Four or Dead by G O A

Chapter 13

Jayden... Present...

Emma had dozed off at some point and I had fallen into a trance as I watched her. She was beautiful even in sleep and I hated how I was so drawn to her. Unlike the other guys, I didn't take notice of such things since my interests didn't often involve girls. They seemed to flock to me like bees to honey, but I barely tolerated them. We had some kind of reputation of being dark playboys, but that was far from the truth. Andrea and her friends liked to boast about being with each of us, but I had never touched one of those girls in that way. I had a school sweetheart once upon a time but she was long gone along with the rest of my family.

She had been with me that day... the day I lost everyone. My father worked with Asher's dad and understood that it was a dangerous line of work. Me and my girl were glued together since we had been in diapers, and she was in my room with me when the men came. When I heard my mother's screams I shot up and almost immediately pulled my girl to her feet and quickly hid her in the closet. I opened my room door and ran to my father's study to find the gun he had hidden there. He had taught me how to use it for this very reason, but my head was in a panic and I fumbled with the lockbox longer than I should have.

The sounds of my mother's screams and cries were drowning me, but then a shot went off and everything fell silent. Another shot went off and my father started to yell my mom and sister's name, but with one more shot, his voice fell silent too. I focused on the box in my hand and finally typed in the right code in time to hear footsteps coming up the stairs. I needed to distract the men long enough for my girl to get out, so I stepped into the hallway and held my gun on them..')

"Hey!" I cried out and the two men turned to me and laughed. "Aw how cute. We got ourselves a hero." One of the men said laughing.

They both walked toward me and I saw my girl sneaking out behind them. A breath of relief left me but thankfully it wasn't loud enough to alert the men. I kept my gun pointed at them but a third man grabbed me from behind and one of the two in front pulled the gun away from me. The guy holding me was far stronger than my twelve-year-old strength, and he was able to drag me down the stairs. My eyes fell on the scene of my whole family in their own blood on the living room floor. I cried out for them but of course, no one answered.

"Hey guys look I found a little flower." A fourth man said dragging my girl from behind him and throwing her to the floor.

She cried out as she hit the floor and our eyes met before the man pulled her back by her hair.

"No! Let her go!" I cried.

"No, I don't think we will. You see we need to send a message, but it only takes one person to deliver it. You kid drew the winning card, which means everyone else lost." The man pulled out a gun from the back of his pants and shot my girl point-blank. \*

The men dropped me to the ground and left the way they came as if nothing had happened. I sat there alone unmoving until the police arrived, and didn't speak a single word the entire time they questioned me. The only thing I said was for them to call Asher's dad. When he arrived to get me with Asher in tow I ran to him and cried for the first time. He swore he would help me get my revenge and until then he would take me in. So that night I bunked with Asher and Logan for the first time.

Since then I hadn't let any girl into my thoughts or heart, because being around me was dangerous. We still hadn't figured out who it was that killed my family and as long as they were still out there no one was safe around me. The guys didn't care that they could be in danger and we were all deadly now in our own right. We all underwent intense training over the years just like every other guy in our crew. Yet here was a girl who appeared out of nowhere and started turning our world upside down without even trying. Something was seriously screwed up with us to go from tormenting the poor girl to moving her in. In all honesty, I had no idea what was going on but she was here and none of us were ina hurry to let her go.

Her story triggered the protective side of us and we couldn't sit around and do nothing. We were world-grade pricks but this changed things because I wasn't the only one with eyes on the girl. Asher and Logan stole glances at her as well and there was a hint of jealousy at the way she was cuddled up to Leo. That's what you get when you put four alpha males in one place with one pretty girl. Leo had a bond with her that

none of us had, and I guess we were all a little annoyed by that. She seemed to trust Leo the most and he had let down his mask of fake disgust for her and fallen into whipped puppy mode. It was a little funny to see him that way since he was good at acting like he didn't give a damn about anything..")

