I awoke to a clanking sound. Sitting up, it took me a moment to remember where I was. Checking the clock on my phone, I saw that it was only 5:00 am I groaned and lay back down, not ready to face the day. But then I realized I only had three hours to get ready. Not that I needed to do much, but I figured I should shower and see how the day is going to be because of what happened yesterday. I was still kicking myself, I should have just let him do it. I'm gonna lose it someday, it might as well be with a person that I kinda already know.

(*)-Thomas

I had woken up at four. I kept thinking about yesterday, everything had been going fine until I let my hormones take over. And I knew that there was someone else in the apartment, not just me anymore. I stayed in bed reading until 4:50, but then I got restless, I tiptoed out and started to do the dishes from yesterday. I had a dishwasher, but I preferred to do them by hand. I heard her door creak, I turned around and saw her come shuffling out in a silk two-piece jammie. She looked hot even though she had just woken up.

"Good morning." She lifted her hand and went into the bathroom. Huh, must be too early for her. I thought to myself as I stacked the last cup and drained the water. I heard the shower turn on. I cleaned up the games from yesterday and put them away. Then I went to the fridge to get the eggs out to make breakfast, it's not too early for her right? I turned around just in time to see her go running by in a towel. I chuckled to myself as I thought about how embarrassed she would be if it had fallen down. I grabbed out a frying pan and poured some oil in it. After that I grabbed out two glass cups and put them at our spots. She came back out in black slacks and a dark blue button up her hair hung damp to her butt.

"Good morning." She replied sounding fully awake.

"Morning. I hope you don't think it's too early to eat."

"Um no, it's fine." I motioned for her to sit as I returned to my pan. I liked my eggs sunny side up and it seemed like she will eat anything. I poured us some orange juice and then washed some strawberries. The eggs were done, I took the pan off and slid one onto her plate and then mine.

"Sorry if it's not what you usually eat."

"Usually I just eat toast, so this is a treat." She smiled at me and took a bite of her egg "Mmmm that's so good. I love that it's runny."

"Good. I wasn't too sure."

"Anytime you make this, please make it this way." She replied as a matter of fact. Which made me chuckle then ask

"Do you not know how to cook?" She set her fork down and looked at me sheepishly

"No. I know how to make pancakes. But Lyric and I always did take out food. She's the cook, but she didn't like to cook that much."

"I see, well, maybe I will have to teach you this weekend. After all, tomorrow is Saturday. I think we'll stay in since we are going out today."

"I will try to be a good student, but no guarantees." She said heartily. We finished up breakfast, she blow-dried her hair a little bit and then braided it. Then we played a game of gin and a game of trash. Then I told her that we should probably get going since she had a further drive. She said that she hadn't even thought about that. Going out in the garage, I was going to let her drive, but I wasn't sure if she was used to a big car or not, so I looked it up on my GPS since she didn't know how to get there from the apartment.

(*)-Devin

I was glad he was driving because yes I had a big car, but not as big as his and I didn't really know how to get there even if I used a GPS. I had never gotten the hang of them. I was glad that he was acting normal as if nothing had happened yesterday. I was doing my best to talk to him, coming up with things to talk about. Which was hard because my mind kept replaying what had happened last night.

"Thanks for coming. You didn't really have to come. I was only kidding." I told him

"It's no problem, I enjoy listening to you guys play." I smiled at him and stared out the window. He turned up the music and we drove in silence. I kept thinking that I should apologize for yesterday, but I didn't quite know how to put it into words. The truth is I wasn't ready, but it just shocked me that he would try to do it on the first night. I didn't know that he had that kind of feelings towards me. We finally arrived at the theater, it took us 3 hours to get there, definitely longer than before. But, I still had time to spare it was after all only 8:02. We went inside and he followed me to the theater. I told him to sit in the back and then I made my way to the front.

(*)-Thomas

She went up to the front and I sat down in the squishy seat. I took out my phone so that I could look up places to go. I didn't really know this area really well, but as long as we were over here, I figured I could find a cool place to go. After searching through their whole warm-up time, I found the perfect place. I checked Instagram and Facebook, but it was mostly the same types of things on there. I turned my phone off and turned my attention to the front to where the conductor was getting them ready to start their song. My phone started to ring, I looked at the name and then went out to the lobby.

"What do you want Bear?"

"I need you. Do you have a couple minutes or are you too busy with your new girlfriend?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh yeah. I know all about that. But, you ignored my question. I need you."

"Fine, for what?"

"I need you to run a quick errand."

"Where to?"

"Not far from the theater. I need you to put someone down for me." I groaned under my breath.

