Hey, just a heads up for everyone that this IS coming to an end really soon, so don’t be shocked if there is only a few chaps left – if that. I originally only had planned 27 chaps and turns out that I'm crap at planning things because I'm already over that by 10 chaps now, lol.

Anyways, thanks for reading and supporting this story – I love you all for it! Xo

Enjoy..................

~ ~ Chapter Thirty Seven ~ ~

Sitting at the kitchen table directly across from him with one arm folded across my stomach, an eyebrow raised and waiting while I took a slow drink out of my beer and stared at him expressionless; he is a flat out jackass. Last night was amazing with Baden though and we truly showed each other how much they were missed, I was that exhausted and worn out I fell asleep in his arms while he was talking afterwards.

Then the downside of our wonderful night together – the lecture started the second I woke up, he didn’t even give me time to finish opening my eyes so I had tried to pretend I wasn’t awake yet but you know when you have an annoying and irritating mozzie buzzing around your head and it just won’t go away and you can’t ignore it because it gets louder and closer? That mozzie was Baden this morning.

**

“Do you know how worried I was? That I thought something had happened to you – that Gianni had somehow gotten hold of you? That you were dead somewhere? And then I find out your with Darcy of all people! Seriously Leila, do you not think sometimes? Never disobey me like that again, do you understand?” he ranted on and on, not giving me a chance to speak; hell he wasn’t even waiting for me to speak at all, not even giving me a second to jump in and defend myself.

“Then there was Phil! Do you know how worried he was as well? Jeff too because you decided to take someone who is practically crippled on your little whirlwind adventure involving crime and guns and drug dealers! I was ready to rip heads off to find you but we didn’t want Gianni getting wind of you two not being with us anymore! Your brother was pulling his hair out with worry!” he paused to take a deep breath in.

Sitting up instantly and glaring at him, “Yes Baden, you all were so worried that you decided to go on killing sprees, house shootings and just be plain old gun happy around the city! I was doing something, I was trying to put an end to this all, I was keeping my ‘crippled’ sister safe and I wasn’t drawing attention to myself while doing it!” I snapped back at him, “Did you see my face on TV? Did you hear anyone even say anything about what I was doing?” I demanded, proving my point.

Up until then he had been glaring at me with anger but was keeping it mostly bottle up, now he had a small smirk, “Yes, actually. I heard word of Jenny.”

My eyes widen slightly as I remembered she must have been the one to tip Gianni crew of about us going to be there waiting to jump them. She was going to so pay for that, “I didn’t beat her up if that’s what you’re saying.” I muttered, folding my arms over my chest.

“No, I saw her face – had Darcy written all over it.” He spoke and I snapped my head back up to look at him, the room suddenly deathly quiet right now compared to all the yelling we were just doing a moment ago.

“What do you mean you saw her face?”

“Exactly that, I saw her face......I went and paid her a little visit, its how I finally got an exact location and time where I could find you.” He growled angrily.

“Whatever.” I scoffed and laid back down on the bed, closing my eyes and ending the argument. I was just happy he wasn’t sending me away again and he was just happy to have me back and there was a lot of unasked and unresolved questions but for the time being we were both okay with that.

**

Taking another long slow sip as I still waited; I knew he better say something quick before my patience wears thin and I snap his head off for hitting me like that. I don’t care how worried or whatever he was, he had no right to bitch slap me.

Dougy glared at me briefly and looked away again, taking a slow long sip out of his beer and this is how it has been for the past fifteen minutes now. His face is still bruised from Baden hitting into him but Baden’s face was still bruised from Dougy as well, though I have to say Dougy looks worst.

“Bloody hell you two! You’re not kids anymore!” Phil finally shouted, throwing his hands up in the air from frustration as he looked from one to the other and back again, “Dougy, just fucking apologise! It was a low blow and we all know it!” he snapped and Dougy glared at him but still said nothing.

Phil looked over at me now, “Lee, you know you fucked up by taking off like that, so accept his apology.” He spoke in a calmer tone to me which Dougy scoffed at rudely.

