Reign's POV.

Remember when I said Wednesdays never rule in my favor?

I still stand by that.

Remember when I told peter I'd cover for him on Wednesday?

He remembers that.

But instead of not showing up and leaving everything to me, he showed up and made me promise to be his own personal waitress while on his date with a boy called Brandon.

I agreed because I have nothing better to do and Peter is kind of a good co-worker.

"Your volcano marshmallow fluff shake, sir." I place the drink on Brandon's side of the table. "And a chocolate milkshake for you." I put it down on Peter's side of the table.

"Thanks, how professional of you." Peter says sarcastically, Brandon smiles at him.

"Anything else?" I hold the tray behind me, looking back and forth between them.

"No but we'll call you back soon." He waves me off, I stick my tongue out at him, he scowls up at me and I walk away.

I feel my phone buzz in my apron pocket, I pull it out to find three missed calls from Ariana.

I slip the device back in the pocket, ignoring the notifications.

I place- more like toss the tray on the counter, looking around the empty seats and wondering why the place is so dry on Wednesdays.

Never Tear Us Apart by INXS starts playing in the shop and I smile.

I might not be a big fan of love but boy am I a huge fan of love songs.

I dramatically sing on top of my lungs about living a thousand years, I hear Brandon and Peter chuckling.

"Reign!" Ariana busts through the double doors, I literally jump at the sound of her voice.

"God, Ari, you fucking scared me." I place my hand over my chest.

"We need your help." Her tone sounds breathy.

"What help and who's we?" I wrinkle my face.

"Jasmine and I, we need your help." She sounds eager.

"With what?" I roll my eyes, knowing it's probably something stupid and pathetic.

"Garrett lied about going out drinking and so did Mason, we think one-"

"Hold on right there." I raise a silencing finger. "No offense but you guys really shouldn't revolve your lives around boys and what they're doing when they're not fucking you, who cares if they're out bawling instead of drinking?" I raise my hands in the air.

"Reign, this is serious, okay? My phone track says Garrett is at Hallcreek river. I don't know what he's doing there or if someone didn't just kidnap him there." She whispers the last part.

See? I knew it was going to be stupid and pathetic.

"Oh my God, what? Poor Garrett and Mason, they must be so scared, I could have tagged along with you guys if I weren't so busy but you and Jasmine should totally go check up on them." I say sweetly, she shakes her head at me.

"Rei, there's barely anyone here." She looks around the place.

"No, I still have customers." I jerk my chin to where Peter and Brandon are sitting.

"Hey Peter?" She calls him.

"Don't bother Peter, he's on a date." I hold her arm but Peter has already turned to look at her.

"Can you cover for Rei? I need her." She tells him demandingly.

"No." He shakes his head, turning back to face his date.

"See? I told you." I lean my elbows on the counter behind me.

"My boyfriend is missing and she's the only one who could find him." She talks to him again, I hear him sigh and turn on his booth, giving her lazy eyes.

"No, she's not." He says.

"No, I'm not." I back him up.

"I mean put yourself in my shoes." Ariana whines.

"I could but they're too small." Peter drops his gaze to Ari's brown ankle boots, I snort a laugh while Brandon chuckles.

"C'mon, you guys, someone's probably murdering Garrett and Mason right now as we speak." She sounds and looks genuinely scared.

"They're big, muscular, handsome, athletic guys who are known to be assholes, I don't think anyone's murdering them anytime soon." Peter points out, I nod in agreement.

"I'll tell the manager that you're a better employee than Reign." She suggests.

"Deal." He says the word fast and quick.

"What? No, what the fuck?" I widen my eyes at him in shock.

"C'mon, hurry." Her hands reach behind me, untying my apron for me as I continue looking at Peter.

"Sorry." He mouths to me and shrugs.

Ariana grabs my phone from the pocket and throws the apron on the counter before grasping my hand and dragging me to the exit.

"Thanks, Peter!" She shouts.

"Don't make it a habit!" He shouts after us.

Ari's car is parked in front of the shop, I spot Jasmine inside, texting on her phone.

I jump in the back seat, making myself comfortable as Ariana gets on the driver's seat.

"Hey, Jasmine." I greet.

"Hey, Reign." Her voice sounds weak and distant.

Okay then.

****************

Ariana stops the car in front of a closed sushi restaurant by Hallcreek river, she orders us to get out of the car, I sigh before lazily pushing myself out of her car and following them to a certain direction.

We hear voices and she stops at the corner of the restaurant, she peeks and I hear her gasp dramatically.

"What is it?" Asks Jasmine.

"I see them." She whispers, Jasmine and I quickly walk around to peek.

