Chapter 19

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"Can I watch you?" I frowned glancing at Shiloh as we walked down the hallway.

"No. Aren't you late? Leave, now." I replied.

"Come on, it's not like I'm planning to start selling alongside you." He rolled his eyes.

"Are you planning to spend more days in hospital?" I asked. He frowned at me. I hadn't left out the part about him getting beaten up when I told him, but he didn't seem to care that it was my fault, he just though they were assholes.

"Are those guys following you?" He asked glancing behind us, ignoring my question.

"Yes." I chuckled.

"Are they supposed to be subtle?" He raised his brows.

"I think so." We laughed. "See you later, man." I fist-bumped his hand before he could object and shoved him by me so I could walk into my lecture. I smirked as he flipped me off from the door before I turned away from him and made my way to my seat.

I scrolled through the contacts on my phone as we waited for the lecturer to walk in and stopped on the name Steven had given me on that piece of paper. Kyle. I lifted my thumb to tap on it but a voice from the front of the room made me look up.

"Good morning everyone. I'll be your sub today. Call me Mr Rayman." I looked back down at my phone and frowned deciding to call him later but my thumb slipped onto the call button. My eyes shot up as a phone went off from the front of the room. "My apologies." I hung up before he could reach for his phone and raised my brows as the ringing stopped. "Never mind that," he didn't fish his phone from his pocket, "Let's get started."

I looked back down onto my own phone. Steven didn't mention this... If that wasn't just a coincidence, and he was actually undercover but working for Declan... weren't they on the wrong territory right now? This was Sergio's gang's city, right? Wouldn't this lead to some type of gang war? Or had it already started with those factories...

I put my phone away and began trying to listen to Rayman as he spoke to the room full of students despite being unable to actually pay attention because I was so confused as to why he was even there. When the lecture ended, I made my way down the stairs but not out the door, instead I just leaned against the desk in the front. I watched as Mr Rayman began to gather his things before he noticed me.

"Ah, questions?" he asked smiling.

"Yes, is your name Kyle?" I knew it was when his eyes narrowed.

"Why?" he replied trying to hide the suspicion from his voice. I smiled.

"Steven said to speak to you." I said. His eyes shifted to the doors on either side of the room before he looked back at me.

"Steven?" He asked.

I frowned before I nodded. "Yeah, he's a friend of my Dad's, said you could help me with some of my work." I said.

"Oh, Steven." He nodded. "Sure, meet me in the library later. Around uh..." he glanced at his watch, "Four."

I nodded and walked out of the room watching my stalkers walk off. Well, they acted like stalkers... They were probably what made Kyle act like he had no idea what I was talking about.

I made my way to my next lecture but I was stopped by a hand grabbing my elbow. I turned and raised my brows.

"Come on, let me watch you." I cracked a smile as I shoved Shiloh.

"Watch him what?" My eyes widened but Shiloh didn't seem fazed so I fixed my face before I turned to Claire.

"Alex has decided to take an exotic dancing class, you know, to impress the guys.” Sergio wiggled his brows.

"Bullshit." I frowned at Claire as Shiloh laughed. I shook my head.

"I wouldn't be surprised; I mean I'd do it too for that taxi driver."

"What?" Shiloh's laughter was instantly cut.

Claire and I laughed as I patted his back. Taxi driver? Oh. Him. I frowned at the thought before I began laughing more. That wasn't even a possibility. The thought alone was revolting but I guessed from her perspective he was just a normal working guy. Hey, hooking up with and actually dating him were two different things. His body definitely wasn't as bad as he was. Maybe if he was a normal guy... No. He's just not my type.

"What are you laughing about?" Shiloh stared at me frowning.

"Nothing," I cleared my throat as Claire giggled.

"What about those exotic dance classes though?" Shiloh asked with a lopsided smile as he looked at her.

"Oh, baby. You know I don't need those." She said into his ear. Shiloh nodded smirking.

"Stop." I gave a disgusted cough loudly and they shot me glares. I just couldn't picture them together that way. Heck, this way was weird. I was used to them constantly arguing, not this.

