𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙎𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟯
❝ 𝖠 𝗣𝗜𝗘𝗖𝗘 𝖮𝖥 𝗠𝗬 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧 ❞
❪ 𝘠𝘖𝘜     𝘾𝘼𝙉     𝙏𝙀𝙇𝙇     𝘛𝘏𝘌     𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙏
𝘖𝘍     𝘈     𝙈𝘼𝙉     𝘉𝘠     𝙃𝙊𝙒     𝘏𝘌
𝙂𝙍𝙄𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙎 ❫

𝟰𝟳. ╱ ✷      ❝ 𝗂   𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁   𝗂   𝗐𝖺𝗌   𝗀𝗈𝗇𝗇𝖺 
𝖻𝖾   𝗂𝗇   𝖺   𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗱   𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱.  ❞
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

"𝙒𝙀 all have secrets that we carry with us. And the more we carry, the heavier the load. Though some of us have more practice than others. Tony Padilla was always the master secret keeper, and right along with him was Riley Jensen. Partners in crime and as thick as thieves, so . . . we should have known Tony was keeping a big secret . . . and that Riley was in on said secret."

A knock on her door brings Riley from her train of thought as she looks over the black dress that covered her body, hair pinned up and out of her face as her blonde curls cascaded down her back in beautiful ringlets.

Turning her head, she smiles softly at her boyfriend as he walks into the bedroom, moving to stand behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, "Hi."

Scott smiles back at her through the mirror with the same soft smile as her own, "Hey, you almost ready to go? Everyone is waiting for you downstairs."

"Yeah, I just . . . I needed a minute." She sighs, turning around in his arms to wrap her arms around his neck, "Is it terrible that I'm sad about today? I mean, we're about to bury a teenager. Somebody that we both thought of as a best friend at one point in our lives."

"Baby, you don't need to beat yourself up just because you feel bad about Bryce's death." Scott tells her, brushing away a loose strand of blonde hair from her face, "Nobody can tell you how to grieve."

Riley sighs, "I wish that was true."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝙄𝙉 some families, secrets build up over years. Lifetimes, even. But death has a way of shaving things loose."

Riley and Scott follow in behind Clay and Justin, hands intertwined as they glance around at the people that were already in the church for the Walker boy's funeral.

"Look, there's Zach and Chloe." Riley motions to the two teenagers before looking at her cousins, "We'll be right back."

She pulls her boyfriend along with her as she moves down the pew to sit just behind the Dempsey boy and the other blonde, "Hey, you okay?"

Zach turns his body to look at the blonde with a frown on his face, "No, I'm not. But I'll have to be okay when I go up there. Are you?"

"I'm still surprised that Ms. Walker wanted me to go up there to speak after she was accusing Clay and I of killing him a few days ago." Riley said, "But Lainie thought it would bring me some kind of closure for our "lost friendship" as she put it. I'm up after you and I'm just gonna wing it because I couldn't figure out what to say about a guy who did the shit that he did."

"Tell me about it." Zach sighed, before he and Scott stood up to hug each other, "It's good to see you again, despite the circumstances."

Scott smiled, "We can catch up later, I'm here for a few days. I wanted to be here for you guys and Riley. Chloe."

"Hi, Scott." Chloe smiles, "I see you're still putting that beautiful smile on Riley's face."

"Always."

"Grief makes us behave in ways we might not expect."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗛𝗢𝗪 are you holding up, Justin?" Lainie asks the teenager she and her husband had taken in.

"Yeah, I'm good. Good." Justin tells her as Riley and Scott join the family, "Thank you guys for coming with me."

"Of course." Lainie says, "We're here for you and Riley."

"I'm going to say hey to the guys." Justin tells them, pressing a kiss to Riley's check as he walks by her.

"Yeah, I got a thing real quick." Clay stumbles over his words as he tells his parents, Riley and Scott before leaving.

Lainie turns to her niece, "You're not gonna run off are you?"

"I really wish that I could." She mumbled before moving to sit down, her hands nervously twitching in her lap.

"You're gonna be just fine, Lee." Scott kissed the side of her head.

"Did I ever tell you that Bryce is the reason that all the athletes we know call me that?" She asked him.

