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"Trust me Ainsley. As long as you're working for us, the only thing you have to fear is us."

Trust him. I'd be stupid to trust him. He'd even told me himself that I shouldn't. And yet somehow, I didn't think I could make it through this in one piece without placing some form of trust in someone other than myself.

I trusted the logic that deducted this: if the barbed boys didn't protect me long enough to get what they wanted, then they wouldn't get it.

Thus, it made sense that they would keep me safe for at least a while.

I could live with the nightmares, I could live with the constant state of dread that something bad was going to happen. What I couldn't live with, was being the reason everyone I cared about was dead. Every time I saw my mom and ran the other way, and witnessed her confused crestfallen expression, I had to remind myself of the reason I was hurting her. I couldn't face her. I couldn't lie to her. If I gave her the chance she'd ask me what was wrong and I wasn't sure how long it would take for her to break me.

Considering how quickly I broke down and told Lindsey, not long at all.

Then there was my father. He was a lawyer, he knew people in law enforcement and in the court system. There would be no way he wouldn't try and help me, try to get Bomber and Lethal arrested. I wouldn't be able to stop him or convince him otherwise and I wouldn't expect him to step aside and let me work with such dangerous men. I couldn't expect any father to do that and therefore I couldn't risk speaking to either one of them.

Then again, ignoring them was a red flag in itself. Still, in my mind it was the lesser of the two evils. My flimsy and somewhat pathetic plan was to be done with this whole thing before my parents resorted to locking my in a room with them until I explained my behavior. For now I was out of the house as much as possible.

Going to work still set me on edge and I had no doubt it was some form of PTSD. It was understandable since it was where I watched someone die. Which was why arriving to find the door unlocked one morning immediately had my heart racing.

My eyes shot to the side and saw that the sign still said 'closed'. I glanced up and down the street and then peeked through the glass window and looked inside. No one was there, it looked like everything was in order...

Had someone not locked up last night? I wasn't on the nightshift, that should have been Harry and Lola. I swallowed and tried to control my shaking hands. Taking my phone out of my bag I typed 911 into the keypad and hovered my thumb over the call button. Ever since I met Bomber and Lethal my paranoia had shot through the roof. Then again, was it paranoia if it was a real possibility there was an assassin inside that may want to kill me?

With sweaty, shaky hands I pushed the door open and called out, "Hello?"

Nothing greeted me in return; my heart hammered.

"Anybody there?"

More silence greeted me... The sound metal hitting the floor had me releasing a terrified shout as a head popped up from behind the counter.

My phone fell and dropped to the floor as my hand flew to my chest.

Bright, wide honey eyes met mine as the figure raised to it's full height, hands up in the air. Slowly he reached towards his ear and removed one wireless earbud.

He offered a sheepish though boyish smile, "Hey Ainsley,"

"Collin?" I gasped out his name in both relief and utter confusion.

What was he doing here? I would have been less surprised to see Bomber behind the counter helping himself to the sorbet.

Slowly my eyes scanned his form and I realized he was in The Scoop uniform. He had the apron around his neck and a name tag on his shirt.

"I'm sorry I scared you." he chuckled nervously and scratching the back of his neck, he waved the earbud awkwardly, "I was listening to a podcast and I didn't hear you come in..." he trailed off as he realized I hadn't said anything, "Are you well? You look a little pale."

His face pinched in concern and I took a deep breath. My heart was slowing down thankfully.

"Um, yeah I think you just really spooked me. I'm fine." I said and a breathy relieved laugh escaped me, "What're you doing here?" I asked clearing my throat.

At that Collin grinned and pushed his glasses up his nose, "I work here! Surprise!"

I was so confused. When did this happen? Collin and I had been talking, texting back and forth for the past week. He'd never mentioned working here. I mean he'd mentioned wanting a job, but working here? With me? No, it had never come up.

"I don't understand."

"I got an email from Bobby. Well, I got a mass email I suppose to students in the area looking for work. I thought it'd be fun to work together as well as earn some easy money. Not to mention my dad's been trying to get me out of the house recently."

As I register what Collin was saying I couldn't help being a little annoyed that he didn't tell me about his application, but the moment I felt that spark of irritation I snuffed it out. Being upset with him was irrational and would get me no where. Collin and I may have been texting but the reality was we weren't that close. I suppose that could have been the real source of my anger, that I wasn't as close to getting where I needed to be with him as I should have been. Still I found it a bit odd, especially that Bobby hadn't mentioned sending out requests for Randy's replacement. Last I'd spoken to him he'd said he would wait a while to see if the kid turned back up. I guess it had been almost two weeks since the incident.

"Ainsley? Are you sure you're okay? I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I really did think it would be a nice surprise not something that would scare the hell out of you." he joked lightly, obviously thrown off by my reaction.

Get it together, Ainsley.

I reached down to grab my phone and shook my head, "No it's great Collin. It is a surprise, a nice surprise." Honestly, it was a little too nice of a surprise. Too good to be true, "Bobby just didn't tell me I was getting a new partner and I was thrown off that the door was unlocked."