Everyone turned to see what his problem now was but he was glaring at me again before slowly turning to glare at Phil, I rolled my eyes when he wasn’t looking, he has always been stubborn with apologies even if he knows he was in the wrong and this is how they always went down, Phil being the mediator.

“Stop bloody babying her, the whole lot of you do it and its pathetic! What she wants – she gets, hell, she can even take off and all you do is tell her off in a calm voice not to do it again-.”

“Baden has already blasted me for that.” I pointed out in a calm tone while cutting him off.

His head snapped in my direction with an angry look, “Oh yeah, I can just imagine that!” he snapped sarcastically, “I bet he didn’t even make you cry, I bet you don’t even feel guilty about doing it and I defiantly am willing to put money on the fact you would do it again if the situation rose.” he growled and I looked away.

As much as Baden is the love of my life, he doesn’t know me like my brother does or Phil by the look on his face. They both know I don’t feel guilty about it and I don’t see why I should. They sent me away, it’s not like I purposely packed my bags and just took off for no good reason. In fact I actually came back but Baden won’t see it like that, none of them will.

“Leila?” Baden questioned in a demanding tone and I looked up at him with my blank face I have perfected over years of practice, “Would you do it again?” he sounded angry.

“No.” I scoffed, “Of course not.” I had my fingers crossed over but my arm was hiding it, I didn’t like lying but we can’t be fighting with each other at a time like this.

He nodded slowly and accepted my answer which only ticked Dougy off more as he stood to his feet, knocking the chair over onto the floor as he slammed his fists down on the table, shaking the beer bottles and glass cups sitting on it then he pointed an accusing finger at Baden, “See! That right there is what I'm talking about! She just lied through her teeth but you just accept it!” he bellowed.

“Dougy calm the hell down!” Phil snapped at him, sending him daggers.

Dougy glared at him, “You know she lied, you can tell as well but you also weren’t going to bust her out on it.” He growled.

Phil shook his head, “Just apologise for hitting her so we can all move on, we  have bigger issues than whether or not Lee is lying!” he snapped back then shook his head again, “I'm going to go see my son, back later.” And he stormed out the house quickly, slamming the front door shut behind him in the process.

“Good one Douglas.” I muttered, knowing his full name was going to tick him off even more.

“Shut the hell up Leila!” he bellowed, going red in the face.

Smirking, “I want my apology and I want it now.”

“You get your damn apology when you stop lying your ass off!” he snapped back but picked his chair up slowly and sat down, glaring at me once more.

This was going to be a long day with a lot more yelling and insults being thrown back and forth before this is resolved, so I sighed loudly and looked over at Baden, “Do you mind giving us some privacy, we need to have a sibling yelling match for awhile.” I smiled and Dougy glared harder at me.

Baden shook his head as his eyes glued to the back of Dougy’s head, “I'm not giving him the chance to hit you again.” He growled.

Groaning, “It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last, he always hits me when I’ve ‘gone too far’ according to him, we just need time to sort it out now. Though he has never hit me that hard before.” and I shot Dougy daggers.

Baden’s eyes snapped to mine with fury and I clicked on quickly, “I hit him too, it’s okay. I even plan on hitting him before the day is out and I'm going to make it a shiner too.” I flashed him a quick grin.

He opened his mouth to argue back but Dougy spun around in his seat and shot him down, “Just piss off! This has nothing to do with you right now, she’s your girlfriend but my sister!”

“Dougy!” I snapped.

“Watch how you speak to me!” Baden growled over top of me, fury etched in his eyes and lacing his tone, “You may be her brother but I'm still in charge around here!” then he too stormed out but stopped by my side long enough to plant a soft kiss on my forehead which felt weird considering how angry he is right now.

“Good going Dougy.” I mumbled once Baden was gone.

“I'm sorry for hitting you.” He grunted quietly, looking down at the table and I smirked.

“You have never been able to say it in front of others, have you?” I teased, knowing that I needed everyone to leave before he would apologise. He has only ever said it once in front of Phil and it was a slip of his tongue but that is why Phil now thinks he can be the mediator and we can’t be bothered hurting his feelings by telling him it wasn’t due to him being in the room at the time.

