#derek:beau

[ofviolentdeath]

@inkandichxr

"So, what would you say if I told you I was back in town for a few days because my brother can't do his exams online and he's registered to a school here?"

[ofviolentdeath]

Tucked in the right hand pocket of the jacket he was wearing the last time they were together.

Derek,

This is stupid. I feel stupid. You just told me that you have to leave tomorrow, that your sister has an assignment somewhere else. Said you’d come see me before you left to say goodbye. Then you kissed me and it felt like it would be the last time. I hope that it isn’t. I know you’re not my boyfriend. I know this is something casual and maybe just convenient but I’m okay with that. It’s been really, really good. I thought for a minute things were getting weird, that you were regretting hooking up with me but I don’t know… there’s something in the way you kiss me. I’ve never been kissed like that before. Consumed like that. How can you kiss me like that and then leave? You won’t even read this if you don’t come and say goodbye tomorrow, so maybe I’m just taking the chance to get it all out. I don’t think I’ll be able to let someone touch me the way you have without thinking of you. How crazy is that? I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t regret these last two weeks and I wish you didn’t have to go.

Please come back.

-B

They had left New York eight hours ago, had gotten a later start in the day than dad had wanted because Jordan had needed to fill out some paperwork before leaving the hospital. They could have gotten a motel for the night, could have done just about anything, but dad had wanted to camp out, said they had spent too much time cooped up and no one had the energy to argue.

He had been sitting by the fire, turning the folded letter over in his hands on a constant loop. Some small part of him ached at the thought of Beau waiting for him to come back. Some part of him, buried in the back of his mind, wanted nothing more than to go back. But this was where he belonged, on the road with his family, keeping innocent people safe from the monsters that stalked through the shadows.

It wasn't the kind of thing Derek could just tell Beau about either.

Her eyes landed on the paper before sweeping up to her younger brother's face and she had to stifle a groan as she dropped down beside him.

"Der, you know the rules. No attachments," she sighed, bumping his shoulder with her own. She knew about Beau only because of their little jail adventure. Dad hadn't cared but she had. It had been stupid and reckless and it had soured her on Derek's little friend. Worse still was the amount of marks that boy had left on her brother's skin, ones he couldn't have hidden even if he had tried.

Sure, Derek had tried to bullshit her, that it was just some hook-up, but Jordan wasn't an idiot. He went to see this boy every time they were even close to the area.

"Burn it and move on before dad finds out."

He winced at Jordan's words and the annoyance in her tone, his grip tightening on the letter without meaning to. He wanted to argue, wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, but all he could manage to do was nod and wait for her attention to shift literally anywhere else so he could pretend to listen and pocket it quietly.

There was no way in hell he was burning that letter.