I Can't Help You Fix Yourself But At Least I Can Say I Tried

When I got back home. The house was empty. Not just of people, but of physical, every day objects. Such as the couch that I was going to sink down onto. For a fleeting moment, I feared that maybe my mom and uncle had packed up and left me.

I'd only been gone two days.

I began a thorough search of the house, and found enough evidence to suggest that we still lived there. But enough lack of evidence to suggest that we were probably in deep shit with someone. Someone who wanted money, and when they couldn't get it, decided to take everything else. Why my uncle didn't just pay these people back was beyond me. He definately had the money to do so.

I leapt up the old creaky wooden stairs two and a time and turned right into my room. It was destroyed. Go figure. My mattresses were seperated and the top one lay half on the floor. My clothes were strewn about the room, and my heart sank. I dropped to my knees, searching through the bottom drawer of my dresser. When I'd turned every sock I owned inside out and still found nothing, I knew that who ever had been in our house, had indefinately walked away with a couple grand from my room alone.

"Fuck."

I moved to the side and sat down on the floor, drawing my knees up to my chest. This was fantastic. God I hoped Danielle had everything I'd no doubt lost at the club.

***

"Yo Gates." Something landed square on my chest. "We're home."

I groaned and shoved my bag aside before sitting up slowly in my bunk. Needless to say, after bidding Myranda goodbye, I hadn't had a very good night.

"Thanks Zack." I muttered before beginning to shove all my clothes into my bag. I just wanted to fall onto my bed and sleep.

Despite my sleeping in, we were all finished packing up and heading off the bus around the same time. Stepping off the stuffy bus into the Huntington Beach sunlight made me smile. I loved this place. It was like no other.

"Brian."

I knew exactly who that sheepish voice belonged to, and I kind of missed it. "Hey Michelle."

She smiled and moved towards me. And, like I've done for years, despite girls coming and going, I opened my arms to her. It amazed me how good it felt to hug her.

"Did you have a good tour?" she asked when I finally let her go.

Everyone suddenly went quiet and Michelle glanced around. "What happened?" she asked. Far too intuitive for her own good.

"Ask Syn." Matt tossed me my car keys and I caught them midair. I'd been in such a hurry to get off the bus, I hadn't remembered to grab them. Michelle looked at me. Her big sparkly eyes telling me exactly how happy she was that we were home.

"I'll tell you later," I reached down and grabbed my bag as I slipped my other arm around her waist before we walked together towards everyone's vehicles. She pulled away and began digging in her purse once we reached my car.

"Did you drive?" I asked her as I pushed the unlock button.

She nodded and produced her keys from her purse. "Yeah. Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

She seemed nervous to ask, and I didn't really blame her. We weren't dating. We tried that. Numerous times. Now we were just friends...with benefits.

"Nothing." I opened the door and tossed my bag across the front of the car onto the passenger seat. "Why?"

"You should come over," she grinned and began walking backwards. "I'll make supper," And with that she turned around and headed for her car.

I chuckled to myself before climbing into my own car and turning over the key. There was nothing better than a good, welcome home.

***

I took my time walking to the club. Actually I didn't have a choice. I couldn't take a taxi because now, I officially didn't have a cent to my name, and I couldn't call Danielle because, she had my cell. At least I hoped that she did.

As I walked past the line at the entrance to the Wet n' Wild club, I smiled and approached the bouncer. But he didn't smile back. "Hope you're doing good," he muttered as he lifted the rope for me. I glanced at him but passed through anyway. I couldn't tell if he genuinely meant it, or if he meant that something worse was to come.

I learned quickly that it was the latter.

"You have to get out of here!" Danielle lunged herself at me out of the darkness of one of the VIP booths.

My heart thumped twice quickly before beginning to beat unnaturally fast. It was out of my control.

"Jesus, are you trying to kill me?" I laughed softly, but soon quit when I noticed the look on her face. "Dani what's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

It's amazing what the tone of someone's voice can do to you. This particular voice, turned the warm blood flowing through my veins to ice in a mere second. Something was very wrong.

Like Dani had just minutes before, Jo appeared out of the darkness with two of his men. They were simply dogs to me. What he said, they did. No questions asked. And that...scared the hell out of me.

"Let's go chat Myranda," he gestured up to his office with his head. His dogs grabbed me by the wrists and began pulling me towards the stairs.

"Jo, no, let's just talk down here!" It was all I could do to keep from screaming. He ignored me. "Jo!" I tried again but the guy to my right grabbed my jaw roughly and made me look at him. His eyes were black. Lifeless.

"I suggest you shut the fuck up," he snarled. "You've caused enough trouble."

