CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

-•NATHAN•-

Tyler, who we'd taken back from the K Blades, sat in front of the computer setup made for our hackers. We had stored him in the prisoners chamber for almost two months, but now I decided that it was time to let him out. I needed his expertise.

"For the last time, I didn't want to get initiated into the K Blades, they were blackmailing me," Tyler explained, sensing the stiffness in the room.

Red and Kyle avoided his face. Tyler threw his hands up on the air exasperatedly and turned to the computer.

"What do you even need me to do?," he asked, staring at the computer screens in front of him.

I leaned against the desk. "There's a guy I need information on. There's something faulty about him, I just don't know what."

"You think he's undercover for someone?," Kyle spoke up.

I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. He just looks very familiar to me, but when I asked him if we knew each other, he got all...weird."

"Where did you see this guy?," Red asked.

"Presley's school."

Tyler logged into the computer. "What's his name?"

I opened my mouth to respond but I was at a loss for words. It wasn't until now that I realized I didn't actually know his name. I only knew how I felt about him.

I turned to Red. "Go fetch Presley from the infirmary. He'll know."

Red obeyed.

Tyler scoffed. "So you're telling me you don't even know his name, but you wanted me to find out everything about him...without his name."

"You want to go back to your cell?," I threatened.

Tyler's eyes widened slightly, then he shook his head. "No, sir."

"Didn't think so."

Kyle smirked. "Sir?"

Tyler crossed his arms. "Shut up, I got nervous," he grumbled.

When Red finally came in with Presley, the small boy seemed to avoid my gaze. He tucked his small knuckles into his sweater sleeves like he was cold. I felt the guilt seep into me with what I had said to him yesterday. About me not wanting him, as if he wasn't worthy of being wanted. I knew I had to lay down the line firmly because I didn't want complications with the gang. I needed him to be a healer to my gang, maybe a friend, but nothing further.

It didn't mean I would stop worrying about him, he would always have to be safe, if he wasn't safe, then neither was my gang.

"Hey, kid," I announced, getting his attention.

"Hi," he said quietly, matching my gaze briefly.

"What were you up to right now?," I asked, leaning against the desk again.

Presley smiled slightly. "With Haley. She stopped by the infirmary with chocolate."

"Who the hell is this? I haven't been away that long," Tyler interrupted, pointing at Presley.

Presley's cheeks gave a tiny wave of pink.

I lowered Tyler's pointing finger. "This is Presley, our healer," I turned to Presley. "Kid, this is Tyler, our former hacker."

"Former?," Tyler asked incredulously. "I'm your current hacker. I'm just in a bit of a...time out, right?"

I glared at Tyler. "You were going to expose us to the K Blades," I growled. "You should be lucky you're still breathing right now."

Tyler sucked in a breath.

"Nathan," Presley whispered with cautious eyes.

I took a moment to gather myself. I let out a breath. "Just forget about it," I said. "The point is, Tyler's come out of his time out for a while, and if he can prove his legitimacy, then he can be in the Creeds again."

Tyler grinned.

I pulled out a chair and motioned for Presley to sit. He looked questionably at me but ultimately sat down.

"Look," I told Presley. "I know you don't think that your friend is in a gang, but I have a hard time believing that."

He sighed. "Is this about Ross again?"

Kyle flickered his eyes in my direction.

"That's his name?," I asked.

Presley nodded.

I turned to Tyler, and he immediately started typing the name into his database. "Last name?," he questioned.

I turned to Presley. "What is it, little one?"

Presley looked down at his lap. "I- I don't know," he admitted softly.

"You don't know?," Tyler scoffed.

I raised a hand to halt him.

Tyler stayed quiet.

"I'm sorry," Presley said, his bottom lip beginning to quiver.

I shook my head. "It's all right, okay? No one's mad at you. All we're asking you to do is think. What else do you know about him?"

Presley looked up. "Well, he said that he just moved from Florida, he doesn't know this area very well."

"Does he have any brothers? Sisters? Parents?," Red asked.

"I'm sure he has parents," Presley considered. "But he rarely ever talks about his family."

"Red flag," Kyle said.

"Purple flag," Red corrected.

"Definitely purple flag," I said.

"Purple?," Presley questioned, innocently.

"Yes, kid, purple." I stated. "Red is dangerous, but purple is deadly."

