Seeing Jayden so close to the Grey Elephant leader was sending shivers down Gary’s spine. After seeing what he had just done, Gary didn’t know how a person could still walk up to someone in the same way, not unless they were planning to do something.
‘If a fight breaks out… I know whose side I’m going to be on…the question is, will I have to fully transform if that’s the case?’ Gary thought.
“I said, let her go.” Jayden repeated once more, and as soon as he finished his sentence, Brandon let go of Tiffany, letting her fall to the ground, close to her now deceased boyfriend.
“As I said, we don’t want to get on your bad side, Mr Tiger. If that is your wish, then so be it. However, we’ll have to ask you to make sure that she doesn’t tell anyone about what happened here.” Brandon then stood to the side, with his hand pointed towards the forest, and the rest of the Grey elephant members moved to the side as well.
Honestly, Gary was at a loss for words, he was wondering what had just happened, and if what he had seen was true. Did one of the biggest gangs in Slough really submit to a single person… simply because he had told them to?
This wasn’t the ruthless way that Gary knew from being in a gang.
‘Is this what it means to have power? So much power that not even a top gang can mess with him?’
The simple truth was that the Grey Elephants didn’t dare to go up against Jayden. It was a fight that the gang leader wasn’t sure they would win, nor did they have anything to gain from it either.
It was better to just let the Altered get his way. Quickly, Xin ran over to Tiffany’s side and gave her a shoulder. She could feel that her former tormentor’s legs were wet. The teenage girl must have peed herself in fear when Brandon had picked her up.
After being held up like that by a brute and in a brutal way, Xin couldn’t blame her. It also looked like Tiffany didn’t mind that her captive was helping her out of this situation, as she willingly took her shoulder and started to walk out of the place.
Gary rushed and gave his other shoulder to Tiffany. The two were walking slowly and quite frankly he didn’t want to stay in this place for long. There was a part of Gary that felt like the gang would turn around in seconds, but, thankfully, they never did.
“Interesting, huh? Who would have thought that the mayor was keeping someone like that by his side.” Brandon said out loud. “Do you remember the reports we got from the colour gang that day, about how the Underdogs had acted quicker than usual, and that they had asked each of the members about a green coloured boy. Do you know who that was?”
“I have no idea.” Mr D shrugged his shoulders. “He seems a little too young to be a friend of Jayden’s. Perhaps, it’s an associate of the young miss. However, I don’t remember ever having seen him in the mayor’s family.”
“Raven, it might be a long shot, but if you have time after dealing with that personal project of yours, maybe you should look into him. See if he has any relation to the Underdogs or the underworld in general.” Brandon ordered as he walked off. “Someone clean up this mess as well!”
———
Eventually, the group had come to a road just outside the forest that led to a more residential area. Looking behind him, Gary couldn’t see any of the Grey Elephants following them.
“What do we do now?” The green haired teenager asked. Since he had been following Jayden this whole time, it just felt natural to listen to the Altered?
“‘We’?” Jayden stopped for a moment, before he turned around. “Since D was here, I’m sure they will be here soon as well. So ‘we’, as in me and my little sister, will take that girl with us, crack some sense into her and tell her how lucky she was today.”
Tiffany looked like she had completely lost it. Her eyelids were open wide like she was awake but not really registering what the others were saying.
“Gary.” Xin eventually said, as she let Tiffany slowly stand on her own two feet. She looked down the road as if she was looking for something and then quickly turned back. “Why are you with my brother?”
Nervous about how to answer this, Gary was scratching the back of his head thinking of a good way to explain himself.
“Haha, this food thief was already at the cabin before me. Like a knight in shining armour, he seemed to have been looking out for you, Xin. Who knows, if it’s him, maybe you could convince Dad to hire him as your guard.” Jayden clapped his hands together as he had a light bulb moment.
“Come to think about it, you should come over some time. Not today, that won’t be the best with everything that has happened, but I’m sure our Dad would like to thank you for what you did. If not, I might have something for you.”
Gary didn’t know how to reply. Getting invited to the mayor’s house seemed more like a reward for some honour student, not a nobody like him. At the same time, it felt like meeting the parents before a first date was also skipping a few too many steps.
A luxury black car was approaching from a distance, slowly starting to pull up. There wasn’t just one, but three of them in total. Xin and the others were heading towards the car, leaving Gary on his own.
“Wait!” Gary shouted out to Xin. “Before you go, what about our… you know date?” The teenager finally asked. Being honest with his feelings in this way was becoming a lot easier after everything he had been through.
“Ah.” Xin turned around and had her hand placed open. It took a second for Gary to figure out she was asking for his phone. A few seconds later and it was handed back over. “It’s my number, if you haven’t guessed. I’m sorry, but I have no idea what my Dad will decide to do after everything that has happened today. I know it might be awkward, but I’m afraid my brother’s idea will have to count as our first date.”
The door closed and for a brief second, Gary had seen a face on Xin he had never seen before, it was one of sadness, pure sadness.
‘She looked so happy just a second ago… it was only after she said those words.’ Gary thought as he looked after the disappearing cars. Letting out a sigh, Gary finally had a free moment to check his phone, only to see that Kai had left him a message.
[Let us know when you’re done on your end. We’ll be staying here until late in the evening, and we wouldn’t mind having an extra pair of hands.]
Seeing the text, although Kai and the others were doing scouting work for the gang, for once he just wanted to relax a little with his friends.
‘Before that… I need to do something that was long overdue.
… should I go with blue this time?’