"Your eyes make me shy."
~Anais Nin
Grace had bought some essentials online since she couldn't leave the house to do it herself, and she needed them with immediacy.
Shawn provided the money for Grace to do so, saying she that could buy whatever she wanted.
Grace still had no idea what exactly was going on, but Shawn promised to tell her as soon as it became necessary for her to know.
As for now, all she had to do was stay in his house until his father was sure that their lives weren't in danger anymore.
Once everything was delivered to the door, Grace quickly retrieved the items with her hair hiding her face.
She was thankful for the stubbornness of her long curly locks, and how they easily covered her whole face.
Admittedly, she looked mad- and that was putting it lightly.
She took a quick shower and dressed herself, settling back on the living room couch with a bowl of cereal in her hand.
She had no idea where Shawn was. In the fairly large house, he could be anywhere.
Not known to her that he was in the library where he was on a phone call with his father, a private place away from Grace's ears.
Shawn had never gone through a whole ghosting processes without his father, let alone with someone else other than his father.
He ghosted once with his father and Kevin, but Kevin wasn't a total stranger.
Everything was just so new to him, he didn't know how he was going to handle it- how he was going to handle her.
He wasn't even sure he wanted her to stay, she wasn't his responsibility, right?
"I saw the news." His father sympathised with him, his voice coming out low and throaty.
The way things were escalating, there was immense pressure on him to figure out everything before more blood was spilt.
His whole operation depended on him solving the new problem before it could worsen and draw the attention of official authorities.
"He didn't listen to me. He should've gone back home." His phone was on the table and the call was on speaker, making it more convenient for him to pace around to and fro.
His voice was brittle, indicating that he was more sad than he was angry.
"We will find the people behind this kiddo, that's a promise." Mr Stryker was trying his best to make his son feel better, but he had just lost his best friend, that would be a hard blow on anyone.
Even though Kevin always got on Shawn's nerves, they were best friends through and through. Inseparable.
Being brought up by parents that worked together, they had no one else but each other to count on in times their lives really depended on it.
Kevin always had his back when he needed him, now his back was bare and exposed for the picking.
"Fill me in, dad. This has now become my case too, I want to know everything there is to know about what is going on." Shawn was obviously angry, and vengeance was definitely the main dish on his plate.
He would find those people that killed his friend and make them suffer gruesomely.
"All I know is that, there wasn't a mole. These people did their research on us and know that we're the main thing around here. Our teammates are trust worthy, it's these people that are not the usual small gangs that we're used to. They're definitely connected to some kind of cartel outside of the country and they're looking to expand themselves into our territory. Kevin was their way of making themselves known, I guess." Informed the older Stryker to the younger one.
"And this 'gang' is just here to inspect the opportunities they have here, get new clients and such?" Shawn wiped a stray tear off his cheek, the time for mourning had passed.
"That's what we're going with for now." His father held his phone to his ear, pacing around the hotel room he was in.
Even with all his stature, he was still worried: for his sons, his wife and his friends.
"Let my team and I figure this out with you. We can't sit this one out." He suggested to his father, a suggestion his father was already concidering.
Even being as powerful as he was, he always knew when he needed help and at that moment, he needed help.
"If you want to do this then you and your friends must meet at the base and ghost there for a while. I'll fill you in when I get more information, we can work out the rest from there." He tucked his gun in behind him, covering it with his shirt.
"Dad, there's... a girl here." He lowered his voice, disappointed in himself.
"She's ghosting with you?" His father stood still in his room, concerned for his son's safety.
"Yes. She was here when I got the call from you." He picked up his phone and walked out of the library.
Paolo knew his son was a charmer, but that he would actually bring a girl home when he wasn't around?
That- that was uncalled for.
He was actually proud of his son, he'd waited a long time for him to grow a pair.
"It's best she stays with you until all this is all over. Don't get her too involved, we don't need any more loose ends."
They ended the call there and carried on with their duties.
The older Stryker had things he needed to attend to, if his son's team was going to get together it was only wise that his team should get together as well.
He also had to check up on his wife and younger kid, he needd to inform her of this new problem.
"Grace." Shawn called for the girl who responded with a soft hum. "Hm?"
Her attention was on her phone as she typed away on her screen, responding to the hundreds of messages she got from her friends and worried mother.
They were all asking about her whereabouts and whether or not they should call the police.
"We're leaving tomorrow." He approached the girl, sitting beside her on the couch. "Where to?"
Shawn didn't know how to explain it to her so he responded with, "Another house. A safer house." Was all he could think of saying.
"I just need to call a few people first." He informed her then left again to his room, to make the calls.
He called Kristen, Armon and Tiffany, telling them to meet him at the base the next day.
"Ghost protocol still applies." He told all of them, saying that he would explain everything at the base when they would all present.
Grace was sure she heard shuffling, and it came from the kitchen.
Was any else there besides her and Shawn?
"Pulsanti¹!" A childish disembodied voice cheered happily from the kitchen, fast paced steps charged her way making her stiffen.
