warning: explicit content ahead

You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am

Chapter 08 ~ Skyscraper

Owen Bailey

I'd been living in the ghettos all my life—well, the majority of it, anyway.

I was born out of wedlock since it was pretty uncommon for couples to get married where I lived. They only decided to exchange rings and vows when I came along because, somehow, that meant I was some sort of proof of an unbreakable connection between them.

Before my mom left us, we lived in the slums of Virginia in an outdated, dingy apartment that was barely finished, but I never complained. It was my life. It was all I ever knew.

Lucifer's penthouse, in comparison, was vastly different. It looked like one of those rich people places in New York—not really something that you'd find in the ghettos—but I guess that was how he asserted his authority over his followers. Everyone knew that he had the money and the means to make a person fade from existence, so no one ever tried to defy him. Once you were in Lucifer's inner circle, you stayed there for as long as you lived or as long as he wanted you there.

How I stumbled upon the drug lord still sticks out clearly in my mind. I had been relentlessly roaming the streets and dark alleys in search of drugs that I could easily get my hands on when I ran into him. He offered me a job, one that would make me a lot of money and one that would allow me easy access to any drug that I wanted. I had just finished high school and I had no idea what to do with the rest of my life, so this seemed like a great deal.

But I couldn't have been more wrong.

Retrieving my keys from my front pocket, I jammed one of the keys into the lock and gently pushed the door open. With a heavy sigh and a slight roll of my neck, I climbed the stairs case all the way up to the fourth floor until I reached the main door. I gave myself a minute pause to muster the strength needed to inform Lucifer on the night's events. He had ordered me to retrieve 22 grams of cocaine, but I only managed to obtain 14 grams. I searched far and wide and I had talked to a handful of drug dealers, but I still came up short.

The penthouse was fairly quiet, as it always was. No one else stayed in the penthouse aside from Raven and me because Lucifer took it upon himself to take us under his wing due to our age and lack of experience. At first, that seemed like the dream, but I was quickly starting to realize how unfortunate that really was.

When I notified him of my presence, Lucifer waltzed into the open living room, wearing a sky blue tuxedo. His sandy blonde hair was combed back and tucked behind his ears. He stopped just a few feet away from me, his fingers interlaced. "Good evening, Owen."

I gave him a weak smile as I tugged out a small package from my jacket pocket and handed it to him. Stepping back almost immediately, I locked my hands behind my back as I patiently awaited his response.

He weighed the package with his hand. I really had no idea how he was able to tell the weight by doing so, but Lucifer tended to have God-like abilities with the exception of being immortal. "What is this?" he spat in a harsh tone as he brought his hard, blue eyes to me.

"It's 14 grams of cocaine, sir—"

"Did I ask for 14 grams of cocaine?" he countered, an eyebrow raised.

"No, sir, but—"

Lucifer sighed. "Listen, kid, I like you. You're like a son to me. You remind me of myself when I was your age, but just because I see potential in you, it doesn't mean that I'm going to give you any special treatment," he began. "I asked for 22 grams and you bring me 14. Do you understand why this is a problem?"

I nodded. "Yes, I do."

He let go of another sigh. "Now get down on your knees."

My eyes practically popped out of my sockets. "What?"

"Did I stutter?"

"No, sir, but—"

"You disobeyed me. Now I must teach you a lesson," he stated in a calm and collected voice as though he didn't recognize the nature of what he was suggesting.

"No! No, please don't, I'm sorry! I'll do better next time, I swear! Just don't—" I stopped speaking when he retrieved a revolver from the inside pocket of his tux and aimed it at me.

"You're going to get down on your knees or I'm going to kill you," He placed his finger on the trigger, "then I'm going to kill the blondie."

I might've been able to accept my untimely death, but I couldn't allow him to kill Raven over something I did.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I slowly lowered myself to the floor, putting all of my weight on my knees. I kept my eyes closed even when I heard the sound of a zipper being undone and I kept my eyes closed through all the pain that followed.

As soon as I was able to recognize that I was having a nightmare and that I didn't want to relieve that moment, my eyelids snapped open and I shot out of bed, heart pounding erratically in my chest, so loud and so fast that I thought it would burst. When I placed my surroundings as being the comforts of my own room, I calmed down a little, but my breathing kicked up when my eyes landed on the caramel-skinned boy sitting beside me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's okay. It's just me." I wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure me, because it certainly didn't help. "Not all black people are scary," he felt the need to add with a forced laugh.

I squinted at him, but before I could accurately respond, a sharp pain ripped through my shoulder, making my muscles tense up. My gaze briefly fell to  my chest where a tight compression bandage was wrapped to my chest as well as my shoulder. I wanted to know what had happened to me, but the memories came flooding back when I thought about why I had gone to that party in the first place.

"Where's Raven?" I said in a gruff voice.

