The downtown...wasn't an inviting place.

Parked beside an alley against the darkness was unsettling. But that didn't even come close to the discomfort of his question.

"You..."

Cynric scoffed, a sound mimicking ridicule.

"You said you 'feel' like you need me." My eyebrows crushed.

"I get that you don't love me. Not after what is going on in your head. But...why are we taking this so personal? It's like...weirdly thrilling. A taste so naive yet so mature."

I lost him at that. I rolled my eyes and pulled my panties up.

"Cynric. I don't know where you're getting at." I said, slightly irritated.

But that just worsened the situation more.

"I get it.

You don't love me.

But...you don't even like me."

This time, I had to physically restrain myself from holding his collar and screaming at him. He was pissing me off with his insecurity.

And maybe...just maybe...

I find it attractive.

We are so toxic to each other.

Before the angered words could escape my mouth, I calmed myself down. I had to.

"Just get me home. I can't— I can't deal with you— wait. Where are you going!?"

Cynric climbed out of the car and put his pants back on, outside! I rushed out too, only after making sure I wasn't showing my butt to the neighborhood junkies.

"Drive yourself home. Your family doesn't want to see us together." He started walking away!

"Get back here! I don't want to drive around alone!" I screamed.

"Oh, great! You don't want to solve what's going on between us but you want me to keep you SAFE!?" He yelled. I couldn't help the ridiculing scoff rolling out of my mouth.

"Not everything's about a relationship!" I snapped back. It wasn't. It really wasn't.

So what if my first priority was my safety? I needed to get back home to my brothers. My house. Probably without trauma and hopefully, alive.

Suddenly, a house's lights turned on. And the other.

I started stepping back into the car.

But Cynric has lost it and I didn't want him to be...hurt.

Although I WAS hurting him myself.

"Cynric...get back. Right now." I made sure to be stern.

"What if I don't? Huh!? What if I don't listen to you and let you get hurt here. They'll just drug you and do 'bad' things to you, right!?" He said.

People were coming out of the houses.

Men.

Tears started flooding my eyes.

"Cynric..." My lips wobbled. My blood - chilling.

"They won't do anything to me but they might use you until they're satisfied. Just like you're doing with me—"

A chilling, crisp slap shut him up.

Tears trickled down my face and the men started jogging towards us.

"For once...think about me than yourself.

Fucking retard."

Something...snapped in him.

It was as if he sprung back to reality.

Was he...mentally ill? Did he have an episode of a sort?

I always knew Cynric was crazy. But ill? Not once.

It wasn't the time to give it any more thought.

I grabbed Cynric by the collar and dashed towards the street! Heck to the car!

"Amy!" He shouted behind me.

Our hands...they were intertwined before I even noticed. We dashed and heard the men behind us scream louder.

We ran past a bar. Downtown themed and smelling like rotting wood and smokes. And sweat, too upon reaching closer.

Cynric was scared. So was I.

Yet thankfully, the drunk bikers by the bar shooed them off. Guess being twice the size of a junkie helps.

We were saved...

Sheer luck.

Moments into the midnight, I found myself standing by the street next to my mansion. By the time I recognised it, a car had pulled up already.

The Golden Land Rover, driven by Alex. He jumped out at the sight of Cynric by my side.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing to our sister!?" I always knew Alex nor Dane liked Cynric. But that was pure hatred by the way Alex pushed Cynric to the ground.

I gasp. Cynric scrapped his knee and palms.

"Alex! What are you doing!? He saved my life!" I said.

"What!?" Alex screamed at me.

"That's true. He- He saved me from a bunch of junkies roaming around the alley!" I exclaimed.

Alex calmed down only when Crystal jumped out of the car behind him. His breathing was labored, like he was functioning on adrenaline.

It was scary.

...of what he could've done to Cynric.

Without a word, Dane and Nick pulled me into the car and drove off, leaving Cynric in the middle of the road with bruises and...tears in his eyes.

My heart broke for him.

Why did my brothers treat him like he was a dog?

Was it all about business at the end of the day?

So what if Cynric's parents were plotting to snatch our company off? Our assets?

Cynric wasn't to blame. I wanted to believe in him.

I sat between Crystal and Nick. Winter sat on Dane in the front seat.

And all she had to take was one look.

One look, and she could tell what happened.

She remained quiet throughout.

Even after my brothers rushed me into the mansion and rained down questions.

I never knew true fear until that day.

"I don't believe him. Where is the car parked?" Dane asked, his voice not as strained as the other two. I cowered nonetheless.

"I- I don't know. I don't know that alley at all. And I was running with Cynric so I don't remember. Can't you trust me?" I said, tears looming in my eyes.

"I trust you, Amy. I don't trust him. He's plotting something big and we all know it." Said Dane.

Winter pulled him up straight and turned Dane to herself. I watched as they exchanged glances. Such a deep conversation was never meant to be wordless. But there they were.

"I'm gonna find that car by tomorrow. I'm heading home by that route."

She suggested, and that chilled my blood.