In Too Deep

Sixteen

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To put it nicely, it was a complete mess. The building standing in front of them looked aged. From outside, the windows were cracked, some shattered and there were stained on the cracked ones. It was the only building on the street that had this eerie and sinister feeling to it. The paint had worn off and a few cracks coated over it.

"Uh, is this the right place?"

His stare drilled holes into her face, and yet, she wouldn't allow herself to look at him. "You kidding me, right?" Sarcasm, she recognised and supposed she deserved.

Nova stared back at him. "What? Look at this place. It looks empty!" Her voice was pitched high.

"What do you think you were going to see? A large billboard sign that says 'GANG' lives here, or a mansion?"

Irritation struck, slicing right down her backbone and bringing her to brush her hair out of her face casually. "Of course not. I'm not stupid."

He snorted. "Could have fooled me."

If he noticed the annoyance she was giving off, then he chose to ignore it, preferring to divert his attention away from her to guide one of his hands under his seat before he pulled out his gun, checking to see how many bullets he had left before he rose a bit, his hands disappearing behind him to stick the gun in his jeans.

She didn't even bother to remark on his comment, realising that it may drift past to an argument they didn't have time for. Instead, she turned her eyes back on the abandoned building. "We should go check it out."

"Here we go again with the we." He turned, keeping one hand on the wheel. "Let me ask you a simple question. Do you know how to shoot a gun? How to defend yourself? Are you skilled in fighting? If you can do one of those things, then I can accept the we part."

Her lips parted to speak, but he was suddenly cut her off before she could tell him to fuck off, that the second she got inside his car, they were in it together.

"No, not another word out of you. I made the stupid decision to bring you with me, but do not think I'm going to make another by letting you walk in there."

Although sceptical of his intention to keep her out of the loop that had nothing to do with her safety, Nova didn't feel offended but worrisome over a small fact that she conveyed, "What if it's a trap?" she asked with some exasperation, knowing that it wouldn't change anything as Ghost's eyes fixed on her, his brows rising, and she shrugged. "I just don't want your friends to think that I planned this to kill you."

"Did you?" His eyes were too sharp–and so was his smirk.

Her lips didn't curl from the accusation she knew was harmless. Clearly, she thought, he didn't think her capable. But then, neither was she. "If I were going to kill you, I wouldn't make someone do it. I would look you in the eye and pull the trigger," she gave up with a snort.

"But we both know you won't do that." His voice was a matter of fact. She couldn't read his expression, but she realised from his tone that he genuinely believed what he was saying. Then, he turned to open the door.

"Wait!" Her hand shot out to touch his arm, halting him from getting out the car. "Should you go in?" A sense of worry and unease coloured her voice as she met his gaze. "I mean, we don't know what to expect, and if you die in there, I would like to remember that I at least tried to stop you. Maybe we should call for backup."

"No." He picked her hand from his arm and dropped it. "We're here to check it out, remember?"

Nova couldn't help but grin in amusement. "You said we. You're kind of a hypocrite, Ghost."