Word count: 13943

Monday at 8am.

I'm standing a few feet away from August replacing the spark plugs like he said he would a few months ago, it was about time they finally came in the mail, for all the trouble it caused me I should have just went to a mechanic and let them fix it, sure I would have paid more but it would have been more convenient. I have my arms crossed in bitterness. Anger is all I feel right now because of Owen. I don't want to face him in school, its the only thing I have been able to think about today and every time I do I get angrier. I'm not even too upset with the situation anymore, I'm mostly just angry. To make things worse I am outside of Owens house with August fixing my car. My car couldn't have broken down at the worst time, if August didn't know it was Owen that used me now he does for sure. Owen could walk outside at any moment. I have been getting texts from him but I haven't answered any of them because I'm not giving him any more of my time, I'm tired of wasting it. I'm Sixteen, I should be partying and having fun, not messing around with a nineteen year old. I have no idea what I was thinking.

I walk over to the curb and sit down on it, still bitter may I add. "if my car did start when it was supposed to I should have hit him with it" I say stubbornly and a chuckle escapes Augusts chest as he tightens things in the car. We haven't talked much since the awkward morning that we both haven't spoke of since. After I got back from Owens, August was gone and I went over to Lara's to catch her up on the drama. She is pestering me to talk to Chris but I'm kind of tired of men at the moment. I Might. I just don't like feeling ignored, it's happened two times now by two different people.

"I agree. though you would get sent to jail" It would have been worth it. August's face is so serious as he works on my car. I took out a water bottle out of my car for him in case he needed it though it's not even defrosting because of how cold it is outside. It feels like we are in a freezer right now.

"August?" I ask unfolding my arms finally because they were cramping from how hard I was holding them together. "Have you spoke to Owen since the night I slept over?" he stops in place for a few seconds and then continues twisting in my car, it's too early for this conversation.

"I haven't. I was too angry" I play with the frost on the curb and then look over at August moving to a different angle to work on whatever he's doing in there. I look at my nails trying to occupy myself because I'm really bored. "And.... done" He says taking the stand out so he can close the  hood. I stand up and start walking over to him.

"thank you again" I say about to enter the car but he lightly wraps his hand around my wrist just to get my attention.

"Wait, Do you have a second?" he asks like he didn't just fix my car and do me a complete solid.

"I'm sure I could spare just a second" I say sarcastically with a small laugh. His eyes travel to anything but me. He finally looks at my eyes and tilts his head down. "Tell me, August, stop standing there waiting for me to guess" I say closing my car door and I lean against it.

"I just want to make it clear that I didn't... I want to know that I didn't try to come onto you during the night and you were too shy to say no" my eyebrows raise without me even intending for them to. I'm taken aback for a few seconds. I have been thinking about what happened that morning but clearly not as much as he had if he had to mention it again after apologizing profusely the morning it happened. "I know you said nothing else happened but I want to apologize if you felt threatened. I should have slept on the floor-"

"You fell asleep by accident so you had no control over it and there's no reason to be embarrassed, okay? It didn't happen. Thats what I tell myself whenever I think of it. We both did something embarrassing that morning. Forget about it and I will too" I reassure him and myself as well. I tap his shoulder and smile looking up to him. "Thank you again for the help... and not bringing up my car being at Owens" He nods with a small awkward smile as I get in my car and it starts up like a charm. I get giddy inside and suddenly everything isn't too bad. He taps the top of the car and I pull out watching him but also paying attention to driving.

Augusts POV:

I watch Dallas drive away in her car and I just stay standing right where I am. After I entered the washroom yesterday at Dallas's house I wasn't able to finish because the only thing that would get me off is something that I was not going to allow to myself think about and I would feel so guilty after. I went home, tried again and nothing. I thought about Kim so much and nothing. I started to think something was wrong but when I started to think about Dallas and her lacy panties that she left out so mindlessly it all happened again. Shit, I sound like one of the guys that I would try to warn her about. I took a shower, it was relieving knowing that nothing was wrong but knowing that Dallas has such a chokehold on me is a god awful feeling. I know that I'm going to get the worst case of blue balls soon if my brain keeps this up. Not only that but I'm going to lose Kim completely.

