A whoosh of air hit me right in my face and then I felt a cold metal touch my neck.

I froze, as I noticed the sharp side of the knife directly angled to cut my throat open.

"STOP!" Miles yelled, wide-eyed and breathing heavily as bood dripped from her thigh. "Fine. You win!"

The guy holding the knife to my neck kept his hold on the knife and turned to look at Miles with a smirk.

I looked at Miles with pleading eyes to somehow change her mind from giving in to what they want and that I wouldn't mind getting hurt for her.

She only looked at me with an apologetic expression and a sad smile. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

*****

*One hour ago*

"Just one more picture, I promise." Perri said, holding up her phone.

I shifted to the side to stand behind Miles who stood stiffly with a small smile.

"Miles?" I noticed her stiffen even more.

"Look into the camera people!" Perri called out, making me sigh and look in front.

Perri groaned. "You're not fitting in the frame, step back."

She said pushing Miles slightly making her trip on my foot.

She gasped as she lost her footing but I grabbed her just before she could fall, and pulled her to my chest.

Her eyes were tightly shut making me smile. "You're okay. I got you." I said, making her open her eyes in surprise.

We looked at each other intently when I heard a click that made me pull out of my trance. Miles snapped her head to the side to look at the girls with dreamy looks on their faces.

"You better get this one framed." Mia squealed, looking at Perri's phone.

Miles blinked in surprise before pulling herself away from me, in a flash, making me frown.

I could tell by just looking at her eyes that something was bothering her.

"So, wanna grab a bite before we leave?" She asked, taking a few more steps away from me.

"No. I'll just head home." Ashley muttered, looking down, making me purse my lips and look away.

While we were on the Ferris wheel, I was worried about Miles and the way she had hastily ran away from the ride while Ashley, on the other hand thought it would be the best moment to try and kiss me.

I, obviously pushed her away and apologized if I had led her on, in any way.

I wasn't going to let her kiss me and ruin the little thread of a chance that I have with Miles.

Miles slowly nodded while no one complained or tried to stop her.

Ashley muttered a small bye and booked herself a cab.

"Alright! I challenge you all to an eating contest, bitches." Dylan cheered.

Some people passing by gave us weird looks making us want to be buried deep in the concrete floor.

"You are so on, you big whale." Lexi said, making Miles shake her head and laugh.

"Alright alright, you don't need to get so drastically competitive, guys." Mia rolled her eyes, patting Dylan's back.

We decided to get some burgers before we leave to go home and just like every other time, I noticed Miles looking around, scanning the crowd, vigorously.

I took a huge step towards her, and grabbed her arm catching her off guard.

"Okay what's going on?" I asked, once I knew that the others were not in hearing distance.

"What? N-"

"Miles you've been acting weird, making terrible excuses and doing a much terrible job at being subtle about it." I said sternly, making her clench her jaw.

I could sense the very familiar dilemma in her eyes before she looked away.

"It doesn't concern you." She said, glaring at me.

Taken aback, I blink at her.

She rolled her eyes before turning to leave but I wasn't done, and pulled her back towards me, a little closer this time.

"Ryder. Let go." She gritted out, glaring at me with a greater intensity.

"No." I said, with finality in my voice. "You tell me what's going on and why you're acting like this."

She didn't budge and kept glaring at me. The only time she looked away from my eyes was to glance at the crowd behind me, before she jerked back.

"You wanted nothing to do with me, when we came in here." She seethed, pointing a finger at me. "I'm just granting your wish by leaving you alone. It'd be great if you did the same, really."

"I never said that." I frowned. "I would never ask you to leave me alone."

Her troubled eyes held fire. The kind of fire that was capable of burning me to ash.

"Well, I'm asking you to." She looked away from me before speaking again, every word piercing my heart. "Let's stop pretending like everything's normal and that we are best friends again. You really think I can forgive you that easily?"

I couldn't help but raise my hand to my chest as I felt physical pain in my heart. "But- I thought w-"

"I said what you wanted to hear because you were being too persistent." She said, still not looking at me, her face void of any emotions. "I'm sorry to say this, Ryder, but you're still the same pompous ass, that you were back then."

I stumbled slightly as I took a step back as if I just took a hard blow.

I knew that forgiving me wouldn't be easy for Miles. Hell, I don't think I've forgiven myself yet, but hearing her say this, hurt a lot more than I had expected.

"Come on, I don't want the others asking questions." She said quickly before turning to walk towards the others.

"I don't believe you." I said, finally finding my voice.

She froze, turning to look at me, surprise evident on her face. "What?"

I gathered myself and straightened my stance before walking towards her. "I don't believe a word you said. Doesn't change the fact that it didn't hurt any less, but you're a terrible actor Miles."

It was a long shot, but I knew somewhere deep inside me that this isn't her.

She scoffed. "I don't care. Believe what you want."

She tried to maintain a bold look but her eyes gave her away. They kept wavering, and scanning the crowd, as if someone was watching us.

