14- Impending Consequences.

"Come on Shane, is that really any of your business?" Quayleigh questioned as she glared at him.

"Look, if he's staying with you, I have a right to know more about him. No offense Shirtless, I'm sure you are more than capable of keeping her safe, but as her best friend, it is my duty to look out for her. And you know I'm just going to keep prying until I get the answers I want."

"Fine, yes, Sayer's his father, but keep it to yourself. No one knows he's staying here, and we want to keep it that way. Now, you're the one who said that you didn't want to be involved, so don't get involved."

"Oh, I have no intentions of getting involved," Shane smirked, "I just wanted to know how he could afford that car out there."

"You are absolutely shameless," Quayleigh snickered.

"And that's why you love me," Shane gleefully remarked before finishing the last of his coffee. "But hey, as fun as this has been, I need to go. You know how my mom hates it when I'm late picking her up, as if I have nothing better to do with my time."

"Give her my best," she replied as they stood and headed to the kitchen setting their mugs on the counter.

"Walk me out?"

"Yeah," she replied as they headed to the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she told Tau as she slipped on a pair of sandals and opened the door.

"Nice chatting with you, Shirtless," Shane remarked as he stepped out into the hallway.

"Yes, Shane. It has been enjoyable," Tau replied, watching them over the back of the couch as they left the apartment. Quayleigh giving him an endearing smile as she closed the door.

"Honey, what the hell are you doing?" Shane asked as they walked down the hall together.

"I'm helping out a friend; that's all."

"Yeah, and what you need to be doing, is him!" he exclaimed as they headed down the stairs. "Damn Quays, I know you are half blind, but your good eye is more than capable of seeing what is sitting on your couch. Sure, his personality isn't great, but he can afford to buy a new one. He's rich, and hot. How are you not into that?"

"Not really the problem."

"Then what? He's clearly into you."

"How do you figure?" she asked as she opened the door, and they headed out into the parking lot.

"Ah for one, he's letting you borrow his car!"

"Because he thinks it will help me out."

"Two, he was half naked sitting on your couch, looking hella scrumptious when his mouth was closed."

"He took his shirt off because he was itchy. Scrumptiousness aside, for the moment."

"And third, he's doing everything he can to protect you. Maybe you didn't notice, but he looked like he was about to rip my hand off when I was holding yours, and when we were in the kitchen, I thought he was about jump me for being too close to you. A guy like that, does not get that sort of jealous over a woman he isn't interested in."

"Ok, maybe you're right, but he's not in a good place right now. And the moment he gets himself sorted; we'll go back to just being long distant friends."

Opening his car door, Shane turned and looked at her, "Quays, I've known you for three years now, and I know when you're lying to yourself. You've been into that man for as long as I've known you, and frankly I'm so pissed that you never told me who he was." Shane grit his teeth, took a breath and then continued, "Now he's here, and in your home, and you are so certain he's incapable of seeing anything beyond your scars that you're going to hold back to avoid getting hurt."

"Well yeah! Who the hell willingly goes into something knowing they're going to get hurt at the end of it?"

"Someone who wants to experience all the good stuff first. Everything's eventually going to end Quays. So, get lost in the moment now. Live and be happy, and seriously, get yourself a piece of Shirtless while you can. You never know, you may end up being wrong about him. Maybe he's the only person in the world that's capable of seeing you for the woman you are, and not the scars you wear. Well, the only straight guy anyways."

"I'll take your sage wisdom under advisement," she replied as Shane leaned closer to her giving her a stern look. "Fine, fine, I'll think about it. Under the condition that you keep all of this to yourself."

"Oh honey, you have my word on that. There isn't anyone who would believe me about this shit anyway," Shane remarked as he got into his car. "I don't need people looking at me like I'm crazy, saying crap about you shacking up with some rich kid from the Grove, driving around in your new, fancy car that's worth more than this whole freaking shit show of a town; someone would lock me up with the crazies, and throw away the key. Instead, I got shit to do, people to see, and a mother to go fetch from the nail salon. When I see you tomorrow, you better be glowing, and your nails better not be naked."

"Yeah, I'll be in at 3, like normal. Have a good night."

"And you have the best night you've had in years," he replied as he closed his door.

Heading back towards the building, Quayleigh waved as Shane drove off before making her way inside and back up to her apartment. When she arrived, she found Tau sitting on the bed, looking at the phone.

"Did it ring again?"

"Yes, but not like before. It made a different sound this time. It was only once and then it stopped," he replied as she locked the door and kicked off her sandals.