“It’s a sign of weakness.” He shrugged.

I scoffed at that and he looked up with a small smile, “I really am sorry, I just snapped.” He said it again with more meaning in it, “Does it hurt still? It’s bruised you know.” And he nodded at my cheek.

Shrugging, “I hurt all over, I took a few falls and hits last night that didn’t just belong to you but I’ll live.” I smiled over at him, “I always do.”

“Yeah, you do.”

We both fell silent for a few minutes, off in our own little worlds. My train of thought went to Frederick down in the basement and just hoping he will give us something so we can end this war and so Amberly will never have to worry about her step brother again.

“I still think they baby you too much though and I'm not taking that bit back.” Dougy broke my thoughts by speaking again.

Looking back over at him I chuckled, “You’ve always thought I was babied though, it’s called ‘older sibling syndrome’, look it up.”

He shook his head as his body shook with silent laughter and that angry look was now replaced by a happy twinkle in his eyes, we were all good again and it was as simple as that.

Stretching my arms out, I groaned and cracked my knuckles, making him wince as he watched me, “You’re going to hit me now.” It wasn’t a question but a statement and I nodded slowly with a grin. He sighed loudly, “Fine, just get the eye already bruised up, can’t have me looking too ugly now can we?” he teased with a wink.

Rolling my eyes, “You’re ugly no matter what.”

“Hey, hundreds of girls will disagree with you on that.”

“Yeah and those girls are not your sister – it would be creepy if I thought like them and wrong.” I pointed out as I finished of the last bit of my beer, sat it down on the table and stood up slowly with a huge grin on my face.

“Don’t look so happy about hitting me.” Dougy muttered sarcastically.

“I like hitting you though, makes me smile.” I teased as I walked over to him and clenched my fist; this was our unwritten law between each other. If he ever messes up to the point where he has snapped and hurt me, I get to flat out hit him back with no backlash what so ever from him. The first time I felt so guilty but I was five and didn’t know any better but every other time I’ve loved it.

Swinging forward, he flinched and scrunched his eyes shut but I stopped my hand just before I hit him and laughed, “Nah, I can’t do it.” I smiled as he opened one eye to look at me slowly lowering my arm and then opened the other as he breathed a sigh of relief and that’s when I lunged forward and clocked him one on the jaw, sending him sideways off his chair.

“Dammit Lee! I knew you were going to do that – fuck!” he shouted in pain as he held his jaw and glared up at me while I grinned down at him, “That’s twice now you’ve got me like that!”

We both snapped our heads in the direction of the kitchen doorway when we heard clapping and spotted Caveman standing there, “That was a damn good hit.” He smirked and then stepped over Dougy to get some chips out the cupboard, “So why’d you hit him Leila?”

Caveman always sounded funny saying my name, only because I could never believe he was actually talking to me, we did talk, it just felt weird whenever we did because we weren’t the closest pair in this group but we got along.

“Payback for slapping me last night.” I shrugged as I offered Dougy a helping hand up, still grinning, he swatted my hand away though, “Your such a sore loser.” I mumbled as I walked back over to my chair and sat down again.

“That was pretty cruel Dougy.” Caveman commented as he found a plastic bowl and poured the chips into it.

“How’s Ambo doing? Since I'm banned from talking to her until Baden says otherwise.” I asked, stealing Dougy’s beer that was on his side of the table.

Caveman turned and frowned at me before going back to searching the cupboards, “I didn’t know you were banned from her, though I was furious with you for involving her but I'm glad you didn’t ditch her at the same time.” He commented.

“Like I would ditch her but yeah, Baden said I'm banned as punishment.” Then I gave Dougy a pointed look as he sat back on chair, still rubbing his jaw, “See, he did do something to me - banned me from speaking to my sister.”

Dougy pulled a face then snatched his beer back from me and sculled it down, “Because that’s such a harsh punishment Lee.” He mumbled sarcastically.

