1-12: 9 Crimes

Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
It's the wrong time, for somebody new
It's a small crime, and I've got no excuse

-----------

The first thing Eden saw when she stepped off the plane, was a tall redhead covered in tattoos, giving dirty looks to everyone that was staring at her for carrying her massive umbrella in the sun. She approached her hesitantly, dropping her bag on the pavement. 

"Hi?"

Kiara nodded, pushing the umbrella a little higher in the air. 

"Wanna join me?"

Eden stood there for a second, calculating. Then she rushed forward, wrapping Kiara in a hug. She broke it quickly, looking up at her.

"I missed you, bitch."

Kiara grinned, her fangs hidden in the shadow of the umbrella.

"I missed you too. No more advice from you. Ever. Good?"

Eden ducked under the umbrella, flipping off a girl who wouldn't stop staring.

"Never again."

Kiara linked her arm through Eden's and walked towards the doors to the airport and the luggage claim. She completely ignored Atticus' stare. There were more important things she needed to tell her best friend.

"We leave Bridgeport in five days, are you excited?"

She turned the conversation casual, waiting for Eden to be in somewhat of a decent mood before she brought anything else up to her. But Eden detected the false casualty in her tone. She raised an eyebrow at her vampiric best friend and turned to face her as the luggage slid by on the conveyor belt.

"What the hell is wrong."

To the point, as she usually was. Kiara hesitated though, looking around as she closed her umbrella, playing with the fastener that kept it closed.

"Well. I sort of slept with Zach."

Eden stared at her. Her face was blank, but it didn't take her that long to find something sarcastic to say.

"Oh. Is that all? Not a big deal. At least you didn't take his virginity like I did."

Kiara grimaced, causing Eden to chuckle softly. Kiara shook her head though as Eden pulled her suitcase to an upright position next to them.


"That's not all. I've been hearing some things about Firecrotch... And none of them are good."

Eden side eyed her, pulling her luggage towards the glass airport doors.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

Kiara grabbed her arm, pulling them both to a stop.

"No. This is bad. The last Zach heard about him, he was strung out and a complete mess. Not only that, no one has heard from him since graduation, Eden.

What you did to him before you left, you walking away, the way you said goodbye... I think it really fucked him up.

Eden, I think the kid really did love you."

Eden sighed, her eyes on the floor. Her chest was heavy, her mouth dry.

"What do you expect me to do about it? If no one knows where he is, I sure as hell am not going to."

Kiara shrugged.

"I just thought you might want to know."

She looked behind them, the rest of the Simon family still gathered around the baggage claim.

"Speaking of wanting to know things... Can we not tell Atticus about Zach?"

Eden looked uneasy, taking her friend by the hand and heading towards the exit again.

"Yeah, about that... There's probably something I should tell you too."

-----------

-You expect me to tell you where he is? It's been three months, and now you decide to care?-

Eden threw another pair of shoes in her suitcase, glaring at the text from Jonas. Kiara raised an eyebrow,  grabbing her arm in mid-throw with the next object she aimed at her bag.

"What's wrong? What the hell is going on on that screen that is making you act like your suitcase needs to be murdered?"

She tossed her phone on the bed and continued chucking random things in. She had to pack one way or another, so why not take her anger out when she was doing it?

"Oh."

She said the word quietly, grabbing a few things of Eden's and handing them to her. Eden didn't want to have a conversation about this. She didn't want to think about it. When she walked away from Nico at graduation, that was supposed to be the end of it. They were both supposed to move on with their lives. Move on from each other.

She half wished that Kiara had never said a damn word to her.

She dropped onto her butt on the bed and grabbed her phone, sending Jonas another text.

-Look. If you don't tell me where he is, I will be missing my only chance to try and fix some of the damage I've done. All I need to do is talk to him, I'm leaving Bridgeport tomorrow and then I'll never bother you, or him, again.-

It felt like an hour before anything came back through. And she spent most of that time doing nothing. Watching Kiara pack all of the stuff she had determined that Eden would need in college. She pulled her pillow onto her lap and her heart jumped when the text tone went off.

-I feel like this is a really miscalculated decision... But he's in the apartments next to the bridge in the city.  I should tell you, though, if you're looking for another chance, it's way too late for that.-

That was the last thing she was looking for. All she wanted was a chance to see how he was doing. Maybe say goodbye. That's all she really planned on saying. She had no idea why she even felt the need to make anything okay at all.

