Chapter Sixteen

The first half of the car ride was silent, I couldn't believe how Austin stood up to Markus. Whenever he talks about Markus, he tells me how you can never talk back to him. Apparently, he doesn't take it too kindly and will retaliate in some sinister way. I was hoping that wouldn't happen, but I couldn't help but feel grateful for Austin. "Thank you" I say looking over at him slightly as I spoke. "I know that must have been terrifying to talk back to Markus like that, but you protected me from being forced to also work for him" I smile where he shakes his head, but does look over at me. "You really don't have to thank me Payton, you shouldn't be put in a situation where he would be offering you a job. This is my fault" he says lopping back to him feeling sorry for himself. "But when it comes to you, I would do anything to keep you safe" he says looking over at me with a serious face, before he turns back to look at the road. "Would have Markus sent the police around to test if we would rat him out?" I ask that topic playing on my mind once more, if it's not Markus who else could it possibly be?! "No, there's no way he would go anywhere near them" he says point blank, he didn't look like he even thought about it for a second. "You saw those guys, theres not a shadow of doubt in my mind that those guys were real police. Markus would never hire real cops to do anything, just in case there was a tiny possibility that those cops weren't dirty and were just building evidence on Markus, trust me he's really careful about those things" he says which would make perfect sense, I guess someone who is so far from the law wouldn't want to mix with people who enforce the law. "Then who could it be?! Could it be my work when you told them I wouldn't be in? But I don't think they would go out of their way to tell the police" I say debunking my own theory within a few seconds, but I couldn't think of anyone else. "And no I didn't tell your work you were there, I said we were out when it happened but when we retuned home, the house was trashed. We needed that day to try and fix everything" Austin tells me which was a smart way to go about it, lucky he told me or I would have told them a completely didn't story. "Then who could it have been, I can't think of anyone else who we told that would tell the police. Maybe they were doing it to help at the time" I say sitting back in my seat my mind just going over all the different possibilities, when it soon clicks. Austin must have been thinking the same thing because we turn to look at each other, there was only one person we told when they asked. "Roman" We both say in union. We arrive home in no time, where Austin races up the stairs clearly annoyed. Roman wouldn't have known what he could have caused, let's be honest no one knows this is even happening. I have to lock the car as he just left the keys in the ignition, where I was soon making my way up the stairs to our open front door. As I walk in, Austin was holding the phone in his hand which was ringing. "Austin, what are you doing?" I ask closing the front door behind me, I bet the neighbours would love to watch this show unfold. "Hello, I can't really talk right now I've just came out of a meeting" Roman's voice says through the phone, he isn't about to actually have it out with Roman over the phone right?! "But you have time to call the police about what happened?" Austin asks annoyance clearly in his tone, I thought he would be shouting down the phone with how angry he looks. "Oh it's about that is it?" Roman asks as I hear a car door close, he probably went into the car for some privacy. "Yeah it's about that, why did you go to the police after we told you we didn't see anything?" Austin asks as I take my coat off placing it on the counter, this whole situation was causing me to sweat. "Did you really think I believed you when you told me, I haven't spent years with both of you to know when you're lying" Roman tells us which I knew was correct, it shocked me before how he never questioned us further, I always call him the human lie detector. "Whether you thought we were lying or not, you need to keep out of our business" Austin shouts so loudly down the phone, I wouldn't be surprised if Romans phone speakers blew from the volume. "Payton is there, which makes whatever is happening my business. I have to make sure she isn't in the firing line of whatever the fuck is happening!" Roman shouts back at him, Roman doesn't like to be shouted at so I could tell he was growing rather annoyed at the way Austin is speaking to him. "When you left I told you I'd look after Payton, you doing this bullshit is putting her smack dap in the firing line" Austin shouts, if only Roman knew how much I've been put in the firing line recently. "Why would Payton be put in the firing line if no gang activity is happening?" Roman asks more calm that time, oh I can see what he did there and I have to admit, that was clever. "I'm not dumb Roman, we all know there is a gang operating around here. If you cared about Payton, you wouldn't be putting her in the firing line!" Austin shouts nearly throwing the phone across the room as he went, he is way passed being annoyed. "Austin, she's my fucking girlfriend! Stop telling me how I'm putting her in danger!" Roman shouts down the phone finally hitting a breaking point, he gets very protective/jealous when it comes to me. "Just mind your business" Austin says calmly before hanging up the phone, I think he caught on to Roman having enough and hitting that point. We stand there silent for a few minutes, all of that happened so quickly that I didn't have time to process. Austin puts his phone into his pocket before looking over at me, before I had time to speak he shakes his head and walks towards the door. "I'll be back later" is all he says before he opens the front door and walks out, so we're not even gonna talk about what happened? I had gotten changed out of the dinner clothes and was making my way into the kitchen, where I see my jacket was no longer on the counter but laying on the floor. This did confuse me for a second, I'm sure I placed that on the counter while Austin was on the phone. I move forward to pick it up, where three dudes run into the house. Before I had time to react, I was knocked out cold.