Bea Messina

Waking up, I can feel a wet, rough surface against my cheek.

When I finally come to my senses, my eyes open to see the adorable Yuli licking my face. I sit up and wipe my face with my hands.

"Do you need to pee?" I ask and she whines. I sigh and get up, going to my bag to get changed.

Pulling clothes out, I slip on a pair of grey gym shorts and a loose grey tank top.

I open the door to my room and follow the hall back down to the living room I saw last night with Yuli in my arms.

When we descend the stairs, I can hear guys in the living room. I take a deep breath and take the final steps into the room, letting them see me.

I see all their eyes trail up and down my body. Scoffing, I walk to the glass back door and put Yuli down and she runs somewhere into the huge fenced yard.

"What's this tattoo baby?" A voice asks from behind me. I cringe at the name as he sweeps my brown hair to get a better look at the tattoo. "Ace of spades on fire? What's the meaning there?" He asks trailing his rough hands over the tattoo.

I turn around to see a disgusting middle aged man leaning across the doorway, stopping me from entering the house again.

I scowl and reply, spitting venom with my words, "It's for my name, BlackJack." He seems taken back and then chuckles.

"You almost got me. BlackJack isn't a little girl." He says brushing a piece of hair behind my ear.

Grabbing his wrist, I pull him closer and shove him around, holding his wrist behind his back so he can't move.

"BlackJack is a little girl, a very deadly one at that." I whisper in his ear. I shove every him in the house and he stumbles to regain his footing.

Yuli goes bounding in the house and I follow after her to be let into a living room filled with shocked men. "This isn't my first time living in a gang house, do not treat me like a little girl. Also, do not touch my cars or bike, I put the last man in a coma for scratching the paint on my baby." I say to the men.

They nod their heads, hearing someone walk down the stairs, we look and see Ace standing there with his mouth wide open. "Morning Ace." I say with a bit of a smile.

"Morning Bea, I guess you met some of the guys." He says, obviously holding back his laughter while he finished walking down the steps.

"We were just getting acquainted," I say with a big smile. He chuckles and shakes his head, looking to the ground, I see him bite his lip the tiniest bit.

I smile and turn away, heading into the kitchen to get food. Yuli follows close behind with a bit of a trot, probably looking for food as well.

"We need to talk Bea." Ace said as he stood next to me as I looked in the fridge for something to eat.

"What about?" I asked innocently, grabbing an apple from the fridge.

"About yesterday, what did I do to make you break down like that? What did he do to you?" He asks in a hushed tone as theirs guys in the living room, not even two metres away listening to every word.

I think about it and crush the apple in my hand, letting the juices cover the counter.

I didn't answer and that made Ace angry, "Dammit Bea! How am I supposed to help you! I don't even know what he did to you!" He yells slamming his hand down on the counter, sending a loud clap through the house.

"What didn't he do! I can't tell you everything!" I say slamming my hands down on the wooden table next to me. It cracking beneath my hands and falling to the floor.

"Tell me something Bea, anything." He whispers putting a hand on my shoulder and brushing my hair to the side.

"From the day I was born, I was a disappointment to my father. I didn't get any of my looks from him and that bothered him. He bleached my hair blonde and whenever we went out, he made me wear contacts so my eyes were blue like his.

"Sometimes he would even tie me up in the yard, nude, on sunny days so I could look like I have his latino blood coursing through my veins." I said falling to my knees on the floor.

"I was locked in a dark cell from the age of two. There was a tiny window that let air in and the bars were electric. To get food and water, you had to reach through and pretty much paralyze yourself for an hour.

"They had cameras in every corner of the cell. The men used to enjoy watching me sob on the dirty, cold floor completely exposed to their eyes. I wore proper clothes for the first time when I was 14." I said quietly, but I know they all heard me.

"Bea, where was your mother in all of this?" Ace asked with a sympathetic voice.

"In a cell across from me. When I was seven, I watched as she used the fork from her dinner to kill herself. I cursed her every night for leaving me there alone, especially for not taking me with her." I replied looking down at my hands, seeing the scars down my arms from grabbing my meal through the bars.

All of a sudden, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Ace there.