"And, yes, to answer your question, I grieved Bryce Walker. I absolutely did."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗜 told you not to even look at me today, let alone text." Ani whispers to Clay as she races up the stairs in the church to where Clay was at when he texted her. "I'm stuck between Mrs. Walker and my mum."

"We have to talk about the Mustang." Clay tells her with his arms thrown out to the side.

"I'm ninety-nine percent positive it's his." Ani says.

"Tony told me he sold it to help his dad's shop, to a family in Arizona. He says, "A piece of my heart is in Arizona", you've heard him say it."

"You always believe him?" Ani questioned him.

"He's never lied to me. He's withheld certain information for a period of time, but that's a whole other story."

"Clay, I'm telling you it's his."

"There's no way. And I can prove it to you." Clay tells her, "As soon as I can find Tony."

"What?"

"Caleb's not answering calls or texts. The garage is closed." Clay says to the girl standing in front of him, "We'll go by his house later. And I'll drag Riley and Scott along because the two of them will be attached to the hip until he has to leave, and because Riley and Tony are "Partners in crime".

Ani looks out at the crowd, locking eyes with her mom, "Shit, my mom. Bye."

"It's not Tony's car." Clay follows her down the stairs.

"We'll discuss it later."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙔 couldn't accept the idea that maybe Tony killed Bryce. He was doing anything he could to find another suspect."

"Mom?" Clay leans forwards to talk to his mother who is sitting in front of him next to his dad, "What's the deal with Bryce's dad?"

"I don't really know him. Why?"

"Didn't you guys get into a big fight after I went over there last year?" Clay kept his voice in a whisper as he asked her.

"Yes. His wife played mediator, though." Lainie tells him, "I think he's mostly talk."

"Did you know he just, like, abandoned Bryce?"

She shakes her head, "I didn't know that. But I can say I'm not very surprised."

"Honey, it's his son's funeral." Matt whispers to his wife.

"You wouldn't know if you were looking at him."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗕𝗥𝗬𝗖𝗘 was a real competitor on the field. He fought for his team. Always. He was loyal, and he was strong." Zach stood up at the podium in the church as he began his speech for Bryce, "He was . . . the kind of strong that I always wished that I could be. In a way. I didn't always agree with Bryce. Or what he did."

"But I wonder sometimes if all we are is the sum of our actions . . . in the end. Or if we're more than that. I want to believe that we're more than that. There was a time where I called Bryce Walker my brother. And there was a time where I didn't. But we're all brothers and sisters. All of us."

"And whether I like it or not . . . I am my brother's keeper. So . . . Bryce . . . I'm sorry. I'm sorry . . . and . . . and goodbye."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗜 met Bryce Walker in the second grade. My parents and I had just moved her to be closer to my aunt, uncle and cousin. I was so scared of being the new girl with no friends, with the fear that nobody was going to like me. I walked into the classroom, hiding behind my mother's legs, shaking to my core and I wouldn't let go of her. She tried everything she could to talk me out of leaving her side, but I refused. It wasn't until a little boy around my age ran up to us with his dinosaur lunch box, offering me some of the snacks his own mother had packed him that morning."

"That little boy? Was Bryce Walker." Riley smiles softly at the story of the very first meeting that she had with Bryce. "He introduced me to a couple of his other friends, and we were attached at the hip until Jeff came along and became my best friend. Of course, that didn't stop Bryce and I from having our bond, which seemed to grow when we added our third to the group, Justin."

Justin smiles at the mention of him being added to the group that Bryce and Riley had.

"Bryce and I had a falling out Freshman year, but he was the first person to comfort me when my parents died. He made sure I had everything that I needed to grieve. Bryce, in your last moments alive, I hated you. I hated you with every fiber in my body. Parts of me still hate you, but just like the others here today, I was saddened by the announcement that you had been found unalive."

"I know that you are up there making a new team of your own and . . . . I'm sorry . . . . goodbye, Walker."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"THERE is a son that only a mother can see. A mother always sees the little boy inside the man." Nora now stands in front of the church full of people for her son's funeral. "So, there is a Bryce I wish you all had known. He was capable . . . He has a soul that wanted to be good. And a heart that didn't always know how."

