CHAPTER 14 | Why Did You Do It?
Axel parked the black Rolls Royce on a small parking space in front of a cheap convenience store. He got out of the car, taking his phone with him. He glanced at the time as he entered the empty convenience store, frowning.
“Where are they?” he muttered under his breath as he sat on a booth next to the window. His impatience turned into amusement as he saw what Bella keyed her name as on his phone while he was looking for his friends’ phone numbers.
“Don’t Call Me Princess?” he read as he shook his head in amusement. “Let’s change it to ‘My Princess’,” he said as he typed it down, changing Bella’s contact name.
“What are you doing?” a deep, teasing voice said from behind his neck. It was Nick – Nicodemus White, Axel’s friend whose father was alpha of their rogue pack.
Axel jerked on his seat and looked behind him, only to see a smirking face along with four other young men, gawking at him with a mischievous smile. The five of them joined him in the booth and the young man with blue highlights on his hair pulled down the blinds and sat beside him.
“You had the guts to dye your hair while you’re all out on a run?” Axel asked in disbelief.
“Baskerville is said to have the best salons. I might as well see if it’s true. You should see me shift. My wolf looks cooler with the highlights,” he said, flaunting his dyed hair.
“Cut it out, Nate,” Nick growled, his gray eyes glaring at Nate who only grinned at him shamelessly. “Look what you did to my hair – to our hairs. I shouldn’t have let you take the lead. Now we look like some kind of boy band.”
Axel laughed as he noticed that all five of them had highlights on their hair. He eyed them from head to toe. They do look like a boy band, he thought.
Nate Lightfoot was the shortest of them all, but was already tall at 5’8”. His icy blue eyes perfectly matched the blue highlights on his jet black hair. He wore a black leather jacket over a plain white t-shirt and khaki pants. He smiled innocently at Nick - the leader of the group, the buffest, and second tallest next to Axel; something he had always complained about since he was twelve. Nick was a year older than the rest of them, except Gin who was the only minor in the group. He wore a denim jacket over a black shirt tucked inside his black slacks. Nick had ash gray eyes like the highlights on his smooth black hair. His gray eyes continued to glare at grinning Nate. Felix laughed at his harmless stare, only to be glared at by Jackson, telling him to stop first before Nick would lose his temper.
Jackson Maxwell was the most serious in the group. Behind his round specs were hard honeycomb eyes, ever cold and stern even to his own friends. Despite the odds that made him the hard rock of the group, he was quite the fashionista. He liked wearing modern French outfits such as the black turtle neck sweater he wore under his beige French coat which went all the way down to his knees, covering his black trousers. Felix Merkel, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Jackson, but the two would pass as twins due to their similar features such as their brown hair, thick brows, pointed nose, brown eyes, similar build, and fair white skin. The difference between them was in their personality. Felix liked wearing street style outfits and unlike the ever serious, often quiet, antisocial, and bookish Jackson, he was sporty, carefree, and outgoing. Both of them had red highlights which Jackson hated so much.
The youngest Gin Hathaway was just as handsome as the rest of the young men around him whom he looked up to and considered as his older brothers. Gin looked neat and simple in his plain black V-neck t-shirt and army green jeans. He was seated between Jackson and Felix; across him was Axel who was squashed between Nick and Nate. The young fourteen-year-old boy was the epitome of innocence and kindness unlike the other five whom he sat with on the booth who were often mischievous, crazy, and reckless. The copper brown highlights complimented his ebony hair perfectly. Gin was tall, taller than Nate and almost as tall as Jackson and Felix. His dark brown eyes shone in amusement as he watched Nate grinning annoyingly at short-tempered Nick.
“I thought you guys were somewhere in a dumpster, miserable and cold,” Axel joked and chuckled, quickly changing the subject. “And now you even have highlights dyed on your fur – I mean hair.”
The five threw him a piercing look, silently telling him with their eyes that it wasn’t funny. Axel shrugged his shoulders as he raised an eyebrow at them, grinning innocently.
“We had it worse than enduring misery in a cold dumping site, sewer, or whatnot,” Felix told him, his tone bitter. “How about you? You don’t look like you’ve been kicked out from your uncle’s place.”
Nate laughed. “Did spending the night out in the cold streets made you this fresh?”
Axel rolled his eyes. “My uncle did kick me out. You don’t know how much he lectured me. Apparently, he believed what his guards said. That I was the one who let you off.”
“So, you didn’t catch that beautiful maiden?” Gin asked, referring to Bella.
Nick, Nate, and Felix beamed as they recalled how dazzling Bella was. Even the po-faced Jackson Maxwell couldn’t resist a smile upon mentioning that ‘beautiful maiden’.
