New Year's day.

Over the past years, I usually spent New Year with Simon. Staying up late, drinking, getting soaked by the sprinklers we had no idea was going to turn on.

And now he lays 6 feet under.

I heard about the funeral. It was all good things. He was kind, sweet, caring, and brave. They had no idea who on earth would ever want to hurt such a kind man.

I sent a condolence card. 

As if I had never killed a single person ever, I smiled as I sat in the living room. I kept tossing a ball that Bubbles would run and go get quickly.

Reese brings over the tray of chocolate-covered strawberries for me that he put into the fridge last night. He also bought me a bottle of champagne that was probably so expensive I'd go into cardiac arrest hearing the price.

He sets the tray down on the living room table, but grabs one of the strawberries. He puts it into my mouth, locking eye contact with me the entire time he did. 

The sweet taste explodes in my mouth as his dark eyes stay on me.

He sits down on the couch, and pulls me onto his lap. I sit sideways on it while he grabs the tray of strawberries and keeps it in his hand while his other holds my lower back.

"Are you going to be my New Years' kiss, Reese?" I say teasingly with a smile.

"Depends," his fingertips move up and down my spine while he puts another strawberry into my mouth. "Do you want it to be more than that?"

My teeth hold my bottom lip for a moment before releasing it. Of course I do, always.

"Hm. I don't know," I tilt my head. "I'm a little sore."

"Sore?" he raises his eyebrows. "Where?"

I shrug, "Everywhere."

His mouth turned up in a smirk. His strong hand runs up my thigh, squeezing it at the top while he asks, "Here?"

His hand moves a little more up, and he asks, "Or, a little more up?"

My body temperature rises. He grabs a strawberry and puts it between his teeth. He moves forward, putting his lips on mine, allowing for me to eat half of the strawberry. I swallow the sweet taste while he kisses me, and I swing one of my legs over him, so that I'm straddling his waist. 

His hands hold my hips as I kiss him deeply. The sound of our lips moving with each other is the only noise besides the violent wind and snow outside. 

Until Reese's phone rings.

"Fuck me," he mutters as he grabs his phone.

His words made me smirk from an idea while he raises his phone to his ear, and asks, "What?"

I slide my hand into his pants, and grab hold of him from over his boxer briefs. 

"Y-yea," he stutters into the phone. Yea, stutters.

I keep smirking at him as I slowly slip my hand into his briefs. It's hard and warm as I grab it, and start moving my hand up and down slowly while he shuts his eyes and leans his head back while keeping the phone at his ear.

"Mhm," he hums into the phone while I move up and down quickly.

"Yea okay bye," he says in less than a second before ending the call and tossing his phone onto the couch.

"God - fuck, Azalea," he curses. "God you're too fucking good at this."

"Who was it?" I ask him while switching to a teasing tone. "Was it your girlfriend?"

He grips my hips as I continue moving my hand and says breathlessly, "I only have a wife and that's you. It was fucking Alec."

My hand stops and my eyebrows raise. I repeat, "Alec?"

"Yes. Alec," he nods. "Invited us to his house for New Year's. Said he's throwing a party."

He leans forward and holds my jawline while kissing my cheek. He adds, "But I'd rather be here with you, and only you. It's all I need."

"And Bubbles," I say sternly.

"And Bubbles," he agrees between kisses to my cheek. I tilt my head and smile while he does.

There's no better way to celebrate than to stay here with Reese, and spend the entire night in his arms. Spend the entire night getting drunk off of strong hands, the smell of musk, and his soft lips. 

But tonight could be the only chance we get.

"We should go," I tell him, making him pause. He stops kissing my cheek and gives me a confused look. "We need to see if Alec really did get that check. We've been putting it off for a few days now."

I say we, but it has been him. I can tell that the mere thought of his closest friend betraying him cut him deeply. The emotional part of him doesn't want to believe that his best friend could ever do that, but the logical part knows damn well that it could potentially be true. 

"Okay," he sighs. I can tell he really doesn't want to. "But Az baby, I'm telling you, Alec wouldn't do that to me."

His face is strong and firm. He truly believes what he is saying and his brown eyes show no hints of doubt.

I run my fingertips through his black hair and nod, "Okay. Then the worst thing that happens, is that nothing changes."

He stares at me for a few moments before nodding.

