I don't take things too personal
But you made shit personal

Chapter 04 ~ Waitin For You

Owen Bailey

After endless hours of cruising around town and trying to acquire the money I had promised Raven, I finally stepped foot into Jonah's old, busted apartment around noon.

My eyes stung from the lack of sleep and my throat itched from all the alcohol I had been drinking. There was no doubt that I looked just as shitty as I felt, so I wasn't in the mood for any of Ake's bitching as soon as he set eyes on me.

I didn't even know what he was complaining about. I stopped listening after the first time he had ever complained to me. It was almost always about the same thing: some broad named Jillian who dumped him or his seemingly "endless" duties.

He thought he had it bad? Then he wouldn't have survived a day with Lucifer.

"Oh my fucking goodness," I groaned loudly. "Stop fucking whining, Ake. I'll rearrange your face the next time you complain about endless shit."

His gaze narrowed at me as he folded his arms on his chest in disapproval, a scowl quickly forming onto his face. "I didn't sign up for this shit! I'm not your fucking slave, you asshole."

"Yeah?" I challenged him with a slightly raised brow. Even after everything I had done for him—take him away from his broken home, give him somewhere to sleep, and feed him—he continued to take every given opportunity to bitch about every little thing that didn't go his way. "Well, you're free to leave at any time, prick. If I hear you complain one more time, I'll really give you something to complain about." 

He stood from the old, lumpy couch and stomped his foot on the floor in exasperation. His amber eyes shone with anger when his nostrils flared and he turned on his heel to storm into the living room. As soon as he was gone, I looked over to Jonah who had a pair of headphones pulled over his neck.

"Thanks for stitching him up, Jonah. The kid doesn't even appreciate it."

Jonah shrugged. "You know that's what I do, Owen. I'm always looking out for you and your stowaways."

I rolled my eyes at him and reached into my grocery bag to fish out a can of beer. I tossed it to him and continued my journey through the apartment to find Raven. As expected, she was sprawled across an old futon in one of the vacant bedrooms, reading a magazine and wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of fiery red panties.

On any given day, I would've loved the sight of said panties, but after today's events, I really couldn't be bothered.

"Hey," I said to announce my presence.

"'Bout damn time," she snapped in a playful manner as she turned onto her side to face me. "I was beginning to think that I wasn't gonna get any ... oh my god! Owen! What the hell happened to your face?"

I sucked in a breath, not really wanting to talk about the black boy. "Babe, it's fine."

She leaped to her feet and made her way to me, grabbing onto the sides of my face to turn my attention to her. "No, it's not fine! Who did this to you? One of Lucifer's lackeys?" Her blue eyes gleamed with genuine concern even though I was totally fine and she didn't need to worry about me.

"No, it was just the stupid kid," I spat angrily just as I pushed past her. Keeping my attention on the far wall, I pulled my blood-stained shirt up over my head and tossed it to the floor. "I really don't wanna talk about it. I just need some rest."

"Do you want me to make you some tea?" I heard her ask in a hushed voice.

I made my way to the dresser and started to rummage through one of the drawers for a new shirt, completely ignoring her question. Seconds passed with us just standing in silence until Raven finally got the hint and released a long sigh, indicating that she would give me as much time as I needed. Sure enough, just moments later, she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

When I found a shirt that was somewhat decent and didn't reek of weed, I draped it over my shoulder and proceeded to the bathroom. The air was thick with the smell of week-old cigarettes, but aside from the constant flickering light and the noisy whir of the air conditioning, it was actually quite peaceful — more peaceful than these last few days have been.

My gaze slowly lifted to my reflection in the cracked mirror. The kid certainly had a killer punch, I guess I'd give him that. My left eye was swollen with a noticeable purple bruise surrounding it. My nose had stopped bleeding a while ago, but the dried blood was still a prominent feature on my slightly broken nose. I made a mental note to ask Jonah to fix me up later.

Of course, I didn't look all that hot, but I looked way better than I had when I was still under Lucifer's hold.

I shivered at the memory of all those nights when I didn't come home with enough grams of cocaine or the right amount of prescription pills. Even though I had busted my ass off on the streets to get him what he wanted, it never seemed to be enough. And he made it his priority to never let me forget how much control he had over me. I hated to admit that, even after a year of escaping that cruel life, he still left an impressionable impact on me every time I thought about what he did to me. Every single day, those memories weighed heavily on me.

Shaking away the horrible thoughts tormenting my mind, I reached into the medicine cabinet for a half-full bottle of rubbing alcohol and doused a washcloth with it to bring to my cuts and bruises. It stung momentarily, but it wasn't anything that I wasn't already used to.

After a few minutes of tending to my injuries, I took one last look at my battered reflection before reluctantly turning away to return to my room. A strained breath flew from my lips while I changed my clothes and crossed the room to fall back onto the plush mattress of the futon. I laid there, silent, for what felt like eternity before Raven returned, carefully inching into the room.

"You good?" she asked.

I nodded, not tearing my gaze away form the ceiling. "I'm good."

Raven tip-toed across the room and crawled onto the futon next to me, making sure to snuggle as close to me as possible. She rested her head on my shoulder and placed a delicate hand on my chest. "I know I was all for being nice to the gay kid, but I don't like the way he hurt you, Owen. Say the word and I'll fuck him up."

I smiled at that.

"What?" she asked, her blue eyes growing wide with curiosity. "You know I'll do it."

I closed my eyes to revel in the sound of her voice and laughed. "I know you will, but he really isn't worth any of our time. We have bigger things to worry about."

"Right, but I can still give him a punch or two."

I turned my head to face her. "Raven,
leave him alone."

Her lips twisted into a mocking smile. "You're hot when you care about other people than yourself."

