-ma,” I hear again and snap up to look at a smiling Lucy.

“What did you say?” I grab her in my hands once again and spin her around.

“Ma-ma,” she repeats before laughing to herself. I am not going to cry, I told myself I wouldn’t cry. Who the hell am I kidding, I feel my eyes water as my heart bubbles in sentiment to the amount of happiness this little girl has brought into my life. To have such an acknowledgement made by her own lips makes my heart warm in a way that I’ve never experienced before with anybody else. Not even Drew, with him it’s different. But with Lucy, I feel like I want to take her under my wings and never let anything harm her. If I could protect her from the world’s cruelties I’d do it in a heartbeat. If I was a mother bird I’d never let her take that jump out of the nest. She clamps her small hand on my cheek and I feel a tear sliding down before she clumsily wipes it away.

“You love me?” I whisper hoarsely. She gives me a weird look before shaking her head and placing her other hand on my cheek. I smile and bombard her petite face with kisses, her giggles filling the room with warm joy. I was so into playing around with Lucy that I didn’t even hear the door open and shut.

“You’d make a good mom,” Drew’s voice makes me jump and whirl around to face him.

“Don’t scare me, I could’ve dropped her,” I scowl at him as I place a tiring Lucy in her crib.

“Why were you crying?” he moves closer towards me, blue eyes looking at me with concern. The Collins family has been awarded with such beautiful eyes and it’s not even the color that makes them wonderful. It’s their ability to express emotions so vividly, even when they’re trying to act nonchalant their eyes speak volumes.

“Lucy called me ma-ma,” I mumble sheepishly before looking down at my shoes, warmth filling my cheeks. He’s going to think I’m such a pansy for crying over that.

“Really?” I look up and nod. “That’s good,” he smiles before leaning over her crib. He strokes the little girl’s head with care, a loving look on his face.

“You think so?” I ask.

“Yeah, you’ve looked after her for so long and you treat her like your own kid. You do it naturally while the rest of us freak out on whether we do things right or not,” he explains. I don’t bother pointing out that I freak out as well, don’t want to shadow my awesomeness.

“You’re really good with her too,” I point out. His lips twitch as he looks down at Lucy.

“Do you really think my dad was a good guy?” he asks suddenly and all I can think of is how casual I have to play this. I must not give anything out, if I ever had any ninja training this is where those skills would be put to the test.

“Wh-what do you mean?” did I seriously just stutter.

“You know how you said that you really thought there was more going on with this whole thing,” he elaborates.

“Yeah, I believe he is a good person,” I nod.

“Is?” he looks at me skeptically.

“Was, I meant was,” I shake my head and mentally beat myself with a hardcover book. Why can’t I be as smooth and suave like the people around me with the exception of Kohl?

“Right, I actually had something to ask,” he starts. I look at him expectantly before I hear Claire call us down for dinner. A noise of frustration rumbles in his throat before he walks out of the room.

“Drew’s crazy,” I whisper into Lucy’s room before going down as well. I take my customary seat next to Drew and watch as the rest of the guys pile in.

“Did you guys hear some sort of wailing coming from the coat closet earlier?” Lucas asks as he takes his seat. Everybody’s gaze seems to land on me and I blush under the attention.

“I may have been re-reading some Harry Potter books in there,” I answer uncertainly. Kohl rolls his eyes at my lie but Adrian shrugs thinking that is something I would actually do. I feel Drew’s gaze on the side of my face looking at me curiously, questioning.

“Really?” he leans down to whisper in my ear. I gulp and nod, my eyes looking at nothing in particular. We begin to eat after Claire and Roger sit themselves down, talking about nothing and everything.

“Can we talk after dinner?” Drew’s breath hits the side of my neck and I feel my fork clink against my plate with my shaking hand.

“What’s wrong, you usually demand not ask,” I retort. He leans back with a smile on his face.

“You’re right, we’re going to talk after dinner,” he flicks my nose before going back to his pasta. Against my will I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I shake my head and grab another forkful before locking gazes with Adrian, who snickers before shoving food into his mouth. I hope he chokes. What could Drew possibly want to talk about? Oh, what if he knows about his dad and this is just one of those ‘I’m giving you the chance to clean’ things. He’ll never break me, I’m like the CIA. Cunning, Intellectual, and Attractive, well in my head I am.

“Hey Khloe, do you have Ruby’s number?” Lucas pipes up.

“Yeah why?”

“Uh, can you give it to me so I can call her and ask for the details on her fashion project?” he rambles. I text him the number before taking my plate to the kitchen.

“I have more if you want,” Claire bustles in recalling the extras I asked her to make.

“Uhm, can you make me a plate but don’t tell anyone it’s for me?” she nods and I wait, leaning on the counter before straightening up as Drew walks in. Claire hands me the plate before exiting the kitchen and Drew looks at me questioningly.

“It’s in case I get hungry at night,” I ramble quickly.

“That talk,” he reminds, hooking his thumbs in his pockets and looking cute doing it. Aw.

