AN: So this is kind of in a timely matter, no? Sorry that I haven't gotten back to all of your reviews. I've been really, really ill the last week and I haven't been able to see a doctor, so I've literally been in bed all day, every day, sleeping. But I read all of them and they make me so happy, so thank you very, very much!

A couple things I want to address, number one being that this chapter is not beta'd. I have a fabulous beta, alicecullenisrealinmyworld, and it's not that I don't doubt her abilities because she's freaking brilliant, but I like this chapter so much, I wanted her to be surprised as well! (:

The second thing that I want to address is that this chapter kind of takes a scary turn- I warned everyone last chapter that this chapter would make you not want to work in a department store and it's true- I work in a department store, and even though it seems silly, stuff like this happens all of the time. I'm actually trained and prepped all of the time on how to handle situations like these, and while it hasn't happened to me, it's one of my biggest fears.

The third thing is that I have a photobucket account at which I will be posting pictures of outfits, Dean & Kim's car, things like that, so if you want to visit there, you are more than welcome! Link is on my profile page!

The very last thing (sorry, I know this is really dragged out) is that I have a twitter account! Please follow me! Let me know you're from FFnet and I'll follow you back! (:

Alright, lovies, the time has now come. Please let me know what you think by reviewing! Much love! xx

"Kim, I'll be right back!"

"Okay," I called out from behind the counter.

We'd just gotten a new shipment of gold chain necklaces, so I was taking the old ones off of display and meticulously putting the new ones up. I was actually just taking my time; the lights they had in the cases were hot and it was almost like I was being in Jared's embrace. I took a little longer than I normally would have. The store was empty and I was free to take it slow.

Dean had brought the car back home after being God-knows-where, but he wasn't home. Mom had ignored me when she emerged from her bedroom and silently began making the girls dinner. I'd gotten ready for work and left without saying goodbye.

I heard someone approach the counter around the same time that I dropped a necklace.

"Shit," I muttered and reached down to grab it, but something caught me by my hair and yanked me up, hard.

I cried out, my hands reaching up to my head and my feet flailing; I knocked over the entire display of necklaces and they scattered.

I was faced with the end of a gun. It had taken me a couple of seconds to realize that it was in fact a gun- I had never seen one before, never touched one and it was hard to believe that someone in La Push, or Makah for that matter, had gotten their hands on one to begin with. Where would they have gotten it from?

"How's it going, Kimmy?"

My eyes drifted to the person holding the gun and I could feel the blood draining from my face.

Keith.

"Keith," I said slowly. "What are you doing?"

"Talked to Avenue today?" he asked. The gun was held steady between and it was almost impressive how the gun wasn't shaking and how calm he seemed.

Almost.

I quickly did a scout of the area around the jewelry counter. There weren't any customers down at this end of the department and security was gone for the evening. All of these things added up to one thing:

No one would see me die.

"I haven't," I said quietly. He still had a tight grip on my hair; the gun was six inches away from my forehead.

This was surreal. This type of stuff happened in movies, not on an Indian reservation in the middle of nowhere- Makah and La Push were small towns with even smaller populations. This type of shit just didn't happen.

I vaguely wondered where Jill went and wondered if she really would be right back.

"Look at me!" he shouted at me suddenly and I jumped, jerking my hair in his hand and I hissed in pain. "Look at me!

"Avenue broke up with me because of you, did you know that?" I didn't answer him. I just kept my mouth shut and hoped that this would end soon because my heart was barely pumping and if he didn't shoot me now, then I'm pretty sure I'd die of heart failure instead. "Well? Did you? She called me when I got out of jail! Did you know? Answer me!"

"No," I said, clearing my throat. "I didn't know."

"It was because of you! If you hadn't interfered-" He waved the gun around in emphasis and my stomach rolled. "-if I could have just talked to her and figured out why she was cheating on me-"

"She's not cheating on you," I told him and I tried to make my voice sincere, but it just came out robotic. My hands were starting to shake. "She told me-"

"Yes, she did!" he shouted and I shut my mouth. The gun inched closer. "I saw the text messages, I know what I saw-!"