Trey replied swiftly with, "She went to the store to buy medicine for you."

I rolled my eyes as I traced my fingers along the bandage, searching for a way to undo it. "I don't need medicine," I mumbled, furrowing my brows when I realized I couldn't take it off. "Get this fucking thing off me!"

Trey looked reluctant. "That's not a good idea. You got shot in the shoulder and that's supposed to help, or that's what Jonah said, I don't know. Is he even a real doctor?"

I finally brought my gaze to his, using my stare to intimidate him into obeying my command. "Get it off."

Trey blinked. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"

With an agonizing grunt, I leaned forward to grab the collar of Trey's shirt and pull him closer. "Take it off," I insisted through clenched teeth. After that, he didn't try to resist me anymore; instead, he sighed and began to undo the bandage.

When he was finished, I dropped my gaze to the wound. It was weird to see the aftermath of being shot, but it was still pretty intriguing. In between my collarbone and shoulder, there was a small, but noticeable, hole that oozed out a dark liquid at a slow, steady rate.

How could I have been so stupid? For years I had been running away from Lucifer and his followers and for years, he continued to hunt me down. I was usually careful because I had to be, but this time, I was careless. I let my ego get the best of me and I didn't stop once to think about the possible outcomes. If it wasn't me, it could've been Raven. It could've been Jonah.

Trey was sat on a rather noisy stool that creaked every time he moved as he played with his fingers. "Can I ask you something?"

Suppressing another eye-roll, I laid back on the bed and sighed. "What is it?"

"That guy at the party ... he was clearly intending to shoot you. Why did you push me out of the way?"

"Because, kid," I said with a slight smirk, "in the occasion that he missed, then I wanted to make sure I could still return my hostage in one piece."

"Wow," he voiced. "That almost sounded nice."

I released a dry, bitter laugh at that. "Yeah, whatever." With a slight grunt, I eased back onto the bed and stared intently at the ceiling. That should've been Trey's cue to get out and leave me the hell alone, but no, he continued to sit on the stool with his eyes glued to me like there was a question plaguing his mind. "Do you need something?"

Trey sucked in a breath as though my question surprised him. "Oh, um, no. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened to you and, uh, thanks for saving me." Even after he voiced what he claimed was on his mind, he continued to stare at me like I had more answers for him.

I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed. "You wanna know how I got raped," I concluded, knowing that Raven had probably told him without my permission. I made a mental note to punish her later.

His deep umber eyes widened, but he still didn't protest. "Well, you don't have to..."

"Raven and I fell in line with a group of people who do horrible things. The leader of this group, his name was Lucifer, and for intents and purposes of this story—he is the devil," I began, mustering up the strength to keep a straight face as I retold the story of how I met Lucifer and how much influence he had over us. I told him the story of how he took advantage of me and I told him the story of us running away to escape him.

When I was finished with the story, Trey's mouth had fallen agape and he gazed back at me with a look of disbelief that I didn't know how to respond to. I was actually pretty proud of myself for being able to retell those events without completely breaking down in tears, but I certainly didn't want Trey to pity me, so I shrugged it off. "But it's whatever. That was years ago."

"Is that why you hate gay people?" he questioned.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I didn't feel strong enough. "I don't hate gay people. I just hate you. Besides, rape isn't about sexual preference, it's about power and Lucifer certainly asserted his power over me."

Trey folded his hands in his lap and let his gaze drop to the floor, like he was suddenly ashamed for prying into my personal life. After a while, he released a long, heavy sigh and inched off the stool to stand to his feet. "Get better," he urged with the hint of a smile on his face as he slowly backed away from the bed and eventually turned on his heel to exit the room.

As soon as he was gone, I sighed in relief and laid back in bed, fully intending to relax my muscles, but I stopped myself when I realized that I couldn't allow myself to drop my defenses just because I was hurt. My main priority at the moment was to find Ake and get my money back. I couldn't afford to get lazy now.

Lifting my body up by resting my weight on my elbows, I reached for my cell phone beside me. I scrolled through my contacts until I found someone worth talking to and dialed his number. The person on the other line picked up on the first ring, indicating that he had been waiting for my call. "Hey there, stranger, long time no talk! Funny how you choose to call me this late at night. Tell me, is this a booty call?"

I rolled my eyes. "Matthew, I need a huge favor."

"When don't you need a favor," he countered with a slight giggle. "What is it this time? You want me to suck your dick?" he questioned, a strange amount of buoyancy in his voice, something that wasn't new to him.

"I need some information on Lucifer," I said, completely ignoring his comment. "Think you and Patrick can share some intel?"

"Anything for you, sweetie," he sang just before his voice deepened and grew more serious in order to say, "Meet us at the usual place." And with those words, the line went dead.

