Kylie felt like shit. She'd been feeling like shit for the past two months and it was driving her absolutely insane. All those months of keeping herself numb were coming back to bite her in the ass now and it was torturous that she couldn't reach for anything to take it all away. Every single day, she woke up hating herself for all the bullshit she'd pulled. Fucking around with Peter and Chase had been stupid, immature, and it had honestly done more damage than it did help.
If she wasn't hating herself for all the shit she'd done the past year, she was hating herself for ever walking away from Tyler. At the time, she'd thought she couldn't feel any lower than when he made her feel like shit but she'd been wrong. She'd fucked herself up more than he ever had. Now, she'd give anything to go back to the fucked up relationship they'd had before. Even if it hadn't exactly been functional and half the time it had been painful, on the times she was happy, she'd been genuinely happy.
Kylie missed him so much it hurt, and the thought that she might never see him again was agonizing. She wasn't sure what would happen if she did ever see him again, and it was honestly kind of terrifying to think about, but she'd sell her soul just to hear his voice again. Or see Gracie. There wasn't a single day that went by where she didn't think about Gracie.
Rick had told her she was safe and comfortable, which meant she was locked up the same way Kylie was, and it was a relief to know she was alive, but it wasn't like she got to see her and she knew, whatever they were keeping her alive for, they wanted Gracie for too, so it wasn't like they were living in luxury. She woke up everyday afraid that maybe they'd finally sell her off and she'd lose all hope of seeing anyone ever again.
It was a ridiculously boring existence. She did nothing but smoke cigarettes, walk around her room, hate herself, and read the books Rick brought her. Eventually, a knock came at her door and Kylie sighed. "You can come in." She called, letting Rick know she was decent because he'd walked in on her changing a few times and it wasn't like she particularly cared, but it had been kind of funny to see such a big guy's face get so red and embarrassed. Now he knocked whenever he was coming in.
Sure enough, it wasn't someone new, it was Rick who walked through the door, carrying a box with a tray on top, setting the tray on the table and the box on her bed. Kylie sighed and took a drag off her cigarette. The tray was covered in food and the box was filled with clean clothes to wear and books to read, she already knew that. "You should eat Ky." He said, gesturing to the food and Kylie just shrugged.
She'd lost weight over the past two months because, while she ate, she really only picked over the food they brought her. She had yet to eat a full meal, and she didn't really care. The hunger had stopped being painful weeks ago. At that point, it was nothing but an annoyance. "Kylie. For real. Eat." Rick tried arguing and she just shrugged again and went back to watching the barred window. Rick wasn't very good in an argument. She'd learned a long time ago that, if she ignored him long enough, eventually, he just gave up.
"Look, if you eat every last crumb on that fucking tray, I'll sneak you a beer." He finally said and Kylie turned and raised a brow at him, smirking as she brought her cigarette to her lips.
"A joint and a beer." She said, taking a long drag and she could tell her trying to negotiate frustrated Rick, because he ran his fingers through his hair, making her smirk as she watched him think it over.
"Fine, I'll be back in a little while. If that food isn't gone, and by gone I mean eaten, not torn into pieces and thrown through the bars in the window, then no deal." He finally said and she grinned as he slipped out of the room and she went and sat at the table, her stomach turning at the thought of eating so much food after months of picking at it.
After they'd gotten to the house, Matt and Tyler had wasted very little time greeting each other, catching up, and all that bullshit. The two of them were so ridiculously anxious to see the girls, they were on the same page, meaning there wasn't a moment to waste. They just had to get the fuck on the plane.
Tyler was good, he'd hashed out all the details, gotten them bullshit passports, and, before they knew it, they were on the plane. Though Matt couldn't say he was surprised. He was one of the few people who knew Tyler well enough to know that, because this whole thing had been planned by him, it'd go off without a hitch. He'd worked with him for a long time. He knew he was meticulous and careful in his planning. It had been part of the reason the two of them had been completely untraceable in every murder they'd committed.
The plane ride was pretty long and Chelsea wouldn't stop talking, but honestly, he was kind of grateful for her constant chatter. Because she kept him from going insane with anticipation of seeing Gracie again and he knew her continual rain of words was her way of keeping herself sane too, so he just let it continue, not even bothering to try shutting her up.
Eventually though, they'd arrived and suddenly Chels was quiet as they sat waiting for Marshall. Part of him wanted to tell her that, when she finally did see Gracie, it might not be what she was expecting, Gracie had changed since Chelsea had last seen him. However, he stayed quiet because, not only did he not have the heart to tell her that Gracie might still be a raging bitch, but he himself wasn't entirely sure of what he'd find once he finally saw her again. He knew they were keeping her sober, so it might have brought her back to herself, or it might have made things that much worse, he honestly had no idea what would happen and it made him nervous and kept him from saying anything to Chelsea.