"Kim!"

Several things happened at once: Jared appeared over Keith's shoulder, his face indescribable. Keith dropped me by my hair and instead took hold of me in a headlock, wrapping his arm around my neck and dragged me over the counter. I hit my hip on the counter and cried out, before sliding down the other side.

Three seconds had passed and everything had been in slow motion. I saw everything perfectly and that made it even more surreal. Surely this was a dream.

The pain in my hip screamed that it wasn't.

The gun clicked loudly; the tip was cold as it pressed against my temple.

I opened my eyes to see Jared's entire body convulsing. His face was hard and lined, red from anger.

I'm sure my face was red too- I could hardly breathe. The moment that I felt Keith's breath on my ear was the moment that the fear finally set in and I wanted to throw up.

"Jared," I choked out. I had both hands on Keith's arm, trying to alleviate the pressure on my windpipe. "Jared-"

"Shut up, Kimmy!" Keith growled. "Don't fucking move," he added to Jared. "Or I'll paint a Picasso on the floor with her blood."

Jared, his face still red from anger, made an odd constricting noise in the back of his throat and didn't move. His eyes were brighter than normal despite his fury.

My stomach quaked.

"Kim," Jared said and his eyes never left mine. If I was going to die and Jared was the last thing I saw, it wouldn't really be that bad. I prayed that it wouldn't hurt.

"Stop talking!" Keith shouted.

"What do you want, Keith," I choked out. "Tell me what you want!"

"I want you to call Avenue," he said into my ear and I shivered. "And I want you to convince her to take me back."

"Keith," I said. "Avenue and I- we're not even friends, she won't-"

"You convinced her to break up with me," he said. "And you can convince her to take me back."

"Keith," Jared said, his voice quivering. "She's telling you the truth."

"I thought," Keith shouted with a laugh. "I thought I told you to shut the hell up, pretty boy? One more word, and I'll become the world's best new painter!"

"Jared," I whispered, but I knew he could hear me. "Stop it-"

Keith tightened his grip around my neck, effectively cutting off my air supply all together.

"Stop talking to him," he growled at me. "All I have to do is pull the trigger-"

"I'm sorry," I gasped. "I didn't mean it-"

"Yes, you did!" he crowed. "You did it all on purpose, you knew she was cheating on me-"

"No, no- I swear it- I didn't even know you- you were dating-"

I couldn't look at Jared anymore; it was contorted in pain and in fear, and the fact that he had tears in his eyes was cutting my insides up. I could tell he wanted to do something, but was frozen to the spot. I'm glad he didn't move; he didn't need to get hurt either. My vision was starting to go black around the edges and I struggled to keep from passing out.

"You're lying," he growled. "You're lying to me, just like Avenue!"

"I'm not," I said and my voice sounded like it was underwater; far away. "I swear it."

He growled once more but it ended in a gurgle and I could finally breathe; his arm fell away from my neck and before I could comprehend what was even happening, I was in Jared's hot arms and I could breathe and Keith was on the ground surrounded by a puddle of blood.

Dead.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't get there faster," Jill repeated for the fifth time. "If I could have gotten there sooner-"

"Jill," I said and put a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was shaking. "It's okay. Seriously. If you hadn't gotten the police when you did-"

"Can we not talk about it anymore?" Jared said desperately. "Really."

She gave me a pointed look and then sighed. "I'll go see if you can leave yet."

She left and Jared and I were standing outside by the entrance of the department store. He gave me a grave look. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fi-"

"Don't say you're fine, Kim," Jared said in frustration. "I know that you're not."

I looked down at my shoes, kicking a rock and watching it fly across the parking lot. "I'll be fine. I just- I don't want to be alone-"

It was difficult getting those words out of my mouth. My face flushed. Jared placed both of his hot hands on my cheeks and lifted until our eyes met.

"I'm not leaving," he told me. "Not until you ask me to. And maybe not even after that," he added with a smile.

I chuckled, still embarrassed. "Well then you might never leave."

He shrugged, still smiling. "Are you okay with that?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I should be asking you that."

He leaned in close so that our foreheads were grazing each other and all I could smell was him. It made my head spin.

