My Mom soon met us outside, and she looked surprised seeing us together. “Your father was awake for about two minutes until he drifted off to sleep again, but was awake long enough to squeeze my hand and tell us he loves us, and he even made a joke,” she smiled through happy tears.

I smiled too wiping my face dry. “That’s good, right?” I looked from Mom to Gerald for confirmation.

He nodded, “So do you want me to bring Kim home?” He asked my Mom.

“Yeah, I was just about to ask you. I’m going to stay here with your Dad. I don’t want him to wake up alone.” My Mom said.

Apparently he was using his gift with my mom. “No, I want to stay with you. I want to be here when Dad wakes up.”

Mom smiled and was moving, but all I heard was Gerald whispering in my ear, “Let your Mom have this night not to be strong.”

“Gerald, can you make sure that everyone’s okay? And you could sleep in the guest room tonight instead of the pool house.” She offered.

Gerald nodded and took hold of my elbow in a gentle way. “Goodnight Tita.”

I went and kissed Mom on the cheek, gave her a hug and told her I loved her. We drove in silence, and I could already feel the exhaustion hitting everything in my body.

When we got to the driveway, I guess he read my mind because he didn’t get out, he just relaxed in his chair. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged, “Were you close with your father?” I asked.

He took a deep breath, “Not really. He was in the military so he was always gone, and then my parents got a divorce. I didn’t see him much after that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Its okay, it was a long time ago.”

“So he doesn’t know about…you?”

He shook his head, “Doubt it.” There was a short pause. “There was this one time when he came back for my birthday. We spent the whole day together,” he smiled remembering the distant memory. “We went to the park, went go-carting, played basketball. He even took me to the docks and went sailing on one of his boats. It was the best day I ever had.”

I smiled, “Me and my Dad didn’t really spend anytime together. JP is just a year younger, so he spent most of his time with the boy in the family. But despite that, he always made me feel loved. I regret not trying harder. I didn’t want tonight to be the memory that I remember him by, you know? I wanted something else; I wanted something concrete, something that I could smile when I remember it. He always called his little angel, his baby girl. I love him so much, and I don’t know if he knows it. Tonight was the first time I said it to him in the last eight years.”

“He knows you love him. Come on, you must be exhausted.”

He got out of the car and helped me out. Putting his arm around so I could lean against him. He walked me upstairs, and everything was so quiet and dark. He opened my door, and waited for me until I was changed. He was sitting on a chair beside my window looking outside. When I opened my bathroom door, he turned to look at me.

I would probably feel embarrassed being in a tank top and sweat pants, without any make-up and my hair tied up into a bun, but I was too tired to feel anything but worry. He stood up and pulled the covers away so I could get in.

I crawled into bed, and fluffed my pillows before I laid my head on them. Gerald pulled the coves over me and wiped hair away from my eyes. “I’ll be in the other room, so just call me if you need anything.”

He stood up, but then I caught his arm. He turned to look at me with his beautiful eyes. “Can you stay with me tonight?” I blurted out. “I just really don’t want be alone tonight.”

He was quiet, probably debating whether or not it was a good idea. I wasn’t trying to start anything, it’s just I felt safer with him, I felt comforted knowing he was close by. And then he nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He took off his dress shirt he was wearing and he was in a wife beater.

I opened a drawer, and pulled out some pants. He raised an eyebrow. “They’re JP’s.” I chuckled. “They’ll probably be a bit small on you, but it’s a medium.”

He smiled, and walked into the bathroom to change. He got out in a few minutes and it took everything not to think about the way he looked. The way the shirt emphasized the contours his muscles created. But she shook that thought as Gerald walked closer and got in bed beside me. I turned to face the opposite direction, and he did the same as our backs now faced each other. “Good night,” I whispered, as I watched the moon light shine through my window.

“Good night, Kim.” He whispered back.

The next morning, I woke to the heat of the sun on my face, and realized that there was an extra arm wrapped wound me holding me hand. I didn’t move because I knew who’s hand it was. I also felt his head on my shoulder. I could also feel his hard body against mind. It would’ve been an amazing morning to wake up, except for the fact that my father was just in a car accident. But he is going to make a full recovery, so maybe it was a great morning. I slowly turned my body, and we were face-to-face and his arm was still around me.