Understanding and relief swept across his kind, hansom face and all my annoyance evaporated. If there was anything I had learnt from interacting with him this past week it was that Collin was the epitome of a nice guy. He asked you about your day, how your family was, if you were okay, and genuinely seemed interested in whatever your response was. I could start talking about the weather and it would be like he was listening to someone accept their Nobel Prize: complete, undivided attention. It was sweet and refreshing to talk to a guy without any self consciousness or worry that I was gong to come off too chatty. I also acknowledged that my surprise to such a trait said a lot about the boys in my generation and wasn't anything complementary either. The bar was low.

Collin apologised again as he started refilling the different topping containers. Apparently he'd dropped one of the metal lids, which was what scared me so badly.

My shift with Collin ended at 2:30. We'd had our luck breaks at alternating shifts, but had spent any moment not working chatting and laughing. I asked him if he wanted to get coffee after work, but he'd said his friend from college was leaving today and he had to get him to the train station and asked for a rain check. Something warm in my stomach told me he really meant it to and I smiled and waved him goodbye.

As I turned to head towards my car I wasn't the least bit surprised to see a tall, dark figure leaning against the driver's side door. Bomber grinned at me as I approached him.

I scanned the area, "No meathead today?"

He laughed, "You mean Vin? Nah, I figured you were right the last time. We are past that. Though I'll be sure to let him know you asked about him."

I frowned in annoyance, "I wasn't-"

"Shh don't ruin it."

At that I fully scowled at him, "Collin is working at The Scoop now." I remarked suddenly I was irritated despite the good mood working with Collin had put me in.

"Hi sugar, I'm fine thank you for asking. How are you?"

"Bomber,"

"Alright relax and anyway I know. You should be thanking me actually as I did you a favor."

"What favor?"

He looked over his shoulder before abandoning his relaxed stance and straightening up.

"Let's go for a walk." It was a demand shrouded in good humor but a demand none the less, one that caught me off guard.

"A walk? Where?"

He lifted a hand and gestured down the street where the entrance to the town park was just visible. Bomber didn't wait for me to reply he simply stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and started strolling down the sidewalk. I glanced into my car, momentarily debating if I could just leave and what the consequences might be if I did, but in the end my curiosity won.

It was such a cliche and I felt stupid as I turned to follow him, but curiosity did kill the cat after all. I had to jog to catch up with him and walked briskly to keep up with his long strides once I did.

"What favor, Bomber?" I asked picking right up where we left off.

"I pulled a few virtual strings if you catch my meaning."

"Well I don't. So can you please for once not be so damn cryptic and tell me what you're talking about?"

He sighed and glanced at me briefly, "I got Collin the job."

Oh. That made a lot of sense, even if I didn't know exactly how he did it. I knew it was strange that he just showed up at work one day. Although, Bomber's involvement only gave me more questions. 

We entered the park through a little black metal gate that we weaved with the little green vines of nature's grip. The park itself was small, but it was bordered by a wooded area that had a few hiking trails. I used to explore them a lot in high school with my friends. We'd disappear into the trees till dusk, sometimes even longer if we found a clearing to hangout and drink in. There were a lot of good memories in those clearings and amongst those branches. My first date ended in there, and my first relationship began. My first kiss, my first shot, my first high. A lot of firsts and a lot of lasts too. 

For some reason I steered Bomber in the direction of the most used path. We passed the duck pond and the jungle gym. It was buzzing with kids and their parents since it was summer. I liked that, people being outside together. 

"How did you do it? How did you get Collin to apply, can you manipulate people's mind and their free will too?" I teased and I hated that I felt slight satisfaction when Bomber laughed.

"Sadly no, you give me too much credit. I simply presented Collin with an opportunity and his own desires finished the rest."

"What desires?" I asked and this time Bomber paused to look at him. I hadn't been expecting him to stop so I ended up a few paces a head of him.

"You ask a lot of questions." He eventually said and for some reason it seemed like it wasn't what he originally intended to say.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I think it would be weird if I didn't ask you questions. Don't you think. Besides, maybe if you gave more straight forward answers I wouldn't have to ask so many."

He shook his head and continued his stroll, we entered the trees. Their emerald leaves and sweeping limbs towering above to shade us from the sun. Our feet didn't stray from the well worn dirt path.

"Most people don't question me, Ainsley."

I didn't know what to say to that ominous statement. It seemed to ground me back to reality, if only for a brief moment. I'd been toeing a line there, one that once crossed would not be undoable. Bomber was the man that held a knife to my throat, knocked me unconscious, and shot me full of ketamine. I would do well to remember that even if he did let me ask questions and humor my often blatant disrespect. 

Keep his capabilities in the back of my mind I steeled my voice, "Why did you do it? I told you I was handling it. Collin and I have been texting back and forth."

"Yeah, and that's great for your future children, but all I care about are his father's files. We don't have the luxury of doing this at your pace, sugar."

