p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: center;" data-p-id="a8507aaa52ca87d77eb2fd0c25e85881"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"song for the chapter -span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"unconditionally by katy perry/em/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="57c006ea8628c7f080e841f7a5140260""Jocelyn, hurry up!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="891201af2df150779186e8b26e962132"I huffed and shoved my backpack on before moving back towards the Man Cave. A couple weeks had gone by since I called in sick, each task being a little more difficult but nothing large. My most recent one was to go to the ceremony for a CEO at Luscious and Company, a clothing line. Luckily, it turned out that Ray was planning on attending anyway for another undercover class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="2fa58b058387045e319f4890428c14c8""Okay, what's the plan?" Charlotte threw her bags on the table before sitting on the couch./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="aecaa0894c0d9475f8eff0e4e7acad23""We're going to the ceremony for the CEO of Luscious and Company. They're releasing a new clothing line under a new director. The director's son is who we're after. He's been in on multiple charges of breaking and entering plus harassment. He thinks this party is going to be a chance for a new victim so it's our job to make sure that doesn't happen." Ray pulled up pictures of who we were class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="15d9e858646efb665de35970bd7e3740"Jasper slammed his hand on the table. "Does this mean free food?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="c25c2953a964c554d16ee981d2d46852"Henry was right behind his friend, his hand hitting the table. "I second that question."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="803a84eb5b701a6e510eae3c7356e7ef"Rolling my eyes at the two boys, I dropped my backpack by my feet. Something tells me this is going to take a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="2b5f4d2fc611a4c8c3a5f12d052aae49""Is food all you boys care about?" Ray glared at the two teens who were quick to reciprocate, "Okay yeah, me too."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="281c655d5ff045998c10db3e009481e3""Yeah? Well nobody's going to get food until we knowspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"what the plan is./em" Charlotte class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a8f752a2d51940eefdac507af3e78889"Ray gave her a look before continuing, "Here's the plan. It's a fashion company so obviously it has to be elaborate clothing. You four are going to dress the part and head into the party while I scope out the upstairs. We tell each other when we find the kid. Then, it has to be either Charlotte or Jocelyn that lures him upstairs where we catch him."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="0be7f8093bc8db4f059b476852c4f140"Reviewing it all to myself, I nodded in agreement. "Doesn't sound too bad."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="3801be600044596265074995cc51230e"Ray handed out the earpieces before grabbing his stuff and leading us upstairs. Charlotte walked alongside me looking quite class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="d7c29f36e22edc02ffef16c771db428f""You look ready for this." I smiled at her. All of the drama with the boys was behind us now and we were finally okay. I told her I would work on the Jasper issue as a mediator between the two./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="8d0e9dd5c84baf038dd3d937fa1819ee""I'mspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"so/emspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanready for this. These are my favorite missions!" She shoved her bag into the trunk of the car and waited for me before climbing into a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="f6675ed09a8286a0b5d1a2098c2b36b7""Agreed. This one is somewhat easy too. I can't wait to dress up." She pulled her seatbelt across her lap as Ray turned the car on. The two of us were in the far back with the boys in the middle two seats. Ray was upfront by class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="d7a8f84dc1c657f35708c44eff8cd5d4"Since it was a nicer event, we rented a shiny SUV and were staying at a hotel close by the event. Charlotte and I had a room together just like Henry and Jasper where Ray got one for himself. As far as our parents knew, our boss was taking us out for a camping trip and we'd be back in a few days./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a3581fc2fddf13459b7eb6fcd896d1a2"The drive was quick and before I knew it, Charlotte and I were pulling our stuff into the hotel room. I shoved my suitcase on the bed before collapsing next to class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="990687cddffca0522051742d66efef88""Oh come on, lazy butt. This is gonna be fun!" Charlotte tugged on my hand, her face bright with a smile./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="8d4e0e7534254d0998b2fee20ca39a0f"I groaned and sat up, watching her jump up and down on her bed. For someone as stubborn and reserved as Charlotte, I did not expect her to be this excited. Granted, I was excited too but we still had a job to class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="ea5cf7be37d9a260d546ff07016f738d"I stood up and walked to my bag, pulling out the iPad that Schwoz had given me. After a while of persuading, he finally gave Charlotte and I the automated closets. He outdid himself and managed to compress it into just the iPad which would spit out a thing of gum. It was my favorite thing ever./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="1e6f7c555c9b02ff2be052ea95f78d0a"I turned it on and began swiping through the outfits. I brought my own clothing but I didn't have anything nearly fancy enough for tonight. The dresses on here would have to class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="b260c9077b0e0b8261dbf75ac9178ac3"Being 17, I still wanted to look good and show off a bit. Henry and Jasper would no doubt wear tuxes (which I'm not complaining because Henry in a suit is a gift) so Charlotte and I needed to at least match class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="069ffc59804c69a0b78bcfd94bb923a0""Char, what do you think about this one?