"Ross isn't deadly," Presley sighed. "He's just a bit odd, that's all. We're all a bit odd, aren't we?"

Tyler cracked his knuckles. "Okay, how about we do this," he leaned back in his chair. "You give me his description and I'll run that name into the Florida state data base. I'll keep searching until I find a match. It'll take some time...and luck, but I think I can do it."

"How much time are we talking about?," I questioned.

Tyler shrugged. "Probably three weeks, two weeks if luck is on my side."

"Guys," Presley spoke up. We all turned to him. "Why do you have to search for him through that data thingy? Can't I just ask him everything you want to know? It's much easier. He's my friend, he'll tell me anything."

I couldn't help but smile briefly at his innocence. "No, little one. Ross will only tell you what he wants you to know, there's a difference. If you start asking too many questions, he might get suspicious. I don't know him, I don't know what he might do to you, we have to be careful."

"He wouldn't hurt me," Presley said quietly.

"You don't know that," I rasped.

"All right," Tyler cut in. "Let's get this show on the road. Healer, I'm gonna need this guys description. Height, eye color, skin color, what he wears on a daily basis, does he have any pins on his backpack? Stuff like that."

Presley beamed. "He actually does have pins on his backpack, how did you know?," Presley said, disbelievingly.

Tyler turned back to the computer with a chuckle. "I didn't, but that's a good start. What kinds of pins does he have?"

Presley sighed exasperatedly. "How am I supposed to know that?"

"Pins don't matter," I dismissed. "Appearance does," I turned to Presley. "Tell him."

Presley explained every detail about Ross that was engraved into his memory. Tyler ferociously typed all the information down and he started his search.

"Do we have a picture of him?," Tyler asked, while typing something else into the computer.

Presley shook his head.

"I can take one," I stated.

"No," Presley said.

"Yes," I responded.

"Or one of our Creeds at the school can take it," Red suggested.

"What Creeds at the school?," Presley asked, turning to face Red.

"The ones who've been there the whole time, protecting you," I said, looking Presley directly in his multicolored, hazel eyes.

"But," Presley began, looking confused. "You said they'd only be there for a month."

I shrugged. "They're going to be there as long as I tell them to, and right now, I want them there."

"I don't think I've ever seen them," Presley said quietly, his face filled with slight wonder.

Red laughed. "Good!," he exclaimed. "That means they're doing their job."

"What is their job?," Presley questioned.

"To make sure you're safe," I said, simply. "That's all."

"Okay, the real question is," Tyler began impatiently. "Who's going to get me that picture?"

"Me," I said.

"Why can't the spies do it?," Presley asked.

I scoffed. "They're not spies, kid."

"Yeah," Kyle nodded. "Yeah, they are."

I looked up at the ceiling briefly, then turned my attention back to them. "It doesn't matter what they are, I want to be the one to take that picture, understood?"

Presley nodded.

I wasn't exactly sure why I wanted to take Ross's picture, but it just felt right. I felt like I needed to contribute to the investigation of whoever this guy truly was.

"Great," Tyler said, spinning around in his chair and facing the computer screens. He began to type. "Now get out of my computer room, unless you want to watch me hack into illegal porn sites."

Red and Kyle laughed. I rolled my eyes. Presley gasped.

"Shouldn't you be working on the task I just gave you?," I questioned, getting up from the chair.

"I have nothing to work with until I have a picture," Tyler shrugged. "I would be hitting dead ends without it."

Presley bolted out of the room, Red and Kyle followed.

Before I left, I turned to Tyler.

"It's good to have you back, Tyler," I said. He smiled. "But if you ever betray me, this gang, again, I won't hesitate to put a bullet into your head."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Raymond's father called my father. They had a yelling match over the phone, all I could do was listen. My dad wouldn't let me talk.

"Not even my healers could heal him!," Tristan, Raymond's father, had screamed over speaker phone to my father. "We had to take him to the hospital, it damn near blew our cover."

"Listen, Tristin," My dad had said, trying to hide his smile. "That's very unfortunate to hear, but next time your gang tries to kidnap my star healer, you'll have another thing coming."

Tristan had launched in an array of curse words directed at both me and my father. All I did was shake my head.

"He wasn't trying to kidnap anyone. They were just having a bit of fun," Tristan had seethed from the other end of the phone line.

