Getting Away With You

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^*Brian’s POV*^
“I’ll be in front of the TV waiting for Matt and Danni to wake up if you need me.” Jimmy said, and I nodded as he walked out of the kitchen. I dried the last few dishes and started putting them away, going around to the cabinets and putting everything up. Just as I got out of the floor from putting away the frying pan with some difficulty, the phone rang. I ran over to the table and grabbed it, pushing ‘talk’ before it could wake Matt or Danni up.

“Hello?”

“Well, it’s nice to hear your voice, Brian. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Since you and James killed Matthew’s wife and poor little Mellisa.” I clutched the phone tighter in my hand, trying not to let my teeth crumble from the force I was putting on them from trying not to snap.

“Who is this?” I asked, my voice sounding much too unstable for my liking. I knew damn well who it was, I just didn’t want it to be true. How he got to a phone in prison, I don’t even know, but knowing the conniving bastard, he probably exchanged a confession of a murder, letting one of his men get thrown in jail just so he could get some minutes on the phone. With me, of all people. It always has to be me…

“Brian, after all I’ve done for you, after all you’ve done for me, you don’t even remember your own-”

“Don’t you fucking say it, Chase.” I growled at him, trying desperately hard not to hang up.

“Ooh, someone-”

“What do you want?” I cut him off

“Don’t you cut me off, fucker.” He snarled at me, the anger coming off perfectly clear through just the tone in his voice.

“What do you want with us Chase? Matt did what you want, he killed Riley, and Jimmy and I…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it in fear I’d start crying like a baby again. “Just, what do you want now?” I asked, hoping he would just tell me he hates me or some shit and hang up.

“I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be out very soon, and I already know where you are, and I have the intention of getting to you one way or another. I have people out there with you, closer than you think. One wrong move and I’ll kill you all.” He stated, his voice low, and I went over to the drawer in the far corner, pulling it open and reaching my hand into it, under all of the dish clothes and pot holders until I found Freak’s pistol he kept hidden.

“You’re bluffing.” I spat, and he just chuckled.

“No I’m not. I know things, Brian. I’m coming for you as soon as I get out and I’m not going to leave Hawthorne without you. I also have a little job for Matt.” He knew where we were. He wasn’t bluffing. “Tell Danielle I said ‘hi’.” My heart stopped as he hung up. He really did know. He has people watching. Watching our moves, when we leave this house, when we eat, when we go to bed and when we wake up. I didn’t even want to think about what he could possibly want Matt to do. I took the phone from my ear and cut the dial tone off. I heard voices in the living room, but I couldn’t bring myself to move.

“J-Jimmy, get in here!” I called, hoping he would come quickly.

“What’s-” He stopped as he saw me. I know I must look like a complete lunatic, standing in the kitchen, the phone still clutched tightly in my hand, the gun in the other, I could already feel reality setting in. “Brian, what’s wrong?” There was a sudden concern in his voice. Hell, there should be more than just concern.

“Chase’s going to kill us.” I said as I looked up at him. “He knows where we are.” I stated, and Jimmy shook his head, coming over to me, worry now taking over his face. I leaned back against the counter, placing the phone beside me.

“No, no he doesn’t he was just trying to scare us. He can’t know. He’s in jail.” Jimmy said in disbelief.

“He knows Jimmy. He knows where we are, he’s watching.” I said, feeling helpless. “We are never going to be able to stop him. We can’t break free.” My voice dropped. “He told me he has a job he wants Matt to do, and then he said to tell Danielle ‘hi’.” That sent Jimmy over the edge.

“No.” He said, shaking his head. “No. He just can’t.”

“He said he’s getting out soon. It’s over.” It was over before it even begun. “He’s coming for us, just as soon as he gets out. He already has people watching, probably Dawson and Collin. If we do one thing he doesn’t like, or try to get out of this town, all he has to do is contact them and they’ll shoot us dead standing in place.” I said and Jimmy kept shaking his head, trying to hold back tears.

“No. I won’t let it. We can’t go down this easily.” He muttered. “We have to fight, Danielle’s part of this now too.” I just simply let my head fall down to the gun. I could take an easy route out of this mess, right now. I stared at the gun for a moment, thinking over this new option that had never occurred to me until now. I slowly brought the gun up to my head. “No, Brian!” Jimmy yelled, grabbing my arm and forcing it back down to my side as he grabbed my shoulders. “We can’t just fucking give up this easily! We can’t let him win!” He screamed at me, but I knew that deep down, he knew we were already dead.

“We’re done, Jimmy! It’s over! We’ve put up with this shit for too fucking long! He’s killed off our families, our friends, Matt’s family, and friends, just let me fucking end this now before he can kill me! I’d rather fucking kill myself than let that bastard have the pleasure of it!” I screamed back at him. He let his hands fall.

“Fine, do it. Blow your brains out, right now.” He said, and in a way I was actually hurt he would let me do this. “Go ahead, and I’ll go next and we’ll leave Matt and Danielle here. We’ll let Matt try and fight them all off by himself. We’ll let him die and then we’ll let those fucking mindless minions kill Danni too or do something even worse than that.” He said, his voice holding nothing whatsoever. “Danielle’s innocent, Brian. If we can get through this, we can save her. She doesn’t deserve what’s going to happen to her if we give up now. She didn’t know what she was getting into when she came with us, she just wanted out of her shitty life. Now she’s been brought into a dangerous life, and we need to protect her, and give her a fighting chance against Chase.” I got what he was saying. We have to at least try and get Danni out of this. We need to get her out of this and back to her life. She still has her family, and friends, and an actual life to go to. We have nothing, therefore if we died, no one would miss us. If anything, the world would possibly be a better place. I took this into consideration. But…what kind of chance did we have against them? Most of Chase’s men are rather in jail, or have tried to get away from him and died doing so, but he’ll be able to recruit more. He finds people and pulls them into his gang; he could round up fifty or more people by the time he gets out. It will be four people against an army. I felt a heavy weight on me again, the weight that made me feel nothing but early defeat. I knew we had already lost this war; I brought the gun back to my head.

