It was mid-afternoon and Riley and I were sitting on the carpet of the lounge-room playing Yahtzee. He was far to smug over the fact that he was winning. I'd never been good at the game and Riley had now realised that. It had been a couple days since Nate went to stay with Bliss. I hadn't heard from them but apparently Riley had, and he said they were getting along swell - that was accompanied by a little grin and I'm not quite sure what it means so I'll need to call Bliss and find out.

"Full house, baby, full house!" Riley shouted after he rolled his die. "Now I only need to get a good round of sixes and I win."

"Oh, shut it, Martin!" I said, looking dismally at my card. I was losing miserably.

Over the last couple days Riley and I had taken 'lazy days' as he called them. We lived in big jumpers and ugg boots, played board games and ate whatever we wanted. It was perfect.

Riley didn't tip-toe around me like everyone else did when my parents died, and that's exactly what I needed. I couldn't handle his pity. We hadn't spoken about my break down or the night that followed it but I felt so much more secure knowing that he was there for me physically and emotionally.

I was just about to roll my die when three loud knocks were heard coming from the door. My eyes grew wide and darted to Riley. No one is supposed to know this place exists. Someone found us. Someone found us. Someone found us.

He stood up very slowly and held his hand out for me to follow him. He led me out to the side window and made me stand against the wall.

The door knocked again.

Riley held a single finger up, telling me to keep quiet as he slowly peeked out behind the curtain, attempting to look at the intruder. He held still for a moment and I forgot to breathe. What if this is it?

We stood for mere seconds but they felt like minutes and just as the silence began to envelope me Riley growled. "What the -" he said, before ripping himself from the window. "Stay here."

He walked through the room and to our front door, opening it with a huff. "What in the world are you doing here?"

I swear I've never been more confused in my life.

Deciding it wasn't someone set out to kill me, I tentatively followed after Riley. When I reached the door and peaked out from behind Riley, my relief, confusion and joy all spiked.

"Spence!" I called, shocked to see him standing at our door. "What are you doing here?"

Without a word he held up a photo that contained my mum, my dad and me. My photo.

"You left it at the cinema the other day and when I followed your car to give it back to you, some guy was leaving and I didn't think it was the best time. I haven't had a chance to bring it back until today, but I figured you'd probably want it considering..." He trailed off but I didn't really care. After everything, I hadn't even noticed it was missing but now I wanted nothing more than to cling to it.

"Thank you. Thank you! This is the only photo I have of my parents with me. I can't imagine..." I stepped around Riley and hugged Spence. This action caused a loud growl to sound from Riley as he grabbed my waist and pulled me from Spence.

"Hey!" I said but it fell on deaf ears as Riley pushed me behind him and stepped right up in front of Spence in a very intimidating fashion.

"How did you find this place? And who else knows of our location. You have put her life in danger just by speaking to her let alone coming here. Tell me who else knows, Now!"

Spence's eyes grew to the size of saucers as he looked at me rather than the very furious and scary police officer in his face.

"Wait, life in danger? What do you mean? Are you okay, Sabine?" He spoke in one long rapid sentence.

I half smiled, and put my hands on Riley's forearm, trying to get him to calm down. "I'm fine at the moment, Spence. But there is a lot you don't know about Riley and I and why we are here."

"What does he mean when he says your life is in danger?" Spence continued to ignore Riley.

I sighed and said, "Maybe you should come in?" but Riley didn't like that idea very much.

"No! Absolutely not. You will not be coming near her again. We've been compromised because of you. Sabine and I need to pack and move location as soon as possible."

"Whoa, what?" I asked. "Riley you are so over-reacting here!"

He didn't even look back as he stomped around the house, throwing things into bags and making a mess. When I heard the sound of glass breaking, I knew this had to stop. I rushed upstairs and into Riley's bedroom and saw him standing and staring at a broken photo frame on the floor. Upon closer inspection I realized it was his family. Riley, Nate and their parents.

He must have heard me come in, because without turning to look at me, he spoke.