"It was probably a text message, or maybe an email," she remarked as she moved to the bed and sat down next to him. "Everything we need to know about who Dylan is, is probably on that phone. Anyone who can get online basically lives their lives in full view of the world on it."

"I don't understand."

"It's okay. Give it here, and I'll show you."

Handing the phone to her, she adjusted the pillow and stretched out on the bed behind him. "Come here, so you can see."

Tau smiled as she shifted over and he eagerly laid down at her side, resting his head on the pillow, looking over her shoulder as she tapped at the surface and pushed different symbols around until she found what she was looking for.

"First things first; let's see who called you earlier," she remarked as she opened up the call log. There were nearly a hundred missed calls over the course of the last two months alone, which given that it had been inside Dylan's condo the entire time, wasn't that much of a surprise. The latest call, however, had come from one of his contacts, someone listed under the name, Caoimhín. Searching back through the log, Caoimhín, had called at least twice a day for the last two weeks. "As I suspected, people are starting to get worried. You have a bunch of text messages asking for you to get a hold them and letting them know you are alright. But I think we should find out who this Caoimhín is, since he's the only one that has actually tried to call you."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Social media," she replied as she scanned through the apps on his phone. "This one should tell us what we want to know," she said tapping on the 'MyWorld' app.

"What is this?"

"This is an app that lets you connect with people all around the world. You can share pictures and messages, set up events, post videos, live stream; like I said, you can live your life in full view of the world. And it looks like you were really active until almost a year ago."

"Wasn't that when Francesca died?"

"Yeah, the last post he made was this one, 'I'm going to be out of contact for a few months. There's no internet or cell reception where I'm going. I need time away from all this. I love you all so much, but I need this for myself. I'll let everyone know when I get back.' Seems he set it up, hoping that no one would worry. Explains why there's no missing person report out for you yet."

"Maybe Caoimhín didn't see this message?"

"Or something happened and he's trying to reach out, hoping he gets through."

Searching through his friends list, she found Caoimhín's profile and clicked on it. "Caoimhín Kirkwood... and, he's Dylan's older brother based on the birthdate listed. And yeah, he's definitely trying to get in touch." She pointed out a post he had made several days previous, reading it to him, "'Has anyone heard from Dylan recently? I know he said he'd be out of contact for a while, but it's been more than two months. REALLY STARTING TO WORRY! If anyone knows where he went, please, I'm begging you, let me know!'"

Scrolling down, they read through the comments together, the messages all similar, filled with the typical, 'hope you hear from him soon', 'If I hear anything, I'll let you know', 'Try not to worry, he's bound to show up soon', and the like.

"Sadly, Det. Mazurka may end up being a problem. He said you used to be friends," she commented as she closed the app, and opened up his message center. Scrolling down to the contacts list she found Yechiel Mazurka near the bottom. "Good thing Dylan never bothered deleting any of his messages. The last ones dated eleven months ago… give or take a few weeks. It seems he was trying to reach out to Dylan, after… damn, Francesca wasn't just his girlfriend, she was his fiancée."

"Is that important?"

"Yeah, it's what you become before you get married. No wonder her death fucked him up so bad."

"Those closest, always seemed the saddest, or angriest. What should I do, Quayleigh? Am I Dylan now? Or am I me?"

"I don't know, Tau. I always want you to be you, but the smartest thing would be for you to study everything you can about who Dylan used to be, and to try and be more like him, around everyone who isn't me. Learn about his friends and his family. Figure out how he talked with them, and do your best to fake who you were, until they get familiar with who you are now. Because eventually, you're going to have to respond to someone to let them know you're alright. Otherwise, regardless of what Dylan told them, they are going to start to worry, and they will come looking for you. And we still don't know what Mazurka might do, especially if he sees a message like this, and lets your family know that he saw you in the city."

"I understand. It's important for them to know Dylan is alive, even if the Dylan I am, isn't the Dylan they know. I am Dylan now, and I need to act as he would. Will you help me do that?" he asked as Quayleigh put down the phone and turned to look at him, closing her left eye as she did.

"Why do you close your eye like that?" he asked as he reached up and touched her cheek, allowing the tips of his fingers to graze the surface of the deep scar.

"Makes it easier to see. Sometimes it's hard to focus with it open. If I close my right and look around with my left, all I see are blurs and staticky shadows, and those interfere with my sight when I'm in a crowded room, or up close to someone, like now, with you."

"I like being this close with you," he whispered. His hand settling against the side of her face, he swept over the apple of her cheek with his thumb causing her to open her eye. "It really is beautiful, Quayleigh. I feel bad that this happened to you, but I'm sure Death had a reason for it."

"You mean letting me live?"

"No, I mean when he gave you his eye."