"But he–," Her voice cracks, which was all it took for Riley to finally let the tears fall down her cheeks that had been building up and Scott pulled her closer to him, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, "--he was growing . . . and getting better. And there were moments in these last months where I saw not only the little boy . . . but the good man he might become. I loved him. We loved him."

"Bryce Walker was a rapist!"

Gasps rang out of the church as girls began to stand up, shouting things about Bryce as Nora watched on from where she still stood at the podium.

"Believe survivors!"

"Mour the victim, not the rapist!"

"Hey!" Berry angrily stands up just as some of the girls from Jessica's little survival group hang a sign from the top of the balcony. "Get that sign down!"

"What the hell?"

"Bryce Walker should burn in hell!"

"Shut up!"

"Justice for Hannah!"

"Take that sign down!"

"Justice for Jessica!"

"End rape culture!"

"Where the hell are the police?!"

Everyone stares in disbelief as police officers begin to escort the girls standing up out of the funeral service as Nora stands frozen on the stage, watching.

"Ani!" Clay hisses quietly as he follows behind her, Scott and Riley following, "As I was saying one minute he's laughing way too loud for a funeral, the next minute he's attacking a girl."

"Are you looking at Mr. Walker because you really think something, or because you want to look at anyone besides Tony?" Ani asked the Jensen boy.

"Wait." Riley scoffed, holding up the only hand that wasn't intertwined with Scott's to turn to Ani, "Are you seriously telling me that you think Tony is the one that killed Bryce? Are you fucking serious?"

"Riley." Scott hisses, looking around, "You're in a church, baby, you can't just cuss like that."

"Hush." She holds her hand up in his direction this time, keeping her eyes on Ani.

"Did you just – Did she just tell me to hush?" Scott turns to look over at Clay with a look of disbelief on his face.

Clay chuckled as he nodded, "I believe she did."

"Tony didn't kill Bryce, okay? Yeah, he hated Bryce but that doesn't mean anything. We've all hated Bryce at one point or another, hell some of us still hate Bryce!" Riley's voice grows a little louder, "Are you gonna point your finger at every single one of us before you get the right person? Maybe, just maybe, we should be pointing our fingers at the accuser, you."

Ani stares at her in shock, "I didn't – I didn't kill anybody."

"And neither did Tony."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"THANKS for coming with me to this today." Justin walks into Bryce's house along with the Jensen cousins and Scott.

"No, happy to do it." Clay tells him, "For you." 

Scott smiles sadly at them, "We all have to do this for each other."

"Hey, you four. Welcome." Ani walks up to the small group, Riley rolling her eyes at the sight of the girl.

"Hey." Scott wraps his arm around the blonde's waist, pulling her into him and leaning down to talk to her quietly. "Play nice."

"I know when to play nice." Riley looks up at him through her lashes, a playful smirk on her face before she tilts her head to the side, "But now it's not the time to do that."

Scott groaned, "You will be the death of me." His eyes grow wide as she has to slap a hand to her mouth to stop the laughter that wanted to pour from her nude painted lips, "Wait, that was a terrible thing to say considering where we are."

"It was a terrible thing to say." She giggled, laying her forehead on her chest.

"Yeah, wait ─── here did the three of them go?" Scott asked, looking around for the three teens that were once standing with them.

"Hell, if I know." Riley shakes her head, "Let's just find Mrs. Walker and pay our respects and then get the hell up out of here."

"Lead the way, my love."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"HEY, come with us." Clay grabs his cousin by the arm, dragging her away with him and Ani, Scott following along with them.

"Wha – Clay! Stop dragging me!"

"Did you know that Bryce had a twelve year old half-sister?"

Scott and Riley look at the two in disbelief as they walk down the stairs that lead towards the garage, "What?"

"Well, no consequences, no motive. Mr. Walker's an asshole, but not a killer, it seems." Ani tells the two cousins and Scott as they keep their face pace towards the garage.

"Though you think Tony might be?" Clay and Riley asked in sync, one with a bit more attitude than the other.