“Brian, Jimmy, what’s going on?” Jimmy and I both looked over to where Danielle was standing in the walkway to the dining room, staring at us. “Brian, what are you doing?” She asked, her voice holding fright and nothing more. I brought the gun from my temple.

“What did you hear?” I asked, slightly scared of what was going through her mind.

“Enough to know that you’ve apparently given up on life because someone’s trying to kill you and Jimmy.” She whispered. “Can someone please explain what’s going on?”

“Has Matt told you about a guy named Chase that we all three used to work for?” Jimmy asked and she nodded. “Well he-”

“Wait,” She said and looked back to me. “Brain you’re making me really nervous with that gun.” I looked down at the gun, still in my hand and placed it on the counter reluctantly.

“Sorry.” I muttered and forced a small smile upon my face.

“Well, long story short, he’s getting out of jail soon, and he has two guys watching us. Right now. They’re probably listening in to this conversation. They know everything, and as soon as Chase gets out of jail he’s going to come down here, and…” Jimmy just trailed off, leaving the air silent.

“And do what?” Danielle asked. “Kill us?” Her voice got much too quiet.

“Probably.” I muttered.

“But…we’re not going to let him. We’re going to keep you safe, and we’re going to make it out of this alive.” Jimmy said and looked over at me. “We are, Brian, aren’t we?” He asked, forcing an answer out of me.

“Sure.” I said simply.

“Brian, are you okay?” Danielle came over and placed a hand on my arm, concern in her voice and dominating her brown eyes. I just nodded, it seemed to be all I could really muster up.

“I’m fine.” I whispered, trying not to scare her. She didn’t deserve what’s going to happen to her.

“No you’re not, you nearly just killed yourself. You can’t give up like that Brian.” I looked over at Jimmy as he said this and sighed. I wish he would just stop trying to make things better. Our lives have gone to shit, and there’s nothing that’s going to change that.

“I can give up. I can give up and keep from having to watch Chase kill you, Matt, and Danielle, and then I can save him the joy of killing his own-”

“Everything okay in here?” Matt walked in, rubbing his eyes from most probably having just woken up.

“Everything’s fine.” I said, and walked off, quickly grabbing the gun from the counter in the process. I felt someone tug on the arm that had the gun and I turned around, ready to knock Jimmy out, but I was faced with Danni.

“Brian, don’t do it. Please. For me.” She begged, and I kept my hold on the gun firm. “What if we make it, and you do this?” She asked. “We’ll have to live without you. Think of what that will do. I don’t want that. We don’t want that.” She pleaded, and I loosened my hold on the weapon, and she slipped it out of my hand. I wanted to hug her, and tell her everything was going to be okay, that this is just one of her nightmares, and try and bring her some sort of comfort. But I couldn’t. Because this wasn’t one of her nightmares, this wasn’t some joke, and this wasn’t a game. This was life. This was Jimmy’s life. This was Matt’s life. This was my life. And now, this is Danielle’s life too.

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^*Danielle’s POV*^
“I’m sorry you’re part of this now.” Brian whispered, sympathy and sadness in his voice and I watched as he walked past Matt and out of the room, and listened as the front door opened and closed. I turned and handed the gun to Jimmy and then looked at Matt.

“What’s happening?” Matt asked, since no one had explained what was going on, and informed him of what I had just walked in on.

“Brian got a call from Chase.” Jimmy stated and Matt sighed.

“Not him.” Matt shook his head, obviously not wanting it to be true.

“He said he was getting out soon and he has people spying on us, and if we make a wrong move he’s going to kill us. He also said he had a job for you, and he knows about Danielle.” Jimmy said, looking down, a thick tone to his voice.

“Oh my god…” Matt just trailed off, dread taking over his voice.

“What’s going to happen now?” I asked, fearing for the worst of what Jimmy or Matt could say. “I mean, do we try and get away, do we come up with some kind of plan, or do we just sit here and do nothing?” Jimmy and Matt looked over at me. “What’s going to happen to you guys? What’s…what’s going to happen to me?” I could only hope death wasn’t lurking in my near future, but by all that I’ve heard, Brian’s actions, and the way Jimmy and Matt were acting now, I was beginning to think we all wouldn’t be here for very much longer. And that thought, that dark, scary thought, made me want to break down and cry, and wish I had never came. But with what has happened these last few days, I don’t think I would prefer to die any other way than with these three great guys. “I-I don’t want to leave you guys, and I don’t want you to leave me.” I whispered, and Matt stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly to his chest.

“We’re going to be okay, Danni, everything’s going to be okay. We’re not going anywhere and neither are you.” He whispered, and I brought my head from his shoulder, barely even noticing that I had started to cry.

“What about Chase?” I asked, my voice not quite working right.

“I’m not going to let him hurt you, I promise I’m not.” He said, and I took a deep breath, trying to stop the tears.

“He’s stoppable, Danni, he’s only human. Chase has all of the weaknesses that we do.” Jimmy said, and I nodded and buried my face back in Matt’s shoulder.

“We’re not going to let anything hurt you, I’ll make sure of that.” Matt whispered, and the phone rang.

“Hello?” Jimmy answered shakily, and I stayed in Matt’s arms. “What? No! No, Ch- Wait! No, we’re not trying to- Matt! Get down!”