familiarity

I loved you

                 Later that day Riley came downstairs to her step dad shouting her name, "Riley get your ass down here now!" He scoffed for the third time.  She didn't hear him the first two times since she had her earphones in, so she ran down the stairs quietly and stood in front of him. He folded his arms and snatched her phone from her hands, "I need you to do something for me" he rolled his eyes. Riley shook her head, "no, I'm not doing it" she turned away from him.

He laughed, "oh you are, and you're gonna face me right this second" he growled. She hated that tone so she turned back around and shook her head, "you're gonna go dump this in the river and you're not gonna tell a soul" he got all up in her face. He forced the bag into her hand as she stumbled backwards a bit, great, she can just give it to jay or hailey. She scoffed, "pig" she mumbled under her breath as she walked towards the door, luckily he didn't hear it as she left the house without a jacket on or anything.

                   She looked at the van as she walked away, of course she wasn't gonna dump it, it could be what jay and hailey need to finish the case and help her out.  Instead, she walked around the corner of her street and just waited, she pulled her hoodie up to her mouth since the wire was on it, "if you guys meet me next to the diner down the road, I'll give it to you" she whispered into it. 

                 Jay looked at hailey as she nodded, "let's go" he got into the front as did hailey.  The pair drove away from the house and around the corner moderately slow to give Riley time to get there.  Once they saw her stood down the alleyway they pulled up and hopped out, "you okay?" Hailey smiled.  Riley nodded, "mmhmm" she smiled and handed her the package.  Jay smiled, "this'll be over soon, don't worry" he nodded.  Riley smiled sadly and nodded, she'd been told that one too many times before, "we're gonna go back now and we'll be there when you get home" hailey nodded.  Riley smiled and nodded as the pair got back into the van and drove off, she decided to wait for a while before going home since it would be evident she didn't dump it.

After 5 minutes or so she started heading back, it was starting to get dark now but she didn't wanna run since she was still feeling lightheaded from before. She arrived home and her step dad was watching TV, she walked right past him and into her room, luckily he didn't talk to her so she didn't have to talk back.  She got into her room and slid down the wall, she knew he'd soon find out and she knew what was coming, she's just surprised he hasn't found the wire in his office yet.

                   It wasn't until later that night when it all kicked off, she was sat downstairs watching an announcement on the news when her step dad came storming down the hall and into the living room, "you lying little brat" he scoffed.  Riley jumped and looked behind her, "huh?" She tilted her head hoping he wouldn't pick up on her nervousness.  Giovanni laughed, "I had a friend, quite a dear friend of mine, waiting by the river. He never saw you once, so where did you put it?" He wakes in front of her.  Riley shook her head, "I dumped it, I swear I did. I saw a cop car rolling by so I went the other way and dumped it on the other side" she shrugged.

Giovanni scoffed, "this is the last time I ask you to do anything, you're useless!" He shook his head. Riley rolled her eyes but he saw it, "your mother should've took you with her" he scoffed and walked off. Riley huffed, "oh yeah, I'm extremely sorry I'm not a person anymore, I'm a problem" she laughed in annoyance. Giovanni stormed back over to her, "you could literally be in a Forster home right now, stop being ungrateful" he pointed in her face. Riley shrugged, "I'd rather be in one" she rolled her eyes again. That earned her a slap across the face, but she expected so she already ducked her head to minimise the sting.

Unfortunately for Riley, she didn't have her hoodie on since she wasn't expecting to stay downstairs for long, "drop the attitude or I will open the door and kick you out myself. I'm sick of all this cocky attitude towards me young lady" he shook his head, Riley huffed, "oh you're so traumatised. I loved you, it's true, I wanted to be you to just do what you do. Not now, I'd rather be anyone but you" she laughed but her tears were on the verge of spilling. Giovanni looked at her, "you're pushing you're luck, and if it wasn't because the cops were here earlier you'd be out of the house by now" he lunged at her to cause more fear.  Riley laughed, "have it your way, I'm going for a walk and I'll be back later. Enjoy your peace" she let the tears roll down her face.

                   She didn't even go back upstairs for her hoodie, she knew jay and hailey would've heard none of that since she didn't have the wire on her.  Instead she just slid her trainers on and put her jacket on before running out of the house, she saw the van still parked up but she didn't expect them to notice her.

Hailey was sat trying to fix something that gave connection to the wires in the house when she looked up at the perfect time, "is that Riley?" She nodded over to a young girl running down the street. Jay looked up from watching his partner and noticed that it was indeed the young girl, "you go, it'll look suspicious in the van" hailey nodded since she had the wires in her hands, if she let go she'd lose all connection to the wire in Giovanni's office. Jay nodded and got out of the van, he walked past Giovanni's house with his hood up but the second he was past the window and out of his view he dropped his hood and ran after her.

"Riley..." he called after her, luckily for jay he was a lot faster then her and took larger strides so he caught up to her in no time, "Riley..." he caught his breath back and wrapped his arms around her since she was clearly in distress and about to run into incoming traffic. She flailed around in his arms for a few seconds, "woah, calm down it's me, it's jay" he held her arms down so she couldn't hurt herself by accident, once again he was taken away by how small and fragile she was.  She calmed down knowing who it was, "hey look at me, what happened?" He couched down in front of her.

Riley fell to the floor as her whimpers turned into sobs, "it's okay" he pulled her into a hug, it never fails to shock him how small she is, "it's okay..." he ran his hand over her hair even though he didn't really know the kid, but she clearly needed it.  The pair were gaining some weird stares from people  as they walked past them, so Jay decided to pick her up and fetch her into a small alleyway nearby where no one could see or hear them, "you're okay, can you tell me what happened Riley?" He sat down on the floor with her.  Riley wiped her tears away and nodded, "he found out that i-I didn't dump the package but I made up a lie, then we started arguing and..." she shook her head clearly starting to stress herself out.

                 Jay placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "shhhh, it's okay. Where was your wire?" He frowned since he and hailey heard none of this.  Riley nodded and took a deep breath, "it's on my hoodie upstairs, he called me down to watch something on the news and I didn't have time to put it on..." she looked down.  Jay nodded sadly, "it's okay, it doesn't matter. Did he hurt you?" He rubbed her shoulder as she calmed down.  Riley hesitantly shook her head, Giovanni slapped her across the face, but it's nothing she hasn't dealt with before so she just ignored it. 

                Jay smiled sadly, he knew she was lying but he wasn't gonna push her, "its okay, it's nearly over. In a few days you'll be with a loving family, I promise" he pulled her into a gentle hug.  Riley liked the idea of that but she had a sneaky feeling everything would be far from okay, after all she's got a lot of things trailing behind her, juvie, enemies, her step dads enemies, gangs, black lists, you name it she has it to her name and it would all soon come around to bite her in the butt.