Reunited | Dally's Little Sister

twenty five

Chapter 25

Sage P.O.V.

Something inside Dal snapped after I told him about Mark. To my surprise, he didn't blame me for anything, but I wasn't about to be the only Winston with blood on their hands. Dally explained everything to the guys and Darry made it clear that I wasn't to leave the house without someone with me. In all honesty, I had zero intensions to walk out that door any time soon.

Tim had come over later that afternoon so Dal could tell him to keep an eye out for the guy. Before he left, he came over and put a hand on my shoulder, "We won't let him get near you. He is a dead man walking." And then left.

Dal sat down next to me and said, "Between Shepard's gang and ours, he isn't going to be breathing much longer." All I could do was nod my head at this point. Everyone had seemed to calm down at this point besides my brother. Mickey was on TV and had captured the attention of Two-bit while Soda and Steve argued over a card game.

Darry was called into work and told us all to stay inside tonight. He was more stressed out than usual, but I guess that happens when an old murderer is trying to go after a new one. I shook my head at that thought and saw Dal look at me out of the corner of his eye. He seemed to be just as caught up in his head as I am in mine.

Mark knew I would come here because of my brother. I knew this place and had a home waiting for me, which made his search for me pretty simple. He used to make rash decisions without worrying about the repercussions of them. Which made me wonder why he would go through the trouble of trying to join a gang if he only wanted to kill me.

My mind drifted back to the poor pizza boy and how he reacted to that. What if he saw me with Soda? Or any of the guys for that matter? It's not only me that isn't safe, it's all of us. God, what would happen if one of the boys got hurt because I led my psycho ex here? I know Tim and Dal think they have it handled, but they don't know Mark like I do. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And at this point, I have no idea what that even is.

I jumped when I felt a hand touch my cheek. Soda was standing over me with a concerned look. "Darlin you need to get out of that pretty little head of yours. Come play cards with us." I went to say no, but the pleading in his eyes made me give in. He pulled me off the couch and led me to the kitchen table with Steve who was drinking a beer. "You here to get your ass whopped, Sage?" He gave me his crooked tooth grin which made me chuckle at the sight. "You wish."

For the rest of the night, the three of us played cards while Two-bit was glued to the TV. Dal had left at some point and I figured he went back to Buck's. Pony and Johnny made it back a few minutes before Darry walked through the door. They knew they were cutting it close and avoided the rest of us so we wouldn't accidentally rat them out to Darry. The rest of that night I was able to push Mark out of my head and enjoy this time with my family.

-

I woke up on the couch the next morning to Dally baring in the door. I looked at the clock and saw it was not even 7am. I put my head under the pillow to drown out his stomping. He came over and ripped the pillow out of my hands and slapped my cheek, "Wake up, stupid." I turned over and went to swing at his face, but he saw it coming and grabbed my arm before it hit him.

He chuckled as Darry came walking out of his room. "No fighting inside." I snatched my arm back from his grip and mumbled, "I have no issues going outside." Dal ruffled my hair and stood up before I could try and hit him again.

I sat up on the couch and watched Dal plop himself on the recliner with a ghost of a smile on his face. "What the hell as you so damn cheery this morning? It's annoying." He smirked at me as Soda came rushing into the living room, trying to find his work shirt.

Steve walked through the door with Two-bit on his heels, both coming to sit down on the tiny couch with me. I glared at Two-bit when he shoved me over some and he held up his hands, "Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?" I nodded over to my brother, "His annoying ass."

Dal still had that stupid smirk on his face when he said, "Soc's called for a rumble last night. Said this Friday at the lot. No weapons." That got all of them riled up. I had to walk into the kitchen to get away from all the yelling and hollering about how they are going to kick some rich kid's asses.

I pushed myself up onto the counter and Darry handed me a piece of toast. "There is some coffee in the pot if you want some." I nodded my head and thanked him. He chuckled at the boys making a fool of themselves in the living room.

As much as Darry hated fighting, he loved rumbles. I looked over to him and saw him smiling with less tension in his shoulders than normal. While I wanted nothing to do with the rumbles, the guys lived for them. And I know for sure my brother is going to let some anger out with everything that is going on. They are lucky it is only a skin fight. Dal and Tim would cause some serious harm.

The three working boys had left along with Pony and Johnny who went to school. Soda gave me a kiss on the cheek and a wink when he ran out the door, causing Dal to gag. Two-bit should've gone with them but wanted to stay home. Something about him feeling like he was actually learning something while he was there and wanted to put a stop to it.

Maybe next year I'll go back to school and try to do something with my life. It was too late in the year to start now, and I couldn't see myself doing any good with this Mark situation.

I was back on the couch with Two-bit sitting on the ground with a beer and slice of cake in front of him. Dal asked what I wanted to do today. I shrugged my shoulders, "Nothing legal."

He gave me a sly smirk and finished his beer. "That's what I like to hear." The three of us left the house and headed down the road to see what trouble we could get into. Little did we know that we didn't have to try hard to find it.