Twenty Two

***Hadlee's POV***

After sitting in the same room for what seems like days but I know is only hours, the door to the old room opens and two men dressed in black walk over, grabbing each of my arms.

"Ow!" I hiss. "What the fuck, dude?"

They lead, more like drag, me to a different room, taking two pairs of handcuffs and harshly attaching them to my wrists and the chair that they sat me in.

Okay, what the hell is about to happen?

Soon, a man walks into the room... a man I've never met or seen in my life.

"Hello Hadlee." He says, smirking at me.

"Who the hell are you?" I ask, my face scrunching up. "And how the fuck do you know me?"

"Of course, of course." He nods, pacing. "The name's Keegan. And you are Maverick's sister. Am I wrong?"

I gulp. "No."

He nods. "Right. So, don't worry. I don't plan to kill you." He chuckles.

I roll my eyes.

What the hell?

A sharp smack echoes throughout the room and my cheek burns from the sudden contact.

"Don't fucking disrespect." Keegan growls.

"Only a fucking coward hits a girl." I spat, not backing down.

Next thing I know, my head is tugged backwards, my hair wrapped in his hand. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

I groan in pain, my teeth grinding against one another.

"Don't disrespect me." he says, roughly letting go of my hair before reaching in his pocket and taking out a pocket knife, opening it with a click.

I gulp, knowing what comes next.

He walks over, taking off the handcuffs with a key and drags me over to a beaten up, broken couch in the corner, throwing me down causing my back to hit the metal part in the middle.

I hiss in pain, refraining from cussing out loud as I hold my breath for a few seconds.

As his leg lifts and lands on the opposite side of my body, my breath hitches in my throat as I realize his plans. I force myself to breathe, exhaling shakily.

"Please." I force out, shaking my head at him. "Don't."

"Shut up." he spat, lifting the knife to my face, causing my eyes to squeeze shut.

"Please." I find myself whispering, my mouth refusing to stay closed.

He groans, lifting himself and bringing the knife swiftly to my neck, creating a thin cut and causing me to scream. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?" he asks, throwing a punch.

I gasp, feeling the harsh pain in my side. What the fuck?

The door to the room opens quickly, notifying the man above me of something although I can't understand, the pain in my side and the blood dripping from my neck all too distracting.

"Take the slut back to her room." the man gruffs, hurriedly walking past him.

The guy peeks around the corner before calling out to someone who walks over and they both look over at me before whispering some more. Then, the first guy leads the other over and offers me both of his hands.

I grab one hesitantly before trying to get up and hissing as my other hand swings around and grabs his second offered hand. I put all my pressure on them, getting up and adjusting my weight on my feet.

The guy holding my hands waits patiently, watching me carefully. "Take your time." he whispers.

I glance up at him, noticing the sympathy in his orbs. "I'm good."

He nods and the other guy walks around, taking one of my arms gently and helping lead me to my room.

Instead of pushing me inside and leaving, the two of them take me into the room and gently help me to the ground, as there's no bed, before standing straight.

"Look, we're gonna try to help you." the one guy says, crouching down to me.

"Who are you?" I whisper, looking between them.

"I'm Ben." the guy crouching announces. "And this is my friend Alex."

I nod, looking between the two of them. "Okay."

"I'm gonna go get that thing we talked about." Alex whispers, running out of the room.

"He's gonna go grab you a protein bar. That way you have some type of substance in your stomach." Ben tells me, giving me a small smile.

"Why are you helping me?" I ask.

"You're Bieber's girlfriend, right?" Alex asks, walking back in and holding out the protein bar.

I hesitantly grab it, nodding. "Yeah. Why does that matter?" I ask, confused.

"He doesn't know that. Keegan, I mean. He would never be doing any of this if he knew that." Alex mentions.

"Wait, you're dating Bieber?" Ben asks, raising his eyebrows. "I didn't realize Bieber was the dating type."

"He's not." I gulp, opening the protein bar and gulping down a bite. "Well, he wasn't. I changed him or something."

"Or maybe you were just the girl that made it worth it to him." Alex grins.

I grin weakly, nodding while gulping down another bite. "Yeah, maybe."

Soon, I finish the bar and give them the wrapper while drinking a few sips of my one water bottle.

"Alright, we'll volunteer to come check on you later." Ben says, standing.

I nod. "Thank you. Both of you."

They grin, nodding and starting out of the room.

"Oh, and it's probably best you keep your mouth shut. The more you talk the shittier he becomes." Alex says, winking.

I nod, understanding. "Got it."

They shut me in the room, leaving me to my own thoughts.

*** No One's POV ***

Maverick paces back and forth as everyone sits on the couches, watching him panic.

"Okay," he starts, looking at her friends. "Did you see any of the mens' features? Something that would help us identify them?"

They shake their head.

"No, everything happened so quickly. I'm sorry." Caitlin frowns.

He shakes his head. "No, no, no. It's not your fault. This shouldn't have happened in the first place. Damn Justin." he groans.

As if on cue, the front door opens and slams shut before Justin rounds the corner and makes himself noticeable.

"What's going on?" he asks, noticing the scene.

"Nothing." Maverick answers.

Justin glances around at everyone else but they stay quiet and his eyes finally lay on Hadlee's friends. His breath hitches and his check becomes tight.

"Justin." Ryan starts, standing in shock.

"W-what are they doing here?" Justin stutters, gulping.

"They just kinda... showed up." William says, shrugging.

"How did you find me?" Justin asks, looking at them.

"It kinda just..." Caitlin stands, gulping. "Happened."

"We saw you one day and followed you here but we were too afraid to actually walk up to you." Rebecca says, licking her lips.

"You didn't wanna be our friends, man." Chaz says, shrugging now. "But we wanna be yours."

Justin's head begins to shake immediately as his chest begins to get tight, anxiety filling his body as he turns and runs up the stairs, pacing a few times before whipping out his phone and dialing the number that's become all too familiar.

There was only one problem.

She couldn't answer.

***

thank you so much for reading today's chapter! I can't believe we're already at so many reads! I hope you all are enjoying the book as much as I enjoy writing it!

don't forget to vote & comment! The new chapter will be up next TUESDAY!

much love,

shan:)