That was supposed to be goodbye. You're blowing it.

Honestly... she'd never been very good at goodbye anyway.

"Kiara, there's something I need to do before we leave."

She got to her feet and stuffed her car keys in her pocket, flipping the lid of her suitcase shut.

"It's 3 am..."

Eden shrugged her shoulder.

"We leave tomorrow. This may be my only chance, Ki."

Her friend hesitated, not sure whether to be sympathetic or concerned for Nico's mental health after this.

"Be careful? You've been drinking all day..."

Eden gave her a thumbs up.

"I'm fine. I can drive. I'm not that drunk."

That was a massive lie, but like she said, it might be her only chance. 

And after all this time she wasn't going to miss it.

---------

Eden slammed the door to her car, the sound echoing in the parking lot. It was the middle of the night, and this was probably not one of her best ideas. But after what Kiara had said to her, and after she'd spoken to Jonas, she knew she had to fix this. At least in some way. She couldn't carry the guilt for something like this for the rest of her life.

She had spent three hours arguing with herself in her bedroom. Going back and forth between going and not going. Trying and not trying. She had drank so much that driving across the city was a dangerous decision, but it was too late now.

What if something really bad happened, and she never...

She rolled her shoulders, walking inside and to the elevator. The wait seemed to take an eternity. Each second that ticked by making her grow more and more apprehensive. She looked down at the slip of paper in her hand, punching in the floor number when she was inside.


It was an ordinary apartment door. There was nothing special about the setting or the number. But as soon as she touched it, tears spilled down her face. She almost turned and left, let whoever answered never know who had knocked. But she stood her ground, trying to get rid of the mess on her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"Eden?"

She looked up and her eyes widened. Nico was a mess. His hair and clothes were rumpled, his eyes had circles darker than she'd ever seen them, and his pupils were dilated. Three months. It had only been three months. He looked like he had aged three years.

"Nico."

She shifted her weight and rubbed her palms under her eyes one more time, giving up.


"Nico... I'm sorry."

She never apologized for anything. Since she was ten years old, she didn't. It was one of the things she thought made her strong. But right now...

"I'm just here to tell you that I'm sorry. That I'm leaving Bridgeport tomorrow and I don't know if I'm ever coming back. 

I need you to know that I still care about you. That I probably always will.

I lied to you. When I said I didn't anymore.

I lied to you when I said I wasn't sorry for sleeping with Max, and I lied to you when I said I wanted you to forget me."

Everything spilled out, one on top of the other. Things she'd been denying, things she'd been refusing to feel. To say. To admit.

It all fell into his lap and she couldn't take it back now.

There was more emotion in what Eden was doing in this moment right now, than she had felt or given in years. She was drunk beyond reason, and she was probably making a huge mistake. Nico stood there, not saying a word. Just staring at her while she cried on his doorstep.

Why would he say anything to you at all?

"I'm sorry."
Eden tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and nodded, turning around.

"Eden."

It was the only thing he had said to her since laying eyes on her. Her name. But that was enough for her to turn around.

He stepped out of the doorway, closing the distance between the two of them, pushing a piece of hair out of her eyes. He took her face in his hands and brushed the tears off of her cheeks with his thumbs. For a second, he stood there, just staring down at her. She hadn't realized how much he carried behind those eyes. How much the gray really concealed.

He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers, and she could taste the alcohol on his breath, feel the way his hands shook when they touched her. And in those seconds, she realized that's the way it's supposed to be. You're supposed to feel something when someone touches you. Your heart is supposed to race when someone kisses you. Sometimes it's supposed to mean something.

And sometimes... You have to feel. Even if it hurts.

She just never wanted to believe that, would more than likely go back to pretending she never had the second she left. But in this moment, she let it happen. 

He broke the kiss, releasing her face and running his hands down her arms, goosebumps appearing where their skin touched.

"Eden, I love you. I'm gonna miss you."

He pulled her against his chest for a moment, resting his chin on her hair.

 "I'm sorry. For everything."

-----------
It was strange. Being in another city. The finality Eden felt like she carried on her shoulders was heavy. She finally felt closure with Nico, in the very least. It was the last thing she'd done in Bridgeport. Three hours before she had to catch her flight to the other side of California. Away from him, and that city, for at least four years.

