Not If I Save You First

twelve | dinner from hell

"Her warnings are baseless. I always play nice with guests," Celia smiled, showing her full set of white teeth. She's good. "Grayson should know. I'm the one planning his bachelor party, since he was built to do absolutely nothing fun during his lifetime."

"Celia," Thea sighed.

"My apologies. Anyways, Archer, how did you become fortunate enough to be in the presence of Ariella for longer than five minutes?" Celia asked.

"We met on the subway platform," Archer answered. He directed his attention towards Grayson, causing Celia to smirk in my direction. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is my favorite book."

Grayson remained quiet after that. Ha. 

It didn't last long.

"Your situation is public knowledge. Is it possible that there is truth to the news?" Grayson asked.

Fuck you, Grayson!

Truly and honestly, I'm going to commit murder on my own brother.

He knows that Archer is innocent! We're in pursuit of the actual killers as we speak. How fucking dare he even bring up this conversation?

"If you're asking if I'm a murderer, the answer is no," Archer said.

It didn't take long for dinner conversation to be casual and less awkward. Celia talked about her latest stories that happened at work. She's currently stressing about being a bridesmaid while still playing the big badass woman boss in the company. She doesn't want to take time off work to do dress shopping.

"Well, I think dinner is finished. I'll clean up and bring out dessert," Thea said.

"I'll help," Grayson and Celia said in unison.

The three of them collected the dirty plates and brought them to the kitchen. Archer and I sat in an uncomfortable silence. We've never been uncomfortable during silence. Usually, Archer is deep in thought trying to profile a situation. He could easily gain a perspective on Thea and Celia; however, Grayson and I were trained to not be profiled. We don't give away any indications about ourselves.

When Archer first profiled me, I spoon fed him that information. He doesn't know anything about me that I don't want him to know.

"I'm sorry for invading your family dinner," Archer whispered, keeping his eyes focused on the table.

My eyes darted towards the kitchen. "Come with me," I murmured, grabbing Archer's wrist. I dragged him into my bedroom and locked the door behind us. "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Archer asked, taking a step back after noticing our closer proximity. "If it's about what your brother said, I don't mind."

"He had no right to bring that up," I whispered.

"Maybe, but it's like he said, it's public knowledge. People still think that I'm a killer. It's something that I'm going to need to deal with, that's why we're following that message my parents' left for me," Archer explained.

If I'm being honest with myself, Archer is a great person. He doesn't deserve half the shit he's going through right now. I've never met someone who can be casual about being accused of murder. The poor kid doesn't have anyone to turn to because his parents are still missing. His friends have either abandoned him, or he didn't have many friends to begin with. He's got no one. 

All I know is that Archer Hawthorne deserves to have his parents back in his life.

"You don't deserve that," I whispered.

I didn't realize it at first, but Archer and I both stepped closer to one another at some point. The heat encased me like a coffin, as I breathed in to make sure I didn't do something stupid. I kept my eyes fixated on Archer's chest. I know if I saw his eyes, then I'd drop to the floor and faint. Or I would start an entirely new search for his parents. He needed them. More than he needed me.