My mind began racing with all the things I could have done to piss these people off but I couldn't think of anything. I tried pulling away, tried not walking up the stairs, but they simply gripped my arms tighter and lifted me, causing me to cry out in pain. I began lifting my feet on my own again. It beat having dislocated arms.

When we finally made it into the office one let go of me and slammed the door shut. The other one threw me roughly onto the couch. I tripped in my heels and landed face first onto the unforgiving leather. My cheek rubbed roughly against it creating a heated sensation.

"So, you have anything to tell me?" Jo asked, an eerie calm in his voice as the two dogs moved to stand by the door.

This was ridiculous. "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked as I moved into a sitting position. I wanted to cup my cheek but I didn't dare.

Jo spun around quickly and his palm connected with the same cheek that'd just aquired the leather burn. I wanted to say I could see stars, but it did'n't happen that way. Black. Everything was just black as I fell to the couch again. It felt like my eye was going to explode. This time I couldn't help but place my hand over my swollen cheek.

"Raise your voice to me again and it will be the last time!" he yelled at me. The anger in his voice was now incredibly apparent. His face was a mere inch from my own now, his harsh eyes boring holes into my own. "Where the fuck were you these past two days?"

I rotated my jaw a few times. It definately felt like he'd knocked it out of place.

"Huh?" he grabbed my hair roughly causing me to tilt my head back at a rough angle.

"With a guy," I muttered. Which was stupid. But I had to reply with something, and right now, my brain just wasn't cooperating.

"A guy?" he used my hair to throw me forward and I fell to the floor on my hands and knees. He placed his foot against my hip and kicked hard enough to push me over so that I fell to the floor onto my back, with nothing to do now but to stare up at him.

"The next time you want to go fuck your boyfriend and leave me hanging, I want you to think about them!" he pointed to the door, to the two guys standing there. "You're lucky I don't let them run a goddamn train on you Myranda," he was spitting on me as he yelled. "Do you know what that is?"

I nodded vigorously and choked back a sob. I was going to cry. I never cried.

"Get up," he moved around me and I slowly crawled from my knees back to my feet.

"You missed two delivery dates Myranda. Which puts me on the shit list with my buyers. And when I'm on the shit list with them, that makes you expendible."

My heart began it's frantic beating again in an attempt to get away from it's home inside my chest.

"Please Jo, I'm sorry," I was down to begging. "I'll never do it again."

"You're goddamn right you won't." He turned from the window he was looking out of, "because if you ever set foot back into this club again, you will disappear. No questions asked."

A shiver of fear and pain rang throughout my body. It wasn't so much what he'd said that scared me, but the fact that I was going to have to tell my uncle that I'd just lost his biggest buyer.

"Get her out of here."

That the last thing I heard before my world went black. Literally.

***

"Jesus christ I would have killed that son of a bitch."

I opened my eyes just enough to see Danielle's face directly in front of my own. A cigarette hanging out of her ruby red lips as she pressed a cool cloth to my cheek and I winced in pain. "Hold still," she growled and pressed the cloth a little harder.

Biting my lower lip I took the pain she was causing. A moment later she backed off.

"What the hell went on up there?"

As my eyes adjusted to the room I realised I wasn't in Danielle's house. We were at the get off house. Ehrin's place of business.

"Myranda?" I turned my head slightly. It hurt just to do that. Thank god this room didnt' have a mirror. Ehrin was sitting on a chair just off to the side of Danielle.

"Well?" she pushed.

"I just lost my uncle's buyer," it almost hurt worse to say that, than what my body was feeling right now.

Danielle gasped. She knew what it meant. I was probably as good as dead.

"You can't go home." She grabbed my jaw to make me look at her and I nearly screamed. She released my frail body just as quickly. "Sorry hun, but you can't go home, do you hear me?"

I sighed. "I have to at least go get my stuff," I said softly as I laid back onto the bed on my side. But, my hip, which was now quite bruised, wasn't going to allow that torture. So I rolled onto my back.

"What do you need from home?" She sat down on Ehrin's lap.

"Everything that I own, is in that house." I brushed my palm lightly against my face, trying to get a feel for the damage before seeing it.

"Not everything," I heard Dani stand up again. "I have your purse and cell."

"Thank you," I managed as she set them down on the bed beside me. I reached blindly for my phone and flipped it open. It was then I remembered that Syn had written his number on my hand. I copied it into my cell then placed it back into my purse. He was the reason I was in this state right now, and as much as I never wanted to see him again, I was going to. I was going to thank him for the bruises in his attempt to 'help me out'.

"Here," Ehrin got up from his chair and busied himself with his artillery. "This one is on me." He grabbed my arm nearest him and flipped it over before tying it up just above my elbow. I watched him for a moment before returning my gaze to the ceiling.

I could definately use what Ehrin was going to give me, and the phone call to Synyster Gates could wait a little while longer.