Gathering up the strength to get out of bed, I quickly wrapped the bandage around my wound and got dressed with haste. In just minutes, I was out the door and trudging my way through the apartment until I breezed into the living room where Jonah and Trey were watching TV. As soon as Jonah's brown eyes landed on me, he leaped to his feet. "Owen! What are you doing? You're supposed to be resting."

"Fuck off, Jonah," I spat just as I strolled into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. "I have things I need to do. Ain't no rest for the wicked, you know better than anyone." Jonah stared at me for quite some time, but he knew his place enough to back down. With his shoulders falling in defeat, he sat back down on the couch and returned his attention to the TV screen.

"Hey, kid!" I called out, grabbing Trey's attention. "You're coming with me."

He furrowed his brows. "Why?"

"Because if I leave you here, you'll run away and Jonah isn't competent enough to stop you, so..." I snatched my keys from the counter and twirled the key ring around my finger as a teasing smile stretched into my lips, "...come on."

Trey looked back at Jonah to catch his reaction, but when he realized he wasn't going to react, he heaved himself to his feet and made his way to me with reluctant steps. Once he was close enough, I grabbed onto his wrist, gaining a steady grip, and pulled him along with me as I exited the building and descended the staircase to the ground floor.

"You know, you could stop holding me so tightly," he spoke. Simply ignoring him, I continue to drag him along until we arrived at my pickup truck. I made sure he was secured in the passenger seat before retreating to the driver's side.

I noticed he was quite the talker, especially in moments where I made it more than obvious that I didn't want to talk. "Jonah's right. You're in no condition to be driving."

"Who the hell do you think I am?" I huffed at his accusation. "I didn't break an arm or anything. I got shot in the most convenient place possible. Stop being a pussy."

"Well, sue me for caring about your well being!" he exclaimed with sarcasm dripping from his words. After shooting me a deadly glare, he redirected his attention to the window, taking the time to prop his hand against the door and rest his head in his palm.

I laughed, rather loudly, but I didn't care enough to respond. As soon as I got the truck started, I pressed on the gas and zoomed out of the run-down residential area in record time.

Fortunately for me, Trey decided to keep quiet for the duration of the drive so I didn't have to lose my temper more than necessary. Even when we reached our destination and I got out of the truck to grab some rope from the cargo bed, he still didn't talk. The only words he uttered were when I threw the rope over his head and tightened it at the back of his seat.

"What the fuck!" he shrieked. "What the hell are you doing!"

"What does it look like, idiot," I snapped just as I finished knotting the rope for the fourth time. "I'm making sure you stay put."

"You can't keep doing stuff like this to me!" he protested in a loud uproar.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I slammed the passenger door in his face and smiled. "Behave."

"I fucking hate—"

I took that as my cue to tune out whatever complaints that were pouring out of his mouth; instead, I set all my attention on the two figures on the other side of the street, standing in the midst of a dark alley. One was tall and lean with jet black hair and intense brown eyes and the other was just a little bit shorter with matching black hair, small brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin.

The tall one was the first to speak. "It's so nice to see you again, Owen. You know Lucifer doesn't have any eye candy in his inner circle. It's just dirty, grimy, old men who touch you in all the wrong places—" He paused to take a breath, "—and trust me, there are wrong places."

"Good to see you, too, Matthew," I told him. "Same to you, Patrick."

Patrick folded his arms across his chest and frowned at me. He was always the more serious one of the two. "What did you bring us here for? You know if Lucifer ever found out we were talking to you, we'd be dead."

Matthew slapped Patrick's shoulder. "Oh, lighten up, Patty. Owen has always been there for us."

Patrick grunted. "What do you want, Owen?"

"One of Lucifer's bitches shot me," I said, getting straight to the point. "He had white-ish hair and he was old."

Matthew jumped up. "Oh, yeah, that's the new recruit. He served in the military like a million years ago."

"What does Lucifer know? About my location?" I pried further.

Patrick let go of a sigh. "Next to nothing, I assume. The only thing that he knows is that you would never run far away from home. He knows you're still in town. We've been telling you to get out of here, but you never listen!"

"I can't leave, Patrick. This is my home. I'm not gonna let Lucifer chase me out of my territory."

"It's Lucy's territory, now," Matthew added with a mocking smile. I noticed he had acquired a lollipop and he was obnoxiously sucking on it. "He's never gonna stop hunting you down. I'd hate to see you end up dead. You're too cute."

"Move to Summer Hill," Patrick suggested.

"Summer Hill's too expensive and that bastard Ake ran away with all my savings," I explained briefly, balling my hands into fists at the memory. "The only thing that I have to my name is a rich kid that I kidnapped from Summer Hill."

"Rich kid?" Matthew questioned. "Ooh, you know Lucy would really love one of those."

That caught my attention. "What are you talking about?"

The two boys ignored me to exchange glances. "It would depend on how rich he is," Patrick told Matthew before redirecting his gaze back to mine. "Who is he?"