I frowned before she rolled her eyes and turned to walk away leaving me to get my breathing under control.

After having a meal filled with chaos as Dylan and Lexi tried to fit a whole burger into their mouth, we were too exhausted to do anything else.

Miles made sure to stay a good 5 to 6 feet away from me at all cost. She was still acting weird as she kept looking around.

"I so won." Dylan sassed.

"Oh puh-lease, half of your burger was on your freaking tray instead on being in your mouth." Lex scoffed, slinging her arm over Perri's shoulder, who nodded.

Miles laughed. "Yeah your tray looked like a crime scene to be honest."

Dylan looked at Miles with his jaw hung open. "You're all ganging up on me." He whined, looking at me.

I shook my head. "I have nothing to say against that dude. You eat like a stoned monkey."

Dylan gasped in exaggeration. "Oh no you didn't."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"He's right, you know." Cole said.

"You two are too big of simps to side with me." Dylan scoffed, flicking imaginary hair over his shoulder and picking up pace.

Miles extended her arm and latched onto Dylan's pulling him back to walk with the group.

It was then that I noticed that she had stopped laughing and was looking straight ahead with a face void of emotions.

"Everyone, keep walking." She said in a low voice.

"Em? Wh-" Dylan started, turning to her but she made him turn forward with a jerk.

"Don't turn around and don't stop walking." She said.

We were all walking silently with frowns on our faces, when she spoke up again.

"I need you all to pay attention to what I say, okay?" Everyone nodded. "We are being followed."

I sensed the change in everyone's demeanor.

"How do you know that?" I asked quietly, glancing at her.

"This isn't the first time for me." She sighed. "I hate to get you all involved but I need to keep you safe and for that you need to do exactly what I say, okay? Can you do that?"

Everyone nodded and I noticed Miles signalling something to Lex, making her change position to walk behind us.

"Alright, they're at about a 25 metres distance from us so we can use that to our advantage." She glanced at everyone before sighing. "In a minute you will see a small alley, we're going to walk in there, hide inside and be quiet, okay?"

Curiousity got the best of me and I moved to turn my head to look behind me but a hand latched onto my arm. "I said, do not look back."

I looked down at her. "How many are they?"

"It doesn't matter." She looked forward. "Alright walk into that alley."

We walked down a set of stairs.

One by one everyone walked in the dark alley and stopped leaning on the walls on either side such that we were hidden in the shadows. There was no other way out of here as it had a dead end.

"There's no way out of here other than the one we came from." Cole said, looking at Miles.

"I know." Miles sighed, peaking from the wall we were leaning on.

I looked down at her as I was standing beside her. "What do you mean? Then, why did we come here?"

She didn't look at me but motioned Lex to stand against the opposite wall. "There's no way out of this, anyway. These people know me, and they've come prepared. All I can do is minimise the damage."

I noticed Lex nod at Miles, making me grab her arm. "What are you planning to do?" I whisper yelled, leaning down towards her.

"Something very necessary." She said nudging my hand off of her and looking at everyone. "Guys, listen, I want you all to stay where you are and be quiet okay?"

Everyone nodded. I noticed the look of fear on the girls' faces.

"And no matter what happens, do not come out of here. Okay?" She scanned everyone's faces before landing on mine.

"I'm making no such promise." I said, making her frown.

"Em!" Lex called out, with an alarmed look, making Miles sigh and turn towards the opening of the alley.

They walked out of the alley to face the side we came from. Miles suddenly jerked her body to the side as a knife whooshed right past her face and landed on the wall on the other of the one we were leaning on.

I noticed Dylan and Cole trying to calm Mia and Perri down as they start to panic.

"The face? Really?" I heard Miles' smug voice, mocking someone who's face wasn't visible to us. We could only see what was happening directly outside the alley.

"Still the same pretentious bitch that I remember." A voice said, his words dripping with hatred.

"Aw don't be like that, I thought we were warming up to each other." Miles pouted.

Damn she really is good at getting on people's nerves.

"We're not here to chit chat, Jack." Another voice said, making Miles nod with a sickly sweet smile.

"Very well, then. How may I help you today, blondie?" She said, with her hands behind her back, like a salesperson.

"It's Luke." The guy gritted out. "And you're fully aware of what we want."

"Yeah boss wants his little bitch under his shoe, right now." Jack said, menacingly.

I noticed how all the emotions disappeared from Miles' face as she tilted her head at them.

"Well, doesn't he have you all under his shoe already?" She frowned before snapping her fingers in realisation. "Oh right, you probably live up in his ass, my bad."

"You're gonna pay for this, you little bitch." Jack seethed, making me feel uneasy but Cole grabbed my arm and shook his head.

"What are you doing?" I whisper yelled.

"She knows what she is doing. We need to trust her." He said as Perri whimpered at the loud noise of multiple footsteps.

My eyes widened as I turned to look at Miles and Lexi only to see them surrounded by guys from almost every direction.

