Watching his back recede to the distance as he greets the receptionist on his way out again and step out completely.

He’s so quiet. Not a good thing, not one bit, but I suppose I can understand why he’s so quiet when he’s literally had to live in silence and in hiding and still continues to do so.

Even now he still ducks under cover at the sight of the Suppressors.

I wish he could turn sixteen already.

“Hey, Paige!” Kean, the boy from the pool calls out to me.

That’s right, I have some business with him and his friends.

“Are you coming back in?”

“Actually, Paige, is that guy gone? I don’t even know how he got in.”

“Shush you idiot,” Mary scolds Sarah, the one I’ve found to be truly idiotic, “Don’t you know anything? Their gang basically owns this part of town.”

As I approach all three seem to straighten, they’ve lined themselves up by the side of the pool, Mary has her normal clothes bunched up in her arms and Kean unsurprisingly still has a vice grip on the wine bottles.

“That ‘guy’ has a name.” I scowl.

Sarah looks flushed now, “Oh, I’m sorry, I mean I heard you call him a name but I didn’t think you’d actually know him.” She stares back at me, a level of suspicion clear in her eyes, “Are you…with him?”

“What?” Kean blurts, “She couldn’t be, you couldn’t be right? No way you’d hang around their type. Here, come let’s drink and forget about this.”

He tries handing me one of the wine glasses and I barely resist the urge to slap it straight out of his hand.

The lights go up, illuminating the pool in a bath of fluorescent light. Mary shivers, “I think we should go back up, it’s night and it’s getting cold out. In the first place it’s a pretty bad idea to hang out in a swimming pool while it snows.”

“I AM WITH HIM!” I scream, finally getting a word in between the three fucktards.

Sarah doesn’t look as shocked as she’s trying to be, Kean only looks disappointed, although whether he’s disappointed that the mood is being ruined or that I’m with Vern, I have no way of knowing.

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“Uh, that’s fine really, I’ve got to get back up.”

She tries passing by me but I’m not having it, not tonight. Grabbing her forcefully by her arms, I yank her back, not minding the clothes that spill out from her hands.

“Paige!” Sarah yells. “What is wrong with you!”

“Shut it! You think you’re so special because your daddies have some cash? If you live in Xoxia you belong to one of the four of the main gangs!”

I take a step forward, heading over slowly to outraged, idiotic Sarah, “So your daddy,” another step, “or mummy,” another, “or fucking both, I don’t care.” And another until she’s teetering at the very edge of the pool another step and she’ll plunge.

“Your money. Your privilege? It’s all Xoxia made, it’s all fucking made by the gangs! Your daddies are much more of…what was it you called Vern? Oh yeah, scum!”

Launching a wad of spit dead centre on her face she flinches and falls back like the idiot she is into the pool.

“Omg. Omg. Oh my God! Sarah!” Mary scrambles to her knees and leans over the edge, searching for Sarah he comes up flapping about like a fish.”

“She can’t swim! You know that! We told you!”

Glaring down at the two I shake my head and turn away.

“Kean! Would you stop looking at her boobs and help me!” Mary screams.

At this I laugh and turn around so he sees me cupping my boobs so they squish together, “Yeah Kean, stop looking at my fucking boobs and help your friend.”

To his credit he only spends a few seconds gawking at me before turning about to help his near drowning friend whereas I walk back up to the room.

Slamming the door behind me and flopping onto my bed, I let out a tired and exasperated sigh.

Vern doesn’t deserve any of this, none of it. He keeps suffering for my sake, toiling just to make me comfortable and…he never stops to give any of that to himself.

The moment I found myself in his shank of a home all those years ago, he just up and started taking care of me.

Again, I sigh.

When will he stop?

No, I can’t pretend like I’m not at fault either. I’m stringing him along, I’m the one allowing this to go on. I should stop him.

But how? Vern may not be quick to deceit but he’s very…reserved about these things. Leaving me is one of the few things he’d fight me on, even if he knows I’m right.

“Arggh!!” I scream into the rather fluffy pillow made available by the motel.

Getting off the bed with boiling frustrations, I choose not to think about it too much, in time, with me leaving every so often; jumping weeks, months and sometimes years in the future…he’ll leave me behind too and he’ll move on with his life while I find mine in the future.

Yes. I think, that’ll have to be the only way.

Am I running away? No. I’m just accepting the reality of what might come to be, and it’s better, for both our sakes that we live our lives for ourselves, in our time.

“I should talk to him about it when he gets back.” I mutter to myself, grabbing a plastic cup from the stack atop the dispenser.

“Ack-!” Before I can get the water pouring, I’m struck with a head splitting headache. Stumbling to the floor I press my hands against my head, stifling a scream.

A flurry of images flitter behind my eyelids, shots, gunshots. Vern…he’s hurt, someone’s shot him!

So many women, all of them huddled together and crying. Bodies at his feet…did he kill them? Did Vern…take a life?

“No!”

With what feels like an hour of excruciating pain, my eyes fly open and the cup I drop is still rolling.

Fuck…I’ve got a week.