Brawl For Defense ✔

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Once we reached the motel, we walked past the receptionist—who was pretty much distracted on her phone—and headed to my room. I fetched for the key inside my bag and unlocked the door, twisting the knob and opening it. I flicked the switch to turn the lights on and walked inside, throwing my bag on the bed.

Chase stood by the doorframe awkwardly, looking around the place.

I crossed my arms at this, smiling in amusement. "Are you going to come in or what?"

He blinked twice, then cleared his throat awkwardly, before stepping in. "Uh, yeah. Sorry." He closed the door behind him and ran a hand through his hair. He eyed the room once again, and I motioned him to sit down with my hand. He did so, sitting at the very corner of the bed.

"You're free to ask any questions, now that we're not in public," I said as I sat down next to him. "No beating around the bush. I promise that I'll be as honest as possible." I crossed my legs Indian style and stared at him. He seemed to consider my words as he thought deeply, so I decided to give him a little push. "What would you like to know first?"

"Who were those guys?" he asked after a moment.

"Fair enough." I chuckled. "The one who attacked us is called Tyler Crawford. He's known for drug dealing around these areas. The police have been looking for him for three years. The first one we saw at the office; his name is Bryce Collins."

"How...do you know such bad people?" he asked a little hesitantly.

I frowned at this, not sure how to answer that question. "They are part of my past. A past that I have left behind and that doesn't really matter," I said honestly.

"It matters if I'm being dragged into this mess," he retorted. "You may have left your past behind, but your past clearly hasn't left you."

My brows shot up in surprise, not expecting him to say something like that. I chuckled humorlessly. "Very well. You're growing a really nice backbone there, nerd." I sighed. "Alright, I will tell you, but I don't think that you will be able to handle it."

"I think it will be better than being in constant danger without knowing why," he spoke softly.

And the nerd had a point.

"Almost three years ago, when I was fifteen, I found out the reason as to why my father abandoned both my mother and I. Turns out that he got another woman pregnant, two months after finding out about me," I started. "I was beyond furious, to say the least. Furious enough to join a gang to hunt him down."

His eyes widened at my statement, clearly surprised with the turn of events.

I continued, "I fully realize that I should've never done that. That will forever be my greatest mistake. Bryce was the second in command by the time. He knew everything about my revenge; he promised he would help. I was going to start off by killing this other child's mother by faking an accident...unfortunately, the woman had already died after giving birth to the child."

"What did you do then?" he asked, somewhat more curious than judging.

"I dug for some more information about him. I found out that he was happily married; with a stepson and everything. Everything else was censored, so it wouldn't show me anything else. Not even a single picture of the man. I was disappointed, surely. I didn't have any more purpose for being in that gang anymore."

"So, you left?"

"I wish I did." I scoffed. "When I was about to quit, the gang leader was killed. Or so they made me believe. Everything happened so fast that, before I knew it, we were on a killing spree with the people responsible for his death. I was so blinded with rage that I just...killed. Man after man, woman after woman. When it was all over, I was announced as the new leader. It didn't make any sense at first until Bryce explained that it was all just a test."