Sneaking Out

They're Back: Pt.3

**Ashley's POV**

I kept egging Luke on to tell me what he was on planning telling me, but it seemed like he couldn't quite make it out without whispering or staring off into space.

"Luke? Are you going to tell me, or not?" I asked him as I waved my hand in his face. He looked at me with pity. I shot him back a confused look as he tried to speak up.

"You won't hate me, will you?" Luke asked quietly. I then brought my hand up to his cheek and stared into his eyes. Luke then took my hand in his and left a small kiss on it. He never let go of my hand as he spoke up. "I used to do bad things before I met you."

"What kind of bad things?" I cautiously asked him. Luke then averted his gaze to a blank wall. Before he could talk again, I made him look straight at me. "Luke, look at me. I want to know. I won't hate you. Nothing you say or do will change how I feel about you." He then looked at me, a small smile spreading across his face.

"You're so understanding. It kills me that I have to tell you this now, but I have to to let you know why were in this mess." Luke said. I then stared right into his eyes and sent him a look to go on. "To shorten things up, my brothers and I were all in a drug-selling gang. That's all we would do. The money was great and all but the dirtiness of it and all the unlawful things we did made us want to leave that business behind. So, my brothers left the group and so did I. You're in this mess to because they think that you persuaded me to leave them. "

"Well, you're done with that stuff now, right?" I questioned him. He then nodded his head up and down. "So, is that how you have all that money? What if you run out of it? Would you have to deal...drugs again?" I asked warily. Luke quickly shook his head 'no'.

"That's what I wanted to tell you. After we get out of here, I'm going to try and get a stable job. Skylar and I don't think we'll be staying at our house anymore. Our parents are too far gone to pay attention. So, we're going to rent a small apartment until you and I finish high school." Luke spoke more softly now. I saw James stir in his small bed from the corner of my eye. We both froze quickly as James sat up.

"If you two are planning to escape, count me in. Hearing you guys talk about all this stuff is making me want to have the courage to ditch my sorry ass dad." James spoke suddenly. He then stood up and turned a small flash light on towards our direction. "If I turn on the main light, they'll know something's up. They have night guards." James spoke again.

I then took a glance at Luke. He displayed a weird facial expression that looked like he was questioning James' actions and words. Before James caught Luke's stare, I lightly slapped Luke's bare leg.

"What? I don't trust him." Luke whispered to me. It looked liked James went to the bathroom as his bed was unoccupied.

"Luke. he might be our only chance to get out of here. I talked to him for a while and it seemed like he wants to get out of here as bad as we do. Just imagine being here for years, not knowing what to do, and we could be his only hope too. Just think about it," I said to him.

James emerged from the bathroom and handed me a pair of shoes as Luke spoke.

"You don't have any shoes and these are my smallest pair." I quickly thanked him and swiftly slid them over my cold feet.  

"Hey babe, can I talk to you in the bathroom real quick?" Luke questioned. I agreed and followed him as he led the way.

As we entered the small room, Luke close the door and switched the faint light on.

"What's wrong?" I asked Luke. He looked upset with a small frown on his face.

"Ashley, I love you so much and I don't know what I would do to myself if anything happened to you. I have a plan that would get James and you out, but not me-"