You: "Why would he have come to see you or your father?"
Jaden: "Come see me and we can talk about it?"
You: "I don't want anything to do with you! Get that through your head, Jaden."
Jaden: "If you want to see the pretty boy all in one piece then you'll meet me later tonight."
You: "What could you possibly want from me?"
Jaden: "Look we got off on the wrong foot that night at the skatepark. Let's start over."
You: "Never gonna happen."
Jaden: "We'll see."
You hung up quickly when Avani walked back in. You were still trembling but she didn't seem to notice: "Sorry about that. Back to where we were-"
You: *lying* "Listen, I promise you I'm ok. Vinnie was in a bad situation and got involved in my dad's business when he was way too young but since the moment we fell in love he's chosen me over all of it every chance he's got."
Avani: "Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I still can't believe you have another boyfriend. I just never thought you'd move on."
You: "Losing Chase was hard, but we all go through heartbreak at some point. Your last boyfriend cheated on you and now you have Anthony."
Avani: "Yep and you have Vinnie. I think Anthony has a man-crush on him by the way. He is always asking when we can hang with you guys again. It's so weird how different our lives are but totally similar at the same time."
You: "Definitely different. I mean your dad doesn't walk around armed 24/7."
Avani: "I mean, no but he does keep one in his nightstand."
*AVANI'S POV*
The movie had been over for a while and your conversation died down awkwardly after that so Avani went to take a shower for bed. She was scared for her best friend and hoped she knew what she was getting herself into being involved with someone in the business.
It was also getting to her finding out that her dad had known Mr. D'Amelio was the one holding her best friend hostage. He'd always promised he had nothing to do with anything except the money side of the business. She shook the stress off and wrapped herself up in a towel and opened the door to find her best friend hovering in front of her parent's bedroom door:
Avani: "What are you doing?"
You: *lying* "I was just waiting for my turn in the shower."
*END AVANI'S POV*
You hurried into the bathroom before Avani picked up that you were up to something and turned on the shower while you texted Vinnie's phone.
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You climbed into the steamy shower and replayed everything that had happened the last few months since Bryce found you and Vinnie on the run. You tried to pinpoint exactly where things had gone so wrong. Was Vinnie still involved with the business? Had his promise to stay out of trouble been a lie? Or did your dad get him involved in something recently? You let emotion and uncertainty wash over you for a moment before shaking it off. You dipped your head back under the stream and let the stress drip off, imagining it going down the drain below you.
