Arranged Marriage to My Enemy? Holy Shit!

Jack held a look of disbelief on his face as I finished telling the story. He looked as if he had just lost something extremely dear to him, like his family or all of his possessions. The life drained out of his face as he recalled the story he'd just heard over again in his head.

"I, I never knew that..." he trailed off, confused at what to say.

Luckily, Ricky picked up from there. "That she was capable of having such a thing happen to her? Trust me, niño, the Rain you thought you know is just a small molecule compared to the vast, complex, human body that she is now."

I tried to shrug off the uneasiness at telling Jack my past with Ricky. I always told myself I was: Forbidden To Remember, but terrified to forget. My past is something that I wish I could forget. Some people can just call it a thing of the past and let it be in the past. But here Ricky was, my past, coming to pay me a visit. Coming back to bite me in the ass where it hurts most. Rick and Julie don't know about my past, and I want to keep it that way.

Everybody has skeletons in their closet, and I had mine. More than a person should have. The fact that I'd been so gullible and naive pissed me off more than my past actions did. If only I hadn't been so vulnerable at a young age, maybe I wouldn't have done the things I've done and turned out the way I have.

And still, all the reasons to why I was the way I was can be traced back to Jack. If he hadn't decided to pull the stunt he had, I most likely wouldn't have run out of the school. In turn, Ricky wouldn't have found me balling my eyes out under a tree, and he wouldn't have persuaded me to join K12, the possibilities of luxury and family dangling in my face. The first I had, easily, but the second I had craved to hungrily that at that time I was willing to do anything to have it.

What I fool I had been. Being a natural loner, I could have gotten over it. Maybe I would have overcome my loneliness and made some friends. Friends that I could be hanging out with right now, doing god knows what, at a place that we were familiar with. The prospect of having a normal life always presented itself to me in the worst moments, teasing me, shoving in my face that I could never be like everybody else.

But hey, now is not the time to be crying over lost time. What if's were a thing of the past.

"Okay, now that we've covered that story, why don't we all get something to eat, hmm?" I asked to the air, breaking the silence. Jack was deep in thought, while Ricky was staring at me from his perch on the wall. A part of me wanted Ricky to have never come and for Jack to have never found out about my past. But wasn't it bound to come out sooner or later?

Jack had said earlier that in a marriage there shouldn't be any secrets, that I was his wife. No rings or vows had been exchanged, nor had even a wedding taken place, yet Jack had acted like we were closer than we actually were. The thought from yesterday came back to me: Did he want us to work out? And again, the same answer came to mind.

No. Jack Daniels and I have been childhood enemies, and nothing will ever change that. Not a marriage, not acting nice towards each other, nothing. Why were our parents so eager to force us to marry each other? For that reason, I had no clue. For the time being, all I have to worry about it getting Ricky out of here and making sure Jack is still alive when he does.

Ricky ignored my suggestion completely. "Why don't you tell him how I got locked up?" He questioned. His face was absent of all emotion except curiosity. Underlying, I could see that he wanted to know if I remembered it, if I remember the night where I thought I would never see the outside world again.

Reluctantly, I began to delve in to the box that held my past. No doubt, if I didn't tell the story, Jack would demand it or Ricky would tell it, Ricky's version being somewhat...I couldn't even place a word over it. His perspective on the situation I didn't want to hear. He had a knack of telling stories with the best accuracy for recalling details. I did too, but I didn't thrive and relive the moment while retelling the tale. It would just seem more vulgar and horrible if Ricky even uttered a word.

Flashback

"Rain, stop blasting the music or you're going to go deaf," Ricky scolded me, giving me a condescending look. I ignored him, and in turn turned up the volume all the way, drowning him out.

Tonight, we were on a mission just to fuck around and have fun. No other reason to be other than to be out and about, no cooped up with the rest of K12. It's been six years since I've met Ricky, and since I have he's done nothing but make my life better. He treats me like a best friend, sometimes more.

The rest of K12 was back at the hideout, just hanging out. A few people had missions for tonight, but other than that, none of them were too focused on anything. Only a few select people got to go out, the people who were on missions, and the people who were high enough up in the group to be trusted.

