Cassidy's P.O.V.
"So is he mad?" Asked Lindsay as we sat in the kitchen of Max's parents' house.
"He says he's not. But I know he is. He didn't talk to me at all afterwards and he's hardly talked to me today."
"Feeling any regret?"
"I mean yea I regret repeatedly pushing him but I dont regret a word I said."
"You two will be fine. You've gotten into worse arguments."
"Lindsay.... He literally punched a hole in the wall two inches from my face."
"Its not like he actually hit you though."
"Yea but he sure as hell wanted to. I'm not blaming him though, I shouldn't have pushed him to that point. I guess I forgot who I was dealing with for a second."
"Clearly. And I know this isn't really my business but you've gotta stop questioning his motives so much Cassie. River's not dumb, he knows that what he did to Floyd was wrong but like he said, he did what he thought he had to do. That doesn't make him an awful person. You know more than anyone how big of a heart he has. He puts everyone before himself and would risk his life to save anyone, even a stranger, just as long as they deserve to be saved. He's a good man with good intentions."
"I know I know..."
As I thought about what Lindsay said a thought came to me.
It was time to let her know that I knew about what happened....
"I uh- I know you and River had sex a while back." I stated.
Judging by her sudden change of expression, I knew my statement threw her a bit off guard.
"So he told you..."
"Yea. But I'm not mad at you for it."
"Really?"
"Yea."
"Well I still wanna apologize to you for coming onto him."
"What? He said came onto you first..."
She slightly chuckled and shook her head. "He probably only told you that so that you wouldn't hate me. But nope, I came onto him first."
"So how'd it really happen?"
"We were talking then I kissed him. He pulled away at first but I went in for another kiss and things just went from there. Afterwards we laid in bed... He wrapped his arms around me. Made me feel like everything was gonna be okay. Then he called me your name."
"Are you serious?" I chuckled.
"Yep. He felt so bad afterwards and kept apologizing. It was hilarious." She giggled. "But it only happened twice and we haven't even so much as looked at eachother the same way since then."
"Like I said its fine. Its in the past."
"Can I ask you something now?"
"Of course, anything."
"How did it happen the first time with you and Max?"
Oh boy....
"Well uh... Kinda happened the same way it happened between you and River. We were talking one second then trying to catch our breaths the next."
"Were you ever really in love with him?"
"Yea for sure. I tried to convince myself for a while that it was just infatuation but nope, I really was in love with him. I'd always had a thing for Max. Even when I was a kid I had the biggest crush on him. But once I got older I didn't try to pursue anything because he was my brother's bestfriend and he was more of a brother to me as well. Then you and him got together and I just erased all thoughts of being with him."
"And now?"
"Now I'm happily in love with and married to the guy of my dreams even though he often makes me wanna rip my hair out." I laughed.
She giggled then hit me with one if her infamous Lindsay looks.
"Uh oh..." I said.
"Wanna know a secret?" She asked with a grin.
"Of course I do."
"Promise you won't tell him I told you?"
"Pinky swear."
"Alright." She began as she adjusted herself in the chair. "You didn't hear this from me, but Jordan used to have a thing for you before you got with River."
My mouth nearly dropped open until I caught myself.
"Whatever Lindsay...."
"I'm dead serious Cass. He told Max then Max told AJ then AJ told me.... Like seriously... Everyone knows about it now but you."
"If that's true then why didn't he say anything?"
"Because he knew you'd friendzone him like you've been doing all your life."
We both bursted out laughing which made me feel so bad.
"Lindsay there's no way I believe you."
Max then came into the kitchen with Harley.
"What if you heard it from Max? Then would you believe it?"
"Probably."
"Heard what from me?" He asked as he sat in a chair on the opposite side of the table.
"I just told her about someone close to her that used to have a thing for her..." She simply said.
"Oh, Jordan?" He asked. "Yea she's not kidding."
I facepalmed myself yet couldn't stop laughing. This was just something I never thought would happen.
"He told me like a month before you met River. He was like 'Max I'm catching feeling for her' then when I asked who he was like 'Do i really have to say who' and he made me swear that I wouldn't tell you. If you ask him about it though he'll deny it."
"This is just so hard to process."
"How?" Asked Lindsay. "You two have been bestfriends since the day you were born one of you were bound to catch feelings eventually."
"Yea but he could have said something to me about it."
"What would you have done?" Asked Max.
That was a good question. Truth is though I'm not sure what I would've done.
