Hailey's POV

I end up crying myself back to sleep when Zeb and that Rome guy leave the room, I mean it's not like I had much to do in here, or could even stretch my legs out for the matter, the least they could've of done was bring me a blanket, the room was freezing and my thin sweater wasn't enough to warm me up.

I actually didn't touch any of the snacks that Rome had brought me, I felt too sick to my stomach to try and stomach anything down. I did drink the other small water bottle though, in light of trying to settle the nauseous-ness in my stomach, and it did to a certain extent. The Advil however, that didn't help one bit, the headache was still there, then again maybe it was because I was nonstop crying until I actually fell asleep, which I have no recollection of.

I actually wake up to the sound of a soft piano playing in the background, and immediately sit up on the single mattress when I see Cris Rockwell sitting in a chair across from me. He's the last person I thought I would've seen right now.

I awkwardly watch him for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say. What is he doing here?? He actually doesn't say anything himself, he doesn't look up, nor do I say anything, yet, he keeps his gaze down on the screen of his phone; he's playing some game.

"Is that Piano tiles?" I asked, it literally being the first thing that came to mind.

Cris instantly scoffs and nods his head yes and I instantly go quiet again.

"You wanna know something funny?" He breaks our tedious silence again, his gaze never once lifting from his phone screen.

I don't say anything I continue to just stare at him. He looks up for a quick second, realizing that he has my attention.

"I actually know how to play the piano," he says, his attention is back on his phone now. "But I would much rather use my thumbs to tap on my screen, than to actually try and work up a sweat and play the real thing," he scoffs and is immediately swearing afterwards, "fucking aye!"

Assuming he lost his game, he finally puts his phone down, staring sternly in my direction. "How could you be so stupid to go out alone at night," he growls shoving his phone back into his pants. "Especially near the boundary lines, Hailey.."

"Why do you even care?" I glare in his direction. "Aren't you supposed to be on your cousin's side?"

He scoffs and gets up off of the chair, "I am nothing like my cousin, don't you dare compare us," he snarls while reaching into the inside of his jacket.

He pulls out a single key, holding it out in front of him and then tosses it onto the mattress, landing near my legs, "get up."

I stare down at the gold key on the mattress, glancing up at him confused, "you're letting me go?"

Cris scoffs again, loudly this time. "Ax and I may be family, Summers, but that doesn't mean that he won't hesitate to put a bullet in between my eyes for crossing him. We're going for a little walk, stretch your legs, get some air."

My heart immediately sinks back to my stomach as that little glimmer of hope dies.

"No thank you, I'm fine here," I say looking away from him.

Cris begins to chuckle and gains my attention again, you can definitely tell his small laugh is forced though, "you say that like you have a choice, Summers." He pulls a gun out from behind him and points to the key, "Don't make me ask you twice, Hailey."

I slowly begin to nod my head and reach for the stupid small key, unlocking the cuff around my ankle. It unlocks and I'm quickly taking it off, rolling my foot around, it felt so good not to have that heavy weight on it.

"Come on," Cris waves his gun. "Get up."

I do, I slide off of the mattress and stand up on my feet, and Cris immediately sticks his other hand out and I place the key in his palm. He shoves it back into his jacket and grabs ahold of my arm, a bit tightly might I add.

He leans forward, looking towards the mattress I was just laying on and points towards the wall where I have the bag of chips and donuts, "who brought you that?"

I shrug my shoulders not wanting to get anyone in trouble.

Cris scoffs while shaking his head, "they're keeping you captive here, yet you're defending them? You're something else, Summers."

I don't say anything and look down at the ground, at my shoes.

Why am I protecting them?

Because Zeb might be your only chance of getting out of here, my subconscious screams at the back of my mind, and pray to God that that's really true. I pray to baby Jesus that Zeb is actually trying to get me out of here, that I didn't just give him my brother's number like a dumbass and pull him into this mess as well.

Cris's deep voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

"If anyone else ask's, I brought you that, alright?"

I quickly look up at Cris, confused. He's a few inches taller than me, he's actually about Isaac's height and that immediately makes me sad, I shouldn't have been such a bitch to him, I shouldn't have made him call his guys off, I probably wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't.

"Don't start thinking I like you or anything, Summers, cause I don't, it'll just be easier this way, got it?" I stare up at him, not really following. He sighs, "Ax's tends to go easier on me than anyone else, I really don't want to deal with one of his moods today."

