Everything New Distracts The Old

Vic sat down on my bed, his legs crossed and his head down. He was tracing patterns on the sheets, his face twisted in concern as he was deep in thought. I stood in the doorway staring at him, my head resting against the frame of the door.

“Watch your back,” Triston had mumbled as he left—I didn’t know where he went, but I knew it wasn’t far. He would be back, he wasn’t one to give up easily. My head was spinning. I was selfish, wanting to stay here with Vic, thinking that I could just forget about the past and start for a new future. I thought I almost had it, too, Vic made me forget and I felt like a completely different person here in San Diego. But my shadow had finally caught up to me, and now Vic was in the middle of it.

I stepped forward, closer to Vic, and he looked up at me, his lips pursed as he continued to think. I placed a hand on his cheek and his face relaxed. “What are we going to do?” I asked quietly. Vic shook his head and opened his arms. Shyly, I stepped into them and wrapped my arms around him.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed into his shoulder. I hated that I had brought more drama to his life. He already had to deal with enough.

“Why are you sorry?” he asked gently, pulling away to look me in the eyes.

“Because I don’t know what to do about this, Vic. They aren’t going to leave us alone…” I bit on my lip.

“I know. We’ll think of something. Maybe if they come back, we can call the police for harassment. Although, I don’t know how much time they would get for that…” he sighed, furrowing his eyebrows. “I don’t really know how to handle these situations. All the other people we’ve dealt with are dead,” he laughed bitterly. I gnawed on my lip again, hating that he had to deal with so much. Why was life so hard for him? He didn’t deserve this at all. “Hey,” he looked up at me and lightly touched my lips with his fingers. “Stop biting,” he said gently. I released my lip from the grasp of my teeth and nodded with a blush.

“I hate feeling so trapped,” I said, my eyes beginning to burn with tears. Vic grimaced and nodded.

“Me too,” he murmured, pulling me back into him. “Me too,” he mumbled again. I imagined that he was very used to that feeling of being trapped, feeling like every option was impossible. He sighed into my shoulder.

After a few moments, his phone started to ring. “Shit,” he mumbled. “I forgot about Mike,” he chuckled a little nervously. “Hey, Mike,” he said. “Yeah, sorry. I’ll explain when we get to the car. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting,” he sighed a little. “I’m not sure… I don’t know. I’ll be down there in a minute. I'm really sorry, man,” he said. “Alright, thanks,” he said, hanging up the phone.

“We should probably go,” he said. I nodded, sliding away from him and standing up. He held my hand gently as we walked to the door. Before we got there, though, he paused. He turned to me and tucked some of my hair behind my ear. “We just have to be careful. When the time comes, we’ll deal with them. But I don’t think we can do anything right now,” he reasoned. I nodded and leaned forward, kissing him softly. He smiled a little and we pulled away, exiting the apartment. I held his hand tightly as Sam’s words rung in my ears: “Can we just get rid of him?”

I didn’t know what I would do if something bad happened to him, because of me and also in general. The only hurt Triston would do to me was the same kind of hurt that I was used to. He wouldn’t do anything less or anything more. But I was fearful for Vic. That was also why I was initially willing to leave him and return to Santa Cruz. If I went with them, they would leave Vic alone. But now that I knew Vic would fight for me, I was terrified.

“Stop thinking,” he whispered, squeezing my hand as we exited the apartment complex.

“I’m sorry. It’s just a lot, as if you could use any more drama in your life—” I cut my sentence short when I saw, from the corner of my eye, Triston and his friends in their car across the lot. “They’re still here,” I mumbled to Vic. “Don’t look, but they’re still here.”

Vic nodded, and I was impressed with how calm he was. It also worried me.

We walked to Mike’s car, ignoring the fact that Triston was watching our every move. “What do we do?” I breathed nervously. “They’re going to follow us,” I murmured. Vic gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and opened the passenger door.

“They’re going to follow me,” he corrected. He nudged me forward and I sat in the car. He poked his head inside. “Mike, take her home, okay? I’ll be there soon,” he instructed.

“Why? What? Where are you going, Vic?” I asked frantically. What was he doing?

“I’m just going to divert them a little. Mike will text me when you’re home safe and I’ll keep them from following you,” he explained. “That way they don’t know where I live.”

