Danger; Shawn Mendes Edition

46

Kelsey's Point of View:

"Manny..." Karen began but was soon cut off.

"Didn't I tell you, you were forbidden in this house?" Manny stared at Shawn in such disgust, it made my heart shatter.

Shawn seemed to be rendered speechless at this point because he didn't say a word. Instead, he stared at his father in complete shock.

"Dad..." James mumbled, feeling the tension build up amongst us all.

Manny, however, ignored us all. "What do you think you're doing in this household?"

Shawn licked his lips. "Visiting my family. What do you think?"

"Family?" Manny laughed. "What family?" He gestured all around him with open arms. "I don't see your family around here." Shaking his head, he scowled. "As far as I'm concerned you're nothing to us."

"Manny!" Karen yelled; her voice stern. "Don't you dare refer to us all in that manner. He is my son—our son!"

"Not to me, he isn't! After he became some thug, all respect had gone out the window." Manny yelled. "And the death of your sister was the final straw." He stuck a finger into Shawn's chest.

"Don't bring Aaliyah into this!" Shawn spat.

"Why not? It's not like she's here to stop it!" Manny barked back. "You're the reason she's dead!"

"Manny, enough!" Karen cried.

"I told you to leave and never come back, that was meant to be forever. I never once said I wanted to see your face again years from then."

Shawn's chest moved up and down in anger, his face red, fists clutched at his side. "I know it was a mistake coming here." Grabbing my hand, Shawn pulled me up. "Come on Kelsey, we're going." Pushing past Manny, Shawn began making his way to the door.

"Do you see what you do?" Karen hissed. "He's our son, Manny!"

Shawn abruptly stopped, the cries of his mother filling his ears and I knew that he didn't want to leave her behind. "You know what?" Shawn sneered, his eyes narrowed. "I'm not leaving." He shook his head. "Not until you hear me out anyways."

Dropping my hand, Shawn walked over to Manny as I followed close behind.

"I know you hate me..." Shawn shook his head. "Trust me, I hate me too... but it wasn't my fault."

"Nothing ever is." his dad hissed.

"Let him finish." James cut in for the first time and each of us turned to face him in shock. He ignored our gazes, keeping his attention on Shawn. "Go on." He encouraged. "We're listening."

I smiled softly in thanks. That's all Shawn ever needed. To be heard.

Shawn licked his lips, nodding. "I fucked up. I fucked up big time and I know that night Aaliyah died, it looked bad... but you have to understand, if I knew she was following me that night, I wouldn't have gone in the first place."

I bit my lip, feeling all the emotions he felt inside of me.

"When I realized she was inside the warehouse that night, my heart practically leaped out of my chest. I knew something could go wrong and I told her to leave. She didn't listen and I'm not saying it's her fault because I should have just taken her out of there myself... but," He shook his head. "I froze when I heard someone walk in." Shawn gulped.

Confusion tinted Manny's brown eyes.

"It was Macallen. Macallen Devino... he had the warehouse wired down and there was no way out. If either of us moved, he would tear us apart with just one click of a button. I tried to talk him out of it but he's ruthless. There was no getting inside his head. He didn't even care that I was going to lose someone that I loved as long as he looked like some big tough guy in the end..." Tears whelmed up in his eyes. "I tried to think of so many ways I could have gotten her out so she could live and I would die." The tension slowly died down but the emotions were running high. "That's all I cared about," Shawn continued, "keeping her alive. I didn't even care about myself."