"I don't, but . . . look, hurry."

"While Tony's secrets . . . . and Riley's, were still safely locked away."

"Everybody collects Mustangs." Clay says as they all duck into the garage, "They're a whole thing, apparently."

"Well, I feel like this is a very specific Mustang." Ani says as she matches over to one of the cars covered with a dust sheet, both she and Clay pushing the sheet off to reveal Tony's cherry red Mustang.

"There's got to be a good explanation for this." Clay said.

"What do you think it might be?" Ani asked.

Riley silently curses under her breath as she turns towards her boyfriend who shot her a questionable look as he was the only one to hear her.

"I don't know . . . but he didn't do it." Clay still denies that Tony would ever murder Bryce.

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"WHAT, so he's there all alone?" Ani questions Caleb as she and Clay wait for him to unlock the boxing gym.

Caleb doesn't answer her as he gets the door unlocked and walks inside, the teens following him.

"Why didn't he call anyone?" Ani kept asking him questions.

"He called me."

"They've still got him there?" Clay asked.

"Yes."

"Does he have a lawyer?"

"Yes."

"Caleb, what the hell?" Ani asked. "Why did they bring him in?"

"It was a misunderstanding."

"Where'd his family move to?" Clay asked.

"You really have to talk to him." Caleb tells the two of them.

"I can't right now." Clay says, "Why did Bryce have his Mustang? Did he steal it?"

Caleb slowly turns around to face Clay and Ani, "No. Tony sold it to him, and Riley helped him."

"There are many things we grieve that aren't death."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"TONY, this is the third day of school you've missed." Caleb walks into the car garage where Tony was working on one of the cars, the blonde haired Jenson girl handing him different tools that he needed, "And it's the second day that you've managed to talk Riley into missing with you."

"I'm not complaining." Riley smiles over at Caleb, "I'm getting out of a pop quiz according to Justin's text message which read, 'you lucky bitch! Anderson is out to get us with pop quizzes'. Thank god for ditching."

"School can wait." Tony tells his boyfriend, "The shop can't."

"Amen." Riley praises playfully as the phone begins to ring in the office.

Caleb rushes to answer it, "Padilla Auto. . . . yes, yes, I can accept the charges."

Tony hands the tool in his hand to Riley, who tosses it to the ground as the two of them rush towards the office window, "Papa?"

"I feel so bad for him." Riley frowned as she watched Tony talk on the phone, a pout on her lips as she felt bad for one of her closest friends.

Caleb sighs, "So am I."

"No, we got a lawyer, okay?" Tony suddenly starts speaking in English once more, "I don't care about the odds! I don't care."

"Are they okay?" Caleb asked.

"My dad's in a detention center in fucking San Diego. He got separated from my brothers and my mom." Tony tells them, "He doesn't know where they are. He hasn't seen them."

"The lawyers can work that out." Caleb told his boyfriend, using one of his hands to talk, "You told him you have a lawyer?"

"Yeah, but we have to send a lawyer down there." Tony raises his voice, "They already have him – they already have my dad scheduled for de – for deportation." He hugs the phone under his chin as begins to cry.

"Oh, Tony." Riley rushed towards the Padilla boy, wrapping her arms around his waist to hug him.

"Oh, Jesus, Tony." Caleb makes his way over to the two, wrapping his arms around both of them, him and Riley trying to bring comfort to him.

"There's a grief beyond death. Beyond imagination. Beyond words."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

TONY knocks on the door of Caleb's apartment as he and Riley walks in, "I was able to sell everything that I could."

"I took some cash from my inheritance." Riley waves two stacks of cash in the air.

"Even though I told her not to." Tony sends a look in her direction, "I tried to give Alejandro some money for taking care of Graciella, but he wouldn't take it, so . . . . I guess I have enough money to pay the lawyers what we owe them, and after that, I will figure something out."

"No, we'll figure it out, Tony." Caleb says.

"No, I got this."

"Fuck you, Tony. You don't got this. Where are you going?" Caleb asked as he watched Tony and Riley put some of his things into a bag.

"I'm gonna crash at the office in the garage for a few nights, Riley's gonna keep me company, and then after that, I will figure something out. Somewhere."