“But how will you get back?” I asked.

“Why aren’t we just calling the cops?” Mike chimed in.

“Because they haven’t done anything yet.”

“What, so we’re just going to wait for something to happen?” Mike asked, a hint of anger in his tone.

“I don’t know, Mike!” Vic exclaimed with a sigh. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” he said to me.

“I still don’t get why you can’t call the police. They’re harassing you, Charlie,” Mike said, confused.

“I’ll explain in a minute, Mike,” I said to him. I turned back to Vic worriedly. “Just be careful, please. I don’t like this at all,” I whispered and my voice shook.

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” he smiled. “I’m just going to keep an eye out and make sure they don’t follow you,” he said again. My head started to spin. I couldn’t figure out how Vic was going to pull this off. I didn’t think he even knew, which worried me even more.

“But, Vic,” I started quietly. I leaned forward more so we were close together. I didn’t want to stress Mike out just yet. “Shouldn’t you be going in the car and I’ll keep them from following us? That makes more sense,” I tried.

Vic didn’t say anything. Instead he leaned forward and kissed the side of my head, buckling my seatbelt for me to further send the message that I needed to go with Mike. I sighed and blinked slowly. “I know how to deal with them, Vic,” I tried again. He shook his head. I glanced at Mike but he was just sitting there with his eyes closed, his face scrunched up, and his head back. I sighed again. “Don’t be stupid, Vic.”

“I’m not. I know what I’m going to do,” he said. Mike sighed loudly. Everyone was sighing over this sticky situation. If I hadn’t have been such a slut then we could just call the police and be done with it.

“Don’t call yourself that,” Vic said sadly. I frowned, realizing I had voiced my thoughts. Mike opened his eyes and glanced at me curiously.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. I unbuckled my seat belt and turned to get out of the car. I wasn’t about to let Vic be an idiot for my sake. This wasn’t going to do anything. I couldn’t let him stay behind and risk getting cornered by the men that once ruled my life and wanted to rule it again.

“Charlie, c’mon,” Vic sighed but I clutched onto him tightly.

“I’m afraid that you have a death wish,” I admitted into the warm and comforting skin of his neck.

“I swear, I don’t,” he protested, his hands flattened against my back and holding me tightly.

“Don’t lie to me. Get in the car Victor Fuentes. Get in the car and go home,” I demanded. I released my grip from him and took his shoulders in my hand, gently pushing him off of me. “I can take care of myself. I did for six years,” I mumbled, his eyes wide as I revealed the number. I turned him around and pushed him into the car. He huffed as he sat down. “Don’t let him be stupid, Mike, okay?” I looked at Mike, ignoring Vic’s protests. Mike nodded.

“This is stupid,” Vic mumbled under his breath. I smiled and kissed the side of his head, buckling him up like he had done to me before. He rolled his eyes and I smiled at him again.

“See you later,” I said.

“Promise?” Vic asked worriedly. I leaned over and kissed his lips.

“Promise,” I said, and my eyes flickered to Mike as he stared at me intently. I smiled gently and stepped away from the car. I closed the door for them and Vic looked at me through the window. He looked heartbroken, out of breath, and angry—not with me, but the situation. Mike nodded and sped away. I sighed and turned to Triston’s car.

He smirked at me and I rolled my eyes, giving him a small wave as I walked towards him.

VIC’S POV

I slammed my fist on the dashboard.

“You’re going to break the car, Vic,” Mike sighed.

“We just left her there! With those animals!” I exclaimed. “Fuck! We have to go back,” I said, breathing heavily.

“Vic, relax. She knows what she’s doing. She’s not weak. Now, please explain to me what is even going on,” he said robotically. I growled and closed my eyes, resting my head back.

Through clenched teeth, I explained to him everything that happened with Triston and his friends, and then I told him what Charlie told me.

“So that’s why you didn’t call the cops?” he asked.

“Maybe we should just call them,” I considered. Then I shook my head. “Charlie didn’t want me to because they would twist it on her. She was willing,” I muttered. I opened my eyes to see Mike nodding.

“Yeah… that will be hard to prove, I bet. And obviously the law system never works in our favor,” Mike rolled his eyes, referring to our bad luck with both Drew Sanders and Carlos.

“What the fuck is our life,” I laughed bitterly, punching the dashboard again. Mike sighed and muttered an “I don’t know.”