“Well, she’s doing fine. She actually asked to see you because she’s worried but I’ll tell her your alive and well.....and hitting people.” He smirked briefly at me, ignoring mine and Dougy’s little exchanged of words “She’s got a doctor’s appointment later, a check up for her arm and leg.”

“I haven’t even signed her cast yet!” Dougy shouted out and grabbed a pen in front of him then bolted out the kitchen and we could hear him thundering up the stairs, a moment later a door bang open and Amberly screaming in fright before yelling at Dougy for almost giving her a heart attack which made both me and Caveman laugh.

“Where’s Baden and Phil?”

“Um, Phil went to see Cole and I don’t know where Baden went.” I muttered, thinking I should go see Cole too and I can also tell Phil me and Dougy are all cool now, “Actually, if you see Baden can you tell him I’ve gone to see Cole as well?”

Caveman nodded then tossed a set of keys onto the table as he walked past, “Take my car – scratch it and don’t bother coming back.” He warned but the corner of his lips twitched and he walked out while I shouted cheers after him.

Before I got up to leave though I dialled Darcy’s number but it rang out until it went to voicemail, groaning I hung up and dialled Neil’s number only to have the same thing happen. So I rang Darcy once more, still no answer but this time I listened to his stupid message about being busy in bed if you get what he means and he’ll get back to you if you’re important enough, “I bloody hope I'm important enough De. Ring me the second you get this, I need to know that you and Neil are all okay, Adam even. Just ring me.” And I pressed the end call button before sighing and getting up while hoping to hell that he is fine as well as Neil.

Walking towards the front door, I stopped and checked my reflection in the large mirror and ran my hands through my hair, good enough, “Dougy!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Want to come for a drive?” a minute later he was thundering down the steps and barrelling me out the front door like he use to always do when we were younger.

“Where are we going?” he asked once we were in the car and driving out, after ten minutes of arguing over who got to drive since apparently Caveman has never even leant Baden his car before, which made me feel special and I kept gloating about it this new found information.

“Mummy Marks to see Cole.” I smiled and he nodded.

“Do you even know where you are?” he questioned after a moment.

I pointed at the GPS and smiled, “Nope but my little friend sitting there does.”

He rolled his eyes, “Those things are stupid. I entered Hungry Jacks into Phil’s and it took me to the other side of the city when we have one like ten blocks away.”

“You’re the dumbass who didn’t know he was driving across the city, so that’s your stupid fault.” I muttered, secretly laughing at how stupid he is. I'm not a computer whiz or technology genius or anything but even I know how to work a GPS.

“Shut up.” he snapped playfully.

“Famous quote of the year.” I teased and in no time we were pulling into Mummy Marks driveway behind Phil’s car, who was sitting out the front on the grass and playing with Cole with a whole bunch of toys spread all around him.

“I’ve never seen Phil so happy.” I murmured with a small smile as I watched him wave at us with a big smile while he laughed at something Cole did.

“Phil’s always happy.” Dougy commented, “But yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Do you think you’ll ever have a kid one day?” I asked, turning to face him.

He thought about it for a moment, shrugged and smiled over at me, “Nah, I’ll leave being a dad up to Phil. What about you though? Gonna make me an uncle again anytime soon?” he nudged me suggestively in the shoulder and I shoved him away.

Shaking my head slowly, “I can’t see it happening anytime soon.” Then I smirked, “But I can see Ambo getting knocked up in the near future.”

“You a fortune teller now?” he laughed.

“Yep.” I grinned and we climbed out the car while I smiled over at Phil and waved to Cole as we cut across the flower bed to get to them.

Planting myself down on the ground next to Cole, his face lit up and he crawled over to me giggling which made me laugh, he was just so adorable.

“You guys patched things up then?” Phil grinned and we both nodded, “Good, I don’t like my siblings fighting.”

Dougy pushed him but smiled anyway. Phil’s mum came walking out a little while later and grinned as soon as she spotted us and we grinned when we saw she was carrying  a tray of her famous homemade choc chip biscuits. So the three of us, plus Cole spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around in the front yard chatting, laughing and playing with Cole like it was old times and we had nothing to worry about.

