"You are my dearest friend, my deepest love. You are the very best of me."

- The Best of Me, coming to theaters this Friday

Chapter 5

I thought I was going to pass out from shock. My whole world had completely flipped upside down within a couple of days. It was all too much. My mouth was dry as I gawked at the man in front of me, who I thought I knew pretty well. Turns out I didn’t know a thing about him. I felt sick to my stomach as I realised this.

“Hello Chanel.” He greeted, his voice deep and rich. He looked clean and well-presented, which was unusual for him. Or, so I thought. “I was wondering when you would find out.”

“Find out what exactly? I don’t even understand what is going on right now.”

“Well you see the ‘alcohol addiction’ has been a cover up of what I’m really doing. I promised your mother I would look after you, so I didn’t involve you in my business. It was too late for me to realise the new recruit was Carson, otherwise I wouldn’t have let him in. I’ve thought for a while now he would lead you to finding out.”

I stared at him for a few moments, waiting for him to laugh and say, “You just got punked,” but it didn’t happen.

“So… you tried to kill him this morning?” I asked quietly, my voice a little shaky.

“Well no, not exactly. I wanted him to scare him enough to come to me. I knew he needed to put the gun on you, to get a reaction. Didn’t think it would be that much of a reaction though.” He said with a frown, looking over at Carson.

“Um guys, can we go back to where this guy has a gun aimed at my throat?” Michael squeaked, sweat beading across his forehead.

“Oh right.” Craig… ‘Chief’ chuckled, lowering his gun. “Just a precaution.”

“So what are you? A Drug Lord?” I asked, not finding this humorous at all.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “You could put it that way.”

My head was spinning. Shaking my head, I shoulder barged him out of the way and collapsed on the lounge.

“What does this mean?” I heard Carson ask.

“Look, I can’t just let you leave. Otherwise everyone will think they can just leave when they want to.” He laughed as if this was all some big joke. His voice was light and carefree. A slight shudder rolled over my spine. I’ve seen him scary and could only imagine what he would do when it came down to money.

“You can and you will.” I stated boldly, getting to my feet. I walked over to him, my eyes narrowed. “Whatever happens to him happens to me. You owe it to my mother to protect me, so you can’t touch him.”

He gave me an amused glance. “Oh really?”

“Yeah really. I don’t buy the tough guy attitude. If you’re going to hurt us, you would have done it already.”

“You have me all figured out.” He spat back sarcastically.

“No, I don’t actually. Why didn’t you help me remember?”

The smirk dropped from his face. He adjusted his stance, swapping his gun into his other hand. He sighed, rubbing his face. “Honestly? You didn’t want to remember. If that was okay with you, that was okay with me.”

Carson snorted, rolling his eyes. “That’s a pretty pathetic way of saying you didn’t give a damn.”

“Watch it boy.” He growled, his tone becoming sharp. “I’m the one with the gun, remember?”

“No I forgot.” Carson retorted even more sarcastically. I saw Craig’s temple jump as his anger began to flare.

“Carson,” I said quietly with a slight shake of my head.

I continued to walk up to Craig, staring at him levelly in the eyes.

“So what happens now?”

**************** Two Weeks Later ******************

Well the last two weeks of my life have been full on. I caught up with some of my former friends and apologised for shutting them out. I doubt I will keep in touch with them much but I feel better now that I’ve cleared the air.

Craig was right; he couldn’t just let Carson leave. But it worked out in our favour really. We were set up in a new apartment about two hours away from my home town. The more time I spent with Carson, the more my love for him rekindled. So, here we were, living together like we always hoped. With my new job, I was already meeting a range of new people, which was awesome. I needed to socialise with others again.

For a long time, I have felt lost and incomplete. Well, I was when you think about it. Having Carson back with me changed everything. I was remembering more and more as the time went by. Nothing extreme, but snippets of what my life used to be like, which was more than okay with me. I think it would freak me out if it all came rushing back at once.

Two months ago, if someone told me I would be moved away, living with my childhood best friend, in a new town, with a new job, I would have laughed. But now it was my reality. This was another reminder that with one moment, my entire life can change.

I wouldn’t have wanted it to happen any other way.