Hallows: Eulalie

Goodnight Guys

Asking Alexandria- Into The Fire

Dante:

Ashley finally comes out of the house. The girl she had gone in with walked out a couple of minutes before she did, lipstick smeared, hair all tousled up, and trying to fix her clothes. When Ashley emerged, she was greeted by a group of people who are playing dice. She has a smile on her face as she interacts with what used to be her people. I wonder if she understands that yet. This isn't where she belongs anymore.

Tony's fight is up next and everyone is gathering around to see the rich kid fight the poor kid. The guys and Kelly have been making friends with these people and there is no doubt in my mind that they're going to be frequenting this part of town whenever they get the chance. I can already see Kelly's gears turning with the possibilities this place has.

"Put on a good show," Kelly instructs Anthony as he slips out of his t-shirt. "Let him hit you a couple of times. Don't take him out easily. Remember, they're human."

"I got it," Anthony smiles when she looks him over with appreciation. That's all he really needs to get a good mood going.

He climbs over the thick ropes tied around four metal poles that make the ring he's going to be fighting in. David finally makes an appearance and he doesn't look all that happy. In fact, he looks like he wants to get in the ring himself.

The girl with the clipboard announces that bets for this fight are now closed and starts to tell Tony and the other guy, who is built like a tank, the rules of the ring. The crowd hypes up when a couple of newcomers make their way to the front. It's the guy from the school. Ashley's not boyfriend. There's a girl on his arm that looks like a cheap Ashley knockoff.

"See that guy?" I bump David. He looks at me and then over to the guy in question. "That's Ashley's ex,"

"Ugh," he grunts. The two of us laugh. "What was she thinking?"

"My guess is that's what passes for above average here," I grin. He laughs but it doesn't change his mood in the slightest. "You good?"

"I'm good," he lies.

The fight begins and Anthony lets the guy get the upper hand for a bit to get the crowd going. It's been a while since I've seen my guys laugh and let loose like this and she's right there with them. Ashley is cheering Tony on like he's been her best friend for years. The mood is amazing here. There's no hate or resentment. There's just lust and euphoria. Two moods that describe Ashley perfectly.

"Finish him up," Kelly shouts when she gets bored and Tony f***s the kid up until there's a knockout. The crowd eats it up and they all cheer him on. They're calling him Guero. Because of his pretty blond hair. That little fucker is home.

"Before we start the next fight. We have a new contender. Anyone want the last fight of the night?" the clipboard girl shouts.

"Who's the contender?" Ashley asks. The girl looks over at her and smiles.

"King," she answers. The crowd looks over at her ex.

"I'll fight him," David raises his hand without hesitation. I look over at him and laugh.

"Yes," Tony and Kelly shout.

"That's the f*****g spirit, Baby Boy," Kelly comes over to him. "I got his two hundred right here,"

Everyone starts putting in their bets. David doesn't seem bothered by the glare he's getting from Eli, in the slightest. Rudy prepares for his fight and hands his shirt over to Tam, who kisses him before he gets over the rope. Rudy doesn't like getting hit like Tony, so he kind of dances with his guy a little before slamming him on the floor to get him to tap out.

"Want me to hold your s**t?" I ask David.

"No," he dismisses me and gets in the ring as he is.

"You want to see what this gardener can do, Principe?" Eli laughs at him.

"Oh, he's mad," Kelly chuckles. "That's a dead man,"

"Show me, b***h," David waves him forward.

"David," Rudy warns him.

Eli takes his shirt off and tosses it at the girl he was with and puts his hands up like a boxer. He takes a swing at David, who dodges and hits him with an uppercut. Then lays him out with a second hit. The crowd breaks out in ooos. He crouches down, lifting his head off the dirt.

"If you ever speak to Ashley like that again, I'm going to f*****g kill you, motherfucker," he shouts in his face and hits him one last time, knocking him out cold.

The grin on Ashley's face speaks for itself as she watches David climb out of the ring. He doesn't say anything to anyone as he walks through the crowd that's worried about the guy laid out in the dirt. She completely enjoyed that. Something happened between the three of them and it displeased David. Sweet, please stop fighting, David Espinosa lost his cool tonight. This girl is something else.

"Time to go, I guess," Kelly laughs. I give her a nod. We make our way back to the cars. Ashley holds back with her little blonde Go-Go bunny. I wait outside the truck listening to what they say to one another. That and I want her sitting between David and me so they can tell me what all that was about.

"I was serious, Ash," the girl tells her.

"Okay," Ashley nods.

"You're always going to be my first love," she adds. Ashley snorts and the girl lashes out, slapping her across the face.

"Woah," Kelly gets out of the truck but she doesn't have to. Ashley grabs the girl by her hair and puts her pocket knife to her throat.

"Don't you ever f*****g put your hands on me again, Alicia," she growls angrily. The girl looks terrified and Ashley groans, putting the knife away, but doesn't release her. She grins shaking her head. With one last once over ashe presses her lips against the girl's and then, with a shove, lets her go.

