"Hey." I startled awake after a pillow hit my face.

"What the fuck!?" I screamed trying to slow my heart-rate.

"I have an interview and my car is fucked." Zack was just hovering over my bed.

"What?" I blinked and looked at Miles who was standing at the end of the bed, tail wagging.

"I have an interview." He spoke every syllable slowly. "And my car is fucked."

"Okay…"

"So I need to borrow your car."

"Uh…"

"Baylee." He reached over me and grabbed the pillow again, bringing it back down on my face.

"I swear to fucking god right now." I ripped it out of his hand.

"Wake up. I can't be late. I need to borrow your car."

"I also work today, jackass." I sneered at him.

"Well, call your boyfriend or something. For real, you want me to get my life together. Then don't let me be late for a job interview." I loved that he was making me feel bad for this.

"Why is this my problem?" I glared at him.

"I swear to god Baylee." He changed tactics and turned to my nightstand. He grabbed my phone off the charger and left the room.

"Hey!" I threw the covers off of me and scrambled out of bed. By the time I caught up to him he already had the phone to his ear.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I grabbed the back of his shirt to yank him back.

"Yeah, hey dude." He twisted in my grip and grabbed my shoulder and shoved a bit. "Fucking stop!" He stuck his leg out this time too to keep my off of him. "Yeah, it's Zack. My car is fucked and I have an interview so I'm taking Baylee's car but she also works so want to be a good boyfriend and drive her to work?"

"Are you fucking kidding me right now. Knock it off and give me my fucking phone back." I was about to start actually swinging.

"Oh yeah, she's pissed." He started laughing before handing the phone out to me. "Here you go princess. Grow a pair." He turned and made his way to the couch. I snatched the phone out of his hand and looked down to see who he was calling even though I knew the answer to that.

"I'm sorry." I lifted the phone to my ear. "I didn't know he was going to do that and you don't have to do anything he said. It's his own fucking fault for not planning better and he's not taking my— HEY!" I realized he'd been digging in my purse and grabbed my car keys.

"Baylee. I love you. I'm fucking leaving." He marched towards the front door like it was nothing.

I lowered the phone and chased after him. "No! You can't just leave! I have to go to fucking work!"

"You have a ride!" He yelled back and climbed in my car.

"What the actual fuck dude!" I yelled at him. I would keep chasing but what am I going to do? Step in front of a moving car? I took a deep breathe and felt my eyes starting to burn.

No, I was not going to cry.

I was not.

I don't know what it was about men that thought they could just walk all over me but I was suddenly weighing the pros and cons of a jail sentence. I looked over and saw his fucking shitty ass Mazda sitting there and debated on slashing a few of his tires. I heard a muffled noise and looked down at my hand realizing I was still on the phone. Shit.

"Sorry." I said instantly after bringing the phone back up.

"Are you okay?" Jake sounded upset. Which wasn't helping my mood.

"I'm fine." My eyes were burning again. Ugh, why was I crying?

"Baylee." He said my name so softly that I couldn't stop it even if I tried. I could feel the tears coming down my face. At least I wasn't sobbing. "Baylee," He said again. "When do you work?"

I pulled the phone away from my face and took a deep breath. I sniffled up everything and gathered myself before bringing the phone back up, but not before looking at the time. "I have to leave in a hour and a half."

"Okay, I'll be there in thirty minutes. Okay?"

"You really don't have to. It's okay. I'll figure something out."

"Baylee." I wanted to beg him to stop saying my name. It was making me emotional. "I'll be there in thirty minutes." He was a lot more firm this time.

I blinked a few times to stop myself from silently crying. "Okay." What else was I going to say?

After finally hanging up, I went inside to start getting ready. Well today was going to be fun for me.

Eventually I heard knocking on the door while I was trying to put on some form of makeup so I didn't look like roadkill.

"Hey." I mumbled as I opened the door to Jake. I hated that he looked so good in just jeans and a plain gray hoodie.

"Hey." He smiled and then looked down to Miles who was shoving his way out the doorframe to say hi. "Hi handsome boy." He immediately used two hands to start rubbing his face. I hated that I found it so attractive. I turned and made my way back inside to finish attempting to make my face look better.

"So Zack left?" He followed me.

"Yup." Was all I said and looked down at my bag of cheap drugstore makeup.

"And he took your car?" I didn't know why he was asking this. He already knew all this information.

"Correct." I rolled my eyes and went back to the mirror.

"That's pretty shitty, Bay. I'm sorry." I thought I told him I didn't like the nicknames. But I wasn't going to say anything.