"I dont know but like I could've just talked to him about it you know instead of just making him feel as if he can't be honest with me."
"Why are you still laughing?" Asked Max who was now chuckling.
"Because you and Lindsay are laughing!" I exclaimed.
"Its just so sad that you've kept him in the friendzone all your life. That's gotta be a friendzone record." Lindsay stated.
"Oh shush." I giggled. "Where's my little guy?"
"Went with my dad somewhere." Said Max. "Thankfully."
"Whatever you're way more of a burden than Morgan is." Lindsay shot back.
"Um have you met your son?"
"He's your son too idiot."
"Touché." He replied as he got up with Harley and started talking to her.
"Lets go flush mommy's makeup down the toilet. That sound like a good idea?" He asked her.
She started smiling and made the cutest little sound.
"If you and your daddy mess with my makeup you wont have a daddy anymore by the end of the day." Lindsay warned Harley as Max stuck his tongue out at Lindsay and left.
"Wanna come with me to Jasmine's for a bit?" I asked.
"Sure. For what?"
"I wanna see my nephew. Haven't seen him since the last time I came down here a few months ago."
"Yea I'm down. I've got nothing better to do anyways."
.............................................
Daniel's P.O.V.
"But mom-"
"Daniel I said no."
"Riley's not a kid anymore. He's got his own place for god's sake. He's a man now. And this might be something he's interested in. If it is I can help him get into it."
"Daniel, your father and I hardly ever see you throughout the year except when there's a death or occassionally on Christmas, why would I want Riley pursuing a career in the CIA too? So that I can barely ever see him and constantly be worried that the next time I see him will be at a morgue? I dont think so."
"Mom this isn't about what you want. Ultimately it'd be his decision. Look I'm just trying to make sure my little brother is successful in life."
"He will be successful. He's already been accepted into law school."
"But with everything that's happened over the years he needs to know how to be able to shield himself from the public eye when need be. There's no telling who's still out there."
"We haven't been faced with an outside threat in years hun. He can't spend his life afraid that someone's always after him."
"I'm not saying he needs to spend his life being afraid I'm saying he needs to spend his life being cautious and prepared in case something happens."
"He's just as safe as he needs to be."
"Oh so was Xander just as safe as he needed to be when he got killed? Is that why he got his fucking throat sliced open? Is that why he died in agony and pain? Is that why he was murdered in cold blood? Tell me, was he as safe as he needed to be at the time? No, he wasnt. But we thought he was. Hell he thought he was. The last thing on his mind when he woke up that day was dying. No one saw it coming. No one expected it. I didn't expect getting that phone call telling me that my brother was dead. That he'd been killed. You know why I didn't expect it? Because I didn't think anyone was after Alexander. Everyone loved him. He had a great life ahead of him. Yet he didn't even get the chance to reach the age of 30 nor did he get to see the birth of his son because 5 years 7 months and 13 days ago on the night of November 28th someone decided to take my brother's life as he was leaving the batting cages with Riley and Madison. You do know that that's why Riley gave up his dream of playing baseball professionally right? Because he saw his brother get killed right in front of the batting cages by someone who still hasn't been caught. Someone who's still out there. Someone who can easily come back and kill me. Or kill Riley. Or maybe even dad. Hell if it hadn't been for dad being called into work at the last minute you know for a fact he would've been there at the batting cages that night with Alexander, Riley, and Madison. He'd be dead right now. So do not say that anyone's safe. Because we're far from it."
"Alexander wasnt the target that night." Said a voice, entering into the den.
Mom and I turned to see River.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Alexander wasnt supposed to die that night. It was all a mistake..." River continued.
"What do you mean it was a mistake?"
"You were the target Daniel. Not Xander."
Everything within me tensed up.
"How do you know this?"
"Because Riley didn't tell you the full story. He told Cass and I the same thing he told you but I knew there was something he was hiding. So Max and I confronted him about it after Xander's funeral and he told us the truth. The story he told you was true but he just left out a few parts. Turns out the guy that killed your brother was sent by Mark to kill you and only you because Mark knew you worked for the CIA and he knew that after you realized who he was you'd do everything in your power to expose him and take him down so he ordered a hit on you. The man that attacked Xander told him that he wouldn't kill him if he just gave up your location. Alexander refused to tell him where you were and so he was killed. The only reason why he didn't kill Riley and Madison is because he heard the sound of cop sirens and took off."
"Why are you just now telling me this?"
"I knew you'd blame yourself for his death."
"I would've done more than just blame myself."