“What do you take me for?” Axel groaned. “Of course, I caught her. We’re friends now.”
“Friends?” the five repeated in disbelief, their eyes looking suspiciously at Axel.
“Of course you befriended her.” Nick laughed. “That’s what you usually do when you’re in trouble.”
“She is my friend.” Axel glared at him. “Anyway, we have to get back to my uncle’s place.
“What for?” Nate countered, groaning in disapproval. “He was too dramatic the last time we were there.”
Felix agreed, nodding his head. “His guards tied us mercilessly.”
“They clamped our mouths with duct tape, too,” Gin added.
Axel sighed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. Uncle Lupin can be really intimidating. Don’t worry, though, he won’t do anything to you if you would just show up in his place today. So, please come with me. I beg you. This mess has to end.” He smiled at them reassuringly. “Uncle said you were dealing some drugs to the alpha. He must be just mistaken. You guys won’t do that. Why would you be afraid of something you never did?”
“Axel, look…” Nick trailed off, his expression serious this time. “It’s not your uncle that we’re afraid of. He had all the right to beat us, hostage us, or whatnot. Mr. de Lima wasn’t mistaken, Axel. We did wrong.”
Axel’s face fell, his emerald eyes confused. He searched for his friends’ faces, but all their heads were downcast, avoiding his gaze. The atmosphere suddenly felt blank, like something was missing; like something was forgotten. Axel froze. He never thought his friends would resort to something so seamy and sordid.
“Why did you do it?” Axel asked after a short while of being silent. “What are you so afraid of?”
“My mother has been sick for a long time,” Gin suddenly said; his innocent brown eyes glistening in tears he was trying to hold back. “No hospital would take her in since we’re just slave omega rogues. I didn’t know it would turn out like this. I’m sorry, Axel. I did it for my mom.”
Felix placed an arm around him, silently consoling the poor kid; and Jackson patted his back, unable to keep his serious aura after seeing his little buddy in tears.
“Don’t be sorry, little guy,” Nick told him. “We’ve been such bad brothers to you.”
“I did it for my grandma,” Nate admitted, his ocean eyes empathizing with Gin. “You guys know she’s my only family left. I thought I should do a little something for her coming birthday.” He laughed bitterly. “Turns out, the only thing I could give her is a headache.”
“You two are such good sons. Me? Not so,” Felix said, his eyes wistful as he sighed heavily. “You all know I like music, right? It’s even the reason why the six of us got together.” He chuckled as he glanced at everyone. “Dad said no, but I wanted to pursue my dream. I thought the money I’d earn would…would… nevermind. I didn’t earn any in the end.”
“You guys had valid reasons. Me?” Nick scoffed. “I just wanted to piss my dad by doing trivial things I don’t really have to do. Being an only son sucks. I had to endure all the pressure just to please him. I’d have enough. Just because he’s alpha doesn’t mean I want to become one, too. Being alpha of rogue wolves isn’t really much anyway.” Nick frowned, not liking the empathizing faces of his friends. Nonetheless, they did make him feel better.
Axel glanced at Jackson whose arms were folded while his back was leaned against the board of the booth’s high-backed bench. Everyone was looking his way, waiting for him to say something.
“What?” He raised an eyebrow. “Must I say it?” Jackson groaned under his breath as he sat straight, fixing his glasses. “Fine. I did it for my older sister. She wanted to run a tailoring shop and boutique, but my parents won’t support her. I do like her designs. So, I did it because I like wearing the coats she makes.”
“Stop denying it,” Felix said as he glanced at Jackson. “You did it because you love your sister and seeing her sad makes you want to throw up.” Felix chuckled; Jackson only glared at him.
“But Axel,” Nick added, looking straight into Axel’s eyes. “We didn’t know that inside those packages were illegal drugs. Yes, we delivered it alright. But, we thought those were first-class herbal medicine like what she told us. We never planned to fool the alpha. No matter how much I hate my father, I wouldn’t do anything to disgrace him. I would never drag you guys into such dirty work.”
Axel’s face lit up, the disappointment in his eyes gone. “I knew it! You guys wouldn’t do such a thing. If you would just tell that to my uncle, this mess will be over.”
“It’s not as easy as you think.” Nate sighed. “Your uncle may not kill us, but Tiana will.”
Axel frowned; the name sounded familiar. “Tiana who?”
“Tiana me,” a chilling voice said, her dark gray eyes emitting a dangerous glow. The six of them looked over to their right and their dilated eyes met with the piercing glares of Nicotiana Black. She smirked, her eyes gazing at Axel. “You don’t seem to remember me, nephew.”