“Why?”
“I remember him,” she says as Thorn nods.
“What?”
“Lane was the boy next door,” she says.
“What the fuck?”
“I need to go see him,” she says.
“No, fuck no,” I start to stand and Dante pushes me back in my seat.
“She needs this. I need this,” Thorn says.
“I know what he did was wrong. He’s not okay. I need to talk to him,” she states.
“I’ll take her, Hayes will be in the observation room. You can go if you want,” Viktor says.
“If she’s going, I’m going,” I snap.
“Please don’t be mad at me. I have to do this,” she says.
“I understand, sweetheart. I just don’t want you to be disappointed again or hurt,” I tell her.
“He can’t hurt me anymore. But I think he’s hurting,” she says. This just proves how much she cares about people.
“Let me shower real quick. Tristan, can you run upstairs and grab me some clothes? I only have sweats down here.”
“Yeah, be right back,” Tristan says before taking off for the suite.
“We’re going to let you get dressed. I’ll take Briar for some coffee with the others,” Remo says and I nod.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“Nothing to be sorry about. I’m sorry about Lane,” I tell her.
“I love you,” she pulls me down to kiss her and I do, I kiss her like I need her. I do need her. I almost lost her.
“I love you, too. See you in a bit,” I wave them off. As soon as they’re out the door, I slump in my seat for a bit. I feel defeated, even though I won and it’s still because of Lane.
Briar
“He will meet us at the coffee shop,” Remo says, ushering everyone down the hall.
I feel bad for wanting to talk to Lane, I mean Lennon. I hurt Kingston because of it. I love Kingston, and some day, I will marry him. Lane was a huge part of my life growing up and if it wasn’t for him, I don’t know if we would have survived. His life was just as hard, his dad beat him, not as bad as my parents but enough. I think him crawling through my window and hanging out with us was his escape.
“Iced mocha?” Don asks me.
“Yes, please,” I mumble.
“Come and sit,” Tana takes my hand and guides me to a table.
“Lane meant a lot to you growing up?” Gwen asks.
“He would bring us candy and extra food. He would read books with us,” Thorn answers for me, “even when he was getting his fair share of shit in his own home. I’m sure when he was able to get away he did, it’s why we didn’t see him anymore. I don’t blame him, we did the same thing. He showed us kindness when he didn’t have to. He was nicer than most people in this world, you all excluded. He had nothing and he gave what little he did have to us. I know that he’s an asshole now, but then he wasn’t.”
“Something happened,” Gwen agrees.