Falling for the Bad Boy

Angie POV

"The local mall went under lock down after a group of men were spotted with guns. The police arrived at the scene about an hour ago and so far we don't have any updates."

My hands start to shake with fear as I hear the anchor say this. I pick up the remote and turn the TV off.

Please let Jase be OK.  I run my hands over my face. I look over to Stacey to find her face reflect my look of worry.  I get up from the sofa and walk over to Stacey.  I place my hands on her arms.

She looks at me. "We have to get him out of there. He's angry and Romaine probably took advantage of that. We have to get him out of there, Angie." She repeats. 

I nod my head.  "We'll get him out of there." I reassure her. "You have to stay here. Jase is mad at me so he won't care if I go there. But if you show up, he's going to turn ballistic."

She shakes her head. "If I'm not going then you're not going either.  And you're wrong. Jase will care if you go. He's going to kill whoever takes you there."

I laugh. "No he wont. He probably hates me. He thinks I cheated on him."

"Open your eyes, Angie. He might not show it, but he really really cares for you.  That's why he's angry."

I look at the crew's faces. They all nod at me. I shake my head.  He doesn't care anymore.  He thinks I cheated on him. I'm the reason he's stuck in the mall. If he gets hurt, it'll be all my fault.

I walk over to Tyler. "Tyler please take me to Jase."

"I'm sorry, Angie.  Jase will have my head if I put you in danger."

I shake my head. "No he wont.  He hates me.  Please Tyler." I beg him.

Tyler sighs and nod his head.  "On one condition."

"Anything."

"When I say 'leave', then we leave.  No questions asked." He says with his eyes narrowed.

I debate in my head.  Maybe I should just sneak in. Who am I kidding?  The mall is surrounded by police. I'll never get in.  I need Tyler.  They know him.  Tyler likes to help out Romaine too.

"OK."

***

Thinking about the police encounter and Jase is rising my blood pressure.  My head is starting to throb. I rub my temples and sigh. What is the devil thinking?

I revert me attention to Tyler  who is currently pulling me out of the car. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice Tyler stopping the car.

I close the door behind me as I get out. "Sorry."

Tyler simply shakes his head and sighs.

"Where is he?" I ask him.

Gun shots go off behind Tyler and I jump with fright.  That answered my question. I cover my face with my hands.  This can't be good. Jase, why this? 

"Come on." Says Tyler.

I look at him a nod my head. I take in a deep breath and take a step towards the building. Its now or never.

Jase POV

Blank.

My mind is blank. My emotions are blank. My expression is blank.

Pushing my thoughts aside , I focus on my surroundings.  The mall just went into a lock down because some geniuses decided to show up with guns.

I glance at my group of police. Romaine put me in lead for this group. Unlike the rest of the men, I'm not dressed in police uniform.  I won't be able to join the police force until I'm eighteen-years-old. But unlike these officers, Romaine trained me to specialize in emergency events, like this one.

I slide out the map of the mall out of my back pocket.  I open up the map and turn to face the men. 

"This," I point to the bottom left corner of the paper, "is where we are right now, the second floor."

I look at their faces. Some nod with the look of seriousness on their faces. A couple showed anger on their faces while some looked unfocused. 

This is going to be a problem. 

"The armed group of criminals can be anywhere from here," I point to our position, "to here." I point to the opposite end of the mall.  "There are three groups consisting of fifteen men each. Each floor is assigned a team and we're assigned the second floor."

"Tell us something that we already don't know." The man in the back snorts.

I look at his name badge.  'Cooper'. I look up to meet his eyes. Giving him a long hard look, I choose to ignore his comment and continue speaking. 

"It's highly likely that the armed criminals are on this floor, which is why we're here. I'm going to assign each one of you a duty. It will be your roll while we're moving through the mall."

"What makes you think we want to follow your orders?" Cooper snorts again. 

I analyze his face. Blank face but his angry eyes give him away. He doesn't want to be lead by a younger person. 

"Is there a problem, Cooper?" I ask him.

"Yes there is. What makes you better than all of us? What is so good about you, a kid? Just because you're Director Romaine's brother?"

I roll my eyes. "Don't judge people based on their looks, Cooper."

"How can I not?  Do you have enough training and experience to make decisions under pressure? How old are you?"

The anger inside me starts to rise. I clench my eyes and fist my hands. Taking in deep breaths, I open my eyes.

"I have enough experience and my age doesn't matter. What matters is that there are innocent people in this mall that are in danger and need our help."