"Yup."

"Listen, I don't mind driving you to Port Angeles. I needed to head up that way anyways to hit up their auto shop. It's got several parts I need." He crossed his arms as he leaned in the doorframe and I looked up at him through the mirror. I was actually going to start getting mad about how effortlessly good he looked. The hoodie pulled and looked like it was straining against his muscles.

Bullshit werewolf genes. When was the last time I attempted to run? Or even take Miles for a walk?

"You don't have to try and make me feel better." I went back to my makeup. I heard him sigh and push off the door frame. He came and sat down on the closed toilet lid and faced the counter.

"I'm not trying to make you feel better. I'm just—well no. I do want to make you feel better. I'm just saying that I don't mind driving that way. And maybe after I'm done I'll come have lunch at your place and everything will just work out."

"You don't have to hang out up there. I'll just have Zack come and pick me up."

"Fuck Zack right now."

I stopped what I was doing and turned towards him. I was shocked at his statement. First of all, I haven't really heard him curse like that and second of all…I was a little turned on.

"I'm serious, Bay. What he did was pretty fucked up. You deserve better than that." Talk dirty to me. "And I'm sorry for what I said last night. I don't want you thinking you can't ask me for things. I want you to."

"So this is a spirit warrior thing." I was going to say werewolf but I felt like that cheapened it.

"No. This is a Baylee Collins deserves the world thing."

I snorted at that. That was almost less believable than the spirt warrior thing.

"I'm serious Baylee."

"I never said you weren't, Jacob." I mocked his tone.

He leveled me with an annoyed look. I raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to argue with me. When he remained silent, I went back to doing my makeup noticing that I was putting in on a littler darker than normal, and that was saying something for me. Never quite grew out of that emo phase. Sorry, mom.

I clicked my phone on and noticed I still had some time so I decided to do something with my hair too. Might as well try and look as nice as possible to work hard for that two dollars an hour and tips.

"Are you doing pig tails?" He broke the silence and I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me.

"Kind of. I'm doing two french braids into pig tails. Makes people tip more."

"…What?"

"It's true." I shrugged. Ironically I had heard the trick from a stripper outside of Seattle years ago and it's always just stuck with me.

"There is no way that's true."

"It is! I swear! It's something about men having some like, lolita fantasy or something. I heard about it from a stripper once." I finished one side and turned to make sure it was even.

"And where were you that you were just making casually conversation with a stripper about hair styles and tips?"

"Oh god, uh, some really shady club bar thing like senior year of high school. I should not have been there at all." I couldn't even really remember the place but I sure remember why we were there.

"What were you doing at a club while in high school?" I knew he wasn't really digging like that but I could still feel my walls go up a bit. It was just another reminder that my growing up was far from normal. However, given everything I've learned about, well everything, did he really have the room to judge me? He was kind of stuck with me according to him.

"Buying cocaine." Honesty was the best policy, right? "Well, Nick was buying cocaine. I was just there to hang out with the stripper. Maybe learn a few moves." I glanced over at Jake to see him staring at me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm joking." I rolled my eyes.

"About all of it?"

"No, about the stripper showing me some moves. I don't need lessons." I tied the end of the braid off and let the rest of my hair hang down.

"Your sense of humor is something."

"Haven't heard that one before." I cleaned up the tiny counter space a little bit and turned to to him. "Ready to go?"

I don't know what I was expecting to be in a car with Jacob for almost an hour. A lot of small talk maybe? Compatible silence would have been my preferred choice but of course the universe wasn't on my side.

"So, you've done coke before?" Jake drove with one hand on the wheel and the other supporting his head on the door, looking almost bored. Though his tightening knuckles on the wheel said otherwise.

"I have." I side eyed him, waiting for him to judge but he stayed silent. "Not a fan."

"Was your ex really into it?"

"If that's what you want to call it." I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"I haven't had much experience around drugs. Didn't exactly get the full teenage rebellion stage." He chuckled but it was difficult for me to find the humor in it. I could feel my hackles going up despite the fact I didn't want to get mad. I knew what he meant but it rubbed me the wrong way.

"It wasn't a teenage rebellion stage. It was my fucking life. You think I wanted to grow up surrounded by drugs?"

He went silent and I watched him glance at me out of the corner of his eye before looking back to the road.

