"So," Jasper said. "Blake, what's he like?"

"He's an ass."

"Do you call everyone an ass?" Jasper wondered and raised an eyebrow.

"Eyes on the road," I said when Jasper turned to look at me. "He's like an older brother to me."

"Oh," Jasper said and adjusted his hold on the steering wheel. He held tighter and his knuckles went whiter.

He had agreed to take me to see Blake.

"He was," I sighed.

"Was?"

"Yeah, shit happened, he carried on being an ass and we were never the same," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"From what I know it seems like he cares," Jasper said.

"He does," I said and rolled my eyes. "Doesn't always show it. It's hard to remember that 'he cares' when he's making me be the guinea pig for torture training."

Jasper slammed the breaks on the car and I lurched forward in my seat.

"Watch it!" I snapped.

"Torture training?" Jasper yelled. "You do torture training at your Agency?"

"They introduced it after I was tortured. So I guess your Agency is to blame," I shrugged.

"They torture their own agents for training!" Jasper growled.

"Only the ones they think can 'handle' it," I muttered. "Apparently that was Eli and me."

"That's sick!" Jasper hissed.

"It was bearable," I said. "And then later that day I was raped and died."

Jasper looked at me as he restarted the car. "Don't say it like that," he said sternly.

"Like what?"

"Like you don't care."

"I'm over it," I said dismissively.

"That's what everyone believes," Jasper said. "Isn't it? There's no way you can be fully over what happened to you, Daisy. Things like that stay with you."

"Yes, everyone believes that. If they thought I was still messed up because of it they wouldn't stop looking at me like I was broken," I said.

"They all still look at you like you're broken," Jasper said.

"What?"

"They care about you, but they still look at you like you're broken."

"You're a bundle of joy, aren't you?" I snapped.

"Eli doesn't," Jasper said. "Eli is the only person who doesn't look at you like you're going to break."

"We're not talking about Eli."

"I am."

"I'm not!"

"Eli knows you fake it, doesn't he? He knows that you fake that you're okay?"

I sighed and nodded.

"I get it. I get why you pretend and fake it, but it's good you have Eli. Someone needs to know how you really feel."

I glanced at Jasper. "I've ruined it all with him."

Jasper frowned. "How?"

"I fucked it up, I pushed him away," I said with a humourless laugh.

"Why?"

"Because that's what I do."

"You've got me. You've got Richard," Jasper said. "You can't push us away."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not even if I say please?"

Jasper laughed. "Not even then."

"You aren't going to give up, are you?" I said slowly.

"You're just realising this?"

I frowned. "So you're going to be here?"

"Yes."

"You're always going to be here?"

"Yes."

"No matter how much of a bitch I am? No matter how much I try and push you away?"

"We're family. You can't do anything that will push us away, Daisy," Jasper said.

"Promise?" I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course," Jasper nodded. "Daisy, you know this. Why are you asking?"

"Because I want to talk to someone, about my fucked up life, that I can't scare away. I want to talk to someone that has no fucking choice but to deal with me, as I am."

"Eli can't do that?"

"He can, but he doesn't deserve all my shit. He's better off without me and my problems," I said. "And you've not stopped going on about how we're family so you've got to deal with my shit. You've got no excuses not too. You've got nearly 19 years of shit to make up for."

"I'm not complaining," Jasper said.

"I need to talk to someone," I whispered. "I never liked talking to people about me. I punched my counsellor at the Agency. I hated talking to him. But... I need to. Now I need to."

"What about Blake?" Jasper asked cautiously.

"I was going to talk to him. I thought I needed him, but I don't really want to see him," I frowned and looked up at Jasper. "I want to talk to you."

Jasper immediately turned the car around and drove back in the direction of his house. "You have no fucking idea how good it feels to hear you say that."

*

We sat in an awkward silence for a while once we got back to Jasper's house. I was sitting on his bed, playing with one of his pillows.

I didn't know what to say.

"So start at the beginning," Jasper had said.

And I did.

I didn't know where it all came from, I didn't know why I wanted to talk to him, but I told him everything. Pretty much my whole life and how I felt.

I told him every fucked up thing about me and he didn't seem scared, surprised or shocked about anything.

He listened... and cared.

He acted exactly like a big brother should.

"Here," Jasper said and passed me a tissue.

"What?" I touched my face and was surprised to feel it was wet. I hadn't even realised I was crying.

"We're going to fix everything," Jasper said. "We're working on a plan to take Robert down. Soon this will all be over."

I wiped my eyes and swallowed. "I can't imagine my life away from the Agency."

"You better start," Jasper said and smiled slightly, "it won't be long before you'll be away from the Agency for good."

I arched an eyebrow. "I'll believe that when I see it."

*

It was late when I walked back into the house and Eli was walking out of the kitchen. He stopped when he saw me and frowned.

"You've been crying."

"And now I'm going upstairs," I muttered.

"Where have you been, princess?" He snapped.

"With someone who has no choice to deal with me, no matter how hard I push them away," I sighed and walked to the stairs.

"You don't need to fucking push people away!" Eli yelled.

"But I do it anyway!" I called and ran up the stairs, getting away from him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jack called, catching me when I crashed into him. He was with Mason. "Where have you been?"

"Just out-"

"The truth," Mason said. "We're all worried about you-"

"I'm fine, I was with Jasper," I said. "Now can you let me past?"

"What's up with you and Eli?" I groaned when Tom walked up to us and asked the question.

"Nothing!" I insisted.

"He's my best friend, c'mon Daisy, do me a favour and let me know what's going on-"

"Beth's my best friend, so do me a favour and don't cheat on her again, okay?" I said sharply and barged through Mason and Jack.