The boy stopped in front of her, eyes filled with childish curiousity scanning her whole self for any familiarities.
His eyes were an intimidating chestnut brown color, just like Shawn's.
He was a smashing resemblance to Shawn, no doubt they were brothers.
He arched a thick black brown, his baby pink lips pulling down into a frown.
"Pulsanti! There's a girl here!" He cried aloud, putting emphasis on the word 'girl' to show just how disgusted he was.
"Ammaliatore²? What are you doing here?" Shawn skipped down the stairs to his little brother, scooping him into his arms.
The sight was nothing short of amazing to Grace, Shawn craddling a child in his arms.
"The resort was cut short! I didn't even get to go on the tour! But we went hiking and I got a massage! It was really fun Pulsanti!" The younger Shawn look-alike blurted out, in a complete euphoric state.
"I'm glad you had fun." Shawn smiled, the first that Grace had seen.
Flabbergasted, so the boy could smile.
"Shawn, honey. Your dad called and-" A pair of hazel eyes landed on Grace, their mixed green and blue selves staring the soul out of her.
"You brought a girl home." The older woman spoke to Shawn, but her eyes remained on Grace.
Her tone when saying 'girl' was the same tone the younger Shawn had when saying the exact same word.
"Oh, her." Shawn sighed then placed his little brother back on his two little feet.
"That's Grace. We were working on our English assignment when dad called. I'm stuck with her." Again with the disgusted tone.
Did the whole family hate her? Because that was excatly how she felt at that moment.
"If I'm that much of a burden to you, I can leave. I don't mind." She narrowed her eyes at Shawn, standing on her feet to show how serious she was.
"Be my guest. It's your life on the line, not mine." He dismissed her, making her narrowed eyes blare with rage.
What the hell?
"Manners Shawn! Grace, honey, don't listen to him. You can stay." The older woman stood in Grace's way, preventing her from leaving.
"We wouldn't want you to get hurt, please." She pleaded, Grace nodding her head in response to the mother's pleading.
"Great! My name is Jule Stryker, I'm Shawn's mother and that little sweetie over there is Obadiah, my youngest. He's only seven so he might say a few things that may or may not make sense." She smiled at Grace, placing her hands on either one of Grace's shoulders.
Grace returned the smile.
Mrs Stryker was way nicer than her son, more welcoming.
"I hope Shawn didn't do anything stupid yesterday." She gave a worried frown, looking over at her son then back into Grace's dark onyx eyes.
"No, he didn't." Grace assured the older woman, keeping the smile on her face just to be polite.
She wasn't exactly fond of Shawn, not at all, he was annoyingly passive and blunt.
The only upside to him was that he kept to himself and let her be, plus he was interesting at times.
"So, do you and Shawn kiss and stuff?" Asked the youngest Stryker, childish curiousity burning like awe in those innocent brown eyes of his. A childish awe.
Shawn puffed out his cheeks and closed his eyes, releasing the air slowly out his slightly parted lips.
Why was his brother so stupid? Sometime he doubted his relation to that small package of innocence.
"Oh dear God no." Grace responded almost immediately, taken aback by the suddenness of the little one's question.
"Okay. Come on Oby, you need a bath." Mrs Stryker lifted her seven year-old off the ground and carried him away from the awkward silence that birthed itself in the air.
Shawn and Grace remained in such a silence, trying their best to avoid the other's gaze.
"So, your mom is nice." Grace looked up to meet with brown eyes looking back at her, her stomach churned a bit.
Disgust maybe? No...
"That she is." He agreed, his voice flat and monotone.
Grace's efforts of reducing the awkwardness were in vain, as she shifted awkwardly under his watchful eyes, shy.
"Uh." She cleared her throat, forcing her eyes down to meet the ground.
Only then did she notice the racing of her heart, what was that about?
"You're not a burden to me." He confessed, moving closer to her and using his index finger to lift her head by her chin.
"Yeah, you're just a jerk who isn't used to having people around." Her lips stretched into a smile, as she permitted the close proximity they had to one another.
"Um, yeah, exactly." He chuckled softly as she giggled, the awkward athmosphere vanishing in an instant.
"We cool?" He arched an eyebrow and lifted his head slightly, a smirk playing on his pale pink lips.
"For now." Grace attempted a smirk of her own which, in the end, turned into a full blown grin.
Shawn admired her grin with the lobe of his ears moderately tinting pink, a small smile curving his lips upward.
They left to Shawn's liesure room where they settled on beanbags infront of the TV, game controllers in hand as they played God of war on Shawn's PS4 game console.
They became comfortable around each other once more, enjoying the company of the other.
Her shyness had disappeared immediately his eyes lifted off her, her heart returned to its normal pace and she no longer felt like a pile of nervousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~
¹Italian for Buttons. It's a nickname Obadiah gave to his older brother.
²Italian for Charmer, it's a nickname Shawn gave to his younger brother.