As promised, here's the new chapter, and I wanna dedicate it to @KryenAngel for being the first to guess the POV 😉👏 and also to thank you for all your little comments on my stories 😘✨💕

'If you're looking for trouble

You came to the right place

If you're looking for trouble

Just look right in my face'

*BLADE'S POV*

"So here's the lucky bastard who got chosen!" A familiar voice called just when I lit my cigarette, the thought of enjoying peacefully the nicotine dispersing like smoke as I lifted my gaze to find Wayne and Clinton walking in my direction.

"Just kiddin'. We know it's always been you," Wayne added, stopping at a 'comfortable' distance, just in case I wouldn't catch the humor.

If truth be told, I hadn't been in a really humorous mood these past weeks. But lucky for them, today was a good day – and mostly, I didn't have time to wash off blood stains from my tee-shirt, so I just took a long inhale of my cigarette.

"We didn't want anyone else, and definitely not Rye!" Clinton chuckled, fueling my ego and my smirk as I remembered that fucker's face when his daddy had announced my name.

Yeah, today was going to be a good day.

"Should we call you 'boss' now that–"

A grunt a few feet away interrupted Clinton, who widened his bloodshot eyes at the large man and the raccoon on his shoulders. Clearly, he wasn't seeing straight because they were impossible to miss in the empty courtyard.

"Oh, hi Pete!"

"Kids." Pete nodded, his deadpan look landing on me before he mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like a hostile purr from here. The only thing that let me guess it wasn't coming from Meteorite was the movement of his beard, though the passive-aggressive look in the raccoon's eyes was as obvious.

To think Dorothy had convinced me he was harmless one month ago. She was too good...

I shook my head at the memory, coming back to the present to see Pete and Meteorite were already walking back inside the shooting range, the single flyer he'd been reading for the past 10 minutes that I'd been here now abandoned on the mailbox.

"What's his problem? Someone's pissed in his morning coffee?" Clinton turned to me as if I was the one who'd done it.

"Maybe he didn't get enough sleep? You know old people need more rest. I read that somewhere."

Yes, Wayne should've definitely said that to the old man who'd been waiting half of the night like an overbearing mother for me to come home. Pete would have appreciated.

"Speaking of sleepin', why'd you leave your party so early? You missed all the fun! Mason broke his record of hot dogs swallowed, and the chicks did a special striptease!" he exclaimed as if it wasn't happening almost every other weekend. "Mason did too, but that, let's not talk 'bout it."

Okay, that had never happened, though from the way he shivered at the memory, I definitely hadn't missed anything.

If it was to see the moon, I'd been better looking at the one in the sky, and Carrion, the South hill really had the best view for that. Though with the remaining clouds from the afternoon storm, I'd caught no stars.

"I wanted to be fresh for today." I took another whiff of smoke while they blinked at me, waiting for the punchline before Wayne took in my deadly serious expression and something seemed to click in his brain.

That kid was smart, but he searched too much for explanations, and his shiner for wondering why we weren't seeing Dorothy around these days had not taught him the lesson apparently.

"Oh right, for your rite tonight?"

"Yeah, that." I nodded, even if I didn't need any preparation for that, and with everything simmering inside, it would be easy.

I just had to hold it back a little bit longer, and if this morning chat could end before my smoke that would help.

"Oh com'on! It's a no-sweat for you, boss!" Clinton added, stroking my ego as much as he was brushing his quiff.

There was definitely something fishy...

"And after... do you know who's gonna be your right-hand-man? 'Cause I may have already told some chicks that it's me..."

Here it was... As subtle as a bull in a china shop...

"And I'll gladly get used to privileges and threesomes like I got!" Clinton bit down his dreamy smile, and I slowly lifted an eyebrow until his lips went in the opposite direction.

"You know my left-hand-man is supposed to work for me?"

"Ah see! I told you he'd choose me for my great job with the delivery! I saved everyone's ass from the fuzz."

No, it was my Shooting star, who would have made a better left-hand-woman than any of them by the way.

"In your dreams! He won't choose a kid. Grow some chin hair first!" Clinton sneered, pointing at Wayne's face, which looked even more babylike as it reddened.

