15

'Trust is earned when actions meet words.'

Chris Butler

_ _ _

-Kara-

I woke up on Monday morning to the chatter and loud laughter of my besties and surprisingly Killian. I quickly brushed and washed up.

I was tired of the goody-two-shoes pretense. It was time for me to show the real me. No more sickly pink clothes, fake smiles, and sugary sweet talks. Everyone was going to experience a whole new side of me.

So, I changed into high wasted jeans, black camisole, and an Aztec print monochrome shrug. Not bothering with strappy heels, I put on a pair of black block-heeled ankle boots. Finally, I lined my upper and lower eyelids with black eyeliner which made my grey eyes pop, and grabbing my black bag set out to school.

Hello, real me!

I arrived on my Ducati and the boys parked my convertible beside me. As I got off the bike and the boys out of the car, the whole lot started buzzing. Walking inside with real smiles and laughs brought us a lot of attention and I almost felt like a celebrity.

I arrived at my locker and found Chloe waiting for me. She started speaking as soon as she spotted me.

"Hey! Where were you? Do you know how long I've been-", she said and suddenly shut up noticing the guys behind me.

"Uh, Kara? ", she whispered pointing at the guys. "Do you mind doing the introductions?"

"Oh right!", I said and then started off with the introductions in a hurry to finish before the bell. "The guy with the curly brown hair is Sky, he's the normal hormonal teenager. The other brunette is Jared, he's a kind of father figure of the group. The blonde who's glaring at the other one is Tyler, he's an idiot and a complete douche. Stay away from him. And finally, the dark blonde is Seth. He might look like a hunk but he's the baby of the family. "

"Guys, say hi to Chloe. She's Caden's brother and my new BFF. ", I told them just as the warning bell rang.

"Hi", they said to Chloe and after giving me hugs all proceeded to run to their classrooms. Hey, we might be gang members but we follow the rules pretty well. And in case we slip up it's usually not our mistake.

***

The next four days passed in a blur. Killian stayed home often and we told him everything. Dad was also informed but he refused from interfering in these matters because he trusted me to make the right decision. Before I noticed it, it was Friday and I hadn't decided yet what to do.

It was almost midnight, and I couldn't sleep. So I thought the hell with it and changing into jogging clothes slipped out for a run. When I was finally tired I noticed that I was inside a park. I walked slowly and sat down on a nearby bench staring at the night sky.

What do I do? The question was imprinted in my brain. Then my mother's voice rang in my brain. When you don't know what to do, close your eyes and listen to your heart. So, I closed my eyes and focused on the cool breeze, and tried to listen to my heart.

I heard shuffling behind me. Someone's hiding and waiting. I didn't make a move and just waited and as assumed he attacked. I opened my eyes and caught his hand holding a knife which rested but a few inches away from my heart. I twisted his hand and he screamed as his wrist snapped. I turned and jumped over the bench, kicking the man in the gut and sending him crashing to the ground. As I choked him by putting pressure on his neck with my foot, I didn't see another man attack me from behind.

I felt someone pulling me to one side and then I saw the second attacker's knife embed itself in Caden's right arm. I quickly picked up the first attacker's knife which had fallen on the bench and threw it before the second man could harm Caden with the knife he had pulled out of Caden's arm. The knife embedded itself in the man's throat and he fell gurgling and choking on the blood.

Blood was pouring out of Caden's wound and I hurriedly tore off a piece of the dead man's shirt to tie around Caleb's wound to stop the bleeding.

"You need stitches. ", I told him.

"I'm happy you're okay. ", he said and smiled.

I took him home and stitches him up. He gave me a kiss before jumping from my window to his. That incident made my decision for me. I was going to tell Caden tomorrow. I would trust him, with my secrets and my heart.

Today was Saturday. School was a bore and the anticipation ignited my temper. I had told the boys about my decision this morning and they all agreed. We had escaped to an empty house owned by the gang near our own home which we had decided to make the meeting place. It was 4 pm. The time we had decided for the meeting.

How are Caden's boys going to react?

-Caden-

It was exactly 4 pm when I reached the meeting place with the boys. They were excited to meet Kat Brooke. I walked up to the door and knocked the way Kara had told me to. Two knocks...pause... one knock...pause.. three knocks.

No one opened the door. The house was all dark inside. Are they here? Just then the door opened and the person on the other side was none other than Killian. This caught the boys by surprise.

"Killian?!", the boys exclaimed as soon as they saw him.

"Follow me.", Killian said and started walking ahead. The lights turned on as we made our way to the meeting room. We reached a room with two muscled guys flanking the door.

"Emile...Sin... ", Killian said and nodded.

The guards moved away from the door. Killian walked to the door and knocked.

"Kat? They're here. ", he called.

"Send them in", a male voice answered.

The door was opened and we were ushered inside. As soon as we got in I noticed Kara standing near the window looking out. Her hair was in a French braid and she was wearing ripped jeans and a black tank top along with black boots. I couldn't make out any weapons in her. They were either not there or she was an expert at hiding them. There were two more men in the room. It was the one of them who had spoken earlier.

"Boss", the man with black hair tipped with platinum highlights said.

Kara turned with a smirk on her face.

"Hello boys.", she said and behind me, three voices shouted in disbelief.

"Kara?!"