*Hey-o friends! I'm back with another chapter of Past Troubles. I almost cried writing Chapter Eighteen(yes, I wrote ahead of this story)...so, the next chapter will be a tear-jerker! Okay, that is all folks! This is published on July 28, 2021. If you guys like this chapter, please be sure to vote and spam the comment section. That will be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!*

The white van, followed by the green truck, drove out of Catalonia and into the farmland that had luxurious amounts of grapefruits and apples to go along with the group.

The white van turned into the little small farmhouse and opening the garage. The van parked in the garage along with the green truck next to it. When the garage began to close, the small little platform under the cars was pulled under the ground mechanically.

When the platform reached under the ground, the lights flickered on to reveal the underground hideout as the van rumbled towards the parking space created for it. The green truck found a parking place right next to it.

The platform raised back towards the garage above them.

Derek got out of the van first as he walked around and opened the back doors for everyone inside. "Welcome to the safe place."

Buster, Ash, Maya, Johnny, Alfonso, Eddie, Mike, Nancy, Johnny's father, Nooshy, and Barry walked out of the van with wide eyes in fascination and gasps from the other group in the green truck.

Stan got out of the truck while Rosita and her kids wandered through the hide-out that was humongous compared to their backstage. Gunter, Porscha, Milla, Meena, Ms. Crawly, Herman, Tim, and McGraw let their gazes searched around the place.

"What is this place?" Stan gasped.

"I wish our hideout was bigger like this," Johnny's father muttered to himself.

Derek helped Chirea up while examining her. "Here, let me help you."

Chirea let Derek helped her out of the van as he carried her over to the hospital bed in the small lab room across from the van.

"You're not going to strap me in?" Chirea questioned with a glance of mistrust.

"Not unless you start going crazy," Derek answered as he took out a needle.

"Don't bother. They already took it out of me."

"Not all of it," Derek implied as he stuck a needle onto her neck and was able to suck out the smallest amount of the chemical that sucked a device that was in her neck up to her skin. He put the needle away as he looked at Chirea. "This is going to hurt."

"I can withstand it."

"Alright, it's your call," Derek responded as he took out a small dagger and dug into her skin. Chirea clenched her teeth in pain as he was able to get the tracker out of her neck carefully without ripping open her skin. He placed a bandage on her neck and put pressure so that she wouldn't bleed to death.

Buster witnessed this while seeing the older elephant putting a tracker in a plastic bag and zipped it up. He dropped it on the floor and stomped it with his huge foot, smashing it into pieces. Derek picked up the bag and showed it to the theater gang.

"You guys missed one thing," Derek said while showing them.

Mike had his eyes widened. "Wait a minute. That looks like the same tracker that was on Nancy except bigger."

"Ah, yes, The Rattler Society likes to keep track on their performers and their puppets," Derek responded with a sigh.

Johnny's father noticed all the gadgets that were more than guns and bullets. "Did you build all of this?"

"Yeah, he's a mad scientist the Rattler Society wished they could have," Cliff answered in a tease.

Derek rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't say I'm a mad scientist."

Alfonso reached for the weird glowing ball with his hand until it shocked him a little.

"Hey, don't touch that!" Derek pointed at Alfonso. "You're going to electrocute yourself to death touching that thing."

Mike blinked and whispered to Nancy. "Geez louis, he is a mad scientist after all."

Nancy nudged at her boyfriend with a small giggle.

Buster began to be wary of everything around him as Maya held his hand to comfort him. He smiled and gently squeezed her hand back.

"How long do we hide here?" Eddie asked Derek as he gazed at the workout room across from them.

Derek wandered through a little small lab room. "I don't know. Until someone could blow up the Rattler Society. Might never happen. Serpent is working on becoming immortal so...someone's gotta kill him before he can't be killed."

"We can't just hide here," Buster protested a little.

"Do you have a plan on how we can take down Serpent?" Derek asked with a brow raised.

Buster was about to say until no words came to his mouth.

"Yeah, I thought so. So, Buster...have you been under a hallucinogen?"

Buster blinked. "Uh...yeah."