"You're staying here." Caleb said.

"I've been here for three nights." Tony begins to raise his voice as Riley slowly backs up towards the door, pretending to look around so that she isn't caught in the couple's fight.

"You're staying here, Tony. This is your home."

"This is not my home. My home is on South 15th Street. My home is where my family is."

"I know, I know, I know. And your home is with people you love, and I love you." Caleb walks in his direction, "Tony. Listen to me. You're not alone."

"I can't move in with you. Not like this." Tony tells him, "I'm eighteen years old."

"Yeah, so we're perfectly legal."

"We can't move in together because I'm in trouble." Tony said.

"How about because we love each other? Because we want to life a life together?"

"Life? Very messed up right now. Riley can agree with me."

"Hey, don't bring me into this little spat between you too."

"Yeah." Caleb ignores the girl as he keeps talking to his boyfriend, "But your life is my life. Stay."

"Okay."

"Oh, thank God." Riley falls onto the couch, causing the two males to laugh at her, "I thought I was gonna be in a divorced household."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"HOW did I not know?" Clay asked as he and Ani sat on the couch in Caleb's apartment.

"He swore Riley and I to secrecy." Caleb answers, "Clearly, Riley's better at that than me, and she'll never let me live it down."

"He told me his dad was struggling, that the garage needed help. I – I just took his word for it." Clay shakes his head, "I'm a terrible friend."

"This is crazy. I mean, is he really that good at keeping secrets? Are they good at keeping secrets?" Ani asked.

"Yes." Clay and Caleb both answer together, nodding their heads.

"You know the whole Hannah thing?" Caleb asked the girl. A

Ani looks over at Clay, "Some of it."

"He's still down there?" Clay changes the subject, not wanting to taking about the Hannah situation.

"Yeah. I just came back to open the gym." Caleb says, "I'm heading back there."

"Well, we're coming with you." Clay stands up from the couch when Caleb begins to move.

"Stop and think if that's really a good idea, in any way."

"Okay, well, you'll  text us as soon as he's out?" Ani asked as she and Clay follow him to the door of his apartment.

"If you promise not to come running, because he's gonna kill me."

Ani nodded, "We promise. Absolutely."

"And don't tell anyone."

Ani and Clay begin to walk through the gym, and Clay instantly pulls his phone out, sending a text message to the group chat everyone had.

"Clay!"

"I didn't agree to any of that."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗦𝗢, when do you want to tell your aunt and uncle the news?" Scott lays with his back towards the beadboard on his bed in his parents' house as Riley towel dries her hair in his bedroom mirror. "And Clay, and the rest of our friends."

Riley throws the towel in the clothes basket, making her way to the bed and straddling Scott's waist as she threads her fingers through his hair, "Well, I was going to say when you came back for whatever holiday comes first that you have a break from."

"Yeah, let's sit everyone down at a big, long table, full of food and silverware, and knives. A big knife that's used to carve a big ass turkey." Scott grips her hips in his hands as she lets out a giggle, "And share the news that we're engaged to your family and mine. Baby, your uncle would behead me!"

Riley laughs as she leans down to kiss him, "Okay, fine. We can tell them when this whole Bryce thing blows over."

"Good. I wanna be able to talk about you as my fiancé and not as my girlfriend when I tell people about you." Scott tells her, hands pushing his shirt up on her body.

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Scott grinned before he presses his lips against hers quickly rolling them over so that he was laying between her legs which wrapped tightly around his waist.

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗕'𝗦 car pulls into the parking lot of the Auto shop and four people get out.

"Tony." Clay calls out as he and Ani stand up from where they were sitting down.

"Tony. Tony, come on."

Tony holds a hand up in the air as he walks into the auto shop with Scott following behind him, leaving Caleb and Riley outside.

"Guys, what did I say?" Caleb asked as Riley glared at the two with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I very specifically did not commit to any of the things you asked." Clay says, dodging the hits that Riley sends his way, "Riley! Stop hitting me!"

"I'm gonna do more than just hit your ass!"

"Well, what happened? Is he okay?" Ani questioned the two.

