I find her sitting on the closed toilet seat, wearing a bathrobe, her hair wet. She's obviously done with her shower but the water is still running, so I shut it off. She's watching me but otherwise, doesn't move save for her nervously tapping a foot. I crouch down in front of her and still the moving leg with my hand. I move my head to catch her eyes trying to guess her mood. Her pupils are big, eyes wide but I can't tell the emotion behind them.

"Hey, you know he's just talking shit, right? He always does, it doesn't mean anything, he doesn't actually think you did it. He just came here hot-headed." I rub her leg up and down.

Her hand finds mine on her thigh, gripping it tightly. "Yeah." Still looking into her eyes I lift my other hand to rest it on the nape of her neck. I don't think I really did anything wrong, but I still feel relieved that she's talking to me. I wanna keep her going so I say so as I start to caress her with my thumb through her hair.

"Go on, what's on your mind?"

She takes a deep breath and lets it out. "You know, I actually understand why he's so agitated about it. There is a person missing, so of course, he doesn't want to be connected to it in any way. That's why I lied to the cops about it in a first place. But the way he came on to me, it was out of nowhere. He could just ask you know, like really ask, not make me feel like he's about to pull my fingernails out." She looks like she has more to say, but in the end, decided to keep it to herself.

"I know and I told him as much."

Looking down at our entangled hands, she clears her throat. "There is this other thing I just have a hard time to get used to."

"What?" I press on.

"Him, saying these weird things and innuendos every time I see him. I have a hard time taking it as a joke. With the way he treats women, I just don't find it funny. And to be honest, I don't believe he's really joking half the time," she whispers the last part as if he could magically hear her from the kitchen.

"He is joking. At least where you are concerned, he is. I think he actually has a soft spot for you. I know after today it can come hard to believe, but trust me, you'd feel it if he hadn't. You won't see him nursing any other drunken girls without the prospect of fucking, that's for sure."

She makes a face but doesn't comment on that. "So what do I do? I'm clueless here."

"Do what I do, tell him to go fuck himself and pretend that he never said anything." She shakes her head but before she has a chance to object I add. "Or just stick with the pretending, I'll take care of the rest. Now come on, get dressed, we need figure what to do about the other thing." I stand up and tug on her hand to get her to move too, but she doesn't budge.

"I don't wanna. Can't you just tell him I'm tired and that we can talk some other time?" she asks while fluttering her eyelashes at me in the same way she did before, in my room. She's trying to laugh it off, but I can tell she's just nervous so I squat back down.

"You'll have to talk to him eventually. Come on, he's not that bad. He's my brother, he's my blood and he's always been there to look after me. He knows I like you, he likes you too, he said so himself. So don't worry 'bout a thing, it's all good. I'll go to find something for all of us to eat. You go get dressed and then join us, okay?"

She seems to mull it over for a few moments and eventually nods. "I'm probably making it worse in my head than it is. I do tend to do that sometimes."

I lean in to kiss her. "I've noticed, well not everybody can be as awesome as me." I quickly dodge her hand as she attempts to slap my shoulder.

"Hey!" she shouts through the laugh erupting from her. I quickly grab the hand with which she wanted to slap me and slide the other one between her legs while leaning close to her whispering in her ear.

"What? I got the impression you liked the cocky me." She jumps in surprise and with her free hand tries to pry mine from her.

"I did, I do, I just... Jackson! Your brother is in the next room, stop it!" she whisper-shouts. I stay still for a moment just watching her, glad to see it work as she seems to crack out of her bubble of nervousness.

"Alright, alright." I let go of her hand and wait for her to let go of mine before I stand up. "I'll be in the kitchen then?" I ask raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, I'll be there in a minute."

"That's my girl," I praise her and give her a peck on her forehead before leaving the bathroom.

_________________________________________________________________________

I don't say anything when I get back to the kitchen. It's pointless to say more than what has been said. Wade is Wade, Lana will just have to get used to him and all will be good. He's nursing a beer, smoking, oddly enough being quiet for once. Maybe he realized he overdone it this time. When she finally comes out, she looks determined but I can see right through it, she's not as calm as she tries to look. Her eyes search the room, finding first me, then Wade who welcomes her with a big smile.

