Secured Sevenfold

Matt's POV
My friends looked relieved I agreed on their plan, except for Brian. He was shooting me angry looks, but especially he should know better, especially he should know I wouldn't want to take the risk. What if someone got hurt again, I couldn't bear to go through that once again, not after Jimmy. I sighed, I wanted to storm in and get Joe out of there, but I could only do that if I could go alone, making sure nobody but me would be able get hurt.
But the others would never let me go alone, so that plan was out of the question. We would go back, make a new plan and maybe be able to head back again tonight. I wasn't very keen on bringing Liv here, but if that was what it would take it, we would do it.

Brian smashed his hand against the door "THIS SUCKS!"
"Calm down!" Zack said to him, making Brian avert his eyes.
"Okay, we'll head back, I will drive the other car, who wants to join me?" Johnny offered, already halfway out of the car.
"Wait!" Brian stopped him "I will drive the other car. Matt you join me?"
Zack looked at him examining "What are you up to, Haner?"
Brian shrugged "Nothing... I just want to talk about Jacky for a bit, this frustrates me, she is so close and I want her with me" Brian looked all sad, but snapped when he finished his sentence "And seeing Matt is the only one who really knows how I feel, I don't want you assholes around" he looked around the car, daring someone to say something.
"That's what I thought. I will act like the perfect employee when we get back to the house, for now I just want to be mad at the fact that I still don't have my girlfriend back!" He quickly got out of the car and headed over to the other one that was parked a little further ahead, waiting for me to get in. I wasn't really excited about hearing Brian blab about Jacky, but he was right, he was the only one knowing how I felt.

I opened my mouth to start a conversation, but Brian interrupted me immediately.
“Matt, I know you well enough to know what is going on in your mind, of course, I get it, you don’t want anyone to get hurt and you are only agreeing to this plan because they won’t let you go inside by yourself. Am I right?”
I looked at him with wide eyes
“Yes, I know you are a little self destructive, but you are not the only one in this case. I want to get in, Matt. Now. Not tonight, not later, now. She is in there and I want her back with me and even though you are trying to make the most sensible decision. I know you think the same way”
The car with the others was passing us and I turned back to Brian.
“What do you propose?”
“We go in. We will follow the others for a few blocks and then take a turn and drive back here, getting rid of them. We will go in and not come out before we got the girls. We can surprise Joanne, we are only with two, we can hide more easily. And we are the best fighters, Matt, you know we are”
Brian turned the car up the road and followed the others.
“So? What do you say?”

I thought about it for a second, and nodded. He was right. I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want to go back home. I wanted Joe back, and I wanted her now. I did the risk control and I was going in with the least people I could manage. I didn’t put my friends in danger this time, Brian would go with or without me and as for the girls. We would both take a bullet for them. They would be safe.
Brian took a left hand turn after a few blocks and I tried to keep the others in sight for as long as possible. They didn’t seem to notice us being gone just yet. Brian pushed the pedal and drove back to Joanne’s house, parking the car around the corner.

We both jumped out and made our way over to the house, we now knew where to go and we knew the way to get in. We were already heading for the doors when we heard some sounds at the front door. We had seen Joanne leave, just before we were back at the house. What the hell was going on?

“Is she back again?” Brian mouthed at me while we hid behind a small wall. I shrugged, trying to peep around the corner as careful as possible. There she was, the unknown woman, back again. Shit! Why did she have to keep messing up our plan.

“Miss, I don’t think it’s a good idea to not fulfill your business appointments, it’s not good for your image”
“I don’t really care what you think. My sisters want to spend an evening with me and I think that is more important. I’m going to change”
We could see her heading for the stairs, while we heard the man mutter “she doesn’t know what’s good for her, they are just fooling her”
He came our way and we quickly turned and stepped into the kitchen, looking for a place to hide or a way to get out without having to face the man. The minute I stepped into the kitchen my heart stopped and I could feel Brian stiffen besides me.

There they were, the women we had missed so much. Their clothes unknown, ripped and dirty, their hair messed up. I was mesmerized by the sight of Joe, but we had no time for long reunions, we needed to get them out of here. I shot Brian a look and he knew exactly what to do, the man was still coming our way and we knew that if the girls would see us, they would give us all away. So Brian stepped up to Jacky and I closed in on Joe. I wrapped my arm around her body and quickly put my other hand on her mouth. I felt her body go limp in my arms as if she had given up everything.

I brought my lips to her ear “Shh Joe, it’s me” her body tensed and then immediately formed to mine as if it was natural to her. It felt so damn good to have her in my arms again, feel her, smell her, touch her. I wanted to hold her forever, never let her go ever again. She tried to turn around in my arms, but I couldn’t let her. I knew that if I would look into her eyes I wouldn’t be able to move again “There is someone coming, we need to get out of here”. She nodded against my hand and I let go of her. With my arm still around her shoulders, I hugged her to my body, until I felt drops on my hand and I couldn’t take it anymore. I softly turned her around to see her cry silent sobs
“I thought I would never see you again”
For a split second I let my lips touch hers, nothing but comfort, and love, so much love.

