Betrayed By My Doomed Mate

CHAPTER 14 - GHOSTS OF THE PAST

Jack wanted to accept that offer, she seemed happy to see him and quite interested in the matter of having dinner with him, but that was not the appropriate time, at least not for Jack. “Cassie, I'd love to, but it's not a good time,” he said, approaching her. She questioned him if he was busy or had an appointment, and he said yes. Jack apologized once again and walked into his apartment, watching the disappointed girl walk away. It had been a complicated day.

The next morning, Jack avoided Cassie as much as he could. He feared that she would call him for another date soon, and deep in his heart, he would rather not turn down another one. In fact, he definitely wanted another one.

Jack was more in line in the upstairs cafeteria than Kurt, who was more or less seven employees behind. The size of place was large enough to hold everyone there, and the number of tables and chairs was almost surreal. As soon as he had filled his tray, Jack nodded to Kurt, to show him where to sit, Kurt nodded positively and followed the flow of the line.

Jack, already seated at a small, empty table, was playing at rolling the noodles with his fork, waiting for his partner. He tasted the first bite and discovered that he liked noodles made with oil. On the other hand, he didn't like eggs, not at all, he even risked eating one of them, but had to take a long sip of the juice to make it go down. He ignored the salad and went on to the mashed potatoes, they were just as good as the noodles. Finally, Kurt sat down in front of her, his tray full and identical to his. “I was starving,” commented the newcomer, immediately starting to eat.

A few minutes while they were still eating, Jack was able to visualize the figure of Cassie entering the room, accompanied by an employee from another sector, whom he did not yet know. She smiled at him, who did the same. Suddenly, someone approached the table. “Look who's here. My good old friend, Jack,” the male voice said. Jack made eye contact, but he already knew who it was. “You've recovered well from that beating, huh?” the man said. Judging by his height, he must have been about three years older.

“You didn't expect me to stay all these years with that little scratch, did you, Ronan?” said Jack, taking a bite of the apple on his tray. All around, everyone was looking in his direction, as the tone was high. Cassie watched from afar. Kurt, standing next to Jack, was confused, as he didn't know Ronan.

“What are you doing here? Don't tell me you came back to New Shadow hoping to escape from yourself?” confronted Ronan. At that moment, Jack placed the rest of his apple on the table, turned around, and made eye contact, angry. He and Ronan had a history. He was surprised to see him in the company. Maybe he was one of the new additions Josh had mentioned.

“What are you here for, Ronan? They finally caught you touching each other in the trash?” debauched Jack. Without a second thought, Ronan grabbed Jack off the table and pulled him hard, pulling him out of his chair and onto the floor. Grabbing him by his sweatshirt, he lifted him and punched him hard, leaving the boy staggering around with some blood on his nose. Jack returned it just as hard, and the two of them started punching and kicking each other. Both were former mini gang members and had experience with small street fights. Ronan was older and ran the group at the time. Jack did not sympathize with him, but the past was treacherous. Like any normal person, several surrounding tables emptied and gathered in circles to observe and encourage the confrontation. Kurt, on the other hand, stepped in between the boys and shoved Jack, who let out a slight growl at his friend. Kurt rebuked him with a serious and slightly worried look. He had to push his friend to get him away from Ronan. Jack realized what he had done and gave Ronan a harder shove, giving enough time for two security guards to intervene and take Jack and Ronan out of the room, to their respective sectors. Cassie approached Kurt, “Kurt, what happened?” asked Cassie, from beside the table.

“I don't know, Cassie,” he said directly. Kurt knew that Jack disliked revealing about his past. Even though it was only a matter of time before everyone found out, as much as he could keep the secret, he would. Cassie wasn't satisfied with the answer but didn't take the conversation any further.

Jack was taken to the department responsible for internal problems. Ronan was in another room. A sermon had been heard until Josh appeared in the room and told Jack the news. The company had entered a program for rehabilitated and former troublemakers. That justified the issue of Ronan being in the company. It was not a good thing. As he left the room, Josh introduced him to two members of the program, Wallace and Martin.

“Hey, aren't you the person who fought with Ronan earlier?” asked Wallace, approaching and greeting him, after noticing the slight bruises on Jack's face. The line caught Martin's attention.

“I thought Ronan fought with an ex-gangster. Are you an ex-gangster?” he asked, curious. “I crashed my car while driving drunk without a license. The police caught me and saw that I already had some questionable histories. Anyway, I'm here now,” Martin said nonchalantly.

“I got caught with drugs,” said Wallace. “I and some guys were selling a lot. If he was really hanging out with Ronan, he must have used something of mine,” he finished proudly.

Jack sighed, realizing that there was no way he could run away from the situation forever. “I met Ronan by chance. At the time, I was in a more aggressive phase, so I started hanging out with him. Burning trash cans, using drugs, starting fights, and such. At some point, I had to give it a rest. I am where I am now,” confessed Jack.

Suddenly, a young man approached them. Jack recognized him immediately. “Holy shit, it's you. Come here, give me a hug, buddy,” said the man approaches, Jack joined in. In Jack's past, if he could have used the word friend it would have been with Evan, he was the only member of the gang who had a bit of reasoning and sense. The day Ronan was going to mess with the puppies, Evan was purposely not there. After he had been beaten, Jack didn't know about him, but since he hadn't seen him anymore, he assumed he was in jail. “I knew you would succeed. You were trouble,” he laughed. Jack felt a good feeling about that. As much as he would have to deal with Ronan around, he would have an old friend helping him. Evan hated Ronan too. It only gave Jack time to welcome Jack back to the office until Josh reappeared and told him to get back to work.