"It'll grow, not like your balls!"

So this was the much-talked gang leader's position? It didn't change much from my usual job, as they started tussling, and I slowly threw my cigarette on the ground before stopping them.

"I'll think about it, but if I keep hearing your set-to, I'll pick Mason and cut both of your tongues." I was kidding, for one part at least, but it was kicky to finally get some silence and see them pinch their lips shut. "Now, gotta go, see you tonight."

I climbed on my bike as they both nodded with tensed smiles, not even risking a 'bye', and the silence was only interrupted by the melodious sound of my engine, which I made roar loudly for everyone to hear, especially the two fellas inside the shooting range.

Pete and Meteorite had been waiting since 7 on the dot, watching my every move like parents preparing their kids for the first day of school. So they would be reassured that I was leaving and I would be on time.

I was even early when I stopped at the center red light, looking down at my watch. What was I becoming? I was wearing a watch and letting the elderly cross the road on my way to a legal job?! What I wouldn't do for Dorothy...

Okay, it was Pete who'd insisted to buy me a watch for the occasion, and with the pigs' den on the other side, I didn't have much choice but to respect the Driver's manual if I didn't want to be late.

But still, it was her panties I was clutching in my jacket's pocket like a good luck charm. She was making me romantic, and after all, they were really magical. The sound of her laugh when she'd seen me waving them yesterday was still vibrating in every part of me.

I could easily imagine myself going to work like this every day at 9 and driving back at 5 p.m. to one of those houses with a white fence, where I would find back my little astronaut.

I didn't know if it was the morning sun reflecting on the dew around, but the image appeared so real and possible. Being met by that smile... I could almost taste the cherry on the tip of my tongue and feel her petite silhouette in my arms. But just when I was reaching out, two hands wrapped around her, taking her away from me.

It wasn't her ex's though. It was the hands of the two men currently standing on the other side of the street, and with their handshake, I saw my daydream turn slowly into a nightmare.

The white fence morphed into cold and familiar bars, and instead of the millions of stars reflecting in Dorothy's eyes, there was only emptiness, an emptiness that swallowed me whole.

I blinked my eyes to dispel the images until all that remained were the captain Thornton's jacket, Rye's sick smile, and red. Red like all the warning lights flashing in my brain at the sight of these two bastards walking into the police station, red like Dorothy's curls from which they'd better not touch one, red like all the blood I would shed otherwise, red like the traffic light as I took off at full throttle, giving a close shave to the grandma still crossing the road.

Ordinary life would be for another day, or hopefully in a few minutes. I didn't look at my watch, but that fucking hopeless thing in my chest was trying to race against time and go back to the daydream, while the bad feeling in my guts was pulling me towards the nightmarish vision, and in all of that, I had to find my evil genius brain as I slowed down by the station.

Following the fuckers inside was itching my legs and my fists, but it would definitely make me late. I had to be smarter, and smarter than Rye was easy. With just a glance, I caught his bike in a side alley and two of his minions.

Their wide eyes frantically darting everywhere around were lending weight to the bad feeling in my guts, but I didn't let it show, and I jumped off my bike as soon as I stopped in front of them.

"Waiting for someone?"

Those two were without a doubt Rye's friends because their bulging eyes hadn't even seen me coming, and if it hadn't been for the unmistakable tattoos, anyone would have believed they were two little deers caught in headlights, and not Crossbones members.

"What the fuck Rye's doing inside?" I didn't leave them time to recover from their shock, my voice snapping like the last bits of my restraint were slowly too.

"I-I don't know what you're talkin' about..."

Snap... another latch of my restraint cracked with my knuckles as I took a step closer. The devil inside was begging to be released, but I had to keep a cool head.

"You know lying to your boss is sharply punished... like backstabbing the Crossbones, right Liam?"

Liam jumped at the sound of his name. What had he thought? That because he'd joined less than four months ago, I wouldn't remember his name? Too bad for him. A good gang leader knew the name of all his members, and since I was the best, I also remembered he'd had a few broken ribs last month.

Should I've focused on that weakness or on Oliver, the thirty-year-old shaking like a leaf? Maybe both to get the quickest answer?