"You don't have to worry about that," he whispered.

Someone cleared their throat. Jill was watching us with a slightly knowing look to her face. "They said you could go. They got everything they needed, they said."

"Have you talked to Simone?" I asked her. Simone was our store manager. I could see her inside, talking to a police officer and she looked exhausted and worried. Jill nodded.

"She said you don't have to come back until you're ready," she said. "She said she'd understand if you didn't want to come back at all and she's not expecting you too."

I shook my head. "I'll think about it and let you know. I'll call you." I pulled her into a tight hug and whispered, "Thanks," into her hair. "For everything."

"You're welcome," she said, pulling back and holding my face. "Take care of yourself, okay?" She glanced at Jared. "Be happy. Life's too short. Just be happy."

I nodded as she patted my cheek and walked away.

"I'm ready to go home," I said, turning to Jared. "I have your stuff in my car."

"My stuff?" he asked blankly.

"Your books from this morning?" I told him. "I left a note on your truck-"

"My car's still at school," he told me. "I didn't go back."

"Then how did you know that I was here?" I asked, baffled. "How did you get here-"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," he muttered. "I came here because I wanted to talk." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and nodded towards my car. "C'mon."

Still confused, we walked to my car and Jared wrapped an arm around me. Since he kissed me, I hadn't been cold- it was an odd feeling, but I was trying not to question it, especially since I didn't have to layer my socks at night anymore.

His heart stayed with me.

"You took my books?" Jared asked when we got to my car.

I nodded, unlocking it. "Passenger seat."

I started the car as Jared sat down. He put a hand on the one that was on the gear shift, stopping me.

"What?"

"Are you okay to drive?" he asked cautiously.

I gave him a weird look. "I'm not drunk, Jared."

"No, but for someone who just had a gun pointed at their head, you're acting very blasé."

"Nice vocab," I commented dryly, shaking his hand away and backing out. It was almost midnight and I was exhausted.

"Don't change the subject," he pleaded. "Are you sure-"

"Jared," I said tiredly. "I'm okay-"

"How, though?" he pressed. "Why are you acting like you didn't just- almost- die," he choked out and shook his head. "I can't even think about it-"

"So don't," I told him.

"It still doesn't explain anything!"

I sighed. "Do you remember when you told me that- that you wanted me to be safe around you?"

He nodded. I stopped as a light turned red and I looked at him. "I thought I was going to- to die. But I was just looking at you and I knew that- that if I did…I'd be okay. Because- you…you were there."

He grabbed my face suddenly and pressed his lips to mine. I froze.

Jared Cameron was kissing me. Again.

One hand slid from my face up into my hair and knotted there, keeping my in place. His skin was so warm, so hot, his scent so heavy in my nose. It was so much and not enough. I wanted him. I literally just wanted him.

I wanted him to be mine.

There was a loud beep from behind us and I broke away with a gasp, forgetting that we were at a red light, and there were cars behind us. The light was green now and I sped off down the road.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence. I turned the car off when I parked in front of my house, still trying to catch my breath.

He laced his fingers between mine and locked them, tight.

"I know you're tired," he finally said. All I could see was his silhouette. "But could I come in? We should talk."

The fear that settled in my stomach was so instantaneous, that I thought I might vomit right there. What did that kiss mean now that he wanted to talk? Was it supposed to be soothing for the unfortunate, inevitable outcome? My hand suddenly felt clammy in his.

"Okay," I whispered.

AN: Take a breath- she's okay. Again, like I said, this has never happened to me before, although a coworker of mine who does in fact work in the Jewelry department ( I work in Women's Accessories at JCPenney) had a small scare. She had a customer who was buying an abnormal amount of jewelry with someone else's credit card and had his hands in his pockets the whole time. Of course, this may seem like a small detail to some, but when security finally busted him later (he ended up stealing someone's wallet) they found a 9 mm handgun in his pocket. Luckily for my coworker, nothing happened, but had she denied him the jewelry, anything could have happened. So just be careful! Anyhoo, let me know what y'all think in a review and I hope to update sometime soon! xx