We walked into the diner and looked around. "Keep your eyes pealed for anything suspicious." Caleb said. We looked around the room. Then i saw him in the corner. "You guys look." I pointed. There sitting was a dejected looking Conner. Why was he here? It looked like he hadn't slept for days. He was dirty and had dark circles under his eyes as if he had been crying. We walked over and took a seat at his table.

"So the text was from you?" Caleb asked. He nodded. "I was worried if i had told you it was me you wouldn't of come." Conner said. "Why are you here?" Caleb asked. "Well after you guys busted up my dad's compound he was taken jail. And his place was taken by the cops." Conner said. "Wait, how did the cops get involved? We didn't call them!" I said. "No your plan almost worked. One of his workers called them. He was afraid for his life. He said he had a wife and kids to think about. He was gonna turn my dad in and then just go back to his happy little world." Conner said sarcastically, clearly upset. "Ugh this is stupid. We know the local cops are in on it. They only arrested him to refute suspicion. He'll be out in a few days if he's not already out!" I said frustrated. "Hey it's not your fault." Ryder said. "It is, i don't know why i keep trying to do more than i should. I'm so angry at myself. Now we can't get the higher ups involved." I said. "Why not?" Caleb asked. "Because the cops made an arrest they shut him down. They don't need to get involved it was already handled." I said. "She's right." Conner said. We all turned our attention back on him.

"Why are you here?" Liam asked. "Because i thought it'd be safer if i just came home until things died down. Because my dad is going to get out and it's not going to take him long to figure out who the stool peigeon is. if he hasn't already. But when i got home...my mom...she was...she was dead." Conner started sobbing immediately. "What? She's dead? Why? How?" I asked. "How do you think, my dad knew that i lied! He's making me pay. But he's just gonna get out and now i'm not safe. None of you are safe!" Conner said. "I am so sorry about your mom Conner, i didn't mean for this to happen." I said. "Yea well it's to late, your sorries won't bring her back. I'm taking this mission into my own hands." He said clenching his fists.

"How?" Liam asked. "How do you think? I'm gonna make him pay. Just like he made my mom pay!!" Conner said. "you're gonna kill him?" Ryder asked. "Yep and i'll put an end to this once and for all." Conner said. "It's not gonna work." I said quietly. "Who cares anymore?! He's to big to take down! So i'm just gonna kill him." Conner said. "Maybe he's not....Look on the way home i looked at everything on that usb. I still have a few things to check into but it looks like your dad has twenty compounds. If we could take them all out then maybe we could slow him down a lot." I said.

"I don't need your help." Conner said angrily. "Yes you do! You don't know where all the compounds are. And if you kill your dad you don't think one of his cronies wouldn't just take his place? Of course they will." I said. "Well if i kill him then...well maybe if i just...what happened to taking this to the fbi or something." Conner said. "It's to late you're right, we need to just take down all of his compounds and if he then has to start from scratch it won't be so hard to stop him." I said. Conner thought about this. He was still angry and he still wanted his dad to pay.

"Wait a minute, can i have a side bar for a minute?" Caleb asked. "Sure, whats up man?" Jake asked as we stepped away from Conner. "We can take down his dad sure, but we're gonna have to wait a while for things to calm down. And until then what is Conner gonna do? He's gonna need a safe place to stay." Caleb said. "Are you saying what i think you're saying?" Ethan asked. "That maybe we offer him a spot back in the heartbreaker society?" Caleb asked nodding. "Yea, well we had him on the team the first time because of what he knew. Turns out he doesn't know anything. So maybe we just agree to keep him safe. We don't know if he even wants back in. And if he does, he has to earn it." Jake pointed out.

"I gotta say i'm with Jake he left the first time and i don't think we should take that kind of thing lightly. What if he leaves again. I mean we don't even know if we can trust him. How do we know he didn't tell his dad stuff about us?" Liam asked. "He's right." I agreed. "We don't." Caleb said simply. "But his mother is gone and he's going to need friends right now. He needs to be kept safe." Caleb said. Ryder nodded. "I agree, we keep him safe and see where things go." Said Ryder. "We all agree?" Caleb asked. "Yes." We all nodded. "Okay then, let's go." Caleb said. 

"Well we talked it over and we want you to come back to the house. It doesn't mean you're back in or anything but we want to keep you safe and we know that you're going to need a friend." Caleb said. "What? No, i'm fine." Conner said trying to act tough. "Do you really wanna go back to your moms house? You'll be reminded of her at every turn and it's the first place your dad will look for you." I said. "You don't think he'd really hurt me do you?" He asked. "He killed your mom..." I said. "Touche' okay then i'll come just for a bit, just until i can figure out my next move." He said. "Look i think you just need to think about what were proposing. We may have a better way to stop your dad." Jake said.

"Maybe but..." "No buts...you're angry right now. You're not thinking clearly. You need time." Ethan said. Conner nodded. "Okay then, let's go home." Conner said. We headed home and he took a shower. He had no things with him. "Let me take you to get some stuff." Jake offered. "I'm sorry you're having to do that, when i left it was kind of in a hurry i mean all hell broke lose and i didn't even have time to think." Conner said. "No worries while you're here we've got your back. We still care about you." Jake said.