I kiss the tip of his nose, "Now. Match outfits with me. I'm wearing that black dress from the mall, the one I bought with you and said it'll have to be for a special occasion."

"Okay," he agrees. I try to get off his lap but his strong grip keeps me in place. "But we're going to finish this another time."

I bite my bottom lip while I smile. 

"Deal."

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

Reese and I enter Alec's house in matching black outfits. The music was able to be heard from the street, and the house was filled with people. People sat on the couch smoking, stood drinking, or leaned against the wall and talked.

"Do you know any of these people?" I lean over and ask him.

"Nope."

We walk through the living room to get deeper into the house since the living room felt suffocating. A group of people could be heard from the dining room, so that's where we went.

People played pong on the table. But I could only look at one thing - Alec.

He was drinking a beer while watching, laughing, and teasing the losing side. But the second he saw us, he stopped. He walked around the table and smiled at us, slurring his words, "Hey! You guys came - I've got anything you could possibly want. Vodka, whiskey, weed. Just help yourselves."

Despite our intentions, Reese just smiles back at him, "It's only 11 and you're already piss drunk. Careful, or else you won't even make it to midnight."

"I remember inviting my friend, not my mom," Alec raises his eyebrows, making Reese roll his eyes. "Help yourselves, it's all in the kitchen."

Alec turns and continues to watch the guys playing pong. He yells over the music when someone misses, "Damn, you're ass!"

I hold onto Reese's arm as we pass through the drunk people and head into the kitchen. 

"This is a waste of time. We're not gonna find anything," he says quietly to me as we stand away from all of the people.

I nod, "Okay. Then we'll find nothing, have a drink, and then go back home."

His eyes remain on the floor as he nods. I grab his jaw and force him to look at me, "Hey. It's New Years, don't go into the next year sad."

"I'm not sad. Never sad when I'm with you," he places his hands on my hips and pulls me toward him. The fronts of our bodies touch and he looks down at me with a curious expression. "Why do you love me, Az?"

The question makes me lower my eyebrows. I ask for clarity, "What do you mean?"

His dark eyes dance around my face for a moment.

"You are beautiful, strong, kind, and smart," he compliments me, but by his tone of voice, it sounds more like a fact. "You could have anybody you want. I know I don't deserve you. So why do you love me?"

'I know I don't deserve you.' Those words didn't make any sense to me. I'm far from perfect, and I have many flaws. I've taken lives I didn't have to take and done things I didn't have to do.

"I love you, because of this," I press my finger against his chest, pointing at his heart. "In a world filled with a culture of using women and nothing ever being serious you have shown me an unconditional love that I'll carry with me even after death."

His strong and veiny hand ran up my side, stopping at my cheek. He tilts his head down at me, "So where do you want to go, once this is all over? Rome, Madrid, Tokyo?"

I smile while I think of all the places we could go.

"All of them," I smile. "We'll see every single country together."

My words looked like they pleased him. He leans down, pressing his soft lips against mine. 

"Alec! Alec! Alec!" a group of people chanting made us pull away from the kiss and look over.

Alec was downing a cup in one drink. I wasn't sure what was in it and didn't know if I even wanted to know. He squeezes the plastic cup in his hand once it's empty, and his friends cheer as he throws it against the floor.

He then starts stumbling to the side, and falls onto the dining room chair. His eyes shut as his head goes back, and just like Reese said, he didn't even make it to midnight.

"Come on," I tug on Reese's arm. "This is our chance."

I know he doesn't want to do it. It's written on his face. But he nods.

Everybody is too focused on their drinks and conversations to notice us slipping away. We head upstairs, and I follow Reese into Alec's bedroom.

His room is clean and organized. It honestly shocked me a little bit. 

I take a seat on the edge of his bed, which is covered by dark blue bed sheets. I sink into the bed a little as Reese flicks a light on.

Reese opens a drawer while I look around the room. A picture on the wall made my eyes pause. It was of Alec and Reese, from a few years ago. It made me smile to see how happy they were in each other's presence. 

"If it's going to exist, it'll be in here," he says while turning around. He holds a large stack of opened mail and carries it with him while he sits beside me.

He hands me half and keeps half for himself.

I start looking through it. It's one boring thing after the other. Bills, bills, junk mail, bills, porn magazine. Basically nothing unusual.

