"Ready." My thoughts were soon interrupted by the Shane I always knew; clean shaved and spiky dark brown hair that made him look like Bart Simpson. He wore a blood red t-shirt with blue ripped Levis.

"Yup..."

The car ride to McDonald's was relaxing, instead of me blocking out the real world with music I decided to crack stupid jokes to keep his mind of Lacey, I didn't want to bring her up yet while he was driving.

"Kira, I know you... so tell why you brought me here." Shane leaned back in his lime chair opposite me.

"Okay, here it is... Veronica told me that Lacey passed out right in front of her and with the help from Kane she left her in a room to sleep it off." I made obnoxious faces during my statement so he wouldn't get pissed off.

"I don't really know what to believe." He dipped his head back in the chair staring at the ceiling inhaling loudly.

"AND..." He abruptly looked at me when I decided to continue. "Devon was passed out long ago... because Lacey mentioned you all went to play Beer Bong but D was playing until I and Caleb dragged him out and left him in an empty bedroom until he fell asleep."

"WHAT?" He snapped.

"Yup D was half dead long ago..." I let out a laugh. "And from Veronica's confession I'm guessing she put her in the same room as D, but it was too dark and they were too tipsy to realize."

Shane leaned forward resting his elbow on the table while he rubbed his face with both his hands. "I don't know, I'm just tired of hurting K... I know I sound like a wuss but for the first time I'm into a girl and she goes and hurts me."

"I don't think it's her who's hurting you; I think it's one of her friends... 'cause we tried to pin it on Vera but she only pulled that one stunt that night and I can't think of any of the other girls who has the balls to do anything like that." I explained.

"Then what are you saying?" Shane crossed his arms over the table while looking at me with only hope glistening from his eyes.

"Do you know Brooke?" My question immediately broke the eye contact he kept with me so far and brought irritated discomfort sheen to his face "Shane..." I dragged his name out.

"Okay, um... everyone thinks I've only known Lacey since the beginning of senior year and this is mid-October, but I've actually known her longer..."

"DUDE..." I cut him off knowing he was trying to avoid my question.

"Okay, okay... gosh" He rubbed his left palm over his face before continuing.

"Brooke and I were like ... friends with benefits..."

I let my expression be blank allowing him to explain further.

"After you know we found out about ... Saira... I kinda went ..."

"Jumped in a pool of naked whores...yeah I know Vera was one of them." I finished the sentence off for him keeping my voice cold yet soft.

"Well... It wasn't just one-night thing... we kinda had a deal ... no strings attached..." He had this distinct guilty look on his face. "I kinda saw Lacey with her once and I wanted her from then... and then after I broke off everything with every girl ... cause you know I wanted to go after Lacey." The last bit came out more casual than the ones before. "So yeah, then after Brooke found out I was... or am... with Lacey, she kinda flipped on me and threatened me to break it off with her or she will tell her about my deal with Brooke.

"But you went ahead and told Lacey instead." I smiled at his braveness.

"Yup... being the lovely girl she is, she forgave me and that's when I fell in love with her."

"WHATT??!!" I squealed and jumped out of my seat attracting attention.

"SHHH" Shane half stood up dragging me down to my seat.

"You 'love' her?" My voice was filled with confusion, excitement, and adoration and my face started to hurt with the plastered smile that stretched across my face.

"I know we haven't known each other for long..."

"Trust me... I know that... you don't need to explain that bit to me." I reassured him.

"So, there you go..." He sighed loudly.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" I asked with a grin on my face.

After cooking up an evil plan we hurried our way to the parking lot to go home and inform the others about it. Shane also allowed Devon to come back home –poor soul- I desperately needed my partner in crime back.

"Shane..." A hoarse voice made both of us halt in our position and turn around abruptly. I sensed Shane tense up beside as he tightly wrapped his hand just above my elbow digging his fingers into my flesh. A wave of anger and hurt washed over his face as he scowled at the man in front of us.