An irritated groan bubbled in the back of my throat. "Oh god, don't even remind me. I don't like it. At all."

She giggled to herself and nuzzled he face into my chest. "You need to get some rest. Tomorrow's a new day and we have a shitload of stuff to do." A wave of silence washed over us as Raven got comfortable enough to sleep and not even five minutes later, she was sound asleep with her arms wrapped around me tightly, like she was afraid to let me go.

I let my eyelids close so I could enjoy our tight embrace and let the sleep I had been craving take over me.

*  *  *

"What's for breakfast, Jonah!" I practically screamed just as I bolted out of the bedroom and ambled into the kitchen where the smell of cinnamon filled my nostrils. I leaned over his shoulder to peek at the stove and smiled triumphantly when I saw the pancake batter. "Smells delicious."

He snuck a glance at me and laughed. "When will you start making me breakfast?"

"When you start paying the bills," I retorted with a smug smile. Even though Jonah was the unfortunate owner of this old apartment, he was dead broke. He had a doctorate's degree in medicine and he used to be one hell of a doctor, but no employers would hire him after an ex-convict with a record of burglary.

When we met him and learned about his circumstances, we made a mutual agreement. Raven and I agreed to pay for the dingy excuse of an apartment as long as he took care of everything else.

Jonah nodded, a lopsided smirk slowly coming to his face. "True."

I dipped my finger into the pancake better and brought it to my mouth to taste. "Hmm, it's missing something." Jonah raised a curious brow and I satisfied his curiosity by reaching into the cabinet for a marijuana leaf. I tore off a piece of it and dropped it in the batter. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

He cackled, but didn't object.

I leaned against the counter and focused my attention on Raven who had just strolled into sight, wearing a pair of ripped skinny jeans and a tight, tank top that exposed her pierced belly button, which seemed to be her go-to outfit. "Okay, so how do I look?" she asked as he twirled around.

"Is that even a question?" I countered. "You look hot, as always."

She stretched his lips into a grin and ran a hand through her short, blonde hair. "Thanks. That was the look I was going for. You know George might be married and he might have ten kids, but he's so into me."

"Great." I pushed off the counter and approached her. "Now all you have to do is bat your pretty little lashes and he'll give us a little extra money."

Raven closed the gap between us and gently pressed her lips on mine. My hands instinctively moved around her waist to pull her closer, but she had already pulled away from the kiss before I could even respond accordingly. "We don't wanna get too carried away," she reminded me when she stepped away. "I'm gonna wake Ake up."

I gave her a short nod and watched as she skipped further into the apartment, disappearing behind a hallway that cut through the living room. I flicked my attention back to Jonah who was smiling at me. "What?" I questioned.

He flipped a weed pancake onto an empty plate and handed it to me. "Do you love her?"

I scoffed at his absurd accusation and bit into the pancake, pausing for a moment to enjoy the burst of flavor that erupted in my mouth. "I've known Raven since high school. I like her, a lot, but love? That's a bit too extreme, don't ya think?"

He shrugged. "She loves you."

I rolled my eyes. "No, she doesn't."

"Dude, you don't just agree to sell drugs with your boyfriend unless you love him," Jonah pointed out, bluntly, not even bothering to beat around the bush.

I folded my arms across my chest, sighing. "Love isn't really my thing. That requires commitment, y'know? Life's too short to be committed to anything and Raven and I share that philosophy."

He gave me an annoyed look with his intense brown eyes, and then reverted his attention back to his current task.

I was gonna add something else to further prove my point about love being pointless, but Raven came sauntering back into the kitchen with her dark eyebrows pulled together in a straight line. "Owen, where's Ake?"

That piqued my interest. "What are you talking about? He's not in his room?"

She shook her head.

I glanced back at Jonah. "Did you see Ake leave?"

"No."

I frowned, wondering where that brat could be. "Maybe he went for a walk, or maybe he got sentimental and wanted to visit his family or..."

"Owen, all of his stuff is gone," she tagged along.

I shot my gaze to hers. "What?" In one swift movement, I darted past her and ran into Ake's bedroom. My mouth fell agape when I saw that the room was completely clean aside from the unmade bed. All of his scattered junk—his clothes, his cigarettes, his bong—was nowhere to be seen. "What the hell! Where did he go?"

Raven was soon at my side, examining the room with careful eyes. "He couldn't have gotten far without any money."

In that very moment, I swore my heart dropped to my knees. My throat closed up, tightening to the point where I couldn't breathe anymore. I tried to gasp for air, but I didn't have the will or strength. I felt my bones rattling against each other and my teeth knocking together in fear of the worst possible scenario.

I ran out of the bedroom and moved to the safe hidden in my closet. Anytime we acquired money, whether it was through selling drugs or any other means, we stored it in the safe. Everyone, aside from Jonah, knew the code because we often went on small jobs without each other's company.

As I twisted the combination into the dial, I hoped and prayed that the money was still there. I wouldn't even know how to cope if we had lost our one chance at survival.

The door clicked open and I peered inside, blinking in awe at the nothingness before me.

________

a/n: Wow, guys! I didn't think that I would've been able to write so fast but I have a two hour delay at school tomorrow because of the weather, so I tried to type this up real quick. It is shorter than the other chapters, but this chapter is sort of crucial in building Owen's character and his relationship with Jonah and Raven.

(I did type this on my phone, so I apologize for mistakes)

So my questions are ... What do you think of Raven & Jonah? And how will Owen respond to Ake's betrayal? This story's starting to heat up and I'm so excited to see how this journey unravels!

If you enjoyed this chapter, then please leave a comment telling me your thoughts and a vote!

Until next time,
Lara <3