"Fine." He told me the address, I peeked through the doors and saw that she hadn't noticed yet. I ran out to the car and drove to the address. I grabbed the gun from the glovebox and tucked it into the back of my pants. I walked softly up to the side of the house and to the backdoor. I opened it softly and stepped into the carpeted hallway. I could hear the T.V blaring, which would be beneficial. I slipped on my leather gloves and pulled my gun out. I walked past the living to where the sound was, it led me to a bedroom. There was nobody there. Listening closely, I could hear water running. The person was in the shower. I opened the door and could hear a man singing, I pulled the trigger and it went through the curtain. The voice stopped and I heard a thunk. I backed out and went into the kitchen and rifled through their things. That's when I noticed a college application. WHAT HAD I DONE? I walked casually out so as not to draw attention to myself. I walked back to my car and drove back to the theater, before getting out, I called Bear.

Hellooo?' He sang

"Who did I just kill?"

"That's for me to know and you not to."

"The man had a college application all filled out. All I would have to do is call the college and say the name."

"Alright alright. Aaron saw one of my men kill someone, he was a witness, if he had testified, we would go to jail."

"So you had me kill him before he could."

"Yes. And now I can keep looking out for you."

"I don't need looking after you."

"If you say so. I got to go. We'll keep in touch." With that he clicked off. I took my gloves off and stuffed my gun into one of them and put them in the glovebox. I made sure I didn't have any blood on me and then I went back into the theater. I felt jittery, like I did everytime I killed someone. As I sat down, a memory came to my mind

After I had run out of the house, I ran down the road to a gas station. I locked myself in there for awhile until someone pounded on the door. I wiped my tears and opened the door. I came face to face with the biggest guy I had ever seen.

"You okay kid?"

"Yeah I'm fine." And that was that. I walked out and continued walking. I made it to the freeway and hitched hiked. I fell asleep at some point. When the man woke me up, I was in a different state. I thanked the man and continued walking. It was dark, I turned down a deserted road, that's when I heard a car behind me. I got scared that it was my father so I took off running. I out ran the car and ducked in an ally. The car went right past. I stood up, but froze when I heard a voice

"Your a long way from home aren't ya?" I turned to see a big man outlined in the moon.

"Yyyes."

"Come with me?"

"Where?"

"To safety." I had nowhere else to go, so I followed him to a cadillac. We drove to a building and entered through the service door. That's when I got a good look at the man. He was big, with a flat nose and fat lips. His face was red. Going down some stairs, we went into the basement. There were loud voices coming from within the door. He pushed it open, that's when I saw the guy from the gas station. He nodded at me. The man pushed me inside and brought me to a room with a desk. He sat behind it and the leather chair groaned underneath his weight

"WHat am I doing here?"

"Well son, I'm about to tell you something that will change your life forever. The one that you met at the gas station, he was the one who made your dad kill your mom."

"What!?" I shouted

"I'm not done talking. He told your dad that she had been sleeping with him for drugs, he didn't like that he was paying her with drugs. He thought that she was buying them somewhere. I will deal with Gunner myself. With that, I have a question, would you like to join me?" I thought about all that he had said. I couldn't wrap my mind around it all. My father had killed my Mother all becuase of a stupid lie. I couldn't go back. I would have to be in the system so,

"Yes. I would like to join you." From then on, I have been doing Blade's dirty work. But true to his promise, he had put Gunner down that night. That's also when I met my half brother who is Blade's son, who he had with my mom. Yeah, he didn't tell me that until later, after my brother left him to make his own gang. He was mad at his father because he had taken me in, so this was his way to get back at him. To be the baddest of either of them. I turned off my thoughts and focused on the music that was playing. It was a lively beat and messed with my brain, giving me little imaginations, of a fake happy life. Devin did her solo, and that's how the song ended. I remained still since technically I wasn't supposed to be there since it was closed practice.

"I think you have it down. We will not practice one more time. I have faith that you will play well. Please make sure that you are an hour early and get plenty of sleep. See you in a few weeks." With that he walked up the aisle and out the door. Everyone began chatting and packing up.

(*)-Devin

I had seen him leave out of the corner of my eye. I thought he had maybe had to go to the bathroom, but he was gone for a long time. So I ruled that out. Something had come up, maybe I could try to ask him. I closed my case and then walked down to where he was. He stood up as I drew nearer.

So what did you think?"

"Of the songs?"

"Yeah."

"Oh um I liked them."

"Well that's good. Considering we just played one song." I said walking towards the doors.

(*)-Thomas

I stopped walking and stared at her as she walked towards the doors . She had noticed. I didn't think I had been gone for that long. I don't think she meant to quizz me, I honestly think she was just wondering. So I didn't want to take it out on her. I made sure to breathe before I talked.

"Sorry I had to step out. Something came up." I quickly said, holding the door open for her.

"That's okay. So where are we going to go?"

