"What price?" I scoffed, shoving him away and he just looked at me like I was a fucking dumbass.
"Put your seatbelt on," he commanded before indicating onto the highway, but I ignored him, gazing out the window at the rain, my heart fracturing into a thousand jagged pieces. No matter how long I looked for them, I knew I'd never fit it back together. Not even with all the kings horses and all the kings men.
Rogue was gone. Luther wanted rid of me. But he was still underestimating the depths of the bond I had with my friends. They'd get me out of this. They'd give me an alibi and then I'd find a way to run again and be with Rogue. I couldn't give up. Even now. Even though the world was crying and nothing felt right anymore. I will find a way.
Luther drove me home in stony silence and when we arrived back in the garage, he escorted me inside like a prisoner of war.
"Fox!" he roared as we stepped through the door, making my heart jolt in surprise.
Fox appeared from the lounge with Chase and JJ on his heels, all of them dressed in jeans and shirts, all of them looking scared shitless as they spotted me beside him.
"What did you do?" Fox demanded, his eyes full of fear.
Luther shoved me toward them. "Keep an eye on him, I need to make a call." He strode away down the hall and I hurried towards my friends as they stared at me with looks of betrayal.
"He's not gonna hurt her," I said quickly and Fox gripped my soaking wet hoody and tugged me into the lounge by a fistful of it.
"What did you do?" he growled again, getting up in my face this time.
"I went after her of course," I snarled, shoving him back a step.
"You idiot!" Chase barked. "He'll kill her, he'll-"
"He's not going to kill her," I snapped. "But he wants me to take the fall for Axel's death. Says I'm gonna go to fucking juvie."
"What?" JJ breathed, his eyes widening in horror.
Fox's throat bobbed and he took a step away from me, shaking his head. "Why would you do this? How could you be so fucking stupid?"
"I had to try!" I shouted, refusing to accept I'd done the wrong thing.
"No, you didn't," Fox hissed. "You selfish asshole, you risked her fucking life."
"I didn't, that's not how it was," I said, searching all of their eyes for an ounce of understanding, but I didn't find any.
"Look, I just need you guys to give me an alibi, buy us some more time-" I started but Fox's upper lip peeled back as he cut me off.
"No," he spat in an icy voice. "This needs to stop."
"We just need more time," I insisted, panic starting to grip me as I found none of the loyalty in their eyes I'd been expecting to see. We were brothers. They'd never let me down. But now, when it really counted, why were they all looking at me like that?
"How could you risk her life?" JJ whispered.
"You don't deserve our help," Chase said in disgust. "You deserve whatever you get!"
Anger flooded me at his words. "I just wanted-" I began, but Fox cut me off again and a growl left my throat.
"You wanted to do whatever you fucking fancied," he snarled, pointing a finger at me accusingly. "If we give you an alibi you’ll just go after her again and then he really will kill Rogue. You’re not thinking of her."
"I am only thinking of her!" I roared, but they all just started shaking their heads and turning away from me. "Wait," I gasped, but then a hand landed on my shoulder and I turned, finding Luther there, his eyes an endless void.
"Come on, the police are here," he muttered and I looked to my friends, but they weren't looking back.
My breaths came frantically and I tried to fight Luther off, but he hauled me down the corridor to the front door. They were here already? How could that be? I needed more time. I'd thought I had more time.
"No!" I begged him. "Don't do this. I'll take any other punishment."
"You won't learn," he said coldly. "You will never stop trying to find her until you learn."
"I won't!" I told him, but I knew he was right. I wouldn't stop. I would never fucking stop.
He pulled the door open and two cops stood there with curious expressions on their faces as Luther shoved me towards them.
"Here's your killer," he said. "He told me everything."
"Maverick Harlequin, you're under arrest for the murder of Axel Phillips," the big guy said.
"Fuck you!" I spat at Luther, venom seeping through my veins. "I'm not a Harlequin. I'm not your crew. I'm not your son. I'm not your anything!"
"Turn around and put your hands behind your back, kid," the cop demanded and Luther grabbed my shoulders, twisting me around and forcing me to comply.
I saw Fox and my friends standing in the hall behind him, watching as the freezing metal of the cuffs slapped around my wrists.
"I'll provide all the evidence you need," Luther murmured to the cops and I swear I'd kill him for those words alone. I'd destroy him for this and the whole lot of his fucking crew too.
The cops dragged me outside and I bucked and kicked and fought them, yelling my innocence, but my voice was lost to the wind. No one would come to save the orphan kid who'd been taken in by Luther Harlequin. I'd always been nothing to him, ready to be used and then cast aside for whatever the fuck he wanted. I was trash to him, and it looked like I was trash to my friends too.
I couldn’t even save myself with the truth. I couldn’t tell them what Rogue had done even if it had been self defence. Not after we’d covered it up and incriminated ourselves. I wouldn’t sell her out like the rest of them were selling me out.
I was forced into the back of the cop car and the door was slammed shut, securing my fate. I dragged in heavy breaths, trying to make my lungs work, but they wouldn't. I couldn't breathe, my head was spinning as my world caved in and I lost everything in one fell swoop.
Rogue was gone. My life was over. And I swore I'd get revenge for this. I would make it my life's mission when I got free. I would come back. I would fucking kill Luther and make him pay for everything he'd done. One day, somehow, I would find my girl. And no one would ever take her from me again.
Four Months Later…
T hey aren't coming. I knew it that first day when I woke up locked in a room in a strange house and realised I must have been carried from the trunk of the car into this place. The last thing I remembered about being in that trunk was giving up on trying to fight my way out after kicking and screaming until my throat was rubbed raw and I was just left quietly sobbing with so many tears on my cheeks that they were red and sore from them, my eyes puffy and painful.
But I hadn't cried since I'd woken up that day. I hadn't spoken for a week either and then I'd had to because the witch running this place stopped feeding me until I would. Sandra made Mary Beth look like a saint. The kids who lived here weren't allowed in the main part of the house, only the designated rooms built onto the side of the building like some freaking shanty town which practically cooked us alive in the summer heat.