Territorial / Simon Minter

04

"What are we going to do?" Emily was pacing up and down her bedroom, panic plastered all over her face.

"Em, i'm sure we are going to be fine, they hardly know anything about us" 

"I gave him my phone number, Zo. What if he tries to text or call?"

"Then you don't answer, he can't do much more than that babe" Attempting to calm Emily down was making me feel a lot better about the situation. He knew my name was Zoe, how much could he do with that information? 

The next day

Work today was hectic. I was struggling to focus on reading my manuscripts. How could i focus on a boring tale of a man and his wife chasing their stolen daughter around the world when i had the image of this dangerous, intimidating and extremely attractive gang leader stuck in my mind. I threw the manuscript to the side and opened the lid of my laptop. "Google" popped up on the screen and without hesitation i quickly type the words "The Sidemen" into the search engine. 

Many articles popped up. The police may be scared of them, but that doesn't stop the media from wanting to write about them. In the space of half an hour, i had read stories and stories about incidents with The Sidemen. They could all be rumours for all i know. There were stories that the gang was a drug dealing gang, there was others that they were the sons of men in bigger gangs, who dealt with men in illegal businesses. All of the articles had one thing in common. They named the leader of the gang, the one who i let get too intimate with me the other night, as Simon Minter. 

The name stayed with me for the rest of the day in work, and stayed in my mind and Emily and I made our way home that evening. I had slowly began to move my stuff into Emily's apartment, as with everything happening recently, i couldn't bare to be home alone. 

We got home and got changed into comfy clothes. Emily put the kettle on, I jumped into one of the breakfast bar stools and sat watching her made the cups of tea. 

"Did that guy try to get hold of you?" I asked. Emily walked towards me with my cup of tea and grabbed her phone from inside her bag.

"He's been texting and calling all day. He says how he can't stop thinking about me and wants to see me" She showed me the texts on her phone. "He doesn't seem that bad Zo, maybe he isn't one of the gang members and you just got mixed up"

"Em, i'm pretty sure he is. He may seem sweet and innocent but he's killed people babe, and i don't think that's the sort of guys you want to get yourself mixed in with" 

"You're right" She turned away, almost looking disappointed. She must've really liked him. The door knocked and i jumped out of my bar stool to answer it. I swung the door open and gasped in shock at the sight in front of me. 

"Who is it Zoe?" Emily called from the living room, i could hear her footsteps coming towards the door. I was going to warn her to stay inside and not come any closer but it was too late. 

"Hi Zoe, Hi Emily" Simon spoke slowly. Goosebumps made their way to the surface of my skin again, i didn't know if this reaction was out of fear, or something else. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised at how fierce my voice sounded, considering how vulnerable i felt inside.

"You might want to get changed, im guessing you don't want to go out in that" Simon smirked as his gaze ran up and down my body. Suddenly i felt very insecure, stood in my reindeer Christmas leggings, a red fluffy jumper and my fluffy slippers. I went to shut the door in Simon and the other guys faces but Simon's foot stepped into the way before i had the chance.

"Sorry, we're not going anywhere with you" 

"It's cute how you think you have a choice" Simon's lifted his hand to push a thin piece of hair behind my ear. But my immediate reflex to push his hand away interrupted this. Emily gasped at my reaction and i fearfully looked up at Simon, expecting him to get aggressive with me. "Get dressed, we're going somewhere posh"

"Come on Zoe" I heard Emily call from behind me, and i turned to follow her into the bedroom. "Let's just go out with them, we'll see what they want with us and then we'll tell them to leave us alone" 

"Fine, but if this turns out badly, i blame you" I picked out a sleek black dress and some black heels. I decided my work make-up was decent enough and stepped back into the living room. Hoping not to find that the guys had stolen anything.

As i entered the living room, i watched Simon's gaze scan over me, once again. But this time his eyes weren't full of humour, like they were when i was wearing my pjs, but they were dark. Lustful. I tried to escape his gaze by walking further into the living room, standing closer to the boys, as we waited for Emily to get ready. 

"I'm Ethan" The boy that was dancing with Emily finally introduced himself to me. I was shocked when he took a step towards me and extended his hand for me to shake. He had a grin on his face, and he actually looked genuine. The type of person you wouldn't expect to be in a dangerous gang. I couldn't help but reciprocate the smile, it was contagious, as i shook his hand. I felt a bit safer knowing that this guy, Ethan, seemed almost decent. 

"And i'm Simon, but you already know that" My eyes flicked towards him. He was not wearing a friendly grin like Ethan was, he still had that stupid smirk on his face. He stuck his hand out for me to shake but i turned away from him and shouted towards the bedroom

"Em, you nearly ready?" I could heard Ethan chuckle behind me. I know declining Simon of something was probably not a brave move. But i couldn't help but defy him. I didn't want him to think i was falling into his trap. Like im sure many other, easier girls, did.

 Emily appeared out of the bedroom wearing a red dress and red pumps, she looked stunning. Her hair was long and cascaded down her front. Suddenly making me feel insecure about not doing anything to this mornings hair and make-up. I hope we weren't going somewhere too posh.

"Let's go" Simon led the way back to the front door as the three of us trailed behind him. He opened the door and allowed me to step through first, and Ethan did the same to Emily. Maybe i didn't need to be so scared after all.