CHAPTER 16 | A Missed Call
The black Rolls Royce was filled with grunts, hisses, and muffled howls of pain in between a loud and noisy debate. Axel leaned his back against the car seat while the rest of the guys were arguing on whether or not they should pluck the bullet off of Axel’s thigh and whether to bring him to a hospital or not.
“Don’t even touch it,” Felix argued. “He will lose more blood if you pluck it off. Besides, we can’t just pull it out.”
“We can’t just leave him like this either,” Nate countered, looking at Axel’s bleeding thigh. “Should we wrap it with a cloth or something? Just to make it stop bleeding.”
Gin ripped the lower part of his oversized V-neck shirt without hesitation and handed it to Felix. “Will this do?”
“Isn’t this your favorite shirt, though?” Felix asked as he wrapped Axel’s thigh with the cloth.
“It is,” Gin answered casually. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks, little bro,” Axel muttered and Gin replied with a smile.
“You idiot!” Nick yelled at him from the front seat. “Why did you have to take the bullet for me, huh? Yes, it’s cool. But, what would that make of me?”
Axel smiled heartily. “You’re welcome, man.”
Nick shook his head, smiling. “Next time, let me handle it.”
“Quit the bromance!” Felix groaned. Gin only laughed beside him, amused at the childishness of his older brothers.
“Why would you wish for a next time, idiot?” Nate added, frowning at Nick.
“Hey, I’m older than you!” Nick pointed out. “Also, where’s my ‘thank you’?”
“Right, you just saved my life.” Nate grinned. “Next time, let me handle it,” he said, mimicking Nick; but he was really grateful deep inside. They all laughed at him. They laughed like nothing life-threatening happened at all.
“Where are we going exactly?” Jackson asked, speaking for the first time in the past thirty minutes. “The five of us will go to jail if we take Axel to a hospital. They’ll find out we’re rogues from the infamous Camp Clover – trespassers, to be specific, since we don’t have a permit for visit. Gin will be under police care which is technically still some kind of prison for minors. Well, maybe not a prison, but still a place where minors are deprived of freedom.” They groaned, each muttering complains under their breath – Nick’s being the loudest. “The best option is to just go home.”
“No,” Axel interrupted. “We can’t yet.”
“Why not?” Nick asked. “You’re injured and Nicotiana’s after us, we can’t stay here.”
“We have to go back at my uncle’s place. We’ll be safer there.” Axel sighed and took a glance at his bandaged thigh. “I have to return this car, too.”
“Mr. de Lima’s place?” Felix asked, unsure. Alex slowly nodded, confirming his thoughts.
Nick groaned. He didn’t want to go back there, but he did consider that all six of them would be safer in there. In fact, they wouldn’t have gotten into such a bigger mess if they stayed in de Lima’s mansion in the first place. After all, Lupin de Lima never harmed them. He simply ordered his guards to tie and hide the five of them in a room only because he wanted them to confess to him about the transaction which happened to be illegal. Still, it could be counted as hostage. However, other than tying them up, nothing else was done. Besides, they were the ones who did something wrong in the first place.
“Whose car is this, big bro?” Gin asked, looking at Axel.
“Remember that pretty lady on the night you guys escaped?” Gin nodded, recalling the face of the young and gorgeous purple-eyed woman who helped them. “It’s hers. I borrowed it.”
Nick, Nate, and Felix laughed in disbelief. “No way!” they said in unison and laughed all the more. Jackson silently nodded his head, impressed. Gin gasped, wide-eyed.
“It’s true!” Axel defended. “Jackson, turn left. Let’s head to my uncle’s house.”
“Anyway, won’t your uncle kill us?” Nate asked; his tone worried. “Other than lying, running away, and almost getting killed by our own boss, we got you injured, too.”
“I don’t know. Things have gotten more serious now.” Axel sighed. “My long lost aunt is involved, too.”
“Seriously, I couldn’t believe Nicotiana was your aunt.” Nick shook his head, still in the state of disbelief. “How are you even related to her?”