I stared at his beautiful face. He had a clear complexion, except for the stubble growing on his chin. Even with his eyes closed, you could tell they’d be amazing when he opened them. He had a strong jaw and perfect soft lips – not too big, but not too small – that looked absolutely irresistible. I smiled, and I wanted to touch his face, but with the smallest movement of my hand underneath, he tensed, and he began to stir. My eyes widened, not knowing what to do, and the next thing I knew I shut them to pretend I was still sleeping.

I felt him move and I think I even heard him open his eyes. I sensed the surprise in his face when he realized he had his arm around me. I felt him looking at me, and then I felt him my arm lightly with the tip of his fingers. I heard him breathing, and I think it was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. His fingers than moved to the side of my face. First at my temple, down along the side of my cheek and he outlined my lips. I felt my own body shiver.

I realized that I should “wake up” because I was probably already busted if he was reading my mind. I fluttered them open and stretched my body, opening my eyes to only find him staring at me. My heart stopped, I think it really did, because he told me to breathe, a look of amusement on his face.

I laughed, “Morning.”

“Good morning,” he pulled his arm away, and I immediately missed it. “How’d you sleep?”

I smiled, “Safe, thanks.” I got out of bed, “I should call my Mom. But first, I’m going to take a shower.”

He nodded, “I’ll make some breakfast.”

As I stood on under the hot water, I remembered the conversation. And then I remembered the conversation on the phone. He was yelling to someone on the phone about Gerald. Why would he talk about it to someone at work, and why did he need to hang up and go to the office? Why would anyone in the office need to know about Gerald? It was Dad’s idea to invite Gerald over in the first place, right? And then Dad thinks of him as family; someone at his work is suspicious of Gerald thinking he’s after Dad’s money, but Dad is defending him. Then he gets into an accident. There’s something there, something I’m missing. Why does anyone care about Gerald? Unless someone knows he’s hiding something? But how would someone even be suspicious, unless…Stop Kim. You’re going overboard, you’re just freaking out because what happened and because Gerald’s story yesterday. It doesn’t mean anything. Unless, Gerald told me because he knew this would happen; someone finding out. He wanted to tell me before I got the wrong story out of my Dad. I shook my head as I dried my hair.

After I got dressed in casual wear: a jeans and a t-shirt, and called my Mom, I walked back down the stairs. He was still by the stove making eggs. I took a seat, and grabbed a cup of coffee in front of me. “Your siblings already left. They woke early, I offered to stay and wait for you.”

“Thanks.” I said.

“Here, you need some food in your system.” He told me, handing me this plate.

I was still thinking about what happened and apparently he noticed because of the intensity of his stare. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I decided to lie, though it was a stupid move on my part.

He chuckled, “Okay, I’m going to warn you beforehand, your thoughts are no longer going to be private in five seconds.”

I rolled my eyes, and sighed. “Okay, so maybe there is something on my mind. Last night my Dad was arguing to someone on the phone. I didn’t think it meant anything, until this morning.” He stared, waiting. “It was my Dad’s idea to let you stay, right?”

“Yeah, my Mom wrote it on a note that Tito William invited me over,” he scoffed.

“Well last night, the argument on the phone was about you. My dad told whoever was on the line that you were part of the family and that the guy was suspicious you were after the money and he also threatened my Dad that he would hurt his family. And then all of a sudden he gets into this crash?” He stared confused. “You told me the story about your kind, how there’s hunters…well why would anyone care about a college kid living in my Dad’s house, if he thought something was wrong.”

“Who was your Dad talking to?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, he hung up before I could anything else. But my Dad was pissed. He was angry, he was yelling at the guy, defending you and…” I wasn’t able to think. “Look I know this makes no sense, but what if this accident wasn’t an accident. It’s too convenient, getting hit by car, you coming clean.” I sighed, “What if someone heard us yesterday at the beach or saw the sign and saw us leave and he worked with my Dad, and now he’s suspicious about you. What if this accident was to keep my Dad away to get to the truth?”

He smiled, “You’re quite the detective.”

“It helps keep my mind off the real problem.” I chuckled. “You told me there’s hunters out there, looking for you guys. Why would a business man with probably a family of his own worry about someone else’s family? How would he even know you?”

“Okay, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say someone heard us, and is suspicious, why would he hurt your Dad?”

I stayed quiet, trying to think. “We weren’t home last night.” I stated. “Did you go back into the pool house?”

“Yeah, I changed.”

“Was there anything missing?” I said, walking to the door, and then walking to pool house. I heard him following me. “We weren’t home. What if someone waited until my family got home, and when they realized we weren’t here they came looking for something.”

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself, Sherlock.”