When we got back to our house, I paced the living room anxiously. “I can’t just sit here, Mike,” I said.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said, lighting a cigarette. “But I'll tell you what we aren’t going to do,” he started. I raised an eyebrow in his direction. “We aren’t going to try and play cops like last time, okay?” I sighed and nodded.

He was right. I hated that he was always right. “So what do you think we should do?”

“I think we should call the police,” he said, puffing out smoke.

“Mike, that will get Charlie in trouble,” I stressed.

Mike gave me a tired look—a look telling me that he didn’t really care. “Fuck you Mike!” I raced up to him and shoved his shoulders. “Fuck you!” I yelled again. I pushed him a second time, causing him to stumble back into a wall. Before he recovered, I spun on my heels quickly and grabbed the keys, going to the car. Mike was right—love made you stupid—but I couldn’t afford to be smart right now. I didn’t care about what Charlie had done in the past; it wasn’t her fault. She was forced into something she didn’t want, and it wore her down to the point of not caring anymore. But she was strong, now. I couldn’t sit around and let her go down.

It was stupid of me to leave her alone with those guys in the same vicinity, but it was probably stupid of me to go back out, too. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It was like the world kept putting me in similar situations, just to test me. But I seem to always do one stupid thing after another. This time, though, I was going to do something right so we could live in peace. I was sick of the fucking drama, I just wanted to go back to our normal lives.

CHARLIE’S POV

“I just want to talk,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest when Triston rolled down his window.

“Sure. Get in and we’ll talk,” he smiled.

I rolled my eyes. “Forget it, Tris.”

“Charlie, babe, come on,” he said with a smile, but I could see his teeth were gritted.

“No, Triston. I’m done with your shit.” I clenched my fists and bounced on my toes anxiously. I didn’t really know what I was going to do, next. I knew Vic and Mike were probably home by now, and I only hoped that Mike was doing everything to keep Vic from coming back.

“I’m done with your shit, Charlie. I don’t like that little stunt you pulled back there, trying to protect your boyfriend like that,” he growled.

“I’m not about to let you hurt him, Triston,” I said. “I know you want to, but that’s why I’m here. I’ll go with you, but just leave him alone, okay?” I said in a small voice, surprising even myself with my words.

“Wow, that was easy,” Triston said with a satisfied grin. That was the same grin he would give me when he and his friends were done with me. I shuddered and my stomach flipped—what was I doing? “Except, baby, you know he’s just going to come try and find you, right? You’re precious Vic will get hurt no matter what,” he snickered. My face heated and I took a step back.

“You won’t touch him if I’m with you willingly,” I tried.

“If he gets in our way, yes,” he said. Triston turned and opened his door, stepping out of the car. I took another step back. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I was afraid of what he was saying. He took another step forward but to show that I wasn’t afraid, I stood my ground.

“Don’t make this difficult, Triston,” I said. He rolled his eyes and traced his hand down the side of my face. His hand stopped at my jaw and flattened against my skin, sliding down until his fingers were around my neck. I stiffened, and he gripped my waist with his other hand, digging his nails into my skin.

“You’re the one making things difficult. Actually, I’m starting to think that you’re too complicated to deal with,” he growled, squeezing my neck.

“Then just let us go,” I choked out. “We can just pretend none of this happened, you won’t have to deal with us again.”

“You’re a real fucking idiot, Charlie Daniels,” he whispered lowly, leaning his face in. Even with his hand around my neck, I found the courage to spit in his face. Stupid. “Real, fucking, idiot,” he growled again, slapping my face. “I don't care for your services anymore, whore,” he snarled, his face close again. “I lied about that, to make you believe that I wasn’t going to kill you,” he said. He moved his hand from my neck to my hair, gripping it tightly. I whimpered when he pulled my head back, kissing my neck before biting my skin. “I’m just here to finish the job, you moron,” he mumbled against my collarbone. I fidgeted uncomfortably when he bit down on the bone, a hiss escaping my lips. “But, of course, we’re going to have some fun, first.”

Notes

I'm about to update this a lot
This will be done very soon, at Chapter 40

I like creating evil characters
This story has so many evil characters that it's almost overwhelming haha
So naturally I will end this story with a lot of evil and dramatics

On that note, enjoy :)