"Well hello again. I was starting to worry you'd drawn back there." Her steps falter and her eyes go briefly back to me, I smile and motion for her to move while Wade continues, "Come on now, you know I don't bite."

"Come on, help me with the food." I motion for her to go to me again.

We prepared some leftovers from the weekend and now we're all eating in silence. It's actually funny, I think it's the first time in my life I see Wade be hesitant to start a conversation.

"Alright, I might come off a bit too harsh earlier. But you get it, right sweetheart? One can never be too careful."

"Is that suppose to be an apology for manhandling me earlier?" She looks at him in disbelieve.

"No, it's me explaining to you that you better be telling us the truth."

"I am!" She glares at him.

"Then we're good." He winks at her and pushes his empty plate away. "So, since it wasn't you, and it certainly wasn't us or Trevor or Clyde for that matter, I need to know, did you talk about this with anybody? A good friend at work, or at school, fucking dog on the road, anybody?"

She's shaking her head through the list. "No, I told you, I don't really have friends here, or anywhere really. All the people I use to see outside of my work and school where Anthony's friends. I'm not much of a social butterfly. I actually don't like people that much." Her eyes find me for a moment and she smiles at me. "That's one of the reasons I like living here so much." She pointedly looks back at Wade. "Usually no one bothers me here!"

I let out a snort. "I think it's obvious she's not the problem here. What about you Wade, you didn't brag about it somewhere, huh?"

"Please, like there was something to brag about, the guy was such a pussy it would be embarrassing to even mention it."

"Okay then, it leaves the only other option and that is someone did actually see us. Fuck!"

"Hey guys, but if someone saw you and went to the police. How come they didn't take you to the station? Anthony's missing, it's serious," Lana asks, looking between us.

Wade looks at her with a surprised expression. "You know what, doll? You are absolutely right. That someone didn't tell them personally if he did they'd have an eyewitness and I'd be behind the bars now. So they don't have shit on us, only some accusation. We just stick with 'no, we have no idea what happened to the prick and how' and we are cool."

I cut in. "We should let Trevor know what's going on. Just in case. They asked Lana to come to the station tomorrow after work. So I could pick her up and we'll tell Trevor to meet us at your house after that?" I look at Wade for confirmation.

"Sounds cool." He gives me a nod. "You sweetheart just be your wonderful you and don't let them intimidate you. They'll possibly be telling you some shit 'bout us to make you tell them things, don't pay them no mind."

"Don't you worry about me. You won't see me work with those assholes," she says as she stands to clean the plates from the table.

Wade sends me a questioning look. I have nothing to say about it so I shrug. I don't know what her problem with the police is, in any case, I see it as a virtue.

"Alright kids. Thanks for the dinner, but I have to go. Got some shit to do. See you tomorrow." And with that, hurricane Wade is off.

I turn to Lana and watch her washing the few dishes. She looks so natural in my home like she's been here since ever. It's weird and amazing at the same time. I stand up and walk behind her. I kiss her shoulder, while I let my hands wander along her sides and back.

"So, what's up with you and the cops?" I feel her tense up under me. She washes the last plate, then turns in my arms and starts to play with my shirt, not saying anything for a few moments but then she looks up, the decision has been made.

"You know the scar on my stomach? If the police did their work as they should, I wouldn't have it. If they did their work, my dad would still be alive. So in my opinion, whatever happened to Anthony, telling them anything at all won't change it. The only thing they can do is give tickets for speeding. Which is really sad considering they should be the ones protecting us."

Huh, interesting. So there is more to the story. But I promised I won't ask about the scar, so I won't. "Alright, how about I take a quick shower, you go wait for me in my bed and we call it a night. I'm beat. Unless you wanna wash my back." I give her side smile. I must have done the right thing to leave the topic because she smiles back.

"I'd love to, but not tonight, I'm exhausted too."

When I come back to my bedroom, she's already asleep. So I just lie beside her, listening to her quiet breathing and not long after I'm oblivious to the world too.

I hope you enjoy the story. If you do, feel welcome to push that little star to let me know, or better yet, leave me a comment ;)