"Daisy!" Tom called. "C'mon, please-"

"If you value your vocal cords then I would stop talking if I were you!" I yelled and I looked to a door as it opened and Beth stepped out, holding two bottles of wine and a box of chocolates.

"I don't care if it's not a good time, you're coming in and we're eating and drinking," Beth said.

"Only if I get red," I said and snatched the bottle of red wine from Beth and walked into her room.

"Do you want to talk about you or something else?"

I gave Beth a look.

"Something else it is."

*

I drowsy, cranky and in a mood the next morning.

Wine was good, until the morning after.

I groaned as I rolled out of bed and forced myself to get changed. I dressed in black jeans and a hoodie and stuffed my feet into my boots. Once my hair was tied up I was ready to go.

I walked out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom, where of course I bumped into Eli.

"Fucking hell," I sighed.

"We do live in the same house, I'm afraid you're going to have to work a bit harder if you don't want to see me," he snapped and rammed into my shoulder as he walked past me.

I gritted my teeth and walked into the bathroom. I grabbed my toothbrush and looked in the mirror, sighing when I saw my reflection.

"I do want to see him," I mumbled and scowled at myself. I finished brushing my teeth and made my way downstairs where I saw Lily staring at the front door.

"Hey, kid," I called and she turned to look at me. She had her hair in pigtails, reminding me of when I first met her on my first day here. "You alright?"

"Sammy is taking me and Zac to school," she said referring to one of Jasper's friends and his little brother Zac. "But crossing the road always scares me."

I smiled softly and held out my hand. "Want me to take you?"

Lily grinned brightly. "Yes please!"

"Come on then," I said and Lily grabbed my hand, pulling me to the door. I opened it for her and glanced over my shoulder just as Eli walked down the stairs. We shared a short look just as the door slammed shut behind me.

"We have to look left and right, don't we?" Lily said as we reached the edge of the road.

I rolled my eyes as she came to a stop. "Sure," I shrugged.

"That's what the teachers say. Look left and right, look again and then walk," Lily said, sounding so proud. She turned her head to the left, then right and repeated it. She then looked up at me and bit her lip. "We can go? Can't we?"

"Yes," I laughed and pulled her forward. "We can."

Lily grinned and skipped as we made our way across the road. I knocked loudly on the door when we got to Jasper's house and I narrowed my eyes when Kyle opened the door.

"Delivery," I said sarcastically.

"Hey, Lily," Kyle nodded. "Zac's upstairs, in you go."

"Thank you, Daisy!" Lily said politely and disappeared into the house.

I looked at Kyle and nodded. "Well, I'll be going," I coughed.

"Did... did you wanna come in?" He asked awkwardly.

"Not really," I shrugged and took a step back.

"Hey, Daisy-"

"Gotta run," I said as Jasper called my name.

"Don't run away!" He said as he walked up to the door. "You okay?"

"Great," I nodded and looked over my shoulder and saw everyone leaving the house, ready to go to school. "Gotta get back, they're leaving-"

"I'll take you," Jasper said and raised his motorcycle keys. "I'm taking my bike, you can go on the back."

"I..."

"Don't tell me you don't want to go on a bike again. Yours was trashed from when he chased you on it," Jasper said.

"Oh, such fond memories," I said sarcastically.

Jasper raised his eyebrows. "So are you coming?"

I sighed. "Sure, I guess, whatever," I said dismissively.

"And here I was thinking you'd be a little nicer after our heart to heart last night," he said sarcastically.

I laughed. "In your dreams."

"Come on, lets go," Jasper said and rolled his eyes as he walked past me.

"Daisy, wait," Kyle called and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"What?"

"If you hurt him I won't be happy," Kyle said slowly.

"Is that a threat?" I asked.

"Not yet."

"It's a pretty shit threat," I shrugged.

"Look, all he's wanted is a sister, and now you've turned up and he's stuck with you-"

"Ouch," I said dryly.

"He cares, too much," Kyle snapped. "He will care about you, more than you'll realise. He'll hide it most of the time, but if you hurt him by being a shit sister- I'll hurt you. He doesn't deserve your shit."

"That's a bit better," I nodded. "You've made me nearly take your threat seriously."

"I'm being fucking serious-"

"I know, I know," I snapped. "You hate me, he's your best friend, blah blah blah. In case you haven't realised all I've been doing is trying to hurt Jasper so he fucks off, guy that hasn't happened. So as much as he's stuck with me I'm stuck with him."

"I don't hate you, I just don't like you," Kyle said and narrowed his eyes.

"It's fine, not many people do," I shrugged and turned around and walked over to Jasper.

"He scares a lot of people," Jasper said once I reached him. He passed me a helmet. "Does he scare you?"

"Not much scares me," I said. "He definitely doesn't."

"I have a feeling you scare people," Jasper said.

"I'm lovely, unless you give me a reason to show you my evil side," I said sweetly and Jasper laughed.

"Get on the damn bike," he chuckled.

"He cares for you," I said. "Kyle does."

"He's my best friend. Not many people can put up with him."

"Not many people can put up with me. Do you attract people like that? The ones no one can handle?"

Jasper smirked. "It seems I do."

"You're just setting yourself up for disappointment," I said and climbed onto the bike, behind him.

"I don't think so," Jasper shrugged. "Now put your helmet on."

I glanced over at the house across the road and looked at Eli just as he opened his car door. He looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes when he looked at me.

"Lets go," I muttered and put the helmet on and wrapped my arms round Jasper's waist.

"Hold on tight, little sister."

"Watch it or I'll shove you off," I warned and Jasper laughed and  drove away from the house.