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="4c761f170e016836ff84498202b99827"~/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a26064941e54a0b7c68cb9c0ba8996fd"Two hours later, both Charlotte and I looked like we could make every guy in the room drop dead. This, was what I loved. The feeling of being on top of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="ebd5ac8e8bcddfa8ef0c8d6d39622e5c""Jocelyn, Charlotte? Are you guys-" Henry and Jasper stood by the open doorway as Charlotte and I walked out. Henry let out a low whistle, eyes looking me up and down. Jasper's mouth dropped open in what I hoped was good class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="1de819f7cf26ba755aad3239d222c5b9"I walked towards Henry and patted him on the chest. "Eyes up here, babe." I walked past him, Charlotte right behind class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="8a60fc7fb04159c44d1a0316a6efb075"I ended up choosing a dark two piece dress with lace sleeves. I managed to hide some weapons under the skirt so that was a plus. My hair fell around my shoulders, hiding the earpiece from view. Black laced heels covered my feet and the rest of my jewelry and makeup completed the look./p
p class="fixed-ratio" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; position: relative; height: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 0px 600.953px; text-align: center; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-media-type="image" data-image-layout="one-horizontal" data-p-id="a49d47a8f759a15abec0fded526ddb64" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a5a1119d5fa971efa8375eb3c75101f4"Charlotte chose a deep red dress with black heels. Her hair was styled perfectly and framed her face. A diamond choker was around her neck and silver bracelets covered her wrists. A cute earring cuff was placed in her ear and a ring on her finger finished off the outfit. If we wanted to get this guy, we needed to get him good./p
p class="fixed-ratio" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; position: relative; height: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 0px 609.594px; text-align: center; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-media-type="image" data-image-layout="one-horizontal" data-p-id="240634a3862629d7e7763d04aa6ad77c" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="b0c6f4f161c38a703d94498e136d507f"The boys, as predicted, were wearing suits. The earpieces couldn't be hidden but if the lighting was dark, they'd be fine. Ray met us outside by the car, his nose deep in his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="ac4607f78fdfaa0abc0eb842d7d86a9c""Yo, Ray!" Henry's hand laced with mine as he lead me towards the car. After a narrowly avoided accident, he slowed down so I wouldn't trip in my class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="31679eec53803f554fa9a5f57caba4e6""Wow, I didn't know you guys could look that nice." Ray looked the group class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="08a6ff5d9391f534cc1c02689c457d05""You know, I'm going to take that as a compliment." Charlotte pushed past us to climb in the car. Henry and Jasper followed behind her, leaving me to sit next to Charlotte in the middle row of seats./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="598980aafffc65b4179df264fbb97de5""Time to kick some grem style="box-sizing: border-box;"ass/em," Jasper chuckled behind me, cracking his knuckles for class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="63ca873756b4f38007b5ba38a44342bf""With lines like that, you're going to get us killed."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="0bfc9199ccaf0b912fd850dd3cb28c0d"~/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="4be76f16580932f426582e4807e76ac1"Music was loud and bodies hit me from all sides as I attempted to keep up with Charlotte. Jasper was right next to me, laughing at people's hair and makeup. Ray had split from us as soon as we walked in. I didn't expect there to be this many people./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="26689a8afc335b21f86040420b30bd01"We finally found a booth to sit in that was somewhat away from the chaos. I hummed along to the song quietly, my eyes scanning the crowd for the kid we were here for. This was going to be a lengthy mission, that's for class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="bcaceea6e99d94ba26ee900a8f05b03f""This is going to take a while," Henry huffed next to me./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="737538f7b8166c6424b57e479c9e359f""Our best bet is probably dancing out there somehow. We'll cover more ground than sitting here all night. Plus, I'm already bored." Charlotte smiled. Nodding in agreement, I pulled Henry up before winking at Charlotte as Jasper escorted her to the floor./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="e6a2061de40341fa9750c59031f5d82e"Once Henry and I found a spot amidst the crowd, I situated my hands around his neck as a slow song came on. I recognized the tune asspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"Perfectspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emby Ed Sheeran. I looked from face to face as Henry and I swayed along to the music./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="553e8a144ae92b378c34cd0e2144630f""We're going to have to cross boundaries we've never crossed before, you know that?" Henry gripped my waist a little tighter as he looked past me./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="40ebde3744064ab20684ffe52ee873a3"I sighed, my eyes focusing on a group ahead of us, "Sadly, yes. But I'm ready for it. Anything to stop the bad guys, right?" I looked back up at Henry, a small grin on my face./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="9b6a6da2559c9415db534e0b83cd9a63"He leaned forward, his lips meeting mine briefly before we parted, "Always. Be careful, okay? You've got us all on the ear pieces so don't be afraid to get help." I nodded along with his plan. Sure, we were all close together, but it took less than five minutes for one of us to be pulled away./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="5846a019c7668874bede784ad238b1c0"The music changed to another upbeat song as I released Henry from my grip. I spotted Charlotte and Jasper in the crowd just as Jasper leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. A small squeal left my lips as I raced towards her, Henry right behind me. I pulled Charlotte aside, separating us from the boys./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="520dd469381b03baa26198727619c01e""Charlotte! This is so great!"