Chapter 7

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I walked out of the bathroom smiling. I was finally in clean clothing. I don't think I've ever been this happy for clean clothes. This morning, when I woke up I found a bag of my clothing and also all my school work. I was wondering what Jordan thought of the burglars that only stole my clothes and school work.

I sat at the desk – which was also something that had been added but it wasn't mine – and spaced out my work in front of me. I began going through it while I heard the shower start. I was happy to find that most of my assignments were due it the next week or in a few weeks... except one. I pulled it out of the folder, I remember finishing it last week but I stopped as my eyes fell on the date. No... Oh no...

I got up and pounded on the bathroom door. I heard the shower stop before my door clicked and pulled open and I froze for a second as I was met by a very wet Sergio. His messy black hair was dripping water onto his face as he glared at me. I was happy to see he was wearing a towel, even if was wrapped around so carelessly, it was barely hanging onto him. I fought to keep my eyes on his face and not his glistening bare chest.

"What the hell do you want?!" he hissed.

"Uh... I-I need to go to school." I said.

He snorted and began to shut the door but I stopped him shoving it open.

"Look! I'm giving you what you asked! I know most of the drugs Walter has shown me and I haven't started any fights today –"

"Yet." He cut in with a stern frown.

"I will not, but I have a really important assignment due today. You have to let me go to school. Please." I said.

He licked his lips and smirked stepping forward, immediately causing me to step back as he came closer to me before he leaned against the door frame.

"What's in it for me?" he asked.

"I just said I won't..." I drifted before I grit my teeth as his smirk grew wider. "What do you want?" I hissed.

"I want you to shave your head and get a tattoo of my face on your back." He said.

"Go fuck yourself." I replied. His smirk fell.

"You have some guts." He muttered.

"I'm not afraid of you." I stated defiantly.

I let out a gasp as he grabbed my collar and pulled me into the bathroom before he shoved me against the wall. I lifted my hands to shove him from me but I froze when something nudged me beneath my chin rather roughly. I sucked in my breath hearing the gun's safety click off and dropped my arms to keep myself steady against the wall. He kept a gun in the room while he showered?

He raised his brows, his hazel eyes piercing into mine daring me to move.

"What was that?" he asked darkly. I kept silent as I glared at him. He gave a chuckle. "All talk..." he said, "I'm getting sick of your bullshit, Alexander. I'm going to have to teach you a lesson... What's his name...? Ah, Jordan." I tensed and he smirked obviously happy with my reaction. "Say it." He said.

I bit the inside of my cheek before I muttered what I guessed he wanted to hear.

"What? I didn't hear that." He said.

"I'm sorry." I said through my grit teeth.

"Good boy." I glared at him as his hand ruffled my hair.

I looked down as he moved away from me before he put the gun beside the basin.

"The problem with caring about people." He said shaking his head, "It's such a weakness..."

I didn't reply as I straightened my collar. "I need to go..." I said not looking at him. I had never been someone who would give up without a fight or who was visibly afraid of anyone. Something my father always taught me that only became more prominent when my parents died.

"Why?" he asked.

"If I miss one of these assignments, everything that I've worked for this year means nothing." I grit my teeth.

"Why is it so important? You can do it again next year." He said. I looked at him and wondered why he was asking all of this.

"I have..." I drifted, "What do you want me to do, Sergio? Stop fucking playing games with me." I hissed.

He smirked. "You owe me." Was all he said before he dropped his towel and walked back into the shower.

I stood shocked, more at the fact that I had just seen him completely nude than anything else. He was incredibly confident, wasn't he? I had to admit... His entire body was impressive...

I shook my head and walked back into my room pulling the bathroom door shut behind me. I put what I needed into my bag and got ready to leave before I walked out of the room checking the clock in the hall. It was about eight. I jogged down to the kitchen and instantly regretted coming downstairs when I found Ben and Clyde in the kitchen. They looked at me annoyed and I made sure to sit as far away from them as possible while I greeted Kent.

"We don't get greetings?" Clyde raised his brows.

I looked at him. "Where's Sasha?" He grit his teeth.

"None of your business." He said. I raised my hands shaking my head.

