My Lovely Bullet

A/N: Chapter has gun violence.

My Lovely Bullet

If there was a place with less drunk– desperately trying too hard to fit in– teenagers, someplace where the air was breathable and clear of the skunky scent of weed, somewhere quiet– then that was precisely where Alessia wanted to be.

Not this boring party, where underage teenagers drank alcohol with brazen assurance because it was seen as the epitome of coolness and proof of your social worthiness.

Standing by the kitchen counter where the messy display of chips and dip resided, strewn and spilled carelessly about by eager hands, Alessia begrudgingly chewed on Cheeto puffs to soothe her aching discomfort. Using her long curly hair to curtain her face in an attempt to hide herself, she slowly spiraled into her mind, deeply lost in thought, pondering on how she ended up here.

Kiana Johnson, the human embodiment of a fireball, and her annoyingly persistent best friend had invited her to the party as her plus one. Alessia had reluctantly obliged, accompanying her and the football player Kiana was currently dating. Neither Kiana or Alessia were accustomed to going to parties, so she didn't want to let her friend go alone just to be safe. Alessia also considered that this was the last party before graduation next week, and maybe, just maybe, she wanted to experience what all the craze was about. Honestly, more often than not, these messy get togethers were raided by police for being too loud, or for the underage drinking, and then several parents ended up being called to go pick up their drunk kids from jail.

Not worth it.

Friday nights were also her reserved movie nights with grandma. In the cozy comfort of her silky pjs and plushy soft blanket.

"Alessia!"

God she didn't want to be here for a second longer. I wanna go home, she thought dryly.

Looking over, someone was throwing up in the kitchen trash can.

Fucking disgusting.

"Alessia!"

The cooler kids were playing beer pong and passing a joint.

Boring.

"Oh my god, Alessia watch out!"

And before she knew it, Alessia laid splayed out on the disturbingly dirty floor, Cheeto puffs cascaded around her in orange bursts. Lifting her head, her eyes looked at the amber liquid soaking her belly, and the gigantic idiot who had knocked the air out of her laying on her thighs.

She looked to her now ruined flowy dress, I'm about to lose my goddamned mind, she thought. Her boiling anger heating her face and blood quickly.

"Get the hell off me, asshole!" Violently shoving the hell out of the guy, she stood, dusting the crumbs and dirt off her clothes. The idiot who had crushed her walked off in a drunken stupor, laughing his ass off completely ignoring her.

If there was one thing she couldn't stand in her life were drunk people.

God she detested drunk people.

Maybe if she tried hard enough, her icy cold glare could zap the guy off the face of the earth.

"Are you okay?" Kiana queried in a tiny voice, dusting Alessia's back and bottom, "I tried calling you so you could get out of the way, but you were so lost in space..." Kiana stared at her, her glimmering glittery eyeshadow beautifully accentuating those guilty and shameful eyes, her pink hair gloriously cascading past her hunched and defeated shoulders.

Kiana knew Alessia was out of her element being here, and she was only there to keep her company, hence why she was now covered in dirt and alcohol.

"Ki," Alessia huffed, bothered and dejected, looking disappointedly at her now ruined dress, deciding to button her jacket. "I just need a moment because if I don't, I'll lose my mind." Kiana nodded silently and regretfully watched Alessia make her way out the front door.

Once outside in the night, Alessia took a much needed deep breath to calm herself down. The loud music blaring in the house, was now muffled by the walls. A cool breeze snaked around her exposed thighs making her slightly shiver.

Stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets, she made her way towards the corner of the porch, the floorboards creaking from years of use and aging. She stared at the flowery bushes below the porch, admiring the colorful blooms, while massaging her temples at the slight pounding of her head.

She really wanted to call an Uber and go home. This had been a terrible idea from the start, but she was a worry wart who wanted to make sure her friend wouldn't be alone— especially because of the area the party was located. The neighborhood's a hotspot for crime, and one couldn't be too careful, so her only option was to just power through the night.

Lost again in her thoughts as she stewed in her self-pity, Alessia missed the footsteps approaching her.

"What're you doing at this boring ass party?"

Startled by the sudden voice she turned, heart in her mouth. Her wide eyes staring in the direction of the voice, and standing in the darkness of the porch was none other than the best high school quarterback the state had seen,

Raiden Caddell.