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="4d49145cdd2065ebaf9fb69d771bd773"She blushed a deep red, her hand coming up to her cheek, "I don't even know why he did it but I'm not complaining."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="e5f10c8dc9fa5042f0cf8977ca5c201c"As Charlotte continued gushing about how amazed she was by Jasper, I spotted a familiar brown haired boy making his way across the room. My breath caught in my throat causing Charlotte to quiet immediately./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="51c15621d54995010a5c15739737d1aa""What? What's wrong?" She looked in the direction I was, trying to find what I did./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a08101d92ab1b5015fdb83acb5f8b596"My hand moved to my ear, pressing the button that turned on my microphone, "Um. Issue. Big one."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="6b34c9510f0beba06d01aadb22962961"Ray's voice cracked to life first, "What's up?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="d587739229e3a8e15dca1c68f4e43d2d"em style="box-sizing: border-box;""Kayden's here."/em/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="c664c193f9e2343432865483fcf3c1bd""Are you kidding me?" Henry practically growled into the communicator./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a76af915dbb15009c312ddc25bad1c91""Just do your best to stay away from him, Joce. If he sees you, he sees you, but avoid the drama if necessary," Ray directed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="58dda524277207cdfca76f66f67a8bb4"Charlotte's eyes widened as she finally locked her eyes on my subject. I looked away towards the ground as I agreed with Ray's statement. The current song ended and another one started, earning a cheer from the crowd. For how fancy this party was, the music sparked a whole different group of people than I class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="376a2ad6472e2ff24f3e695960f7be24"I felt a tap on my shoulder causing me to turn around. A boy stood behind me, his blue eyes scanning my face. He was dressed the same as Henry and Jasper, hands tucked in his pockets./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="92199061b15f964c2b7ccd61440b2478""Uh hi." I turned to face him fully, my dress twisting with the sudden movement./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="9528a88c1ec355dd292f20a7b86acab8""Hey. My name's Ryan. I just saw you standing here and wanted to know if you'd care to dance with me," He asked./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a2d73485ce3f584b2d82f2acc2b8cde2""I um-" My response was cut off by Henry confirming this was the kid we were after, "I'd love to."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="c968e6e61908596b73e183e3b90671f7"Charlotte watched me carefully as the boy pulled me out on the floor. His arms started to wrap around my waist before I took a step back./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="343e398a755060de0cf1335083ed985f""Not a big fan of being close. Mind if we do this?" I put his one hand on my waist before grabbing the other in my own. I already felt disgusted for dancing with this kid while Henry was watching. I felt disgusted for dancing with this kid while Henry and I were togetherspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"period/em./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="de233b118a8cc2fdada3fa175d114c6a""Not a problem at all, anything to dance with a beautiful girl." He winked at class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="cf34b6d9a41790eb64ba7157311afce9"The music continued as we glided along. I tried to keep a civilized conversation at least. I couldn't tell him I had a boyfriend for the sake of keeping him in sight of the team. When the song ended, he let go of my waist but didn't drop my hand./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="3bf7e38f4291122c6af68e2a5d367ccf""How about we take this somewhere a bit quieter?" His lips were close to my neck, heating the spot with his breath. I nodded in response before turning to give Charlotte a curt nod. She reciprocated the action before going to grab Henry and Jasper./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="bd4c9646c4adb5cfc65a148c463b8e43"Ryan pulled me through the crowd while greeting some people along the way. We turned another corner which led to a set of stairs. Right as we started walking up, someone shoulder-checked Ryan. He quickly turned around, anger clouding his features. Once he realized who it was the anger vanished and was replaced with annoyance./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="b75a1b892da2c45d7f10edd37c76c887""Kayden, lay off dude."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="7f909e78c8a2b74ad5b02406f260da93""Chill, bro. I'm just messing with ya. Who you got there?" I could imagine the smirk on his face as he motioned towards me. I looked up from the ground, my hair no longer hiding my face, "Whoa, Jocelyn? What the hell, man?