I hear a front door slam shut and Owen step outside with his arms crossed, I get that he is acting tough, I'm on his turf. Part of me knows I should 'deuce' him and walk back over to my car but standing here shows him I'm not scared. We both just stand still looking at each other. It sucks that her car broke down right in his driveway because it leads me back where i'm around him again and I need to hold myself back making the situation worse.

Of course I know that the person who Dallas was talking about that used her is Owen. It was easy to connect the dots because that is what Owen is always about. The thought of the phone call and his going into detail but how she wouldn't be able to take it- ugh. I hate how he put it. I hate how proud he probably is with himself. I'm disgusted in him. He see's a goal and once he is satisfied he dumps it in the garbage. He liked that Dallas was hard to crack but he ruined her for the last few days. Thinking about the things he could have been thinking whenever he was with her. I walk away and open my truck. I hop in and when I look down at my keys I hear a knock at my window. I look over to make eye contact with Owen "What?" I ask through the window. He points to the window telling me to roll it down. I do about five inches, I can't chance him strangling me or the other way around.

"Hey, we got out of hand a few days ago-"

"You confessed to making Dallas do things she didn't want to. Of course we got out of hand. I'm done talking to you. I thought that I was able to be your friend but I can't when your anger with life is making you hurt people that I love, or just hurt people in general. I know that you ignored her for days after she slept with you. I'm completely done. I don't want to be seen with you even outside of school. I tried to compromise with my parents to be your friend but I can't do it anymore. I know that you won't go to the police because when I was working with my parents I was oblivious to what they were doing and I will tell them my entire story, I'm not loyal enough to them to go down with them and ruin my life. You on the other hand?-"

"You're trying to call my bluff but I'm not bluffing. I will go to the police. I will go to jail and I will ruin your parents life along with ours... because I know that if I saw you hit rock bottom after ratting on me I would be thrilled, even if it meant living in a jail cell. Plus, I wonder how Finn would feel knowing that you were my friend" I scoff and look him dead in the eyes. My anger is rising just looking at him.

"Go ahead, tell him. I'll just tell him the truth, that I was faking it so you didn't rat my parents out. You really think I would be friends with scum like you? Owen. You worked with your parents and knew exactly what you were doing. I don't even know what other shit you have going on behind closed doors to keep you with such a wealthy lifestyle. You have good money, a car, a job doing whatever dark shit that you're into. But you will go down with me and you will go down harder. They will find out everything. Trust me" I say rolling up my window. He continues staring at me with his nostrils flaring, he punches my car. My anger rises but not enough to get out of the car and strangle him like I would like to, instead I pull out of the driveway fast and drive away. Fucking hell.

Matthew's POV:

"Well you can't just ignore her. It could have been a complete misunderstanding and it probably wasn't her fault" I say to Chris who has his arms crossed. He grabs the jar of creamy peanut butter and starts unscrewing it. He takes out a spoon and dips it in.

"We don't know that for sure....." He eats a little bit of the peanut butter off the spoon but scoops it onto a plastic plate, he then starts looking around the counter, I walk over and pass him the knife that was right in front of the plate the entire time. "Thanks" He says starting to cut into an apple. Peanut butter and Apples is his goto breakfast, it sucks for the people like Nick and I who enjoy eating peanut butter because it's always gone or hidden when we want some.

"Well you can't continue blaming her without letting her explain her side of the story" I say leaning on the counter.

He tosses the core into the garbage and when he looks back up to me he says  "For the record, I'm not ignoring her, I called her. She was upset and told me she would call back but she never did" He walks out of the room and I lean against the counter. I grab my backpack and start walking over to the van.

