Chapter 37

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Before we start out this chapter, I would like to say how thankful I am for you guys who continue to support this book! You all mean so much to me and I love you guys like crazy.

First: Check out that amazing cover made for me by _lemmeread_ . Isn't it amazing!!!

Second: I made crappy aesthetics!!!

I've never made character aesthetics before so hang tight. If you think they're horrible, please don't say anything. I know they aren't the greatest so please bear with me. (Or is it bare???)

And yes I made them with pic-collage i am not ashamed.

Anyways, here they are:

Daytona Lyn


Logan Wylde

Colton Derry

[Edit: I realize earlier they didn't upload so here they are now.]

If you would like to see an aesthetic of a certain person, just comment their name next to this and I'll be sure to start working on it!

~~~~🌸~~~~

Leaning against the cold wood door with my arms crossed I raised my eyebrow in a challenge. Almost as if I was saying, I dare you to lie to me.

Logan's eyes widened, he took a step back and started talking, "It- It's not what it looks like. I promise you. She's just some crazy ex-girlfriend and I've tried to get a restraining order but she keeps doing stuff like this and I don't know how to stop her."

"Okay, than why did she mention Cooper? If she's just some 'crazy ex-girlfriend' how does she know about Cooper? Don't lie to me Logan."

His adam apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. "Listen. I'll tell you everything soon, but now is not the best time. Especially with everyone outside."

"Soon? When exactly is soon. I'm sick of you keeping so many secrets from me Logan! How do you expect me to be able to trust you in this relationship if every time something comes up you say 'Soon Daytona, soon'  like that's supposed to help me trust you?" I hadn't meant to be so harsh, but damn, everything was a secret now-a-days.

With a sigh he looked at the ground. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and quiet, "I know it's hard for you to trust me right now and I know I'm keeping a lot of secrets from you, but I promise you, I'll tell you everything really soon. Just hang in Daytona. Please?"

He reached out and squeezed my hand. The gesture sent a current of electricity up my arm.

I gave in. "Alright. But I hate following you blind Logan. What if you're leading me into a trap?"

He slowly stepped towards me, drawing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. "I know you hate it and I'm sorry, but thank you so much for giving me this chance." He planted a quick kiss on my lips. "You're the best you know?"

"Yeah yeah I know I am."

We walked back downstairs, hand in hand.

As soon as I stepped outside, the cold wind assaulted my arms and a shiver escaped me. I let go of Logan's hand and ran into the pool. The warm water stung my body as I jumped in.

"What was that about Wylde?" Cooper asked, casually sitting in the water as if it was completely normal to have a 'dead' kid in your pool.

"Nothing. I'm pretty sure a squirrel got in the house and knocked a plate off the counter." Logan shrugged his shoulders in indifference.

Not buying into his bullshit, Cooper narrowed his eyes and asked, "A. Squirrel?"

"Yes a squirrel. Small, typically brown, fluffy, rambunctious, you know the lot."

Cooper continued to eye Logan but kept his mouth closed, not pushing the conversation any further than needed.

"Well did you find it? Or when I'm trying to sleep at night will I have a surprise visitor in bed with me?" Tanner eyed the house nervously as if the thought of sharing a house with the animal made him sick.

"You're not scared of a little squirrel are you Tanner?" I asked teasingly.

"No!" He played with his lip piercing and eyed the house once more before turning his attention back to the pool, muttering something about 'irrational fears' and the squirrel 'bitting his third toe off'.

The rest of the night was spent splashing each other, singing terrible Mariah Carey karaoke, and pool beer pong which Marissa was a little too good at.

"Are you going to crash here for the night? I mean I know you practically live here, but lately you've been staying at your place more often than not." Tanner sat at the opposite end of the couch holding s cup of what appeared to be hot chocolate.

"No I think I'm going to head back to my house tonight. Is Cooper staying? If so I'll get Mason and head home." I wrapped myself in the blanket I had a little tighter, eyeing the hot chocolate like my life depended on it.

"Mason ditched awhile ago. I think him. Marissa and Jake went to go get In N' Out or something. And yeah, Coop is crashing here. There's a lot the three of us need to catch up on." Cautiously he gauged my reaction to going home by myself.

A few hours ago my mom had texted letting me know she was gone with my dad (who's name had now become several explicit words) for work and would be home in a few days. Ashton was at a friend's house so unless Mason was there, should I come back, I would be alone.

"I bet you do. If that's the case, I'll be going. Mind if I take the blanket?" If I was going to be in that cold dark place by myself I'd want something warm to take with me. Even if just to ease my anxiety a little bit.

"Go for it. Just bring it back next time you're over. That just happens to be my favorite living room blanket." Tanner nudged my calf with his foot.

"Sure thing. Tell Logan I said bye alright." I got up to head to the door, but just before I opened it, I turned around and told Tanner, "Oh and don't let that squirrel get you."

At the mention of the rodent, his eyes widened. I left before he could say anything.

Again I was caught off guard by how cold it was. Even with the blanket secured tightly around my arms, the cold still managed to weave through like a needle.

I bit back a shiver as I climbed into the car, which wasn't much warmer either. Once it was on though, the heaters did an excellent job of warming me up. Once my limbs were thawed out, I headed home.