I nod my head and he instantly starts pulling me with him towards the door. My heart starts to slam in my chest as Cris goes to open it, I don't know what's out there, I don't know what to expect, but it wasn't anything close to what I was met by.

It would appear that we were in some type of warehouse, but it's not your ordinary warehouse, no, this one was a lot nicer, it's actually turned into one huge loft. The loft is actually below us, accompanied by dozen of men just hanging around, Axel's men I'm assuming.

Cris and I are actually on the second floor, there's a small rail that goes all around the floor, connecting to a stairway at the end of the hall that leans down to the loft. Cris begins to walk to his right, pulling me along with him, his gun still in his other hand. There's a whole world just outside of my door, yet I heard nothing but silence which is strange because it's actually pretty loud in here.

I continue to stare down at the open floor below us, taking in every aspect of it as we continue to walk down the hall. The only thing up here are doors along the walls, the bottom floor however, that's a whole different story. Its actually divided into four different sections.

There's a living area with some couches and a tv on the wall, with some guys watching a movie. Right in front of it, or behind, whatever, is a small open kitchen, probably where Rome got my snacks from. There's a couple stools lined up along the side of the kitchen island and a table to the side that can sit approximately ten guys.

The other two sections can actually be combine into one large area. There's a wide open space, with some matting on the floor, assuming that's where Axel's guys can fight and train or do whatever it is mafia men do. Theres a couple of work out machines to the left of that, with some mirrors along the walls and weights, making it look like an actual small gym.

Cris yanks on my arms causing me to wince and look over at him, "stop exploring," he grumbles and I quickly mutter a sorry under my breath.

"What are all these doors for?" I asked.

"Room's," Cris answer's shortly.

"Room's for what?"

Cris turns to look at me with an annoyed expression, "for the guys. Some of them live here, ones without family."

Oh.

We come to a stop and Cris is now letting go of my arm and reaches for the door we have stopped in front of. He turns the knob, slowly opening the door he turns on the light and steps to the side, "go," he inclines his head towards the room, and I lean in to peak inside of it.

It's a bathroom.

"Anything you probably need is in the drawers or cabinets, I'll wait out here until you're done."

I don't hesitate, I immediately leave Cris's side and step into the nicely decorated bathroom, shutting the door behind me, locking it. I turn around completely disappointed that there's no window in here, I'm in a windowless bathroom, great, there goes that.

I walk deeper into the small room, its probably a tad bigger than mine back at home. I'm actually surprised to find that not only is there a toilet in here, but a fancy shower in the corner of the room as well. I quickly glance at myself as I pass by the mirror, immediately having to make a double take and stepping closer towards the counter.

This is the first time that I've actually gotten a glimpse of myself and man do I look like a hot mess, scratch that, I'm just a mess. My pony tail is uneven, there's baby hairs coming out of every direction, my eyes are so swollen and red from crying, and there's a nasty cut on the top of my head, that has yet to be cleaned.

I slowly go to touch it and immediately hiss at the tenderness. I turn the water on to the sink and quickly wash my hands, using the soap on the counter, it actually smells nice, it smell like honey, similar to the one I have back at home.

I dry my hands on the small towelettes that are hanging on the rack to the side and start to open each drawer one by one.

Cris was definitely right, anything I need is probably in this bathroom, there's things from toothbrushes, hair brushes, hair ties, tampons, deodorant, Advil's, Tylenol, a couple first aid kits, some rubbing alcohol, peroxide, there's basically a mini pharmacy under here.

I grab one of the first small aid kits and lay it on top of the counter, opening it. I go through the whole thing a take out a small packet of antibiotic ointment, an alcohol wipe, and a q-tip from the first drawer. I open the small alcohol tab and pull out the tiny square wipe and begin to clean my cut, wiping away the dry blood from the surface. I immediately whimper at the burning sensation but continue trying to clean it.

There's a soft knock on the door, followed with Cris's voice, "you okay in there?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Almost done."

I toss the now pinkish wipe into the small bin and tear the ointment packet open. Grabbing one of the two Q-tips, I squeeze some of the ointment out and onto it. Taking a deep breath I start to smear it all over the cut, thankful that this doesn't burn like the alcohol, it's actually kind of soothing. After I'm done cleaning up my mess I place a butterfly band aid over the cut, and throw my trash away.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I look inside of the two cabinets in front of the shower to find some towels and shower products in there. I actually use the restroom really quick, and wash my hands before leaving the bathroom.

I open the door to find Cris standing in front of it, leaning against the rail on his phone. He looks up, instantly putting his phone away, "ready?"

"Yeah," I answer softly, while nodding my head.

