Arriving home, Lauren pulled into the garage and watched the door close behind her in the rearview mirror. Shutting the car off, she pushed the car door open and stepped out, hearing the flip-flops she wore echoing in the quiet room.

Turning toward the car, she let out an annoyed groan when she realized she left the top down and couldn't be bothered to raise it now. After only having about half of her milkshake before and even less of her food, all she wanted was to go up to her room and eat the newly purchased ice cream she bought on the way home.

With that thought in mind, she slipped the car keys in the front pocket of the jean shorts she was wearing, then leaned across the driver seat to grab the ice cream bag and the school supplies she had purchased.

Straightening up, her eyes landed on the old van tucked and covered in the corner. It was the only other vehicle in the garage at the moment since both of her parent's cars were missing- which shouldn't have surprised her. They seemed even more busy than usual lately.

She didn't even realize she was walking across the room until she found herself in front of the van. Reaching out she pulled up the protective car cover some and felt a small smile appear on her face as her eyes landed on the soft blue and white faded paint.

She had a lot of fun in that van over the summer- at least until the first week of July when her parents came back from their trip. Afterwards she didn't get to use it as much since it was harder to sneak it out, meaning she was forced to meet up with Sweet Pea in different places and catch rides from him since it wasn't like he could roll up to her 10,000 square foot, stone house when they had plans to hang out.

She always felt bad having to lie to him each time he picked her up and asked about the van. Most of the time she used the excuse that she didn't have money for gas, since the one time she claimed it was broken down, he offered to fix it for her. She brushed off the offer and instead tossed out her own offer- first round of beer on her, then dragged him over to the pool tables for a friendly game to distract him.

Reaching out, she lightly ran her fingertips across the front of the van, her finger tracing the VW symbol as a frown appeared on her face. She remembered the last time she was able to use the van, it was only a couple of weeks ago.

As luck would have it, her parents had to attend some charity event and would be gone overnight. She didn't waste time as she jumped into the van and drove to the Whyte Wyrm to see her friends- and more importantly- spend time with Sweet Pea.

- Flashback -

After pulling into the packed parking lot of the Wyrm, she struggled to find an open spot until she pulled around behind the building and parked off to the side near the back entrance. She had just turned off the vehicle and stepped out into the warm night, when the back door slammed open, causing her to jump before she noticed Sweet Pea and Fangs walking out carrying a keg of beer.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" she called out as they walked past her without even seeing her.

Sweet Pea's steps didn't falter as he and Fangs continued to walk toward his old, beat up, pickup truck. Glancing at her for a moment, he saw her walking along behind them and gave her a quick nod, followed by a grunt in greeting.

After loading the keg into the truck, he slammed the tailgate shut and nodded at Fangs who called out he would be back, then took off back inside the bar. Now alone, Sweet Pea turned toward her, giving her his undivided attention.

With a smirk on his face, he took a couple of steps toward her and placed his hands on her hips before leaning down to give her a proper greeting. She couldn't stop a quiet chuckle from escaping her lips before her arms wound around his neck and she raised up on her tiptoes to kiss him back. The kiss was quick, but like all of his kisses, it still left her breathless.

"Hi," she whispered when he pulled back a bit to look at her.

"Hi," he said back, his tone matching hers. He brushed a lock of hair that escaped her low ponytail behind her ear, his fingertips lightly brushed her cheek. "This is a surprise. I didn't think I would see you tonight."

"Good surprise though, right?" She playfully narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hmm," he hummed while scrunching up his face as if in deep thought.

"Hey!" She slapped at one of his arms that had wrapped around her waist during their brief kiss. "The next words out of your mouth better be good or there'll be hell to pay, Sweetie Pie."

With a laugh, he ran a hand up her back to grab her ponytail to tug on it, causing her head to tilt up more toward him. He leaned down again, his lips barely brushed against hers, before he quietly said, "It's a great surprise, Bright Eyes."

"That's better, punk," she teased and pulled back when he went to kiss her.

"Come here." He laughed as he quickly caught her bottom lip between his teeth, giving it a nibble and causing her to let out a low moan.

After that one noise, the mood changed and neither one was in the mood for jokes anymore- it was like a floodgate had opened and suddenly they couldn't get enough of each other as their mouths came together for a heated kiss.

