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Dedication: Cloudy_999 for saying that each update is amazing and that you can't wait for the next one! <3

Recap:

Every sound, every stick crack or wind moan, I snap my head up, hoping to see Miles loping towards me, his beautiful smile on his face.

The temperature begins to drop as I wait.

Thirty minutes quickly morphs into an hour. And then an hour and a half.

I'm shivering, my teeth chattering against each other as I hug my legs to my chest, feeling incredibly stupid and alone. Just like last time.

I can't believe this has happened again.

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When I scramble to my feet, my tear-stained cheeks cold from the wind, I feel incredibly stupid.

Has this been his plan all along? Surely, someone could not fake those words, those feelings... He couldn't be that good of an actor.

Something... Something has happened. That is the only thing I can believe. That thought is the very string keeping my sanity together. My fingers feel numb when I dial his number again.

"Hello, you've reached the voice mail of ---" I let out a groan of anger as I am tempted to throw my phone at the ground.

I numbly walk to the locker room. It's dark. The only sounds I can hear is my quickened breathing and one of the taps drizzling water into the basin beneath it.

"Miles?" I whisper, before clearing my throat. "Miles?"

No answer.

Beginning to feel creeped out, I take a deep breath and turn my phone light on. I roam through the dark room, hoping that nothing will jump out to scare me. I seem to hold my breath the entire time I'm in there.

When everything looks the same as it always does, the stench of body odour and sweat still lingering in the air, I skulk back outside, feeling defeated.

I really thought he might have slipped... that something could have happened.

I can't believe he would do this to me. He couldn't have...

Withdrawing my phone out one more time and hugging Miles' jersey to me for comfort, I try calling Kiarra. Her phone rings out. She will be dancing, or doing something fun. She won't have even felt it.

Feeling like a lost puppy with my tail in between my legs, I drag my feet with me, making my way home, feeling utterly deflated and alone.

***

Two Hours Earlier

Miles' POV:

My eyes sting with sweat as I switch the shower nozzle on.

I press my hand against the tiles as the cool water runs through my hair and down my back, removing the grime and dirt from my skin. When I close my eyes, I see her. Her soft eyes, her cute smile.

Tonight.

I can't wait.

Even though I should feel exhausted after the game, I feel alive with energy. I rinse myself off thoroughly, wanting to feel as clean as possible. After towelling off, I yank a pair of dark jeans on and a maroon t-shirt, rolling the sleeves. I flatten down my wet hair, using the dingy mirror duct taped to the wall to see.

"Hot date tonight?" Jai smirks at me, clapping his hand down onto my shoulder.

He knows full well what is happening tonight, considering he's dating Kiarra, Isobel's best friend.

"Something like that," I grin.

"Good luck, mate," he smiles, before swinging his sports bag onto his shoulder.

He's the last to leave and once he goes, a humming quiet settles around me. It's the quietest the locker room has probably ever been, when I've been in it.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I eagerly reach for it, hoping I'm not running late.

Unknown: Hey, it's me. My phone went flat. Can we meet at the other end of the oval? I have a surprise for you ;)

I smirk down at the phone. A surprise?

I go to my locker and exchange my sports bag, for the one I had planted in there for tonight. I carry it with me as I begin the trek to the other end of he field, the opposite direction we were meant to meet up.

Isobel is always well prepared with her phone battery, so it's weird that she's let it go flat, tonight of all nights. She refuses to touch her phone until she leaves, so that it has full charge for wherever we go. She's always paranoid about having a flat phone, in case of emergencies.

Miles: Where are you?

Unknown: Bus shelter.

The bus shelter comes into sight. Why are we meeting here? I keep walking, my heart beginning to thump louder in my chest.

"Hey," I begin to say when I walk around.

Instead of seeing my girl, I see an arrogant, smirk.

I blink at Eli.

"Eli? What the hell?" I demand, my eyes narrowing into slits.

"Surprise," he smiles, waving his phone in his hand, before sliding it into his pockets.

"Where is she?" I snap, my fists balling at my sides.

"Probably in my bed," he shrugs, a sleazy smirk on his face. I begin to see red.

"What the fuck do you want?" I snarl, stepping closer to him.

He walks to me and plucks my phone right from my hand.