"You have no other choice than to come with us, Miles." Jack said, walking closer to Miles.

When he was a few steps away from Miles he came into view for us to see him. He had a tattoo on his throat and one on his wrist which is pretty similar to the one, Miles shot, had.

"Your boss is still too scared to show his face huh?" Miles smirked, before turning to Lexi.

I noticed Jack's jaw tick as he clapped his hand once and everyone surrounding the girls took out their weapons.

"This is gonna be interesting." She said, scanning everyone.

She cracked her neck from side to side before rolling her shoulders and bending down to pull her tights up a little, making us gasp.

On both her ankles were two straps with several knives on each.

I saw her take one knife in each of her hands and Lex did the same.

"Come on, little pups." She said with a menacing smile herself, making me stiffen.

I don't like this one bit. She's going to get hurt again.

I frowned as I saw the guys advance towards at them.

She ducked as a guy swung a baseball bat towards her and dug the knife in the back of his shoulder and kicking him to the ground.

I saw Lexi do the same, but I noticed how Miles steered most of the guys away from Lexi and towards herself.

While Miles was busy punching a guy left and right, a loud groan from Lexi grabbed all of our attention.

Miles turned to Lexi with wide eyes and saw a guy holding Lexi in a chokehold as she struggled to breathe.

Miles snatched another knife out of her ankle straps and advanced towards with a look that could kill.

She grabbed the guy's arm off of Lexi's neck and stabbed the guys armpit with the knife.

Even I winced at that, as the guy yelled in pain, while she looked at him with a satisfied smile.

She's enjoying this.

I remember her telling me about her anger issues but I didn't know how bad it really was.

All I could gather from the situation was that she hadn't killed anyone.

'Yet.'

I hadn't noticed till then that a guy had approached Miles and punched her right in her jaw, making her stagger back and away from the guy still shouting in pain.

The guy who punched Miles tried to grab hold of Miles' hands but she used her agility and grabbed his wrists instead, bending them in an unnatural angle. The guy let out a sound of plain agony as the crunch of his bones breaking filled the air.

Miles looked at him right in the eyes and raised her eyebrows in amusement, before pushing him away making him fall on the ground.

There were about 10 guys already laying on the ground, groaning in pain as two guys advanced towards Miles together.

One had a heavy iron chain, while the other had two knives in his hands.

"Why are they doing that?" Mia whimpered in Dylan's chest, while he looked at me. I shook my head.

"They're gonna be fine." Dylan said in a soothing voice, stroking her hair.

I turned my attention back to Miles and my eyes widened as I saw the chain guy strangling her with the iron chain from the back as the guy with the knife looked at her struggling to breathe, with a smirk.

I saw the chain digging into her skin as she coughed. Her eyes started to water and I couldn't help but take a step towards her.

Suddenly her watery eyes landed on mine and she slightly shook her head, making me frown.

"No matter what happens, do not come out of here. Okay?"

I clench my hands into fists as I watched her lift her feet up to the knife guy's chest and kick him with a lot of force. That resulted in, the guy strangling her, also to stagger back and loosen his grip on the chain.

She took the chance to turn and kneed him in the stomach and wrapped the chain around his neck. With him struggling to breathe, she swung her fist and punched him right in his nose, making a sickening sound of his nose breaking fill the air as he fell on the ground unconscious.

As soon as he landed on the ground, I heard a painful groan from Miles. My eyes shifted to her to see the knife guy up on his feet and his knife plunged into Miles' thigh.

I had almost stepped out of the alley at this point, but the guys pulled me back. "Let me go! Don't you see, she's hurt!" I exclaimed, thrashing in their grip.

I looked up to see Miles, looking at the guy with the knife with a murderous expression. Her hand suddenly went up to the guy's throat and I noticed the arm muscles tense up as her grip tightened.

At first the guy looked confused but after a few seconds his expression changed and I realised that Miles was basically cutting his oxygen intake.

The guy removed his hand from the knife in Miles' thigh and clawed on her hand that was on his throat.

I suddenly noticed movement near them and saw a guy advancing towards Miles from behind her with a knife directed to her abdominal region and I didn't think twice before I ran.

The guys had loosened their grip on me and I took my chance.

I ran and punched the knife out of the guy's hand and slammed him on the ground, making all the air knock out of his lungs.

Miles turned to look at me wide-eyed. "What the fuck are you doing?"

I rolled my eyes as I dodged another punch from a guy. "A normal 'thank you' would suffice."

"What part of 'Do no come out here' do you not understand?" She whisper yelled, letting go of the guy struggling for breath.

"You've taken down a lot of them, what do you want to prove?" I asked, ignoring her previous question. "There's literally a knife plunged into your thigh Miles."

"You think this is a contest?" She asked, exasperated before suddenly advancing towards me.

My eyes widened while she extended her arm to grab a guy's arm behind me, who was holding a wooden stick swung at me.