Chapter One

Selfie

I pulled up outside the familiar trailer and took a deep inhale of breath, "You can do this Grace... just go up to the door and open it. Go." My hands were locked on the steering wheel and for a moment I felt like I was a teen again, gearing myself up for a beating from my parents or being scolded for basically nothing.

A few feet away could be the man who saved me from all of that and I was too much of a pussy to just open the god damned door and see if it really was him. "You were the leader of RUIN and you are the daughter of Arthur Moore, get a fucking grip girly!" I opened the door slowly and stepped out.

I was actually shaking, excited? A lil. Scared? Try fucking petrified... Nine years he'd been gone from North Yankton and even longer since I'd last set eyes on him, up and left him in the middle of the night. He probably thought I'd abandoned him and then- no. no, no, no.

"That's it Gracie, nice and slow." The movement from inside spooked me and I cursed myself internally. "Get a fucking grip Grace!" I went up to the door and took a deep breath hearing the ruckus from within. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, no fuck." I whispered to myself and raised my hand to open the door taking a breath.

"Rooooooon!" I jumped in surprise and felt all my tension surge at once, I needed to leave. Now. "Who the hell is responsible for this fucking fuck?" I could hear Ron stuttering my cover name and start explaining things. I took a breath and barged in the door, my aviators hanging low over my eyes and my beanie flattening my hair down. "This is...is that woman!" There was a lull, a flicker of recognition I caught.

"I know…who this is…Ronald!" We stared each other down for a moment, he lost some of his hair, he had more scars, drug abuse was obvious in his skin and there were those chocolately psychotic eyes I fell in love with, this was him, standing right in front of me, was I gaping like a fish? Or putting out a bitchy attitude? "You! You disgust me! You, what kind of a sick harridan are you, huh?" I rolled my shoulders and took the onslaught as it continued.

"You come here, and you walk around the state like you own it. You never write, you never call, I mean you don't even send a welcome basket…or maybe a nice plate of cookies." Each word he was getting more and more irate and the anger behind it was becoming apparent with each word, this was probably a mistake.

"Or…not even an inappropriate selfie of your tits." I looked away for a moment to calm my temper that was slowly rising. "But! I love you. Really, I love you. You're like the close female friend I've always wanted. You're like the eager soldierette I've always needed. So it's time to start repaying your debt to society. And you can start by dealing with the terrible harm you've done to the local businesses. Especially mine!" HE took a deep breath, standing face to face with him, my heart was drumming in my chest, shit I was scared.

He roughly shoved my shoulder, pushing me towards the door. "No go, go on." I stumbled outside and bit my lip to keep from crying, the way he spoke was taunting, like he was having trouble grasping who I even was. Did he really forget about me? "Fuck." I snivelled to myself and got back in the car, driving a little ways down the road and gripping the steering wheel tight with anxiety.

"Sammy…" I choked back tears and called a number I had come to rely on so much. "Sa…Sam… it's Grace…" He sighed on the other end of the phone and I could hear the swift movements of fabric and the jingle of keys. "Tequi-la-la, I'll wait." He hung up and I broke down on the spot, trying to watch the road through my tears as I started the long drive back to the city.

I pulled up outside and watched the people milling around, drunks stumbling, pretentious assholes strutting around like the owned the place and I dragged my sorry ass into that bar to meet my rock. "Sam…" He grabbed my arm and sat me at the bar. "2 beers." I slumped in place and felt the tears climbing back. "Oh Grace will you stop already? This- you're better than this for fuck sake."

I wiped at my eyes and smiled despite myself. "Whenever he's involved all I ever do is cry." He chuckled and slid my beer into my hand, knocking the neck of his bottle with mine before taking a sip, studying me closely. "He really meant a lot to you didn't he?" I shook my head. "He means everything to me, back then… it killed me to leave him but I couldn't be there anymore or I was gonna do something, something that would have benefited no one."

He nodded slowly and listened to every word I had to say. "Grace… have you spoken to Michael about… everything that happened back then? After you left?" I shook my head quickly and laughed at my cowardice. "I'm a fucking pussy when it comes to facing the past." He grinned and bumped his shoulder against mine. "With good reason, but maybe it'll help you see what it was like for Trevor huh?"

I sighed gently and knocked my shoulder back against him. "He didn't even remember me… he spoke to me like I was anybody else." Sam laughed loudly and wrapped an arm around my neck dragging me to him and sneering in my face. "You abandoned the guy, maybe he did remember but he doesn't wanna face it."

The penny dropped and I bit my lip. "You think so?" He shrugged. "Fucked if I know, it's a possibility though, right? Just- look at it this way, if you were in his shoes, how would you react?" I blinked and one thought immediately crossed my mind. "I'd punch him." Yup. "Pfft, I thought you might say that, but did Trevor ever hurt you?" I shook my head and he raised an eyebrow as if to say 'there you go'.

"He yelled because he didn't want to hurt you." I thought on it for a while until my stack of 3 bottles had doubled to 6. "Sam…? I'm gonna talk to Michael, then I'm gonna go back to talk to him… does- does that seem fair?" He nodded and patted my back soothingly. "That's a smart answer." I nodded in return and reached for my keys. "Now, do I risk driving home?" He deadpanned. "Followed by a stupid question."

I woke up the following day sprawled out on an unfamiliar sofa, the soft white contrasting with the black cup being held out to me, the smell of warmed tea floating around my senses. "Hurry up and drink it before it gets cold." I looked up at Amanda and smiled softly. "Sorry for crashing out…" She huffed and sat next to me, combing her fingers through my wicked bedhead. "Don't go chasing the past Grace, leave it where it is."

I heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs, followed by a towel flung over my head. "You owe me a new gate." I blinked and removed the towel. "The fuck?" He snorted derisively at me and sat on the edge of the sofa. "Do you remember anything about last night?" I paused to think and vaguely recalled smashing into the gate on my way over.

"I damaged the paintwork at best, I'll pay to have it re-painted, okay?" He pulled a face and walked off into the kitchen. "You're still so friendly Michael!" He sarcastically laughed at me and came back in with a glass of whiskey in one hand. "You can't be fucking serious, its morning." He shrugged. "I'm retired." I scoffed and poked his stomach. "Explains the accumulated podge and the tits, I almost thought you had Amanda's old implants then."

He grabbed my wrist and twisted it, glaring as I giggled despite the pain. "Ow, ow, ow, okay! I'm sorry!" He let go and I carried on sniggering to myself. "So…I guess…I should leave or something right?" He sighed and picked up his keys. "We're going to see Lester at the factory." I blinked. "Since when does Lester have a factory?" Michael laughed at my bewilderment and gestured with his head.

"Hurry up." I sighed and downed my tea. "I'm coming, I'm coming." I got in the passengers seat and almost immediately reached for the radio, yelping when he slapped my hand away. "B-but…" He left it silent and as we pulled out the driveway, I knew this would be one fucking awkward journey.

"How much do you know?" I jumped at his unexpected question. "The outline, some details, stuff… just what Lester told me…" He nodded slowly and started telling the full story, we were just down the road from the factory by the time he finished. "You're telling me… the plan was… for Trevor to get shot? You were gonna get your best friend killed?!" He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I knew you'd react like this."

I pulled off my seat belt and opened the door as we drew to a stop, narrowly avoiding punching Michael in the face by someone restraining my arms. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!" He sighed and shook his head, leaving for the doors. "I hate you!" He rolled his eyes and went inside. "Grow up Grace." I stomped on the foot of whoever was holding me and raced inside. "You told her WHAT?!"

I looked between the two of them and growled. "You knew? You knew and you didn't tell me?" I bit my lips so hard I caused it to bleed as I looked between the two of them. "Did any of you ever have each other's backs? Or were you ever really friends? You don't fuck your friends, Michael." He sat down the chair and waved me off. "Save it Gracey."

I grit my teeth and pulled out a pack of smokes, collapsing on the chair and taking a deep drag, letting the nicotine sooth my newly fried nerves. "Fuck." Lester watched between us and coughed awkwardly. "Now that's done, I want Grace to help you." I blinked and looked between the two. "What the fuck are you going on about now?" He quickly briefed me on the outlines of the job and I snorted.

"You want me posted up by the aqueducts so I can spot then and take out any cars that try and approach the bikes?" Michael blinked and frowned. "You just thought of that?" I nodded, "Yeah it's obvious… ain't it?" He shrugged and sat back. "You don't get a cut." I shrugged and leant forward in my seat. "I'm in… if you do something for me. I don't want a cut, just a favour."

They shared a look and back to me. "It's not like I'm gonna ask you to get run over by a train for my amusement, or let a horse fuck you because I might find it funny, not that kind of favour." He chewed the inside of his cheek and looked between us. "She is good Michael, she's got the background to prove it." I nodded. "I may hate you but if I'm spotting for you I'll protect you with everything I can."

He blinked in surprise and shrugged. "Fine." I smirked and poked him in the stomach. "Don't let your gut slow you down sugar tits." He laughed humourlessly and pushed me away. "Shut up." I grinned and stretched out on the seat. "Right then." I stood up and rolled my shoulders. "You know how to reach me." I waved slightly and left the room, jogging downstairs and calling Sam to pick me up.

"Ughhhhh…" I slumped out in the seat next to Sam in the car and put the radio on. "Let's go get some food, I need you to check somewhere out with me too." He raised an eyebrow and looked back at the factory. "Any particular reason I just picked you up from a panties workshop?" I laughed and opened the window. "It's Lester's place."

He burst out laughing and wiped his eyes, "Lester owns a knicker factory…actually wait- no I see it. I get it." He nodded, chuckling away to himself. "Don't me mean to Less, he's a good guy." He raised an eyebrow as we pulled up to Burger Shot. "He breaks the internet for a living Grace, how does that make him 'good'?" I shrugged and handed over the cash for our food. "I said he's a good guy, not that he does good things."

We sat in parking lot and ate our food, mulling over the jobs we had lined up between us. "I need you to collect me after Michael's job, the place will be swarming with cops so be careful on your way up okay?" He nodded in understanding and poked my side. "Did you talk to him about Trevor?" I nodded a little and shrugged it off. "Let's just finish eating, k?" He obviously sensed it was a sore topic and left it at that.

"So… a job with Michael… that's weird." I laughed and almost choked on my drink. "I know right?!" We chuckled despite ourselves and relaxed for a few moments. "I need to go back up there again, we still have the safe house up there right? I need a place to crash." He nodded quickly and rolled his shoulders. "Yeah we do, there's a car up there too." I threw out the trash and got back in the car, showing Sam where to park and working through the details I was given.

"Ugh…" I got back in the car and rubbed the back of my neck, nibbling at the skin of my lip as I planned through exactly how much time I would have and the volume I was expecting on this job. "I always get myself in shit." I left Sam outside my apartment and went up alone, staring out at the city with a beer in hand I listened to the distant blaring of my favourite show and contemplated everything that happened.

This was a new chapter for us in this stupid story, I could only assume we were on track for disaster but deep down hoped that things would be okay. My phone rang and I cleared my throat answering lightly. "Cerberus." Gentle voices came from the other side and I felt strong again. I could always rely on my past to remind me who I am.

As I dialed I felt a new resolve take hold. "Michael? Okay, this is the favour."