"Baby?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to the gym. I'll be back in a bit, okay?"

"Okay!" TJ called from the shower. "Do you want me to order dinner?"

"Sure, your pick tonight."

"Oo, yay!" she squealed happily. "Oh, wait!"

I could hear her voice clearer as I peered my head into the bathroom. TJ poked her head through the small gap of the shower door. "Kiss," she said with a smile.

Making my way towards her, I got a whiff of her shampoo as I leaned down and quickly pressed my lips against hers.

Her eyes roamed my outfit. "That's my favourite jacket of yours. Your trainer isn't some hot girl that you're trying to impress by looking nice, right?"

"It's a guy, and yes, he's very hot."

"Make sure you give him my number. But, just so we're clear if it was a hot girl I'd say the same thing." She disappeared back into the shower, closing the glass door behind her. "And don't be too late!"

Walking out of the bathroom, I headed towards the closet and opened the door as quietly as I could. I made my way towards the back corner and pushed the hung clothing aside to find the item I was looking for, hidden on the ground.

Did I feel like absolute shit for lying to her? Yes. One-hundred percent. But, what else was I supposed to do? It's not like I could say, "Hey, baby. There is a huge part of my life and a reason my career almost ended that you know nothing about. I've been meaning to tell you. But, your asshat of an ex somehow found out and is demanding money to keep quiet, so I'm going to drop it off real quick. Be back soon!"

That didn't roll off the tongue well.

I wanted to tell her... and I was working towards doing so. However, the mere thought of her looking at me any differently was enough to scare me away from it. I wasn't that guy anymore. I worked so hard to get rid of him and any trace of who I used to be. But what if that's all she saw me as?

Shifting the gear into park, I cut the engine of my car. His instructions were simple. Show up alone at the address at our agreed upon time with the money in exchange for his silence and files. Surprisingly, he was an understanding and generous criminal, allowing me a few days to get all the cash. Although substantial, the money wasn't as big of a problem as ensuring no one noticed it leaving my account. I didn't need any business managers asking what purchase I was suddenly making and raising suspicions.

I asked Ryan to sell a couple of my watches to get the remaining amount - covering it up by saying I needed to buy TJ a gift and had already spent my money for the month sending it back home. It wasn't a complete lie. Her birthday was coming up. I would just need to find another way to get her a present. Preferably one that wasn't priced in the tens-of-thousands of dollars range.

The door of the warehouse slid open and a very large man dressed in black came into view. He was practically the width and height of the frame he stood in. Brandon clearly came prepared for an altercation. Not that I was looking for one. I only wanted to drop the cash, get what I needed, and go back home to TJ in time for dinner.

I grabbed the duffle bag from the passenger seat, got out of the car, and made my way towards the large man. There was no debate - this guy could easily beat the shit out of me. And I did not want to find out how true that statement was. I took in a deep breath as I approached. I just needed to stay cool, calm, and collected.

However, those affirmations of meditation quickly diminished as I walked into the warehouse with the beefcake guard and spotted his smug face.

"If it isn't my favourite pop star!" Brandon gleefully called out. His voice echoed throughout the large empty space - it was like nails on a chalkboard hearing him talk. "So glad you could make it."

As the fluorescent lighting illuminated his face, I had to bite back a pleased grin from what I saw.

Dark purple marks were apparent under his eyes and it was clear that his nose had swelled to almost twice the size. His mouth was swollen and his lip still split from one of the many hits. It wasn't as satisfying to see him in this state when he appeared so pleased and smug with himself. At the end of the day, he only took a handful of punches to earn all this money. I was the clear loser here.

"Really?" I rolled my eyes, pointing to his foam neck brace. "Is that actually necessary to have on?"

Brandon widened his eyes and pulled a straight face. "I was severely attacked by an unhinged maniac the other night. Of course, it's necessary." His character quickly broke as he let out a roar of laughter, removing the foam wrap around his neck, and turned his attention to the other large gentlemen standing next to him. "Search him," he said, snapping his fingers and pointing towards me.

