FORCE | topper thornton

NINETEEN

It was currently the night of Topper's mothers passing, I had called and told my dad what happened, I told him I needed to be here for Topper for a while. He said Topper was welcome to stay with us, but Topper felt wrong leaving his home, so my dad brought me a duffel bag of clothes, he trusted us to be alone together, especially knowing how hurt Topper was right now. I sighed as I poured myself a late cup of coffee, I was going to need it, Topper showed no sign of slowing down as I heard him rummaging through everything in his mom's office, looking for her will. I slowly walked into the office, we had both showered and changed when we arrived here, he refused to go to sleep like I asked, so while he showered I started making call's, I informed our closest friends of what happened, I called his mom's assistant, she told me she'd handle the business side of things, I appreciated that. I called the funeral home we had used for Logan and my mom, telling them what happened, and in the morning we were going there to pick everything. Topper didn't want to go, he wanted to stay here, but I knew better than to leave him alone right now, so I explained to him that he would want to be there, and that it would mean a lot to his mother that he picked out the details of her burial. He hesitantly agreed, on the condition that I gave him my genuine input. Of course, I agreed. "Topper." I spoke quietly as I leaned against the door frame leading to the office, he didn't look away from the safe he was attempting to get into, he had a little black book out beside him, it was filled with passwords and codes, but none of them seemed to work. "It has to be in here, Kenzie! I have to get in here." His voice was strained, he was completely spiraling, and trying to keep me out of it, but he knew if he was going down, I was going with him, simply to help bring him back up. I approached him slowly, I gently placed my hands over his shaky ones, "did you try your birthday?" I asked, rubbing circles into the skin of his hands, knowing it always calmed him, he simply shook his head, watching as I turned to the safe, it opened with a click as I entered his birthday. I pulled out the envelope in there, it was clearly her will, I handed to him as he anxiously awaited it. I looked through the remaining contents, a few more legal papers, I sighed in relief when I found the life insurance policy, I opened the envelope, smiling briefly as I saw him on there as the beneficiary. One more thing to check off my mental list. The only things remaining were some very expensive jewelry which I made sure to leave in the safe as I locked it, taking only the papers we would need over the next few days.

"Holy shit." Topper mumbled, reading over the paper once again, I sat beside him, my eyes scanning over the paper.

Everything to be left to my only child, Topper Thornton, in the event of my passing.

I looked to him with wide eyes, he was going to inherent this entire property, all of her money, everything, and a part of me was worried on what he would do with that much control, but I pushed it aside, we'll deal with that later. "That's great." I mumbled, placing my hand on his knee, "it is, but, I don't want to keep this house." I went wide eyed at his words, "why not?" I couldn't help but ask, my shock evident in my tone. "It's so big, I've never really liked how fancy it is, and now it just hurts to be here." His words were genuine, I could tell as he leaned into my side, I pouted as his eyes fluttered shut from my gentle touch. "Alright, baby." I whispered, letting him have a quiet moment, "I think we should go to bed, yeah?" I added softly, he nodded, barely opening his eyes as I gently shifted him off of me. I groaned over dramatically as he leaned on me as we walked, he chuckled sleepily, trudging up the stairs with me. I climbed into the bed before him, allowing him to come and rest his head on my chest, his forehead slightly touching my neck, I wrapped my arm behind him, gently playing with his hair as he almost instantly fell asleep. "Sleep tight, love." I muttered, pressing a soft kiss to head before forcing myself to shut my eyes, and try to get some sleep.

***

It was ten o'clock in the morning, I had just pulled up to the funeral home, Topper blankly staring at it from the passenger seat of his own car, he insisted on taking it, but I insisted on him not driving. He made a few comments about me looking good driving his car, but aside from that he had been relatively silent. "Topper, come on, bub. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can go home." I assured him, he slightly smiled at the mention of us going home together, he nodded slowly climbing out of the car, I took a deep breath before following his actions, someone give me the strength to get through this day.

We walked into the empty house, I looked around with a sigh, I don't normally promote these kinds of things, but I felt the need to offer packing things away already, I knew he wasn't going to stay here, he made that clear. Before I decided to offer that idea up to him, I pulled him along with me to the couch, ordering him to sit down, I sat beside him, laying my legs across his lap just like he loved me to do. "What are you going to do with the money from selling this house?" I asked, I was being the grown up here, but someone had to guide him, he had no family left. "I'd buy a smaller place on the beach for me.." he trailed off, I felt there was more to that sentence but I didn't pry, "and then save the rest, maybe invest a little, I still want to become a personal trainer. Maybe one day I can open my own gym." I always loved how passionate he looked when he spoke about what he wanted to do. "What?" He shook me from my thoughts, catching me staring at him, "nothing, babe. You just look so happy when you talk about doing that." I explained, resting a hand on his cheek, he leaned into the touch, he nodded. "I am happy to do that." He spoke softly, finally having a moment of peace, forgetting briefly of the darkness surrounding him. "What do you say, we go to the store, buy some boxes and start packing up stuff you want to keep?" I offered, and a small smile grew upon his face. "I'd like that." He pecked my lips quickly before patting my legs, silently telling me to move. I did so, and grabbed my purse, laughing as he pushed me towards the door by my butt. "Such a guy." I joked, "especially for you baby girl." He whispered in my ear, and that gave me the boost I needed to think he was actually going to make it through this.