Cris chuckles, pointing over at me, "your face, it looks nicer."

I snicker quietly, "thanks. There's a lot feminine products in there," I point to the bathroom behind me.

Cris shrugs his shoulders, "they're not supposed to, but the guys bring a lot of girls over."

"Ew, gross."

Cris chuckles again, pushing himself of the rail, "come on, I think I can trust you to walk beside me."

"Where else am I gonna go in a warehouse filled with meat heads?" I roll my eyes and begin to follow him.

We walk in silence for a couple of seconds, when Cris tucks his gun away, "I'm not some women beater," he mumbles under his breath and I turn to look at him, arching an eyebrow. "Your friend Sofia," he reminds me. "I know it's no excuse for what I did, but I was really drunk that night, I don't even remember doing it."

I stay quiet not really knowing how to respond, why is he telling me this?

"Don't tell anybody this, or I might have to break your little pretty fingers," he teases. "But I'm a big momma's boy. I have two older sisters that I would give my life up for, why would I put my hands on a women when I'm constantly surrounded by them? Honest to God I don't know what the hell I was thinking."

I glance over at him but Cris isn't looking at me, his attention is up ahead to where we're walking.

"Why are you telling me all of this, Cris?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't fuckin' know, honestly. I guess I'm just hoping that you'll see that I'm not this asshole you probably think I am." He turns to me, "that you'll see some good in me like you see some in your boyfriend. I'm nothing like my cousin, I hate being compared to him."

"Hmph."

"What?" Cris looks over at me as we start to slowly decent down the stairs.

"Nothing," I mumble while shaking my head. Cris doesn't say anything in return he simply arches an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders.
We make it down to the main floor and Cris grabs onto my arm pulling me towards the right of the stairs case, his grip isn't as tight as before though, it's gentle this time.

He walks us over towards a door that's clearly hidden behind the stairs, you definitely would never know it was back here unless you actually walked around the stair case. He pulls out a set of keys from his jeans and begins to unlock the door, pushing it open. He inclines head to the right, suggesting that I go in and just like with the restroom from the second floor I peak my head inside to see that it's some type of office.

I look up at him and frown. "Go in," he says.

I walk in front of him, stepping into the office, as Cris stays standing near the door way.

He points towards the couch near the wall, "sit."

I turn to look back at him, "it's a shame you guys hate each other," I say, referring to his question from a few seconds ago. Cris frown. "You and Isaac," I point out. "You have a lot more in common than you think."

Cris snorts softly, "maybe that's why we can't get along," he smirks. "I'll back for you in a bit," he says and walks out of the room, leaving me all alone, locking the door behind him.

I turn around to face the room, bitting the inside of my lip. Why the hell would he take me out of my room just to lock me in a different one? Is this his office? I take a seat on the couch behind me, deciding not to go snooping around, it'll probably just bite me in the end. I glance up at the clock on the far right wall and frown when I see that it's passed 11 am.

What the hell, I slept through the night? I could've sworn I was asleep for about only an hour or two at least.

I'm a little sad to see that there's no windows in this room as well, I mean there's one, it's right behind me, but it leads out into the loft, not the outside world. The blinds behind me are closed though, you can't see out of the office nor into it. I stay sitting on the couch for a few minutes, alone, wondering when Cris was actually gonna come back.

I think back to him apologizing, to him just rambling, venting his little heart out, suddenly having a whole new perspective of him and think back to what Angela told me a while back about Isaac.

"He didn't choose to be this way, he doesn't have the luxury of walking away and starting over.. Isaac was born into this life.."

Cris and I have never really had the chance to talk to each other alone, someone else was always around, always interrupting. But he genuinely seemed upset, like something was bothering him, maybe I missed judged him, maybe he wasn't such an asshole like he said. He was born into this life just like Isaac was, what if he really didn't have a choice on being here, what if he was just doing it all to make his family happy? I knew from experience that a son in this type of family, this type of world, only wants their dad to be proud of them, meaning they'll do anything to prove their worth.

I start to think about the time at school when Cris came up to me behind the library, giving me his cousins number, warning me not to call him, to stay out of it, I guess he really was doing me a favor. Maybe, just maybe, I can talk to him, get him to agree and help me get out of here, he did say he was nothing like his cousin.

A loud deep laugh on the other side of the door pulls me out of my thinking as I hear the door starting to unlock. The door knob stops jiggling but the voice continues to chuckle, it's definitely not Cris's voice though, this ones deeper, it sounds like his voice.