Due to the fact that both gentlemen were practically carbon copies of each other and that Brandon so rudely forgot to introduce us, I decided to give them my own special names. Thing One and Thing Two.

Thing One grabbed the duffle bag out of my hand, while Thing Two made his way towards me.

"Arms out at your sides." His deep baritone voice took me by immediate surprise.

A swift kick against the inside of my foot widened my stance as Thing Two aggressively turned my hands up towards the ceiling. He stood behind me, running his hands along each arm and down my backside. Thing Two was obviously a detailed oriented man as he checked over every inch of me, even digging his hands into my pockets. What was Brandon worried about? That I'd try and kill him with my keys or the tiniest blade imaginable hidden in my back pocket?

"Hey, woah there," I said, feeling his hands travel a little too close to a certain area under my belt, "Watch it."

Thing Two straightened his posture and towered over my height. Now if he was the guy in charge, I'd definitely be shitting my pants by now. I was sure this guy took some type of enjoyment out of the darker side of his job - and, by the way he snarled and rolled his eyes at my comments, I began to worry he hoped I would be the next target.

"Standard protocol, I'm sure you can understand," Brandon said, taking a step forward. "Need to make sure you aren't wearing a wire or have a gun on you. You know how it is."

"Yeah, sure. Anyway, are we good here?"

He raised a brow. "Why the rush? The nice gentlemen will count what you brought and ensure you're not trying to pull one over on us... and then, you'll get this." He pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. "Some very interesting stuff on here, Carter Young. How old were you? Eighteen? Nineteen? I can see why you'd want to cover this up... avoid being tried as an adult and all."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "How do I know you won't show up again demanding more money?"

"I guess you won't. What a fun life you're about to live, hmm?" He unzipped the duffle bag and took out a wad of cash. He rubbed his fingers along one of the bills. "Wow, you even showed up with real money. I'm impressed, Young."

"This is extortion you know."

Brandon scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Please. I'm sure you coughed up a lot more money to keep this a secret the first time around."

"How did you find out?"

"You've got people in high places, and so do I." He motioned to the metal chair that was bolted to the ground. "Why don't you take a seat?"

There was no way I was sitting down on that. I'd probably need to get a tetanus shot. "I'm good, thanks."

He snapped his fingers and pointed in my direction. Thing One left his position at the table and made his way towards me. My arms were grabbed from behind as I was pushed down into a chair. The sound of zip ties and my hands being restrained behind my back and to the metal chair signalled that I was now stuck and had to deal with more of his tortuous presence.

"You know," I said quietly, rubbing my wrists together from the discomfort, "I thought we had something special."

Thing One gruffed out an unamused sound in response and walked back to his position, leaving me to listen to Brandon's speech. Did the villains always need to have a monologue prepared? Maybe it was some unwritten rule I never learned about.

"You think I'm this big, bad person. And, you'd be right. I am. But, at least I own up to my shit and I don't go around pretending to be someone that I'm not."

My eyes rolled in such an exaggerated manner, for a second I thought they might get stuck. "Bullshit," I huffed under my breath.

"Bullshit you say?" Brandon stepped forward sporting a smug grin. "TJ always knew the type of guy I was. Were we going to run off into the sunset together holding hands?" He snorted. "Fuck no. We both knew that. But she was too weak to ever end it - that's one of her downsides. It's near impossible for her to trust someone... once she does, she'll never let them go. Even if they're me. Sad, isn't it?"

"Why didn't you just end it then?"

He shrugged. "The sex was great."

Jaw clenching as the rest of my body stiffened hearing what he had just said, my wrists itched to be free. God - how I wish was able to shut him the fuck up and-

Don't give in, the sound of TJ's voice floated into my head, He just wants you to react. Don't do it, baby.

"You know her spot right here?" He pointed his finger to his neck, right below his ear. "Damn, that really drives her crazy, doesn't it? You know, that reminds me - you're going to love this story, Young. Once, there was this time when we had been going at it all night together, and then she-"

I lunged forward and was instantly reminded by the ties around my hands and being fastened to the chair that he had the upper hand. Brandon gave me a pitiful laugh, which only further burned the rage in the pit of my stomach. No wonder he was running his mouth - he could get away with it, given my current situation.