Derek took out his x-ray goggles and put them on. He stared at Buster, who shivered under his gaze. There's a brief pause as Derek took off the goggles.

Derek shook his head. "Nope, you don't have the tracker on you. Sometimes, when given a hallucinogen, you either get it from Serpent's tail or from the small thick metal needles that placed a tracker inside of you."

Meanwhile, Chirea rested her eyes on the hospital bed while everyone else was looking around the place.

Johnny noticed the hologram devices that copied his form and his movements. The young gorilla gasped as he waved a little, letting the hologram version of himself wave back.

"Whoa," Johnny voiced as his hologram version of himself echoed the same words.

Nooshy came beside Johnny, letting the hologram copied her form and her movements.

"What is this thing?" Nooshy questioned, having her holographic version of herself question the same thing.

"I don't know," Johnny answered with awe while his hologram copied his answers with the same expression.

Both of them glanced at each other as they danced in front of the hologram, letting their holographic versions of themselves dancing along with them by copying their movements.

Ash noticed them dancing in the hologram as she joined them in their little charade.

Cliff came by them with a smirk on his face as he pushed the button on the hologram. The holographic versions of themselves disappeared, earning confused stares from the silly trio.

Suddenly, the other hologram behind them shined down on the ground behind them, causing them to turn around and to see the larger holographic versions of themselves recorded for the last five minutes, earning the trio's gasps in fascination.

Maya and Meena tilted their heads to see the glowing butterflies fluttering around the greenhouse next to the hospital room.

Derek came up next to them. "Wanna see something cool?"

The girls looked up at the older elephant as he got out a cassette player and played a piece of violin music, getting the butterflies to react strongly. The butterflies' wings flapped faster and faster as they all flew through the greenhouse together as if they're dancing to the violin.

"Wow," Maya gasped while Mike and Nancy glanced around the place.

"So...how come you built all of this stuff?" Mike questioned, looking at the suits.

"Just fun little projects to use in case of an emergency," Derek answered with a shrug.

"How long have you been hiding here?" Nancy inquired

"Since I left the Rattler Society," Derek responded while everyone turned to him with eyes widened in shock.

"Wow, how many more people are we going to run into who 'used to' or who 'currently' is working for the Rattler Society?" Mike asked himself this sarcastically.

"How long ago did you leave them?" Eddie stepped into the conversation.

"Well, it's been a couple of years since I left them," Derek replied. "I couldn't remember what year but I remembered lots of details of working for the Rattler Society. Trust me, they're not fun to work with. Even if you leave them, they're still gonna hunt you down. You're basically a loose end to knowing what corruption they hid."

"Yeah, we can tell," Mike uttered.

Rosita tilted her head in confusion. "How come they weren't after Norman since he used to work for them until now?"

"Because Norman didn't go behind the scenes I'm guessing," Derek explained. "He works in an office, right?"

"Yeah," Rosita replied.

Derek shook his head. "He doesn't know much then until, what I could assume, he realized that they're after you and your friends. But the people behind the scenes are the ones who would be a loose end. People like me and Chester Bellows."

Everyone gasped at the name of Chester Bellows, with shivers down on their spines.

"What's up with this Chester Bellows guy and Bellows Estate?" Nooshy questioned.

"Yeah, from what I heard, it's like a Bermuda Triangle," Johnny's father clarified.

Derek pressed his lips into an unhappy line. "Not exactly. I would ask Chirea about it when she wakes up and recovers. She knows more about the Bellows Estate than me."

Everyone glanced over at Chirea, who's fast asleep in the medical room.

Johnny shifted his attention to Derek. "You said, Mr. Moon's father borrowed money from the Rattler Society. Would he be considered as a loose end?"

Buster shifted his attention towards Derek and the group immediately since he's been looking around the gadgets around the place.

Derek frowned while glancing at Buster. "No. He's not. But...he's considered...a grave mistake."

"My father borrowed money from the Rattler Society?" Buster uttered meekly.

Derek nodded his head slowly. "It's a long time ago...maybe like ten years ago. Your father and I...well, we're close. Business-wise. I helped him advertise for his car wash while he did all the work. However...his work at the car wash didn't make as much as he wanted. He wanted to give you everything, Buster. So, he asked me if I or the Rattler Society could loan the money. He promised he'll pay it back."