My father had chuckled. "Fun? You and the Watts know exactly what you were up to. Not even you're that stupid, Tristan. I'll see you at the next meeting," my father hung up the phone and turned to me.

I clenched my jaw and prepared for a series of lectures that were about to be thrown my way. And that's exactly what I got.

"Son, as much as I hate them, did you really have almost kill the boy?," my father had asked me incredulously. "A good shank or two would've worked," he offered. "But four times? In the heart? And from what I heard, you would've kept going."

I shrugged. "Did he die? No."

My dad slumped down in his chair and blew out a breath.

"They're taking this as an act of war," he told me.

I jumped out of my seat so fast, I had to refuse the urge to sway.

"Was it not an act of war when they put a million dollar price on Presley? On a member of our gang. Was it not an act of war when they put their sinful hands on him?," I had said with gritted teeth.

My dad had seemed to consider this, rubbing his neck and sighing. "You're right, son. Absolutely right."

I lowered myself in my chair slowly.

"The fact of the matter is, everything we do is an act of war with them and it won't stop until one of us dead," he said.

It must suck being a K Blades then. Because the only thing that's going to kill me is time.

That was earlier today, after my intervention with Tyler. Now, I sat in the garden. It was getting dark, but I had no plans of going back inside the facility. I needed this air, this quiet.

The last time I had actually taken the time to visit the garden was about two years ago when the K Blades had invaded the facility. I needed an excellent hiding place to keep the little ones, and the garden seemed very fitting. The garden was almost hidden from the rest of the facility. There was a special code to get inside, only about four people knew about it.

Five, actually. Presley knew it now too.

I sat picking at the grass and listening to the chirp of the birds when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I snapped my head up and searched the garden. I reached for my pistol, but abandoned the movement when I heard a familiar giggle.

I whirled around and my attention landed on Presley who had a basket in his hands. "Didn't mean to scare you," he said softly.

I sat back down. "You didn't scare me."

He giggled again. "Yes, I did."

"Okay, kid," I sighed.

He looked at me for a moment, then frowned and shook his head slightly. He bent down to pick beats out of the ground. I watched as he separated the leaves from the vegetable and put them into the small basket. He did that for a while until half the basket was filled with beat root.

"Nathan?," he looked at me and paused his task.

"Presley."

He placed the basket near the vegetable bed and sat down next to me.

"At the party," he swallowed. "Raymond and Diggy weren't...cautious of how loud they were talking. It was like they were sure no one would find us," he paused. "That no one would find me."

"Presley-," I interrupted, but he shook his head.

"No, Nathan," he whispered. "When you showed up, they looked so...so shocked. It was like they knew you were going to be busy somewhere else," he looked at me with all his attention. "They probably sent that girl to...distract you," he shrugged slightly.

I didn't say anything for a good while.

"So you're saying they played me, and I fell for it like the biggest idiot in the world?," I asked.

Presley's eyes widened and he began to speak but I held a hand up. He stopped short.

"You're right," I ran a hand through my hair. "I wasn't thinking properly that night. The worst part about that is, you almost lost your life."

"No," he said, his voice weak. "They wouldn't have killed me. I would have just been their slave. I probably never would have finished high school, I'd just be there ready to use my talent-."

"Stop," I said, my voice came out harsher then I intended.

Presley wrapped his arms around himself and looked down at his shoes. "Sorry," he said quietly.

Shit.

I leaned closer to his face. "Look at me," I said gently.

He tentatively turned to face me. Tears had welled in his eyes. I fought the urge to wipe them away.

"Don't be sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have kissed that girl. I shouldn't have let them outsmart me. I should have been paying attention to you, okay? I knew better."

"It's okay, Nathan," he whispered, wiping his cheek. "You're too hard on yourself."

"Yeah, well someone has to be," I leaned away from him and cleared my throat.

Get up, Nathan.

Get up.

Get up before you do something you're going to regret tomorrow.

I got up from the grass. "I'm picking you up after school tomorrow," I said, walking away from him. "Small businesses again, remember?"

He nodded.

I planned on keeping him in the car like last time. It would be more convenient to leave him here at the facility, but my dad would probably flip a table if he found out that Presley was here instead of 'helping' me with forming deals.

In my mind, my plan worked because it kept Presley limited to exposure. All I needed was for him to be safe, away from the clammy grasp of the K Blades.