Scandalous Love

25. | James

It took about twenty minutes before Riley and Piper got back home. They were in the kitchen, sorting out whatever food they had bought.

Based on what I could hear, Riley had bought it all with the spare money she had on her. That wasn't something we'd been meaning for her to do but I appreciated it. Even though I'm pretty sure it revealed enough to my sister for her to be in on the secret too.

I waited in my room for Riley to come back to me and when she does, she smiles gently, letting the door swing closed behind her.

"I got you your bread," she says. "Didn't steal it like you asked me to though." She heads over to me and passes me a plate which had two freshly cut slices placed on it.

Sitting herself down beside me on the mattress, she breaks a bit of the bread for herself but I shake my head at her, setting the plate down in front of me.

I turn my body sideways to face her directly then I take her palms into my hands. "Babe, I need to ask you something," I say to her, making her eyes widen as she bites her lip.

Had this been any other time, I'm sure she would have teased me because of the nickname but not this time. She could hear the seriousness in my tone which is why she ignores it and shuffles slightly closer to me.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm okay," I tell her to stop her from fretting over me. "But I saw some people walking around while you and Piper were out. Your uncle and that other guy?"

She looks confused at first but as soon as I mention the two guards, she looks down and sighs, almost in realisation. "Do you know what they're doing here?" I ask her gently.

She shakes her head quickly and pulls her hands out of my grip, standing herself back up onto her feet. "I don't know, James," she whispers.

She heads over to the opposite side of my room and pretends to look around at all my equipment - pens, Dad's camera, photo frames, a couple memory cards and USB discs - a lot of technological items. She's about to ask me about them but I knew her tactics and I wasn't about to stand for it. Not until I knew what was going on so I knew I wasn't going to get arrested again.

I stand up and begin to approach her before placing my hands down on either side of the drawer as I stood behind her, my chest pressed against my back.

She hesitates, feeling my clothing pressed against her before she slowly turns around in my arms to look at me.

I soften, sighing but keeping my hands placed down on either side of her on the same wooden surface. I wasn't letting her escape without explaining to me what was going on.

"Talk to me, Ri," I mumble, my lips brushing against hers as we drew closer to each other. "Do they know you're here?"

"No," she whispers. "No one saw me leave."

"They might not have seen you but that won't stop them from knowing," I say to her lightly.

She sighs, looking around almost like she was distressed. She was stressing, worrying and I needed her to calm down and look me in the eye and tell me everything. Even if it means I'll have to deal with it alone.

"What's going on, Riley?" I ask her subtly.

I move my finger to place under her chin, lifting her head up so her eyes were fixed on nowhere else but my eyes. She could try looking away but it wouldn't last very long before our gazes would meet again.

Unexpectedly, the door suddenly swings open to reveal Piper who takes in both mine and Riley's stance before she starts talking even though now really wasn't the time. "Hey, James, mind if I steal your girlfriend for a bit? There's a movie I really want her to watch," she says before pausing.

I turn around to face her, my arm wrapped slightly around Riley's waist from behind as my hand rested on the drawer still. "Is everything okay with you two?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

I nod my head and Riley sighs, looking down.

"I'll be right there, Piper," Ri tells her, causing my sister to nod happily before walking out of my room to head to the lounge instead to set up whatever movie she desperately wanted Riley to watch.

It goes silent for a minute as Riley escapes my touch to stand in front of me, then the look on her face lightens up, her pupils circling mine.

"I'm not going back there, James. Not yet, if ever," she replies. Without saying anything else to back herself up, she follows my sister's lead out to the living room, leaving me sat alone.

While Riley and Piper were busy watching their movie, I left them to it and headed out to go for a walk by myself, just to clear my head. So much had happened in such a small space of time, I just needed to think everything over.

It was clear if Ri had ran away, the guards were out searching for her and not me. I just hope they don't hurt her in any kind of way.

I wasn't expecting to bump into the gang when I entered the park but of course I did. They were everywhere, but I could really do with their company right about now.

"Hey," I mumble, making my way over to them and sitting down on the swing next to the one Michelle was sat on.

"What happened with Riley?" West asks, looking at me with concern. I was glad he was genuinely interested. It meant I could have a meaningful conversation with at least one of my friends.

"It's complicated, man."

"Well it can't be that complicated considering we just saw a pair of guards striding around here like they own the place," Hunter grumbles under his breath, causing me to shake my head at him harshly.

I could see where he was coming from. North Side had never paid attention to us before and they definitely weren't about to now. He was annoyed and held a grudge against them but he needed to drop it. Riley wasn't like them and he needs to see that.

"Hunter, give it a rest," Michelle says to him, nudging him in the ribs which causes him to roll his eyes before he stands up to walk around and have a smoke, leaving just Michelle, West, Eldon and I.

"Ri found a way out of there. I think she must have run away and no one saw her until this morning when they realised she wasn't there. She told me she knows what she's doing but I honestly don't know anymore," I confide in them before they all exchange a couple of looks, falling onto the same page as me.

"Is she staying with you?" Eldon asks for me to nod in response.

"She's with Piper right now. I just don't know what I'm meant to do. The last thing I want is for her to get in trouble."

"Which is ironic since she got you in trouble and she knew how things worked around there," Hunter chips in.

"Will you shut up and stop making things worse? Riley's not as much of a priss as you think," I say to him angrily, my tone a lot more lowered in comparison to what it had sounded like previously.

He smirks and scoffs, muttering the words "yeah right," under his breath before he begins to make his way elsewhere and then Michelle sighs, shaking her head.

"Why don't we focus on Nationals for a bit? Riley's part of our team now and as long as she's on our side of town, everything dance related should be okay. Get her to meet us at the studio later. Kate's selecting the dances tonight and announcing who's doing what," she tells me, making me nod.

Turning our attention onto something else wouldn't hurt but it wasn't exactly going to get my mind off of everything going on either.