She had no idea where she would go after this. She was nineteen years old and it felt like she had been through way too much for someone that age. But, at the same time, she felt like her life was just beginning.

It was a massive contradiction.

Kiara smiled at her, poking her stomach softly. 

"We'll be happy here. It's a new start. New people. This'll be fun."

Eden dropped her purse on the floor of the room she'd claimed as hers and kicked at one of the boxes she needed to unpack.

"Well... Nothing could be as bad as Bridgeport. So you've got to be right in some way."

The place Zach had gotten for them was amazing, and Kiara had paid their rent for an entire year from her trust fund. She refused to let Eden pay for anything, even though her parents had been saving for her to go to college since she was a baby.

"Hey. So. Which one of you is Ed?"

Eden rolled her eyes and turned around to face the voice that issued from the doorway.

"I'm guessing you're Sophie. Since the only person who calls me that is Zach."

She walked forward and almost shook her hand, but it felt too weird to actually carry through and do. She smiled at her instead, sticking her hands in her back pockets.

"I'm Eden and this is Kiara."

Kiara shook her hand, which surprised Eden greatly. She usually was more polite than Eden, but not that polite. She really must be losing her mind.

"I'm Sophie Contessa. I'm sure you guys know my parents own this place and the bakery and stuff, but I'm not here to keep a watch on you or anything.

I'll leave you alone as much as possible. I just wanted to be friendly and say hello."

She ducked back out of the doorway and Kiara and Eden exchanged a look.

Were they that scary? Or was this girl really just that sheepish?

Kiara shrugged and dropped to her knees, splitting the top of one of her boxes open. Eden did the same thing on the opposite side of the room, placing her shoes in the bottom of the space in the closet. She glanced over at Kiara and weighed her words before speaking, not wanting to upset the atmosphere they were trying to maintain.

"By the way, what did you say to Atticus? He seemed pretty upset when he got on the plane this morning, and I haven't really seen him since."

Kiara didn't look up at her, just kept unpacking. Speaking nonchalantly, like it didn't matter, when Eden knew more than anything, it did.

"I told him that if he wants a nasty skank like Kenzie he can have her. And that he should have told me he would rather take her than me. And a whole slew of other nice things."

She smiled at her box, and Eden was sure that they were as nice as can be. Not.

"Don't you want to give him another chance?"

Kiara shook her head.

"Nope. We're over, E. You should probably just accept that."

She made that out like it was easy. She had grown up watching her big brother pine over her best friend. Watched him fall deeper and deeper into love with her. There were concrete reasons behind her advice to Kiara. 

When they finally got together, she thought that nothing would ever be able to break them. 

But she guessed it was just another thing to prove her theory. That love burns everything it touches. And still, people willingly throw themselves into the flames.

She shivered, once again thinking of Nico.

At least it was over now. Behind her. She never had to feel that again. She would never, ever let someone close enough to her to make her feel it again.

Of that, she was certain.

-----------

If I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright
Is that alright with you?

1-11: Hurricane

I'm a wanderess, I'm a one night stand
Don't belong to no city, don't belong to no man
I'm the violence in the pouring rain
I'm a hurricane

 ---------------

"Slow down, Eden. I don't have an excuse for why you're dead if you fall into the ocean and die."

Atticus reached out, pulling her away from the edge again, and she laughed, dropping down to the sand. Atticus was 'in charge' of his younger siblings while his parents did their business stuff they had to do here in Hawaii. He had taken 'in charge' and turned it into 'get everyone wasted with his fake ID'.

"Well, it's not my fault they made my twin brother, who is only seven minutes older than me, my babysitter."

Xavier and Lyric sat around the fire, being what seemed to be as quiet as possible. Neither one of them were drinking. Lyric was reading some psychology book by the light of the fire and Xavier was watching everyone intently, not saying a single word.

Cassius had disappeared with Max a few hours before. Mackenzie, Lyric's friend Emma, Atticus and Eden had used this excuse to drink as much alcohol in as small amount of time as possible. But somehow, Atticus still maintained his sanity. 

"She'll be fine, anyway. People can still swim when they're wasted."

Mackenzie tipped her bottle back, tossing it in the fire. It exploded, Lyric letting out a yelp and falling off of her chair in surprise. Xavier scowled and walked over to her, helping her to her feet. He looked at Mackenzie and then at Atticus in succession.