“Yeah, can you wait for me in your room? I just have to ask Kim something very quickly,” he nods and I wait for him to head upstairs before going over to the closet. I walk into the panic room right as Mister Collins walks out of the bathroom shirtless and a pair of sweatpants clinging on to his body. Kohl must’ve brought some clothes for him. I feel a blush take over me and hurriedly place the plate of food on the table by his bed. Why is everyone in Drew’s family good looking? If I wasn’t so invested in Drew…, I’m not even going to finish that thought.

“Thanks,” Damien smiles at me. He pulls a white t-shirt over his head before taking a seat on the cot, his brown locks spill over his vibrant green eyes.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“You’re welcome,” I mumble. I guess I’m still shy around him, that or I’m really intimidated by him.

“So, how’s Drew?” he smiles teasingly and I let out a breath.

“He’s good though he keeps insisting we have some sort of talk,” I sigh. Mister Collins begins to chuckle, a certain gleam in his eyes.

“And you have no idea what this talk is about?” there’s a teasing note to his question.

“Not a clue,” I deadpan honestly.

“Wow, Drew’s in for a ride with you,” he smiles before wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Why?”

“You’re adorably oblivious to the world around you, it certainly is refreshing,” he answers without hesitation. I’d contradict him if my belief in Santa Claus wasn’t still very much intact.

“You wouldn’t have any embarrassing childhood stories on Drew, would you?” this time I definitely mean to pry. I need something on the blue eyed boy.

“I’ll tell you later, but I’d go talk to Drew before he gets impatient,” he replies. I nod and walk out of the room and closet with a sigh.

“Why do you keep going inside that closet?” Drew’s voice makes an uncharacteristic squeak tumbling out of my lips.

“Why do you keep sneaking up on me?” I place a hand over my rapid beating heart.

“Why do you keep sneaking around?”

“I am not sneaking around. I don’t know why you keep insinuating I’m hiding something. I’m not hiding anything, my life is an open book,” I ramble nervously.

“You’ve been acting very suspicious lately,” he points out while crossing his arms.

“On a scale of one to ten, how suspicious are you?”

“One hundred,” he answers quickly.

“What did you need to talk about?” I dodge him as he moves closer.

“What are you hiding in that closet, is it someone else?” he is so on point it’s scary.

“Why would I hide someone in the closet, that’s crazy.”

“So are you,” he bites back. Is he getting mad, his stance does seem kind of stiff. His blue eyes seem to glare down at me.

“Look, I’ve been trying to ask you something but I can’t do it if you’re keeping secrets,” he runs a hand through his already messy brown hair.

“What’s so important that I can’t seem to go into the closet without you questioning me?” I snap. His eyes seem to lose any amusement as he stalks towards me. Damn, I’ve done it again. I’ve awoken Drew’s inner beast.

“That right there, you’re acting all weird and I don’t know why. Is it because of that Derek guy?” he practically screams in my face. How did this escalate and turn into a fight so rapidly?

“Hey, what’s going on?” Kohl chirps as he plants himself on the couch, oblivious to the tension rising in the room.

“Derek has nothing to do with this, you need to stop being so freaking jealous,” I throw my hands up to show my frustration.

“I’m not jealous, there’s no reason to be jealous,” he scowls at me. That phrase right there struck a chord within me, something didn’t feel right when Drew said that so carelessly.

“Fine, then I’ll just go find Derek and plant one on him,” I throw back before making my way to the stairs. I shouldn’t have turned my back on him, perhaps then I would’ve seen him coming at me instead of being tackled to the ground. I wasn’t able to even put my foot on the first step as I land on top of Drew, who turned us around and took the brunt of the fall. How thoughtful.

“I swear you make me so mad,” he whispers, blue eyes looking up at me with an indescribable emotion.

“I wonder if I make Derek mad,” I tease down at him.

“Be my girlfriend,” he smiles, brushing a lock of my hair back. I was so not expecting that, oh who am I kidding. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, but I can’t find myself able to make any words. “Not feeling very confident now,” he mumbles.

“Wait, I’m thinking,” I put my hand over his mouth to shush him.

“Are piggyback rides in the package if I say ‘yes’?” I look into his amused eyes. He rolls them before nodding. “Then yes, I’ll be your girlfriend,” I smiles, removing my hand from his face. He smirks cockily before bringing my face down to his for a kiss. It was all going good until an over exaggerated clearing of the throat has us pulling away.

“Uhm, you guys are weird and Khloe, you’re straddling him,” Kohl lifts me up from my position on the floor with Drew. Oh no, my brother will not be letting this go anytime soon. “Drew, I’ve actually written a book about what not to do with my sister if you’re dating her, I’ll give it to you later,” he states before stepping over Drew and up the stairs. Drew lifts himself up from the ground with an unusual smile on his face. That was the last thing I saw before the lights in the house went out. I jumped as in that moment in time lightning decided to struck outside.

“Damn it, just when Drew gets the girl,” I hear Kohl huff from his spot on the stairs. What the hell is going on? Drew must be cursed, I don’t know if this girlfriend thing is such a good idea now.

“So what’s in the closet?” I hear Drew ask. So not the time for that, Drew.