"You know, if all of you are going to be living here together, it would a lot easier if you would try to act like adults and get along." Kent said as he placed a plate of pancakes in front of me. I thanked him.

Clyde gave a sigh. "Right." He said nodding.

"Good morning." I said.

"Good morning." Clyde replied with a straight face. I shrugged it off, it was a start.

I clenched my teeth. "Sorry about your face, but you snuck up on me both times." I said.

"I accept that, but I'm still going to replay you." He said.

"It'll probably end badly for you... again." I said smirking when he glared at me.

"Oh, we'll see." Ben said darkly, my smirk didn't waver though.

"Sasha's at her mom's house." Clyde said, "I went to see her last night, actually. She asked about you." He added frowning. I smiled at that.

"I'd be happy to hang out with her." I said.

He snorted and I rolled my eyes as I began eating while Ben and Clyde spoke among themselves. I really didn't care what they were talking about; Kent's pancakes were so good they were almost on Jordan's mom's level. Almost. Maybe I just liked hers more because their home felt more comfortable, Kent was a professional chef.

"So, you seemed so confident in what you know, I figured you could just dive in." My eyes shifted from my food as a couple of bags of Ecstasy and Acid were dropped on the table beside me.

"Sergio." Kent hissed.

"What, Kent? Come on, it's not like I threw it in the food. Seeing it isn't going to kill you." Sergio replied before he patted my shoulder, "Clyde will drive you to school."

"What? I have –" Clyde looked up. Sergio raised his brows and Clyde quickly nodded. "Okay." He said frowning.

"Good. Ben, I left some things on your desk, get through it." Sergio said pulling out his phone.

"What about Omar and Tyler?" Ben asked.

"They've already gone out, errands." Sergio looked at the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist, "I have to go." He said.

"Guards?" Kent asked sounding genuinely concerned.

"They're outside, mother." Sergio rolled his eyes as he walked out.

Kent frowned as he sighed through is nose. I got up as I finished the pancakes and stuffed the drugs into my backpack before greeting Kent and then following Clyde to a black Subaru I knew quite well having seen it outside the university, but had never thought much about until now. The car's windows were tinted black. We climbed in and from the inside I could see clearly.

"Do you creep on women with the windows like this?" I asked. Clyde looked at me and we laughed.

"What did you say to my daughter?" he asked. "She seems to like you; she usually doesn't like people she hasn't seen more than three times." He said.

"Nothing," I laughed, "I guess I'm just good with kids. My best friend has a seven-year-old brother I spend most of my holidays with them." I said.

"Oh? No ladies then?" he smirked.

"Ha. No. I'm more of a guy person." He gave me a look and I nodded answering his obvious question, "though none of those either. I'm just really focused on studying right now." I added. He chuckled.

"Macen's youngest son is gay. I would hook you up but you already destroyed your chances of ever getting his blessing, he hates you as much as everyone else does." We laughed.

I was surprised by how easily conversation flowed between us. It was weird considering that just yesterday morning he hit me on the head with his gun. He stopped outside the school and I got out.

"Hey, wait. What time do I pick you up?" he asked.

"Four." I replied impulsively before I could think to lie about it. Damn it. He nodded and as I shut the door he drove off.

I let out a sigh as my eyes fell on the familiar building that made up part of the massive school. I walked in and headed straight for my first lecture.

I had managed to go through almost every one of my lectures without seeing any of my friends. I was getting lunch when realised I had an hour and a half before my last lecture and frowned at the drugs still in my bag. What would happen if I didn't sell them? My hand was clenched around the box of cigarettes in my pocket. I had about four left and was trying not to smoke any more than I had in the past few days, I would not be buying more after this. Right now just clenching the box was comforting though.

Come on, Alex... It's probably just like sales...

Yeah, thing is I've never worked in sales. I have watched Shiloh's uncle sell cars though and it didn't look that hard, but he was very charismatic and outspoken.

I finished my sandwich as I watched a group of guys smoke pot not far from me. I sighed as I got up and began making my way to them. They stopped and looked at me as I stopped in front of them. One held his joint out to me.