They're standing near the river, under a street light, right by a black and white yacht.

There's a guy laying on the concrete, looking like he's been beat up.

Mason, Garrett, Luke and a shirtless guy I don't recognize are all standing over him, looking like they took turns beating him up.

"Ironic how they're the one's murdering someone and not the way around." I snicker underneath my tone, Jasmine and Ariana both turn to look at me.

"What? It's kinda funny." I mumble and we all look at them again.

"He promised me he wouldn't." Says Jasmine.

"Who?" I ask.

"Mason, he promised me he wouldn't act out." She swallows.

"Wait, is that Kyle?" I squint my eyes at the guy whining on the ground.

"Yeah." Ariana sighs.

"Did he do something to you?" I look at Jasmine.

Mason never just acts out without a reason, infact, he's barely in any fights but he also has that 'mess with any of my friends and you're dead' attitude, I don't quite like that one, it makes him look like a whole different person.

"He... came to my room last night and he-" her bottom lip quivers, "he tried to...." She sobs, Ariana pulls Jasmine into her arms, rubbing her back as she cries.

That fucking asshole.

"Then he deserves everything they're doing cause as far as I know, Kyle's Daddy is the Mayor of this shit hole town, hence why Kyle gets away with everything."

"You don't understand, Rei, Kyle's Dad won't let this slide, I dated Kyle long enough to know that they're all fucked right about now." Her tone is brittle.

"Good thing we also have a friend who has a powerful rich Dad." Says Ari, referring to Luke's Dad.

After meeting Luke's Mom and sister, I don't think I would like to see any of my friends taking any favors from them, I don't even think they're different from Kyle's family.

I drift my gaze back to the boys, watching the unknown shirtless guy as he squats next to Kyle's head, holding his jaw and sticking something in his mouth.

A knife maybe? Is he trying to pull out his teeth?

"Who's the shirtless psychopath?" I ask.

"His name is Damien Demarco, he's new." Ariana giggles.

"How do I not know him?" I whisper, staring at the guy.

"You don't like jocks." They respond in union.

"False, I'm literally friends with all the jocks at school," I defend, "Wait, he's a jock?"

"Yes and please, don't go anywhere near him." Jasmine shakes her head, Ariana nods, agreeing with Jasmine.

"Why?" I ask curiously.

"There's something very, very wrong with him." Says Ariana.

"Seriously though, he's hot and all but he also needs serious help." Jasmine stifles a laugh, Ariana and I bust out laughing.

"Who's there?!" That cuts off our laughing and we all press our backs against the wall.

Ariana covers her mouth with her hand and continues laughing.

"Seriously, Ariana?" Jasmine slaps Ari's arm, she laughs even harder.

"I said who's there?!"

"Oh shit, should we dip?" Ariana looks back and forth between Jasmine and I.

"No no no, no running, we came here to look for them and we found them and don't forget about the fact that they fucking lied to you guys about where they were going." I say to them.

"Right." Jasmine looks at Ariana.

Ariana is the first one to step out of the shadows, followed by Jasmine, I huff and roll my eyes before following them.

I shouldn't be here.

I tell myself that, no matter what you do, don't you fucking look at Richardson, I've actually managed to ignore him since Monday so this shouldn't be hard.

We Join the party and everybody glances at everybody.

Awkward.

I feel Luke's eyes on me but I don't spare him a glance.

The so called Damien Demarco raises from the ground and slowly strolls towards us, his inked muscular body looks attractive as hell and, not a lot of guys pull off a buzz cut the way he is right now.

"Who are these pretty little stalkers?" He holds a piece of my hair between his fingers, his eyes raking down my body.

His face has a certain handsome hardness to it, his brown eyes could bring a girl straight to her knees and these arms could drive her wild.

I wonder why a teenage boy like him would want this many tattoos though.

Mason grasps Damien's arm and yanks him out of my personal space.

"What the fuck are you all doing here?" Asks Mason, sounding all serious.

"We could ask you the same thing." I answer before Ari. I know her answer could have been longer and more complicated than mine.

"So you followed us?" Garrett shoots a look at his girlfriend.

"No, we're not crazy, we came here for a swim but then we saw you guys beating the life out of Kyle Ripley, care to explain?" I fold my arms over my chest, putting on a serious look.

"Fuck, I like her, she's bossy as hell." Damien chuckles.

"Go home, all of you." Mason demands, his jaw clenching.

See? Total different person.

"You can stay if you wanna watch how we kill him." Says Damien, shrugging.

"The fuck, Damien, for the hundredth time, we're not fucking killing him." Garrett objects.

"Codardi." Damien scoffs, muttering to himself in a foreign language.