He scowls but nods his head.

I proceed with the name calls and tell them their rolls. All of then accept without a question. 

We, then, pull out our guns and start to move.  We break down further into groups of five. I take out the activity sensor from the belt hook and run my eyes over it.

This device shows all the activity inside the building. Now,  of course,  we're also on the move.  All the police members have a sensor on them. The activity marked in blue indicates the movement of the police and the movement in black is what we're tracking. 

Romaine was right. The criminals are indeed on the second floor.  I look at Cooper and glance back the screen.

I press the button on the Bluetooth and it links me to all the men on my team.

"We found the location of the intruders. All group members meet at the entrance of 'The Bay' on the southwest side."

"What are we going to do next?"

I turn to face Cooper. 

"I'll tell everyone once they're here." I tell him and turn my back to him. 

He growls under his breath. "Arrogant kid."

I whirl around.  Grabbing the front of his jacket, I push him down and pin him to the ground. 

"I've had enough of your bullshit." I see the rest of the team approaching from the corner of my eye. "I'm the leader here, I call the shots.  If you have a problem with it, then say it to Romaine.  If not, then keep your damn mouth shut and follow my lead."

I slowly get off him when I see the fear in his eyes.  He gets up and walks to the rest of the team with his head thrown down in embarrassment.

I shift my eyes from him to the rest of the men. "This is what were going to do...."

Angie POV

I stop at the entrance of the mall when I see the police guarding it.  How am I supposed to get in now? I shift my weight from one feet to another.

"Well, I guess this is when we go home." Says Tyler from beside me.

I look at him. "No, Tyler, please we cant go home just yet." I beg him.

"The mall is surrounded by police, Angie.  They won't let us in." He states the obvious.
I know that! I helplessly look around. My eyes widen when I spot Romaine talking to a group to police men. I grab Tyler's hand and he raises his eyebrow. I point to Romaine. I drag Tyler towards him.

Romaine's eyes zero on me when he sees me approaching. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take Jase home."

"You're late. He's already inside."

I feel my heart drop when I hear him say this. My eyes start to water. This is all my fault!

I look at Romaine with hope in my eyes. "Can I go get him Romaine?"

A cruel smirk makes itself onto his face and I gulp.

Jase POV

I walk towards the group of criminals as they supervise a crowd of innocent people with guns in their hands.  They turn towards me with their guns raised when they hear my footsteps.

  I look at their faces and scowl at their controlled expressions. The man in the middle motions with his hand for the men to lower their guns.  I watch him with amused eyes. So he's the leader.  There is absolutely nothing amusing about this situation but I can't help but want to laugh at the 'criminals'. I don't know what else to call them.

"You," I point to the leader, "let the innocent people go. They haven't done anything wrong."

He snorts. "If I let them go then you will arrest us."

"If you let them go now,  I will try my best to give you the least sentence." I lie. "This is between us, but they're innocent." I point to the civilians.

He pulls out a girl from the crowd and she screams. Her scream sounds familiar. I look more closely and my eyes widen.

Angie POV

OK. When I planned on taking Jase home, I hadn't planned getting the gun pointed to my throat by a thug. This is deja-vu all over again.

"Let her go." Jase says with a calm voice. 

I screech when he digs the gun deeper into my throat. Jase takes out his gun and points it at the man holding me.  Why is he even alone?  Why isn't the police here?

I start to struggle in the man's arms.

"Stop." He hisses.

I only struggle harder. "I said stop!" He yells.

"Don't anger him. He'll hurt you." Says Jase.
He's angry. I can tell by his controlled voice. 
"Let her go." Jase repeats himself.  "Keep the innocent people out of this."

The man shoves me towards the other men and steps towards Jase. I fall onto the other men and immediately move backwards.  They pull me to them before I can move away. 

I look at Jase to find him watching me.  His body is tense and his eyes are narrowed as he points his gun at the man. 

"Alright.  This is between you and me." Says the man.

Jase POV

I watch the man with narrowed eyes. My eyes keep flickering back to Angie.  What was she thinking?

I revert my attention back to the man. "What is your motive behind this?"

He points his gun back at me and scratches the skin under his chin with his free hand.

"It ain't none of your business." He spits out.

I roll my eyes.  "You're screwing with the law. That makes it my business."