Flashback: Ten years ago

"Derek, I know that it sounds a lot," Arthur began as he followed Derek into his own private office in the tallest building in Catalonia called the Mortegal Resort.

"Arthur, you should realize that you're getting weak. The Rattler Society will have my throat if they found out that I gave you the loan to buy the theater with. What's worst...you're not going to be able to pay back. Wanna know why? Because you couldn't even work for yourself anymore. Your body's getting weak and it's only a matter of time before it gives in--"

"Please, Derek, I need this. I need to give this to my son. He's been wanting to conduct a theater since he's a child. He's never going to reach there in the Longhorn theater. The highest he can get is an assistant manager but he could never own the Longhorn theater or any of the theater."

Derek shook his head. "Look, I know you want to do this for your son and help him buy the place but your son can't just take short-cuts."

"He has worked there for six years, Derek. He worked hard. He earned the theater. That boy is gifted and talented beyond anything I've ever seen. He's able to graduate high school early because of how smart he is. Please, you need to give me this. I know that I'm going to die but I wanted my son to be happy before I go...please."

Derek frowned while groaning a bit. He took a moment to pace around the office and looked out into the huge window behind him, looking over Catalonia. There was no talking. No sound was made except the sirens but it's barely heard in the background. After a long pause, Derek finally turned to look at Arthur. He sat down on his chair and wrote something on the desk.

Arthur gasped as he watched Derek wrote something. It's a check. Derek handed it to Arthur. When Arthur was about to reach it, Derek slipped it away from the older koala.

"I'll give you the money. You will not pay it back because we have tons of money. More than we know what we could do with. This check right here is going to cover the theater and the first five years of bills that come along with it. However, I want you to do me one favor."

Arthur nodded his head anxiously.

Derek hardened his stare. "I want you to not say where it came from. You can say some rich dude wrote this since you gave such an extravagant car wash. Or it could be from your thirty years of working paying off, whatever. But don't you say that it came from the Rattler Society. My boss would hate to hear that he gave some money away to charity."

Arthur nodded his head in understanding. "Can I include my son--?"

"No. Your son should not know about this either...just like how you want me to not tell Buster about his childhood past, I want you to not say a word where you got it from. Nobody, not even your son, must know where it came from. You got it?" Derek instructed firmly.

With that, Arthur nodded his head in understanding. "Yes."

"Good." Derek finally handed Arthur the check and Arthur received it slowly. "I don't think we should see each other again."

Arthur sighed deeply. "I believe you're right. Thank you, Derek."

"Don't mention it," Derek replied. "I mean it."

Arthur blinked while holding the check close to his chest. "Okay." With that, Arthur turned to exit out of Derek's office, leaving Derek to sigh heavily, and turned to face the outside world.

"And I couldn't see my family for this," Derek muttered to himself while leaning back against the office chair.

Present:

"--I told him not to tell you like I told him to not tell everyone else," Derek concluded his explanation. "I made him promise me. And I'm sorry for letting him lie to you."

Buster tilted his head in confusion. "That doesn't make sense. Dad's a hard-working man--"

"He was...until his body wasn't working right as he got older. Using your full body for car washes and getting run over by angry customers for going too slow can cause some pain in your ribs at some point. He was dying...but he didn't want to tell. He didn't want you to worry."

Buster felt tears in his eyes while shaking his head in disbelief. "No...No." Buster couldn't believe his ears. "Dad was jumped by those horrible people in hoods. I saw the tapes."

Derek frowned. "Yeah. He did die from that. But his body was already weak that it's easier to kill him."

Buster blinked in disbelief, breathing heavily. He should be suspicious of where his father had the money but...he thought his hard work paid off. All his father wanted to do was make his son happy while his son wanted to make his father proud. Maybe...just maybe...they both got a little of what they wanted. This was too much to wrap his brain around. He needed space to think and ponder it over. Buster stormed off, coming off as angry but almost everyone knew that Buster needed time to wrap his brain around what he heard. Milla sighed heavily when she saw Buster walking away.

