Corrupt

24. Deserving

Lucia hesitated as she raised her fist to knock on the door of her brother's apartment. It had been years since she had last seen him and that wasn't on the greatest of terms. She distinctly remembered the dismissive words he said to her and his description of her as a whore and how he- why was she here again?

She glanced behind her at Shawn and Camila, her friends whose only hope for spending the rest of their lives together was her brother. She was doing this for them, even if Jerome was a prick, who really didn't deserve her attention.

"Are you ever going to knock?" She whipped around to glare at Shawn. "Yes." He rolled his eyes, "Doesn't look like it." She lunged at him, but was stopped in her step by the sound of the door behind her opening.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" She didn't move, too scared to face the brother that had long abandoned her. "Miss?"

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she slowly turned around, head lowered to the ground before she looked up, a meek smile on her face. "Hey Jerry."

Lucia watched as her brother's eyes widened in shock, his stance falling slack as he looked at his baby sister now all grown up. "Lucy? What are you doing here?"

She shrugged, "Don't do that, you know why you're here." She tugged on Shawn's arm and pulled him forwards. "You remember this guy?"

Jerome stared at Shawn for a moment before recognition appeared on his face and nodded. "Yes, Mendes?" Shawn nodded. "How are you? I hear they're about to put you behind bars?" It seemed like casual conversation but both Shawn and Lucia could hear the taunting behind it. "Actually aren't you supposed to be there right now?"

"Maybe." He shrugged indifferently, refusing to give him that satisfaction.

"Look, why are the pair of you here?" Jerome asked, sick of the slow conversation and avoidance of the topic. They stayed silent as they considered if they should tell them what they needed if he was taunting Shawn so easily.

"Ok, fine. I'll see you some other time, maybe when this clown is behind bars." Jerome dismissed them and moved to turn back into his house, when a voice stopped him.

"Wait."

The three turned around to see Camila moving forward and in front of Shawn and Lucia. "Who are you?"

"Camila Cabello, Shawn's girlfriend."

Jerome stared in shock for a moment, before casting glances between Shawn and Camila. "You managed to get this girl to go out with you?!" Shawn nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist. "You're batting way out of your league, mate."

Shawn's eyes fixed into a stern glare while Lucia's grew in concern for the possibility of a physical fight. "Look, what do you want? I don't have all day and quite frankly I'm this close" He motioned with his fingers about a millimetre of a gap. "To calling the cops and alerting them to the fact that you're out."

Lucia and Shawn made no move to respond, questioning if this was the right move. At the lack of response, Jerome scoffed before stepping inside when Camila let go of Shawn and hurried in, the door slamming behind her.

Shawn and Lucia stepped forward and begin slamming their fist on the door. "Camila! Come back out!" Shawn cried. "Jerome, let her out." Lucia squealed, but no sign of the door being opened occurred.

Still they tried to make their way in, unaware of the conversation that was now taking place inside.
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Camila stared at Jerome as she stood in the hallway of his house. He stared back, unsure what to do as he ignored the calls of his sister and her criminal best friend. "You have a nice house." She hesitantly commented, causing a snort to escape from Jerome. "Thank you, though it is an absolute mess right now." He shrugged as he reached down and picked up a small toy. "That's 3 year olds for you."