Lauren was back on her tiptoes again with one hand resting over his beating heart while the other was laid draped around his shoulder as she tried to keep up with his hurried pace. When she felt him slip a hand into the back pocket of the shorts she was wearing to grip her ass, she let out a groan, giving him better access to slip his tongue into her mouth to brush against hers.

As much as she never wanted this kiss to end, she knew she had to when it felt like her lungs were about to explode. She pulled in a deep breath and smiled when she felt his hand leave her back pocket and slip under the loose fitted tank top she was wearing, causing goosebumps to form as his fingertips lightly danced across her skin.

"You know, you never did answer my question before." She bit her swollen bottom lip and fought the urge to kiss him again.

"Which question was that?" he asked, trying to remember anything that came out of her mouth before his lips were attached to them.

"What are you two up to tonight?" she asked with a grin when she saw him watching her chest rapidly rise and fall as she tried to catch her breath.

"Oh, right, that." He pulled his eyes away from her chest to look at her. For a moment all other plans escaped his mind other than the naughty ones he wanted to do with her after that kiss.
Pushing those thoughts aside for now, he added, "Kase texted earlier. There's a huge party going on in Due West tonight."

"And the keg?" She nodded her head toward it.

"It's a BYOB party."

"Ah. It all makes sense now."

"Mmhm," he hummed as he moved his hand from her back to rest on her side, slightly below her ribcage. "And what are you up to tonight?"

"I dunno. You tell me," she sassed back, causing him to chuckle as he remembered all the other times over the summer she answered him the same way.

"I say you're coming with us to the big cornfield party," he answered- like he did every other time when he suggested for her to tag along or just come up with plans for them- anything to ensure he was able to spend time with her.

"Cornfield? Seriously? That's creepy, dude." She groaned. "Did you forget a couple of months ago when we saw 'Children of the Corn' at the Drive-In?"

"Oh, I didn't forget." He smirked. "Just like I didn't forget that we barely watched that movie before moving to the back of your van."

"True." She giggled, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink as she thought about the things they did that night in the van.
Getting back to the subject, she added, "But, I do remember the bits we did see were scary and convinced me to never go to a cornfield."

"You know, in the original story it was the adults who were murdered, so we'll be fine. Well, I mean, as long as we stay away from 'He Who Walks Behind the Rows'," he teased, saying the last part in a low, scary voice.

"Stop!" She slapped his stomach with a laugh. "That doesn't make me feel better."

"I'm kidding!" He took a step back and held up his hands to block in case she slapped him again. "But seriously, you should come. It'll be fun."

"Who else is going?"

"You mean other than me?" He motioned toward himself and pretended to be insulted by her question. "It shouldn't matter, because we both know I'm the only one you really wanna spend time with."

"Aww, Sweetie Pie, that's what I let you believe," she joked as she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face, letting her know he was kidding. "Well, if you must know, Fangs will be there, of course. As well as several other younger Serpents, and Kasey is already there."

"Hmm," she hummed but chose to say nothing else when his blonde bestie was mentioned.

She had finally met the sassy Serpent a couple of weeks after hanging out with Sweet Pea at the start of the summer and it was clear from the very beginning that the blonde was not a fan of her.

Lauren had no idea what her problem with her was, as far as she knew she had never done anything to Kasey, but that didn't stop her snide remarks or her rolling her eyes just about anytime Lauren said anything. But, with Kasey being his best friend she couldn't really say anything- the last thing she wanted to do was cause any drama and make Kasey hate her worse than she already did. She had a feeling you wouldn't wanna get on Kasey Kersey's bad side.

"What about Toni?" Lauren asked.

"She has to work," Sweet Pea answered.

"Yep, unfortunately." They heard a familiar voice say, causing them both to turn their heads to see Toni and Fangs standing off to the side of the truck.

While Fangs sat a cardboard box holding a few bottles of liquor into the bed of the truck, Lauren walked over to Toni to hug her and tell her she wished she could come to the party.

"I wish I could go too," Toni said back, then added with her voice low for only Lauren to hear, "But even if I was off, Mom has a follow-up appointment tomorrow and I wanted to be there for her."

A few weeks prior, Toni's mother had a health scare, not wanting to burden her friends she kept it to herself until one night Lauren caught her crying in the bathroom at the Whyte Wyrm.

After comforting her, Toni finally confessed what was going on and Lauren remained by her side through all the test and doctor's appointments her mother had to go to. She was also there the day they got the call to reveal the test came back normal and her mother appeared to be healthy. The experience brought the two closer together and Toni would never forget how Lauren had her back in a time she needed it the most.