~~~~🌸~~~~

The blanket was absolutely no help.

As soon as I stepped into the threshold of my once lively house, goosebumps rose on my arms. A cold shiver ran down my back and it almost felt like the finger of a dead person slowly tracing my lifeline along my spine.

"It's just a house Daytona. Pull yourself together." I flipped the lights on and watched as they buzzed to life.

When I was out of the dark, some of the spine-chilling sensation disappeared, but no matter what I constantly felt as if there was someone else here with me. But being the brave, or foolish, person I was, I charges forward with my chin raised, ready to take on whatever.

Luckily as I conducted my very thorough search of the house, I didn't need to take on anything. It was completely empty.

Trudging upstairs through the empty house, I threw the blanket on the bed as I found some warm pajamas before heading to take a shower.

The blistering hot water washing over me was enough to melt the rest of my worries away and by the time I came out, I was practically a new person. Now more worries, freshly dressed, not cold, so I jumped on my bed with a satisfied smile.

My satisfaction slowly faded away as I realized tonight would probably end up being another restless night for me. Either my sleep would be riddled with nightmares, or my brain would be traveling at a million miles per hour, too fast for me to fall asleep.

Honestly, I couldn't tell which was worst sometimes.


"Ah," I smiled softly as I pulled the covers and blankets up to my nose. "Nice and warm." For a minute, I forgot about my struggles I would soon be facing. I forgot about Colton, I forgot about Jordan, I even forgot about that strange blonde girl who had been lurking around recently. Right now, it was just me and the safety of the bed.

If I lied quietly enough, I could almost hear the footsteps of my brother sneaking in late, my mom waiting up to yell at him knowing that he wouldn't listen to her. My laughed as he clapped my brother on the back saying, "Oh Melissa, he's nearly eighteen he can do what he wants."

My mother sighed, rolling her eyes saying in reply, "Exactly. He's seventeen and if he wants to go out, just ask permission instead of sneaking out. He knows we will say yes!" 

"Alright Mom," He interrupted my mom and my dad, "I'll ask next time okay," he kisses her on the cheek, "goodnight Mom. Goodnight Dad." 

I hadn't realized I was crying until a tear slipped into my ear, catching me by surprise. 

"I will make Colton pay for tearing this family apart, even if I have to use my last dying breath to do so." Rolling over I grabbed a random pillow from my bed and clutched it tightly, praying to whatever existed that one day, the people I cared about would be happy again, even if I wasn't there to see it.

Most of my night was spent crying, but other than that, when I did eventually fall asleep I slept peacefully. No nightmares to keep me up and terrified. 

I rolled over and unlocked my phone to see nothing. No one was up yet, or they were and they just weren't texting me, which was completely fine. So I set to get my body back in the shape it was before that day. I was falling behind in cheer and though I still could fight, I knew I didn't have the strength or stamina to do any good. 

Slipping out of my pajamas and into fresh workout clothes, I grabbed my earbuds, a water bottle and a hand towel before setting out to my old favorite gym.

It still was my favorite gym, but I hadn't been there in so long making it my old, favorite gym. It was only a few minutes away by car, a bit longer walking but not to bad. 

The cold nipped the bottom of my ears where my beanie didn't cover and I was constantly blowing on my fingertips, but the walk was very refreshing. I was able to clear my head and think properly for the first time in weeks. I'm sure the sleep I had the previous night helped to but whatever it was, I was thankful for.

When I got Fitness Central (I know, real clever right) I pulled my beanie off my head and smiled. The place still had the same smell of Febreeze, distant sweat and new gym equipment. 

"Um, may I help you?" I followed the voice to its source; A college girl with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and quite possibly one of the most bored expressions on her face ever.

"Oh, yeah, I used to have  a membership here two years ago and I would like to renew it please." I summoned the most kindhearted smile I had and offered it to her. 

The lady just raised her eyebrow and chomped on her gum as if she was deciding whether this job was really worth her time. Her attitude totally changed when a few guys walked in behind me. "Oh sure!" she replied, more chipper than two seconds ago. "We recommend newbies start with the equipment on the left, and if you need any help with any of the machines, just give me a holler. Don't forget, my name is Jessica if you need anything." On the last word, she looked over at the guys suggestively and I fought the urge to roll my eyes and bite back with something witty. After all, I was here to train and get my body back to its former glory, not sit around and pick fights with college students.