Ricky, however, didn't hand trust out like a flier. If you wanted it, you had to prove yourself to him. And when you did, you just didn't get it like movie stub, you slowly were given assignments that started to get higher up in importance. Few people had attained that right. The only other people who were allowed out were his Omega, and his special team that I helped him train.

Other than that, everyone else was on lock down.

Ricky and I walked through the alleyways peacefully, keeping silent. We knew the city like the back of our hand, being able to move around without thinking about it. Being so thorough and free felt like the world was lifted off of my shoulders. Nothing could ruin this night. Despite all the city lights, a few stars could be spotted, if you looked in the right places. Streets were busy, back roads and alleyways quiet.

Abruptly, Ricky stopped ant spun around to face me. I stopped in front of him, wondering why he turned around. His expression read anger. Oh no, I know that look. I saw Ricky as he moved to grab me, but I evaded him and slipped around him. I faced him, a smile of triumph spreading across my face. His face, however, was determined. We played a sweet and fun game of evasive tango until Ricky found an opportunity to trip me in the small space that we had stumbled onto.

He caught me in mid- air and shoved me against the wall- hard. Momentarily I was stunned, before he ripped out my ear buds, and forced his lips down on mine. The pain in my ears quickly forgotten, I kissed him back without thought. He moved his mouth on mine in a possessive hungry manner. There was no doubt in my mind that my mouth would be slightly bruised after this. His hands went to the pocket of my hoodie, where the new iPod he'd just gave me was. Ricky tapped the volume button, turning the sound down exponentially.

He smirked in the kiss, and I couldn't help but smirk as well. All this fighting was just because I wouldn't turn down the volume of my music. What a stupid reason to stop our trek through town.

"Maybe next time you will listen to me. It is your fault that we had to stop and take a slight detour. If you would have just tur-"

"Ricky, shh, someone is coming, " I interrupted him. We had wandered onto one of the more public alleyways. Closer in to town than either of us had wanted to go. Our playful fighting and sparing had led us to a higher change of either of us being spotted by the police.

A ways down the alleyway, a group of cops came strolling. Well, wasn't this just our fucking luck. None of the cops that Ricky had under his persuasion were patrolling around these parts of town, so these cops were not under his influence. If they saw us, we were totally fucked with a capitol F.

For a moment, I thought they wouldn't notice us in the shadow of the alleyway, no normal person would. But luck just didn't seem to be on our side as one of the cops spotted us, and quickly took out his flashlight and raised it.

"Hey, what are you two doing there!" One of them yelled, shining the light in my face. I immediately brought my hand up to shield my face. Ricky's over towering formed stepped in front of me.

"None of your concern, officers, we were just leaving," he said. He started to turn around, and I started to follow, until one of the cops grabbed my wrist.

"How old are you little girl?" The sudden urge to drop kick the officer over came me, but before I could act, I felt my wrist ripped away, and Ricky holding me behind him. The cop lay in a heap on the floor.

I could feel Ricky's anger radiated off of him in waves. Boy, was he pissed. "Don't any of you touch her," he hissed, venom laced in his voice. I mentally flinched at his tone. He didn't even use that tone with our newest recruits.

Events folded out in front of me before I had time to comprehend them. As a team, the officers started to approach us. Ricky immediately took the offensive, and started to attack the officers. A blur of punches, kicks, and shouts echoed off the walls of the ally.

Was this really happening? A few moments ago I felt nothing but pure happiness. We weren't suppose to be working, or doing anything except taking a walk. These, these cops had ruined the good mood both of us had been in. So far, they were even lucky to still be alive.

I plugged one of my ear buds back in and tuned my music back on to full blast. I took two leaps and jumped in to the group of fighting men. Anger pulsated through me as the music thumped in my ear, creating a rhythm to form in my veins. No, oh no. None of these people were getting away alive for ruining such a rare night of freedom.

A hang grabbed the back of my neck, jerking me back. I lashed out, kicking whoever it was in the ribs. A deafening crack resonated through my skull before I reached for the culprit, and twisted his neck until I heard the final crack of death. My emotions were too high and strong to even realized that I had just killed an officer, or the fact that we had gathered a crowd at the mouth of the alleyway.

