I walked out of the room to find Josh leaning against a wall in the hallway, waiting for me. But he was alone, Tyler was nowhere in sight. I tried to hide my disappointment at his absence and walked over to Josh.

"Hey, how'd it go?" he asked, rushing over to me.

I told him everything that happened and watched his face pale. "Do you think he'll do something? Maybe we should talk to Mrs. Smith about this? She might be able to help or someone else who is elder to us? Oh! How about we go to the cops before he does, that way we can –"

"Whoa whoa whoa. " I interrupted his rambling. "Calm down Joshy. It's alright. I don't think he'll do anything, he was just trying to scare me. It was sort of like a show of power."

"I hope so. But you've got to be careful with such people," he sighed. "I must say, you were brave in there."

"Brave?" I snorted. "Not really. When he asked Mrs. Smith if he could talk to me alone, I nearly shit my pants."

"Uh well, good thing you didn't, " he grinned and I chuckled.

"Let's go, my friends must be worried sick, " I said, as I pulled out my phone to text them.

"Oh...but I guess we should wait for Tyler. He said he'll be back in a minute," he mumbled, looking around.

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know. He was waiting here with me, but then Mr. Stone walked out of the room and said he wanted to have a word with him, so they walked away."

Before I could respond to him, I saw Tyler walking up to us from the corner of my eye.

"Hey, " Tyler said, his eyes searching my face. "You okay?"

"Yeah, " I smiled at him. "Where were you?"

"Let's go to Cane cafe. Everyone is waiting for us over there, and I'll tell you everything on the way, " he said, taking my hand.

"Okay. Josh, you coming?" I turned to look at him.

"No. You guys carry on. I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded and bid him goodbye, before we headed over to the parking lot. I had to practically run behind Tyler to keep up with his long strides, as he dragged me along with him. With his shoulders tense and his hand squeezing mine to the point of pain, I knew something was definitely bothering him.

As soon as we put on our seatbelts, he stabbed his key into the ignition to start the jeep, but I leaned over and clamped a hand on his forearm to stop him.

"What's going on? Why are you so tense?" I asked.

He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "I don't like this."

"Like what?"

"All of this! Andrew's involvement in this issue and this private 'little chat' you both had. You probably ended up painting a bigger target on your head." He frowned and shook his head. "Don't you see? All of this just got way more complicated."

I did get what he was saying, but I still didn't see a reason to panic. I wasn't at fault here, and I wasn't the only one who has something to lose if– and that's a very big if– things got out of hand.

I also didn't miss the way he referred to Mr. Stone as Andrew, which meant they were pretty close than I actually thought.

"How do you even know that I painted a bigger target on my head? You weren't there, " I muttered.

"I know you. You're impulsive and feisty. If he threatened you, which I'm pretty sure he did, you're not the one to play it safe and diffuse the situation. Hell, you might have threatened him in return and that would just show him that you might be a problem in future, " he said, with his eyes fixed on mine. "Am I right or Am I right?"

"Well if you expect me to sit quietly and cower with fear when someone threatens me over something that's not even my fault in the first place, then I'm sorry but you'll be disappointed." I shot him an annoyed glare and looked away.

"Disappointed? Hell no!" he said, exasperated. "Look at me, Veronica."

I reluctantly looked over to him and when his eyes locked onto mine, I felt myself relax. The way his mere presence made me feel calm and grounded, was scary.

"I didn't mean that what you did was wrong. I'm just worried about how it may play out in the future, " he sighed and gave me a small smile. "Besides, that untamable spirit and razor-sharp mouth of yours is one of the things I really like about you."

And just like that, the butterflies in my stomach went bonkers. I felt myself flush under his piercing gaze and I looked away, trying to fight a smile.

He chuckled and crooned in a sing-song voice, "I made Veronica blush!"

"I was not blushing!"

"You totally were!"

"No! I don't blush. I just...overheat, " I mumbled and he threw his head back in laughter.

My cheeks hurt from trying not to laugh. "Can we please go now? Everyone must be waiting for us."

"Whatever you say, Tiger, " he said, a grin playing at the corner of his lips.

He pulled out of the parking lot and we made our way towards the cafe. After a few minutes of riding in silence, I asked him, "You still haven't told me what's the deal between you and Mr. Stone."

"There's nothing much to say. He and my dad are really good friends, so I know him pretty well. He's not a bad guy. Well, at least not until someone crosses him."

I find that hard to believe, but I keep that to myself.

"If you think he isn't a bad guy, why were you upset about all this, earlier?" I questioned.

"I didn't say he was a saint, V. He probably won't harm you in any way, but he will take care of anything that will threaten him. Although, I'm more concerned about Max."

"What about him?"

"The only person Max is truly afraid of is his dad. If he learns about what happened today or if Andrew does say something to him... let's just say he won't take it well. That guy is a maniac, " he sighed. "When Andrew came out of the staff room, after talking to you, he took me aside to ask me if I knew anything about this matter and whether you were saying the truth. When I vouched for everything you said, he was really pissed. He resents his son and his behavior, but he had no idea he would stoop so low. But no matter how much he is against what Max did, I know he won't risk his career to support a girl he barely knows and punish his son. At least not publicly."

I simply stared at Tyler, trying to process what he was saying. I was slowly understanding why he seemed so upset about all of this. I was in deep shit, this was much messier than I thought.

I felt like I was forced into more and more drama when all I wanted to do was get away from it. I desperately wanted to move on from all of this.

I wanted to forget. I wanted to heal. But I couldn't because to heal a wound, you need to stop touching it.

Tyler's hand found mine and he intertwined our fingers together. "Hey, it'll be okay, we'll figure something out."

"Thanks," I said and gave his hand a little squeeze.

"I'm here for you. Always."

I looked down at our entwined hands and smiled.

All my problems were still there. All my worries still caged my mind. But I suddenly felt at ease, knowing I won't be facing them alone.