"What do we do now?" Milla asked Derek.

Derek looked at the theater gang. "Just take a rest. Explore the place. And don't touch anything. Goodnight."

Derek made his exit to his bedroom upstairs, leaving the group in shock.

Ms. Crawly gave a deep exhale. "Poor Mr. Moon. It's good he's finding this out now but...I can't imagine feeling like you're living a lie in your entire life."

Eddie frowned. "Yeah. Or it's all a big act. It must have been hard for him."

Maya sympathized with her boyfriend as she looked around to see that no one was paying attention to her. She decided to go and comfort Buster for the time being.

~.~

Buster was alone in the dark empty room with a small stage. He's sitting at the edge of it with a frown on his face. Had his whole life been a lie? Was he really that naive to know what's going on with his father? Was he that oblivious? His father seemed just fine before those assassins beat him up. It didn't make sense. None of this made sense.

The koala showman tried to recall a time where he noticed something wrong with his father. It's probably a dozen times but he never probed further or even pry it out of him. He just accepted it without knowing his father was in pain. Buster lowered his head with a sigh while trying to hold in his tears. He laid on the stage to stare up at the ceiling, his eyes growing tired.

"Buster?" A familiar meek voice called as Buster twitched his ears.

He debated whether he wanted to answer but he didn't want to be alone. "Here."

Maya came into the small stage room while noticing Buster laying on the stage. "Are you alright?"

Buster sat up to look at her as she took a seat next to him and laid down on the stage next to him. "Did you ever feel like you've been living in a lie? And you're too oblivious as to even notice that there was something wrong?"

Maya frowned while staring up at the ceiling. "Yeah. Or being told that everything around you is fake when everything seemed real."

Buster gasped a bit while humming a bit in understanding. "Yeah. I guess you're not the only one with a screwed-up parent."

He tried to smile a little but Maya didn't smile with him. He felt bad for saying that as he sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry. I just...I don't know. It's hard to wrap my mind around it."

"I understand. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine."

"Okay."

They both laid there in the silence, listening to the wind blowing on the rooftop of the house. Maya scooted closer to Buster and laid her head on his chest, causing Buster to inhale deeply for a moment. She could hear his heart thumping against his chest in a steady rhythm as she rested her eyes with a small hum.

He smiled as he stroke his fingers through her hair gently. It's so unbelievably soft that he couldn't help but smile in the thought of having her in his arms. This feeling of being with her...this undeniable great feeling of just being around her made a difference in the world. He's convinced that if it hadn't been for the theater...if he hadn't taken the right courses of action or made the decisions, he wouldn't have met Maya. He couldn't understand this feeling. He really couldn't. Not that it's any different than any emotions he's given but he could feel his face growing hot while his breathing picked up a bit.

"Your heart beat is going fast," Maya uttered in the silence.

Buster snapped out of his thoughts as he tried to come up with a useless excuse. But he knew he couldn't. "Sorry."

"No. I just didn't know whether you're panicking or you're too anxious."

"Oh no, I'm neither of those things. I just...I don't know. I guess I think too much." Indeed he had thought about things too much. Her head rested on his arms and her hand rubbing his chest to soothe him drove him crazy. "M-Maya."

"Yeah?"

Buster bit his lips. "I know that...we just dated...um, and we are running away from the Rattler Society while trying to survive in here. Um...this is so hard."

"What's hard?"

Buster and Maya gazed at each other as Buster's eyes lingered on her lips. He breathed heavily as Maya smiled a bit.

"You look like you want to kiss me again?"

Buster blushed. "Uh. Well, yeah, but I'm not sure about--"

Maya shifted upwards to look at him in the eyes, stopping his sentences sharply. This earned a smirk from the golden-furred koala. "Not sure about what?"

Buster forgot what he's about to say when he stared into her eyes. "Well...um...I--"

He's interrupted by a soft kiss on the lips, causing him to instantly melt into it. He let his fingers run through her hair while cupping her neck to keep her lips locked with his. They parted by a little bit while searching in each other's eyes.

