Love, Lies & Blackmail.

Chapter 11- thanks to lauras1992x and Zoe_Finlay92 for their ideas :)

Lauren woke up about 5 hours later and she saw she was laid on Joey's chest with his arm tightly around her. She sighed quietly as she remembered her drunk plea for him to stay. This was going to be hard, really hard. Lauren checked her alarm clock and it said 9:37. She decided against kicking him out and to enjoy this undisturbed bliss a little while longer, snuggled back into Joey and went back to sleep.

Around half past 10, Joey started to stir from his sleep when he realised he indeed did stop with Lauren whilst she was drunk and now she was laid across him. This isn't what Lauren wanted, Joey thought. He decided he needed to go so another argument was caused. Joey slowly and gently pushed Lauren off him, placed her on her pillow, kissed her forehead and left the room with regret but Joey knew that it was the right thing to do. He respected Lauren's choice too much.

This was tested when Joey heard Lauren throwing up 15 minutes later. He rushed upstairs to the bathroom where he saw her throwing up. Joey held her hair back with one hand and soothing her back with the other. Lauren grabbed some toilet paper once she had done to wipe her mouth, mumbled a thanks to Joey and headed back to room where she did some serious thinking about her future with Joey and the question that swam her mind was what was more important her love for him or that her trust for him. Lauren was so plagued by this thoughts she didn't hear Abi walk. Lauren jumped when Abi poked her arm.

"Hey Abs. Sorry I was a little lost then" Lauren admitted.

"It's fine. By the way, am I suppose to keep quiet about Joey being in here this morning?" Abi questioned, looking at Lauren.

"Erm yeah, much appreciated. I came in drunk this morning. I just needed him here" Lauren replied. Abi nodded and grabbed her phone from her bedside table when a thought came to Lauren. Abi has been in a very similar situation with Jay. Maybe Abi could help her.

"Abs, how did you trust Jay again after everything that happen with Ben and Heather's death?" Lauren asked. Abi stopped and looked at her, as if she was trying to work out what was on her sisters mind.

"I don't know really. I saw the guilt and the pain he was in and because I love him so much, I didn't like seeing him in all pain. To me, he has had his punishment. Jay finally admitted to the police. And now we can move forward and be together" Abi replied, smiling. Lauren nodded.

"But how did you trust him not to hide stuff like that from you?" Lauren carried on.

Abi shrugged "I don't know, I guess I had to take his word on it. But I made a mental note, if it happen again, he was gone. Why do you ask?"

Lauren smiled a little. "No reason, I was just wondering. You know, it's been a while since I've been in a proper relationship. I feel all new at it again"

Abi nodded and hugged Lauren "I'm so happy for you guys, it's unreal. It's great something good and happy has come out of Uncle Derek's death"

Lauren looked at her younger sibling, her brain going into overdrive. Abi was right in a way. About everything. But Lauren had come to the conclusion that the one thing that she and Joey had now was time and she planned on using it wisely. Lauren hugged Abi quickly and headed down stairs where Lauren saw Joey with a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

"Hey, I wanted to say thanks for this morning. Even the carrying me up the stairs and staying with me" Lauren told him, sitting down.

"You remember?" Joey questioned, looking at her.

"Yeah, I wasn't that drunk" Lauren replied, laughing. Joey chuckled.

"Actually, I wanted to talk again, if all this talking hasn't sent you crazy yet" Lauren added, quickly.

"No, it's fine. Go on" Joey said to her.

"Right me and Dad are keeping it between us three. I'm gonna make you deal, you stick to my alibi for you and don't go to the police and I won't go to the police to tell who was really driving on the night of the accident and drinking as well may I add. Don't start, let me finish! Anyways, I don't like you telling the police I was driving just as much you don't like this alibi. You should of told me. We could of dealt with it together. Now I'm stuck with another trust issue. You need to understand that. Now, if your willing to wait, I will try and pass this trust issue and then we can move forward. Because I love you more then I can trust you right now which isn't good. I need to make sure I can trust you before we get back together. And I want to trust you because I want to be with you. But right now, lets get the funeral out of the way" Lauren finished her speech. Joey nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Lauren asked, confused.

"Nothing, I just love you that's all" Joey replied.

"Your gonna run this whole "I am gonna tell you I love you everyday" into the ground ain't you? Even this fork in the road?" Lauren questioned.

"Pretty much, yeah" Joey said, smiling.

"In that case, I love you too but your distracting me from the task at hand. So I'm going to spend the day with my sister. I will see you later" Lauren told him. Joey nodded. She ignored the need to kiss him goodbye because they were taking baby steps for now and got on with her day.

Hope you enjoyed xD