"Did you need me to go with you?" Lauren asked. "I'll bag on the party if you need me-"

"No, it's fine," Toni cut her off with a wave of the hand. "Plus, after Fangs come in and told me you were here, I put in a bottle of Jack and Coke just for you. I might have even added in a small jar of cherries."

"You are too good to me, T." Lauren smiled as she gave her friend another hug.

"It's what we do for our kind," Toni pointed out. "And you are one of us, Renny."

No matter how hard she tried, Lauren couldn't keep a smile off of her face. All she ever wanted was to find a place where she belonged; she never really felt it in her empty and cold home or with her childhood friends who only knew the version of her that wasn't real.

She had worried before that she would never find a place where she could be herself- all the broken and imperfect pieces- and still be accepted. It was her fear that she would never be comfortable in her own life, but that fear went away months ago when she first walked into the Whyte Wyrm and met Toni, Fangs- and especially- Sweet Pea.

"Now you better go." Nodding toward the boys, Toni added, "I think the boys are getting antsy."

"So you are going?" Sweet Pea questioned her after hearing Toni's comment.

"Yeah, I'm going." She laughed when he let out a loud holler in celebration.

She began to laugh even harder when he jogged over to her and tossed her over his shoulder before walking over to the truck. She grabbed onto the door of the truck and called out for him to wait before he could shove her inside.

"I need my phone. I left it in the van."

Sitting her in the passenger seat, he said, "Wait here. I'll grab it."

"Thanks. It's in the passenger seat," she called out as he raced across the parking lot to the vehicle to grab the device.

As he walked back over to the truck, he heard the phone ding with a new text message. He cocked his head to the side, his curiosity getting to him as he wondered who she was text messaging and what had they been talking about.

Making it back to the truck, he handed her the phone and saw her look at the text message and quickly text something back before locking the screen while they waited for Fangs to finish talking to Toni. He told himself not to say anything, to just put it out of his mind, but even after thinking about it, he couldn't stop his mouth for opening.

"Who's 'J-III' and just how many 'J's do you know?"

Realizing he had looked at her phone, she playfully rolled her eyes as she slipped the phone into her back pocket. "None of your business, Nosy Nancy."

When she saw his jaw clench and his eyes slightly narrowing before he took a step back from her, she let out a chuckle and grabbed onto the plaid shirt he had on over another t-shirt and pulled him back toward her.

"Chill, Pea, it's Jughead."

"Jones? FP's son?"

"Yeah." She nodded her head.

"Huh," he huffed. "I didn't realize you two knew each other."

Even if his father was over the Southside Serpents, Jughead didn't come around much- Sweet Pea could never understand why, unless he thought he was too good for the Southside. He mostly steered clear of their part of town and stuck close to his Northside friends. He never realized she even met Jughead, much less be on speaking terms with him.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Pea," she said with a teasing smile.

"I guess I don't," he scoffed, his tone sounding more bitter than he meant.

"Sweet Pea-"

"I'm gonna grab Fangs so we can hit the road," he cut off her soft tone, not in the mood to hear whatever was going to be said. Over the summer he thought they had really started to open up to each other- or at least he had- but now he began to wonder if he even knew her at all.

He ignored the surprised look on her face and walked over to Fangs as Toni was walking back to the building to get back to work. He tossed the keys to his friend, informing him that he was driving, then walked back to the truck. He made a quick stop at the back and grabbed a bottle of liquor from the box. He couldn't wait until they arrived at the party to have a drink, he needed one now.

Walking back over to the passenger side, he jerked his head to the side, motioning for Lauren to slide over before sitting down and slamming the door shut.

After starting the truck, Fangs glanced over at Lauren and raised his eyebrows, as if asking her what Sweet Pea's problem was. She rolled her eyes and gave him a short shrug, her way of saying she didn't really know and she wasn't happy about it.

She watched Sweet Pea turn up the bottle from the corner of her eye and let out a low sigh. It was going to be a long ride to Due West.

•••

Close to an hour later, the trio rolled into the other town, then another twenty minutes after that, they made it to the huge cornfield where the party was taking place.

Lauren was happy to see all the corn stalks were cut down and the whole field was open- yet crowded with a couple hundred of teenagers standing around. Most had different color glow sticks around their necks or wrist for light, while some just left the lights on their vehicles to see better in the darkness.