Naturally because we were all in good moods, Phil’s mum thought it was a great moment to come and take photos of Phil with Cole and then me and Dougy with him, all four of us, just the three of us, Phil and his mum, then me and Dougy with her, me and Dougy together and on it went.

I pulled a stupid face in almost every single one, except the one I had taken of me and the lady I consider my own mum. I had to smile properly in that one or she would have smacked me.

It was almost dinner time and we sent Dougy to get us some drinks before, so now we were laying on our backs and having a few relaxing drinks because Cole fell asleep not that long ago.

“Do you think Jeff got anything out of Frederick?” Phil asked, finally bringing us back to the reality of our lives.

Dougy rolled over to his stomach, “It’s Jeff - he can get information out of anyone.”

“True.” Phil smirked and I didn’t even want to know.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” I grinned and they both looked at me so I pointed to a familiar car coming down the road with Baden driving, Caveman passenger and I'm hoping Amberly was in the back.

“About time, I’ve had enough of sibling bonding time.” Phil teased.

“Hey! I take offence to that!” I cried, pretending to be annoyed but my smile gave me away but it didn’t stop me from jumping on him.

“Violence, Lee!” Phil shouted, rolling us over so he was practically squishing my face into the grass, “Eat grass! Eat grass!” he cheered.

“Dougy!” I shouted, trying to squirm out from underneath Phil but he just sat back and laughed. A few minutes later Phil got off as Baden sat down alongside me and pulled me up into his arms, so my back was leaning against his chest and his arms were wrapped around me.

Turning to look up at him I smiled as he leaned in and kissed my lips softly, “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” I murmured and then Phil started gagging.

Dougy came running back with a fold out summer lounge and set it up for Amberly who was in Caveman’s arms, I grinned up at her and she smiled back, “Good to see your all okay Lee-lee.”

“Good to see you only have a sling on your arm now and not a cast.” I nodded at her arm as I just noticed it was now white fabric and not plaster covering it but her leg was still in a cast.

“Oh my goodness, you have no idea how free my arm feels now!” she gushed as Caveman sat her down on the fold out lounge then walked off to find a chair for himself so he could sit at her height next to her. Such a sweetheart for a caveman, I thought to myself.

“I bet.” I grinned as I handed her a drink.

“So, did you get in heaps of trouble?” she tried to whisper inconspicuously but it didn’t work since I wasn’t right next to her and Dougy chuckled at her not so subtle quietly asking skills, she shot him daggers but then smiled anyway.

“Yeah, I'm banned from you.” I laughed as I turned and looked up at Baden who frowned.

“I forgot until just now.” He mumbled, then moved around me so he was blocking my view of Amberly, “No more talking to her.” He said in a stern tone then ended up cracking a smile as I just cocked an eyebrow questioningly but he moved back to how he originally was pretty quick with Dougy making the sounds of a baby crying and we all got his point.

“I still stand by the fact she is babied.” He held his hands up and shrugged.

“No one cares sulky sue.” I retorted with a laugh at his facial expression.

“Hate to break up the happy gathering but we need to discuss something.” Baden spoke up and I groaned loudly while the other two just turned and looked at him. Caveman looked like he already knew the news and he wasn’t giving anything away with his face.

“Naturally Jeff broke Frederick and we now have Paul’s whereabouts but he won’t be there for long, two days tops. So we need to move quick and hit him hard and fast.” A silence fell over everyone; I just couldn’t believe that we finally knew where he was.

“Where is he exactly?” Dougy was the first to ask and suspicion laced his tone.

Baden looked over at him, their earlier argument in the kitchen before long forgotten, “A warehouse, outside of town with plenty of back roads but a small police forced town nearby. If and I mean if the cops are somehow called, it would take them no time to get there.”

“So, what’s the problem?” Phil asked with a big grin, I rolled my eyes at him.

“That’s the only one we have come up with so far,” Baden smirked back, seeming to be a little cocky about this right now, “I’ve got Darren finding out as much as he can about the place and getting his hands on some maps and layouts of the warehouse. I should hopefully have something within a few hours.”

