Compilations & Complications

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"This is so fucked up. This is so fucked up!"

She watched as he paced around the room. This was unlike him; usually he was so cool and collected. Now he was a frazzled mess. It surprised her that this side of him scared her more than the calm side. This side meant that they were in trouble, trouble that he didn't know how to get out of.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked desperately.

"What can we do?" he replied, still pacing. "The fucking cops are looking for us!" As if on cue the reporter on television spoke of the incident they were just a part of days ago.

"Authorities are still looking for the culprits involved in a hit and run that occurred last Thursday in El Paso, Texas. It was said that the suspects had driven toward the west coast. The vehicle in question is a black SUV, license plate CDX-21F4. If you have any information regarding the suspect, please contact your local authority. The perpetrator allegedly collided into another car, causing it to run off the road. Reports say that the passengers are alive and well but would like for their attackers to be found and put to justice."

"Fuck," he said through gritted teeth. He wasn't upset that the cops knew their license plate; he had gotten rid of the car and stolen a new one. No, he was upset because they were still alive. If only he had shot them. If only that other car hadn't have shown up. He wouldn't have driven away so quickly if there wasn't another car on the road. He would've finished the job.

She saw that he had no idea what to do now. He was coming apart in front of her very eyes and she didn’t like it one bit. He always had a plan but now, now that he knew he was a wanted felon and the ones he tried to kill had turned them in, he was racking his brain for a plan of action.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she said. She had said it time and time again but this time she meant it. This was the last straw. He didn’t even know what he was doing anymore so it was as good a time as any to leave him behind.

“Oh yeah? And what’re you gonna do, rat me out? I can take you right down with me and you know that.”

She did know that. They were in too deep and she knew that too. If she went to the cops and confessed everything he’d somehow find a way to twist the story and make it seem like it was all her idea. As if she was the jealous one who wanted what she deserved. Well, in theory she was but she wasn’t as crazy as the fucker she worked with.

“I don’t care,” she spoke in an unsure tone.

“Sure you do.” He had picked up on her mood and was now toying with her. He knew she would always be his plaything. She was weak. She didn’t have the nerve to do what she had done with his help. She wanted this and now she was so close to getting it. Granted he almost killed the two people they wanted to have but at this point they were in too deep. They - at least he - didn’t care.

“No,” she said more confidently, “I don’t care. I’m getting out. I can’t do this with you anymore. I don’t wanna keep hurting people.” It made her sick that he had no more regard for the innocent people’s lives they were ruining. At first she didn’t care either, as long as he was safe. Now they had almost killed him and she was certain there’d be no going back once it went too far. The scary part was that she knew that this wasn’t too far.

“You’re not leaving.”

“Yes I am.” She had to stand her ground. If she didn’t then he’d walk all over her, not that he wasn’t already doing that.

“No,” he said stepping closer, “you’re not.” He was face to face with her now. “If you leave then I’ll tell the cops it was all you. I mean, you’re the one who wanted to get him out of the picture. You said they were in the same car. You wanted this, you know you did.”

She gulped. Yes, she knew they were all in the same car but she didn’t want to kill him. Scare him maybe, but not kill. She wasn’t that malicious.

“Not if I turn you in first,” she challenged. Her confidence was faltering, and he could see it. He had her right where he wanted her.

“You have no evidence. You know cops don’t work well with word of mouth.”

“Oh and you have proof?” He chuckled. Of course he did, but he wouldn’t tell her that. She’d find it and use it against him. Despite his evil mind and crazy actions, he was very smart. He knew what to do and what not to, and telling her how he’d get out of trouble was something he shouldn’t do.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” he said as he patted her cheek. She immediately slapped his hand away and looked at him with nothing but rage in her eyes. He simply chuckled.

“You know,” he said, “you’re so cute when you’re upset. Like a little puppy that can’t get onto the couch.” That angered her. Without thinking she lifted her hand and slapped him clear across the face. It would’ve been a good moment if she didn’t regret it immediately afterwards.

“You bitch!” he yelled. She panicked. She picked up her keys and ran from the room out to her car. She needed to get out and fast.

He would’ve literally killed her if she stayed.

***



“You can’t be serious.”

“Kell-”

“No, seriously. You can’t be serious.”

