Deep Waters

Chapter Thirty

"You know, on the bright side of things, you and Gavin have parental figures in your life for the time being," Aria said as she stared put a tea bag and water on the stove to boil. "That can help carry all the weight on your shoulders, right?"

I slipped Aria a smile, thankful that she always tried to bring light to situations. "Yeah, that's nice I guess." Looking over at Marla, I saw a sad smile forming on her face. "Marla, is something wrong?"

The twin sighed and leaned back against the kitchen island. "I miss my parents," she admitted.

Her words released a sigh from Aria's lips as well. "Me too," the redhead said.

I felt bad for them. Because of my psychotic dad, they had to spend time away from their own families. "Maybe you can go visit them back home for a couple of days," I told them after thinking for a few minutes.

Aria immediately shook her head and turned off the stove as her pot of water began to boil. "No, that's way too big of a risk."

"Well, what if they came to visit us?" Marla joined the bubble of hope.

Aria continued shaking her head as she poured the tea into a pitcher of sugar and water. "No, that's an even bigger risk."

I slipped a hopeful smile to Marla as Aria stirred the contents in the pitcher. "I'll talk to Daniel," I assured her. "Maybe we can figure something out." My words seemed to bring up Marla's mood immediately and as Aria continued to breathe, even she seemed to start liking the idea.

"...How does it feel living in a house with two parents after not having them for so long?" Aria asked me. "I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just genuinely curious."

I waved her off with my hand, taking no harmful intent behind her words. "It's weird," I admitted honestly, pulling glasses out of the cabinet for us to drink out of. "I had to accustom to a life without living under my parents' roof and adjust to living on my own with no one but Gavin."

"Do you have any good memories of Charles?" Marla asked. "You know, like maybe before he turned bad?"

Smiling sadly, I nodded. "Charles wasn't always bad. Once upon a time, he tried being a perfect parent alongside my mom. He'd take us to the park and play games with us...he'd even crack a joke with us."

My two best friends stared at me. "What happened?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged. "Alcohol, gambling...I couldn't tell you one thing that changed his behavior...it was just slowly over time I guess."

"That's wild...I guess it shows you just how much this cruel world can influence a person," Aria said. I just nodded in agreement.

#

"Okay, maybe they are pulling people in from the gang and interrogating them, hoping that one of them will spill everything so they can get a lead on where Charles is," I suggested, dodging a light punch from Kason. "But that one guy seems to throw everything off by claiming he hasn't taken any part in anything...but what if he's lying? He could just be trying to turn everyone's theory around, sending the cops in the opposite direction..." I threw a punch at Kason before almost slipping on the pieces of straw under my feet. "Or what if Charles is just going to use this as an opportunity to distract everyone while he plans to strike? Ha! Charles really thinks he's got a whole plan but I'm figuring him out."

Suddenly, the world was flipped upside down and I found myself laying on the ground with Kason above me, pinning down my shoulders. Struggling to catch my breath I dramatically groaned in annoyance. "How in the world did you do that?"

His dark-blue eyes stared into mine, his face not far from my own. "Maybe if you'd do a little less talking and a little more watching, you'd figure it out," he replied before jumping to his feet.

I rolled my eyes as my boyfriend held out his hand to help me up, which I accepted after a short moment. "I'm just telling you what's on my mind," I retaliated.

Kason's lips widened into a smile and the skin around his eyes crinkled as he chuckled. He pecked me on the lips. "And it's absolutely adorable, but we are here to train...you need to learn how to defend yourself."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I know how to defend myself."

"Not very well." I slapped him on the upper arm. "Woah, I'm joking...kind of." I tilted my head at his words, not believing him. "Well, you've definitely improved for sure."

I took my stance and threw a punch at his face which he successfully dodged, then jumped back as he swung in return. He blocked my next attack by grabbing my forearm, so I jabbed at his inner elbow with my free arm, making him release me. I swung again, but just like last time, he caught my wrist. When I tried to free myself, he grabbed my other one. In frustration, I kicked up my knee and hit him in between his legs.

He groaned in pain but didn't release me. "Oh, come on," I complained. "How did that not work?"

He chuckled but was still clearly in pain. "Oh, Babe, trust me it hurts more than I could explain, but I was still able to focus my attention on not letting go."

He finally released me and bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing through the pain. Kind of satisfied, I placed my hands on my hips and laughed. "Okay, but if you were Charles, surely he'd be down for a minute, right? Like I could easily get away with that minor inconvenience."

He let out a long exhale. "Hopefully, but I'm not Charles so I don't exactly know how much of a pain tolerance he has."

"Maybe I'll just snap his forearm like he did mine and steal his gun, then shoot him twice in the abdomen," I commented. "That's fair, right?"

Kason chuckled and stood straight. "I mean if it means you can escape him for the third time then sure, yes, why not."

I kissed him on the cheek. "Sorry, Babe."

"No, you aren't." I smirked, knowing he was right, while he sighed. "Alright, come on. We should head back to the house, I'm sure they are waiting for us for dinner."

I scrunched my nose and whined. "I don't want to go back. Going back means looking at Sam and he is the last person I want to see right now."

"Hey, I don't like him either, but his family is doing us a lot of big favors right now," Kason told me, grabbing my hand and walking me out of the barn, down the dirt road toward the house.

"Who would let danger in their front door?" I asked into the warm air. "That's basically what they did. Don't you think that's crazy? ...How did Daniel find them anyway? And in this town that doesn't seem to exist on a map? Like how do you think he came across them?"

I looked up to meet Kason's soft gaze down at me. "I don't know, Delilah."

"Don't you think that's something we should know?" I added.

My boyfriend shrugged and squeezed my hand comfortingly. "I think maybe you are looking for answers you don't necessarily need...I mean they have helped us out a lot. That's all that really matters," he said.

I just nodded and leaned into him as we walked, figuring he was probably right. He released his grip on my hand before wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Oh hey guess what? I was talking to Darrel earlier and he said we could set off fireworks tomorrow!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why?"

He chuckled at my response. "Because it's the fourth of July!"

"Oh, I didn't even realize it."

Our summer was halfway over. It's crazy how fast time seemed to be going. We had only graduated about a month earlier yet it seemed so long ago. With everything with Charles going on, it was impossible to just live in the small moments anymore. Our lives couldn't just slow down it seemed like. We were young, but we couldn't enjoy it. We didn't have that opportunity. Not without turning our back and letting Charles catch up.