Fangs parked the truck in the first available spot on the outside of the field in a wooded area behind a huge tree. As soon as he turned the truck off, Sweet Pea was out of the door and Lauren was out right after him. She turned away from him to stretch after being in the truck for so long and to answer Fangs who asked her if she wanted a drink. She turned back around to see if Sweet Pea wanted anything, then let out a scoff when she noticed he was already gone.

While Fangs got the keg going, she made herself a drink, then reassured him several times she would be okay while he went to mingle.

For the first thirty minutes or so, she stuck close to the truck and kept refilling her cup. After the first few drinks when her brain started to get hazy, she lost track of Sweet Pea and debated on trying to find him, then quickly told herself no- she wasn't going to chase some guy around. If he wanted to talk, he knew where to find her.

That all sounded great to her until two more drinks later when she found herself stumbling around looking for the tall Serpent with the dark hair and eyes that made her heart beat wildly in her chest. She accidentally bumped into a few people and even spoke to a few guys before politely excusing herself. Somehow she even ended up with a few more drinks before she bumped into someone she knew- unfortunately that person was Kasey.

Holding back a groan at her luck, she flashed the blonde a smile. "Have you seen Sweet Pea?"

"Yeah, just follow the scent of desperation," Kasey answered with a tilt of her head.

"Huh?" Lauren asked in confusion until Kasey rolled her eyes and pointed off to the side where Sweet Pea was surrounded by a group of giggly girls.

She tried not to let the scene in front of her bother her, but every time he laughed at something one of them said or anytime the leggy redhead closest to him would touch his arm, she felt rage building in her chest. She clenched her fist, feeling her fingernails dig into her skin, but the pain did nothing to lessen the anger she was feeling.

"Pretty pathetic, huh?" Kasey huffed from beside her as they both watched the redhead run her hand up his arm and rest it on his shoulder before leaning closer to him. "It's pretty sad that not one of those girls can tell he's not interested."

"Wait, he's not?" Lauren questioned, the roaring in her ears and the liquor dulling her senses almost made her miss the comment. "How do you know?"

"Maybe because I've known him all my life," Kasey said with a hint of attitude. "Trust me, if he wanted one of those girls, he would have already pulled her off to the side and got the job done. He doesn't waste his time when there's something he wants."

"Huh," Lauren mumbled as she thought about what she said, then thought about their time together since she knew him.

They've hung out since June, and here they were, the first week of August and now that she really thought about it, she didn't know where she stood with him.
According to Kasey, he moved pretty fast, yet it was close to a week before he even kissed her and another week after that before they had sex- which she had to initiate both times- so, why didn't he move fast with her?

Before she could dwell on that question too much longer, Kasey began to speak again, grabbing her attention. "Although, it's even more pathetic not knowing when to walk away, don't you think?"

She didn't wait for Lauren to respond, "SP is a one and done kinda man, and he doesn't ever do relationships. Some girls figure that out pretty quick, but others are just a little too slow."

Lauren opened her mouth, but no sound came out. To be honest she didn't know what she could say back- that was the problem with not knowing, she had no way to fight back against the comment.

Kasey's lips curled up in a grin when she saw the look on Lauren's face. She could tell the brunette was in deep thought about what was going on between herself and Sweet Pea, and she was satisfied in knowing she put those thoughts in her mind.

With a sickeningly sweet smile, she wished her fun, then tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and skipped off to the group of guys she was talking to earlier.

Lauren barely noticed Kasey had left, she couldn't tear her eyes away from Sweet Pea at the moment while Kasey's words repeated in her head.
Was she one of those pathetic girls she spoke of? Was she just as bad as the girls surrounding him now not realizing they didn't stand a chance? Did she ever mean anything to him at all?

Feeling tears fill her eyes, she took a few staggering steps back, then finally pulled her eyes away from him to turn and walk back to the truck. She suddenly wished she wasn't so far away from home, then she could at least call one of her friends, but unfortunately, she was stuck until god knows when in a town that had more cornfields than it had people.

Arriving at the truck, she grabbed the last bottle of liquor from the box and thought at least she had something to numb the pain.

Taking a huge sip from the bottle, she climbed into the back of the truck, almost falling flat on her face, but quickly catching herself. She took another swallow, then climbed on top of the cab of the truck to sit on the roof. She couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that there once was a time that she was slightly scared of heights, but now here she sat on top of Sweet Pea's pickup truck that was older than both of them combined.

