ok lmao double (triple?) update tonight because i feel bad for not posting the chapters when we're so close to the end
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Marcel quietly follows Bryce and the others. He's maybe halfway out the door when he hears voices outside the door.

“They're here, right? Or was it..." The voice is painfully familiar.

“Well yeah, Brock said they would be. He's not much of a liar," a second one replies, Irish accent giving away his identity.

Marcel freezes in place. What the fuck were they doing here?! Brian and Scotty have no reason to be here, much less actually come inside!

"Marcel? What's wrong?" Bryce's voice is quiet and concerned. He pulls lightly on Marcel's shirt, silently urging him to keep moving.

Marcel responds by looking around the tiny hallway they were in, and then pushing Bryce into the bathroom with the others. "You guys need to go," he whispers. "It's- it's some people I know. They mean business. I'll go distract them, okay?"

Though Bryce seems hesitant, Jon and Ryan both nod and pull Bryce closer. Marcel closes the door behind him as he leaves. It's for the better if Brian and Scotty don't find them at all, he decides.

Marcel barely has time to compose himself and walk into the living room before the door breaks open, revealing Brian and Scotty.

The looks on their faces were kinda funny, actually. They probably thought that he was dead. Marcel grins at them, holding his arms as if waiting for a hug. "Hey bitches! Long time no see, huh? Last time we spoke we were on our road trip! How are my two best friends holding up?"

"We're good, we're good," Brian hums, glancing around the apartment. "Just dropping by, looking for a few people. You seen t'ose two kids Brock was keeping tabs on?" He pulls out a knife, immediately setting Marcel on edge.

Marcel doesn't miss the way Scotty's hand goes to his gun, either. He shrugs in response to Brian's question, calmly crossing his arms. "No, I was a bit more concerned with surviving after you bitches left me for dead. But that doesn't matter right now."

Brian looks bitter, Scotty's got this guilty look on his face. Marcel sees Brian move close to the bathroom,  he also sees Scotty pull his gun out. He expected this.

What he didn't expect, however, was for Ryan to come bursting out of the bathroom, slamming a broomstick into Brian's face. He then punches Brian in the jaw, making Marcel cringe at the crack that sounds out.

He gives Scotty a look, narrowing his eyes. Scotty doesn't have the guts to shoot him and Marcel knows this. So he takes advantage of this, obviously. All it took was two punches and Scotty was knocked out on the floor.

He grabs hold of a shocked Bryce, and gestures for Jon and Ryan to follow.  The three of them are quick to leave the apartment building entirely, instead wandering the streets.

Ryan looks around, as if afraid someone would eavesdrop, and then looks back to Marcel. "Um... I'm sorry, but who the fuck were they and what was that about?!"

Marcel looks at them, then sighs. "Old friends, except we're not really friends. They... They're in a gang. Brock's gang, to be exact."

The lack of surprise on their faces amuses Marcel. It didn't really surprise him either.