"Wake up."

Looking down at my phone I could see that it was three in the morning but I was wide awake.

The same couldn't be said about River who was basically past out in his bed. He was lying on his stomach shirtless leaving me the view of his well muscled tattooed back. Frankly I wasn't complaining about the sight which was probably why I wasn't too violent about waking him up.

"Fuck off Kennedy." Came his mumbled groan as he turned his head away from me as I pointed the light on my phone at his face.

If I was anyone else I probably would've been thrown out of his room by now.

"Get up." Smacking my hand against his back like a child the sound seemed to echo in the room as he hissed in pain.

"You have about ten seconds to get out before I throw you out."

We both knew his threat was an empty one when it came to me.

So I did it again.

Only this time he grabbed my wrist with his tattooed hand stopping me in my tracks. His eyes were still closed but I knew he was well alert for any movement. His hand was warm against my wrist for the first time I noticed just how cold the room was.

Looking up I could see that the window was open and I couldn't help but smile. River couldn't sleep with the window closed.

Trust me we had plenty of arguments about this when we were kids. The amount of times I had to freeze my ass off because of him was out of control.

As we got older though the fights stopped. River started getting deeper into our parents world which meant normally he was up late most of the night doing the dirty work for the families.

Soon I realised that what ever sleep he could get was a blessing so I let him do what ever he wanted.

Even if that meant I had to freeze my ass off.

River yanking my arm made me half fall onto the bed and onto to him. He had managed to flip over as he pulled me over making me land on top of him. He pushed my head into the crock of his neck almost out of reaction as he got comfortable once more.

Only this time I was apart of the situation.

"Sleep." Was his response making me roll my eyes.

"Get up." I responded trying to push him away but his arm snuck around my waist stopping me dead with the one below my neck bending at the elbow to tighten around my neck slightly.

This time when he spoke his voice was husky with sleep and his nose nuzzled my collarbone.

"Stop."

My whole body froze on reaction to his body and voice, in fact I froze because... well it was him.

"Get up." My voice was barely a whisper as he straightened out his arm below my neck giving him the access to trail kisses up from my collarbone to my neck.

For a second my brain switched off and I almost forgot why I was here. My breathing became hitched between his kisses and his fingers dancing on my skin at my waist.

My top had went up slightly giving him the access he wanted and he leaned up over me as his kisses ran along my jaw and closer to my lips.

Then I remembered how I ended up in this situation in first place and spoke the one sentence I knew that would make him snap out of it.

"Draven is waiting on us in the car."

River froze completely and groaned as he sat up straight, I could've laughed at how quickly he switched from one thing to another.

"Why the fuck is that dick outside my house?" He looked behind him and towards me in the dark and I was sure with the light on my phone he could see my grin.

Which is probably what prompted his next question.

"Screw that, what the hell did you do now?"

"I'm slightly offended right now." I scoffed getting up from the bed and switching on the light with the clap of my hands. "If I was in trouble I would've at least brought popcorn so that we could enjoy the story together."

River squinted his eyes against the light and he reached for his phone and turned to me with a bewildered look. "It's three in the morning, what the hell Kennedy?"

"We have work to do." I responded lifting some of his clothes off the ground and throwing them at him.

"I just got home two hours ago."

Pausing I looked at him and could see his dark bloodshot eyes from tiredness and as he ran his hand through his hand I could see the tension in us muscles.

He was worn out.

"Shit, I didn't know." Guilt flooded my body, he was probably the only person that could make me feel that emotion. "Don't worry about it then, I'll go find Ezra."

"No it's fine." River's response came out quicker than I thought as he pulled his jeans on. "Let's just make it quick."

"Rivvy seriously, it's alright I'll just go find your brother." He froze at his nickname leaving my lips before slowly looking over his shoulder at me.

He took a few steps towards me but I held my ground as he rested his hands on the beside table behind me. "Do you really think I'd let you go out there and do fuck knows with my brother?"