"Yeah," he chuckles deeply, cracking the door open so that his hand and wrist are the only thing showing. I hear another deep voice shout from a distant, assuming that's who he's talking to. "Alright, give me about an hour," he shouts, pushing the door wide open, walking into the room.

It's Axel alright, my heart instantly drops to my stomach. He's shirtless, he has water droplets falling on to his shoulders and bare chest due to his wet hair, but that's not the reason why my hearts pounding in my chest, it's because I don't want to be anywhere near this guy.

He comes to a quick stop when he see's me sitting on the couch, "shit, is it 11 already?" He frowns, shutting the door behind him.

I sit there quietly watching his every move, he's made it pretty clear that he doesn't mind putting his hands on me, the cut on my forehead is clear evidence. He walks deeper into his office, ruffling the towel thats in his hand over his head, and I can't help but feel like something's different about him. He opens a door at the back of the room and tosses the towel in there, pulling out a white tank top, quickly putting it on.

His arm you idiot! He has tattoos! My subconscious scream and she's completely right. Axels whole left arm is covered in black ink, he has a fuckin' sleeve.

I've only ever seen him in long sleeves or button ups so you could never see his tattoos before. Speaking of button ups, Ax pulls out a red flannel, from what I could assume is a small closet, quickly putting that on as well.

He shuts the door back up and goes to sit down on the chair behind his desk, sternly staring over at me, when I notice his beard is gone, well it's trimmed, he now has a light scruff on his face, this actually suits him better. It's like someone gave this man a complete make over, his long hair from before is gone as well, he no longer has a bun, his hair is now short and pushed back.

"Have you ate?"

"Huh?" I look him straight in the eyes.

"Food," he grumbles. "Have you ate?" I shake my head. "Are you hungry?"

A little bit, "no," I mutter.

Axel doesn't say anything else, he inhales a deep breath, exhaling it slowly and pulls his cellphone out of his grey sweatpants, instantly holding it next to his ear. I can hear the dial tone from where I'm sitting, it rings twice before another deep voice answers.

"My office, now," he ordered.

Axel ends his call placing his phone on top of his desk, and about four seconds later there's a light knocking on the door, while it slowly starts to crack open.

"What's up boss?" A man with skin almost as light as mine walks into the room. He stays standing next the door, his hand never letting go of the door knob. He has a light scruff on his face as well, just like Axel, only this guys actual hair isn't so dark, his is more of a soft brown, and surprisingly it's styled back like every other guy on this earth, not that it wasn't attractive or anything, his is more wavy though.

Axel looks up at him, "go to Tahoe Joe's, get me my usual; get the same for our friend here," he inclines his head in my direction.

The man to the side of me glance in my direction for a quick section, nodding his head. "Same sides?" He looks back to his 'boss'.

"Ask her."

He nods again, looking back at me, "uh, loaded mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese okay with you?"

I frown and quickly look over at Ax. He snickers softly, "he's asking you, not me."

I turn back to the guy, softly nodding my head.

"Your steak, how would you like it done?"

Holy crap, steak? He's getting me freakin' steak?

"Medium's fine," I mumble.

He nods, "I'll be back in a bit," he says, looking over at Axel, who's has yet to take their eyes off of me. He has a stern expression.

The man standing at the door way leaves within the next second, shutting the door behind him, leaving Ax and I alone. My heart begins to race as Axel continues to look in my direction.

"Why are you feeding me?" I wondered out loud.

"You've been here for over 12 hours," he specified. "I'm an asshole, not a monster, Hailey. Come, sit," he waves towards the empty chairs in front of his desk. "Let's talk."

I shake my head, "I'm good here."

He inhales a deep breath, exhaling it slowly, "I'm trying to be civil here."

I scoff, "Yeah, you were real civil last night bashing my face in, knocking me out cold," I point towards the cut on the top of my head.

Axel smiles like the little weasel that he is, "you ran!"

"Anyone would've ran in that situation!" I blurted in return.

He inhales another deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm not the bad guy here, Summers, I didn't start this, your boyfriend did, he killed my guys, he killed one of my close friends."

I easily frown at this new source of information.

"I was only repaying the favor," he snarls. "You know what they say, an eye for an eye."

My eyes instantly begin to tear up as I begin to think of Alfonzo. I hadn't known him for long, but I knew just how much he actually mattered to Isaac. He looked up to him, Fonzy was like an older brother to Isaac.

"What do you want from me, Ax.."

