Remember Me | A Steve Randle Fanfiction

Chapter 38 | Hidden

🌻Juliana's POV🌻

Once Steve had calmed me down, we went back into the living room. Everyone was looking at me.

"Are you alright?" Dally asked. I chuckled.

"No. Not one bit. After what she did to me, I don't think I'll ever be alright." It had been a while since my kidnapping, of course, but I still had the scars. My burn marks had scarred a little, and they were nasty too. I looked awful, but at least I looked better than I did when I came home that day. 

Dally walked over to me and laid his hands on my shoulders. God, he was tall. I felt like I was gonna break my neck looking up at him.

"You're safe, alright? You've got us to protect you. Most importantly you've got Steve. He'll kill the next person that messes with you. You don't have to worry about a thing. You're not gonna get hurt again, okay? Trust me." There was that word again. Trust. Could I really trust anybody, to be honest? I mean, who's to say the gang won't turn against me one of these days and try to hurt me? I mean, with everything else that's happened, who's to say this won't either?

"Alright," I said, not wanting to show him that I was being a little hesitant. I knew that if I was hesitant about trusting the gang, it would hurt their feelings, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. Honestly, I was terrified inside. I prayed to God that Evie wouldn't get to me before the cops could get to her.

We stayed on guard for hours, and none of us left the house. No one went in, no one went out. The doors were locked and the boys stayed by almost every window while Steve and I stayed in the dining room. But then, we heard the sound of the doorknob jiggling, and we saw the lock slowly start to turn. It was being picked. Evie.

"Bedroom. Now." Soda said in a hurry, leading both of us to his and my room. Darry stayed by the phone, calling 911. Johnny and Dally were guarding the back windows and Two-Bit and Ponyboy were guarding the other couple windows in the house. Soda took Steve and me into the attic, and we put a heavy box on top of the trap door, keeping it closed. I was terrified, and it was obvious. Steve held me close and kept his arms around me tight. We sat in the bean bag farthest from the door, while Soda sat on the other one. He just watched movies, very casual. He was never awkward around us. He loved being around us.

"Don't worry, baby," Steve whispered in my ear when he noticed I was holding back sobs, "I'm gonna protect you, at all costs. I'll be damned if I let you get hurt again." He always knew how to make me smile, no matter how bad the situation was.

That one good moment was ruined when we heard yelling, and several loud thuds. With that many thuds...there was no way things could be under control down there. 

"Juliana!" I heard Evie yell. "I know you're in this house. All of your little friends are down. They're not dead, but they're down, and they'll be that way for a good while. Give yourself up now, before I have to find you myself. If I have to find you, then I'm gonna make it a hundred times worse on you. I'll make it where Steve won't have you as a choice! He used to be mine...mine! We were so happy before you came along. You took him away from me. He loved me!" Steve rolled his eyes. "Then you, Little Miss Perfect had to show up and manipulate him into leaving me for you!"

"You're manipulating?" Steve muttered, his head on mine. "She's the manipulator." Luckily, he was being quiet enough where she couldn't hear him. We had the TV down really low too.

"You ruined my relationship. You ruined my life! Now I'm gonna take the life you have instead of trying to make it worse. I'm just going to eliminate it altogether!" I really hoped she wouldn't find us. We'd just have to stay hidden until the cops come.