Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Sam's POV

I walked down the hallway, heading towards the stairs that will lead me to the third floor. To her room.

I want to tell her. I need to tell her that I'm leaving, and I have no plans of coming back. I'm not standing in the way. I'm too much of a distraction know. I knew I shouldn't have done that.

Cody walks down the stairs in front of me. Something crosses his face when he sees me, and I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. I don't have too long to dwell on it though, before I'm slammed in to the wall, his arm at my neck. I don't fight back.

He's got a bag slung across his shoulder and a set of keys in his hand. He's leaving. Where's he going?

He notices me eyeing the bag and the keys. "Look," He starts, his voice stern. "I know about the kiss."

I don't say anything. He runs his hand through his hair and backs up a step, removing his arm from my neck. I don't understand how he could possibly know about that.

"How?" I finally ask.

He jerks his head up to look at me. "I didn't realize you could actually talk." He mutters sarcastically.

I narrow my eyes at him and he waves me off. "You don't want to know where Devin has hidden cameras. So don't ask." He says. He sighs. "Look, I should be upset, but I'm not."

I look at him in surprise and raise my eyebrows. He shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

"I don't know." He finally says. "I'm not mad. I should be, but I'm not." He runs his hand through his hair again and sighs. "I just...I don't know. Me and Everly," He pauses, as if he's not used to saying her name. And it's likely he's not. "I guess you could say we really weren't like boyfriend and girlfriend. We care about each other, but we really weren't that close."

I look at him and frown. "Where are you going with this?" I ask him.

He glares at me and sighs again. "I'm only going to say this once. I'm leaving, and I'm not going to be back for a while." He starts. "When I get back, I'm taking her back if I can. So if you're going to make your move, do it now. Don't walk away, don't leave. Because if I come back and you still haven't done anything, I'll be taking her back. So, make your move."

I stare at him in shock and say nothing. I'm pretty sure I couldn't say anything even if I wanted to. I really don't have any words.

"And," He adds as he starts to walk away. "If you screw this up, and you hurt her-"

"You'll kill me?" I question.

He smiles and shakes his head. "I won't have to. She'll do it for me. But if for whatever reason she doesn't, then yeah I'll kill you."

"Why?" I ask before he can leave. "Why would you do this? Why would you give her up?"

Cody shakes his head and smiles. "Look, I care about her, but something changed between us a while ago. We still care, but it's different. And I'll miss her, but I also know you understand her more than anyone. And even though she'll never admit it out loud, she really does care about you. And I'm only in the way."

I open my mouth to protest and he holds his hand up to stop me. "Don't say I'm not. Believe me, I know. And I know she'll be happier with you, than she'll ever be with me. And I'm ok with that. Honest I am." He smiles slightly again. "She's one hell of a girl to have for a friend anyway." He holds his hand up again when he says I'm about to say something. "I mean it. It really doesn't bother me. I thought it would." He shakes his head. "But it doesn't."

He adjusts the strap of his bag on his shoulder. "I want you to promise me something though." He says. "Even if you don't make your move, even though you really should, promise me you'll take care of her."

I nod. "I promise." I tell him and he nods, running a hand through his hair one last time.

He waves at me as he walks away. "And take care of yourself, Soda."

I smile and shake my head. "Lily and Ryder really don't do subtle do they?"

He laughs. "Not at all." And then he's gone.

I hear Ryder and Lily shouting from the floor above me. I start up that way but don't make it very far. The whole house shakes and there's a deafening explosion. And unfortunately I know exactly where it's coming from.

I take off running and make it to the room Garrett was being kept in. There's smoke everywhere and a huge hole in the wall. I duck into one of the other rooms, if Garrett's still here, it'd be better if he didn't see me. Even if I could now get out of this whenever I wanted. I still had some unfinished business to take care of.

Lily, Ryder, and Thirteen come running past me and into the room. There's talking and everyone else comes back and converges on the hole in the wall. Only after Thirteen makes her way back to Devin, Lily, and Ryder in the kitchen do I walk out of the room.

"Ryder!" I hear Lily shout as I enter the kitchen. She smacks him in the back of the head and he narrows his eyes at her. Neither one of them say anything and instead just glare at each other.

Finally Ryder lets out a groan of frustration. "Fine!" He shouts. He gets to his feet and stomps out of the room and I can hear his footsteps pounding up the stairs.

"It's really freaky how they do that." Devin mutters to Thirteen.

She just shrugs. "That's Lily for you."

"Right here guys. Right here." Lily mutters

"Daggers." I say, making my presence known. She turns her head to look at me but doesn't move otherwise.

"So you are still here. I figured you would've left by now." She says. She doesn't say it in a mean or bitter way, she just says it as if it's a fact.

I shake my head. "Not yet."

She raises her eyebrows in question but doesn't press the matter. Good. I don't need her getting roped into this just yet.

Lily's phone starts ringing and she practically jumps across the kitchen counter to get to it. She holds it in her hand as she slides right across the counter and in to Devin.