"From you? Nothing," he scoffs. "From your boyfriend, everything. I wanna see him crumble, I wanna see Matteo at his lowest. I want him to suffer, I want him to hurt, I wanna see him destroy himself, and this city, while trying to look for you."

"He won't," I growl softly. "I'm sure he already knows it was you."

"And it's exactly why it'll drive him crazy," he smirks. "You underestimate what a man will do for the women they love, Summers, especially when they think they're in danger."

There's a small pang of fear in my chest and I quickly attempt to play it off, I don't want Axel to know that I'm actually afraid of him hurting me, or even worse if Zeb is actually right.

"But instead you're feeding me steak," I mumble.

Axel chuckles deeply then shrugs his shoulders, "I wanna make sure you have a decent last meal," he winks and my stomach immediately churns.

There's a soft knock on the door but they don't wait for Ax to say they can come in, the door begins to open about a second later and Cris is walking back into the office.

"Just on time, Cris!" Axel stands up as he acknowledges his cousin's presence. "Please get Miss. Summers out of my face and escort her back to her room," he says walking around his desk.

Cris simply nods and motions for me to get off of the couch and I gladly do so, slowly walking over to him. Cris wraps his hand tightly around my arm, pulling me in closer to him, causing me to wince a bit. Axel walks up beside his cousin, lowly speaking to him in what I can only assume is in Italian, you'd think I'd be able to understand it by now.

Cris nods and says something in return before he's pulling me out of the office and we're going up the same stair way we came down from. He releases my arm once we're on the second floor, but still remains silent, not uttering a single word. I take a step away from him and bring my other hand up to my arm where Cris had his tight grip, slowly trying to ease the pain that was left, realizing that he actually left my arm slightly red and my instantly water up.

Cris looks over in my direction as I continue to hold my arm, it actually looks like he wants to say something but he doesn't. We stop in front of a big single door and he reaches into his pockets pulling out a set of keys. He sticks a key into the door knob, unlocking it, and opens the door wide open waiting patiently for me to walk inside.

I quickly wipe the single tear that has managed to run down my face and begin to walk into the room, still holding onto my arm. I immediately notice that there's now a pillow and folded blanket on top off the single mattress, I quickly turn around to face Cris, confused.

"You were shivering in your sleep earlier," he says. "I, uh- I had someone bring those in for you." He smiles, forcing a puff of air out of his nose, "just don't tell Ax it was me, he'll think I'm going soft on him."

I smile up at him but tears are quickly running down my face, "he's gonna kill me, I-isn't he?"

The small smile on Cris's face quickly vanishes and it's now replaced with a stern expression as his voice drops an octave and speaks lowly, "I won't let him."

***

Isaac's POV

"Isaac.."

I could barely hear my best friends voice through my head phones as the same song that I've had on repeat starts all over again.

My Name Is Human by Highly Suspect.

Highly suspect was actually Hailey's favorite band, she's the one who go me into their music, she was obsessed with their song Send Me An Angel. I mentally scoffed to myself, she always seemed to amaze me, I never expected her to be into rock music but here she was showing me some of her favorite songs/bands.

It was fucking killing me right now, not knowing where the fuck she was, not knowing if she was okay or not, not having her by my fucking side. I could instantly feel my hands starting to tremble all over again as I continued to pick up my pace on the treadmill. I needed to stay busy, I needed to keep my mind occupied, and the only thing that pops could do was make me train, and even that was starting to fail, just like I failed her.

I've honestly never felt so disgusted and worthless in my entire life. I spent half my time trying to protect this girl, to keep her away from this part of my life, that everything I was afraid of happening was actually starting to happen. Hailey ended up getting caught in the middle of my fucking mess, and I had no idea how to fucking get her back.

Pops had almost every single one of his men searching and patrolling the streets, he even sent a couple cars into the city, knowing that was probably our best luck of finding Hailey, on his turf. I obviously wasn't gonna sit around and wait for news, I was gonna go out there myself and find her, but my dad had other things in mind, I actually wasn't allowed to leave the house, forbidden in fact.

My temper was through the roof, I was all over the place, I wasn't thinking straight, I would only get reckless pops said, instead he sent me down stairs while him, Donny, David, Dion, and Hailey's brother, Caleb, stayed upstairs, pops basically shut me out of everything. I could feel myself starting to get light headed as I continued to run, but I didn't want to stop, I couldn't, I needed to stay distracted.

I've been in and out of the gym about three times since last night, and I was running on maybe forty minutes of sleep, to say I was exhausted was a complete understatement, my head was definitely not in the right place right now. I glance up at the clock on the wall in front me watching the digital time change from 10:47 am to 10:48 am, time was fucking dragging, something else I was trying to avoid, time.