He was the schools pride and joy, raking in thousands of televised views from across the nation. The masses attentively watched his every game, wanting to follow the child prodigy as he would most likely become the next rising star in football. Setting crazy stats and breaking national records was the norm for this devil-may-care quarterback.

Who also happens to be Alessia's childhood crush.

No big deal!

Both had grown up in the same crappy neighborhood where shootings were a little too common, and carjacking and house break ins were considered "normal" activities.

They'd been good friends in middle school, a time where Alessia's crush blossomed but by the time the child prodigy began breaking national records they were torn apart by different crowds.

For the next few years they would rarely speak, only nodding at each other if they ever crossed paths.

Alessia stared at Raiden, annoyed at the slightly arrogant tone, but totally enamoured by the timbre of his voice.

"Boring?" Beautiful bemused eyes connected with Raidens, "thought you enjoyed these stupid over the top parties." Alessia spoke with acrid mockery in her tone. Her belly fluttered with butterflies as he inched closer to her, a handsome amused smirk playing on his lips.

"If they're so stupid, then why are you here?" Raiden quipped right back with the same mocking instensity. His dark brown eyes bore down on her, feasting on her face, his eyebrow devilishly raised, with that stupid cocky grin of his.

Her palms began sweating in her pockets, heart rate slightly increasing.

Shit!

"I came with my friend so she's not alone." She bit back, "I'm definitely not here out of enjoyment." The words harshly escaping her lips through gritted teeth. Crossing her arms in the hope that it would make her look more intimidating— definitely not because her palms wouldn't stop sweating in her now too warm pockets, or because her heart was beating like crazy— she stepped back to gather some much needed space from the boy who seemed to have suddenly remembered she existed.

"Hmm, right..." he pondered briefly, his voice low and steady, "You never were much for following the crowds." A lazy smile that befell his handsome face had her heart lurching. And for that moment they both stood there in the quiet cold, looking into each other's eyes, completely still as if time had slowed down to this precise insignificant moment.

"Um... okay... thought you'd forgotten all about me after all these years." She muttered quietly.

"I never forgot."

A heavily pregnant pause followed, suffocating them in direful silence.

"Oh..."

"Yeah."

There, leaning against the wall, Raiden looked up to the night sky. The stars shimmering in the darkness. Placing his hands in his pocket in a weak attempt of restraint, he looked back at his former best friend, and the urge to bring her into his arms grew stronger by the second. Alessia was one of the few people he cared about regardless whether they were friends or not.

He'd just wish things had played out differently for them.

By freshman year he'd regretfully fallen into the wrong crowds trying to make some quick cash to support himself. He had worried for her safety, and the sort of double life he lived was something he didn't want her to be associated with. By day he was this shining rising football star, but in the unwavering darkness he was out selling drugs, and getting involved in crimes and felonies that by some divine intervention he had never been caught.

His fingers absentmindedly rubbed his chin as he stared down at the floor deep in thought.

His unwise decisions probably couldn't be blamed all on him. It was what he grew up watching his parents do. Two doped up drug fiends, who didn't even know that their kid was an aspiring football star, were known for committing crimes to fund their addiction. He would soon graduate, heading east to play for the best college football team, where he would leave this shitty small town behind alongside his parents who had barely raised him.

Hell, he'd probably never talk to them again.

He looked at her through hooded eyes, the awkward silence not making this conversation any more comfortable.

"You wanna leave? We could go catch the premiere for that new movie..." Hope fluttered in his heart.

Please say yes, please say yes.

The question lingered in the air as Alessia stared at him like he had grown several mysterious heads out of his ass.

"You mean like..." She started in a pensive internal frenzy "me and you. Go out. With each other. Alone?" A quizitive scrunch of her eyebrows made him smile.

"Yes. That's exactly what I just offered."

Alessia knew she shouldn't. Her best friend was inside, and possibly getting wasted in an attempt to impress her boyfriend. But she also wanted to leave this stupid party and maybe catch up with an old friend.

Her anxiety shot through the roof. The jitters racked her fingers as she contemplated the two choices quite extensively. She'd be a terrible friend if she left her best friend behind. God, this is exactly why she didn't like to go out. She wouldn't be in this precise situation if she just stayed home and kept to herself.