I hop in and Nick looks like he's passed out. His head is on the headrest and he is looking at the ceiling with red sun glasses on from the video that we last posted. His mouth is left open a little. I look over to Chris and see that he is grinning at me, he sits up and bends over his seat and starts waving a hand over Nicks Face. Nick doesn't respond so of course Chris takes it farther, as the youngest sibling he is always doing something that entertains himself. He grabs a slice of apple with peanut butter on it and places it in Nicks mouth and he immediately wakes up taking it out.

He tastes the peanut butter in his mouth very confused just trying to grasp what's going on. You can't fall asleep when Chris is near, he makes sure that his job at heckling, teasing, mocking or laughing at shit that just isn't funny, is done right. He sometimes even narrates us as we do things. He always finds a way to occupy himself and leave us wanting to shout 'shut the fuck up' to him while we cover our eyes from our patience being tested for so long. He's an amazing brother, but can be so fucking annoying when he wants to be.

"That is so fucked up" Nick says holding the apple in his hand and tasting the peanut butter in his mouth. He takes off the glasses and Chris is still holding in his laughter. "I could have just developed an allergy to peanuts right there and you could have just killed me" He says rubbing his face and then tossing the apple out of the car. "That is outrageous... Just for that I'm going to hide the peanut butter as soon as I get home and if you even think about buying more I will make sure to hide them as well" Nick says and I can't tell if he's joking or not. "it's too early for shit like this" He whispers to himself and Chris and I smile to each other.

"Cafe?" I ask and both of them agree. Chris puts the plate of apples on his lap and pulls out his phone connecting it to the car, all of our music tastes are pretty similar because we are together all the time. I put the car in drive and pull out of the parking lot. I'm going over to Dallas's today, thats how she got brought up in conversation earlier in the kitchen. Chris finally told me the reason behind ignoring her for so long, his feelings are valid because he doesn't want to get hurt. I know that I told Dallas that I would tell her but I'm always going to have my brothers back and he told me it last night expecting me not to say anything and I won't. I drive into the plaza and turn into the drive through. "What are you guys ordering?" I look over at the back to make sure Nick is still awake.

"Breakfast sandwich but ask them to make it crispy. Wait but I don't want it to be burned like they tend to do. But I don't want it to be soggy either. Shit. I'll have a croissant, no butter. The one that they use upsets my stomach" As I'm about to ask Nick starts up again. "Never mind, I want a breakfast wrap" I raise my eyebrows once and he gives me a weird look "What?"

"Just waiting for you to change your mind again" I joke and he puts down his phone with a look of disrespect, he's about to bicker with me but I smile move on to Chris done with our conversation, I nudge my head to him "What are you getting?" I ask and he's still looking at the menu.

He squints his eyes at the menu because the sun is in his eyes "Pull up, I'll have my decision when you are ordering" he says this all the time and is never finished so I give him about ten more seconds before he says "go" he makes a movement with his hands to move forward.

I pull out my phone and look over at him and back at my phone "You always say that and it stresses me out so I'm waiting a few more seconds-"

"Well, now I'm telling you to go" his tone is humorous, I put my phone in my lap and drive up anyways, I'm not feeding to the fire. He turns on the music again and starts dancing with his arms cross while shaking his head back and forth with his lips pushed out. I close my eyes for a few seconds to let them rest and then pull up to the window.

"I'll order" Nick says reaching over and turning down the music a little "Two breakfast wraps, one with sausage, one with bacon. An orange juice and an apple juice" He stops talking for a second while allowing the girl on the speaker to write down the order. Nick glances at me, smiles, exchanges the eye contact for Chris and says "And for you Mr. Topher?-"

"Nick!" Chris shouts as Nick and I burst out laughing. Chris refuses to be called Topher, it makes him so angry but Nick and I make sure to say it at least once a week to refresh him. Last year for our birthday Nick and I made sure to call him it many times each. We even got the words 'happy birthday Topher' on a separate ice cream cake and Nick and I ate the other one that we bought. "if you call me that again I swear to fuck-"

I cut in and move myself closer to the speaker so she can hear me over Chris shouting "Just a breakfast sandwich". she tells me our total and I drive up while Nick and Chris bicker in the back of the car.