But I knew he was. It’d been five days since we’d arrived at the Fuentes’ house. We were recovering but it seemed like the slowest process. After our FaceTime with Kaylee earlier our spirits were lifted, that was until Vic pulled them back down.

Vic called a meeting with all of us, including Jaime and Tony. We were all pretty unsure why. The last time he wanted to talk to all of us he just told us that he was grateful that we were all still in his life. Now though, he was going in an opposite direction.

“You wanna kill them?” Mike asked. He was more shocked than the rest of us, mostly because his peaceful brother, who only ever wanted to love and be a good example to his only sibling, suggested getting revenge on the person who ran us off the road.

“Not kill, just…,” he trailed off, trying to find the words. The thing was I knew there weren’t any other words. I wasn’t stupid; I knew that Vic had been thinking about this since we woke up in the hospital. He tried to wither play it off or dismiss those thoughts and distract his mind with positive ones but I knew they were still in there somewhere. Now he wasn’t trying to deny it.

“I just want whoever did this to get what they deserve,” Vic said. He spoke so calmly but Mike and I knew otherwise. We looked at each other then back at Vic. Yeah, he saw what I saw. He saw the look in Vic’s eyes.

“Bro…?” Mike said. The look left Vic’s eyes and was replaced with the usual lighthearted one. His pupils returned to their normal state as he gave a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“I’m not saying we kill them. Under no circumstances am I saying we commit murder. Just, if something were to happen…” I squeezed my eyes shut. This couldn’t be happening. My sweet, loving boyfriend could not be talking about premeditated murder.

“Vic, is this really what you want?” Jaime asked.

“What I want is for that bastard to pay for what he did to us. All of us. If the cops won’t do it then we will.”

I knew where he was coming from. The cops called Tony yesterday saying that so far they hadn’t gotten any leads. He told the rest of us and although we all tried to make the best of the bad news, we were pissed. Vic especially. He stayed quiet all day, only speaking when spoken to. Now I knew why. He was plotting.

“Vic,” I said rather calmly. He looked at me; they all looked at me. I took a deep breath trying to calm my thoughts before I continued.

“Kellin, I don’t want you to try and fight me on this,” he said before I was able to get a word out.

“But Vic, think about this. If you go through with it then you won’t be any better than them.” He had a blank expression on his face. I couldn’t tell if he was taking in what I had said or he just didn’t care. I guessed the latter.

“Kellin, you don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand,” I pleaded. “Help me get this. And please, don’t say that you wanna make it all right because that’s bullshit.”

“Kellin-”

“And why aren’t you guys saying anything?” I asked the guys. Mike had been the only one who had anything to say on Vic’s proposal. “Are you guys really going for this?”

“It’s not like that, Kell,” Tony answered.

“Then please, tell me what it’s like. I know he’s your friend but you can’t tell me you think this is okay.” They were silent. “Of course.”

“Kell.”

“No, don’t. I want no part of this.” I stood to walk out. “And don’t call me to bail you out.” I stormed out of the room and into the living room, not that any of them tried to stop me.

I paced up and down the room until I started feeling dizzy. I couldn’t believe Vic suggested this. No, he didn’t flat out say we kill the culprit but he didn’t say he didn’t want to. Basically all he wanted wax to beat the crap out of whoever it was, and maybe not stop until he had to.

What bothered me was that Vic wasn’t a violent person. Yeah he’d get defensive when it came to his friends but he never acted on it. That time at the lake when he told me he’d hurt someone if they tried to kidnap was the first time I’d ever seen rage in his eyes. It didn’t make sense to me. I told him that I wanted to hurt Danielle for all the shit she said to me and Kaylee but he talked me out of it. Why was he abandoning all his morals? Why was he being so hypocritical?

I ran my good hand through my hair, something I only did when I was stressed. Was I overreacting? Maybe. Vic only wanted to keep his loved ones safe, he was just going about it the wrong way. He couldn’t see that though. Maybe Mike could tell me why. Usually when Vic had a bad idea he’d listen to me when I told him not to go through with it. The fact that he wasn’t listening to reason meant that he didn’t see how wrong this was.

The ring of the doorbell tore me away from my thoughts. I walked to the door and opened it, instantly regretting doing so. Standing in front of me was the redheaded bitch I never thought I’d see again. Her timing couldn’t have been worse.