Brian’s POV
The minute I closed my arm around Jacky she started to fight and my hand on her mouth almost immediately got bitten in. Fortunately for me she wasn’t able to really put her teeth in it, but it hurt anyway.
“Jacky, stop, it’s me” I whispered loudly and continued a little quieter as her body relaxed in my arms “We are not alone, Joanne is back and her dog is heading this way. We need to be quiet and fast to get out of here”
Jacky’s body formed to mine and she pushed her back against my chest. It was the best feeling in the world to have her close again. I would glue myself to her and she would have to live with me by her side, 24/7, 365 days a year. We would never part, not in this lifetime or the next.
“I’m removing my hand now, okay?” She nodded and the minute I released my tight grip on her, she turned around in my arms and kissed me. I let out a sigh, not able to think of anything else than her lips on mine. Way too soon she removed herself from me “I missed you so much” she whispered, tears glistening in her eyes.
“I missed you too. I don’t even know how to live anymore, I can’t live without you. I love you” I whispered back.

The steps were real close now and reality set in again. We needed to get the hell out of here!
“Brian…” Matt’s voice was full of everything I was feeling now to. We both realized we had to get out, but that didn’t mean we liked it. But there was one important thing. Getting these girls out safe. My phone was buzzing in my pocket. I didn’t have time to check it, but I knew exactly who it was. They must have found out we weren’t following them anymore.

I looked at Matt and I could see him feeling his pocket too. Well, we would deal with that later. Right now we needed to get out of here without too much trouble.

The four of us headed to the door that was separating the kitchen from the garden. Once we were outside we would have so much more possibilities to get away. Unfortunately we didn’t get that far.
“This is going to sound tacky, but stop or I’ll shoot. And believe me, this is no movie gun, real bullets, real pain” A voice taunted behind us. I moved Jacky before me and I could see Matt do the same. We were both pushing the girls towards the door, but they didn’t let go. They held on to us tightly and even though I wanted to be with Jacky forever, right now I just wished she would run for her life and leave me here. I only wanted her to be safe.

“Turn around slowly, all of you” I turned around first, quickly followed by Matt and we saw the guy standing behind us, gun in his hand.
“MISS CROWLEY! I NEED YOU IN THE KITCHEN!!!” the man roared, not taking his eyes of us for a second.
“Kevin, what are you yelling for, that is against every rule I made” Joanne came walking into the kitchen, not even paying attention to the situation before her, but annoyance high in her voice. It was only then she looked up. Anger flooding her face. I shoved Jacky behind me a little more. I didn’t mind them hurting me, as long as she would stay unharmed.

“You! What are you doing with my sisters? They want to stay with me. We would have a girls night” She sounded genuinely disappointed, she sounded genuinely surprised that we were here, that the girls were here “Why did you ruin the surprise? I had everything planned out.” She was almost pouting and I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears, would she really be this delusional?

Delusional or not, she grabbed the gun from the Kevin guy, while he grabbed another, both of them holding us at gunpoint now. There was no way we could go. Not without the risk of getting hurt.
“You ruined everything, I thought you wanted to be my sisters. It would have all been so nice. We would have a girls night first and then tomorrow or the day after we would have invited dad too and we would finally have our talk. We would finally get everything out in the open, we would finally be a family again”

“Joanne” I heard Joe speak up from behind Matt, stepping in front of him. Matt tried to hold her, but she looked determined “You know we want to get to know you, but you can’t keep us prisoners. We would like to go home now”. Joe had the voice of reason and Joanne was sensitive to that.
“We could still have that conversation. We will tell dad to come back with us and we can talk” Jacky’s voice made me realize she had also stepped out of protection and was facing her sister alone now. Guns still pointed at them. My heart was in my throat and I could barely breath. A quick glance over at Matt showed me he was clenching his fists, barely able to control himself too.

“No! If you leave now you will never come back!” Joanne cried out.
“We will come back, we promise” Jacky said, smiling at her sister.
“You know what?” Joe said firmly “If you let Jacky and the two men go, we will call our father and I will stay with you until he gets here. I want to join the conversation, I want to know what he has to say”
“Joe!” Matt stepped forward, but Joe looked at him over his shoulder, speaking calmly
“Matt, I need to do this, for Joanne, for me. Joanne will let me go after the talk, won’t you Joanne?”

The girl stared at her with big eyes, not really paying attention to Jack and me anymore. It was then that I felt Jack’s hand in mine, pinching it for a second, I looked down and met the apologetic look of Jack’s eyes and for a second I didn’t get it. Then Jack let go of my hand a stepped forward, her hand grabbing Joe’s, her voice strong, her eyes pointed at their younger sister.
“Then I will stay too. Matt, please call our father”

“WHAT?!” Both of us screamed, not able to control our feelings anymore. This wasn’t right at all!

Notes

Sooooo, some of you were right after all! It was Brian and Matt... But now the girls want to stay?
What do you guys think will happen? And if Joseph comes over, what will they discuss?

More on Monday... we wish you the best weekend!

<3