Time skip:

We ate our food in the car and I parked in front of the school to drop Chris and Nick off. They get out and I spot Dallas holding a binder in one hand and talking to a brunette with green eyes and a pretty smile. I wave at Dallas and she smiles. As I'm about to ask her to come over her eyes transfer to Chris. Her smile fades watching him walk away.

She makes eye contact with me and begins walking back into the school with the girl that is trying to tell her to brush it off because he's 'not worth stressing over'. Even after Chris telling me why he's pissed with Dallas I still find it weird how long he has stayed away from her. I remember him sitting on the edge of my bed while I played video games while he would be going on about his science classes with her. He never gave her a name until a few days ago, I realized that he knew her and thats why he was so stubborn in the kitchen when he came home from the hockey game with Nick while Dallas and I were studying. I have to get to my school anyways. I put the car in drive again and drive out of the parking lot.

Dallas's POV:

I want nothing more than to be alone after Chris walking right past me like we didn't just have a calm conversation on the phone, he's probably annoyed I didn't call him back. I have needed so much more time to myself than I would have needed before Owen, I just don't want to move on to another guy. I don't want to put myself through that even though I know Chris isn't like that. I just don't know if Chris and I could work, I have been having serious doubts about us for the last few weeks.

August's POV:

Time skip, 7pm:

I swirl my drink holding it at the top of the glass, Whiskey, the worst of all of them but the most powerful so thats why I picked it. I'm so fucked, not in an under the influence sense but in real life, I am completely fucked, there comes close to no hope when you are in a fight with Owen and we wants to tear you down. How could I possibly go out partying right now and try to 'live my life to the fullest' before I, along with my parents get sent to jail? The worst part about all of this is that I wasn't even intentionally working with them, though everything fell in my lap like I knew, the police will never believe that I was innocent, I'm starting to believe that I honestly wasn't in the end. I still served the food to those innocent people, fuck I do deserve jail time. I lower my head to the counter, I feel like I'm suffocating. Taking a smoke break can't even drain the feeling right now. Nothing can.

I hear the front door open and my mom say "I can't wait to wind down. I'm so tired out" she walks into the living room across from me and places her jacket on the couch and spots me starting to walk in front to greet me but I don't look up from my glass. "Oh, August you're usually out around this time, it's a nice surprise, should i-"

"He's threatening to tear us down. I was trying to be friends with him like you asked to give us more time but it's over. He took advantage of my friend, I blew up on him and he's going to rat to the police about the restaurants being run by us" It's over. My life is over before it can even start.

My parents are quiet while I'm turned away from them. I have been drinking here for the last thirty minutes just waiting for them to get back. "What are you thinking we should do?" My mom asks my dad and when I turn around to face them he is just silently nodding at the counter with his hands on his hips.

"I'll hire someone tonight-"

"What?" I shout almost jumping out of my chair. "You are not-" I take a deep breath trying to calm myself down so things don't escalate. "You're not killing him. That can't possibly be the only way you guys handle situations. And you're not getting someone else to do it either" My father is nodding at me slowly like this should be discussed, like we have to decide if he deserves death. He rubs his hand on his face thinking of a new plan. As much as I would love for Owen to stay out of my life forever I would never allow my parents to plot his death. Ever.

"We'll bribe him. We'll start with a smaller amount of money and work it up. We'll start with ten grand and go up. He has money so it will take damage from us for him to finally say yes but he's a greedy man who will take whatever he can get. I'll be hiring a private investigator tonight who will hack into his stuff, we'll use it against him and then tell him about it as soon as we are bribing him. it'll be hard to turn down. I'll book his flights and a hotel that he will be staying at" My parents are fast thinkers but I don't know if they are fast enough. Owen could be at the police station right now.

I down my cup and rest my head on the counter trying to gather my thoughts but I