Raiden watched her, amused as she fell into the same deep space she would fall into when she was thinking way too hard. It was something she had always done when they had been friends. A familiar pout forming on her lips as she entered deep concentration. So cute.

"You know time isn't going backwards so if we wanna catch the movie-"

"I'm thinking about it! Hold on!"

Alessia looked up, meeting his expectant gaze. A familiar mischievous smile forming on his lips provoked a sudden longing in her. A bittersweet nostalgia to go back to when they had been good friends and partners in crime. "Okay, give me a sec, I'll be right back!" She scurried into the house, nose distastfully scrunching in disgust at the terrible smell of weed. She looked over to find Kiana sitting on her boyfriends lap in a corner.

"Ki! Ki!" Alessia waved enthusiastically to capture Kiana's attention, "I've come to my senses Ki, and if I don't leave this god forsaken party right now I'll rupture a vessel in my brain and die." She rushed out trying to get out of this damn house as soon as possible, excitement rushing through her veins at who waited for her outside.

Kiana looked at her best friend in a deadpan stare.

"You know you're so dramatic." Kiana finally spoke, amused by her friends theatrics. She walked over and hugged Alessia tightly, "I appreciate you for coming with me and taking care of me, but Derek isn't drinking and neither am I. You don't have to stay because I know how much you hate being in crowds like this."

"So you won't be mad at me?"

"No I won't be mad! I mean, seriously, look at Nathan over there, he's literally asleep on his throw up." The two glance over to see the student peacefully sleeping, cheek on top of the pink bodily fluid.

"Ew."

"That's disgusting."

Alessia looked at her friend and hugged her once more, "Please text me when you get home to let me know you made it back safe!" She looked back as she sped out the house, Kiana gave her a thumbs up, a perfectly manicured nail shimmering in the light.

Once back outside, Raiden gave her a questioning eyebrow. "So are we good to go or..."

"Yes!" Alessia excitedly began walking down the stairs, "Let's get the hell out of here. That Nathan dude was sleeping next to his throw up, and I do not want to be here when the police finally raid the house."

"You know not all parties get busted right." Raiden pointed out as a matter of fact.

"Yeah well running from the cops seems more exciting than whatever's going on in this party."

Raiden shook his head in amusement, knowing too well how thrilling it was to run from the authorities. His hand searched a coat pocket, producing a jingling car keys.

"I parked my car kinda far cuz I didn't want a drunk idiot hitting it. I'll drive up and get you so you don't have to walk."

"S'fine I can walk with you." Alessia swiftly approached him, her eyes roaming the dark street for any ill willed lurking shadows. "Plus I don't really wanna be alone outside in the dark."

"What're you scared?" Raiden mocked in a friendly banter, their arms grazing each other's as they walked. Alessia's eyebrows furrowed in offended defiance.

"And so what if I was? It's not like the world out here is a safe place for a young girl like me." She humphed crossing her arms.

"Okay! okay! I wasn't attacking you!"

"Mhmm yeah, so convincing Raiden." She blew a raspberry at him. A delighted smile playing on her lips completely unbeknownst to her.

A dense fog had slowly begun to overtake the air, basking the night in haunting eeriness. She inched closer to Raiden as the street got quieter the further away they get from the party.

"Does this look like a freaky scene out of a scary movie or what?" She mused. The quiet street now looking dangerously formidable; the looming foggy darkness made her anxiety spike.

"Where's your car? Cuz now it definitely feels like I'm about to be taken by a demonic spirit through a portal to hell."

"Your brain just never relaxes does it?" Raiden stated rhetorically, grabbing her soft hand, his hand surprisingly warm on her cold one. Alessia looked at their joined hands, feeling just a bit safer. "No it doesn't. But I'd like to believe that if my overthinking brain helps me stay out of dangerous situations then it's not such a bad thing." She smiled up to him, "Although, I could do without the constant paralyzing stress and anxiety. Probably make life easier." Alessia gritted her teeth, quickly realizing that she was probably over sharing. Oh God, was she making this awkward? Oh my god just shut up!

Shut up shut up shut up shut up!

"I feel you on that one." Raiden hushed out despondently. Alessia looked up at him with a bemused expression, "Why're you looking at me like that?" Raiden asked as they came to a stop next to his black car. He leaned against it, and looked at the fidgety curly haired beauty.

