"The original bad boy . . . Needs a home."

24| Grind and Whine

I consider running away from the scene and calling the cops the right reaction to a dead body.

Unfortunately, the Ruthless Rebels labeled searching through the pockets of the dead person and checking whether or not he had anything of value on him the right reaction.

I stay in the back holding on to Ben whose face had paled at the sight. Arsen didn't bother comforting me rather he helped his buddies search for more valuable things.

I had never seen this side of him before.

This hungry thief side.

My hearts breaks watching him scavenge the dead body with a peculiar thrill in his eyes. When he comes up with a few hundred dollars from the guy's socks, everyone gives him an impressed look. Except for Ben and I.

I stare at him with the utmost pain and disappointment. He notices it too and doesn't maintain eye contact for long.

"Let's get out of here," Leo says finally.

Ned, who is a certified moron in the group, advances towards a safe. From where I stand, I know it's password protected and requires a handprint or something. Ned tries to unlock it with whatever code come to his mind.

"Dude, let's go," says Arsen.

"Wait, lemme see if I can open—" Before Ned can finish his sentence, an alarm blazes overhead.

A chain of curses break through the room and everyone runs for their life. Arsen and Ben both help forcing me out of there as if I'd be stupid enough to wait for the police to show up.

As soon as we step out of the house with the loot, we hear police sirens.

Arsen jumps on his bike and urges me to jump on. I glance at Ben who jumps on a bike of his own. He gestures me to join him.

Conflicted, I look between the boys for a second before getting on the back seat of Ben's bike. I don't have the heart to look at Arsen nor the time. All of us separate on the road to not give the cops any reason to find a group of bike riders coming from or following the same route.

"Where are we going?" I finally yell to Ben from the back seat of the bike.

"The guys have a rendezvous. We'll be there in a minute!"

As told, we reach the rendezvous within the next sixty seconds. It consists of a dirt ridden alley with roaches and rodents thriving in the darkest corners. The rest of the guys apparently arrived for us already except for Arsen who pulls up with me and Ben.

"That was epic," Ben says in amazement.

Though the thrill exhilarated my nerves, it felt wrong.

My parents didn't raise to start breaking into people's homes as soon as I became an adult.

"Good escape, guys," Ned praises.

Leo slaps of the back of Ned's head in response. "We might've been able to collect more stuff had your dumbass not started messing with the safe."

"I almost had the code!" Ned whines.

"Shut up," says the rest of the gang in unison.

Ben and I stand awkwardly next to Arsen. I wonder how often Arsen actually talks to his people.

"Let's head inside, shall we?" Leo asks us, his eyes halting on me longer than they should. "Time to show us your wild side, Cruz."

I frown at him as he chuckles and turns around. Arsen's eyes follow his gang leader's back as he takes my hand and nods me to follow. I don't understand what's happening.

Leo knocks on the brick wall of the alley and says, "Alohomora."

Is he trying to talk to someone in a parallel universe? What was this? Harry Potter?

Right in front of me, a door pops open. I blink quickly and realize the door had camouflaged so well that no one could ever imagine something existing behind it. One by one, we all file in, being ushered down brick stairs into an underground world.

"Where are we going?" I quietly ask Arsen.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know," he says wincing.

I don't bother asking any further questions as the sight of partially naked bodies grinding against each other answers my questions.

Techno music screams in my ears, drowning out my thoughts. At least a hundred people of various sexual preferences dance to the beats.

More like whine to the beats.

"This is epic," Ben mumbles in awe. Knowing him, he's impressed by the women barely covered in short dresses and clothes. He walks off to start dancing with a girl who's ferociously twerking on the dance floor in a bikini top and booty shorts.

I suddenly feel self conscious of my hoodie and skinny jeans.

"Can I go home?" I ask Arsen.

He shrugs. "Why don't you ask your buddy over there for a ride?" I lock my gaze in his dark eyes as he nods his head towards Ben. "That's why you joined the gang, right? To save him and yourself?"

"What?" I mutter in confusion. Why did Arsen sound all upset despite knowing the circumstances? "If this is about me riding with Ben earlier, you're overthinking—"

"I don't really care, Cruz," he says nonchalantly. "We have to stay here till the guys are too intoxicated to care where we are. So just wait half an hour."

He starts to walk away when I grab his sleeve. "What am I supposed to till then?" I inquire in fear.

"Enjoy the party, dumbass," he says sweetly. "Stop being so uptight. Live a little." I scowl at him. "Oh," he adds as an afterthought, "and don't do drugs."

That said, he saunters off to meet random girls and let them grind against him. I turn around before things go from PG-13 to Rated R.

Before I can hide in some empty corner, someone hands me a drink.

"Enjoy girlie!" says an extremely cheerful woman and she wanders off.

I hold it just because I don't know where to put the glass.