Suddenly, one of the officers that was still standing slammed me in to the wall. My head went a little gray, but I recovered before he was able to hit me again. I dropped down below him and swooped underneath him, ending up behind him. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck, and planted my feet in the middle of his back. I pulled as hard as I could until I heard a solid break of bone.

His screams didn't even reach my ears. What did, however, were the wailing of sirens in the distance. I turned to seek out Ricky. He was a few feet in to the ally, standing there, staring at me. Panic flooded me as I tried to think of who could have called the police. Everyone that was gathered at the head of the alleyway I recognized. They knew, who we were, so they understood that if they crossed us there would be hell to pay.

My gaze fell to the ground. The officer that had fallen to the ground in the beginning was no longer there. "SHIT!" I said. My hands started shaking, and I began to walk out of the ally to find the cop who had called for backup. Oh, he was defiantly going to die, even if it was the last thing I ever did.

Ricky, however, stopped me from going anywhere. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me deeper in to the ally.

"Rain, run and don't turn around. The cops didn't see your face in the dark, so there is no way they can identify you. I won't have you registered as a criminal either," he said, trying to shove me back the way we had come. I refused to go.

"Ricky, let's run together. I won't slow us down. We can get away from here before they even get here; we still have time." Even as I said those words I knew that they weren't true. By now the sirens were only a few blocks away, at most.

He didn't listen to me, but detached me away from him and shoved me farther down the ally. Police cars were arriving now. "Get the fuck out of here Storm, that is an order as K12 leader! or Maryland!! " He yelled at me. The fact that he used a pet name for me didn't even register or soften the blow. The fact that he just issued an order that he only used for new recruits is what surprised me.

I tripped backwards, confused by his sentence. I couldn't leave him to catch all of the blame by himself. No, Ricky and I were in this together, till the end, no matter what. Hastily, I shook my head and moved to stand next to him as the next wave of officers came at us.

"You are the stubbornest person that I have ever encountered in my life, although the most loyal," he said to me with a sad face.

I smiled sadly back at him. "Yeah, well, you can admire my faith-fullness after we get out of this smuck."

End of Flashback

Ricky was dying on the floor with laughter by the time I finished telling the story.

"Whoa, that was good times, right?" He said, trying to stop the laughs erupting from him.

Jack ignored the show he was putting on and turned his attention towards me. "What happened after that?" Right now was one of the moments that I could slap Jack in the head. Why the hell was he being so insistent and curious?

Ricky recovered from his laughing fit, and answered Jack's question for him. "Well, I got sent to jail for six years. Rain here got sentenced to a few months in Juvie and some boring community service hours. I will give you one piece of advice: never go to jail. The food is horrible there, and there's no girls or anything good to do. Shit, just thinking about that place makes me want to scrub myself with bleach. So, Rain, how was your encounter with punishment?"

It was obvious to me that Ricky was being sarcastic to cover up his slight anger. From his tone, I could tell he was upset for me leaving the way I did. After I served my time, I left K12 and stopped traveling down to Maryland. I've never left Pennsylvania since. The fact that I left K12, or the fact that I hadn't visited him in jail, or even the fact that I hadn't came to greet him when he got out of jail could be the reason that Ricky is angry.

However, I understood his anger at me. I left K12 not because of Ricky, but because I finally realized what mind games Ricky had been playing on me. The life of death and crime wasn't something I should be involved in. I hadn't visited Ricky in jail for the sheer fact that I was afraid of what he would say, or what K12 had told him. Even as I wished that I could forget my past with Ricky, over the past six years I couldn't help but count down the days until he got out.

But with the surprise Rick and Julie sprung on me, I'd been a little too distracted to remember that he had gotten out.

"It wasn't pleasant, or it wasn't particularly terrible. I got more time tacked on to the end for fighting though. Girls should realized that picking on the new kid is the stupidest thing they could ever do," I said, rubbing the back of me head.

Jack interrupted with a, "Is that why you disappeared for almost an entire year?"