Chapter 8

**Xavier Black**

"She's going to hate you man." Gabe says as he falls down on the couch in my office, grinning at me like the idiot he is. "Think about it, you're taking away her free will. This is going to end in disaster and if she's anything like her old man you're going to have your work cut out for you." I stare at him with a bored expression. I sometimes wonder why I call this man my best friend but he does come in handy when I need him so I guess that's why I've kept him around.

"I don't keep you around to point out the obvious." I tell them causing him to throw one of the centre things sitting on the table at me. I don't even know what their function is but my mom insisted on having them there and now their flying at my head.

"You wouldn't last a day without me, you asshole. I'm being serious Xavier, do you really want someone by your side that hates you? You can't trust her." He says and I sigh. He's been against this from the day I spilled my guts to him and I know he's worried but he hasn't spent time with her like I have. The girl would rather die than hurt the people she love.

"I know you're worried but I don't have to trust her. She knows what's at stake and it's only a matter of time before she changes her mind and comes running. I've been around her enough to know she won't put the people around her in danger because she wants to do the right thing and it Gerald had the conversation with her we agreed upon I suspect it's only a matter of time before I get the call." I tell him and he rolls his eyes.

"Going after her friends isn't exactly the smartest way to gain her trust." I laugh at this.

"I'm not going to hurt her friends, I just need to have come leverage, so what if she hates me? It won't last forever." I tell him and he gives me a look that tells me he thinks I'm an idiot. Gabe has never been one to force someone to do something they don't want to but trust me when I say the man is just as cold hearted as I am. He just thinks you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar but people aren't flies and people are controllable when you hit the right places.

"What won't last forever?" Ura asks as he walks into the office. "I have those files for you. Why you want to investigate a bunch of teenagers makes no sense to me." He says and drops a fairly large file on my desk. I just grin at him and open the file, the slim face of Natalie Moore staring back at me.

"Hate, hate doesn't last forever and I need to know what I'm getting myself into." I tell him and for the second time today someone rolls their eyes at me.

"Their teenagers, they're not dangerous." He reasons, leaning against the edge of my desk.

"They can be if they want to be." I say, reading over her file. It doesn't say much but I know it's always the one who seems innocent that turns bad but if she's not causing problems for me I don't care about her. The Oliver guy might but even if he's brother is a cop I can make him disappear if I want to.

"You're insane man. This isn't the way to get to her, you have to gain her trust." Ura says and Gabe nods along.

"She'll trust me eventually, I just can't have her walking around with a fucken target on her back because she wants to be stupid. Don't worry, I'll give her flowers every day if I have too, but later." I tell them and now both of them are looking at me like I'm an idiot. If it was anyone else they would be in deep trouble for doubting me but I've known Ura since birth and Gabe since I middle school if I have to trust anyone with my life it's going to be them.

"Just treat her like a human being and not a toy, okay?" Gabe says and I smirk at him. This isn't going to last long because I know the moment Gabe meets Skyler he's going to butt heads with her. It's just the way he is, he doesn't like anyone questioning him and Skyler will stand up to him around every corner if she has to.

******

"Be nice to her, please. Just be nice to her." My mother begs on the other side of the phone as I watch Skyler walk into the restaurant. She follows the girl at the front desk though the maze of tables, a blank look on her face but I know she's not one to hide her emotions well, her eyes will always give her away, they reflect her next emotion before she even knows it.

"I can be nice mother. I have to go now." I say and hang up the phone, sliding it into my pocket just as they reach the table. Skyler takes a seat and asks for a glass of water before we're left alone and silence falls over us.

"I assume you know why I'm here." She says and I nod. Her shoulders are tense and now that she's right in front of me I can see a tired look in her eyes that's never been there the two other times I've seen her.

"Yes, Candice wants to know if she can have candy floss at this little sleep over of yours." I say with a straight face and she gives me an annoyed stare.

"I already told her she could, now cut the crap." She grits out and I must say I'm enjoying her trying to be angry at me.

"I'm not the one who came up with this you know? How do you think I felt knowing I was already engaged from the age of eighteen?" I ask and her eyes widen.

"You've known that long? That's almost six years!" She whispers harshly and I nod my head. "I was twelve at the time." She says and I shrug.

"You seem pretty grown up to me at the moment." She wants to reply but the waiter comes back with her water and asks if we want to order. Before I can ask him to give us some time she rattles of her order and I follow along.

"How would you feel if your parents told you that Candice is going to have to marry a guy six years older than her when she turns eighteen. That would make him my age now." She says and I clench my jaw.

"Candice isn't the one who has to do this, you are and if she wants to marry someone six years older than her when she turns eighteen that's her choice." I tell her and she pinches the area between her eyes.

"That's exactly the thing, it's going to be her choice so why do you want to take mine away from me?" I stare at her for a while before I lean forward causing her to sit up straighter, like she's readying herself for defence if I'm going to attack.

"Listen to me and listen to me carefully. You're old enough to know that we don't always get our way in life. My childhood was taken from me when I was sixteen, you can be happy you never had to see your father kill a man in cold blood and tell you that they deserve it because you would probably loose your mind. We, you and I, have a obligation to carry on where our father's have left out and that's just the way it is. You'll never be free of this life and no matter how much you don't want it, it wants you and it always gets what it wants. Your the first born, it's your job and it would only do you good to except it and start doing your fucken job." I hiss the last part at her and her eyes turn cold.

"I'm sitting in front of you, telling you that I'm going to marry a man I hate and if that isn't doing my job I don't know what is." She says, looking me straight in the eye and although I can see she wants to hate me she's way to upset about this to completely invest herself in making my life a living hell. One thing I'm certain of though is that although she's falling apart now, when she puts herself back together she's going to be the person she was always meant to be and I don't know if I should be scared or happy about that.