This was it. It wasn't often he brought up the files. This was my chance to get more information out of him and I want going to let it slip away.

"What kind of files? You know I need to know, Bomber. I can't get this over with if you don't tell me things and you just said yourself this is time sensitive."

Bomber's jaw twitched and his eyes pinched shut. It was a slight tick he had and I'd noticed that it usually occurred when he was stressed but I'd never asked him about it and he never mentioned it. When his eyes opened it was like he was being released from some kind of pain.

I fought the urge to ask if he was okay and decided to ignore the fact that it felt a little more than instinctual. Bomber was different, thank god, than anyone I'd ever met. He wasn't what I expected and he constantly surprised me and that made me curious. Curious about his past, curious about his mind and the way it worked. I wanted to know why he was a vegan, why he didn't eat around other people, why he seemed to hide himself behind this mask of indifference and jocularity. I wanted to know how he got into his dubious line of work and why he hated his mother. I would say I was almost beginning to crave such answers from him and I hated it.

"Lethal will fill you in soon. Now that you'll be spending a lot more time with Collin we have to prepare, since we don't know when the right opportunity will present itself to you."

Damn it.

"Isn't there anything you can tell me now? I need to get into his office right? I remember you saying that before."

He studied me, navy eyes catching light and then shadow, "Yes. Monturi is somewhat of a rival, his business is successful and information on it could be very valuable for my brother and I. Other people would pay a lot of money for it."

It didn't seem like anything crazy. It wasn't like I had to break into the family safe or find a way up to the attic. A home office? What could go wrong?

"Getting into his office shouldn't be too hard, I'll ask Collin for the grand tour or something."

Bomber's face turned serious. From the moment I'd seen him and Lethal I'd understood them as the the two sides of the moon. One light and one dark. Bomber was always smiling, even in unnerving situations. It was one of the things that made him so frightening to me in the beginning and the same thing that made me more comfortable around him than Lethal. He lulled you into a false sense of security, arguably making him more dangerous than his darker brother.

In that moment though, he looked just like Lethal.

I jumped as he gripped my shoulders firmly, "No. Listen Ainsley, you have to be very careful now. Collin might seem harmless but his father is dangerous and therefore so is he. We have no idea how much Collin knows about Morturi's business. Asking to see his father's office is a major red flag we can't risk raising." He drilled out, his navy eyes dragging me into their concerned depths, "For many reasons." Bomber added softly as he dropped my shoulders.

He didn't elaborate and if I didn't know better I'd say he was trying to say he was worried about me. Thankfully I knew better than that. I ignored the bite from his touch that I could still feel on my skin like the hands of a ghost. We continued in silence after that, making out through the trees till we took a turn that led us back into the park. When we made it to my car again I was a little disappointed. 

Bomber ran a hand through his hair, his arm flexing in the white t-shirt he wore as shook away the shadows I'd seen from his face. When he looked back he was himself again. His jaw ticked.

"I'll get Lethal up to date on everything and we'll pick you up tomorrow to discuss everything you need to know."

He lingered a moment as though waiting to see if I had something else to say. And I did, I had so much I wanted to say and ask.

Bomber had sent that "mass" email to Collin inviting him to apply for a job at The Scoop, not Bobby. And not just any job but my partner. He'd put me way ahead in my mission. When I met with Lethal tomorrow I'd have a solid lead and considering he was the brother who seemed to care even less about whether I lived or died I figured that was a huge bonus for me. 

Just as Bomber turned to go I reached out and grasped his arm. He froze upon impact before slowly turning to look at where my hand laid. When he looked up at me his eyes were steady and dark, but I couldn't read them. I thought he might be angry that I touched him- was still touching him, but he made no move to break the contact.

"Sugar?" His voice was thick and I hummed in response, slowly a smirk rose on his face, "Is there something you need?"

"I- I wanted to say thank you."

At that his eyebrows shot up and the familiar spark of amusement reappeared in his eyes. Fire burned between my hand and his wrist which I still gripped. A deep, subconscious part of me knew he could probably shake me away like a fly and registered that he was letting me hold him in place.

"Thank me? And why is that?"

"For helping me. I would be much further behind right now if you hadn't done this for me."

He chuckled deeply and it raised the hairs on my arms as he took a step closer to me so that our chests were almost touching, "Oh sugar, do not misunderstand. I didn't do this for you. I did it for me," he paused and I felt his hand take hold of the wrist of my hand that held him and pull it away, his thumb stroked the inside of my palm, "but I'll take that thank you anyway. I doubt I'll get another one anytime soon."

With that he turned and walked away before I could snap something back at him, before I even wanted to snap back at him. My cheeks were on fire, my hand was on fire. 

Because only one thing was going through my mind as Bomber Jones walked away and it was any of the things I'd reminded myself of earlier. 

Why the hell had it been so easy to touch him?

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A/N- WOW WHO THIS? WHAT'S THIS? AN UPDATE? WHO WOUlD HAVE THOUGHT?

Stay tuned my lovelies!! Things are definitely gonna start heating up!