"You know, when I was twelve my mom tried to pimp me out to one of her dealers for some pills? I don't even know what they were. If I had to guess they were oxy but I don't fucking know. Doesn't matter. What apparently didn't matter to her was that her twelve year old daughter was still a fucking child and should not be, leered at, by fucking disgusting men. I used to have a big bin in my closet that used to be a bunch of dolls but I threw them all out because I realized I was small enough to fit in the bin with the lid on so I could hide from the revolving door of drug dealers and fucking creeps." I don't know why I was telling him this. I didn't really want him to know but now that I'm going it's like I can't stop. "Fun fact, I'm pretty sure she's dating like a legit pedophile right now. But I managed to hide well enough or sleep in the backyard or in the backseat of her car that was broken down and not running to keep myself alive long enough for Nick to come swooping in like some fucking white knight and praises be to his piece of shit mom who let me live under their roof while not giving one fuck about whether her son was going to fucking kill me anytime he got too high or pissed off. And then I got to spend the end of my rebellion teenage years carting Nick's piece of shit ass all around Seattle chasing whatever dealer he was after while pretending like he wasn't most likely cheating on me and not saving any money because any money I had somehow disappeared or went up his fucking nose."

"I'm sorry." His knuckles on the steering wheel were white and for a brief second I was worried he would rip the whole wheel off.

"I don't need an apology. I don't even know why I just ranted. If anything, I should be apologizing for just unbagging all that bullshit on you." I snorted.

"It's not bullshit. It's your life. And I will still say I'm sorry because no child deserves to live that way, constantly in fear." He reached over and grabbed my hand out of my lap and gave it a squeeze. "And maybe that's why the gods picked us to be together so that I can spend the rest of my existence making sure you never feel that way again."

I wished my heart would stop pounding. I was grateful he was the one driving and couldn't take his eyes off the road because I don't think I could handle his eyes on me while he said things like that. And while I wanted to believe him so badly, the reality of everything was keeping me still. He could talk about being soulmates or imprints or whatever until he's blue in the face. That still doesn't stop the fact that I don't know him and he barely knows me. At least now he's got a pretty good picture of how my life has been going. So I did what I normally do and used sarcasm as a defense mechanism.

"Slow down, lover boy." I pried his hand off of mine but regretted it the second his warmth left me. "While I appreciate the sentiment, I've managed to keep myself alive this long. Think I can last at least a few more years at this point." I snorted and I could feel his eyes rolling from here.

"A few years? Your optimism is out of control." He seemed a little annoyed. I didn't like that I was the one who made him feel that way.

"Well with Zack back, I'm shaving a few years off. If we don't kill each other first, his recklessness will give me a heart attack. That or Nick will track him down and finish the job on both of us."

"That's not funny." He deadpanned.

"It's kind of funny." I giggled. "Laughing about it is better than the alternative." Not that I want to think about the night in question or the night Jake's vampire frienemy sent me into a panic attack.

"So how close are you and Zack?" I raised an eyebrow at the question. I have a suspicion that he wanted to know for an ulterior motive. So my best option was to give it to him straight.

"We are…er, were…good friends who have slept with each other" I shrugged and watched his hand on the wheel go back to white.

"I thought you didn't believe in friends with benefits?" His voice dropped an octave and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a turn on.

"No, I said I don't believe two people could be intimate like that for a long period of time without some sort of feelings being involved."

"So you have feelings for him?"

"Jesus, dude. Not that it's any of your business about my sex life but no. We both did it as some fucked up way to get back at Nick. I see it more as a one night stand than anything."

His knuckles were still white but his shoulders lost a little bit of tension. And while I wanted to take all his tension away, the conversation now had me thinking. "You're telling me your a virgin?"

"What?" His eyebrows punched together so fast I couldn't help but snort. "No."

"So who are the lucky gals? Or guys? I don't judge." I smirked at him. He was almost too easy to rile up sometimes.

"Two girls. And they were…" He trailed off and the car went silent.

"…they were…what?"

"It's going to sound bad." At least he didn't seem so tense anymore. And while I didn't necessarily want to picture him with other people, I couldn't help but imagine what he'd be like in bed.

"I wasn't joking when I said I don't judge." I told him seriously. "As long as it's consensual."

"I only remember one of their names and both were just to…get it out of the way."

I shrugged. "Makes sense."

He chanced a glance my way but I was watching the road.

"You don't think that's pretty crappy?"

"No. Especially given your, er—circumstances." I sighed. "Although I am kind of surprised that neither of these chicks tried to sink their teeth in you as a full time catch."

He let out a laugh. "Not possible. I was up by Seattle. Wouldn't see either of them ever again. That was the point."

