Chapter Twenty Eight; Not Edited

"Well?" I asked, trying to encourage Ryder to talk past his and Michael's past life. The life that they wanted to keep hidden for long as possible if they could.  "I know it's hard for you guys to talk about this, especially when our friends life is on the line." I said sadly, ignoring Michael, who tensed up, before relaxing once more.

"I will start from the beginning in my point of view," Ryder said and I nodded. This was kind of exciting to hear about the tan boy's past life, in which I knew nothing about. "I joined the gang life when I was 14 years old, it was after my parents died in a house fire. and Jack's father ran the gang that found me on the streets."

"I was with Jack's father when they found him on the street," Michael included into the conversation and Ryder nodded. "We where doing border patrol that night and I heard crying within the distance and it hurt me to hear that. So, me being the brave one at the time, I ran over to Ryder and told him everything will be alright."

"They took me into their home and that's when I met the rest of the gang," Ryder said, a small smile appearing on his face when he started to talk about his fellow gang members. "A lot of people you know are in the gang and still are." Hearing that made my eyes shot up because of the fact that the gang is still running. "Louis was the deputy leader, meaning he was second in command and Michael was on his way to be promoted to that rank with him."

"Which rank does what? Sorry I don't understand." I said with a confused expression on my face and the other boys gave me a small smile. "Just tell me the things that you are eligible to talk about." I advised them, which made my boyfriend let out a sigh of relief.

"There are many ranks in our gang and it will be kind of hard to explain what we do, but I can sum it up," Ryder said and I nodded. "Michael was in charge of the border patrols, making sure no unusual behavior was at the borders. If they were, Luke would take them out and you know what that means."

"More ranks were added over time, but I'm not sure what they do because Ryder and I left the gang after Jack's father was killed by a enemy gang member." Michael said, his lips in a straight, making me wonder if that was the whole story. I wasn't going to question it because today was a rough day for him, for all of us.

"Who took over the gang then?" I felt stupid asking all these questions, but I needed to understand what was going on. "We don't know, it kind of fell apart once we left, but from the looks of it, it didn't." Ryder said, biting on the tip of his fingernail as he continued to look down at his lap, my boyfriend doing the same thing.

"What does this have to do with Ashton?" I asked, making me curious on what this has to do with one of my best friends. "We're getting there, Calum." The redhead said sadly, knowing that this conversation will be hard on him.

"Ashton joined the gang shortly after Ryder did and he instantly became the runt, meaning he takes the pain the most," Michael said, making me nod cause I remember Ashton telling me this morning. "I couldn't stop it, even when I wanted to. I would've been punished as well if I helped, so they made me assist them when they hurt my stepbrother."

"W-

"Let me finish, Calum," Michael interrupted me before I could continue, making me nod for him to continue. "I was forced to do, even if I didn't want to do it, but it was our code that we lived by. After we left him, I saw Luke assist Ashton because he was our friend at the time, before he changed completely."

"How did he change?" I asked, knowing it was the answer. It was probably because of Sam's death, that changed Michael and Luke according to Ashton, making my heart break even more for them. I saw Michael tense up and then I placed a hand on his shoulder, in attempt to calm him down. "Ashton probably told you about what happened between Luke and I." Michael said, making me nod sadly and the redhead let out a sigh. "That's what changed him."

After a few minutes of awkward silence, I broke it asking what are we going to do about Ashton. "I've got an idea, but I don't know if it will work." Ryder said, looking on his phone, probably texting someone, or browsing the internet.

"What's your plan?" Michael asked, looking at his friend with defeated eyes. I watched the two boys with closed eyes, following their every hand signal and mouth movement. "It's risky, very risky." The tan boy said, making me frown at what it could be.

"Just tell us," I smiled with encouragement. "What could be possibly worse than our situation right now now." I watched Michael and Ryder exchange a look before letting their eyes trail to my face, examining my expression on how I am going to react to this.

"I know someone, or people who could possibly help us." Ryder said with a determined expression, making me feel a bit better. "But we could get killed getting to them." My heart sank lower than before and I asked who he was talking about. "It's one of our gang rivalries. We have to do this."

_______

This book is coming to an end, sadly like I said before.

- Kirsten & Claire