He throws me a glare and takes a step forward. My hands tighten on the gun. "You think you own the streets J.D," he takes two steps forward.  "Just because your brother is a cop and you're the top dog doesn't mean you own us." He continues to move forward till there is a ten-step difference between us. 

I plant a cruel smirk on my face. How amusing. "That's exactly what it means."

He mans scowl deepens and he leaps towards me. Gun shots go off in the background but I keep my eyes on the leaping form. I don't move from my place as I pull my arm back and fist my hand.

A piercing scream penetrates through the room and my blood turns cold.

"Jase!"

My head snaps to my left and I narrow my eyes.  I see Angie struggling in the arms of the thugs. I can't concentrate knowing that she is in danger.

Just as I am turn back to my opponent, a punch lands itself onto my left cheek.   I stumble backwards, but catch myself before falling.

Another scream erupts from Angie.  "Oh my God! Jase!"

I ignore her screams and charge towards the man. I freeze when he points his gun to me. I bring my hand up to point my gun at him to find my hand empty. 

Fuck!

I quickly wipe the shocked expression off my face. I search for the gun from the corner of my eye and curse when i spot ten-feet away. I glance at Angie. I have to get her out of here. I look at the trash cans and the narrow tables and zero my eyes on the officers hiding behind them.

He laughs, my eyes narrow.  He laughs louder and I raise my eyebrow. 

"Delsavio, you're at my mercy now.  The king of the streets is at my mercy.  At Ryan Smith's mercy." He continues to laugh.

What an idiot.  Not only he declared his name, but he also forgot that the mall is surrounded by police.  Not to mention that I'm not an idiot enough to show up alone. 

"You're stupid." I state.

His hand tightens on the gun. "What did you say?"

I smirk.  "I said 'you're stupid'".

He face turns red as he leaps towards me...once again.

My smirk widens when he stops. Every officer in the room has their gun pointed to at him and his minions while he holds his hands up in surrender. That was the signal for the police to show themselves: 'you're stupid'.

"You bastard." He grits out.

"Your stupidity doesn't make me a bastard. Look around you. You dare to point the gun at me when you're surrounded by police." I point at the police surrounding us.

He gulps as the color leaves his face. I walk towards him and stop two-steps away from him. He swiftly turns around and breaks into a run. I catch him from the collar before he can run away. 

"There's no escaping jail now."

"Jase..."

My head snaps to Angie's. I walk towards her avoiding the the police men handcuffing the thugs. I stop when Coopers steps into my path. 

"What about to civilians?"

"Lead them out through the nearest exit. Don't let them run, I don't want anyone to get injured.  I'm off duty now. If you have questions, go to Romaine."

He nods his head and steps out of my path.  My eyes find Angie and I continue to walk towards her.

She opens her mouth when I reach her. "Jase, I wa-"

She cuts herself off when I grab her arm and pull her out of the mall.  I spin her around and push her away from me.

"What were you thinking?"

"I jus-"

"Do you know how dangerous it was inside? Are you out of your mind?!" I yell.

She flinches backwards. "I was ju-"

"Next time don't interfere with my business."

"I just came to take you home!" She screams back.

I snort. "Home is the last place I want to be right now."

Hurt crosses her eyes. "I know you hate me," tears cloud her eyes, "but you can't put yourself in danger like this.  I'm sorry, I know you did this because you were angry with me."

A cruel smirk makes itself onto my face. "You're not that special, Angie." I lie.

Tears start to fall from her eyes. "I didn't do it, Jase. I swear. He came onto me."

Her words piss me off. "I don't want to talk about it."

My mood is bad enough. I don't want to make it worse.

She puts her hand on my arms. "But, Jase, we have to talk about it. I didn't do anything wrong.  I don't want you to think something that isn't true." She pleads. 

I snatch my hand away from her grip and she jumps up at the sudden action.  "I told you that I don't want to talk about it!"

More tears fall from her eyes.  I hate looking at her tears, they make me feel helpless.  So I do the only thing I can. I look away.

She puts her hands on my arms again. "Jase it isn't what you think. It's Pete, he tried t-"

"Right. Because you sprawled on top of him definitely holds him responsible."

She shakes her head and wipes her tears away. I take in a deep breath and try to calm myself down. 

"Jas-" I snatch my hand away again.

"No, Angie." I take a step back.

"Jase, please!"

I shake my head. I need to get away from her. I can't think when she's around.  I need to think right now.

"No, Angie."

I see Tyler approaching from behind so I turn to make my leave.

Hands grab my arm again.  "Jase, please don't leave me." She begs.

