"I'm surprised you're talking to me," Nate speaks for the first time since we left school grounds. The bell chimes above us as we enter the store which immediately smells of dust. "I should rephrase that as not ignoring me like you are Rhys."
I let the door shut on its own moving along the back wall of the shop. "I'm not ignoring Rhys."
Stopping infront of the posters I scan over the possible combinations I could get. As I found out from Blair the party on the weekend is themed Halloween - despite it being way off the holiday - it's Lachlan's favorite theme.
Which means I need to find some ridiculous costume to wear. I could have brought Blair with me but she's agreed to go with Derek. Taylor's going to visit her grandparents this weekend meaning she won't be coming. Overall, Nate was my second last option.
"That's not what I heard from Rhys who said you actually went the long way around to get to your classroom to avoid talking to him," I glance at Nate who has an amused look on his face before going back to the costume sets. "I think that's avoidance."
I give a shrug and sigh. "Avoidance is him not telling me about that Tyler guy. The word dangerous is repeating in my head and I'm starting to question what I'm being told. Especially what I'm not."
"Why should Rhys tell you?" Nate questions. I turn and lean on the wooden counter holding various wigs. "I'm not trying to sound rude but why do you think he should?"
"Because Tyler isn't the first person to tell me that being around Rhys isn't the best idea. I've had five people tell me he's only going to get me hurt," I run my tongue over my teeth and shrug shyly. "Your brother has a reputation for a reason and I don't know whether to believe it or not. To me he isn't the violence monster everyone else sees him as."
"Then why are you listening to these people?"
"Because Rhys hasn't denied or confirmed anything," My eyes drift back to the costume sets. "You were terrorized because of him. I want to know if I have to face the same thing because I want to know if I'll need to learn to defend myself. Now can you help me choose a costume?"
For a moment it's silent and I wait for Nate to respond. When he doesn't I walk further into the shop and towards the section for Halloween speficially. I sift through the hangers of witches and almost roll my eyes when I reach the section for adults.
I shouldn't be surprised by the shorter and more revealing get up.
The rack shakes and I see Nate leaning on it with a smile. "So you would learn to fight rather than ditching my brother?"
"If it were Blair or Taylor I wouldn't run," I move down to the vampires but stop sifting for a moment. "I'm a loyal person which I don't think your brother understands fully. He's a friend to me and I don't have many of those so why would I throw away someone who's done nothing but care about me."
The words fall out before I can stop them and I swallow them back down while continuing to search. Ghosts. Werewolf. Devils. Angels. Bingo. I pull out the costume with a small smile and show Nate.
His eyes flicker down and he smiles drops. "You seriously want to go as a skeleton?"
"Why not?" I look at the suit and he steps forward sliding it back into its spot. "I'm not going dressed as some slutty nurse, police officer or god knows what else."
Rolling his eyes he grabs onto my wrist. "I'm not saying that. But you can modernize it a bit because this is a party and not a child's one. You don't have to look slutty as you say but you can look female."
"Well how do you suggest that?"
We stop surrounded by clown outfits and he throws me a black tuelle skirt. "Do you know anyone capable of doing face paint?"
"Taylor but she won't be here," I answer, following him over to the makeup area. "I would say Rhys but-"
"You're ignoring him," Nate flashes me a smile and picks up small containers of white and black paint. "It's funny how that works."
Exhaling I shake my head. "I'll do it myself, I used to do art."
For a moment Nate's eyebrows furrow and he looks at me. I notice the way they flicker over my face. Like he's realized something his eyes go wide and an oh shit is mouthed. Before I can question it he shakes the paint containers.
"You and Rhys were in the same art class weren't you?" I try to think whether we were or not. During that class I mostly had my earphones in and painted in water colors, I didn't really take notice of anyone in it apart from Taylor.
"I have no idea. That class I tuned out every lesson," I lick my lips and nod. "But I would say so because I don't think there's anymore than one class in the older years. Why do you ask?"
Nate shakes his head and takes a few steps back. "No reason."
"Nate. . ." I trail off and a smile tugs onto his lips. He chuckles while his smile reaches his eyes.
"Alright. Here's the plan for Saturday. You can come over to Lachlan's on time and I'll do the face paint but wear normal clothes," He moves back and picks up a pair of gloves with a skeleton print. "Then after that you can get dressed and make an appearance. Have you got a black tank top?"
After organizing costumes I dropped Nate at home. While I got the paint, gloves, stockings and the tuelle skirt all Nate bought was a yellow tie. Apparently the guys are being the four horseman of the apocalypse; Nate famine because he's the slimmest one.
I didn't think Nate was capable of ranting until he spent the whole ride to his place about how he doesn't suit Famine. But then his boyfriend is going as a zombie which calmed him down a bit.
