{Friday 14 July}

~ Charlie's POV ~

I groan and roll over as I wake up from an okay night's sleep. I reach over and grab my phone and look at the screen. Friday. I groan as I remember that Ryder, Cole, Eden, and I are supposed to be hanging out with Knox after my shift this afternoon. 

I unlock my phone and see a message from Ryder. I smile and reply before heading to the bathroom and showering. I get dressed into some comfy clothes before putting my necklace on and doing my hair. 

I sit down on my bed and look at my wardrobe and dresser. What should I wear tonight? I decide that I want to wear my white long sleeve lace bodysuit, my light blue distressed high waisted jeans and my white converse as well as my sunglasses and grey cardigan. 

I shove them into a bag before grabbing my school bag and phone and heading downstairs. I was alone in the house this morning as Adette's school had a teacher only day so mum decided that she would take a day off to take her to do fun things of Adette's choice for the day. 

It also meant that I could go out tonight as I wouldn't have to worry about having to collect Adette. I quickly eat breakfast before washing, grabbing my things and heading to the truck. I dump my bag of clothes on the floor of the passenger seat and put my school bag and phone on the passenger seat. 

I start my truck and head to Eden's house. Cole will be dropping Ryder off at school today because then we would all be taking fewer cars tonight. Ryder and I would be going together after my shift while Cole would be picking Eden up after school and they are going to hang out a bit before meeting us and Knox. 

We would be going to Katie's diner to have dinner before showing Knox around town. I get to Eden's house and she happily bounces down the stairs. 

"Morning sunshine," she says happily as she gets into the car. 

"Morning" I reply back smiling. 

"Are you excited for tonight?" she asks as we drive to school. 

"Eh. Knox makes me nervous and Ryder doesn't like him" I say as I concentrate on the road. 

"Oh, Charlie. I'm sure it will be fine" she says chuckling. We get to school to find Ryder waiting for us. We walk up to him and he instantly pulls me in for a kiss, smashing his lips onto mine. 

"I missed you Angel," he says huskily as he breaks away from the kiss. 

"I missed you too Ryder" I reply smiling before slipping my hand into his. The three of us make our way into school and head to our lockers. 

We grab our stuff before heading to our spot to chat. Soon the bell rings and I'm off to my first class of the day.

I watch Ryder's beautiful face concentrating on his drawing while I clean the coffee machine. The day had flown by, although English was uncomfortable yet again. I'm really starting to get scared of Knox at this point. 

He was being extra creepy today during class, talking about how much he loves killing people in his video games while twirling his penknife. Also, his knowledge on nuclear winters is really quite terrifying. 

He speaks about it as if he's experienced it or something. I shrug off my thoughts as I finish cleaning before I go and clock out. I hang up my apron before heading over to Ryder. 

I sit down next to me and see that he has drawn yet another beautiful drawing of me. I smile and he looks up and kisses me softly. 

"Like it?" he asks smiling. I nod and kiss his cheek before grabbing my bag of clothes from beside his leg and going to get changed in the staff toilet. I return a few minutes later to instantly receive a wolf whistle from Ryder. 

I blush and sit down next to him. He kisses me again while playing with my hair. We eventually break away and he packs up his things before we say goodbye to Mrs. Shelby and getting into my truck. 

We make our way to the diner in a comfortable silence. Ryder's hand resting on my thigh as he rubs slow circles into me. I smile, I love him so much. We get to the diner and I notice that Cole's car is already here which means that Knox must be here too. 

I park my truck and Ryder gets out and runs to my side to open my door for me. I laugh as he helps me out before he wraps his arm around my waist protectively. We make our inside and just as I had assumed, there were Cole, Eden, and Knox sitting in a booth waiting for us. 

Eden smiles when she sees us and we walk over to them. We slide into the booth, Ryder's arm still around me and make small talk with everyone. We order and our meals soon arrive. 

I gawk at the amount of food sitting in front of us. We had ordered three of Katie's jumbo pizzas, except I think she purposely made them bigger than usual, just for us. 