"Somewhere special. But I have to go back home and get my wallet." She gasped

"Your driving without your wallet?" She said in disbelief

"Yeah. I've never gotten caught." She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the car and put a finger to her lips

"Shhh don't say it too loud or it might happen." I unlocked the door and then looked around

"I don't see any cops." She laughed and slugged me softly and walked around to the passenger side. We drove home without a hitch. She changed into leggings and a blue crop top sweatshirt. I grabbed my wallet from the counter and then we headed out again. I put a blind fold on her and then helped her out of the car, I out my arm around her back and then wrapped my hand around hers

"Is this necessary?"

"Yes. I want it to be an absolute surprise."

"Fine." I led her safely across the parking lot. Then I put her against a wall and went up to the counter.

(*)-Devin

It scared me that I couldn't see. I was so nervous that he had left me somewhere. But I tried to think the best. What seemed like an eternity later, but probably wasn't, I felt a strong hand slip into mine.

"You can look soon. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Were going to be going up some stairs okay. I'll guide you. Do you trust me?" Did I trust him?

"Yes."

"Okay, step up." He told me when to step, I never faltered under his grasp. We finally made it to the top. Exactly 20 stairs. I counted to distract myself so I wouldn't psych myself out. At the top, I could hear shrieks of laughter and music. We walked forward a little bit more, then he turned me and took off my blindfold. I opened up my eyes and smiled wide. I hugged him tight and stared at the people ice skating.

"Oh my gosh Tommy! I love ice skating." He smiled down at me and then led me to the bleachers, we went over to an area that had no one. He set me down and put my skates on for me. Then he did his, he stood up and glided out on the ice, he did a quick turn and then came back and stopped in front of me. He held out his hands and I grabbed onto them and stood up on wobbly legs. "I do love to skate. But I'm terrible at it."

"Well then it's a good thing you're with me." I let him pull me out onto the rink. I must have looked ridiculous, I couldn't stay on my feet so I was almost doing the splits. He pulled me back up on my feet and held me close. We skated for another half hour, he taught me how to really skate and showed off by doing some tricks. Then we went and got hot cocoa from the free concession stand.

"Thanks for this. It was really fun."

"Your welcome. So I thought that I could take you to get some new outfits."

"Any special occasion?"

"With the thought of spring coming."

"But that's not for a couple of months."

"I know. It doesn't just have to be dresses. It can be other clothes too."

"But won't you get bored?"

"Nah, not if you make it exciting." He responded raising his eyebrows up and down. I blushed, finished my cocoa and threw it in the garbage. He finished his and then we walked out to the car.

(*)-Thomas

After we left the rink, we went to the mall that I used to take Victoria to. I had a lot of money saved up and I didn't really need it for anything specific. And I wanted the relationship to look real to Blade just in case he happened to be watching without me knowing. The "butlers" at the door took our coats and hung them up. Devin looked around in awe at the bigness of it. It had three levels with food carts, a bar and a dance floor. We went up to the third floor where the summer clothes would be. The mall was filled, but not where we were, there were only a couple of people there. I brought her to the dress section then went and sat on the squishy couch where I would sit when Tori would look through. As I watched her from a distance, a memory unfolded in my mind....

"Hold this, and this one. I don't know if I want them yet, but I don't want anyone else to grab them." Tori had said handing me a red velvet dress and a mini gold strapless one.

"Are you going to try them on?"

"Yeah. But I don't want to go in there with just two items." She turned me around so that I was facing the others that were in there "See that girl over there, she keeps eyeing us, I think she's eyeing the red dress, I don't want her to have it, it's mine."

"I don't think she is, but just to make sure, I'll hold on to it." She grabbed a few more dresses then went into the dressing room. I sat back down on the couch and waited. A couple minutes went by when I heard her shout my name frantically. I ran to her door and knocked on it, she opened it and pulled me in.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just wanted you in here." She giggled and then we proceeded to make out.......

"Tommy?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?" It took me a moment to realize who was talking and where I was. I cleared my throat

"Oh uh yeah, I'm fine. Do you need something?"

"I was just letting you know that I grabbed what I want."

"Did you try it on?"

"Yes. I only liked two of the things I grabbed." She motioned to her arms. I looked down and saw a blue dress and a yellow dress.

"Okay. Where to next?"

"Um I don't know. I don't really know my way around the mall." She smiled up at me softly."

"Well, with new dresses, comes the need for new accessories. Let's get some new jewelry and shoes. And then if there's anything else you want to look at, just say the word."

"Okay." I grabbed her hand and brought her to the jewelry section. She picked up a bracelet and then her eyes grew wide

"What?"

"The price on this thing." She handed it to me and I saw how expensive it was.

"Do you like it?"

"No, I just picked it up wanting to see the price." She took it back and put it back on the stand. She moved over to the necklaces. Since she was preoccupied, I went to a special case and looked through it. Finding one I liked and knew she would too, I used my skills and disarmed the alarm and took it out. I turned the alarm back on and pocketed the item. Then I went and stood behind her, watching her every movement.