"You're an idiot."

Eden wasn't sure which one of them he was actually talking to, but she laughed anyway. Her words were slow, twisted by alcohol.

"Ain't that the truth."

Atticus shot her a glare, walking over to Kenzie and wrapping his arms around her.

"If you two have a problem, you can go inside. No one's keeping you here."

Eden nodded, grabbing another bottle of beer and twisting off the cap.

"I do have a problem. You two are gross, and I'm bored."

She took a drink and pointed the open bottle towards Kenzie's head.

"Just cause she has red hair doesn't make her Ki. She'll never be her."

Atticus' face went rock hard and he pushed Kenzie to the side, getting as close to Eden as he could. She got to her feet, her hands on her hips. He looked furious, and she knew his temper might be nothing like their dads, but it wasn't something she should be messing with. Not that he'd ever hit her, but he wouldn't take her comments in stride, either.

"What are you going to do, Atticus? Get pissed at me cause you know I'm telling the truth? Give me a break. You're fucking stupid and you know that you are."

Eden was defending her best friend, the one who wouldn't answer her calls or her texts.

And it was written all over Atticus' face that he knew what she said was true.

"You act like you're perfect... But you can't even stay sober long enough to come to terms with the fact that Nico didn't want you. He didn't want you so much, he slept with your best friend. Who is probably the only person in Bridgeport who matched you in sexual activity."

Eden reached out, shoving Atticus backwards. Well, attempted to. He barely moved.

"Fuck you, Atticus."

Xavier cleared his throat, walking over to Eden, taking the bottle out of her hand.

"Okay. I think you've had enough. Time to go."

He wrapped his hand around her arm and tugged her away from her brother. She protested with a loud groan, ripping her arm out of his grip. 

"Don't fucking touch me."

Xavier rubbed his hand on his jeans and sighed, looking over at Atticus. Atticus just nodded and took Mackenzie by the hand, leading her up towards the hotel. Lyric and Emma had disappeared sometime during the rift that had just happened between the two eldest Simon twins.

"Fine. I won't touch you. But you're still going back to the hotel. Now."

She tilted her head and grinned. 

"Watch me."

She deliberately turned away from Xavier and sat down in the sand, pulling another bottle out. She opened it and brought it to her lips, her back to him. Xavier rolled his eyes and shook his head, sitting in the sand next to her.

"You're impossible."

She looked over at him, his dark blue eyes black in the moonlight.

"Actually, I'm Eden. Looks like you're getting to know who I really am though aside from that. Good for you."

-------------

Eden braced her weight against the door to her room, letting out a breath. She turned around to face Xavier, the cold of the door on her skin barely registering in her alcohol fuddled mind. He reached for the handle, turning it. The door opened and she stumbled a little to regain her balance.

"You could have at least waited for me to stand up straight, asshole."

Xavier sighed, his face showing his impatience.

"You need to sleep, Eden. Your brother left me with you, so I feel slightly responsible for anything you do in your drunken stupidity."

He nudged her forward, into the darkness of the room and flipped on the light switch. The room illuminated, casting artificial daylight on the contents. Which Eden hadn't bothered keeping straight at all. Not that she ever did with her room at home either.

Eden scoffed, walking over and dropping onto the unmade bed. 

"You're not my babysitter. That's not why I asked you to come."

Xavier nodded, once, kicking her shoes that she'd discarded out of the way of the door. He went to shut it, to allow her to finally sleep, but Eden made a loud noise of protest, her voice carrying out into the hallway. He leaned back in the door, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What? Why the hell did you just make a noise like a dying seal?"

Eden threw a pillow at the door and backed up against the headboard, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're just going to leave me alone? What if I die of alcohol poisoning in my sleep? Then you'll just feel guilty for the rest of your life."

Xavier rolled his eyes, looking over his shoulder at the empty hallway. His hesitation was  heavy. Staying with her didn't seem like the smartest decision. She was drunk, and she was being extremely annoying.

"You're not going to die. But you are going to wake the entire hotel if you don't lower your voice."

Eden stared at him for a second. Then she issued a loud noise in his direction, raising her voice higher than it had been before. Xavier sighed, opening the door and stepping inside. He shoved it closed behind him and turned back to face her, a glare in his eyes.