"Hey!" I roar angrily, reaching for it, but am too late as he pegs it to the ground, smashing the screen of my iPhone. I glare down at it, furious. I don't have enough money to buy a new one.

"Revenge," he smiles. "Karma is a bitch, Miles."

"Don't touch her," I threaten though gritted teeth, feeling my body shake with rage.

Eli's victorious smirk makes me want to murder him.

"He's ready for you boys," Eli announces, before stepping back.

I quickly dart my eyes to his right, where three familiar looking men stand there, looking as deadly as they did last time.

"Fuck," I mutter, my bag sliding from my shoulder and landing with a thud on the grass beside me.

Carlos, Andre and Sean.

The last time I saw them, they wanted me dead. They almost had their way, if I didn't make a run for it. Thank God Isobel and Finn were there to patch me up.

"Miles!" Carlos grins, stepping towards me, showcasing his yellowing teeth, with the front left one missing. "Good to see you're well."

"I can't help you," I tell him, my voice firm. "Whatever shit my mum was involved in, it has nothing to do with me."

"And yet, that wasn't the case for John's pick up, was it?" he questions with a grin. "You gladly dropped the bag of heroine off for us when we asked."

"Not my fault I found my mother, face down in her own vomit," I spit at them. "Who else was going to do it? I know the types of things you would have done to her if I didn't do it."

Carlos laughs. "Your mum was a real prize, son. Always was."

My teeth are going to break, I am gritting them so hard.

"Shame she died the way she did," he continues, a nasty gleam to his eye.

"She died, from the drugs you gave her," I shout at him, feeling my face burn with white, hot anger.

Carlos shrugs. "I didn't shove the needle into her arm, boy."

Doing that one drop off for her, had been the worst decision of my life. I thought I was helping her. I was trying to save her from the severe punishment they would dish out.

But instead, I sucked myself in for a life-long contract, I never knew I signed. My mother took the easy way out. She ended her own life, to save herself. She never thought of what they would do to me, after she was gone.

"Carlos, I don't even live there anymore. Why are you still after me?"

"Because no one gets out of the game, without a scratch," he tells me. "Your time has come."

Carlos calmly walks towards me. Sean and Andre flank my sides, offering me no escape. I look over to Eli, pleading with him.

He looks torn, I can see it in his eyes.

"Eli," I croak out. "Please."

Carlos cracks his knuckles, the distinct sounds shooting around the silent surroundings. Eli turns his back to me and walks.

I watch him walk away, calmly and deliberately. He might not be the one about to hurt me, but he is the worst of them all.

I close my eyes.

This is it.

The pain is immediate. It's hot, painful and everywhere. The pressure of his fist in my face, knocks me backwards. I sprawl across the grass.

Three against one. How am I going to walk away from this?

The only thing I can do, is wrap myself into a ball and attempt to protect myself as much as I can. I know there's no chance I could get one shot in. These guys do this on a daily basis. I've got nothing on them.

Crunch.

A howl tears from my throat as they kick, spit and stamp on me. My body is pulled and beaten. I am wheezing, trying to get onto my knees. Another kick to my side, which definitely has broken a rib, makes me collapse. My vision is blurry as I cover my face, feeling a steel cap boot slam into my cheek, my finger twisting painfully under impact.

"Carlos," I hear one of the men speak. At this point, I can't distinguish which one it is. "Let's go."

Carlos squats down to look at me. His face looks like leather, it's so worn and beaten. He has scabs healed over his eyebrows and a droopy left eye. I peel my hands from my face, barely able to draw a breath as I meet his eyes.

"You cross the border again, I will kill you," he tells me and the finality in his voice, indicates he isn't kidding.

"Fuck you," I spit at him, feeling the blood dripping through my teeth and onto my tongue.

Carlos' foot rams into my side. I fall onto my back, gasping and choking on the thick blood in the back of my throat.

"I change my mind. You're dead now," he growls, before he stomps onto my throat.

The wind is knocked out of my lungs. The choking sound in my throat blisters my ears as I claw at his foot. The pressure, it's too much.

I'm going to die.

The harder I try to breathe, the worst the pain gets.

"Boss, let's go," one of the men insists, but Carlos' eyes are wild and dangerous. The words go through one ear and straight out the other.

My entire body sags against the ground. Darkness beads across my vision, swallowing me whole.

The last thing I picture in my mind, is her.

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