"Smart thinking." I teased.

Jake pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and I told him to pull in to the back. I glared at my own car sitting in the parking lot.

"So I'm going to run to the auto shop in town and pick up a bunch of parts I need. And then I might run to Walmart or something and buy some new shirts because I'm ruining all of mine."

"You can just borrow some of mine." I interrupted.

"Thanks. I'm sure I'd look great in some cropped baby tees."

"I'm genuinely impressed you know what a cropped baby tee is."

"I did grow up with two sisters. I can also braid hair pretty well."

"Ooh. I might recruit you for that sometime."

"Anyways, I'm going to run errands and then I'll probably stop by for lunch. If that's okay with you?"

"Come for the mediocre food, stay for the mediocre service." I gave him a thumbs up before jumping out of the car and heading for the back door. When I came out through the kitchen to head to the bar, Zack was sitting at a table against the wall with a bunch of papers in front of him. "I'm assuming this means they hired you?"

He looked up from whatever sheet he was filling out. "Yeah. Bar is really set high for back of house here."

"Clearly." I snorted. "Did you tell them you don't have a mode of transportation?" I glared.

"I do have one. Your boyfriend is going to fix it." He went back to the paper he was on.

"You know you are really asking a lot here. First you want everyone to drive four hours to go grab all your shit, now you want him to fix your car for free no doubt."

"I'll pay!" He interrupted.

"You also just show up here and expect me to house you and whatever because you pissed off a fucking drugged up asshole."

"You got me there." He glared back at me. "My fucking bad, B. I'll just live in my car on the side of the road."

"I fucking did!" I didn't want to get in a fight in the middle of my, now our, work place to I turned and walked back to the bar to start setting up. I ignored him when he finally stood up and took his paper work back into the kitchen to find the manager. He never came back out so I guess he left though the back. I wondered what he was doing with my car but was too pressed at the moment to actually ask him. I'd deal with it in a few hours before I was going to get off work.

And so I worked another shift where I fake smiled at people and answered the dumbest questions in a polite tone.

'What's the difference between this ale and this stout?' Ones pale and the other is dark. Next question.

'What comes on this burger' Let's read the menu together, shall we? Next question.

'Do you sell spinach dip?' Do you see it anywhere on this menu I handed you? No. Try again.

'I see your sign says your house pale ale is on special. Can I get the IPA for the same price?' I see that you managed to read the sign so where did you read that IPAs were also the same price? No where. Get the fuck out of here.

'What's the difference between the crispy chicken and the grilled chicken on this sandwich?' You just answered your own fucking question.

I was standing at the register making change for someone when Jake finally walked in. I glanced down and noticed a few hours had gone by. Thank god. He sat right in front of my computer and set his keys down on the bar top.

"Long time, no see." He smiled at me and I was not going to admit to anyone that my day just got a little bit better.

"Do you have an ID? You don't look old enough to be here." I teased while going back to the change in my hand.

"The joke is that I looked like this as a teenager too. Just with a little less shadow." He rubbed at his jaw. I rolled my eyes and made my way down the rail to give the change back and then check on a couple at the end eating.

"Are you drinking or just eating? Or both?" I leaned against the computer.

"Eating for sure." He chuckled. I pulled a menu out and set it in front of him. "I don't know though. I've never been here. Is the beer any good?"

I shrugged. "Some house beers are good. The IPAs taste like lighter fluid. The pale ale is pretty light if you're into that. Otherwise I have the usual suspects in bottles and then full service bar. We also have a seasonal sour out right now that's pretty bangin'"

"Pretty bangin'. Wow."

I glared at him. "I'll just not serve you if you're going to make fun of me."

"I'm only teasing you. Relax." He put his arms on the bar top and leaned forward. "It was cute."

"Ew." I pushed off the computer and grabbed a glass out of the cooler. "Just for that you'll get whatever I give you." And you're getting the banging sour, jackass.

"It's pink…" He picked it up and stared at it.

"Correct." I smiled. "It's watermelon flavored." I watched him take a sip but he didn't really react. At least not how I was hoping he would.

"It's okay." Well, what a bummer. "Don't know if I could drink a whole lot of them but not bad."

"Am I picking your food too or are you going to have a say in that?"

"You are sassy as hell right now."

"I'm having a day, bud. A day." I walked away from him before he could answer to go make a drink that popped up on my printer. When I finally returned I stood in front of the computer and just stared at him blankly. He handed the menu back and sighed.

"You pick."

"Oo. Look at you, trusting me. What if I tell them to burn it?"