"Well, you're Raiden Caddell, rising football star, you've broken so many records that you'll probably get a mural and a statue in town once you make it to the big leagues." She kicked a small rock towards the grass, completely avoiding his gaze. "I don't know. It just seems unfathomable to someone like me that you would be perturbed by mundane things such as stress and anxiety."

"What do you mean someone like you?" Alessia stared at him— her fingers fidgety with anxiety. This conversation was turning awkward by the second. Or maybe she was overthinking the conversation too much.

Social fucking cues!

"Um, I don't know, someone ordinary, I guess? Like yeah I have good grades and all, and I'm going to the states top university, but I'm not making national news or breaking records landing me on television."

Raiden remained quiet. Only offering a small lift of his lips as he quietly laughed through his nose. He opened the door to his passenger side for her. Alessia felt her cheeks get hot, her burning insecurities causing her to start overthinking again. She had said too much again hadn't she? She had laid out her insecurity of not being enough in front of him, and he didn't have anything to say.

Oh god!

This is why she only had one friend. It was so much easier to just talk to one person. She was always prone to become this awkward mess when she met other people, and becoming a hermit that hid behind books was just the easiest thing to do. The only reason she was even hanging out with the schools most popular person was because they had been friends before, so it's not like they were just getting to know each other. Still though, it didn't mean she was far from embarrassing herself in front of someone who was more stranger than a friend at this point.

Being honest, what was she even doing agreeing to hang out with him in the first place?

Maybe she had caught too much secondhand smoke from the weed and her brain might be fried. A rational Alessia would have gone home. Not getting into the car of Raiden fucking Caddell.

Alessia felt slightly feverish and jittery as Raiden closed her door. She sat there in horrified silence.

Both of them lost in thought, neither noticing the calculating pairs of eyes watching their every move.

The car parked behind Raiden's revved to life, the obnoxiously loud engine startling Alessia as she turned around to look out the back window towards bright headlights.

The doors open, producing four men who stepped out, their steps purposefully dangerous as they quietly observe Raiden with vicious intent. Each man looked ready for action as all of them squared their shoulders. Raiden stood still, silently watching them, his blood beginning to rush with adrenaline.

He knew how this was going to end, knew the pain that was to come, but his heart only feared for Alessia's wellbeing.

Fuck.

No matter how hard he had pushed Alessia away, in an attempt to shield her from his life choices. She was now here caught up in the most fatal of them all. If she got hurt, it would be all his fault. Because he knew he should have stayed away from her, but the sultry temptation to be in her presence once more had been too much.

He had done the one thing he had promised to never do: to involve her in his criminal life.

Raiden's hands tightened into raging fists. His jaw painfully clenched, blood boiling in anger. His narrowed eyes landing on his bosses' empty cold ones.

The stare of a man who who had sent many into deaths awaiting arms.

The stare that enjoyed watching many die gruesome agonizing deaths.

The stare that he'd witness paralyze enemies before were now directed at him.

He knew exactly why.

Solely illuminated by the cars bright headlights, the looming silhouettes shrouded in darkness shot forward towards Raiden as they began to brutally attack him.

Alessia's heart hurt at the pained groans coming from Raiden as they beat him for what seemed like eternity. The terrible sounds of pummeling fists nearly disguising the sound of a cocking gun. Cold horror rushed through her, vision blurred by tears.

Raiden, now muscled into a breathtaking chokehold, his arms painfully pulled back as they kneeled him onto the ground, snapped his eyes towards the sound.

Eyes meeting the cold metal muzzle of the gun pointed at him.

Raiden locks onto the steely gaze of his boss, both staring each other down.

If looks could kill, they'd both be dead.

The boss grabbed a fistful of Raiden's hair tisk-tisking as Raiden moved his head to shove his hand away.

"Now, now, Raiden behave yourself." The man uttered emotionless, entranced by the slow grazing of the muzzle of the gun across Raiden's cheek.

"I heard around town," He started inquisitively, "that it was you who had sabotaged the most important trade deal." Raiden gritted his teeth as the boss continued grazing his face with the gun.

"At first I wouldn't believe it. What do you mean some punk kid destroyed my hard work?" He circled Raiden like a hungry predator waiting for his meal.

"But I began to wonder Raiden," He spat in anger, "how you slowly began disapproving of everything we started doing. Refusing to follow through your duties, and disobeying my orders."

