“Argh why is it so bright in here? My head hurts. Where’s the coffee?” Micah moans and groans whilst making his way down the stairs.

“Rough night son?” A voice echoes from the kitchen, immediately causing Micah to run in its direction fully sobering him up in the process.

“Mr Mills? What are you doing here?” Micah walks into the kitchen and see’s Addison with her father casually having breakfast.

“I live here and call me Jeremiah please.”

“Sorry sir, I meant you weren’t due back for another couple of days.”

“Ahh I see, you wanted more alone time with my daughter. It’s good seeing you two back together.”

“We’re not together dad.” Addison corrected her father.

“Yet. We’re not together as yet.” Micah interjected.

Mr. Mills turns to his daughter and says “Whomever you choose, don’t just go with your heart. Listen to your mind and feel with your soul.”

“Is that what you did when it came to my mother?” Addison questioned. Micah in shock almost spilt the coffee he was pouring.

“Your mother and I married out of convenience but getting to be your father was worth the sacrifice of love.”

“I can’t take this anymore. Did you have her killed?” Addison spits much to Micah’s dismay.

“What? Addison do you really think I’m capable of doing such a thing? She may have being a terrible wife but she was still your mother”

“Okay let’s all calm down for a moment.”

“Micah stay out of it.” The father- daughter duo yelled.

“Then why the hell have I being getting mysterious messages that all lead to you been behind her accident?”

“Addison, hand over those messages and forget about all of this.”

“How can you expect me to? This isn’t just something I can move on from. I need answers and if you don’t give them to me, God as my witness I will find out the truth elsewhere.”

“Who else knows about the messages?”

“Just Holden.”

“Get him over here now, we all need to talk.”

Holden’s p.o.v

I woke up to the constant buzzing of my phone, which was rather unpleasant considering my head was pounding. Addison’s texts were rushed, I could almost sense the panic behind her words which instantly caused me to jump out of bed and head towards the shower.

Buttoning up my favourite red flannel shirt that had Addison’s scent all over it, I took a moment to reflect on last night’s events – did I actually have a good time with Micah and what the hell was Carter’s endgame?

At the Mills residence

I pulled over to the curb in front of Addison’s home only to see her and Micah on the porch, lost in thought until noticing me.

“What’s going on?” I shouted whilst walking towards them, which was a terrible idea. The sound of my own voice caused sirens to go off in my head which was rather painful.

“Well Addison decided to go rogue this morning and ask her father about the accident. Now he wants to have a word with all of us.”

“Oh.” I answered while placing a soft kiss on Addison’s forehead.

“And after that we need to talk about what the hell happened last night.” Addison scolded which lead to Micah and I looking at each other conspicuously, our eyes doing the talking.

“Let’s just go and hear what your father has to say.”

“Yeah one thing at a time.” I backed up Micah’s suggestion which lead to Addy rolling her eyes and storming of towards the living room.

“Good, you’re all here. Take a seat boys.” Mr Mills’ voice had lost its usual charm, he sounded serious and quite stern.

“Addison, I promise you, I had nothing to do with your mother’s car accident but I know who did and they’re very dangerous people so whatever little investigation the three of you got going on, it needs to stop now.”

“Not until we know the entire truth.” Addison answered her father, unflushed by what she had just heard.

“It was the church council. They had found out what your mother had being up to and didn’t want it to reflect poorly on the church so they intervened. Next thing I know they’re trying to get rid of us by offering me this job in McKinney. You must understand, the original founding families of the church back in New York do not allow for any deviation away from the bible and they control the council.”

“God they’re like a religious cult.”  Micah blurted out and we all agreed with him.

“Nobody from the council would want their dirty secrets to be aired so who could be sending these messages?” Addy questioned.

“I don’t know but I do need you to hand me over any proof you have. If the council somehow comes to find out someone has being leaking information to you, you might become their next target.”

“We will protect her.” I firmly stated.

“That’s sweet but you boys have no idea what you’d be up against. Addison let me handle this please. I know I haven’t always being the best father, but I’m going to make it up to you.”

Addison got up from the sofa and left the room without another word spoken, leaving us men in bewilderment.

“So clearly both of you are in love with my daughter.” Mr Mills brought up the obvious which tensed us everyone in the room.

“Addison. Please come back. ” Micah screamed trying to avoid the uncomfortable situation.

The all too familiar sound of my phone went off that had me silently rejoicing on the inside. I took the opportunity to excuse myself from the room and tend to my call.

A few moments later

I walked back into the room just in time to witness Addison hand over all the information we collected about her mother’s accident.

“Here, she might not have being the best wife or mother but she deserves justice.”

“I promise to do everything I can but keeping you safe is my main priority.”

Now that the truth was out of the bag, Addison sunk into the sofa cushions and buried her head into a pillow. Mr Mills had already left, leaving Micah and I to comfort her.

“Hey little cloud, do you want some ice cream?” Micah questioned, he knew that like most typical girls, this was her comfort food.

“Can you go to the store and get my favourite?” She looked at him with puppy eyes and a soft spoken voice.

“Of course.” Micah patted her back thigh and grabbed his keys, exiting the house.

“I need to say something. When you left the room I received a call from one of the Rodeo organizers, one of the riders can’t make it tonight and they want me to take his place and I’m going to. Now before you say no…”

“Holden...”

“I put a lot of thought into this and yes at first I was doing this for my father but now I’m doing it for me. It’s my passion and that’s not going to change…”

“Holden…”

“I want to be the best there is and I need people in my corner to support and motivate me…”

“Holden Daze.” Addison’s sharp tone brought me out of my ramble.

“I support you. It was unfair of me to expect you to give up something that makes you happy. I know the adrenaline and thrill that flows through your body, exciting each and every one of your nerves, the same thing happens to me on the dance stage. If this is your passion, you don’t let anything or anyone stand in your way, life’s too short to be pleasing others.”

“God I love you.”

I pounced onto Addison, hungry for her sweet touch and lips. She greeted my urge by allowing me access to her body. My hands ran up and down her delicate curves whilst my lips devoured her. For a moment it was just her and I, in a daze of our own.

End of p.o.v

I know it's being a while since I updated this story  but I came back with a juicy truth bomb right???,

Anyway whose team are you currently rooting for #TeamHolden or #TeamMicah... I can't decide so someone please  decide for me.

Lots of love - Jesse.