5

§ LOUIS §

I walked into the room in the hospital where my mum was being treated, and saw her lying down on the hospital bed. She was limp, bruised and bloody, and it broke my heart just looking at her like this.

“Mum, who did this to you?” I said sadly.

“Some weird old man on the street,” Mum said weakly. “I’ll be out of here soon babe, I promise. I’m fine.”

“Mum, you look awful!” I said, taken aback.

“Don’t worry about me, babe,” she said exhaustedly. I took a deep breath in as I felt the sadness in me overwhelm me.

§ ELLIE §

I was sitting down with Keelan in the first aid room, watching the school nurse plaster up his cuts and grazes.

“Be gentle will you, goddammit!” Keelan scolded, crossing his arms, unimpressed.

“Don’t talk to me like that, I’m trying to help you,” said the nurse defensively.

“Firm the pain, will you big man?” I said, giggling.

“When I get my goddamn hands on Louis… who the hell does he think he is?!” Keelan shouted. “He’s supposed to be my best mate.”

“Maybe he’s just going through some stuff, who cares anyway? Let the bitch boy be.” I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t be arsed listening to Keelan complain endlessly. It wasn’t my place to help him, I’d just been dragged here because the headteacher told me to. I whipped my phone out and started going through my text messages.

“That hurts!” Keelan cried out again, as the nurse continued to treat him.

“Once I’m out of here, do you fancy going town, Ellie?” Keelan said shyly, like he’d never asked a girl out on a date before. “I need cheering up after this crap.” He shrugged.

I ignored him, continuing to look at my phone. I was too distracted to pay attention to him.

“Ignore me then, why don’t you,” Keelan said angrily.

Like I cared about what Keelan thought. I was texting someone who made me feel much better than Keelan ever could… Make me feel much better than any school boy ever could.

Dante. I got butterflies just by texting him.

I know you get a lot of boys asking you out so it must take a lot of convincing for you to give me an opportunity to get to know you, babe, Dante texted.

Haha, you got that right, I texted back.

You’re such a beautiful girl, baby. It would be a pleasure if you gave me the chance to talk to you more often, he said.

You’re not that bad yourself ;) I replied.

But you must get that a lot, eh? Maybe you need some incentive to meet me, to show you that I’m different from the rest, he said.

Haha, well you seem really nice, and you’re older than me, guys my age are such jerks, I replied.

See babe, you need a big man like me to take care of you, he said.

You got that right! And you’re so good looking, I replied.

How about we meet at a restaurant this weekend? It’s on me. And I’ll give you £200 just for taking your time out to see me, babe, he said.

£200 just to meet you at a restaurant?! I’m in! I replied.

Haha, I knew I’d win you over. Wear something nice for me, babe, he said.

I will!! xx I replied.

I blushed crazily as I clasped my phone against me, my heart hammering against my chest with the anticipation of meeting Dante for the first time ever.

The first aid woman left the room, and Keelan got up on his feet.

“Ellie, what’s going on?” Keelan asked, folding his arms.

“What do you mean?” I asked awkwardly, jolting back as he spun me back into reality.

“I’ve been talking to you for the past 5 minutes and you’ve been ignoring me, stuck on that goddamn phone,” Keelan argued.

“Sorry Keelan…” I said awkwardly. “I just got distracted. I was just texting Molly about my party.”

Keelan rolled his eyes at me. “Look Ellie, there’s no need to mug me off. I just got into a fight with my best friend for you, and you don’t even pay attention to me.” He folded his arms angrily.

“Keelan, don’t be like that,” I tried. “I was just busy with my phone!” I scratched my arm, not knowing what to say.

“Fuck you, Ellie. I feel like a mug,” Keelan accused.

I shook my fists angrily, suddenly pissed off at the way he was speaking to me. Dante wouldn’t dare to speak to me like this. “Don’t start acting like you’re my boyfriend, for me to give you so much attention.” I cracked up into a fit of laughter. “You really think I’d want to be with you, knowing that you’ve hooked up with half the girls in our entire year?! Get lost Keelan.”

I shook my head angrily, and stormed out of the room. As I shut the door behind me, I could hear Keelan screaming and kicking the walls.

§ ABID §

Me and the chick I just met were both laughing and drinking together. Her name was Aliyah. She giggled at every joke I made, and she was so fun to be around. I really enjoyed her company.

I gave her a kiss on the cheek and she blushed uncontrollably. It was so hot to look at; I couldn’t get enough of her.

I snapped out of it when a man charged up behind her, shaking with rage.

“Who the hell are you?!” he accused. And that’s when I figured - this was the man that Steve sent Trex and I to eliminate tonight.

His name was Asae.

I folded my arms angrily, and Aliyah looked mortified.

“What are you doing here, harassing my wife?!” Asae accused.

Aliyah was his fucking wife?!

Wow, I even have the power to bring married women to their fucking knees. Eh, who gives a fuck. This prick was still dying tonight, whether Aliyah liked it or not.

“Asae, it’s okay,” Aliyah said awkwardly. “He was being kind to me and was keeping me company until you came back, to stop predators from attacking me in the bar.” She scratched her arm timidly.