"Why don't you do us both a favour and shut your mouth before I get the chance to do it myself," I snapped. "I think you know how capable I am of doing it."

That wiped the smugness right off his face.

"Anyway, as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted." He cleared his throat and stood straighter, I assumed in an attempt to reassert his dominance. Pathetic. "Then you came along... her perfect escape wrapped in a pretty, self-destructive bow. She probably thinks she hit the jackpot with you, hm?" he taunted. "Some successful, innocent, nice guy that treats her well. It's such a shame she doesn't know shit about you - the real you, I mean. You're only pretending to be the guy that truly cares about her, aren't you?"

"I care about her."

Brandon raised a brow. "Really? Just like how you cared about Annabelle?" He crouched down, meeting me at eye level. "That's truly why you're paying me to keep my mouth shut, right? Don't want TJ to ever think of you as the big bad monster that will cause her to end up just like poor little Annie."

"Shut up," I gritted through my teeth.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" His eyes narrowed. "How does it feel to know I care about her than you do?"

I scoffed at his pathetic attempt at getting under my skin with such a blatant lie. "Please. You don't care about her. If you did, you would have told her already instead of getting me to pay you off."

"Well, I did warn her to stay away from you. Told her the first night she met you that I didn't want her to sleep with you. She may have freaked out, but she listened to me. And back then, all I knew about you were your spending habits. You could rack up quite the bill back in the day, I'll give you that." He showed a dark grin as he continued, "Imagine where you'd be if I had known everything I do now. I can tell you one thing, I bet you wouldn't have a number one album. How would you support mommy and daddy then, hm?"

Brandon turned his head as one of his henchmen called him. He made his way towards the table and shot me a glance from over his shoulder. "Speaking of family matters, did TJ ever reply to that letter?"

"What letter?"

"You didn't hear?" A roar of laughter filled the warehouse and he clenched his stomach. "Oh, I'm sorry. This is just too good. Here we are discussing your secrets and TJ still can't trust you enough to tell you hers." He gave himself a moment to catch his breath as he stood in front of me. "Daddy dearest sent her a letter. God - you two really are a pathetic couple, aren't you? You know, I really should have charged you extra for this little therapy session, but here,"

It had all happened so fast - his fist colliding with my jaw - that it took me a second to realize he punched me. My head whipped to the side and I now faced the ground. It wasn't until I saw the spot of blood fall that I felt the pain rush in. It had been a while since the taste of copper had been in my mouth. I couldn't tell what was more pathetic; the fact that my arms were tied back, limiting my ability to fight back, or that this was the only way he was able to get a clear hit on me.

The shit-eating grin on his face gave me the answer I needed. He was definitely the pathetic one.

The ties around my wrists were cut, setting my hands free. With a heavy force, I was pushed out of the chair and my body was sent tumbling onto the ground. A swift kick to the gut knocked the air straight out my lungs. Another kick caused my body to coil. And another. I had lost count by the time my recollection had returned. I was gasping for air as my lungs spasmed inside my chest. A pool of blood formed in my mouth. I was only able to keep my head up long enough to spit as much as I could out in fear I would choke. The dizziness took over and my head rested against the cement ground once again.

Through half-opened eyes, I could barely make out the outline of his body as he crouched down. "Now we're even."

The flash drive was tossed onto the ground.

"Something to remember me by. Until TJ calls me again for more advice, that is," I heard him say.

Another item was tossed. My mouth ran dry.

I heard him laugh as his footsteps disappeared into the distance. The sound of car engines starting became evident. I was left alone, aching in pain with nothing in my view but an orange plastic bottle with a white lid.

I should have left them there.

I should have known better than to ever have picked them up and taken them with me.

But I was weak.

Another relapse was calling out to me. 

ah. welp. happy Friday (?)