We all start to each but I really don't know how we are going to finish all of this.

Half an hour later, we walk out of the diner. Happy and with full stomachs. We had managed to eat everything and still have room for dessert. 

The boys had split the bill and we had decided that the first stop on our tour would be the town square. We all get into our cars and head off. We make it to the town square and show Knox around before heading to the next place on the list. 

Eventually, we make it to the last place on our list. The town cemetery. This place had always given me the creeps, ever since I was literally. But now that my dad was in here, it made me feel even worse. 

I had become extremely quiet as we pulled up in the parking lot and Ryder had clearly noticed. He snaked his arm around me and pulls me into him. 

"It's going to be okay," he says huskily. I nod but we both know I don't believe him. He cups my chin and gently lifts my head up to look at him. 

"I'll look after you I promise," he says before kissing me. 

"I trust you," I say with a small smile as I pull away. We get out of the car and join the others. I start talking to Eden and Knox and out of the corner of my eye I see Cole hand Ryder something but I can't make out what it is. I shrug it off and focus on the conversation. 

"You know what we should do?" Knox says grinning wickedly. 

"What?" Eden asks excitedly while Cole and Ryder exchange concerned looks. 

"We should play hide and seek". 

"Ooo sounds fun!" Eden chirps. 

"Okay sweet. I'll count, everyone else has to hide" he says before closing his eyes. Before I can even process what just happened, Eden is dragging me off into the cemetery away from the boys. 

I suddenly feel very uneasy but I know that Ryder and Cole will be close behind. I watch as Eden finds a hiding spot and shoos me away. I groan and walk away, trying to find a place to hide. 

"Ready or not, here I come!" I hear Knox yell. Shit. I spin around, desperately trying to find a place to hide but I notice that I've somehow made my way into the mausoleum section of the cemetery. I suddenly feel very sick as an icy chill runs down my spine. 

"Gotcha!" Knox laughs. I scream and spin around to see Knox standing a few meters away, pointed a silver gun towards me. I start to shake as I watch him take the safety off. 

"Kn-kn-Knox? Wh-wh-what's with the gun?" I ask, stuttering bad. He laughs again as he takes a step closer. Suddenly, Ryder, Cole, and Eden appear and Ryder aims a gun at Knox. 

"You shoot her, you die" Ryder growls. What the fuck is happening?! 

"Aww how cute! Loverboy is sticking up for his mate" Knox chuckles. Ryder growls again, glancing at me for a second, panic clear in his eyes. 

"Too bad you can't save her. I'm just doing what I have to do to lose my wings man. I'm surprised you didn't do the same. The mate things is super lame" Knox continues. 

"W-w-wings?" I ask terrified. Knox laughs at my question, looking at me for a moment before turning his attention back to Ryder. 

"You haven't told her Ryder?" Knox chuckles. 

"Oh, this should be fun". He looks at me and smiles wickedly. 

"Not everyone is who you think you are love" he starts, grinning. 

"Some people have done things that are unforgivable. Ryder, care to explain?". Ryder growls, causing Knox to laugh again. 

"No? Oh well. Looks like I'll have to kill her then" he says smiling. And with that, he pulls the trigger.

I see a white light. I feel free and warm. I watch as a pair of hands lift me up towards the light. I no longer feel the pain of the bullet wound. 

I am safe, happy. In a better place. I continue to head towards the bright beam of light for what seems like a good half an hour until finally, I can almost make out a person. 

My dad. I'm almost home. I reach out to touch him when suddenly everything turns to darkness. 

I can feel my heartbeat in my chest. 

I'm alive. 

_____________________

Hey Guys,

So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I promise you that the next chapters will be just as intense. I've been so looking forward to writing these coming chapters as I've had them in my head for so long but it also means that we are nearing the end of the book which I'm sad about as I love this book so much. I will hopefully be uploading another chapter later today as I am already halfway through writing the next chapter!

Anyways, please vote and comment letting me know what you think of this chapter and what you think will happen next!

Thanks,

- Allamy xx