As I stand there watching, my eyes land on my fake boyfriend again as he showers his most beautiful smiles to strangers. One girl grinds behind him as he grinds a girl in front of him. Before I know it, he's kissing the girl's neck and biting her ear before turning to kiss her!

My hands shake.

My nerves turn jumpy.

All I want to do is rip them apart and beat the hell out of them for touching each other so intimately. I now understand why Arsen told me I wasn't the first or the last girl he had given a hickey to.

The irritation and the body heat in the room drives me nuts till I gulp down my drink. It's some sort of alcohol, but I don't care. I need it.

Arsen unabashedly dances with random girls in the most inappropriate manners. I find myself another drink from a nearby counter and drink till my thirst dies. I don't know what came over me. Dehydration? Post Break-In stress? Arsen dancing with other girls when he's my boyfriend?

I chug down the drinks till I have to go pee. I stumble towards the bathroom which the bartender kindly pointed out.

As soon as I finish and wash my hands, I stare at myself in the mirror.

Maybe Arsen didn't find me attractive enough to spend time dancing with here. Maybe I need to wear makeup. A girl next to me is reapplying lipstick which I snatch out of her hand.

"Hey!" she glares.

"I need it!" I say defensively, holding the lipstick close to my heart. "I have to look pretty like you. My boyfriend doesn't want me."

She purses her lips pitifully and sighs. She looks around my age, maybe a year or two older.

"Oh hon, you're gorgeous. Don't let a man make you think otherwise," she says assuringly.

I shake my head. "I don't think he likes me." I'm surprised by how truthful the words on my tongue sound. "Can you make me pretty?" I stare at her short black dress, her stilettos, her contour until she gives in.

"Come on," she says. "Let me help you. Take that hoodie off."

_____\\\\_______

I step out of the bathroom in my tank top, which I had worn underneath my hoodie. The hoodie now sat in some corner of the bathroom—a sacrifice I readily made. As for the tank top, I had it rolled up and tucked to display the skin on my stomach. The girl had helped slit holes in my jeans in a fashionable manner, transforming them into skinny jeans. My hair, no longer held in a ponytail, breathe freely in the heated atmosphere. As for my face, she insisted on minimal makeup so I only wore lipstick, mascara, and eyeshadow.

As instructed, I begin dancing with a random boy, holding him as close to me as possible so he can smell the alluring perfume the girl sprayed on me.

"You're amazing," says the guy, holding me close. "I've never seen you here before."

He probably never will either.

But I don't complain.

I hook my arms around his neck and lean closer as he begins kissing my neck slowly but passionately.

I shut my eyes only to find myself jerked away from him.

Arsen literally shoves the guy and mutters a few curses. "Don't touch my girlfriend."

I frown at him. "Excuse me, I like him," I tell Arsen.

"What have you done, Val?" Arsen asks looking over my face and attire.

"Nothing," I say quickly, still a bit lightheaded. Actually, I struggled to form clear thoughts. "I was just 'living a little.'"

"By grinding with some guy?"

"I was following in your footsteps!"

"Shut up and stay with me," he says roughly. He grabs my wrist tightly and drags me off to the side where there's a lesser crowd.

"Shall we dance?" I ask grinning.

He scrutinizes his eyes at me. "Are you high?"

"No way!" I reply immediately. "I just wanna dance." I loop my arms around his neck, pulling him close. "This is what you like, right? What girls who are not so uptight do?" I bat my eyelashes at him and tighten my hold.

"You took something, didn't you?" he says worried. "I warned you not to do drugs but you don't listen, do you?"

I furrow my eyebrows at his exasperation. "I drank alcohol, not smoked marijuana. I'm sure the girls you were dancing with earlier had probably done a lot more. Stop judging me."

"Val, you and those girls are completely different."

"Why am I different?" I complain, pulling away from him. "Why can't you smile at me? Why don't you wanna dance with me? What's wrong with me?"

It's humiliating to ask such questions but under the influence, I have this sudden courage.

"There's nothing wrong with you," he says almost in exasperation. He lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Our paths separated a long time ago and this is who I am now. Part of this underground world. You're not a part of this, Val." His tone softens and he moves closer to me. "You cannot become a part of cheap entertainment for someone as messed up as me. You have to stay you to give home to people like us."

His eyes sparkle under the blazing lights and I can't but help notice the integrity in them. And the suffering. The lost look on his face. The longing. He had adapted into his environment, which gave him a temporary satisfaction but also drove him away from what he considered normal.

He reaches his hand forward and touches my lips, wiping off the bright red lipstick.

I don't know why but I grasp his hand. My heart throbs as I stand on my tippy toes and press my lips against his.

———————-//
A/N

More intimate stuff coming next chapter.

I was training for Ambassador so the delay in updates. But now I'm done the training, which was fun btw.

How was the chapter?

What's going on in life?

Anyone going anywhere for vacation?

Love ya peeps!