"I can't believe I let this happen... I knew I should never have taken you into town.. My father would be disappointed."

My eyes grew wide with disbelieve as I stepped closer and placed a hand on his back, "Riley, that's ridiculous. This is not your fault. I'm still alive. You're still doing a great job at protecting me. There is no reason for your father to be disappointed in you, and even if there was I'm certain he would love you regardless." His back was still faced toward me and I decided to take a risk. I stepped even closer and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Riley, it's okay. Spence is harmless. Please, let us stay. I can bare it here... I think I'd go crazy if we had to move somewhere else. I need a little bit of stability. Please."

He sighed but didn't turn around, "Hudson would-"

"Hudson wouldn't have to know. Please, Riley... It'll be okay."

Finally, he turned around to look at me, but stayed silent for eight heartbeats.. Yes, I counted. It felt like longer than that though as he breathed in and out slowly, before closing his eyes and bowing his head.

"Fine, we will stay. But you need to explain him how important it is to keep his mouth shut. And Hudson better not hear a single word about it."

My smile grew wide and I jumped up to hug him, "thank you thank you thank you, Riley. You're the best."

I grabbed his hand and pulled him through to the house to where Spence sat, ringing his hands in the living room.

When we entered he stood, jittering and stumbling toward us, "I don't know what's going on here but I'm so sorry, I'll leave right away. You don't even have to explain I'll just go and-" Before his rambling could go any further I interrupted, "Spence! It's okay... Honestly, it's fine. But there is a lot of things you need to know, so if you could just.." I gestured toward the lounge he had been perched upon just before. He sat, although still on edge.

Riley looked to me and his eyes asked if I was sure. I sent him a small smile and a single nod, before sitting on the chair across from Spence.

"My name is Sabine Greyson. I have two parents, Emily and Adrian Greyson, who were both murdered not too long ago," I had to stop and take a deep breath before I could continue, "Um, they were murdered by a man named William Chase. The police think that he may have people who are after me, and so they shipped me and poor Riley over here middle-of-nowhere-Remington until they can make sure there are no more threats to my life. Now that you know where we are, it is vital that you don't tell anyone else. Because if it gets out that I am here, it will become life or death for me... I'm trusting you, Spence. We're trusting you."

Riley didn't have any input, although I assume he was still angry about this decision anyway. Spence sat quietly for a moment, looking down at his shoes. I was worried for a second that this had been a terrible mistake to bring him into this, that he would run terrified of my life... To be honest, I wouldn't blame him. I really wanted to do the same thing.

Eventually, he lifted his head to look at me and I almost choked on the sympathy he was emitting. When Spence went to open his mouth I quickly cut him off, not wanting to hear anymore "I'm so sorry" remarks.

"Spence, don't worry about it I'm-" I couldn't think of a word to finished that sentence. I wasn't okay, I wasn't good, and I certainly wasn't well. I just felt empty, really. "-I'm fine."

The silence that word ensued was deafening, and I needed it to stop.

"Okay," I said with a clap of the hands and very fake enthusiasm, "can we please get back to me beating Riley at Yahtzee?"

"Keep on dreaming, Sabbie. I am so far in the lead it's not even funny," Riley said, winking as he went to sit at the table we had set up our game.

I stood as well, and went over to where Spence still sat incredibly still, "You can play once I thrash him if you want." He just nodded but didn't look at me. I lifted his chin so I could look him in the eyes, "Spencer, honestly, I can't handle any more sympathy... Please, just treat me the way you always have." He didn't say anything but he nodded, so I took what I could get.

"I'm going to get food," I told both the boys before walking to the kitchen. I opened the cupboard to look for anything edible that wasn't Riley's health food crap and was shocked, delighted and suspicious all at the same time when I saw a block of chocolate sitting right in front of me.

"I figured that a little sweetness couldn't hurt," Riley spoke from behind me and I smiled at his gesture before turning and hugging him.

"Thank you, I really needed it."

"I know, baby. Come on, let's go win some Yahtzee."

I laughed and clung to the chocolate as we raced back to the game board.