[Chapter twenty]

-Winnie-

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I mumble as Adonis pulls the the jeep into my driveway. My heart beats painfully fast in my chest as I swallow the lump in my throat. We quickly hop out of the car, rushing up to my front door, gulping when we see Braeden's car also parked in the driveway. Fuck. "What time is it now?"

"Eleven twenty-two." Adonis whispers back, his bottom lip pulled between his teeth nervously. We were meant to be home an hour ago.

"They're gonna kill us." I mutter to him, wringing my hands, not wanting to put my hand on the doorknob, let alone open the door. My heart feels like it's going to burst out of my chest.

Oh my god, I'm having heart palpitations.

"Shut up, idiot. I don't wanna die." He kicks my foot roughly. "Now open the door."

"You open the door."

"No, you."

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, y—"

"Stop arguing about who's going to open the door, and get your asses inside!" We jump in fright when we hear Braeden's deep voice yelling at us from inside.

Adonis purses his lips, looking down at me. "They're gonna kill us."

"No, shit!" Dad's voice yells back. "Winnie already said that, genius!"

Adonis and I share one more look before slowly opening the door and trudging inside, seeing Braeden leaning against the back of the couch in a relaxed fashion, and dad with his arms crossed over his chest, standing up straight.

I chuckle sheepishly, not being able to keep my mouth shut. "Good cop, bad cop, who?"

"Where the hell were you two?" Dad interrogates, ignoring my comment. His body is tense and expression annoyed. "You were meant to be home an hour and twenty minutes ago."

"That's oddly specific." Adonis points out, quickly shutting his mouth as dad glares at him.

"You want oddly specific? You idiots were supposed to be home one hour, twenty-two minutes, and fifty-three seconds ago." Dad retorts, his face still twisted in annoyance as he uncrosses his arms. "Now where the hell were you?"

"Wherever the hell you two were," Braeden starts from his position against the couch, hands shoved in his pockets as he stares between Adonis and I with raised eyebrows and a slight smirk on his face. "I hope you used protection."

Dad clenches his jaw. "Shut up, West."

Braeden immediately wipes the smirk off his face and stands up straight, removing his hands from his pockets when dad gives him a glare. "Yes, sir."

"Calm down, Dad. The vein in your neck is about to burst." I remark, again without thinking.

"Winnie, shut up!" Adonis whines, before his eyes widen slightly in realisation. "Actually, keep going. Then he'll kill you instead of me."

*~*

-Adonis-

Grounded. That's what Winnie and I are. Grounded.

Mr. King yelled at us for a straight twenty minutes -with my stupid brother adding his two cents here and there- before letting us go.

I sigh and turn my head to face Braeden when I see him glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as he drives us home.

"Are you gonna keep looking at me every five seconds or are you gonna say something?" I ask him bluntly, fiddling with my fingers.

He chuckles shortly. "I see Winnie's rubbing of on you."

I shrug slightly, a small smile on my face. "I guess."

I see him grin before it goes away, quickly morphing into a tired expression. The crinkles on his forehead as his face scrunches slightly makes him look older than he is. "You know I'm not mad, right?"

I nod. "Yeah. You never are."

He nods too, his fingers tapping against the steering wheel, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes again. "And I might not have shown it, but you know I was worried, right?"

I nod again. "Yeah."

"And you know why I was worried, right?"

I just barely nod, guilt flooding my mind. "...yeah. I'm sorry, Braeden."

He lets out a slow, deep sigh, the tapping on the wheel ceases. "Don't worry about it, kid. I just don't want to—"

"Lose me." Like mom and dad. "I know."

-FLASHBACK-

12:13 AM

"Have mom or dad texted?" I questioned Braeden through a yawn as I sat curled up on the couch with Braeden's favourite blanket wrapped around me. I watched as he paced back and forth around the living room.

"No, they haven't." He stoped his pacing and walked over, ruffling my hair, making me huff and slap his hand away. "Go to sleep, kid. I'll wake you up if they call or when they get home."

He acted calm externally, despite his previous pacing. But I know him better than that. He's biting his lip harshly—a habit of his when he's worried or nervous.

"But I—"

"You've been up since four in the morning. Just take a nap, alright?" He cut me off. "I promise I'll wake you."

"I'm not tir—" a yawn forced it's way past my lips. "-ed."

He shook his head in amusement. "Whatever, kid."

*~*

I groaned as someone shook me awake, my eyes cracking open. I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but it quickly lost its spot in my list of priorities when I saw Braeden's heartbroken face in front of me. I bolted up off the couch and Braeden straightened up, looking at me, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the words -any words- to utter.

I looked at the clock on the wall.

3:56 AM

"I-I got a c-call." He stuttered out.

And in that moment, I wished I was a kid again. A young kid, where naivety is a blessing and I wouldn't know exactly what the hell was going on. A young, naive kid who could ask his big brother if his parents were finally on their way home, because he has no grasp or understanding of his brothers distressed state. A young, naive kid with no grasp or understanding of his brother's distressed state, and could be pulled into said brother's comforting embrace and lied to, being told that mommy and daddy were fine.

But, unfortunately, I wasn't a child blessed with innocence and naivety.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, already knowing what's going on based on Braeden's expression, yet I asked anyway. "From...from who?"

"...the hospital." He answered after a minute, his eyes downcast. I saw his lip quivering as he fiddled with his fingers, his hands shaking. "Mom and dad got in a car crash. Drunk driver t-boned them. The car flipped into a ditch...they didn't make it.

And with that, my whole world came crashing down around me.

-FLASHBACK END-

We sit in tense silence as he keeps driving, and I stare out the window, clenching my fist.

Braeden had become my legal guardian as he had turned eighteen just months prior. He graduated high school, and went straight on to train to be a police officer, instead of going to college like he had discussed with mom and dad various times before. He's now twenty-three and decided we needed a fresh start and requested a transfer, which is why we moved here.

Losing our parents is why I act like a complete and utter dick when it comes to new people. I don't need other people to care about, only to be crushed when something happens. Everyone leaves one way or another, whether it's because they've decided to walk out of your life, or because death's taken them. Either way, it hurts just the same.

I'd rather be alone than make more friends.

Obviously, that didn't work out very well.

Fuckin', Windora King.

"Yeah..." Braeden speaks after a long moment. His mood visibly dampens for a while before he perks up again, desperate to ditch the somber mood as he turns into our street. "So...are we just gonna ignore the fact that you took Winnie out on a date?"

I almost choke on my spit, reaching over and punching him in the side, causing him to laugh loudly while making sure not to lose control of the car. "It wasn't a date!"

"Sure, it wasn't." He teases, laughing more when I punch him again. "Hey, don't hit the driver!"