Smiling I leaned forward so that ours faces are only inches apart and whispered. "Sometimes Ezra is more fun."

River scoffed but his grin never left his sharp features. Something that he had gotten from his dad.

"Ezra is never more fun that me." He put a quick kiss on my lips before stepping away and turning his back to me in search of a top.

While he did so was shocked but I kept a blank expression on my face.

Me and River have kissed before, plenty of times in fact and they resulted in something a lot more than a quick peck on the lips.

What didn't normally happen though was the randomness of it. Normally our kisses were the results of drunken nights or used as openings to get rid of unwanted attention.

We had never kissed like that without there being a reason. For a second I wondered if he really was sleep deprived and lost his mind.

We've had forehead kisses and messing around like what had happened moments ago when I tried to get him up. Never before had we had a moment that actually resulted in something like that sober.

River though acted completely normal about the whole thing so I followed his lead and didn't even question it out loud.

Once my attention was drawn away from my thoughts something else clicked. My heart rate was doing a million miles an hour and I could feel my unsteady breathing with every breath I took. My hands felt sweaty and I could feel the heat coming from me.

I've had plenty of boyfriends and plaything and I've never had a reaction like this.

My mind went to a comment my brother had said not that long ago.

'The two of you have been oddly touchy, feely lately."

When my brother had first spoke it I had brushed him off not really taking in his words. Me and River had always been close since we were born. So being 'touchy feely' with him was never something I thought about until now.

How is it you go from a five year old boy and girl rolling in the mud together, to two teenagers who have watch what they would do or other people would question it.

Now that I think about it River's previous relationship had ended because of the jealousy of our closeness. He had told her that I had been in his life a hell of a lot longer and that if she didn't like it she knew where the door was.

So she left and he didn't care.

Tori had left to try and get a reaction out of him. She wanted to show him that she was serious about leaving if he didn't stop hanging around with me.

River didn't give a shit and Tori's plan had backfired on herself because River never gave her a second glance.

He had told me that if a girl had asked him to ditch one of his closest friends then he didn't want any part in that relationship.

He had told me it was all about trust and he is right.

The whole time he was with Tori he did tone the touchy shit down with me now that I thought about it. He didn't kiss my forehead like he normally did, he didn't throw his arm over my shoulder as we walked down the hall, in fact he didn't do anything that would question his and Tori's relationship.

What change though was how close me and him were. He was always there for me even when he was going out with her and he still hung around with me without even second guessing.

Compared to what Tori had told everyone River was 100% faithful in their relationship.

He didn't bother to correct the shit that she had said about him though. Calling them a childish tantrum.

River never cared what people thought about him.

"Layla?" My head snapped up at the sound of my real name coming out of his lips. He was frowning as he threw a top over his head that he had finally found.

He never said my real unless he was trying to get my attention.

"What?" I asked almost starstruck between my thoughts and his gaze.

"Get lost in your thoughts there Kennedy?" He asked with a smirk as put his shoes on.

"Something like that." I responded as I watched him do such a simple task.

"Oh yea? Thinking about me?" He let out a deep chuckle as he tied his shoes not once looking up and I thanked God that he wasn't looking my way.

If he did I had a fear that my face would tell him that his own comment was the truth.

So I scoffed and grabbed one of his hoodies that were thrown over the back of a chair. "Please, you wish."

He walked over to me and took the hoody from my hands. His eyes never leaving mine. "Sometimes I do." And then he sent a wink my way before throwing the hoody over his head.

The impossible happened with my heart rate as it kicked it up a notch.

What the fuck was the man trying to do to me?

Trying to calm my racing heart I knew I needed to change the subject.

"We better go, Draven is probably wondering what the fuck is taking so long."

River scowled and I got the reaction I was looking for.

"Let him think what ever the fuck he wants."

Sighing I started to walk towards the door knowing that I was going to be in for a long night of the two of them at each other's throats.

