Lucy POV
I woke to the sound of my phone vibrating and ringing loudly, I groan not wanting to get up. Peering around the room, I find Ace beneath me and turn my head to see my phone on the bedside table. I vaguely remember Ace asking for it but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what he wanted it for or if he told me. Grabbing it, I see it is Mitchell calling, the sun was barely up outside the window, the sky orange and pink as it rose outside my window. I sit up straddling Ace’s waist.
Ace wakes up from the movement and I answer the phone yawning. Ace runs his hands up my thighs sitting up jostling me around as he nips at my neck. I push him away his stubble tickling.
“Lucy, are you there?” Mitchell asks.
“Yes I am here” I yawn again, Ace kisses my jaw and I run my fingers through his hair.
“Where are you, I need to see you. I need to explain. I fucked up, I fucked up but I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you home?”
“I am at Ace and Tyson’s, what’s going on?” I ask and Ace straightens.
“Is that Mitchell?” He asks and I nod and he reaches for the phone but I pull away.
“I will see you soon,” Mitchell says, hanging up. I stare at my phone, blinking trying to figure out what was going on.
“Where is Mitchell?” Ace asks. His eyes suddenly glazed over and I could tell he was mindlinking, Tyson also jolted upright and also mindlinking with someone. I sigh, waiting for them to come back to their surroundings, both their eyes glazed over and Ace growls, making me jump and nearly fall off him, if his hands weren’t quick to grip my hips I would have fallen off the bed. He gets up abruptly and places me on the edge of the bed.
“Stay here” He snaps, the roughness of his voice sends a tremor through me. He was enraged about something, his deathly aura radiating out of him. Tyson jumps up, grabbing some shorts and slipping them on.
“What’s going on?” I ask, also climbing out of bed and chucking one of their shirts over my head.
“Stay here” Tyson says. I hear a car pulling up out front and a car door shut. Ace roars with fury and Tyson jumps rushing for the door.
“No, tell me what’s going on” I ask Tyson and he stops.
“They caught Josie, I need to go” He says when I hear Mitchell’s frantic voice.
“Let me explain Ace” He says and I rush out, chasing after Tyson. I run down the hall looking out the door when Ace slams Mitchell on the hood of his car. I screamed and Mitchell had his hands up trying to block him as Ace repeatedly punched him.
“No, no. What are you doing?” I scream, bursting through the screen door. Mitchell’s face was bloody, and Ace turned his glare on me. Mitchell sliding off the hood.
“Get her inside” Ace screams at Tyson.
“Let me explain, please Ace” Mitchell begs and Tyson tries to grab me and put me inside. Ace kicks Mitchell in the face, his head snapping back. “Let him go” I cry, smacking at Tyson trying to drag me inside.
“Stop Ace he isn’t even fighting back, Stop” I scream, thrashing and Tyson drops me. Ace grips the front of his shirt, slamming him down on the ground. I jump on his back and Tyson tries to rip me off him.
“Let him go, let him go” I scream, tears tracking down my face as Ace continued to beat him, his face swelling and he was almost unrecognizable. Blood everywhere. But Ace wouldn’t stop, he wanted to kill him.
I sink my teeth into his back and he growls jumping up and Tyson yanks me off at the same time making me land on top of him.
I rushed off his lap, crawling off Tyson and over to Mitchell who was choking on his own blood. My hands shook terribly as I held them in front of Ace trying to get him to stop. His breathing heavy as he glared down at Mitchell where he lay limp on the ground, his eyes flickering back and forth between him and Atticus.
“Stop please” I cry. Trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Mitchell whimpers the cuts on his face slowly healing and I bite my wrist when Ace snatches it in his tight grip.
“Heal him and I will fucking kill him” Ace growls at me, yanking me to my feet. Tyson walks over looking down at Mitchell. Tyson I realise was a different sort of anger. Ace was hit first ask questions later. Tyson was deadly calm, his eyes calculating as he watched Mitchell try to sit upright.
Tyson crouches down in front of him. “I will let you explain, but if you lie or I don’t like your answer you will die” Tyson tells him.
“What? No, he is my best friend” I snap at Tyson but Ace yanks me back and away from Tyson and Mitchell.
“I’m so sorry Lucy, I’m sorry. I tried to make it right. I rang Ryker the moment I dropped her off and left. I told him where she was” Mitchell says, hanging his head.
“Where who is? Josie?” I ask. Mitchell nodded while I tried to put the pieces together. Mitchell tries to crawl over to me but Tyson’s hand closes around his throat, slamming him back in the dirt on his back, the air expelling from his lungs. His strength was shocking because looking between Ace and Tyson, that sort of strength you would expect from Ace, yet the calmness radiating off Tyson scared me more. Tyson was so much calmer and it is weird seeing him so angry feeling it coursing through him.
“You don’t go near her, not after what you did” Tyson growls, his voice menacing and cold.
“After he did what, can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” I ask.
“Mitchell helped Josie get over the border lines last night. He also is the one responsible for the pictures at the school” Tyson says but I shake my head. Mitchell wouldn’t do that.
“No, I didn’t know, I swear. If I had known, I never would have given the janitor the phone, please Lucy you have to believe me. That’s why I rang you that morning. I gave him the phone like Jamie asked, that’s it. When I came to school the next day, I saw what he did. I saw it and I tried to ring you and tell you not to come in. I tried to rip them down” Mitchell tells me, I knew he was telling the truth. I knew Mitchell wouldn’t destroy me like that.
Ace growls and Tyson’s hand tightens around his throat, his face changing color and turning purple under his grip, Mitchell claws at his hands.
“Stop he is telling the truth”
“I don’t care,” Tyson says.
“Let him go Tyson or I swear”
“You swear what Lucy? As long as he is dead I can live with you alive and hating me”
“Can you live with me leaving you too, Mitchell wouldn’t deliberately try to hurt me” I tell him, that much I was certain of.
We have been best friends from the day we met. Not once has he ever betrayed me like this. I knew he had to have a reason for it and I trusted it was good enough. I have seen Mitchell go toe to toe with my mother for me, backed me up and covered for me, no matter the circumstances when I attended school before boarding school. He was there when no else was, I trusted him and I knew he had to have reason for helping Jamie.
“Why? I know you had to have reason for working with Jamie, I know you Mitchell and you hate him as much as everyone else”
“He has my mate, he has Hank’s daughter. I thought it was just another drug run, that the phone was for his contacts. I bring the drugs to Hank, Hank gets them out of the city. I swear that’s what I thought the phone was for, I just wanted my mate. Please Lucy you know I love you, you know I would never hurt you. My mate is the only reason I promise” Mitchell pleads.
“Let him up”
“No, he needs to pay,” Ace says.
“He has paid enough, Jamie has his mate, you just beat him for nothing” I snap at Ace.
“He could be lying about having a mate,” Ace growls.
“He isn’t, Mitchell is a terrible liar, he gets eye twitches” I tell him and Mitchell chuckles.
“Mum says the same thing” Mitchell laughs. Tyson pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a breath.
“My brother caught Josie” Tyson says and Mitchell’s shoulders sag with relief.
“Good, at least something come out of all this” Mitchell says when his eyes glaze over suddenly, he starts shaking before he stops, his eyes coming back into focus.
“Your parents want me to hand myself in,” Mitchell says.
“I will come with you”
“It’s fine Lucy, one of them can take me,” Mitchell says and Tyson nods.
“No, I’m coming with you” I tell him, walking inside to grab my shoes and put on some clothes.