The bosses' maniacal laugh was loud in Raiden's ears.

"I let you into my group as some starving kid trying to make money. I gave you a family to be a part of, let you earn your own money," He approaches Raiden's car, "hell, even this goddamned car is yours because of me!" The boss seethed. "I do all this for you, and this is how I get repaid? By you betraying me and letting one of my most important trades get busted by the police!"

"Ax, you know exactly what the fuck you were doing by making that trade." Raiden bitterly spit out. His head pounding from the chokehold he was in. "I couldn't let you traffick those women. Bargaining peoples life as if they didn't matter, as if they were property!" Ax, consumed by livid vengeance, swiped the gun across Raiden's face making his nose bleed profusely.

"Those bitches were caught in the street being whores!" Ax's voice roared with fury. "And they were property, Raiden. My property. They were supposed to bring in profits for all of us, but then you went and fucked it all up!" Ax squatted down to Raiden's level, gripping his chin tightly, "Now I got the feds on me, Raiden. The goddamn FBI has a warrant for my arrest, and you're not gonna get to live consequence free after fucking me over."

With shaky hands Alessia dialed 911, the responder answering after a few seconds.

"Yes! My friend is being held at gunpoint right now, and we need help please!" Alessia pleaded, her voice incapable of rising above a trembling whisper, unsteady with fear.

"Oh, I see you have a little friend!" Ax loudly observed, walking towards the passenger side of the vehicle with his gun raised. Alessia swiftly shoved her phone between the center console and the seat, without hanging up and shielding it from view.

She screamed in pain as the man who she heard was Ax, opened the door and grabbed her elbow in a deathly bruising grip, dragging her harshly out of the car.

Tears slid down her cheeks as Ax shoved her to the cold ground in front of Raiden.

Raiden's eyes widened with fear. The hopefulness, that maybe Alessia could be left out of this, relinquished. Her quiet little sniffles breaking his heart.

He had failed her greatly.

This would be his last regret. The most painful one.

He loved her so much. Had adored the girl from a distance. Watched her flourish into a beautiful girl who excelled in everything she did. He had realized tonight how much she didn't give herself credit, and he had hoped to perhaps fix that so she could see how amazing she truly is.

Ax crouched behind a frozen Alessia, moving her hair to the side, and pressing his nose to her neck, inhaling deeply, breathing her in. His eyes darkened deviously, as he grabbed her chin turning her face towards his.

"Maybe I can take you with me, and make you my pretty little toy as payment, and we can have some fun." Alessia shivered as Ax softly grazed his cold fingers on her cheek. Raiden roared in anger, trying hard to get up and failing miserably against the strength of three grown men.

"She has nothing to do with this!" Raiden yelled in anger. He wanted nothing more than to get Alessia away from all of this.

Alessia could faintly hear sirens, and she prayed they were coming this way. There was absolutely no way for either her or Raiden to get out of this situation unscathed or alone.

Ax stood up, leaving her on the ground as he walked over to Raiden.

"I took you in Raiden as if you were my own."

Ax pointed the gun at Raiden.

Finger on the trigger.

Alessia pleaded for Raiden's life.

"Too bad you fucked it all up." Ax finished.

And that's when it happened.

When the world came to a halt as the gunshot shattered the nighttime quietness.

Alessia stared in stunned silence as Raiden's shirt become red with blood.

"Raiden..." Alessia gravely whispered, completely in shock and disbelief.

She watched as Raiden looked down at his wound, pain evident on his face. He looked back at her once more, his dark eyes shining with something unreadable.

"Raiden!" Alessia screamed as Ax mercilessly shot him three more times. Raiden's body hit the pavement as he started bleeding out.

Ax turned towards her, aiming the gun and firing once before all four men walked back to the car, promptly driving away into the dark obscuring fog.

Alessia crawled towards Raiden's unmoving body. Her own wound not registering yet as she gently grabbed his now cold hand.

"It's gonna be okay Rai." She softly soothed, not wanting to believe he was gone. Dark spots clouded her vision as police cruisers finally turned onto the street a few minutes later. Their bright blue and red lights going haywire in front of her as she felt the world darken around her.

They would be safe now.

Raiden would be okay.

They for sure were going to miss the movie now.

Thank you for kindly supporting me.