I wouldn't ever sink to that level but I was feeling something, something I hated. Because feelings like this never led to anything good. (°)

"Pll take her to her room," Leo said after the girl had been sleeping for some time.

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Asher nodded to him, and Leo shifted slightly so he could pick her up. She immediately cuddled into his chest and he let a smile slip before heading toward the stairs. "Uh gross," Logan said with a scoff.

"You seem a bit put out by the way she cuddled up to Leo, you jealous?" Asher asked smirking at Logan.

"Hardly. It's just embarrassing how Leo turned soft so easily because of one girl." Logan said crossing his arms over his chest like a stubborn toddler.

"It's obvious he had a thing for, so it shouldn't be that big of a surprise." I chimed in. \* "Yeah well, I will never be whipped silly like him, not for any girl." I shared a knowing look with Asher and we let our friend stew in his denial. Logan wasn't one to get jealous so he wasn't very good at hiding it. 1)

The three of us stayed put for a few more hours before turning in. Out of curiosity, I decided to stop by Emma's room to be sure she was sleeping comfortably. I opened the door to her room gently only to find her cuddled in Leo's arms, and they were both sleeping peacefully. I wasn't sure why I was so worried about the girl but seeing her sleep so peacefully made my heart flutter a little and I hated it. I also felt sorry for Leo, he was head over heels with our girl..') Wait...our girl? Dammit! The girl...Emma...whatever.

I shook my head and closed the door before rushing to my room. This girl was messing with my head and I was not happy about it. Logan...

I tossed and turned the whole night thinking about how Leo and Emma had been sitting together all cuddled and sappy. It was disgusting. But... it also looked kind of nice. It had been ages since anyone had shown such affection toward me and seeing it made me ache for it. Though I knew Emma would never feel comfortable enough around me to do such a thing so there was no point in hoping. I had been awful to her so I understood that I would have to go a long way before she would trust me. (2 I don't know why I cared so much if she trusted me or not, but I also had no idea why I had always had my eye on her. My pursuit of her was disguised as teasing and pointless flirting to make her uncomfortable but the truth was I found her kind of fascinating. She was shy and quiet but also stronger than most people. Even after everything we had all done to her she never stopped showing up, she just took it. I had to respect her for enduring all the things we did to her, and maybe that was why I was always seeking her out. To better understand her maybe, I wasn't sure. *)

It seems so silly now and I'm a little embarrassed by how clearly drawn to her I was. Why else would I fixate on one girl even to tease her? Even now she was consuming my every thought, and I sighed in frustration. Tomorrow we would be going back to school, and Emma would be with us. I could only imagine the reactions we would get from everyone especially Andrea and her gang. Their torment of Emma was bound to become far worse once they saw her with us.

If she even looked at Emma funny though she would have to deal with me. Asher may put up with her but I didn't have to, and I had been waiting for a chance to put that skank in her place. Now that Emma was under our protection, no one was allowed to touch her. I sighed and covered my eyes with my arm to try and force myself to sleep but I just couldn't. With a huff, I pushed myself up in bed and pulled the covers away. I stood and made my way to the door and stomped out of my room. I found myself standing at the door of Emma's room and started having an internal battle about whether or not I should go in. I didn't even know why I was there. (2 Thad an urge to be close to her, and it was driving me crazy I needed sleep and I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to unless I did this. I opened the door slowly and peeked inside to find Leo and Emma cuddled together. Anger bubbled up and I so badly wanted to grab Leo and throw him out, but Emma looked so peaceful so I decided I would tolerate Leo being there for now. I sighed and stepped inside, closing the door behind me and walking toward the bed. There was room on the other side of Emma, so I pulled the blanket away and slid in behind her.

I hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do but at that moment Emma shuffled and turned so that she was facing me. She was still asleep but now she was face to face with me and my heart skipped at how closer we were now. I brushed a piece of her hair back and rested my forehead against hers. It was like her presence was just the thing I needed to calm me, and I fell into a peaceful sleep with my hand gently resting on her hip. 7

It was the best damn sleep I had in ages.