"No, thank you." I said. He shrugged and brought it back to his lips before blowing the smoke at me. I waved it away with my hand resisting the urge to punch him in his face.

"You need something?" Another asked frowning at me.

"No, I don't. Do you?" I lifted the little bag of ecstasy. Their eyes widened and I almost broke into a smile at the relief that they did more than just weed.

"How much?" he asked.

I began talking to them and ended up selling all the Acid to them and one of the ecstasy bags, I also faked a discount as I actually sold it for more than it was, for them to tell me where to find other people on campus interested in it. I had made money for all four bags but only sold three.

I also got an order for more drugs from them before I left.

Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought, I was just trying to convince myself not to feel bad about giving them shit that would probably lead to the downfall of their lives - or lead to the end of it. They bought it, right? It was on them, not me...

I sold the last bag to one of the guys on the student council, also for more than I was told to, and then separated all the money debating what I should use the extra money for. Give it to Sergio? The thought made me scoff. No. Did I really want money that came from shit like this anyway? I still had regular payments into my bank account from the houses my parent's had bought and rented out and also some businesses I inherited, I had a few people managing those things for me. I had enough money without this, and that was clean money.

I went to my last lecture before I walked off campus and found Clyde down the road.

"My money?" Sergio's voice came from the front right after I had climbed into the car. I rolled my eyes as I tossed it at him having tied it into a stack.

Clyde seemed surprised as Sergio stared at it emotionless.

"What?" I asked slowly.

"Nothing. Clyde, the factory."

"You know, keeping my phone now that I have my laptop is kind of stupid because –"

"Shut up." Sergio cut me off. I frowned but obeyed as we drove. I looked outside and watched as the buildings around us changed to run-down little shops with spray paint on the walls and shutters on the windows. It seemed like we went worse off areas each time. I guess they needed the money and had the clientele for the drugs. I could see some kids playing in the streets outside smaller houses that were still taken care of, some old people watching them. My eyes moved to a kid that had ran from a pretty run-down house and was making his way down the sidewalk.

"Stop!" I jerked forward as the car came to a halt after my sudden shout and the car behind us let off a loud hoot.

"What the fuck?!" Clyde yelled at me as he turned to face me.

"I'll be right back." I shoved the door open and got out.

"Alexander – that fucking idiot. Clyde." I heard Sergio from the car as I walked across the street.

"I've got it." I head Clyde's door open and shut but I ignored him as I stopped in front of the woman. I smiled at her but said nothing and it seemed to make her tense up as she held onto the girl beside her. I looked at the little boy I had just watched run to her and the girl, a little older looking than the boy, at her side and they were staring at me like I was a creature they had just discovered.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" She asked looking somewhat nervous as she spoke to me while gripping her children's hands tighter. Did she think I wanted to rob her? It didn't look like there was much to take... But then again, Clyde's car did look suspicious with all that tint.

"Sort of, I just noticed you dropped this." I held out the money to her. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, I- I didn't –"

"I know." I smiled taking her hand and putting the money in it, "Have a nice day." I ruffled the kids' hair before I turned to Clyde who looked surprised. "We can go now."

"Wait –" I looked at the woman as she grabbed my wrist, "I-I can't take your money." She said.

"Oh, that's going to be a problem because I won't be taking it back." She stared at me surprised.

"I don't want a loan." She said quickly.

"It's not. Trust me; you'll never see me again in your life." I said.

"But... A-are you sure?" She asked softly staring at the money in her hands. The look on her face showed me she didn't want to take it, but she needed it.

I nodded grinning wider as she gave a small smile.

"Ma, can we get ice cream?" I chuckled as the little girl spoke and her mother laughed.

"Thank you." She said to me.

"You're welcome." I replied before I walked my way to the car and got in. Clyde did the same.

"Where did you get that money from?" Clyde asked once we had begun moving again.

"I sold your stuff for more than it's worth." I shrugged a reply.

"Well, you won't do that again." He shot me a glare.

I rolled my eyes but stopped hearing Sergio let out a chuckle. I looked at him to find him staring at the road ahead, no emotion on his face. Maybe I imagined he chuckle.

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