"Whatever." I mumbled under my breath loud enough for just me to hear. With just a quick glance around I could tell the layout of the place was pretty much the same. A few pieces of equipment were moved around, but for the most part, everything remained the same. Such as the kickboxing room being right in Jessica's view. It was a small room considering most people didn't do kickboxing around here, so it fit perfectly in the right corner of the room straight across from Jessica. 

Centered in the closest wall, was a window big enough to get a general idea of what was going in that room. With a smirk, I picked the water bottle up off the counter and pivoted on my right foot heading towards the room.

"Hey I said newbies use the equipment on the left!" Jessica called after me.

Barely even turning my head over my shoulder I answered, "I know." All eyes were on me as I opened the door to the practice room.

Guy 1 leaned over and whispered to Guy 3 who nodded in agreement with whatever he said. And whatever that was caused Jessica to scoff and roll her eyes.

I dropped my stuff into a cubby and searched for a pair of gloves hanging from the wall. After looking through several, I picked the ones that looked a bit older and were red and white. Slipping them over my hands I slowly walked towards the nearest punching bag.

For my warm up I started with a few quick jabs. Left, right, left, left, right. I threw in a roundhouse kick to shake things up.

There was a small cheer of victory from the three amigos and whatever they were cheering for caused Jessica to flip her hair over her shoulder and strut away.

Turning around to get back into my training, I sent a few more punches in the same pattern I did earlier, adding more force behind each one.

"You know, other than us three, no one has trained in here for a couple of years." With all the punching I was doing, I hadn't even noticed the fact that the three amigos had entered the room.

"Yeah well, I needed to get some training in and I had nothing better to do. If you want I can leave though if that was what you were implying." I started to slide the gloves off my hands, worried that they were going to get territorial but Guy 1 stepped up and insisted it was okay.

"We're just surprised is all. Everyday we are here and everyday it's the same, but not today and it surprised me. But some surprises are good aren't they." Guy 1 offered me a goofy grin and I couldn't help but grin like and idiot too.

"Alright well miss, when you're done warming up, would you like to spar with us? Usually since it's the three of us, one sits out, but now with you it's even. Unless you don't want to then we totally respect that." Guy 3 had walked over to the cubbies, setting his stuff in to.

"Sure," I shrugged my shoulders. Maybe sparring was just what I needed to get back into the swing of things.

After the loss I took fighting Insanity, I don't think I had frequented that place much. Not that the loss had anything to do with it, my schedule just happened to never let me accidentally pass by. But I'm sure, on the inside, people are probably saying things along the lines of: 'She ran like a dog with a tail between her legs.'

'My older sister always told me stories about her, but she doesn't live up to the name.'

'She ran off, just like that. Must be wimpy.'

I smacked my head a few times to loosen those stupid thoughts. Even if they were true, those people were nothing to me, so their words meant nothing as well.

"So Nike. Looks like you're my partner." Guy 2 walked up to you with a proud smirk.

"Nike?"

"Well, you're wearing a Nike bra and in Greek, Nike stands victory, ah nevermind just forget I said anything."

You giggled as he blushed a light pink.

"Let's get this show on the road."

Four hours and a few broken punching bags later, all four of them laid on the floor, covered in sweat and panting. (No nothing happened.)

"I-" Guy 3 was panting worse than anyone. "Have not sparred like that in a long time."

Over the course of the four hours, you guys were constantly switching partners, never staying with one for too long. They each had unique fighting styles that challenged me. I would have to identify what their patterns were and work around that.

"Yeah. Thanks for the challenge." I sat up and wiped some sweat off my brow. "You guys here the same time everyday?"

"Yup. Everyday. Feel free to join us whenever you like." Guy 1 offered. He was definitely the most challenging to spar with. It was like he could read my attacks before I even made them causing me to have to switch to defense.

"Thanks. I may just have to take you up on that offer." I walked over to my cubby and checked my phone.

16 new messages and 3 missed calls.

Quickly, I read through them. Most were in the group between Charlotte, Marissa and I. Apparently in twenty five minutes, they were going to head to my house to wake me up. The other was a short message from Logan:

Good morning Princess. As much as I would love to hang out with you today, I'm busy but I promise tomorrow you can have me all to yourself 😘

My heart fluttered briefly but I pushed it away.

I grabbed all my gear and started to head out the door, waving my hand at the three amigos. "See you guys later."

Now I just had to beat Charlotte and Marissa to my house.

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