She fainted before I could explain why I shot a man without hesitance.

She knows so little yet she thinks she understands. That irritates me about her but when I saw the horror on her face, I couldn't help but feel guilty.

Not guilty for shooting the man, he deserved it, but guilty for her having to see me take someone's life. I had to run after her. I had to explain. Usually I wouldn't care and let one of the others handle her but this girl has something that draws me closer to her.

When I caught up to her my natural instinct was to push her up against a wall or something so that she can be forced to listen but now that she has fainted I can understand why.

Knowing that a lunatic is chasing you after killing a guy would also make me a little uncomfortable.

Please don't kill me, was her last word before she fainted. Luckily for our close proximity I was able to hold her up before she hit the ground. I quickly swooped her up bridal style in my arms.

Looking down at her it becomes harder for me to breath. She's beautiful. Absolutely breath taking. Long blonde hair that makes my fingers itch to just run through it. Big round blue eyes, always on the search for something. Natural tanned skin without a trace of acne.

How can anyone want to hurt her? She's so fragile. Literally and figuratively. When I heard those three girls and her lame excuse of an ex boyfriend talk to her like that it took everything in me not to put a bullet in their heads. I never wanted her to see that side of me. I'm not sure what she has heard of me but I saw the fear in her eyes when I first approached her a few days ago after school ended. She was afraid of me. Hell she didn't even mutter a word to me. When I walked up to her the next day at school I would have thought that she would jump at my words but she opened her mouth and amazed me with her comebacks. She's something else. That's for sure. I have this itch inside of me that wants to get to know her. I need to know her.

Please don't kill me.

Her words made my insides flip. The guilt immediately washed over me.

" Fuck." I curse out loud as I realized what I had just done. Everly was now officially caught up in something I never even wanted her to know of. I never should have invited her to this party. Damn it.

Please don't kill me.

The words keep haunting me as I carry her back to my car. I don't know what exactly I'm going to do with her. Do I take her home? I know that she lives with her sister from the few times we've talked. Do I take her back to my place? I don't think Chase would be happy with me. He's not the biggest fan of people, mostly strangers. But she's not a stranger to me. I'm the reason she fainted to I'm responsible for keeping her safe. Just for tonight.

" What happened?" Chase comes running after me.

" She fainted."

" So? Just leave the girl and let's get out of here before the cops show up."

" No."

" Liam-"

" I said no chase!" I yell frustrated.

He's quiet. He looks at me, disappointment clear on his face but he doesn't speak up. He knows it's better not to.

He unlocks the car and hustles to the passenger seat. I carefully place Everly on the back seat and hurry to the driver's seat. I speed off just in time for the cops to arrive. Not that they would do anything to me but it saves me a lot of pointless paper work to stay away from the crime scenes that I'm responsible for.

I look back at the now abandoned mansion filled with police cars. A great party indeed. Note to my sarcasm.

" Where are we going?" Chase mumbles next to me.

I look in the review mirror and see that Everly is still unconscious on the back seat. Even though she's passed out and unaware of the little drool at the side of her mouth, she still manages to make me speechless. It takes a lot to leave me speechless.

" Home."

Chase doesn't start an argument as he grabs his phone. He dials a number and presses the phone against his ear.

" We'll be there in 10 minutes." he says and ends the call.

" The others are waiting at the house."

With others, he means the rest of the D&D's.

Devils Decipels. Yes I know it's not the most intimidating name to call us but Stella, my twin sister, liked the ring to it. You don't argue with her. If she wants something done, it's done.

The D&D's consists of myself, Chase, Stella, Lucas and Ryan. Those 4 are the closets to me and I consider them to be my inner circle while I have thousands of people working for me around the world. For my age, it's pretty impressive to have built an empire like this. I had a lot of help. Like my dad liked to say 'contacts will get you far in life'. Those words couldn't have been more true.

" Are you sure you want to involve her in our business?" Chase asks after a few minutes.

I don't want to but I don't have a choice. She's seen too much. As much as I would like to trust her, my men will have a problem with her roaming around after seeing their faces.

" Let's just get through the night and then we'll decide what's to come tomorrow." I answer.

" Whatever happens to her, it's on you." Chase mutters after a while.

I nod my head and speed on towards my house. Chase and I live on our own. Since my mom kicked me out I didn't have much of a choice. Chase has a similar background story so we decided to live together. For the time being. I'm getting really sick of Chase bringing home a new girl every other week.

In no time I pull up into our driveway. Killing the engine I quickly climb out to get Everly inside. It's getting a little chilly outside and she must be freezing in that little dress of hers.

Wrapping my arms around her I quickly manage to get her into the house. I ignore all the stares from the others as I take her up the stairs and towards my room.

Laying her down I take off her shoes and tuck her in. I don't quite understand why I'm being this generous to her. Sure I've learned to share my chicken nuggets with her but this, this is a whole new level.

I never bring a girl home. Not even my usual booty calls.

I look at the time and realize that the party wasn't that long seeing as it's elven - fifteen now. Not knowing what to do I leave the room for Everly to get some rest.

I walk down the stairs ready to face a bucket full of questions.

" Dude."

" What the hell Liam?"

" She's pretty."

" Urg."

They all say in unison when I walk into the kitchen.

" Are you guys done now?" I ask.

" Why did you bring her here? From all places you could've brought a whore you had to bring her here?" Stella says, irritated as always.

A whore. That's what she is to everyone. That is what she is supposed to be to me too. But there is just something about her. She's pregnant, I know, but isn't that good enough of an excuse for me to stay away? Then why the hell am I still here?

" Stella I swear on our father's grave-"

" Hey - hey calm down buddy." Ryan innterups me before I can strangle my sister.

My sister and I haven't always been the best of siblings. We have our usual fights and all but what happened to us gave us a reason to stick together.

" She is not a whore. "

" Oh sorry, excuse me from calling the pregnant girl upstairs a whore!" Stella yells back.

I can feel the anger building up inside of me. I grab the side of the counter, real hard, and soon enough my hands start to turn white. My teeth are pressed together, hoping for me not to kill someone tonight.

Again.

" She is not a whore! " I yell out in frustration as the palm of my hand hits the counter top.

Everyone is quiet. I take the silence to calm down a little. Taking a few breaths in and out I feel more relaxed.

" I don't want to hear another insult towards her being muttered by any of you. Don't mistake me for going soft on any of you just because you're part of my inner circle. I will not tolerate any disrespect. Are we clear?"

No one makes a sound.

Good. They've remembered who they are dealing with.

" How are you going to explain what happened at the party? She saw you shoot someone Liam. We can't risk her knowing what we are up to. What if he finds out that we are scheming behind his back and taking out his men?" Chase speaks up bravely.

He has a point. I can't risk it because would put her in too much danger. How the hell do I explain to her why I shot the guy and not put her in danger? I can't let that happen to her. Not her.

But you already got her involved when you dragged her to the party and pulled the trigger my conscience adds.

I sigh.

" I'm thinking of something. "

I watch as the wheels turn in their heads. There's no easy way out of this.

" Are you gonna tell her the truth? " Ryan asks.

" The t-truth about w-what?" a familiar voice asks from behind me.

I turn around to face a shivering Everly with one of my baseball bats in her hand. Classic Everly, classic.

" Fuck. "

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