"Why the hell do the two of you not get on anyway?" It was the truth even I didn't know. "One second you were both best friends, the next you were at each other's throats."

River was silent for a moment as he followed behind me and just when I thought he wouldn't answer he finally did. "We grew up."

"You were fifteen, I would hardly call that grown up."

River put his hands in his pockets and his shoulders tensed, a clear sign that he didn't like this conversation.

"We grew apart then" Was his last and only response.

There was far more to the story than he was letting on but I said nothing knowing if he didn't want to say it he wouldn't.

"Maybe I am better of bringing Ezra then, if the two of you are just going to rip each other's heads off the whole night I couldn't be bothered with it."

River stepped in front of me stopping me in my tracks with a childish grin on his face. "I promise to be on my best behaviour."

"Your best behaviour is also considered some peoples worst behaviour."

River chuckled at my response and I couldn't help but smile at the sound of it.

"Ok, fair enough there. I promise that I won't swing for him. Can't promise that I will keep my opinions to myself though."

Giving him a pat on the cheek like a child I walked past him to the stairs. "That's all I ask for."

"So what is our late night adventure for then?" He asked seeming to finally remember why I had even woken him up at this hour.

"Reagan gave me a folder before he left. It has all the names of every man and woman working for the Italian's in this City. There's a curtain one that jumped out at me and I thought we could go and pay him a visit."

There was no point in sugarcoating any of it. River probably knew well enough of what my brother was up and was problem in the heart of it himself.

In fact he probably knew more about the situation than I did.

"Oh who?" Asked River seemingly bored about the whole thing but I knew River. This was how he got his mind ready for what was about to go down.

He was an expert at keeping his world and his personal one separate.

"Heath Dalloway."

The tension coming from River could be felt in waves. He knew who I was talking about straight away.

Heath was the one that I had fought at the gym and he was also at the port.

"His info was in that file?"

"Everything." I nodded letting him know what it was he wanted to know. "He's nineteen but his family history is a bit dark. His parents were both heavy on the drugs and both lived here. His mom ended up killing his dad on one of their highs and now she's locked up. She was then relocated to a maximum security prison after she killed her cell mate and three others. He was eleven when it happened."

River let out a low whistle letting me know he was impressed. "Interesting story but how did he end up working for the Italian's."

This was the part that made the story really interesting.

"Heath's mom is the cousin of Luka Giudice."

"Which means he is the great grandson of an Italian Crime boss." River spoke piecing it all together before I even spoke it.

"Apparently when they had found out about his parents and what blood runs in his veins they took him from the adoption place and he wasn't heard from since."

"Until he showed up back here." Concluded River understanding where I was going with this.

"My guess is that they took him more than just because of his blood. He was born and raised here, probably knew the streets well. I remember that my parents had once told me that they had a run in with the Italian's when Reagan was born. If I was to bet I'd say Heath was a new piece brought to the board."

River let out a laugh but I didn't know what was so funny until I looked over my shoulder at him. "Look at you thinking like your mom."

I was about to protest but he was right. The way my mind had thought about the whole situation was the same way mom would've came up with it and I could feel but feel the slight pride that came my way.

"Now I'm going to act like my dad and do what ever it takes to get the information that we need."

When we finally made it to be car Draven was sitting in the front and River scowled as he opened the passenger door.

"Move." Was his only comment as Draven scowled up at him with his amber eyes making me roll my own.

River had all the patience in the world for dealing with my shit and a handful of others but with others he lack the social skills to even care.

Ignoring them both I got into the drivers side waiting for them to finish what ever childish games they were playing at.

We had bigger shit to do.

Surprisingly as I threw myself into the middle of this there wasn't a doubt in my head that this was what I was meant to do.

Reagan trusted me to help mom protect this City, he trusted me more than I trusted myself.

So now it was time to show them just what Layla Kennedy could do when she put her mind to it.