Riley turns to her, "You are gonna be the next one that I hit!"

"They released him. They told him not to leave town." Caleb tells them before Clay makes his way inside, "Clay!"

"Hey, Tony. Tony!"

"Seriously?" Riley turns to Caleb as she throws her hands into the air, "It's like I'm fucking invisible!"

Caleb smiles, "Nah, I know you're here, baby girl."

"Oooh, I like when you call me that." Riley teases the boy with a playful smirk on her face as Ani looks after the two of them in confusion.

"Look, come on. We deserve an explanation." Clay moves further into the auto shop.

"You deserve an explanation? You got one, and I don't know why you think you deserve it." Tony walks in Clay's direction, Scott trying to stop him in case he went to swing at the Jensen boy.

"Because we're friends!" Clay exclaimed, "Or I thought we were."

"We are. Of course . . . . we are."

"Why didn't you tell me about the mustang?" Clay asked, glancing towards his cousin, "Either of you?"

Tony and Riley share a look.

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝙄'𝙇𝙇 take it!" Bryce's voice causes Riley and Tony to turn in his direction.

"What are you doing here, Bryce?"

"I'm sorry?" Tony asked, using his arm to push Riley behind him slightly.

"The Mustang, I'll take it."

"Oh, that's funny."

Riley gives Bryce a blank stare, "Fucking hilarious."

"It's not, though. It's a fucking tragedy." Bryce gestures to the car, "You without your sweet red ride? It's not a world I want to live in. Are you just tired of it, or –,"

"Can we help you with something, Walker?" Riley crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, busted taillight." Bryce gestures back to his car. "You do fix cars, right?"

"Maverick Autos down the road." Tony tells the Walker boy, gesturing in their direction.

"But they're closed, you're open, and I need it fixed fast." Bryce stops the two from walking away from him. "I'm not looking for a friend discount or anything."

"Well, that's good."

"Man, I just need it fixed." Bryce shakes his head, "By tomorrow, or I'm kind of a dead man. And I just give you the work? Or does your dad hate my guys, too?"

"My dad's not around very much."

"My dad's dead."

"Well, I hear that. I'm sorry."

"Oh, man. Okay, it's fine. Um, I'll have it ready for you tomorrow." Tony tells him, "Riley will let you know when it's ready since she still has your number."

Riley forces a smile at the blonde standing in front of her as he passes her his car keys.

"Thanks.

"Tony agreed to help him out. He'd regret it later. And Riley would further on down the line.

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝙄understand. Thank you." Tony hands up the phone, moving to sit back in his chair, Riley and Caleb sitting on the other side of the desk, "They won't do anything else unless we settle up."

"Fucking lawyers!" Caleb exclaimed as Riley let out a scoff, shaking her head and picking at the loose thread of her ripped black jeans. "Lives are in the balance. We can take money out of the gym reserve."

"We will do no such thing." Tony denied, Caleb opening his mouth to say something as there's a knock on the door.

The three turn around to find Bryce walking into the small office space.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt."

"The Rover's good to go, man." Tony waves him off, "Javier will ring you up out front."

"I wanted to give you this myself. I'll take the Mustang off your hands." Bryce waves a long piece of paper in Tony's direction before handing another one off to Riley. "And this one, is just because I figured I will be owing you for the rest of my life."

Riley frowned as she looked down at the check, eyes growing wide at the amount, "Holy shit, Bryce!"

Tony looks over at the blonde before he stands up from his seat, taking the check from Bryce's hand, "This is for fifty. The car's twenty-five."

"You don't sell that car unless you need the money." Bryce tells the Padilla man as he glances over at Riley who still has her jaw dropped as she kept her eyes on the check in her hand.

"I don't take fucking charity." Tony throws the check to the desk.

"Alright. Well, what's labor here?" Bryce asked, hands thrown out to the side. "A hundred an hour? You add up all the labor you've put into that car over the years, especially have Monty fucking wrecked it, and what do you get?"

"Why?" Questions Tony.

"It's my dad's money." Bryce says, "Both checks are my dad's money. It's what he gives me to stay away."