"Are you always this obnoxious when you're wasted? Or are you saving these dramatics specially for me?"

She shrugged one shoulder and grinned, running a hand through her hair.

"Are you always a robot?"

She hadn't meant to actually say that, it had just slipped out. She wasn't going to ask this guy any questions at all. She hadn't even planned to hang out with him much when he was here. Even though she asked him. She was just going to ditch him and hang out with random guys who would get her drunk, and maybe even take her back to their rooms.

But that hadn't been what happened.

"What does that even mean?"

He walked over to the bed and sat at the end, a few feet between the two of them. Eden crawled towards him, sitting up on her knees and poking his chest with her finger. Over his heart.

"I mean that you never have any facial expressions. You're impossible to read, and you don't seem to get angry or upset. About anything. Like you hold it all inside. Or you pretend it isn't there."

Once. Kyle. He had that once. But other than that...

Xavier rubbed the spot where she had poked him, looking back at the door. Like he wanted out of the room. Away from her. For a stalker, he didn't seem very comfortable actually being around her for extended periods of time. He looked back over at her, sighing again. Louder than all of the times before.

"I'm not a robot. I'm a guy. What do you expect?"

Eden shook her head.

"Noooo. That's totally an excuse. I know lots of guys, and none of them act the way that you do. You're a robot."

She said it matter-of-factly and Xavier rubbed his face with his hands, looking back up at her face. Even maintaining consistent eye contact with Eden, she couldn't read him. It bothered her so much more than it should.

"Do you feel anything at all?"

She pulled her legs out from underneath her, sitting indian style across from him. She'd depleted the distance he'd purposely put there, and she wondered what kind of reaction he would have to it. He didn't seem to even know what reactions were.

"That's a really stupid question.

But yeah. I do. I'm not emotionless. I'm just quiet. I wasn't like every other kid in that school. You all partied and did drugs and I did what I was supposed to do.I don't know why you care."

Eden back-peddled, pulling the blanket next to her onto her lap. Her voice was flat, serious.

"I don't. I don't care about anyone."

He stared at her blankly. For too long. It made Eden uncomfortable. She just wanted him to speak. 

When he finally did, she was taken aback by the question, even though it had been her own a few minutes before.

"Do you feel anything at all?"

She dead panned, her eyes not leaving his.

"I feel what I want to feel."

Xavier shook his head, the gesture stiff, leery.

"That's not how it works."

Eden's annoyance spilled onto her face, and she ran an escape plan instantly through her head. She didn't want to talk about this. Not with the guy who had everything. The one who would never be anything but too good to even associate with her. She had hoped that when college came, he'd transfer to some random Ivy League school and she'd have him out of her life.

No such luck.

She got to her knees, hovering above him, but just barely. She'd never noticed he was actually pretty tall. But then again, she'd never paid much attention to him at all. She put her hands on his shoulders and he started, looking up at her.

"It's actually pretty easy. I could show you."

She leaned down, her face a few inches from his. Xavier froze as Eden got closer, but only for a few seconds. He pulled her hands off of his shoulders and got to his feet. He opened the door to her room and fixed her with one more look.

And he was right, because he wasn't a robot. It was completely clear in his expression in that very moment, he was definitely feeling something.

"I'm not going to have sex with you. I'm not going to kiss you. 

Another thing I'm not going to do? Let you use me to pretend you aren't a human being. Have a nice night Eden."

The door shut softly and Eden directed her eyes to the windows that showed the ocean next to her.

That thing he was showing in his eyes? She was pretty sure it had been disgust.

Well... No one's ever reacted like that before.

She dropped back onto the bed and pulled her blankets over her face, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Rejected. She'd just been rejected. Something that had never happened to her in her entire life.

Maybe Xavier wasn't a robot, but he was definitely not like all the other guys in her school. Anyone else would have taken complete advantage of this. 

And what was that with asking her if she felt anything? She did.... She was very forward and open about her feelings. She didn't act like an expressionless robot. She just used alcohol and sex to cover up the other things she didn't want to feel. The things she'd spent so long pretending she couldn't feel that she just... didn't anymore.

Oh....

Eden's stomach turned and she felt sick. Everything she'd just said about Xavier held true for herself. Every single thing. And apparently, he somehow knew that.

Do you feel anything at all?

Not anymore. Not in a long time. And nothing real when she actually did.

"Fuck."