“How could she shoot you?” Gin muttered, his voice really upset and his face scowling. Everyone in the car could tell that he was not a fan of Nicotiana at all. None of them were, including Axel who was deeply disappointed by the way his aunt behaved today. “How could she point a gun at you?”
“Now, now, little one. I’m alright,” Axel assured him. “A part of your favorite shirt helped a lot. The bleeding stopped, see?”
“You must’ve been shocked,” Nick pointed out, feeling guilty that Gin had to witness all of that in his age. “Everything will be alright, little bro.”
“Hang in there, bro.” Felix patted his back. “We’ll be home soon.”
“Are you really friends with that lady, though?” Nate asked, changing the subject to make Gin relax a bit. “Do you happen to have her phone number?”
“She was really beautiful,” Felix commented. “Almost as pretty as my soon-to-be girlfriend.”
Nick chuckled noisily, filling the whole car with his laughter. “Haven’t you heard of the unspoken rule? The prettier the girl is, the lesser chance you have to be liked back.”
“That doesn’t apply to me,” Jackson countered in a monotone, a ghost smile playing on his lips. “I’m handsome, so, there’s a higher chance of being liked back.”
“No, that’s not true,” Nate quickly argued. “I don’t know where you got that from, but women aren’t into looks you know. Well, not every woman. But, I’m sure most of them fall for the personality.”
“I agree!” Felix chimed in. “Clearly, since I’m a good guy, I have a higher chance of being liked back,” he said confidently.
“Then, does that mean I have the highest chance of being liked back?” Gin asked innocently. “I’m a good guy and mom thinks I’m handsome. My aunts call me handsome, too.”
“I hate to break it to you, buddy,” Nick said as he faced Gin with an apologetic, yet playful look. “But, according to the bro code, the younger bro shouldn’t have a love life until the older bro has a love life of his own. Refer to page 23 of the book of bro codes.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Jackson commented as he drove.
“Does that mean we have to stay single until you find your mate?” Felix complained.
Nate laughed. “You should have found your mate by now, Nick. You’re the only nineteen-year-old I know without a girlfriend.”
Nick glared at him. “When you turn nineteen, that would make us two.”
Axel groaned. No, not from the pain on his thigh, but from the endless banter of his friends. He knew that they were all just joking about liking Bella romantically. He didn’t bother commenting, afraid that his thoughts about Bella would give away himself. Though, he was still unsure of himself. He had never liked anyone before, so, he did not really know what falling in love was. All he knew was that Bella’s scent had been lingering in his mind for a while now since they met at Mr. de Lima’s mansion. He sighed and watched his friends talk more nonsense as he pondered about his newfound feelings for his long lost best friend.
Axel’s eyes began to close as he felt sleepy. His friends’ voice drifted into muffled sounds as he completely lost himself into deep slumber. Slowly, his friends’ voice died down as they noticed that Axel had been silent for a while. He was sound asleep, his head almost resting atop of Nate’s shoulder. Gin smiled at the sight. He had always admired Axel among his older brotherly friends.
Between Felix, Nick, and Nate’s muffled laughs as they watched Axel’s mouth agape as he slept, they heard a tune ringing from the pocket of Axel’s coat. It was Axel’s phone. He was too asleep to hear it ring for almost a minute now.
Felix slowly reached for Axel’s phone since he was just centimeters away from Axel’s coat pocket. He was careful enough to not wake Axel up. Felix unlocked the phone. Gin scooted closer to him and looked over the phone curiously. Nate carefully leaned towards Felix’s direction as well, careful to not startle sleeping Axel as he did so. From the front seat, Nick turned his body towards the back and watched Felix check Axel’s phone. Jackson only listened from the driver’s seat
“It’s a missed call from…” Felix trailed off as the three read with him.
“My Princess?” the four of them said in unison. They looked at each other, their eyes beaming with curiosity and at the same time full of mischief.
Just before either of them could take a guess, the phone rang again. It was from the same caller – ‘My Princess’.