"I don't even know who the f**k you are anymore," the girl shouts at her. "Go back to your f*****g high tower, Ashley," the way she says her name sounds more like she's mocking her. "You don't belong here anymore,"

"That's gotta hurt," Kelly shakes her head.

Ashley looks her over taking out a stack of twenties and throws two of them at the girl before turning around to walk our way.

"Not as much as that," I laugh at the girl's expression. Ashley climbs into the back seat without saying a word. Kelly motions me into the car and then shuts the door when I'm seated.

"You okay?" I ask her. "Seems like you had a rough night."

"Rough night?" she laughs. "I'm having a great time. Got everything I wanted out of it."

"I had a great night too," Rudy laughs from the front seat. "We can still come back, right?"

"You can come back whenever you want. Even if Eli forbids it, what is he going to do? Call the cops?" she scoffs. There's a tap on my window. Ashley stretches over me to open it. She smells amazing and she's really, really warm. Clipboard girl hands her a brown paper bag.

"You and these crazy motherfuckers are welcome back any day, Queen," she tells Ashley with a grin. "You're moving up, Hermosa. Some people just don't like being left behind. Your guys don't gotta worry about coming down here when they want. We got you. Siempre,"

"Thanks, baby girl. We had a good time."

"Good. Cause I want you to come back. It's good for business. Take care of our Queen, ricachones. If you let her, she'll lay the world at your feet," Clipboard girl waves us goodbye and walks back to her house. Ashley opens up the paper bag and holds up a handful of hundred-dollar bills. She shoves them back into the bag and sets it down on my lap.

"There's like ten Gs in here," I tell her.

"Fifteen," she shrugs. "Welcome to Friday nights in the Southside,"

I toss the bag at Rudy. Ashley and David are sitting next to one another in silence. None of us say a word. Limp Bizkit is blasting from the radio as we head back to the dorms. We all end up on the picnic table outside of the music room. The guys are dividing up the money.

"You guys want to talk about what happened tonight?" I ask David and Ashley. Everyone gets quiet.

"Not really," he answers. She looks over at him and laughs.

"Eli called me a traitor," she answers.

"What, because you moved here?" Kelly asks. She nods.

"He tried to sicc some f*****g paisas on her," David scoffs.

"Where?" I demand. They both stay quiet. "Did you two motherfuckers leave the party?"

"s**t," Kelly looks between them. David and Ashley look at one another.

"Why the f**k did you leave?" I reach over the table to grab her arm.

"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," she looks up at me. There are tears in her eyes. "Alley told me where Eli and Lacy were and when I walked out of the house, David was the only one around. He asked me where I was going and he got in the car,"

"So you were going to start s**t by yourself?" I feel rage boiling hot in my blood.

"Yeah, but when I got there, and I saw them together. I changed my mind. I realized I had no business being there anymore. When David and I tried to leave, Lacy started talking s**t. When I dominated, Eli told us to f**k off. We went back to the house. It was like a fifteen minute f**k up. I'm sorry,"

"Is that what happened?" I ask him.

"Yeah," he nods. I let her go. She quickly pulls away from me and cradles her arm against her chest without looking over at me.

"You can't be doing that, Ashley," I tell her.

"It'll never happen again. I promise," she nods, but still doesn't look up at me. David looks down at her and laughs.

"You know what he said isn't true, right?" he asks her. She sighs and gets up to leave.

"Yeah, it is true. I turned my back on them. They don't mean s**t to me. They never really did."

"Then why are you letting it get to you?" he smirks.

"Because he was the last person I thought would do that. He was nothing when I found him. I put that f*****g crown on his head and that f*****g-" she stops herself. "It doesn't f*****g matter anyway. I'll see you in the morning. Good night guys,"

"Goodnight," everyone calls after her. We all look over at David.

"Dude, what happened?" Tony laughs.

"We showed up and this f*****g guy was sitting in a lawn chair with some cheap ripoff of Ashley on his lap. b***h had a gut. Ugly hoodrat earrings. Ash called her a ten-dollar blowy special," they all laugh as he continues the story.

"Why do they call her Queen?" Tam asks.

"She ran damage control," I tell them. "She took care of all those kids. Without her there, they're all up for grabs now. After baby boy here laid their King out the way he did. They're all going to war with each other. This works out for us. While they fight over the streets, I want to look into Chato's guys. I want to know why he's got such a hard-on for Ashley. Think you can manage?"

"Yes, sir," Kelly and Anthony nod.

"You think she's dirty?" Rudy asks.

"I did. I still do a little. I just want to make sure," I reassure them.

"I hope she's not," Tony sparks up a blunt. "She's a lot of fun,"

"To Ashley," Rudy lifts a Modelo bottle. He takes more of them out of his pockets. We all laugh, reaching for a beer.

"To Ashley," they all toast.

"To the Southside," David adds. "Who would have thought we shared interests with them?"

"Aye," the others agree. "To the Southside."