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="25ad305d723c2eab26ba6d6983db14cd"Ryan's face flickered between me and Kayden, confusion all over. His stance changed however as I noticed Henry and Jasper making their way up the stairs. Ryan was quick to grab my wrist and Kayden's before yanking us up the stairs and into a private room./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="5247be34a5843c858b513cb609837127"The door slammed shut behind Ryan and was quickly locked. I sat on the edge of the table that was in the room. It looked like a meeting room with the large table and mass of chairs around it. Kayden stood a few feet away with his gaze on the ground. The kid I had grown up with looked nothing like this kid. His hair was styled perfectly, fitting his attire even more. His jawline was prominent and I could see his crystal blue eyes from miles away. He changed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="470e06592798777f327d03f0c524b7da""How do you two know each other?" Ryan leaned against the door, eyes switching between me and Kayden./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="7d1280ac9af43518ff92968fcbe6f4a9""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"That'sspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emJocelyn. Jocelyn Adams. The girl who we lived next to forever, the girlspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"youspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emneed." Kayden motioned towards me./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="96bb70c86909571984bafe50fb372a61""Wait, what?" My posture stiffened. Instinctively, my hand landed on my thigh where a stun-gun was strapped, "Who are you?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a29aded788d8a01c41dc0eb8ac416526""That's Kyle. My older brother."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="10a6564578b206e532cb3966f483b7e3"With the mention of his name, I remembered everything. The picnics, the movie marathons, the reason Kaydenspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"reallyspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emmoved. My hand moved up to my earpiece, unnoticed by the two boys as I attempted to make it look like I was fixing my hair./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="5638552b36d70653cb4da43abcb62dc2""You're the one writing the journal. You were at the hospital desk when we went to visit Jake and class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"That'sspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emhow she got ahold of it. You're also the son of the CEO. That's why you wanted me here tonight." I released the button on the earpiece slightly before getting off the table and stepping back towards the wall./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="1066f23ea6cedbceef70c5cf21885a93""Bingo. It took you long enough. Your mom said you were smart, Jocelyn. I figured you would've paid attention. Although, you look nothing like you used to." Kyle aka Ryan smirked at my tense figure./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="d93c6459e7e3609c18a2f4c8c3e0a0f0""What do you want with me?" I gripped the weapon tighter as I heard Charlotte tell me they were on their way class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="2d52cc18d863b367874c318cbbdda9c2""You? You're the pawn. Those letters are going tospan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"keepspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emcoming and if you say anything, I will make the consequences worse than you can imagine. I know your friends are right outside that door. If you tell them, it's all over. Everyone you associate with; Jasper, Charlotte,span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"Henry/em, they'll all fall to me./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="8821769aa8b8f98754b5b09fdfa0bc6e""You're going to go out there and tell your friends that you were wrong on who I was. You say nothing about this conversation and you go home as soon as you can. You can continue to hang out with your friends until my letters say otherwise. If I find that youspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"saidspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emanything, that'll be the end."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="d82bc93853e86933adecaa26daf5e64d"Kyle's hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged my hand away from the stun-gun. At that exact moment, my friends started banging on the door and yelling my name. Kyle pulled me off the wall and pushed me towards the door as my wrist throbbed from his grip. He gave me one last glare before pulling Kayden up and out the other door that led to another room./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="a31c7b7e6e38a9c1ae285553d9d5ffa8"I opened the door, causing Henry to fall on the ground from leaning against it. Charlotte was right behind my boyfriend, Jasper next to her. Ray was in the back, eyes scanning the room unconsciously./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="3fc3290342fec5dd8eca876c145dc6dc""You okay?" I bent down and offered Henry my hand. He took it gratefully and regained his footing before looking me over./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="fe3f8962118c7e266f4b580dd4947826""I think the question is, are you okay?" His hands grabbed mine and pulled me closer./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="865c8cb3fef476a948f68a58ead0cd40""Yeah, I'm fine. I thought that was the kid but it definitely wasn't. He was too dumb to pick up on anything. That's Kayden's brother, Kyle." I pushed Henry off, feeling disgusted in myself for how I had acted tonight with Kyle./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="ad518fd935b2ec5aa10982efbe1c88fe""Are you sure that wasn't him? What about the stuff you said on the earpieces?" Jasper looked over at me./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="fd24f013127eaadd1533ddb0b8138bf6""Not him. I thought it was but he said he knew absolutely nothing about Jake and Lindsey and he definitely didn't know about the CEO thing. We'll just have to keep looking," I shrugged. Charlotte gave me a pointed look. It was going to be the hardest to keep this from her. She was very observant, sometimesspan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanem style="box-sizing: border-box;"toospan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/emobservant./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="567ca275259c0f1b39bdbfcd368e47ec"All I could do now was try to lead them away from Kyle and whatever he was planning./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555; text-size-adjust: auto;" data-p-id="cfab1ba8c67c7c838db98d666f02a132"-/p