(*)-Devin

It felt weird to have someone standing over my shoulder. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck, it sent little shivers of pleasure down my neck. I picked up a single gold chained one with a single pearl on it.

"Want to try it on?" I jumped at his voice even though I knew he was right there. I shook my head yes. His rough hands brushed against my neck as he moved my hair. I handed him the necklace and he put it on. Then he turned the mirror towards me. It was simple but I loved it.

"I like this one."

"Okay. He took it off and put it into the box that it had come out off without looking at the price. Next we went to the shoes. I bought a pair of boot heels, and some clear strap heeled sandals, and since I didn't have any winter boots, I bought some..

"Anywhere else you want to go to?"

"Not really. Do you want to go anywhere?"

"Yeah. I need a new dress shirt to go with my suit, I need your help picking one out."

"Okay." He grabbed my hand once again as our mall attendant pushed our cart. It felt weird not to push the cart myself. We walked hand and hand to the escalator and down to the second floor to the mens section. First we went to the shoes so that he could buy some winter boots too. Then we went to the dress shirts. He tried on several, but said it was up to me, I picked the dark blue since blue is my favorite color and a red one. We went to the checkout. lane He told me to wait by the door and look at the different items that were on the 50% off rack, little did I know that he had put on a ski mask and pulled a gun on the cashier.

(*)-Thomas

There wasn't anyone around the checkout, and I didn't want to have to pay a lot even though I had the money. But I also had the gun. I made sure Devin was distracted, and that the cashier hadn't seen my face. I pulled on my ski mask, told her not to make a sound, cocked my gun and held it at her head. I told her that I wouldn't pay the full amount, only half of it. With a whimper she shook her head yes. I also told her that she is not to tell anyone, if she does and word gets out, I will track her down and kill her. With that she rang up my stuff and I paid the half. Then I grabbed the bags. As I walked towards Devin, put on my hood and took off my mask and put my gun safely in the back of my pants. I put my arm around her waist and we walked to the door, the butler got our coats. It was one when we got home so I made us some turkey sandwiches, then we watched Psych. Not long after, my phone began to ring. I took it in the bedroom.

(*)-Devin

I thought about pausing the show, but one I didn't want him to think I was eavesdropping and two, he had said that he'd already watched this one so if he missed it, it was no big deal. I took out my phone and texted lyric.

Hey! I hit send and then I waited for a little bit. She didn't respond. She wasn't one to just ignore. When I message her or someone else did, she was always right on top of it. She was probably busy, I tried not to let it bother me, but it did. I couldn't help but be a little hurt that she might be doing fun things without me.

"Hey, sorry. Something came up, I have to go out for a little bit. I'll lock the door behind me, you'll be safe. I promise." Thomas said quickly.

"Um okay, How long will you be gone for?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try to text when I'm on the way home."

"Alright." He pulled me close and kissed my forehead. Then he was gone. I turned off the T.V and went into his room. It was messy, I decided to clean it. I made his bed and then cleaned up his dresser, putting things away in the drawers. Then I saw the overflowing laundry basket. I took it to the laundry room, sorted it and started the washer, I threw some in there and set a timer. After making sure his room was clean, I went back out into the living room and picked up the book that I had started. I noticed that the paper had been moved a little bit father, he must be reading it too. I made it my goal to read to the paper so that we would be on the same page.

(*)-Thomas

Blade had called for a meeting. I didn't know what he wanted yet. I didn't want to say no because I was nervous of what might happen either to me or Devin if I did. I went to the warehouse and to his private room. He sat loungin on the couch, a cigar between his teeth.

"You called?" I said my voice echoing in the emptiness of his room. He had a couch, two leather chairs, a wooden desk and some bookshelves, but even that wasn't enough to stop the echo.

"Yeah." He blew smoke out into the room and then motioned for me to sit.

"What do you need?"

"I wanted to know how things were going. And, you answered a question I wanted to ask."

"And what's the question?" I asked sitting on the arm rest. He turned towards me

"If you were really set in making the relationship real, you would have told me." He snubbed his cigar and sat up, then he stood up and walked to his desk. Sitting down in the creaky leather chair, he took a swig of wine.

"It is really Blade, I-I."

"You what?"

"I was nervous that if I said no, something would happen either to her or me." Blade started chuckling and shaking his head back and forth. He lifted a finger and shook it at me raising an eyebrow

"And that is why I like you Thomas. If it were anyone else, they probably would have come and not given their partner a second thought. So, now I believe that you truly do love her."

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean you did tell me to get close to her."

"Yes, but I didn' tell you to get that close, I mean eventually, your going to need to get her to my lab."

"Wait, I have to do it?"

"Yes. and just remember this one thing...."