“Why do I feel like a but is coming along somewhere, it can’t be that simple.” Dougy narrowed his eyes a little.

Caveman spoke up now, “The place is crawling with men and we can’t guarantee anyone’s safety when we go in. We will lose men but so will they.” His voice serious and with no remorse towards the people who may die.

I noticed Amberly look away, unshed tears building up in her eyes and I knew she was worried, hell, I was too but I already knew I was going in with Baden. I'm not letting him leave my side and if something were to happen, I’d rather be with him then miles away. I lost him once four years ago and I won’t lose him again.

“So what, our men are chickening out?” Phil snapped, growing angry about this.

“They won’t, they signed up for this shit and once you’re in, you’re in for life.” Dougy growled and cracked his knuckles, “I will make sure we have numbers whether they come willingly or not.”

“Dougy!” I cried, “You can’t force anyone to do this!” I was horrified at what he was saying, it’s one thing to want to willingly walk in there but another to be forced. Those people could have wives, girlfriends, children, families even, looking over at Phil, then back to Dougy, “What if they have kids who are all they have left?” I demanded.

“They knew this when they joined Lee, you know nothing about this because you’re not even a legit Johnson member.” He snapped back at me, looking annoyed.

”Watch it.” Baden warned in a low tone as he looked over at Dougy.

“He’s right Lee.” Phil spoke up with a sad smile, “We all knew what we were getting ourselves into and we still chose it, this life is who we are. It’s why my mum has legally adopted Cole as her own, so I know if I died, he would be with family still.”

“Don’t say that Phil.” I whispered, “Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise you that. Cole will know his dad.” I had to look away before I started leaking tears. The thought of Phil not being around in my life, in Cole’s life was unbearable and almost broke me.

The thought of any of us not being around in each other’s lives broke me. Everyone fell silent as we all pondered on our own thoughts and I knew right now that I would do everything that I humanely possibly can do to keep them all safe and well.

Even if they didn’t agree but first things first, they all need to cheer up, “We need to find a house that fits us all, somewhere in a secret location that only us six know about. A place we can all call home.” I looked up at Baden to see what he was thinking and he smiled down at me.

“I think that’s a great idea.” He kissed the tip of my nose and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly.

“Phil, you got your old laptop here still?” Dougy looked over at Phil who looked blank for a moment, then nodded and ran off inside acting like a little hyper kid.

I smiled to myself, for now we can just forget about everything else and relax with each other because I'm sure soon enough this will be ruined.

We spent over an hour searching the net for hidden locations and properties until we finally found one, it was pretty expensive but Baden was keen on it still and said money was no problem. It was a two hours drive away from here, down a long winding deserted dirt road and deep amongst a thick forest but the best part – it sat right on the edge of a beach in a private cove with its own private jetty.

We checked out the inside through the virtual tour and it was all moderately designed, big and open with tall glass windows that let in sunlight. Phil already said if we get it those windows are getting tinted just for added privacy in case someone came along.

There was a huge garage underneath the place which had enough room for eight cars – the place originally was a beach shack designed and built by two families together and they made sure to accommodate for everything. Plenty of bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, games room, kitchen, dining, lounge room, rumpus room even a sun room.

“Oh my gosh! Lee-lee, look at the view from this room!” Amberly squealed in my ear as we all huddled around the laptop resting on her legs, the view was right over the beach and it had been shot at sunset and really did look stunning but I rolled my eyes anyway. I bet they purposely uploaded this photo onto the page, which they didn’t need to because the whole place was stunning and looked too good to house a bunch of criminals and gang members.

Chuckling out loud everyone looked over at me and frowned, “What?” I asked.

“Why did you laugh?” Phil narrowed his eyes playfully and I rolled my eyes back at him.

“I was just thinking how strange it would be for gang members to live in a place like this.” And I nodded back to the screen.

“I agree, which is why it’s perfect.” Baden smiled, “No one would ever think we would live there, it’s nothing like any of our previous houses.” And that’s how we all found and agreed on our secret hidden house we will all be able to call home.