Once they had left i started making dinner. Nothing fancy. I just threw a few burgers on the griddle. I tossed some fries in the grease and started pulling things from the fridge. Ryder came up behind me fresh from the shower.

"Hey are you okay?" Ryder asked. I turned around and he held his arms out. I fell into his embrace. "Honestly? No. I feel like that whole mission was a waste of time." I said. "Hey it wasn't a waste of time. We could have never predicted some guy would call the cops. I think the guys he had working for him were in the dark on a lot of things." "Need to know basis i get it. But i feel so bad for Conner." I said. "Yea it's gonna be tough for him." He said.

"How's your studio? Are you set to open in a few days?" I asked. "Yea, i just need to finish up a few things. You'll come to my first class right?" He asked. "Of course!" I said. "And then senior year starts soon for you and Caleb." "Right and Liam will be a junior. I think he'll go to college." I said. "Yea, he's smart it'd be a waste not too." He said. "And what about you?" He asked.

"Well, funny thing. Another one of my moms neighbors called. They saw what i did to moms house. They want to downsize and sell me their place. I'm getting a good deal because he really needs the money. I think i'm just gonna lay it on the table to all of them that i am willing to buy their houses and flip them. I'll make a great turn around on profit once it's all said and done. I can't sell a super nice house in that neighborhood for much. But this way i can buy materials in bulk and save money." I said. "That's a great idea, i told you that you were an amazing designer." He said. "Thanks, this just sort of fell into my lap but it makes me happy." I said.

I pulled the fries from the grease and set them on the plate. "Can you start filling cups with tea?" I asked. "Sure thing." It only took a few minutes for the table to be set. The door opened and Jake and Conner stepped in with bags on each arm. He had clothes and toiletries  that i could see. He sat them in his room. His old room. "I'll be right back." I said to Ryder. I needed to go check on him.

"Hey, how's it feel to be back in your old room?" I asked. "Surreal." Conner said sighing and taking a seat on the bed. I sat next to him. "Look i'm really sorry about your mom." I said. "Thank you but it's not your fault. My dad has hated my mom for a while i'm sure that was just icing on the cake for him." He said bitterly. "Your dad sounds like a piece of work. Why'd you wanna work for him?" I asked. He sighed throwing his hands up. "Beats me, i thought i was missing out." He said.

 "I get that, my dad's in Jail too but he's been there a lot longer. He's getting out soon." I said. "Is that a good thing?" He asked. "You know last year i would have said no. But i needed info on your dad and i figured he'd know something. He's not that bad and i hate i didn't go sooner i guess. I mean he said he felt he did what he had to do to make my mom happy go figure." I said. "Oh well good for him." "I don't know if i'd say that, he and my mom aren't even together." I said. "Oh, so no conjugal visit's for your dad then." Conner said. "You're bad." I said laughing and shoving his arm.

"Sorry, i have a problem. When it's the completely wrong time things come into my head. And i feel i have to say them. I should work on that." He said. I nodded. "Your mom, was she good?" I asked. "She was the best. I hate that i left her like that. I mean i called her while i was with my dad. And she told me all the time how much she loved and missed me. I just wished i could have...done better. What about your mom?" He asked.

"Well your dad would love my mom. For as long as i can remember she's been one of his biggest customers." I said. "Oof, am i allowed to feel bad? I mean i worked for my dad i knew was he was selling. It's just he's ruining lives and i was selfish i only cared about mine. I do feel terrible for everything i helped him do. That's why i need to stop him." He said clinching his fists. I put my hand in his to smooth them out. "It's okay actually. She recently got clean and she's doing much better." I said.

"Good, i'm still sorry you had to grow up like that. Was it just awful?" He asked. I nodded. "Sometimes, my mom had guys in and out. Trading sex for drugs sometimes. And sometimes they'd try to come into my room..." I trailed off. "I guess i can see that, you're beautiful." He said caressing my cheek.

Before i could pull away he leaned in and kissed me. I pulled back quickly. "Oh i'm sorry, i just felt...that was stupid of me." He said. "No don't do that, it's just Ryder and i are together." I said. "Oh, i didn't know that. I feel stupid i probably should have with the way he's always looking at you. I'm happy for you guys. I know Ryder has always been super hard on himself and at times he didn't feel good enough." "I'd like to think i bring out the best in him, which isn't hard he's amazing. I'm sorry." I said. "You don't need to be, let's go eat." He said. I followed him out of his room and into the kitchen. I nodded my head to the side to get Ryder to come over.

"What's up?" He said once we were out of earshot, in the hallway. "So Conner kind of kissed me." I said. "Was it good?" He joked. I hit his arm. "Stop that, you're the only guy i wanna kiss but i needed you to know." I said. "I think he's taking his mom's death really hard." He said. I nodded. "He is." I sighed. "I don't know how to help him." I said. "You know you don't have to fix everybody." He said. "I've been doing it my whole life. It's all i know to do." I said shrugging. "I get that." He said. "Well let's eat." I said heading back into the kitchen.