CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ROCK BOTTOM

large, brick house stood in front of the teenager. Easily passing the black, iron gates - she knew the four digit access code - Cindy pulled into the perfectly paved driveway.

Sitting in her car for a few moments, the girl came to the conclusion that she had officially reached rock bottom. She was her step father's mistress but practically head over heels for him. She had slapped her sister. She flicked off her father. And to top it off, ran away from her mother.

Sighing, she unbuckled her seatbelt, and got out of the Jeep. With a frown etched into her face, she prepared to knock on the door.

The teenage boy sighed, his chin resting in the palm of his hand, elbow on the countertop. His brown eyes watched the blonde girl go from one side of the room to the other again and again.

"Enough!" Thomas finally spoke, his arm giving in and his forehead hitting the marble counter top. He continued to bang his head against it a few more times before readdressing his friend. "Cindy, you have been pacing for the past thirty minutes. I'm pretty sure you're already insane and you're on the verge of driving me crazy so sit your ass down."

Cindy eventually stopped pacing, deciding that it was the better decision to make or her friend would probably end up knocking himself out. Instead of sitting on a bar stool next to him however, she laid down in the middle of the kitchen floor. She felt like she was having a midlife crisis and deemed it the most appropriate spot.

"In my professional opinion, you should suck it up, go home, and apologize to your parents. We can both pray they don't murder you." Thomas told her his honest opinion.

Cindy sat up immediately, her blond hair a little messier than it was before. "And you said I'm the crazy one? That is a horrible plan!"

The boy shrugged, looking at his electric blue nails. "That or we can call Duncan and get his opinion. I'm sure your sugar daddy will fund you."

"Thomas! What are you not understanding? I'm mad at my parents and Duncan!" She explained, returning to her previous position. Her blue eyes stared into the kitchen light as she had her crisis.

The male raised an eyebrow at his best friend. He had never seen her behave this way before and it was genuinely scaring him that the girl was okay with laying on the kitchen floor in her designer clothes.

While she was busy staring into the void, Thomas discretely grabbed her phone that was sitting on the counter a few feet away. Luckily he knew her password - Langdon, the last name of her favorite AHS character - and easily gained access to her phone.

What he found behind the lock screen surprised him. Her home screen background used to be a picture of their friend group but it was now instead a picture of Duncan Shepherd. He was typing away at his computer, a look of pure concentration on his face, bottom lip caught between his teeth. He definitely hadn't noticed Cindy take it.

To Thomas, this was a sign from god to call Duncan. Making sure his best friend wasn't paying attention, he exited the kitchen and slipped into the living room. Scrolling through the contacts, he found "D.💛" and knew it was his target. Picking the name, he pressed the phone icon, and held the black phone up to his ear.

It rang four times before Duncan answered. His normal voice sounded like the sea hitting the shore, beautiful yet rough. However, the normally charismatic man sounded drained... broken even.

Quickly explaining the situation to the older man, Thomas hung up after Duncan told him he would be there soon. Mentally applauding himself for pulling the stunt off, he returned her phone to the kitchen counter. Sure enough, Cindy was still staring at the light fixture.

"Why don't we get you a shower and changed, yea?" He suggested, always having been a sort of mother friend to the girl. "You've left so many clothes here that my bottom drawer is literally only filled with your clothes."

"How did I leave this here? This dress is so cute." She was checking out her own reflection, a blue dress with white flowers covering her body. Her hair was up in space buns and a watch that belonged to her best friend completed her look. After a shower, she actually looked somewhat alive and had moved past her midlife crisis.

Holding her discarded outfit in his arms, Thomas smiled. His work was finished. He had accomplished another feat during his friendship with the senator's daughter. "I'm going to have the made wash these and then I'll add them to the drawer." He told the blonde, tossing the items into a hamper.

"This is one problem solved," the girl said, sitting on her friend's large bed. "Now that I feel more alive, I need to figure out my sleeping arrangements. I'm not quite ready to go back to my mom's. I don't know if I'll ever be."

Before Thomas could make a suggestion or say anything, the doorbell rang. Of course he knew who it was but Cindy didn't. If she did, she would have done everything in her power to stop him from leaving the room to answer it.

Cindy heard the front door open and then she heard something that made her blood go cold: Duncan Shepherd's voice. Wanting to scream bloody murder, she located her keys, and began to walk towards the front door. She was fully prepared to push past the man and make a run for her car. She would figure out the details of living arrangements later.

Her blue eyes landed on him and took everything in her power not to cave then and there. He looked immaculate as always but his face told a different story. His stubble was slightly longer than normal; a regular person wouldn't have noticed but Cindy did. His irises were a muted gray. He appeared beaten and discouraged.

Ignoring her heart, the teenager listened to her brain - for once - and attempted to push past her step father. Her best friend's protests fell upon deaf ears. Her attention was on the white Jeep that sat in the driveway, her point of escape.

Managing to get past the older man only because he hadn't been expecting her to blow past him, she began to make a run for her car. She had found herself running away from her problems too much the past month.

Processing the events that were unfolding before him, Duncan managed to reach the girl before she reached her car. Grabbing ahold of her upper arm, he stopped her from going any farther.

Upon feeling his grasp on her, Cindy knew that she wasn't going to be able to run away from her problems anymore. For some unknown reason, she began to break down. Perhaps it was the stress of the situation, who knows.

Tears ran down her cheeks and she tried to pull away from the man she adored. "Duncan!" She sobbed, her emotions flowing out of her. "Please let me go." She was begging him to let her go like someone begging for their life.

"Where are you going to go, Cindy?" He asked, managing to have a hand on each of her arms. He still held her at an arms length distance, not wanting to overwhelm her even more.

"I don't know," she replied, giving up on getting out of his grasp. With her shoulders slumped, she practically relied on the man to keep her standing. She became so dejected. She just gave up.

"Cin, I'm taking you home."

Without uttering a word, the girl let the man lead her to his black SUV. After he bucked her into the passenger seat, she rested her head against the tinted window. Duncan got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

Before pulling out of the driveway, he rolled down the window to address Thomas. "I'll take care of her. I promise to keep you updated." Rolling the window back up, he drove away from the house.

Cindy watched meekly as she got farther and farther from the comforts of her best friends home. She didn't care that Duncan was taking her back home. In fact, she could care less at that point.

Thomas waiter outside until Duncan's vehicle was out of sight. Going back inside, he in his heart he had made the right decision calling Duncan. At the end of the day, Cindy was still a teenager and needed an adult to help her through the family situation. Duncan Shepherd also happened to be the only adult that truly cared about Cindy Blaine's well being. Thomas knew that for a fact and that's why he trusted Shepherd.