He promised to introduce me to him at the party and I'm hoping he doesn't forget. I want to meet him considering most of the time Nate brings him up every chance he gets. He's in love and it's extremely cute.
When I pull into the driveway I sit there for a minute as my phone buzzes again. I know there's multiple texts but I don't know who is spamming my phone. It could either be Blair who I left abruptly from her announcing Derek was her date or Rhys because I've been evasive of him all day.
I grab my phone as well as my schoolbag and the plastic one holding most of my costume before getting out. When I get out of the nissan I lock the car and head across the trimmed grass towards the door. I slow down when I notice the door open a crack.
Looking around I feel my heart beat pick up as I slowly push it open. "Dad, are you home?"
Stepping inside slowly I wait for a response but instead I only hear footsteps come from upstairs. I curl my fingers around the edge of the door frame and drop my bags inside the door. I unlock my phone and go to call the police until the person appears at the landing of the staircase.
"Kira wait outside." Kyle says and walks down the stairs with his hands firmly gripping his gun.
My eyes widen out of fear. "What the hell is going on?"
I don't mean to be so loud but I hear a thud at the end of the hallway. With hitched breathe Kyle swings around the banister and starts towards the sound. I try not to freak out and look back outside for the police car however only see the black SUV sitting across the road.
When I turn around I don't have long to process it before I'm pushed into the door frame and someone runs past me. I see double as my ears ring and I grab onto the floor while screaming out of instinct. My heart pounds and I force myself to sit up when a hand grips my chin.
"Are you okay?" Kyle asks and his eyes keep flickering out the door. "Kira! Did they hurt you?"
I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut from the pounding in my head. "No. I'm fine, I think it was more of a fright. What the hell was happening?"
Kyle withdrawals his gun back to his holster before helping me up. I stumble with shaky legs to check my head in the mirror. Thankfully it didn't draw blood but there's going to be a bump for sure.
"I came here to talk to your father about someone he's inquired into and the door was open," I frown and spin around, he flicks his head towards the living room. "But when I saw the smashed photo I knew something was wrong."
I walk to the living room and almost cringe at the smashed glass. But the glass isn't just cracked, the photo itself has a slash across it which is terrifying. Someone came here with bad intentions and I feel sick because of that.
"Who did my dad inquire into?" I suck my lips in and face Kyle as he picks up a manilla folder from the coffee table.
"I can't-"
"Was it Rhys?" I question and he looks down at the folder.
That was a fake guess.
I reach forward and snatch the folder. "Kira you can't-"
"Oscar Adams-" I pause, looking back at him with a scoff. "Is this Rhys' father?"
Kyle looks guilty and I shake my head at his antics. He isn't supposed to use his authority as a lawyer to research things for his own personal gain. But my guess is he's had Taylor's father in his ear which has led to the file being taken by Kyle.
"He wanted to see whether what Henry told him was true or not," Kyle exhales and takes the folder from me. "If it is true - then I don't think he'll have a problem with you being friends with this Rhys guy."
"That's still illegal."
Kyle gives me a look of disbelief. "Not really. Your father has been asked to represent Oscar in reducing his sentence-"
"He's in jail?"
"What's going on here?"
My eyes close and I know this isn't going to go down well. "Someone broke in. I need to report this which means you'll need to give a statement and I suggest checking to make sure nothing was taken."
Kyle slaps the file into my fathers chest while pulling out his phone and leaving. Dad looks at the file and I cross my arms over my chest when he looks back to me. He does a double take before walking closer, his hand brushing ovet the tender spot on my head.
"What happened?"
"I got knocked over by the intruder," I exhale and flick my head to the file. "Why are you researching Rhys' father?"
Dad closes his eyes and sighs. "It's not for what you think. I do like Rhys - apparently his father asked speficially for me to represent him - I'm seeing if what I've heard is true or not. Or whether Rhys wants me to if it's true because I doubt he wants him out any time sooner."
"What did he do?" I ask and he shakes his head, hitting me on the head with the file.
"Client confidentiality," Inhaling I try not to burst into flames from the annoyance I'm feeling. "Don't worry about it. Rhys will tell you himself - go put an ice pack on your head before it bruises."
I reluctantly do so and curse underneath my breathe. This whole don't worry about it thing shouldn't annoy me so much but it is. It seems like everyone knows more than I do and it's getting old really quick. One things for certain; I'm definitely getting sick of being tossed around like a rag doll.
Last chapter of the re-publishing and now back to the scheduled updating. Thank you for the patience ❤
Question: favorite character/why?
Thoughts? Feelings? Predictions?
-inspiredrlh 💕