Face

"Mmm..." Alec murmurs and sighs with pleasure at Ryan's attention. His arms tighten around her, as he pays no attention to what time it was, or how much time they had before they needed to get back. Enveloped in another kiss was all he cared about.

Eventually pulling away a little bit, he smiles at Ryan, resting his forehead against hers. "Alright, Miss Danger... I guess you're stuck with me."

He plants another kiss on her lips, but quite suddenly, his hand is on the doorhandle. Opening the door, he grabs hold of Ryan and pulls her out of the car with him, standing her up. "Okay, time for food," he announces abruptly, abandoning the cuddling. "And a walk on the beach."


Chance finally laughs too, joining in with Destiny as he stops the cart in the next aisle. "She was pretty funny," he agrees.

Leaning on the handle of the cart, he just studies Destiny for a moment, seeing life behind the veil of sorrow that had been placed over her eyes. "I like the look on your face right now too," he comments, almost too quietly to hear.

Just as quickly as he'd said it though, he looks away, clearing his throat, and points to the breakfast food. "Cereal? Poptarts? Granola bars? What'll you have?"


Concentrating on painting the trim around the outside window, Leo's brush falters as he hears a motorcycle rev behind him. Pausing his work, he turns around and is surprised to see Eli pull up to the curb.

It was odd Eli would stop or seek him out, and for a moment, Leo wonders if something is wrong. Setting down his paintbrush and wiping his hands on a towel, he wanders over to the bike as it's turned off. "Eli."

Eli takes off his helmet and nods to Leo. "Hey, how's it going?"

They didn't talk as much, now that Leo wasn't over at the apartment with Ryan anymore, but Leo did miss Eli's company sometimes. "It's going alright."

"Somebody said I might find you here. Part time job?"

"No... just helping out a friend." Leo glances over his shoulder, seeing Cassy's form in the doorway. He looks back to Eli with question. "What's up?"

Eli knew he might as well just cut to the chase. "I came to ask your help."

Leo quirks an eyebrow and folds his arms. "Help with what?"

"You said once you had a friend who had a big garage... I'm needing space for a paint job."

"There's plenty of places you could find without asking me." Leo was even more suspicious now. "Mark's shed is five miles out of town. A bit out of your way, don't you think?"

"Yeah, well... If you could just get a hold of the keys... that would be helpful."

Leo's eyes narrow. "What's going on, Eli?"

Eli purses his lips, then gestures down to where he'd sanded his bike earlier. "You can't see it now, but somebody got to my bike... mine and my girlfriend's. This little job of mine, it's... well, let's just say it's payback... in the nicest way, of course."

"Oh, no..." Leo shakes his head. "You're not dragging me into the middle of something like that. I'm sorry about your bikes, but I got-"

"It was Roth."

Leo stops short, anger automatically surfacing. "Roth? Why?"

"It's my girl... she used to be his. He got mad... ruined the paint on my bike, and the job I'd just done on hers."

"So what exactly is it you're planning?"

"I just want to... borrow... Roth's racing car. Just for a couple days, mind you. He won't even know it's gone. And my girl's out of town so she won't get involved."

Leo had a feeling he knew what Eli was up to. "And you want Mark's garage to keep it during those couple days because it's far from town."

"Might be nice to have an extra set of hands to push, too."

Leo thinks for a moment, still skeptical. "Ryan in on this?"

"Probably." Eli searches Leo's eyes. "Her and Alec both if I can nab them."

Leo immediately backs down. "Aw, no... no, I'm sorry. I just can't do that. I'll get you Mark's keys but other than that, you're on your own."

"Come on, Leo," Eli begs. "You wanna get back at Roth too, right?"

"Sounds like you got enough people," Leo spits back.

Eli sighs, seeing that Leo didn't want to be around Ryan and Alec and he couldn't blame him. "Yeah, okay. Just get me the keys and tell me where the shed is."

"Alright. When?"

"Tonight?"

Leo quirks an eyebrow. "I'll try to make it happen. If I can, I'll stop by your place tonight with the keys."

"Ten o'clock?"

"Got it." Leo backs up as Eli starts his engine again. Standing still for several moments, he stares down the street, even after the bike was out of sight. Even if he was just getting a set of keys, it meant he was involved in this thing. He did want to get back at Roth, and he knew whatever plan Eli had up his sleeve was probably a good one. But he just couldn't do more than secure a safe location... he wasn't going to work alongside Ryan, let alone her and Alec both. That was asking too much.

Put in a bit of a sour state, Leo spins around and stalks back to the window, grabbing his paintbrush again. His first swipe and paint lands on the window, making him growl at himself. "Nice, Leo." Taking his towel, he wipes it off and starts again, though his mood wasn't much for intricate work at this point.