Chapter 3

KIERRA'S POV

I heard mum laugh in the background and I smiled. “You bet, darl. It's actually been quiet without you around.” Mum said and for a while, neither of us said anything.

Mum finally cleared her throat, “You know, your dad and I have been thinking a lot these two days and we realized that we screwed up.”

“I mean, we were always complaining about you hanging out with Peter and I just thought…

“We had to have been doing something wrong if you had no other option than to be friends with someone like him.”

“And afterwards, we shouldn't have been so hard on you. Maybe if we had been nicer, you would finally see reasons why we disapprove of him so much. We love you and we just want you to be safe.”

Mum barely concluded when dad picked up where she left off.

“Yeah, and we came to a conclusion. We promise to support you from now on.”

“We're sorry about everything, for nagging you when you lost your job, not realising you were depressed and we'll try to understand your friendship with Peter from now on.”

“Maybe, he's nothing like his parents and we never thought of it this way, that maybe you were the only good thing in his life and it must be hard growing up with parents like that.” Dad concluded.

I choked, as my throat clogged up, and I blinked back tears. “Oh, you guys….” I whispered.

“Mum, dad…Peter is…I cut things off with him today. The reason I took this vacation to the beach was because I needed to think.

“About the decisions I made and my choice in friendship and how much it affected my life.”

“And, I lied about Peter, he's very much into his parent's line of work.”

“Infact, the reason he is not around is cause he's handling some drug shipment somewhere, and…and…and”,

“I've been on drugs, and I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of because of him and I'm so sorry…”

I finally broke down, unable to go on as sobs racked my throat and my body trembled as my hands gripped the steering wheel.

I tried to blink through the tears in my eyes because my vision was clouding and I was driving.

“Oh, honey…you're driving. Oh God, we'll hang up, pull over and take a breather, okay? We wouldn't want you crashing. We'll talk when you get home. We love you, honey.” My dad said.

“Love you, cupcake.” Mum piped in too before I heard a click on the other end.

I smiled through my tears and did as they said. I pulled over and took about ten minutes to collect myself before driving back onto the road and towards home.

Home was about an hour drive and I stepped on it, I couldn't wait to get home.

At least I was able to admit to having a slight drug problem, my parents didn't freak out, everything would be fine, I'll be fine, everything would be back to normal.

I let out a long sigh feeling better for the first time in a long time.

An hour later, I'm pulling up to our front door. I glanced surreptitiously at the Lawsons' next door.

The dark windows suggested they were out.

I sighed as Peter's threat rang in my head, sending a shiver down my spine, I frowned and pushed it down.

Peter was a brat, but I was sure he was bluffing.

He wasn't going to kill me, he's not a murderer. I clambered out of the car and grabbed my duffel bag from the back seat and walked up to the house.

I started to knock but realized the front door was slightly open.

I frowned and pushed my way in, registering nothing sinister at first. “I'm home.” I called. The house is eerily quiet.

That was when I realized something was off, my parents knew I was coming.

There was no way they would be this quiet and I definitely made a sound coming in.

What in the name of Hades is happening? I thought.

I rushed through the spare, small hallway into the living room and stopped in my tracks when I saw Peter sitting on the sofa looking right at home.

He was sprawled out on the sofa, it was normal to see Peter Lawson sprawled out on a piece of furniture, except for the black gun resting on his torso.

I tried not to give away the feeling of dread slowly climbing up my chest.

“What the hell, Peter? You fucking scared me. Where are my parents? How did you even get in? They hate you.” I rushed out, all in a surprisingly calm tone.

He didn’t speak for a few minutes before he slowly sat up on the sofa, the gun dangling from his right hand and a Peter smile across his face.

His eyes moved slowly up and down and my body and I detected a hint of desire in his blue eyes .

That was ridiculous, Peter continuously drummed it into my head that I was totally not his type.

The look was gone almost immediately and he looked me in the eyes.

“Hello, Mi amor. I see, you enjoyed your little vacation?” He asked casually.

I scoffed as I folded my hands beneath my chest. “What the heck is this about, Peter?”

“You couldn't handle me ending our friendship and now what? You're going to kill me?” I asked, a slight teasing tone to my voice as I gave him an amused look.

He laughed suddenly. “Oh come on. That's hilarious. I just got back home and decided to pay you a visit since you didn't sound okay on the phone.”

“Yeah, yeah…I admit, I was upset but killing you? You're my friend, at least to me, you still are. Well, at least look happy to see me.” He said

He was pouting, the look he always wore when he wanted something from me, I laughed, visibly relaxing.