Checkmate.

-----------

The sunlight fell through the opened windows to Eden's room and she pulled a pillow over her face, exclaiming loudly. "Nooooo." Her head pounded, and she hadn't even opened that fucking thing. So why was it like someone had put every florescent on Earth in her hotel room?

"Get up."

At the sound of that particular voice, she did as she was told. Sitting straight up in her bed, trying to see through bleary eyes. 

"...Hey Max. What's up?"

Something about Max always made Eden do exactly as he said, when he said it. Which was weird because she'd never do that for any boy in her life. For anyone at all in her life.

"Come here."

Eden pushed the covers off of herself, crossing the room to where he stood, leaning against the wall. Something seemed like it was wrong, but she couldn't determine what it could be. Max put his hands on her shoulders, running his fingers down her arms. He wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled her against him, looking down into her face.

"Hey... That kind of hurts."

He nodded, squeezing down harder than he had. 

"That's what you like though, remember."

She narrowed her eyes, her senses starting to come back to her. She tugged at his grip but he wouldn't release it, his knuckles turning white with the effort of maintaining it.

"If you don't let me go, I'm going to kick you so hard in the balls that you can never have kids."


Max laughed, the sound cutting through her, and let go. He put a hand on her chest and pushed her away from him, and she stumbled a little in surprise.


"Maxwell Stage, are you trying to piss me off?"

His gaze on her was calculating. Dropping down her body in levels. The gesture made her skin hot, and her heart beat harder. It was like even when he was an asshole, he still managed to get to the part of her that he always did. He pulled his eyes back up to her face and shook his head slowly.

"No. But that kind of seems like what you're trying to do to me.

First Nico, and now this Nile guy."

Eden's face contorted into amusement.

"Okay, what? You're not my boyfriend? I can do whatever I want?"

She didn't even bother telling him nothing happened with Xavier. That nothing ever would. That was none of his business. Would never be his business.

"I'm not. Don't want to be. But that's not the point I'm making."

He walked over to her and she stiffened, his hand running through her hair, tangling in the ends of it, pulling her head back slightly. He bent down, tracing his lips over her neck, across her jaw, his words on her skin.

"In this way, you're still mine. And you know it."

Eden scoffed, pushing his face away.

"No. No I'm not. Are you drunk or something? Since when has that ever been the case? 

I have sex with you. You don't own me."

He didn't stall much with her reaction, putting his hands on her hips, nudging her backwards toward the bed.

"Really? Who do you always come back to?"

Her legs hit the edge of the bed and she sat, his giant frame looming over her.

"Who do you always listen to, without complaint?"

She hesitated, trying to come up with an excuse, or a reason. Something that made the way she reacted to him make sense.

"That's different, that's..."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about."

What was this? A scare tactic? What did he have to prove? So she listened to him, so what? It was what it'd always been like. There hadn't even been any notice given to it until this moment right now.

"We're nothing. This is nothing."

Max pulled the zipper on the back of her shirt down, his fingers brushing against her skin. She shivered, and it wasn't from the cold. He placed a finger on her chin, tilting her head back to look up at him. He pressed his lips to hers, and pulled away, his eyes looking right through her.

"We are nothing.

This... is something."

-----------

"Eden! For fuck's sake, let's go."

Eden startled awake at the sound of the voice, rolling out of the bed and onto the floor accidentally. 

What the fuck? Who ....

She got to her knees and looked over the bed towards the door. Atticus was standing there with his arms across his chest, his eyes on the bed where Max was still sleeping.

Gross.

He mouthed the word at her and she rolled her eyes, getting to her feet.

"What do you want?"

 "We were supposed to leave for the airport fifteen minutes ago. By the looks of it you have nothing packed. Instead of having sex all night, you probably should have gotten ready to leave."

She shot him an annoyed glance and tried shaking Max awake. When that didn't work, she threw a pillow at his head.

"She was doing what?"

Fuck. 

Carter's head leaned in her door and he surveyed the room, his sigh almost echoing.

"Eden. You have ten minutes. Or you can catch the next flight. Alone."

He backed out of the doorway and Atticus beamed at her, shutting the door with a massive grin in place.

I hate my family.

-----------

He says, "Oh, baby, beggin' you to save me
Well lately, I like 'em crazy
Oh, maybe, you could devastate me
Little lady, come and fade me."