"So what do you plan on doing with him, geniuses?" I drop my gaze to Kyle who looks like he's fighting for his life.

I don't feel bad for him, he fucking deserves it.

"See? Even the bella signora thinks we should kill him." Damien says to his friends.

"Hold on there Ted Bundy, I'm not saying that, I just think it's pretty stupid that you guys thought of fucking him up this bad, I mean who do you think you are? The Titans?"

"I think it's time for you to shut the fuck up, which one of you did this fucker touch, I'm guessing it's not you, since you have way too many opinions," Damien's eyes are no longer playful.

"Are you saying I shouldn't have opinions?" I get in his face, he smirks, looking down at the step I took.

"No, baby girl, that would be a fucked up thing to say and they actually taught me how to respect women where I came from." His cold gaze searches mine.

"Don't call me baby girl, it's disgusting." I grit my teeth.

"Don't call me Ted Bundy, he murdered and raped Innocent women. I only kill people who deserve it." He bites back.

"So no one thinks this asshole is actually being serious about being a serial killer?" I ask, looking at all of them.

Garrett and Mason look at Luke, like he might have the answer to that.

I also look at him for the first time since Monday, he's also shirtless.

"He's just messing around." Luke shakes his head, his eyes meeting mine, I immediately avert my gaze.

"Okay, since you're gonna let this rapist run his balls off and this bitch is being fucking extra, I think I'm gonna leave." Damien announces and starts walking towards a motorcycle.

"Who are you calling a bitch, bitch." It comes out as a whisper, he doesn't respond or look back.

We all watch as he gets on his motorcycle and starts the engine.

"Adios motherfuckers." He rides off, his bike making a whole lot of noise.

There's that silence, the kind that has a lot of unsaid words.

This right here is another reason why I never get emotionally involved with anyone, people will always fuck around with your trust.

I look at Garrett, he's looking at Ariana and she's looking right back at him.

Mason has an apologetic look but Jasmine's just staring down at Kyle, Kyle looks passed out or dead but who cares and that other... person is still staring at me.

"I'll wait for you guys in the car." I tilt my head to whisper in Ariana's ear, she doesn't even respond.

I know Luke's probably gonna follow me so instead of walking back to the car, I start jogging back to the car.

I even make it all the way back to Ariana's vehicle when I feel someone's hand close around my wrist, spinning me around.

I crash into his chest and my hair whips on my face.

"Don't fucking touch me." I wreck out of his grip without looking up at him, he raises his hands in the air, surrendering.

"Can you please let me explain?" His deep voice speaks.

"I don't think you can explain." I keep my eyes on his chest so I don't have to look in his eyes but I swear to God, it's literally shining with layers of sweat.

"I want to, Reign, I feel like actual shit," His voice sounds too emotional for my liking.

"You are actual shit." My eyes go round, spinning around to open the car door but he grabs my arm again.

"Luke, I swear to God." I turn to meet his eyes but his face is too close, so close that I hold my breath.

He brings his hand to my cheek, his thumb swiping over my bottom lip as he stares at my mouth.

I clench my fist, intentionally cursing at myself for not pushing him away or slapping him across the face.

Instead, I close my eyes and I feel.

"I'm sorry, Reign, I really am, I didn't mean to act like a jerk after... we..." He pauses.

He can't even say it.

"Fucked? You mean after we fucked?" I shove him, "You can say it and I don't care that you acted like an asshole afterwards, I mean what else would one expect from a fuck boy like yourself?!" I snap.

"Okay so why are you mad at me for?!" He responds in the same tone.

"Are you fucking serious right now?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Your mother called me a slut, saying shit like have a little self respect for yourself?" I remind him, he narrows his eyes at me, "It's my goddamn body, I can fuck whoever I want to."

"Shit." He ruffles his hair, "I'm sorry she said that, she thinks everyone is out to get her and the people she cares about."

"Why are you acting like you weren't there hearing everything?" I ask, rolling my eyes at him.

"Because I was too distracted thinking about... Other things," He clears his throat, looking all uncomfortable.

For some reason, I don't want to ask what those other things were.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway, you and I are never doing that ever again." I declare.

"The sex or..."

"The sex, it was just a one time thing for you and a weak moment for me," I say, he stays silent, staring at me like he has a lot to say but the words won't come out.

"Whatever you want, boss, am I forgiven?" His gaze drops to the ground.

"By forgiven, do you mean am I going to call you a dick tomorrow?" I ask him, fighting back a smile.

He chuckles, shaking his head at me, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, you're forgiven." I shrug, he strokes his jaw as he continues staring at me.

"Cool," he nods.