A dark-haired man in his early 40s lazily walked towards us in a neat black suit with a white shirt underneath. His light brown eyes and light brown hair matched his golden tie that hung loosely over his buttoned blazer. He was nearly the same height as Shane and he has a chiseled face with heavy stubbles which, made him look much older. I knew I have never seen this man in my life but I was confident that Shane knew exactly who he was and I was getting the impression he wasn't a big fan of his.

"Kira let's go." Shane's voice was heavy as he ordered me to turn around.

"Shane... come on..." The man cooed as he tried to reach out for Shane with a pleading expression stretched across his face but he swatted his hand away. In an instant he turned his attention towards me, his eyes softened as his face shimmered with adoration, the side of his lips twitched pulling it up in a half smile. I didn't know exactly how to react to him so I decided to let confusion over my face.

"Stay the FUCK away from us..." The man was taken aback by Shane's outburst and hurt flickered through his eyes as his face held a guilty expression. Before I could say anything, Shane dragged me out of there and nearly threw me in the car and drove off in lightning speed. I only caught a glimpse of the man before he disappeared among the other cars that remained on the other side of the parking lot. Determination and anger was slapped across Shanes' face which startled me.

"What the hell was that about?" I panted in my seat.

"He's an old family ... enemy... he's dangerous... okay... if you ever see him... call me and the police..." I could physically feel the waves of anger and frustrating oozing out of his body as he gripped the wheel tighter nearly breaking it off. Every muscle of his body was tensed which looked like they were about to burst out of his skin.

"Shane you're scaring me." I told him honestly and after shooting me a quick glance he took a heavy breath in, holding it in for about 5 seconds, and as he released it, his muscles loosened with it. Leaving him much more relaxed. I didn't know what to feel or think at that moment, everything happened so quickly, my brain and body started to overload and shut down.

"I'm sorry monkey... I just don't want you to get hurt that's all." Shane tried to throw a smile towards me but I knew it was fake. However, I didn't want to pressure him because I knew if he wanted me to know about it, he would have told me already. So, I let it go.

The journey home had me drowning myself in music while I ogle over the scenery. There was something about this place that made me feel safe and calm... although I haven't been living here for long it was much friendlier than NY. After hitting home Shane seemed alert and restless as he paced around the house closing every single door and windows, I didn't know what exactly to do so I decided to hide in my room and text Caleb till I fell asleep. It suddenly became a routine for me to speak to him from morning till night. He soon became my escape route from all the troubles that ambushed my mind when everything was silent around me. After a good two or three hours of me laughing at his obnoxious expressions he kept sending me through snapchat, I heard two voices flowing through to my ears. Quickly getting off my bed I slowly opened my door allowing the voices to flow in clearer.

"...He's NOT taking her..." I heard Shane whisper-shout at someone.

"We adopted her... there is NO way he's taking her..." Aunty P's voice shocked me considering the fact I thought she was staying over at Tim's house.

"Mum, I'm telling you, you should have seen the way he was looking at her... like he owned her... I wanted to pull his eyes out." I could physically imagine every muscle of his body tense as he paced around the room.

"He legally can't but, we HAVE to keep her away from him. You know EXACTLY what he's capable of." Her voice was calm yet firm and if I wasn't mistaken there was a slight hint of worry hidden in her tone.

"But why now... why does he show up NOW... what happened when she was getting bounced around foster homes... why didn't he come then... huh? I swear if I knew that she existed before...."

"I know, I know Shane calm yourself ... she'll hear us... She's my blood too Shane... although it was my sister who brought her into this world... I made it my duty to protect her the day I found out she existed." She sounded determined more than ever.

A dumbfound silence broke through the house as the only things I was able to hear were the accelerating thumps of my heart, ghostly creeks of the floor every now and then and if I listened very carefully two hearts racing downstairs. Yes, that's how silent the night felt.

"I think she deserves to know the truth." Shane decided to break the ear bleeding silence.

"I guess so... I just want her to understand though." Aunty P's voice was oozing with concern.

"We did plan to tell her the truth when we found her but with the whole Aden situation I didn't think it was the right time." Shane defended.

"I know but she always says she doesn't want to know her parents..."

"That's fine, she doesn't have to but she has to know ABOUT them." His voice emitted bitterness.

"Fine, we will tomorrow after you two get back from school ..."