"I'd still probably eat it." He snorted. I snickered as I unlocked my computer and scrolled through everything. I knew he ate a lot so I figured I'd give him an appetizer first and then most likely a burger or sandwich.

I did a round up and down the bar and then came back to Jake. I asked about his errands which turned into a mini rant about a specific car part he's been looking for. He was interrupted by a server setting his appetizer down.

"What's this?"

"Our most popular appetizer. Smothered mac'n'cheese bites. Very messy. 10 out of 10 recommend using a knife and fork."

"Looks good."

Everything was going well for a little bit before I saw the doors open in the front and Zack roll in. I frowned and leaned against the computer again. "Here we go." I mumbled under my breath. Jake turned to glance over his shoulder before looking back at me with a small frown. Zack didn't say a word as he sat down next to Jake and set my keys and a pack of cigarettes on the bar rail. I raised an eyebrow at him and he stared at me before lowering his eyes and sitting in silence. I rolled my eyes before grabbing a plastic cup and filling it with water and setting it in front of him.

"When's your first day?" I asked.

"Thursday."

"Full time?"

"Yup."

I nodded and decided to drop it and go in the kitchen to check on Jake's food. By the time I came back the two of them were talking but Jake had a frown on his face.

"I'll look when I get back." He said to him but turned his attention back to me. "What's this?"

"A chicken sandwich, made with love." I set it down. "What do you want?" I asked Zack.

"Just a burger I guess." Normally I would have some follow up questions or even ask which burger he wanted but he was going to get what he was going to get.

"Are we going this weekend?" Zach asked and I rolled my eyes.

"I guess. I want to leave in the middle of the night though. I'm not trying to hang out around town." I told him. And he gave me a thumbs up.

"Works for me. I'm not trying to hang around town either. I'm not exactly welcome anymore." He turned to Jake, "You still coming with?"

"If I'm still invited." He took a bite. And by bite I mean half the sandwich was gone in one go.

"Why wouldn't you be?" Zack asked confused before looking at my glare. "Oh. Are you two fighting?" He pointed back and fourth.

"No. Not that it would be any of your business." I glared at him and pushed off the rail to go help other guests.

And so the shift carried on like normal. Zack and Jake spent the whole time chatting with each other which was kind of surprising to me. I didn't think they would hit it off like that.

"Alright, I'm going to drive your precious car back." Zack said standing up, and grabbing all his things.

"I don't even get the courtesy of taking my own car back?" I glared at him and picked up the 20 he left on the rail. The asshole wasn't getting any change back.

"Jake said he's driving you." He patted Jake's shoulder and turned to leave. "See you later, B."

"God, he's such an asshole." I muttered under my breath. Jake chuckled and shrugged.

"He's not so bad." I rolled my eyes.

"So you're going to sit here for another hour and a half until I get off?"

"That's the plan."

And that's exactly what he did. When I wasn't standing there bothering him he was playing games on his phone. Eventually the night bartender came in and I grabbed all my things after dealing with my money.

"Ready?" I asked Jake after I came out of the office with my things. The drive back was quiet which I was thankful for. I wasn't looking forward to going back home and getting in an argument with Zack.

Eventually we pulled up to the tiny apartment and headed inside.

"I'm going to look at Zack's car before I go." I nodded at him, not particularly caring. "Text me about this weekend?"

"You really want to go?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I want to help. Plus I get to spend time with you."

I snorted at that. "A real Prince Charming."

"I try." He flashed a cocky grin at me that I would not admit was adorable.

"Fine. I'll text you about it. Can your dad watch Miles?"

"Of course."

I opened the front door to be greeted by said dog. "Hi pretty boy!" I rubbed his face.

"Oh you flatter me!" Zack chimed from the couch.

"You're a gremlin who's mooching off me." I glared at him and tried not to feel hurt over Miles jumping on Jake.

"Ouch."

"Come on dude. Let's see how badly you messed your transmission up."

"I hope it's unrepairable." I grumble quietly.

"Nah, then you'd really be stuck with him." Jake snickered.

"Let's get this over with!" Zack got up to follow Jake outside.

"I'll let you know about this weekend."

"Okay. I'll see you then." And what I was not expecting was to be swallowed by (very large but I won't say that out loud) warm arms. The man just radiated heat. It's like one of those electric blankets. Regardless, I was not expecting the hug. Did that stop me from also wrapping my arms around his waist? Well that was nobody's business but my own.

Someday I'll finish this, I swear.

Granite by Sleep Token