I chuckled giving Claire a quick hug, "I'm late, see you later." I added.

I looked down the hall behind Shiloh and frowned at the two men leaning against the wall having a conversation but occasionally glancing at me every few seconds. They usually kept their distance in the library so they wouldn't be a problem when I spoke to Kyle.

I turned and made my way to my lecture.

-----

I sat in the library waiting for Kyle and frowned glancing over to the men in the far corner of the library. I guess I shouldn't be this annoyed they were always around. It was better than getting beat up again, right? Still, it was weird constantly being trailed by them.

My view was suddenly blocked when someone pulled out the seat beside mine and sat down.

"What is this about?" he asked, "They're sending a kid to check up on me?" he added with a frown as he took me in.

"I'm not a child." I frowned, "No, I'm not 'checking up' on you. Aren't you in the wrong part of town anyway? Steven didn't mention anything about you working here."

"Who are you?" He ignored my question.

"Steven said you could help me." I returned the favour. He narrowed his eyes.

"With what?"

"Finding Declan Hatton." I replied. He looked taken aback before he leaned closer to me.

"Who are you?" he repeated.

I bit my lip reminding myself he was a cop and not actually one of them because he seemed pretty frightening leaning in like that.

"Just a student..." I shrugged.

He scoffed, "With all that drug money in your bag? I doubt." He said. I frowned wondering how the hell he knew about that.

"I am. Look, that has nothing to do with why I want to find him. Steven said you could help me find him –"

"Steven know you sell drugs?" he asked.

"Not exactly –"

"What's your gang called?" he cut me off.

"Uh... no idea." I said honestly. They had a name? Was it mandatory for a gang to have a name? I don't think so... He tilted his head.

"Who are you selling for?"

“No one.” I said. He frowned.

“Sergio, right? Those guys work for him, I’m assuming you do too.” He used his thumb to point behind him, “So Ben?” He asked. He knew them?

"Clyde..." I said slowly, uncertain of whether that was something I should have told him.

"Clyde..." he looked thoughtful, like he was trying to remember if he heard the name before, "You know Sergio?" he asked.

"Why does all of this matter?"

"Are you trying to –"

"No." I cut him off impatiently, "Listen to me. What I want to find Declan for has nothing to do with gangs, alright? He uh... he might know who killed my parents, I just want him to tell me." I said.

"If he knows who killed your parents, he probably did it." He said bluntly. I bit the inside of my cheek. "You seem new to all of this, Alexander. I've be working on bringing Declan down for five years now but he cleans up really well, I've been in his gang for more than two years and I've got no proof to solidify what I've seen, and what I've seen has been absolutely disgusting. I haven't even met him yet!" He hissed the last sentence.

I opened my mouth to tell him he wasn't helping but he waved me off.

"I went through some of your work today, you're bright, Richardson. There is no way you could go into this and come out as clean as you are, with as great of a future as you seem to have now. So no; I'm not going to help you find Declan. You should get out of whatever you've gotten into. Your parent's case was finished more than four years ago, let it go. You seem to be doing pretty great since they passed. Move on, they would want you to."

I stared stunned as he got up and walked out of the library after giving me a pat on my shoulder. I grit my teeth clenching my fist. Damn it.

Why was this so hard? I wasn't asking everyone to help me kill whoever killed my parents. I looked up as the two guys sat beside me and across me.

"What was that about?" Great.

"Nothing. He was just explaining some court stuff we talked about in class to me." That would explain why I didn't even have to take a book out.

"Court?" I looked across me as he narrowed his eyes.

"I'm studying Law." He nodded.

I got up and walked out to make my way towards Clyde's car. It didn't matter if no one wanted to help me, I would find him no matter what. I just had to figure out how. Two years and Kyle hadn't even met him? Well, I knew joining their gang wasn't an option anyway with my association with Sergio's gang and also the fact that I didn't want to risk my life more. My very last resort would be asking for Sergio's help, I wouldn't explain why to him though.

Right now, I was going to try to find him on my own.

*****