Several yards in front of her, she saw a group of teenagers running around in the woods with glow sticks, almost like they were playing some kind of game of tag. She was mesmerized by the lights and tuned out everything else, until she heard a set of footsteps coming toward her, followed by a familiar voice that still caused her heart to pound in her chest.

"There you are." Sweet Pea jumped in the back of the truck.

"Here I am." Lauren took a long sip of the bottle, then poked out her lip when she realized she drank it all.

"I was looking for you."

"I'm surprised."

"Why?"

"You seemed busy."

With a sigh, he took the empty bottle away from her. "You're right and I'm sorry about that." Taking a step toward her, he dropped the bottle in the bed of the truck. "And I'm sorry for just taking off when we got here. I shouldn't have done that to you."

"No, you shouldn't have." She glanced down at her hands which were messing with the small fringe on the bottom of her blue jean shorts.

Sweet Pea looked down as well for a moment, seeing her finally pull a fringe loose, then rubbed it between her fingers to create a small ball. Looking back up at her, he questioned, "Is that all you wanted to say?"

Raising her head, she opened her mouth to speak, then lowered her eyebrows when she saw all the different color necklaces glowing around his neck. With a scoff, she said, "That's a lot of necklaces."

"Really? That's where you want this conversation to go?"

Ignoring his question, she asked one of her own, "What did you do to get so many of them?" She didn't wait for him to answer, "Supposedly women flash their boobs for beads at Mardi Gras; so what did you have to flash for glow sticks in Due West?"

Letting out a laugh, he took another step forward, coming to a stop in front of her. "Nothing, trust me. Just a couple of girls gave 'em to me. I dunno why." He shrugged. Leaning his head forward, like he was trying to look down her shirt, he jokingly added, "But I'll give 'em all to you for a quick flash."

With a scuff, she laid her hand on her chest to keep him from taking another peek. "Sorry, buddy, that ship has sailed. But you seem to have several more candidates to choose from if you're looking for a new 'friend'."

"Nah, that position is already filled." He gripped her thighs and pulled her closer to him.

She saw the trademark smirk on his face before he leaned toward her and pressed his lips firmly against hers. She wished she could put Kasey's words out of her head and forget what she saw earlier, she wished she could thread her fingers through his dark hair and get lost in the kiss, but she couldn't do that.

She couldn't stop herself from pulling back to cut the kiss short to ask, "Is it?"

"What?"

"Is the position really filled?"

"You think I'm lying to you?" he questioned as he lowered his eyebrows in anger. He had always tried to be nothing but honest with her. There were some areas of his life he couldn't speak of- mostly the Serpent side of his life- but as far as the rest goes...he told her the truth.

"I didn't say that." She shook her head. "I'm just wondering if it is filled or is it just temporary until the next applicant comes along?" With a small shrug, she added, "Maybe by one of the giggly girls you were talking to tonight."

"Is that what this is about?"

"You disappeared seconds after we got here, after basically giving me the cold shoulder the whole ride here, and now you show back up covered in glow necklaces from all these girls you were flirting with and now I'm supposed to just brush all of that aside and make out with you like everything is fine."

"Fuck, Ren," he groaned as he took a step back from her and ran a hand through his dark hair. "What do you want me to say? I already said I was sorry."

"I dunno, Pea, maybe...maybe just tell me something, so I just...so I know where I stand with you!" she exclaimed, tripping over her words as she tried to get her thoughts out.

"What?" he asked, the alcohol he consumed earlier making it hard for him to concentrate on what she said for a moment.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." She scoffed as she slid off the roof of the truck and planned to walk away until he laid his hands on her hips to stop her.

"No, wait, just wait a minute." He easily picked her up and set her back down on the truck, then laid his hands on her bare thighs, his fingers lightly brushed the fringe at the bottom she was pulling at earlier. He dropped his head a bit to catch her eyes and sighed. "Look...I don't know what's going to happen and I'm not really known for planning ahead, you know that."

"But?" she questioned, knowing there was more he wanted to say.

"But..." He raised a hand to lay on the side of her face, forcing her to look up at him. He softly caressed her cheek, his tone low as he admitted, "But, I do like you, Ren, a lot...can't that be enough for now?"