I shook his hand off and stood up on my own accord. "Every night, I counted the days I was in there. Hoping that day 306 would be the day I was let out. Or maybe 507. Hell, even 2,398. But they weren't, not till day 4,379. That was the day I escaped." I said walking into the living room and sitting on the vacant couch in front of the staring eyes of the middle aged men.

I picked up the whimpering Yuli and put her on my lap as I cross my legs and pet her softly. She lays her head down causing me to let out a small smile.

I sat and never spoke another word for the rest of the day. The rest of the men recovered and didn't give me pity, I was thankful for that and gave them a small smile as they left to do their own duties.

Still I sat there with the puppy sleeping in my lap.

With a loud bang, the door opened to reveal half the football team walking in.

They seemed taken back by my appearance in their gang house, guess they didn't know I'd be here.

"Hey Bea." Noah says cautiously. I look up and flash a small smile and wave. "What're you doing here?" He asks as they all file in and sit on and stand behind the couch across from me.

"You know, hanging with the gang. Ace caught me at my race last night and brought me here." I explain looking casually looking back down to the still sleeping puppy in my lap.

Suddenly, I pick her up and cradle her in my arms as I stand up and head to the kitchen to get some water.

"What do you mean race?" Noah asks for the hoard of guys again.

"Oh, you guys didn't see my car in the garage? The flaming cards are kinds hard to miss." I say opening a water bottle.

"That's your car? But that's the sign of BlackJack." He says looking down and then it hits him, "Your BlackJack!" I shrug and nod. Not really a big deal.

"So you guys are finally back?" Ace asks entering the kitchen, standing next to me.

"Yeah, sorry we got a little more wasted than thought last night so we stayed over there." Luke answered from one side of the group.

"Did you know that she's BlackJack?" Noah asks, still completely flabbergasted by the idea.

"Yeah, she's going to be living with us, so be nice." He says with a crooked smile.

"But she's the only girl in the house!" Noah yells in protest.

I choke on my water in disbelief and they turn their eyes back to me, I turn mine to the whistling Ace, "I'm the only girl in this house?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yeah, but you can handle yourself, you'll be fine." He says walking out.

"Well since I am the only girl in the house, I have four rules." They nod and listen intently as I begin to list them off.

"1) do not touch my cars or bike, I sent a man into a coma for scratching the paint slightly on my Indian Scout."

Suddenly Isaac comes from no where into the kitchen, "You weren't kidding about that?" I shake my head no. He chuckles and grabs a water, listening to the rest of my rules.

"2) do not fuck with the puppy." I say pointing down to a sleeping Yuli in my arms.

"3) do not go in my room or touch my stuff. And 4) Don't be afraid of me all the time. I'll only hurt you if you give me a valid reason to. Other than that you should be fine." I say with a shrug.

"Sounds easy enough." Noah says nodding his head at the others.

"You would think but I've sent four different men into month long coma's, idiots all tried to get my cars and technically ones not mine." I say shaking awake the puppy in my arms so I can put her outside to pee again.

I place her down and she follows me to the door and bounds out the door into the backyard, chasing butterflies.

"What do you mean, which ones not yours?" Weston asks as him, Richie and Raphael walk down the stairs.

"The Devil, it was given to me to escape. It still has Oliver's gun in the glove compartment, his initials on the keys, even some clothes under the seat I think." I say with a shrug.

Suddenly, I turn to Ace and ask, "Do you know what happened to Nitro, the guy I was fighting last night? I kind of want to know how he is."

"Yeah, that. He's in the medical department downstairs. That's Hunter, we go to school with him.  He's still whiny as ever with a broken jaw." Ace answers rolling his eyes.

"Only a broken jaw? Damn I thought I hit him harder. My first fight ever, first punch I threw, the guy fell to the floor unconscious like a sack of potatoes. He didn't wake up for a week." I say letting the puppy back in, she bounds around and runs through the legs of the boys standing in the kitchen.

"I like her, can we keep her?" A scrawny boy asks from the hoard.

"I wasn't planning on leaving." I say with a giggle. They chuckle and shake their heads, going onto different conversations.