"Nothing in here. Unless you consider Alec's bills interesting," I shrug. 

I turn to look at Reese and see him holding one slip of paper. He stares at it intensely, and my eyebrows lower. I ask, "What is it?"

He keeps looking at it. And then very quietly, he whispers to himself, "No."

I lean over to read the paper since I can't see it from where I'm sitting.

'Alec,

Appreciate the information. Check for one million is down below. No more, no less.

-Joesph'

I witness the look of betrayal live on Reese's face. Although Alec wasn't my direct friend, it still hurt to read. 

"Reese," I say gently. I don't know what more to say, because what else can you say in this situation? He tries to keep his face blank but I see the hurt written on it.

He rubs his jawline. I continue holding the paper and looking at him. 

"He was going to get my brother killed," he whispers to himself. "He turned on me. All for fucking money."

I put my hand on his arm. It feels as if the entire world is against us. It doesn't feel like a war between us and my dad, it feels like a war between us and the entire state.

"I'm sorry," I say with nothing but honesty in my tone. To see the look on his face hurts.

His teeth clench as he keeps looking forward.

He nearly jumps to his feet, "I guess people truly do keep their enemies closer."

He grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. I follow him out of the room and down the stairs. 

The rap music echoes off the walls as the drunk people all talk loudly. We pass through them and enter the dining room again. I was expecting to see Alec still passed out on the chair, but to my surprise, he was up again and drinking a beer. But seeing a hand print on his face answers why he woke up.

"Hey," Reese says calmly to him once we're in range. "Can you come with me for a sec? Gonna go out to buy more drinks and want your opinion."

Alec smiles and nods, "Oh, fuck yea - Teddy, hold my beer. And don't you dare drink it, you son of a bitch."

Alec hands off his beer to a guy nearby. Reese nods, and continues holding my hand as we exit the house. 

Alec stumbles while following us. The second we step outside, this suddenly feels much more real. The cold hitting your skin reminds you that you're alive, and this is real life. Your breathing can be seen in the air as we walk down the driveway toward Reese's car. 

"You gonna go to that one store we always buy from?" Alec asks as we approach the car. 

While opening the door for me, Reese nods, "Yea man. Our favorite place."

Alec gets into the back seat while I get into the passenger seat. I watch as Reese rounds the car.

I don't know what his plan is. I don't know what he's thinking right now. 

But I have an idea of how this is going to end. 

The engine roars to life as Reese gets in the drivers seat. He puts his hand on my thigh as he drives, despite how angry I know that he is. I think touching me calms him down, but seeing how his knuckles turn white as he grips the steering wheel, tells me he really isn't that calm at all.

Alec sits in the backseat with no idea of what's happening right now. Everything is dark around us besides the road, which the headlights make visible.

I keep quiet for the entire drive. I notice very quickly that we're heading away from the city, but Alec's blurry vision doesn't seem to notice.

The car continues to drive for at least 20 minutes. Reese suddenly rears off of the road, the car bouncing as we now drove on an empty field of grass. He slams on the brakes, and you can't see anything besides the grass that's visible from the headlights. 

"Uh - where the fuck are we?" Alec questions from the backseat.

Reese doesn't answer him. He just gets out of the car, but leaves it running. I jump out, too, and see Reese grabbing some things out of the trunk. 

Alec pushes his door open and steps out. The wind hits us and blows the grass beneath our feet. Alec looks around with a confused look, "Reese dude, where are-"

Alec gets cut off by Reese punching him in the face. My eyes widen and I take a step back. The small amount of light is able to show the blood dripping from Alec's nose, and he groans while almost falling back. But Reese grabs his shirt to stop him. 

"What the fuck?!" Alec swears. 

Reese continues to hold his shirt and forces him onto the ground in front of the car. The headlights hit Alec directly as he falls to his knees against the cold grass. The harsh light makes Alec's eyes wince, and the wind blows his shirt. 

Reese stands in front of him, looking down with a clenched jaw. He tosses a shovel in front of him, which only makes Alec look more confused as the blood drips down his face and falls off of his chin.

"Dig," Reese orders. He pulls out a gun and points it at Alec's head. 

"W-what?" Alec stutters. "Dig what?"

Reese's grip on his gun tightens.

He replies dryly, "Your grave."

Word Count: 2744