"Uh, his name is Trey. He's black. His mom is a lawyer, his dad is a CEO."

Matthew's jaw dropped open. "You mean, Isabelle and Wesley Carter?" He didn't give me any time to reply, because he started to laugh to himself. "Oh, Owen, honey, then you've got your ticket to freedom right there."

I folded my arms against my chest and narrowed my gaze at the couple before me, growing interested. "How so?"

"That family is worth a lot," Patrick continued. "I'm sure Lucifer will have more than enough reasons to manipulate the kid to get what he wants out of the family. You can sell the kid to him and in exchange, you can negotiate to get some cash and your freedom."

I frowned as I started to wonder why I hadn't thought of this in the first place. "That's a good idea," I told them. "I'm pissed that I didn't think of it first."

Matthew pulled his lollipop out of his mouth and smirked at me. "Owen, my information does not come free. Pay up."

Briefly glancing at my pickup truck, I said, "The kid's right there."

He shrugged. "So? Maybe he'll enjoy the show."

I clamped my lips shut to refrain from saying anything else while I moved my hands toward the waistband of my jeans to undo the zipper and slightly tug down my clothing enough to expose myself. A devious grin stretched into Matthew's face as he advanced towards me and lowered himself to the asphalt so that he was eye-level with me. He wasted no time in taking me in his mouth and sucking me like there was no tomorrow.

My eyes met Patrick's dark ones. He just stood there, frozen, with his eyes fixed on me like he was seconds away from beating me up. I found this to be only slightly amusing. "Come on, Patrick, you know you want to join."

"I don't," he said sternly. "Matthew's a slut. I'm not."

"Right," I said, totally unconvinced. "Matthew gives better head than you, anyway."

Patrick clenched his jaw tightly, obviously showing his jealously. He didn't need any more persuasion because he sauntered over to me and pushed Matthew out of the way just so he could get a chance. I laughed at his lack of restraint and allowed him to go down on me. The two of them took turns, occasionally bickering over how much time both of them were supposed to have, until I came.

"God, you taste so sweet," Matthew felt the need to comment as he stood to his full height and licked his lips. "I miss you so much, Owen. Raven doesn't know what to do with you, but we do. We'll have so much together!"

Chuckling to myself, I stuffed my dick back into my underwear and pulled my pants up. "I appreciate the offer, guys, but you know that's not how I roll."

Patrick rolled his eyes, but I could see the remnant of a smile. "You're such a dick, you know that right?"

"Yeah," I agreed, sending both of them a smug grin. "Thanks for the info, guys. This is why you're always my favorite."

I tipped my head to show my gratitude and slowly backed away from them until I hit the sidewalk, turning around to head over to my truck. Even though Patrick and Matthew were practically working for the enemy, I knew I could always count on them to help me out in times of need. Here I was, attempting to keep a hostage in hopes of getting a boat-loud of money, when I could just go straight to the source of all the money—Lucifer.

As I expected, as soon as I slid into the driver's seat, Trey pestered me with more questions. "Okay, what the fuck was that! Are you seriously gay? Or bi? Or something? Like what? Why do you make so much fun of me for being gay when you like dick, too ... wait, what about Raven?! Oh my god! You just cheated on Raven! You fucking asshole!"

I started the car and shot my eyes to him. "Shut up about what you think you saw. Don't get your hopes up, I'm not a faggot. I simply did what I had to do to get what I needed. It's called survival of the fittest."

It was like he hadn't heard a word I said. "Okay, but you just let two guys suck you off!"

Sighing, I pulled out from my parking space and started on the main route back home. "God, you're so fucking annoying."

"Well, sorry, but YOU JUST LET TWO GUYS SUCK YOU OFF!" he shouted. "And you're acting like it's not a big deal!"

"Because it isn't," I said with a nonchalant shrug. I was really starting to regret my decision to bring the kid along. "I'm not going to entertain this conversation right now. Just stop talking. Your voice makes my ears hurt."

Trey fell silent when he pressed his lips together. I thought he had finally decided to obey my command, but he only made me angrier when he said, "You're so gay."

Tightening my grip on the steering wheel and clenching my teeth together, I countered with, "Not nearly as gay as you are." I hoped that would be enough to shut him up, but of all things, it made him laugh.

"Touché," he said.

_______

a/n: Bonjour, mes amis! I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it. FYI, I want to let you guys know that Patrick and Matthew are characters created by RustyHalo_ and winged_cas .

I actually have two questions for you. What do you think of Lucifer and what do you think of Owen's new plan to get money? Owen is such an ass is so many ways, but I love him so much guys, it's unhealthy.

If you guys happened to like this chapter as much as I did, then leave a comment and vote! That stuff really means the world to me, so it'll make
me very happy camper!

Until next time,
Lara <3