Tangled Love

CHAPTER 104

The day is finally here.

I bounce up and down excitedly as I glance at the clock for the millionth time in the last five minutes. Jake is due to be here at exactly half past eleven to take me home. All my belongings are packed and I'm as beyond excited.

The door opens and I jump up with my bag over one arm, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

"You're keen." Jake chuckles, taking the bag off me and swinging it over his own shoulder.

"Thank you and yes, I can't wait to get out of here!" I grin, looking around at the room I've called home for the past month.

"Funnily enough, I'm not going to miss this room at all." Jake says and I nod, agreeing with him.

"M'lady. . . Your carriage awaits." Jake turns towards me, holding out his other arm for me to take.

"Well my car awaits but we can pretend it's a carriage," he adds, a cute little smile on his face. I giggle at him and gladly tuck my hand into the crook of his arm. We both turn to take one last look at the room before we'd leave it forever. It's closing one massive chapter in my life and hopefully opening a positive one. A chapter full of happiness and good memories instead of pain and heartache. I know struggles lay ahead of me . . . drama has a way of chasing Jake and I both, biting us at every chance it got.

I'm not fully recovered but getting stronger day by day. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends again, going back to college and living a normal teenage life with my boyfriend. And with that, I pull him gently towards the direction of the door —

"Come on boyfriend, let's get out of here."

*****

"I need a job," I groan, scrolling through the advertisements on my phone. Jake raises his brow at me and plucks the phone out of my hands. I look at him, my mouth open unattractively in shock.

"Give that back." I warn him, narrowing my eyes at him playfully.

"No. You're not getting a job anytime soon, you've just been shot, what part of take it easy suggests getting a job?" He asks me, shaking his head at me. I huff before leaning back onto his bed pillows —

"I need to pay for myself Jake, we can't live on your money forever. Where do you even get your money?" I ask him, intrigued at how he could even afford a pack of cookies.

Jake shrugs — "Amil pays me."

"He pays you to do what?" I respond, knowing I probably wouldn't like the answer. Jake quietens and his shoulders tense before he turned back towards the TV, pretending to be interested in some crappy daytime show.

"It doesn't matter, I make plenty for both of us." Jake says quietly. I sigh at his answer —

"Jake, I love you. I know you don't like talking about the gang but when you go missing for hours on end, I need to have some sort of reassurance that I won't get a phone call saying you've been shot. . . " I drift off, feeling uneasy. He turns towards me, his words blunt.

"You don't need to worry about me, I can handle myself."

"That's not the point, I'm scared of the whole gang job you have Jake. I don't know whether you're going to come home alive and safe every time you leave. It scares me, a lot."

"Muffin, I'm sorry. I can't leave, it's not possible."

"Why isn't it possible? Do you enjoy what you do?"

"I don't enjoy it," Jake says quietly, his voice coming out like a low rumble.

"So leave."

He turns his head towards me, sadness filling his eyes. I glance back at the vulnerability and fear that takes over his features. It's one of the very few times I've seen Jake scared. The sight of his fear makes my heart ache for him.

"I can't, I took an oath."

He stands off the bed and lifts his shirt over his head, muscles in his arms flexing as he does so. His smooth toned body greets me and I suck in a breath, my eyes roaming his body. He points at a section on his skin, ignoring my burning stare. A tattoo is inked across his chest.

"Do you see this?" He asks me quietly and I nod, having studied it plenty of times before.

“It translates to brother in Spanish. I got this when I joined the gang years ago. Every gang member has to get it, Amil brands us all. Once we have it, we're brothers. You don't leave your brothers."

"What happens if you do leave?" Original from NôvelDrama.Org.

Jake breaks eye contact with me, looking at the floor instead as he pulls his shirt back on. He takes a few moments to answer but when he finally does, it sends chills running through my body.

"You die."