He looks confused as he keeps her from falling further, and he nearly starts choking when she fixes herself upright but stays in his lap, straddling him, as she answers her phone.

"Yo," She says into the phone. Devin's sitting there awkwardly with Lily on his lap, staring at her as if she's an alien.

Her face suddenly turns very serious as she listens to whoever's on the other. She snaps her fingers at Thirteen to get her attention and mimes pencil and paper. Thirteen pulls out a notepad and a pen from a drawer and hands it to Lily.

Instead of turning herself around so she can use the counter to write on, she puts the notepad on Devin's head and begins to write. He looks less than amused.

Thirteen smiles widely, biting her lip to keep herself from laughing. I can't stop the small smile from forming on my face.

Hayden, Olivia, Kate, Josh, and Lydia come into the room to tell Thirteen they've got to go, and they'll keep her informed if they discover anything new about Garrett. They then tell her that Zack's still forming the barricade to keep Angel out.

"Alright thanks. You're the best!" Lily shouts gleefully as she ends her call and finishes writing whatever. She tears the top sheet of paper out of the notebook and hands it to Thirteen. She places the pen and notebook on the counter next to her phone.

"Thanks!" She says to Devin, pecking him on the cheek as she hops off him and runs out of the room. I can hear her pounding up the stairs as she runs off.

Devin stays frozen in his seat, his mouth wide open. Thirteen waves her hand in front of his face a few times and shakes her head. Lily comes running back into the room with her laptop in her hands.

"I think you broke Devin." Thirteen tells Lily as she continues to wave her hand in front of his face.

"Cool. I can only imagine what would've happened if I really kissed him. Do you think he'd explode? Should I test that?"

"No!" Chase shouts as he walks in the room. "You and Devin as friends is bad – horrible really – but as least it's sort of tolerable. You and Devin dating," Chase visibly shudders. "I don't even want to imagine the horror."

Lily smiles widely, the mischievous glint appearing in her eyes, but there's something else there too. The excitement of a challenge.

Chase stares at her for a long while before looking to Thirteen. "What did I just do?"

Thirteen smiles and shakes her head. "Do you really want to know?"

"Not particularly."

"Then don't ask."

Lily holds her hand out to Thirteen and Thirteen passes her back the paper. She takes it and sits at the counter, her fingers gliding over the keys on her computer. Thirteen comes up behind her and leans in to look at the screen better.

I watch her. She's so at ease around Lily. She's practically a different person. Of course, I only really gotten to know her after that whole fiasco with Garrett and her team. So I've never seen her like this before.

I smile as I watch her. Both her and Lily have their heads together as they look from the piece of paper to the computer screen, whispering to each other. It's odd to see her this way.

"Care to clue us in?" Chase asks them when he finally tires of watching them.

Lily smiles widely. "Ev's not the only one with friends." She smiles wider and waggles her eyebrows. "I called in a favor someone owed me. Garrett getting away wasn't ideal. But in all honesty, I saw it coming. That asshole just doesn't understand the concept of good hospitality." She shakes her head like this is his biggest flaw before continuing on.

"Personally, I was more interested in those other guys. The two Sam and Ev were fighting. So I decided that I'd try to find out where they came from. And I found someone who's had dealings with them before. He's agreed to meet up with us to talk. Except he's not always the best person to be dealing with. He's sly as a fox and very deceiving."

I feel my blood run cold at her words. I don't want any of them going anywhere near these guys. I had a hard time taking just one of them down, and he almost killed me twice as well as Thirteen. I didn't want to know what more than one of them could do. That, of course, did not seem to be Thirteen's biggest concern.

"Who is this guy?" She asks Lily. "You showed me where he wants to meet up, but you never gave me his name."

"Jackson Storm." Lily says and Thirteen lets out a groan. Lily turns to her. "You know him?"

A frown crosses over Thirteen's face. "How do you know him?" She asks Lily, avoiding the question.

"Ryder's had a few dealings with him in the past." Lily replies. "He's been trying to catch Jackson for years with no luck. I met him years ago, before . . . you know. And naturally, since my brother hated him, we it hit off right away."

"Naturally." Thirteen says with a roll of her eyes.

"What do you mean your brother's been trying to catch him for years?" I ask, and Lily turns to me as if she's surprised to see me still standing there. She then gives me a wide smile and thumbs up. I give her a blank look back and she scowls.

"You two were made for each other." She mutters under her breath. "And to answer your question, Jackson doesn't exactly operate on the right side of the law."

"Understatement of the century." Thirteen grumbles. "That man believes the law was put in place as a friendly suggestion."

Lily shoots her a look. "Yeah well, I'm pretty sure he hasn't killed anyone." She says to Thirteen.

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Jackson's really not into the killing business. He's into the con-you-for-all-you've-got business."

"I still don't believe he's never killed anyone."

Lily fixes Thirteen with a stare. "How do you know him?"

Thirteen's quiet for a long time. "I'd rather not say."