My heart clenches and I shut my eyes.  I place my hand on top of hers and remove it.
"Angie, let him go." I hear Tyler's voice.

I continue to walk.

Angie POV

My legs give out beneath me and I fall to the ground. I cover my face with my hands and I cry into them. He doesn't believe me. He hates me.

Arms wrap around me. I turn into them and melt into Tyler's arms. I put my arms around his necks and he hoists me up in his arms.

"Shh." He cooed.

I only sob louder.  Tyler sets me into the car and puts on my seat belt. I turn onto my side on the seat away from Tyler.  I don't want him to see me cry.  Slowly my vision starts to fade and I fall asleep. 

***

I slowly open my eyes and look at my surroundings. My room. I roll over to my side and lift myself up.  I look up when I hear my room's door open.

Relief washes over me and my eyes start to water when I see Oscar enter the room.  He gives me a sad smile and my tears start to fall once again.

"Oscar..." I start to get up.

He opens his arms for me and I immediately run into then.

"Shh. It's okay, I'm here now." He gently runs his fingers through my hair.

I shake my head. "He hates me, Oscar."

He quietly laughs. "He doesn't hate you, babe. He's angry because he cares."

I shake my head again. "You're only trying to make me feel better."

He continues to run his fingers through my hair. "I'll talk to him." He assures me.

I tightens my arms around him and nod my head.  He pulls away. "I'll go talk to him."

I nod my head and let him go. I sigh as I watch him leave. I sit on the bed for a couple of minutes before I decide to head outside.

I don't spot anyone as I make my way down the stairs.  In a way I'm glad. I'm not in a mood to talk to anyone.  I quietly walk towards the back exit and step out into the backyard. 

( But you make me wanna act like a girl)

The cool breeze hits my face and I smile.  I like this weather.  I eye the group to big rocks.  Steven wanted to keep them instead of getting chairs. I actually like it. Smiling, I walk towards the rocks. I sit on the rock in the middle and look up at the sky.

( Paint my nails and wear perfume For you.)

The stars light up the dark sky as the moon watches over them. I look at the rocks beside me. I wish Jase was here. My shoulders fall as I think about Jase. I have to find a way to talk to him. I don't know if he'll listen to Oscar.  He doesn't like to listen to anyone when he's angry.

( Make me so nervous And I just can’t hold your hand.)

Hopefully he'll listen.

Jase POV

I breath in the fresh air. It's dark outside now.  The stars are starting to show. The wind is blowing and it's calming my nerves down. 

Angie's crying face is haunting my mind. I hate to see her cry. I clench my eyes and take deep breaths.  My body tenses when I hear someone approaching.

( You make me glow,)

"What are you doing out here?"

I calm my muscles when I hear Oscar's voice.  Its only Oscar. I don't answer him. I feel a hand slap my shoulder and I throw him a glare.

He only laugh.  "In a mood I see."

"Fuck off." I mumble.

(but I cover up won’t let it show)

He laughs louder.  Suddenly his laughter dies down.  I look at him. "Tyler told me what happened."

I groan. "If you're here to lecture me then please leave. I'm not in the mood."

He scoffs. "I'm not here to lecture you. I just want to know what you're thinking."

"I'm not thinking anything."

"Lies!" He says dramatically.  

I smile a small smile. "I hope you know that Angie isn't at fault."

My smile dies. "I know."

( so I’m putting’ my defences up.)

"You know?" He asks me, shocked.

"I know." I confirm. "Angie is too innocent to cheat." I explain to him.

"Then why..." he asks with confusion. 

"I just don't want to believe." I confess. 

He nods his head. "I understand. I saw him Jase. This isn't the first time he's done this."

My eyebrows knit together. "What?" I ask him.

"In the hallway. I saw him corner her in the school's hallway. Remember the other day I asked you if you're willing to give Angie up if a crew member likes her?" He asks.

Realization hits me. "You were talking about Pete." I state. 

( 'Cause I don’t wanna fall in love)

Oscar nods his head. "What are you going to do?"

I look around me and my eyes catch a movement in Steven's backyard.  Angie. I watch her as she walks towards the giant rocks.  I watch her as she looks up to the sky.

I look at the moon and raise my hand to cover it. 

"You really care for her, don't you?"

( If I ever did that, I think I’d have a heart attack)

More than you can imagine.

Angie POV

I cover the moon with my hand.  

Jase....

( I think I’d have a heart attack.)