I looked at him, “This isn’t funny. My family is in danger now. He said he’d go near our family. You’re family. Is there anything missing? Do you have everything? Is there something linking you to whatever you are?” I started helping him, though I didn’t know what I was looking for. “You know it would help if I knew what you are.”

He chuckled, “Nice try. I told you another time.”

“It is another time.” I shot back, and there it was. “Um, Gerald. I think I have something.” I picked up a book, it looked pretty old. He was behind me in a second. “Isn’t this your symbol?”

“Yup.”

“With an arrow shooting it.” I observed, looking at his hard expression. He stayed quiet. “It’s a hunter isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” He grabbed the book from me. “Look, we have to go. I’ll drop you off to the hospital and I’ll be back later today. There’s something I need to do.” He grabbed something else from a locked cabinet and shoved in a bag. He grabbed my hand and pulled me outside, locking the door.

“Can’t I go with you?” I asked. “I am the one with who kind of thought of this.” I reminded him.

He smiled, “I’ll tell you everything later. Now I need to do something.”

We got into the kitchen, and the last person I thought who would be there was standing right in front of me. Me and Gerald skidded to a halt. “Jake?” I asked.

“Hey, I heard about your Dad, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He said, his hands in his pocket.

“Thanks, but we’re going to the hospital.” I told him. “How’d you get in here?”

“Your door’s open. Do you need a ride?” He asked.

Gerald got in front of me, “Actually, she already has one.” He pushed passed him.

“Looks like you’re going somewhere,” Jake noticed the bag, and followed us outside.

I locked the door behind me. “Look, Jake. It was sweet of you to drop by, but we’re broken up. You don’t need to do this. So I’d appreciate it if you would get off my property.”

He nodded, “Anything for you, Babe.” He winked at me, and I felt Gerald hands squeeze mine. “By the way, tell you’re dad my family’s sorry. Especially me Dad. He said he didn’t end things well.”

I nodded. “Thanks.” We watched Jake get into the car and drive off. I turned back made sure I locked the door, and put the security on. I got into the passenger seat, and Gerald drove out of the gate. He got back out, locked the gate and got back in. “You know what I’m thinking.”

“That it’s Jake’s dad? Hell yeah.” He sped to the hospital.

OKAY, SO SOME SUSPENSE FOR ALL YOU GUYS. HOPEFULLY ITS GOOD. ITS NOT MY FIRST STORY, BUT MY FIRST SUSPENSE, SO I’M NOT REALLY GOOD AT IT. I WANT TO GET SOME THINGS STRAIGHT, AS FOR GE’S CREATURE, I STILL HAVE NO IDEA. ITS PROBABLY A VAMPIRE, PROBABLY A WEREWOLF, BUT ITS NOT OFFICIAL YET. I’M DOING SOME RESEARCH SO IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF CHAPTERS IT’LL ALL COME OUT. HOWEVER, I WANT TO KEEP THIS STORY AS UNIQUE AS POSSIBLE, SO IT MAY HAVE SOME QUALITIES AS EDWARD CULLEN OR WOLVERINE, BUT IT’LL BE MY OWN, NOT SOME STEPHENIE MEYER/X-MEN CREATION. NEXT, THE WHOLE DAD THING WAS ORIGINALLY ONLY SUPPOSED TO SHOW THE KIND AND HUMAN AND COMPASSIONATE CHARACTER IN GERALD. HE THINKS HE’S A MONSTER, BUT KIM SEES THERES MORE HUMAN IN HIM THAN HE REALIZES. AND I KNOW HOW MUCH GE LOVES KIM AND HOW PROTECTIVE HE IS OF HER, SO I DID TRY TO INCLUDE THAT, THX FOR NOTICING! :D. BUT AS I CONTINUED THINKING, THE WHEELS IN MY MIND WERE TURNING, AND SOMETHING POPPED UP SO I WANTED TO INCLUDE IT AS A TWIST. AND THE REASON WHY HE DIDN’T READ THE DAD’S MIND IS BECAUSE THERE’S SO MUCH GOING THAT THE DAD DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS ABOUT TO GET INTO A CAR CRASH, HE ONLY KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG, BUT KIM TRUSTED HIM, SO HE DECIDED TO DO THE SAME. ANYWAYS, I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT SO FAR, AND COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED. THANKS EVERYONE! MWAH, HAVE A GREAT NIGHT/DAY! AND TO MY FELLOW CANADIANS, HAPPY CANADA’S DAY!