Riley frowns at the words, knowing just how Bryce felt. For the first couple of years of her life, Mark Jensen absolutely adored his daughter – his only child. But the older she got, and the drunker and more abusive he became, the more he hated her guts.

And while Bryce was only being paid to stay away from his father, from his other family, Riley had to sit through her father, not only killing her mother right in front of her eyes, but shooting himself in the head which he also had done right before her.

Riley Jensen hated Mark Jensen with every fiber in her body, and she knew that Bryce was beginning to feel the same exact way about his own father.

"Bryce was trying to make amends, but it wasn't until later that he and Tony learned just how much he had to make amends for. But that's another story."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 you said a piece of your heart was in Arizona?" Ani asked as everyone sat in the office.

"Yeah, I couldn't give a shit about the Mustang." Tony tells them, glancing over at Riley, "Though I can't say the same for Riley's car."

"Hey!" The blonde's head shot up to look at him with a playful glare, "You keep Bullet out of your vocabulary!"

Tony laughs.

"And the lawyer?" Clay aske.d

"Was a bust." Tony rubs at his chin, "My family got deported at the end of the summer."

"Why didn't you come to me?" Clay asked.

"And what was he supposed to say, Clay?" Riley looks in her cousin's direction.

"You can't save the world." Tony tells the male Jensen.

"But you can try and save your friends. I should have been there for you." Clay says with a shake of his head, "Like you were there for me. With Hannah."

"I . . . there's a lot of shame involved, you know?"

Clay shakes his head again, "No, I don't know."

Tony gestures towards the boy, "Maybe that's why I didn't come to you." He hangs his head.

"I love you, man." Clay tells him.

"I love you, too." The two hug each other making Riley let out an "awe" as she puts her hands up to her heart. "Oh, get over here, blondie."

Riley grinned, standing up from her seat and bouncing over to two of her favorite people as Ani and Caleb smile over at each other, and Scott sits back with a fond smile on his face as he watches the three best friends hug each other.

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

"𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗬! It's our house, you don't have to ring the doorbell!" Riley laughs at her cousin as the two walk up to the house, the boy ringing the doorbell.

"Clay, what the –," Lainie pulls the door open, "Why are you ringing the doorbell?"

The teenage boy walks into the house, wrapping his arms around his mother to hug her, "I love you." He pulls away, hugging his dad next, "I love you."

Matt chuckled, patting his son on the back, "I love you too, kiddo."

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Justin laughed as he has a bowl of cereal in his hands.

"At this moment? Here?" Clay shakes his head, looking back at his parents and cousin, "I'm good."

"I think aliens took the real Clay and replaced him with this one." Riley whispers loud enough for Clay to hear, which the boy turns to playful glare at her.

Clay moves towards the fireplace where a bunch of family pictures are at and he begins to move them around.

"So, yes, I grieved for Tony and his family. I grieved for Bryce Walker. And I grieved for Clay Jensen."

Clay now points to the newly empty space on the mantle, "We need to put Justin's picture up."

Lainie smiles at her son, "That's a great idea. Yeah, we'll take some pictures."

"I'm telling you, aliens."

Justin laughs, "I'm starting to believe her."

"That's who you really want to talk about, of course. Clay Jensen."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

𝗔 knock on Riley's bedroom door pulls her away from her TV that played a rerun of Teen Wolf to find Clay standing there. "Hey, what's up?"

"Uh, the check that Bryce gave you, do you still have it?" Clay asked, sitting on the end of her bed.

"Yeah, I . . . I don't know what to do with it though." She shrugged, "I don't know if I'm ever going to do anything with it."

"How . . . how much was it?"

Riley sighs as she throws the covers off her legs, moving to her computer desk to pull the check out of a hollow book that she had stored on the top, "It was for two hundred."

"Bryce gave Tony fifty-thousand, and he only gave you two-hundred?" Clay asked, watching as the blonde shook her head and handed the check over to her cousin. He looks down in shock before he looks back up at her.

"Yep. My thoughts exactly."

"Riley . . . ," Clay breathed out, "Bryce wrote you a check for two-hundred thousand dollars."

"You think you know the truth about Clay. And maybe you're right."