“Listen, Louie’s got guys in Italy. The chances that they’ll connect everything is slim.” Tyler said, pulling him from his thoughts and breaking the silence and Matt just nodded to let him know he was listening. “But, not impossible. We should probably continue to use our fake names, maybe change up our looks a bit.” He said and Matt sighed. “What do you think Chels? I think brown would look good on you.” He said to Chelsea and Matt smirked at her as she smiled, knowing she'd jump all over the idea of dying her hair.
Before she could say anything though, Bonnie's voice interrupted the conversation and he glanced up. Marshall was finally there. He sighed and lit himself a cigarette as Tyler's little brother started to pack their things in the car, smirking when he stopped in front of Chelsea, taking a second to stare at her in a way that made it clear he was interested.
Matt just moved from Chelsea's side to join Tyler in the car, taking a drag off his cigarette and waiting for Chelsea and Marshall to join them. The anticipation was literally killing him.
They on the plane quickly, everything moving smoothly, and the fact that they were going to get to see Gracie and Kylie again was exciting enough that that really didn't care that her life had suddenly been blown apart again. She'd just started to make friends at school, made the cheerleading squad, and even had a couple of the football players interested in her. She'd pulled her shit together and felt great about the seemingly "normal" life she'd been living, and now everything was chaos again.
They were going into hiding from extremely dangerous men and hopping a plane across the world. It was scary to say the least, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that Matt was going to finally have Gracie back. He'd spent everyday of his life taking care of her since the day she was born, and, even though a lot of what he'd done had pissed her off, she knew, everything he'd ever done had been for her. If it wasn't for Matt she wouldn't be alive.
Which was why what she wanted didn't matter. All that mattered was that Matt finally did something for himself and got what he wanted. She just wanted him to be happy. It was the only way she could ever really repay him because honestly, as long as she had him to take care of her, she was happy anywhere, but she knew the only way he'd ever really be happy was with Gracie.
She was nervous and scared. She wasn't exactly a stranger to moving around, but it had never really gotten easier. Ever since the first time Matt had taken her from their father's house, everytime they moved, she started to feel nervous, jittery, and a little anxious. Packing up and leaving just wasn't her thing. She liked to be settled and feel safe, but she didn't throw a fit because she loved Matt and she knew why they had to go.
This time was particularly bad because they weren't just moving. They were running. They were going into hiding from men even worse than Bryan. So, no matter how hard she tried, the entire plane ride, she just couldn't shut herself up. She talked to Matt about everything that came to her mind, refusing to stop even for a minute because she was afraid if she did, her jumbled up nerves would cause her to explode.
Thankfully, he sat through her bullshit nonsense babble, and finally, they landed and she was quiet again because she ran out of things to say and the reality of the move had finally set in, meaning her nerves were settling a little. Tyler told them they should probably keep their fake names and suggested she dye her hair, making her smile, because, even if it was dangerous, the whole thing felt like something out of an action movie and thinking of it that way made it a little easier to deal.
Just then, Marshall arrived and Chels stayed quiet, watching him load the bags in the car before he stopped in front of her. He held her eyes, looking like he'd never seen her before and she knew the last time he'd seen her, she'd probably looked a lot worse. The cancer had been gone for a long time sure, but Bryan had kept her pretending. She'd eaten very little to keep herself looking frail and gaunt, and she'd made a point of looking like a hot mess, always wearing dark, smudged eye makeup and exploding into violent coughing fits every few minutes to keep up appearances. It hadn't really been too hard to look like a total crack head about ready to fall to pieces if someone looked at her too hard, considering she'd been one.
Since Matt had gotten her back, she'd cleaned herself up considerably and started eating healthily again. She still had a weak heart, but as long as she took her medicine, you'd never know it by looking at her and she was proud of how far she'd come. It had been a lot of work to pull herself back together.
“Sorry.” Marshall breathed realizing he was staring, making her smirk as Matt slipped over to the car. “You look good Chels.” He said giving her a soft smile, and she smiled back. “I can take your bag.” He offered and Chelsea glanced down, realizing she was still holding it before nodding and handing it to him.
"Thanks, you look good too Marshall, it's been a long time." She breathed with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair before glancing at the car where Matt was. "We should probably get going though, before our brothers explode." She smirked and slipped over to the car, sliding in next to Matt. He was chuckling softly under his breath like he thought something about her second with Marshall was amusing, making her roll her eyes with a smirk and nudge him hard in the ribs.