"You won't be our boss for long."

And we had a winner! It would be Liam. I threw him a liver punch and pushed him against the wall, my left hand wrapping around his neck before he could even blink.

"Let me guess, it's that fucker of Rye who put that in your tiny brain?"

"Yes, he said he'll take back his rightful–"

"What is he doing inside?" I hissed through the clench of my jaw, the last lock that was holding me back, and when Liam smirked, I felt it tick.

That bastard hadn't understood that he could still be breathing because I needed his answer.

"He also said you took something from him, so he'll make sure to make you lose something you care 'bout too..."

"What the fuck does that mean?!"

Liam only kept his smug smile, at least until my grip tightened. I didn't need him to talk anymore. I could hear Rye's whisper in the back of my mind.

'Be careful 'cause it'd be a shame if you lost another woman to the buzzhead...'

Snap... The last latch had broken, except this time, the sound was coming from my ribcage, and there was nothing holding the fury inside anymore. It was burning and destroying everything on its way, including myself. But I didn't mind. I was used to that pain, and soon, there would be the numbness starting from my chest to the tip of my fingers.

"What's the fuck he's doing inside?" I repeated to Liam's reddening face, though his features were mixing with Rye's bloody smile from that scrap at the bar.

'I've said it all!' Then, there were his greedy hands on my Shooting star like that other night in the courtyard, but this time, he was dragging her behind a white fence, with those flashing lights that had taken away my mother, and the ringing in my ears echoed like deafening sirens. Everything was a blur, and I was finding myself alone, suffocating in it.

"Let him breathe! Fuck, you're gonna kill him!"

Someone launched himself at me, and with the pain shooting on my shoulder, I took in the deafening bangs of my heart, the bulging veins adding to my branches tattoo, and the blue shade of Liam's face.

Yet even when I let him go, I couldn't erase completely those same images. So as soon as I'd got rid of Oliver on my back and had kicked him on the ground, I asked again,

"I repeat one last time: what the fuck Rye's doing with the pigs?" I was murderous, and clearly, they heard – and saw – it because I didn't have to pull a knife or another punch.

"He's g-giving his witness s-statement for Thornton's death... against y-your chick."

In the end, Oliver was quicker to answer than the fucker coughing his lungs. In the end, my guts were right. I should've known that reality always leaned towards the most nightmarish suppositions.

There was no fairytale around, and the too-familiar images were coming back, that same iron-red rage taking over in a hopeless attempt to counter the darkness. It was already leading my hands into my pockets with the thirst for blood and revenge. But instead of the sharp and cold metal of my knife, my fingers found an unusual silkiness that resembled a lot to Dorothy's touch, the feeling sending a zing in all my senses. Like after my fight with Rye that night, she was the one bringing me back.

I couldn't let that rage destroy everything, not as long as I had Dorothy. I had to have my head clear for her, and I fought to take deep breaths and unclench my fists with a great effort. Once I was sure I wouldn't kill Rye's minions in front of me – at least, not yet – I finally pulled my fists out of my pockets, and the glimpse of the white fabric I was still gripping erased the blur of my mind, bringing me back fully to the time and place.

Monday morning, the side alley of Subrose's police station. I still had a few minutes to change fate, and this time, I wouldn't wait powerless.

I climbed on my bike again, and with a last glance at my watch, I took a turn to the left, leaving behind my daydreams of ordinary life. I wouldn't be on time for my first day at my legal job.

Dun... Dun... Dun... 😬 I'm sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but I really wanted to post a little chapter before going on vacation, and this one really concludes the second act of the story (the 1st one was until the gun in Dorothy's hand moment, the second was until here, and when I come back, it will be the last act with still a lot of chapters 😉)

I hope you liked this chapter, if so you know what to do (hint: it's the ⭐ button 😉) and tell me what you think of Blade's POV! 

It looks like he's now the gang leader officially, and he was about to start a legal job for Dorothy 🥺 but his dreams of ordinary life are slipping away 💔

What do you think will happen? Leave all your suppositions in the comments 😘

And see you in 2 weeks! I'll miss you and keep you in my thoughts like the little Shooting stars you are 🌠 Love you all!! 😘💕✨