Looking into his dark eyes, she asked herself that same question over and over. Was that enough for her...or was she finding herself wanting more from the Serpent that slithered his way into her heart?

Not really having an answer for him, she felt herself give him a short nod and saw him flash her a smile- apparently it was enough for him.

- End Flashback -

That night was the beginning of the end for them. After that night they began to fight about stupid things that weren't even worth remembering.

Then things took a turn when he began to act hot and cold around her- although he would argue she was the one acting weird and in a way, she guessed she was. She couldn't get Kasey's words out of her head, even now they stuck around and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get rid of them.

She always knew Sweet Pea had certain rules, other than the ones he shared with his fellow Serpents- these were more his own personal rules; never take a hook up to your house, never make promises you can't keep, never plan too far ahead because life was too unpredictable, and apparently he had another rule, one he never told her about, but his best friend let her know...he didn't do relationships.

As the summer began to wind down and things between them began to fizzle out, she realized she was nothing more to him than a short, casual fling.

Blowing out a breath, she released the car cover and watched the van disappear- if only she could make the memories go away as easily.

She slowly turned and walked back across the garage and over to the back door. Pushing the door open, she stepped into the barely lit kitchen and sat the school supplies on the counter, but kept the carton of ice cream in her hand. With only the light above the stove, she walked over to the drawer where the utensils were and grabbed a spoon.

Sticking the spoon in her mouth, she went over to the refrigerator to grab a water, then paused when she heard a scuffling noise toward the back of the house. She stood frozen in place as she tried to figure out where the noise came from and what it could be. She had just convinced herself that maybe she imagined it when she heard it again.

She slowly took the spoon out of her mouth and sat it, along with the ice cream, on the counter as she took a small step forward and tried to tell herself it was just the house settling or a breeze outside, but when she heard a loud crash she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth to hold back a scream.

That noise wasn't a creak or branch, that was someone in her house. She knew she should flee the house and call her parents, and definitely the police, but even with knowing that was the smart and logically to do, she couldn't stop herself from reaching out and grabbing a sharp knife from the wooden block on the counter.

Gripping the black handle, she slowly made her way further into the house, following the noises as they got louder until she pinpointed them coming from her father's office.

Coming to the room, she stepped to the side to press her back against the wall and tried to peek into the room, but with the door ajar she could only catch a glimpse of someone as they paced back and forth across the floor.

When the person inside the room moved past the door, she jumped into action and shoved the door open with the knife held high, causing it to slam against the wall and the person to spin around toward the noise, the papers in his hands falling to the floor around them.

"Dad?!" She lowered the knife when she recognized the man standing in front of her. "Jesus, you scared me."

"I scared you? You scared me, Lauren." Taking a step toward his daughter, he saw the light reflect on the blade of the knife, noticing for the first time that she had a weapon. "And why do you have a knife?"

"I heard noises and didn't know you were home. Your car isn't in the garage," she explained.

"So you thought it would be a good idea to search the house with a knife?" Gregory questioned, a hint of annoyance in his tone as he placed his hands on his hips and stared at his daughter.

"Honestly I wasn't really thinking. I just reacted."

"That's gonna get you in a lot of trouble one day, young lady," he lectured as he walked over to his desk and closed the browser he was looking things up on earlier.

Lauren watched him hit a few keys on the keyboard, then reach out to grab a lid from on top of the desk and place it on top of one of the many boxes he had sitting on the desk. She glanced around the room, noticing several more boxes and files laid on the floor and every other available surface in the room.

With her eyebrows lowered, she turned back to look at her father. "What are you doing in here? And where's your car?"

"My car?" he questioned, ignoring her other question as he clicked to delete the history on his computer. Raising his head to look at her, he said, "Oh, right, yeah, my car."

Coming around the desk, he sat on the edge of it. "I accidentally left my lights on all day and when I got ready to leave the battery was dead. So I called a tow truck and caught a ride with a coworker."

"Oh," she quietly said, her attention landing on his foot which was twitching slightly- a sign that he was lying, but she couldn't figure out why he would lie about his car.

"Shouldn't you be getting to bed soon?" He raised his arm to look at the designer watch on his wrist. "School starts tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I was just heading upstairs when I heard the noises in here."

"And then decided to scare your old man with a knife." He chuckled as he stood up and walked toward her.

"Right." She chuckled, then tilted her head to the side in confusion when he held out his arms toward her.