“What do you want?” I asked rather rudely. She didn’t acknowledge my tone.

“Hi Kellin.”

“Hi. What do you want?”

“I just came to check on you guys. I heard about what happened and wanted to see if you were all okay.”

“We’re fine,” I sneered. She rolled her eyes.

“Look, I know you don’t like me and all but I really wanna know if you guys are alright. Can I come in?”

“No, you ca-”

“Kellin?” I turned to see Jaime walking into the room. “Who’s at the door?” He stepped around me and looked outside. “Oh, hey Dani,” he said a little too happily.

“Hey Jaime.”

“What brings you here?”

“Just wanted to check on the boys. I heard about what happened and I was worried. Are they here?”

“Yeah, they’re in the guest bedroom. Come on in.” He lightly but firmly pushed me aside so Danielle could enter the house. I stood there in my anger as Jaime closed and locked the door before turning to me.

“Kellin,” he said with a sigh.

“Why did you let her in?” I asked when she was out of earshot. He sighed again.

“Look, I know you don’t like her but she cares. She came to see you and-”

“No,” I interrupted, “she came to see Vic.”

“Well whatever the reason you have to be nice so suck it up and leave her be,” he said in a stern tone. I huffed and rolled my eyes as he shook his head and walked back to the guest room only to return moments later with Mike and Tony.

“What’s going on?” I asked in concern. Mike shook his head.

“Dani’s in there so naturally I can’t be.” I resisted the urge to smile at him. At least he was on my side when it came to Danielle.

“I don’t get why you hate her so much,” Tony said.

“She said some fucked up shit to my girlfriend and wants to act like it’s okay. Fuck her.” I nodded.

“Kellin,” Jaime warned. I rolled my eyes.

“What?” I asked. “I’m with Mike.”

“I know and you have no reason to be. You broke up with Vic. She had nothing to do with it. Vic was a mess because of it but then he moved on. She got him out of his rut so he can be the Vic we have with us now. If anything you should be thanking her.”

“Thanking her?” I scoffed. “She insulted me and my best friend. She rubbed her relationship with Vic in my face. She belittled me. She’s a bitch. Why are you even defending her? We’re supposed to be friends.”

“We are friends, Kell. I just think you’re overreacting. She’s a good person and I know she regrets what she did.”

“No, I’ll show you the type of person she is.” I marched out of the room and towards the guest bedroom ready to prove my point. If Jaime thought she was so great then I’d prove to him that she wasn’t.

I got to the room and stopped. The door was partially closed, open with just a small crack between the door and the wall. I pushed the door open a little more to see Vic still sitting on his bed with Danielle sitting in the chair next to him. They were talking.

“I don’t think Kellin likes me very much,” Danielle said.

Damn right.

“Well, you did say some fucked up shit to him when you guys last met.” I smiled. Leave it to my boyfriend to defend me.

“I know and I’m sorry. Not just to him but to you too. I’m sorry I said all those things. I was upset and I took it out on you three. It was wrong and I hope you forgive me.”

“Do you really mean that?” Vic asked.

“I do. It’s been eating me up all this time and I just feel so horrible.” I watched Vic’s face as he took in her words. She put a hand on this thigh and I didn’t see him take it off. Instead he put a hand on top of hers.

I turned away from the door. It wasn’t that I was jealous; I wasn’t. I was mad that he was buying into her bullshit. He knew what she did to us, to his brother and his sister. Kaylee had lost her will to live after all the shit Danielle said to her. How could Vic forgive that?

“Have you talked to Kellin?” I heard Vic ask.

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “I mean, I tried to but he wouldn’t give me the time of day. He really hates me.” Damn right I do.

“He’s just protective.”

“What, does he think I’m gonna try to get you back?”

“I don’t know but if he does then he’s stupid.” I made a confused face, not that they could see me. “Kell shouldn’t feel threatened. He knows I’m not going anywhere.” I smiled.

“Is that so?” she asked.

“Absolutely. This accident made me realize that I should keep my loved close and tell them how much I love them. Even if Kell and I get into it I’m never gonna stop loving him. I never wanna lose him.”

