Living A Dream

Chapter 23

     Leo and Ash were playing a dice game at the table while I went up to the room I'd be in from now on. I got to the master room and opened the door. Christen was laying on the bed in an oversized shirt. She sat up startled.

     "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, I'll go." I started walking out when I heard a slight sob. I stopped in my tracks and looked back at her. "Are you alright?"

     She shook her head no and then sniffled. I shut the door and started walking over to the bed. I sat down at the foot of the bed and looked at her. She still had tears running down her cheeks.

     "What happened?" I asked her in a soft voice. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Tears started streaming out again. "Hey, it's okay."

     "He won't stop" she said quietly. Won't stop what? What exactly happened? "This has been going on for months now. I think I've repaid hum by now but he just keeps coming for more."

     She completely broke down. That kind of crying where you start shaking and you can't stop the flow of tears. I've been there a few times.

     I climbed over her and leaned myself against the headboard and sat next to her. She moved her head to my lap as she continued to sob. She put her hand on my leg, feeling the fabric.

     I ran my fingers through her hair slowly, trying to calm her down. After a few minutes her tears had ceased and I could feel her relax more.

     "What are you repaying him for?" I asked. She sat up and sat against the headboard like I was, only not as slumped as I am. She swallowed hard.

     "I was in a bit of trouble with a few guys that I ran into on the street a while back. They ended up compromising a solo job I did. I needed someone to make sure they wouldn't interfere. Dalton took care of it." she said looking down. She started to tear up again but they didn't run. "Then a few months ago he decided that I had to repay him with something other than money since he had enough. It was just one time, I'm not even really all that into guys. Then he kept coming for me, telling me that he wasn't done yet."

     "Did you tell him to stop?" I asked her. She nodded her head. He was doing it anyway. Sick bastard. She put her head on my shoulder and sniffled again.

     We sat there in comfortable silence. The room was getting dark as the sun was probably setting behind a few buildings. It was calm and relaxed, she had settled down.

     "Hey, how about... Oh... Tobin. You're here." came Dalton's voice. Christen lifted her head off my shoulder and tensed up. He smiled at me and I acted as if I didn't know what an ass he is.

     "Um... well... Meghan is back so, time for uh, dinner." he said slowly. I could easily tell he was covering up what he wanted to say.

     "We'll be right down." I said before Christen could say anything. He left, closing the door behind him. I sighed and Christen ran her hand through her hair, pulling it backwards.

     "We should get going." she said, standing up and walking to the mirror. She was checking her eyes, probably to see if they were red or puffy.

     We both headed down the stairs. We made our way to the table where everyone else was. Dalton whistled a catcall at Christen causing me to roll my eyes.

     We all started eating the pasta Meghan brought home and to be honest, it was really good. I can see why she loves it so much. I ate quickly speaking that I hadn't eaten in a while.

     "Alright Tobin, time to tell you what you're getting into." Ash said, cutting through the silence. Leo was still slurping up a noodle when he looked up at Ash and then stopped. He bit the noodle making the rest drop back onto his plate. Meghan held in a chuckle and Ash continued.

     "Finding a job is easy, doing it, well that's the hard part. You see, if you want something to disappear, we can do that for you. You need to get something off a record, done. Need evidence gone, done. Need to get someone off your tail, done." she said, looking deep into my eyes. Wow... this seemed really legit.

     "Now anyone can do this but we add a factor that makes us on top. We're free runners, tracers, whatever you'd like to call it. Think of it as parkour but on the go." Ash said, making everyone at the table start to grin. They all seemed quite proud of themselves. "We'll need to train you, you've shown us that you're pretty capable at running, now you need to boost your strength. Tonight we'll be going to an abandoned factory to show you some of the ropes."

     "Alright, sounds sick." I said earning a smile from Christen. She looked at me with a newfound sparkle in her eyes, then back at her food.

     "Alright then, it's kind of far so we'll take the van there." Ash said, then nodding her head as if to say 'we can continue eating'. Everyone had finished so we all went to our rooms to get changed.

     Christen went into the closet and I went to my bags in search of something to wear. I decided to go with one of my sleeveless muscle shirts and basketball shorts. I turned around to ask Christen where I should change only to see her stripping down.

     My jaw dropped and I just stood there looking at her. Holy shit. She's gorgeous. She put on some shorts and turned around.

     "Yes?" she chimed. Oh shit I've been staring too long. I internally shook myself to make me focus again.

     "I was just going to ask if I should go somewhere else to change." I said trying to maintain eye contact with her. I didn't want my eyes to wander anymore.

     "This isn't middle school gym class Tobin, we can change in the same room." she said laughing at me. I blushed a little making her laugh even more. "Loosen up a bit Tobin, it's okay."

     I nodded and decided to then change. I slipped on the shorts first, taking my sweatpants I was previously wearing next to my bags. I put my phone my pocket and I slipped my cig into the outer pocket of my soccer bag.

     "I'll move my stuff from the other half of the closet so you can put your things in there eventually. There's cubby spaces on that half too that I'll clear out." she said while I zipped up my bag. I gave her a thumbs up and then proceeded with changing into my shirt. "Oh god."

     "What?" I said looking around. I had no idea what she was talking about. There wasn't anyone else in the room.

     "She said it was bad but I didn't imagine this." she said walking closer to me. She put her fingertips on the boot print and I now realized what she meant.

     "Oh, yea, it's fine." I said, only half lying. It still aches but it's definitely bearable now. She started tracing the outline with her finger, just barely brushing against my abs. She backed away and looked down at the ground.

     "We should probably get going." she said.

A/N:
A little bit longer of a chapter, decided to to a double upload because the other chapter seemed too short. Also, it's snowing right now and I'm really not into it tbh.