“Save the bullshit Aliyah, you whore!” Asae screamed. “He was about to ram his tongue down your throat!”

My hand balled into a fist, suddenly pissed off as fuck. It was no wonder Aliyah was flirting with me. She was married to a piece of scum that spoke to her like this?! This was just giving me more motive to do the hit.

I stormed towards Asae angrily. “Who do you think you are?!” I shouted. “That’s no way to treat a woman. She deserves better than you.”

“You prick, you come in here, put your dirty hands all over my wife, and then you want to give me advice on how to treat a goddamn girl?!” Asae retorted, and then balled his hand into a fist.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing,” I said bitterly. “What are you gonna do about it?!”

Asae started laughing uncontrollably. “You chose the wrong guy to mess with tonight,” he exclaimed, with his hands on his hips.

This man was really starting to get on my last fucking nerve. It was taking all I had in me not to floor him right here and blow his guts out all over the floor. All of a sudden, my phone started vibrating.

I flicked it open to see that I had a text from Steve. All it said were two words.

Kill him.

I smiled to myself, before shoving the phone back in my pocket.

“Aliyah, you go home beautiful,” I reassured Aliyah. “I’ll take care of this.” She was probably going to hate me for this now, but thank me for it later. I was doing her a favour by killing her fucking bastard of a husband, and the sooner she realised he was no good for her, the better.

“W - what are you gonna do?” she asked, afraid.

“Didn’t you hear me?!” I repeated. “Go home!”

She drew in a deep breath, and then pulled me in for a hug. I was surprised at this. Maybe after this shit was over, she would still want to know me after all.

“I’ll be in touch soon, beautiful,” I whispered. “Take care of yourself.”

She nodded timidly, and walked away. I couldn’t help but turn around, just so that I could get another view of her ass shaking side to side as she left. I might as well take in the view, because I knew I was probably never going to see her again after this. She seemed like a good girl… she didn’t need a Mafia man like me in her life.

As soon as she was out of sight, Asae doubled over and punched me. I chuckled, amused at his poor attempt at fighting, shrugging him off with ease.

“Now now, you wouldn’t want to cause a commotion in the bar with all these people around us, would you Asae?” I smiled, with my hands on my hips. “Let’s take this outside.”

I chuckled again as Asae rolled his eyes at me. I turned around to look at Trex at the other side of the bar. I nodded at him and he nodded back - our code word, as fucking usual. As soon as Trex started making his way out of the bar, I did the same, dragging Asae out along with me.

As soon as we got ourselves into an alleyway, I turned around, punching Asae so hard he started limping. I screamed angrily, pissed off at how fucking brave he’d felt coming at me tonight. He had some fucking nerve trying to fight the likes of me, Abid fucking Malik. He didn’t know how many men I’d killed, just like him, in my lifetime.

“It wasn’t me that messed with the wrong guy tonight,” I roared. “It was you.”

I punched him again and he fell to the ground, lying down exhausted on the hard tarmac.

“Now you Surenos will know not to mess with us,” Trex spat. “You wanted territory? We’ll give you a fucking death bed.”

“Fuck,” Asae whimpered, and me and Trex burst into hysterics.

“Yeah, that’s right,” I chuckled. “Steve sent us. You ain’t never gonna be seeing your wife or kids again.”

Me and Trex burst into further fits of laughter. You would’ve thought by now, motherfuckers like Asae would’ve learnt their lesson not to fuck with Steve’s sidekicks. Guess there were still many lessons that they needed to learn.

§ HEADTEACHER §

I stormed into my office with Mr Roberts from the English department, furious.

“Who does Louis think he is?!” I scolded. “I specifically ordered him to go to my office, next thing I know, he’s nowhere to be seen!”

I slammed my files down on my desk, agitated.

“He didn’t turn up to any of my lessons either,” said Mr Roberts thoughtfully. “I reckon he bunked.”

I sighed, disappointed. “It’s like he wants an exclusion!” I shouted. “He’s been falling off way too much lately.”

“I think we’re going to need to have a word with his mother,” Mr Roberts shrugged.

“You got that right,” I confirmed angrily, rolling my eyes.

§ ABID §

Me and Trex made our way to an abandoned park in the hood, dragging Asae by his feet.

As soon as we arrived, I kicked him in the crotch, and he wailed in pain.

“This is gonna teach you Surenos a lesson for sure,” said Trex.

Asae clutched his crotch, wounded.

“P - please don’t kill me, I’ll do anything!” he wailed. “I’ll work for you, I’ll give you information…”

I burst out laughing. These bastards never got the idea, did they?

“That’s what they all say, you prick,” I accused. “This situation isn’t gonna be any different for you.”

I folded my arms angrily, as Trex kicked Asae in the crotch again.

“No funny business, Asae,” I shouted. “Start digging this field.”

“O - okay…” Asae whimpered.

“Dig at least six feet deep,” Trex ordered. “You’re gonna dig your own grave.”

“NOOOOOOOO!” Asae screamed.