There was silence from both sides of the door as we all took in what Vic said. I knew I meant a lot to him but hearing him say it out loud to his ex made my heart swell.

“So…there’s no chance of us ever…”

“Sorry Dani. What we had was good but it wasn’t where I wanted to be. You can’t say our relationship didn’t feel a little forced.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I can tell you’re happy now and that’s all I wanted for you. When you were at the bar that night you looked so defeated and just plain done with living. I wanted to make you feel better and look, now you do.”

Did she mean that? Was she okay with Vic and me? The last time we spoke she was anything but.

“I’m happy you two have each other, Vic, seriously.”

“No hard feelings?”

“None at all. I just hope we can still be friends.”

“That would be nice,” he said without hesitation. I heard the chair move across the ground as she stood up. I quickly made my way back to the living room so I wouldn’t get caught eavesdropping. The guys looked at me as I entered the room.

“Look, Kellin,” Jaime started. I put a hand up to stop him.

“No, you don’t have to say anything. I’m sorry I overreacted.”

He smiled. “I’m sorry too. We good?” I gave him a thumbs up since that was all I could really do. I took a seat next to him on the couch and joined in on the conversation that was soon to be interrupted.

“Guys,” Danielle said when she entered the room. We all looked up at her at the same time. I resisted the urge to make a face at her.

“What’s up, Dani?” Tony asked.

“Um, do you mind if I sit?” Jaime nodded and moved over so she could sit on the other side of him.

“What’s going on?” Mike asked. It was evident that he didn’t like being in the same room as Danielle but he was better at keeping his emotions hidden so she didn’t catch on.

“Well first I’d like to apologize to all of you for all the trouble I caused. It was never my intention and I’m really sorry. You don’t have to forgive me but I wanted to say that.” The guys nodded. “Second, Vic told me about his plan.” I rolled my eyes and stood to leave.

“Kellin,” Jaime said.

“No. Like I said before, I want no part in Vic’s plan so count me out.” Jaime sighed but didn’t push it.

“Okay…well,” Danielle said awkwardly as I was walking out, ”can I take his place?” I stopped in my tracks.

“What?” Mike asked. I turned to look back at them. They looked as shocked as I did.

“I want in,” she said simply.

“But, but…huh? Why?” Jaime stuttered.

“I hate what happened to you guys and I wanna help.”

“With all due respect, Dani, I don’t think-”

“Mike, please. Let this be my way of making amends.”

“He’s right, you shouldn’t get involved with this,” I spoke up. She turned to me and shook her head.

“I wanna help you guys make things right. Please, I know I can get you what you want.”

“And how do you know that?” Jaime asked. She smirked.

“Don’t worry about that. Can I get in on this or no?” The guys stared at each other as if they were telepathically communicating with one another. I looked at them, trying to decipher what they were “saying”.

“My brother told you the entire plan?” Danielle nodded. “And you’re down?”

“Yes.”

“With all of it? You know what could happen, right?” She nodded again.

“I wanna do this. Not just for my own peace of mind but for you too. Please.” The guys looked around at each other before Mike nodded.

“Okay.”

***

-

She sat in her car and sighed contently. A smile creeped its way onto her face. She did it. She had a plan to take him down. He wouldn’t hurt her or anyone else again.

How long would this take? She didn’t ask and frankly she didn’t care. As long as that son of a bitch was done away with she’d wait forever. Well, maybe not forever but long enough to make sure the plan was carried out successfully.

She reached into her pocket when she felt her phone vibrating. It was a text from him.

Come back. Now.

She rolled her eyes out of habit. She couldn’t wait for this to work out so she wouldn’t have to answer to his bitch ass.

Her hand absentmindedly reached into the glove compartment. She pulled out the knife she kept in there and flicked the switch. The blade flipped up and shined in the dim moonlight. She ran her finger over the blade. There were many times when she wanted to stab that fucker, or worse. For some reason though she never did it. Maybe it was because she didn’t want the blood on her hands, who knows. She wouldn’t care about that now.

Now she had a plan. A good plan. A plan that wouldn’t fail. She would end this once and for all. She would get the blood she wanted. She would be free. The thought put a smile on her face as she put the knife back in the glove compartment and drove back to him.

Notes

Ok so 10 days later and here's this thing. It's not great but leave love anyway. Love you guys