I could instantly feel my blood starting to boil
as I continued to watch the time, it had officially been over 12 hours since I talked to Hailey, since I've last heard her sweet delicate voice, although she was yelling at me, I was gonna start going insane if I didn't hear anything soon.

I hear Angela's voice in the background once again, but still refuse to take my earphones out and continue running, until she's getting up on her feet, walking over towards me pulling the emergency stop button, and yanking my earphones out of my ears.

"That's enough!" She hisses as my machine comes to a stop, slamming a water bottle she had in her hand into my chest. "You're over fücking doing it, relax!"

I place my hand over hers, over the water bottle, gripping both them as I look off to the ground. I was working myself up all over again, my hands were starting to shake all over again, I know that she could feel the small tremble.

She's been with me through the whole night, since Dion called her. She hasn't left my side once, she follows me quietly if I leave the basement, she follows me everywhere I go, making sure that I don't loose my head, attempting to comfort me but I haven't really said much since she's gotten here.

"Isaac," she places her free hand on top of mine. "Say something, don't bottle it up please."

But I couldn't, I didn't know how to talk to her without blowing up or breaking down, and I couldn't do either one of them, not now. I needed to stay strong, I need to keep my head straight for whenever we got some news on Hailey, I wasn't gonna let my anger drive me, not this time.

Tearing her top hand away from mine I let go off her bottom hand and pull the bottle away from her. I step off of the treadmill and pour some water into my mouth, attempting to catch my breath as I walk away from Angela.

She follows of course.

I walk over towards the weights, taking a seat on the small bench, taking another big drink of water. Angela takes a seat right next to me, definitely invading my personal space, not that it ever mattered to her though.

She places her hand on my knee and I quickly look down at it. "KP, talk to me, don't do this to yourself, please."

I glance up at her and speak for the first time in hours, "what do you want me to say?"

She sighs deeply, "don't do that, Isaac, please don't blame yourself."

I look away from her, leaning down to rest my arms on my lap. "Who else am I suppose to blame?" I groaned, instantly feeling my blood starting to boil. "This is what I was trying to keep her from, this is what I was trying to protect her from.."

"Isaac-"

"I had one job, one!" I shoot off of the bench. "I promised her that I would keep her safe, Ang, that I would never let anything happened to her as long I was breathing! Now I don't even know where the fuck she's at, I don't know if she's okay, I don't even know what's going on upstairs!" I shouted, throwing the nearly half empty bottle against the wall.

"I had one job and I fucking failed her! I dragged her into this life," I tap my hands against my chest. "I dragged her into my mess, if anything happens to her it's on my hands, Ang, mine! So please, tell me who else am I supposed to blame!"

Angela doesn't say anything, she sighs deeply for a second time and gets off of the bench as well. She walks over towards me quickly wrapping her arms around me, pressing her face into my chest, "your dads gonna find her, Isaac, she's gonna be okay."

I feel my body shutter as Angela continues to embrace me, the ache in my chest growing with each second that passes by, the guilt completely washing over me.

She unwraps her arms from around me, looking up, she cups my face with both of her hands, "everything's gonna be okay," she pulls me in for another hug and I completely crumble into her.

I lay my face on top of her shoulder and mumble, "I shouldn't have called them off, I just wanted her to talk to me so bad. I was thinking," I admit sadly.

"I know, KP, I know," she wraps her arms tighter around me. "You did what anyone else would've done in that situation."

I slowly start to wrap my arms around her, desperate for that comfort. "I feel fucking worthless not doing anything," I sobbed. "I need to be out there, I can't just wait around!" I grumble.

Angela shushes me while pulling me in closer towards her, "you're doing what's best for her right now, KP, what's best for everybody. He wants you out there, if you go into the city you're just giving him what he wants, you'll be falling right into his lap."

I don't say anything in return, I can't, she's right, she's always right, but this is something I'll never tell her, I'll never give her that type of joy and fill her overly large ego already.

I don't know how long I stay in her embrace, maybe about a minute or two, four, I'm not sure exactly, Angela eventually pries me off of her and points behind me, tilting her head in that direction.

I turn around to find my other best friend, Angela's boyfriend, standing in the middle of the gym entrance, his arms folded along his chest.

"You good?" He inclined.

I nod.

"Good, cause I need you to cut the sad shit out now, it's time to put your big boy pants on, we found her."

~~~~