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44 │blood ties

Drenched in sweat, Paige pants as she reaches the steps to the front porch. Although Riley's house is only a couple of blocks from hers, she hauled ass getting over here once she heard the news. She grabs onto the loose metal railing, which sways with each step she takes going up. Ringing the doorbell, she leans on the railing as she catches her breath.

Almost immediately, the door handle rattles.

"You got the keys?" Casey asks, looking behind her as she opens the door with one hand and ties her damp hair into a loose ponytail with the other. She turns around to see Paige standing on the other side of the screen door and, if her face didn't read upset before, a frown quickly settles in between her cheeks. "Oh."

"Yeah, got 'em." Riley snatches the keys from on top of the dresser. He takes a quick peek over his shoulder to see that Casey is distracted and pulls open the first drawer, as if checking to make sure nothing had been touched, and slams it back shut. "Let's go!"

"Riley called. Told me what happened."

"Yeah, he told me you were coming by." Casey sighs as Riley makes his way to the door, tossing his coat on. She turns back to Paige. "Good timing. We were about to leave without you."

Paige glances off to the side. "Hey, I'm sorry. About everything."

Casey pushes the screen door open as she steps out next to Paige on the porch, holding it as Riley shuts the front door and locks it with his keys. He turns around to see the two staring at him and, overwhelmed by the sudden awkwardness, quickly walks past them toward the driveway.

"Paige, people we know were just murdered and Morgan was arrested. Now is really not the time for this." Casey says as she walks past her and down the steps. She stops at the last step and turns around, just as Riley unlocks the car. She smirks, as if it had just registered in her mind that what Paige said wasn't an attack or insult. For once. "But it's cool. We're cool."

Despite the situation, Paige can't help but smile. Kira was right. For as long as Paige could remember, since early childhood, she has always been out for blood. She figured that it's better to be on the defense and attack people first, rather than play nice just to get stabbed in the back later. She knows that not everyone is like that, but her motto was that it's better safe than sorry. It's time to make amends.

"So you coming or what, tough girl?" Casey laughs, waiting for Paige to join her before turning to walk to the car.



Arms crossed, Deputy Bennett stands stiff near the door inside of the interrogation room. Morgan sits in one of the chairs, staring blankly down at the handcuffs tightly locked around his wrists.

The door knob turns and there is a loud, echoing screech as the metal door is pulled open. Sheriff Martinez holds it as Taylor steps inside of the room.

Morgan turns his head and, the second he realizes it is her behind him, his eyes light up with the smallest shimmer of hope. "Taylor, thank God!"

She stops in front of the open doorway and turns to Martinez and Bennett. "Can I talk to him alone please?"

Hesitating, Martinez gazes over to Morgan and turns back to her. "Sure. Deputy Bennett will be right outside if you need anything."

"Thank you." She nods, watching as the two leave the room and Bennett eases the door shut behind him. She turns and slowly walks around the table to sit at the seat across from Morgan. The room is nearly identical to the one she was being questioned in just minutes ago.

"Taylor, you got to get me out of here." He pleads, leaning forward onto the table. "These morons really think I killed them!"

She crosses her arms. "Are you on drugs?"

He takes a deep breath, already knowing that the sheriff must have told her. Lying would just make him look worse. "I took some Valium. No big deal."

"Well that 'no big deal' sure doesn't look too good on your tox screen." She rubs at her forehead. "Why?"

He rolls his eyes, his tone sarcastic. "Because Randy was selling his Mom's stash for twenty bucks. What kind of person would pass up on clearance pharmaceuticals?"

"I'm fucking serious!" She raises her voice, clearly not in the mood to play games. "Why?"

"Ever since that night, I've been having anxiety attacks." He sighs, as if feeling ashamed for having somewhat of a conscious. "Terrible fucking nightmares. Even when I'm awake I feel like I'm being haunted by my past."

She can relate all too well to this. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do I have to?" He stares at her. "Don't tell me, every goddamn day when you wake up, you don't remember that night."

"Maybe we should tell them the truth. Clearly whoever is doing this already knows."

"I'm trying to get out of this place!" Morgan hollers. He quickly gazes back to the door, to ensure that it's still shut, and turns back to her. "Don't give these assholes another excuse to keep me in here one second longer."

She scoffs, peering into his eyes unbelievably. "Yeah, you were pretty clear that you didn't want anyone going to the police. Guess now that we're being picked off one-by-one you don't have to worry about that."

He glares back at her, his eyes narrowing. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Shaking her head, she doesn't respond as she feels her eyes tearing up.

Morgan pounds his fists at the table, ignoring the pain from the cuffs digging into his wrists. "Tell me! Taylor, you know I had nothing to do with this."

"That's the thing." A tear falls down her cheeks and she turns away, quickly wiping at it. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Morgan."

"You're my sister. We share the same blood for crying out loud." He pounds at the table again, this time dramatically harder. The bang echoes off of the short walls and, startled, Taylor nearly jumps from her seat. "TELL ME YOU FUCKING BELIEVE ME!"

"Hey!" Bennett immediately steps into the room, his hand grazing against the handle of the taster gun tucked into a holster that is clipped on his belt. "You need to calm down."

Ignoring him, Morgan watches as Taylor rises from her chair. "Taylor!"

She walks past him, not making any eye contact whatsoever as she tries her best not to shed another tear.

"Goddamnit, Taylor!" He screams as she hurriedly walks out the door.

Bennett glares at him before stepping outside, closing the door behind him. He stops Taylor by lightly touching her shoulder. "Are you alright? Did he do something to you?"

She puts her hand up defensively. "No, I'm fine."

"Taylor!"

She gazes up, not even noticing Millie as she stands up from the bench, and sees Casey step in through the entrance. Riley and Paige tail her as they walk in through the double doors.

Taylor hurriedly walks down the hallway toward them. Watching her, Millie doesn't say anything as she sits back down.

"Sorry we got here so late. We left the second after we saw your call." Casey walks past the receptionist and, as she reaches Taylor, the two go in for a short hug.

Taylor pulls away, attempting to talk through her cracked voice. "I told you that you didn't have to come. I was just making sure you were okay."

Casey notices her eyes watering and embraces her again, this time pulling her in tightly and—the second she wraps her arms around Casey—Taylor starts balling. She digs her head into Casey's shoulder as she cries uncontrollably.

"I'm your best friend. Like hell I wouldn't come." She softly brushes at Taylor's hair with her fingers. "Now it's my turn to make sure you're okay."

Embarrassed, Taylor pulls back. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Casey smiles as she tries not to cry herself. Seeing her friend in such a distraught state, and knowing that there's nothing she can do about it, is killing her. "If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, literally, it better be mine."

Taylor laughs as she wipes at her eyes, looking down at her hands to see that she had smudged her mascara. She glances over at Riley and Paige, who still stand behind Casey, and fakes a smile. "Hi guys."

"Hey." Paige smirks, looking around the station awkwardly. She backs up toward the receptionist's desk. "I'm gonna go see if they'll let me talk to Morgan."

Riley grabs onto Taylor's shoulder and gives it a light squeeze, his silent yet reassuring way of telling her that he's here.

"Come on. We'll take you home." Casey pulls Taylor to her side and wraps her arm around her waist as they turn to walk toward the station's entrance.

Nodding as they lead her out the doors, Taylor stops as she turns her head back to look for Millie. Caught up in the heat of things, she had nearly forgotten all about her. The bench they were sitting on earlier is now empty. She sighs, her eyes gazing around the lobby one last time, before turning back to walk through the doors with Casey.


♫ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ / ᴄᴀᴠᴏ ♫

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