She was even more confused when he motioned for her to come forward. They weren't a family that showed emotion or physical contact often, so the fact that he wanted to give her a hug was strange. She loosely wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him back and felt him press a kiss on the side of her head.

"Dad, are you okay?" She took a step back to look at him. For a moment she thought she saw tears in his eyes before he quickly turned away and breathed out a chuckle before wiping at his face.

Looking back at her, he cleared his throat. "Of course, I'm okay. I was just...I need you to know..."

"Know what, Dad?" she asked when his voice trailed off.

Pulling in a shaky breath, she felt her stomach cramping up and a tightening in her chest as he stared at her with a look that worried her. He looked terrified and like he wanted to confess his deepest fears and sins to her, then beg for forgiveness. It was a side of her father she had never seen before.

Linking her fingers together, she nervously shifted from one foot to another as she caught his eyes. Her tone was soft and small as she asked, "Daddy, are you sure everything's okay?"

Gregory lowered his head and felt his vision blur with tears. It had been a long time since he'd seen her look so lost and scared as she did now. He remembered when she was six, for a few months she had the same recurring nightmare and would always come to his side of the bed to shake him awake. Her hands would be clasped together and her lower lip poked out as she whispered, "Daddy, I'm scared."

He would never hesitate to scoop her up and take her back into her bedroom. He would lay with her and reassure her that the nightmare was just that- a nightmare and it would never come true. She would press her smaller body against his and he would stay with her until she fell back asleep.

For a moment, it became a nightly ritual for them, until the night she came into the bedroom for her father and accidentally woke up her mother.
Melissa was quick to sit her daughter down and tell her she was a big girl, and she didn't need to run to her parents every time she had a nightmare.

After that, Lauren never rushed into their room again or uttered the words,'Daddy, I'm scared' or 'Daddy, I need you.'- after that night things changed between the father and daughter, and he saw her becoming more and more like her mother; hiding her emotions and dealing with problems on her own.

"Daddy, I'm..." she began to say, then paused, causing him to snap his head to look at her.

For a moment, he was sure she was going to say she was scared, and once again, he wouldn't hesitate to scoop her up to tell her everything would be okay, but instead, her mouth snapped shut and she stood up straight- the look on her face would make her mother proud.

Flashing her a smile, he gave her a nod and said."Yeah, Lauren, everything's fine. Have a good night, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded. "Night, Dad."

"Good night." He watched her back out of the room, then heard her footsteps going down the hall.

Once he was sure she was gone, he blew out a breath, then reached out to close the office door. He flipped the lock and began to gather up the papers he dropped earlier when she surprised him. He glanced over them as he walked over to the shredder by the desk before dropping them into the machine and watching them being cut into several different strips before falling to the bottom of the can.

After getting rid of every piece of proof, he walked back over to the computer on top of the desk to double-check that he deleted everything, then dropped down to open the tower. He took off the cover, then turned it to the side as he reached up to grab a screwdriver from on top of the desk to unscrew a few screws to jerk out the hard drive.

Placing the hard drive in a dark duffel bag he had sat beside him, he set the bag aside, then pushed the desk a bit forward to uncover the corner of the rug it was sitting on.

Looking over at the door to double-check it was locked, he looked back at the rug, then flipped it up to uncover the wooden floor under it. With the screwdriver still in hand, he used it to pop up a section of the floor and reveal a hidden safe his wife or daughter knew nothing about it.

He opened it, then reached inside to pull out a wad of cash before tossing it into the bag with the hard drive. After removing several more stacks of cash- which he knew equaled two million dollars- he reached inside one more time and brought out a gun.

He couldn't even bring himself to look at the gun- not after knowing what it was used for- instead, he placed it in the bag on top of the cash, then zipped the bag up. He couldn't wait to get the gun passed on to the right person and out of his possession. He never wanted to be near it again.

With a sigh, he sat back on his heels and ran his hands over his face, he knew what he had to do now, but it wasn't going to be easy.

His thoughts went to his daughter upstairs in her room as she got ready for bed. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine her as that six-year-old again, telling him she was scared and she needed him, but this time, he couldn't pick her up and he couldn't tell her that her worst nightmares aren't true, because after this night, her nightmares would become a reality.

•••

A/N; Not gonna lie, I really liked writing this chapter. So far it's my favorite!

Thank you to everyone reading!

Happy reading!
xx