Resistance Is Useless

Alex threatened me. He actually threatened me. No, he said it wasn’t a threat but he was “just saying”. A threat in my book. He counted on me to keep my mouth shut.
We were back in that warehouse place or whatever, the place I met Matt. I waved and gave him a small smile as we walked past him. He looked over from the person he was talking to, our eyes locking. Alex held my hand, leading me down a hallway with the rest of the guys. Footsteps came behind us.
“Hey, Alex!”
I looked over my shoulder while Alex stopped walking to turn to Matt.
“What’s up?” Alex asked.
Matt looked from me to Alex. “How about I take Karina? You go with Jack and them. She’ll be in good hands.”
I glanced up at Alex, squeezing his hand reassuringly. He shrugged and let go of my hand. We pecked each other on the lips and I stood beside Matt. I tried to hide the look of relief on my face.
“Take care of my girl,” He said, walking away.
“Got it,” Matt said. He led me back from where we came from, his hand on the small of my back.
“Thanks a bunch,” I said. “I mean, how’d you know?”
“Same look on Jennifer’s face,” He muttered.
“Oh,” I bit my lip. “We… talked about her. I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t mentioned it.”
“I’m sorry,” He said.
“Don’t be, it’s fine,” I giggled.
“You wanna meet some of the others?” He offered.
“I guess,” I shrugged. I’d only been through the worst situations, getting to know more people outside of Alex wouldn’t hurt.

-
In a half hour I met more of Alex and Matt’s mutual friends. What did they do here, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know. I had a feeling they were all in some sort of “business”.
Alex, Jack, Rian, and Zack all came back in a hurry. Jack pulled Matt and some of the others to the side to talk to them. Alex yanked me from my chair.
“Alex, what are you doing?” I asked while he practically dragged me by my wrist.
“We have to go otherwise we’re fucked,” He vaguely explained.
“Why are we leaving?” I asked.
Suddenly everyone was on the move, grabbing their things and yelling at each other. Jack and Rian jogged up to us as we left the building from the garage.
“Alex, what’s going on?” I tried again.
“Stop asking so many fucking questions, Karina!” Alex shouted at me. “I’m trying to protect you, just shut up, please.”
“Alex, don’t,” Rian warned.
“Put this on,” Alex demanded, unzipping his hoodie and giving it to me. I was confused but put it on anyway, not wanting him to yell at me again.
Our noticeably brisk walk turned into a full on run as sirens wailed from all directions. I knew what we were running from. My heart pounded in my chest. Alex dropped my hand as we turned into an alley, police cars following us as much as they could.
A part of me wanted to surrender, even if I was innocent. A glance over my shoulder tripped me up, knocking me down to the concrete. My hands were scraped and my jeans ripped.
“No, no, no,” Alex came back for me. He kneeled next to me. “Are you okay?”
I shrugged and examined my hands again. I hoped I could stall long enough for the cops to come and realize who I was. That was why Alex gave me the hoodie.
“Kari, we have to go,” He urged. “Now.”
“What if I don’t want to go?” I whispered.
He sighed. “You don’t understand. They find you, you get ten years for even being with us.”
I looked at him unconvinced.
“I wouldn’t lie. I don’t want anything to happen to you,” He said.
I let him help me off the ground and to the gate that Rian, Jack, and Zack had already climbed over and were waiting for us. He hoisted me up and over the gate, landing in Rian’s arms, before he hopped over with ease.