"You know, Maya...I've never gone this far before," Buster talked in a deeper voice than how he normally spoke. He wasn't sure if he's losing his voice or his voice sounding remotely husky. "I haven't been in this territory."

"Neither have I," Maya said while scooching closer to Buster. "But...I want to see where it goes."

Buster blinked a bit with a small little smile. "Um...okay. We'll start slow, okay?"

"Okay."

Buster initiated the next kiss, moaning into her mouth as she kissed back. Their bodies began to relax as they stroked each other's heads in tender loving caresses. It was slow and gentle at first.

He let his tongue explored into her mouth, earning a moan from her. She grasped onto his suit tighter as she let her tongue danced with his. She wanted to taste his mouth while he drowned in her lavender scent. He moved his hands down to her waist while slowly roll on top of her.

"Hello, Mr. Moon, I came to check to see if you're alright--"

Buster and Maya quickly glanced up to see Johnny walking into the small stage room with his brown eyes widened in shock.

"Nevermind, you're definitely alright. I'm closing the door now. Have a good night." Johnny immediately shut the door to give them some privacy.

"Well, that just ruined the mood," Buster muttered mostly to himself while getting off of her.

Maya blinked while looking around. "Do you think we should go somewhere...private?"

"I don't know if there are any private places. Well, at least, Johnny gave us some privacy," Buster acknowledged.

"Sorry."

"For what?"

"Your mood was ruined."

"No...no, it wasn't your fault. It's no one's fault. Okay? Hmm, I think I do know a better way to set the mood though and making it more comfortable," Buster replied while standing on his feet and helped Maya upon hers.

Maya giggled. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere more comfortable than on this wooden stage," Buster replied while he guided her out of the stage and they exited out of the stage room.

They quickly went down the halls with quiet laughs and snuck towards one of the bedrooms where no one was even nearby. A perfect place. Buster quickly shut the bedroom door.

~.~

Eddie took a swim in the pool room, taking advantage of having many rooms this hide-out had. He did his little laps around the pool as his head emerged out of the water while spitting out the water.

He screeched when he noticed a familiar cheetah sitting on the pool's edge with a teasing smirk played on her lips.

"Nice speedo," Chirea noted while laying back against her palms that helped her sit up straight. "Do you always scream at people?"

"Well, I can get easily startled," Eddie replied while shaking his head to get the water out of his ears.

Chirea hummed into a laugh. "Well, now I know that it's not personal."

Eddie chuckled nervously. "Uh...what's up?"

Chirea's smirk faded as her lips pressed into a thin line. "I need to ask you a question."

"Yeah, what's up?"

Chirea blinked while leaning forward slightly. "How was Buster's childhood?"

This earned confusion from the sheep in the pool. "Um...isn't that something you should ask Buster?"

"You think Buster is going to confess every feeling he has in one minute without telling a single lie about it?" Chirea asked with a brow cocked up, saying it more as a statement than a question.

Eddie twisted his mouth into a frown on the corner of his mouth.

"I thought so," Chirea said with a sigh.

There's a brief pause as Eddie swam up and, with a small hop, sat on the edge of the pool next to Chirea. She scooted away from him since he's dripping wet.

"I would say he has a good childhood. He seems happy most of the time and if something was wrong...I would be the first to know about it," Eddie answered Chirea's earlier question.

Chirea perked her ears up and listened to him as she dipped her toes into the water. "When he lies about his feelings...how could you tell?"

Eddie shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it's by the inflection of his tone. You know something's bothering him when he had the urge to tell you what's going on in his mind but he couldn't for some reason. He's barred to say anything at all. Sometimes the best thing you could do was give him space and sometimes you could also confront him and force him to tell you...which won't do well on both of your parts."

Chirea smiled a bit. "I thought I was overthinking things when I saw that there's something wrong with him."

Eddie frowned a bit. "Yeah, Buster can be holding things in until something little just had him pry it open."

Chirea gazed into the water. "I guess we'll find out eventually."

Eddie pressed his lips in a thin line as he gazed into the water. "I know that Buster's dad and my parents shut both you and your father out but...where were you all of those years after our parents kicked your family out?"

Chirea bit her lip as she took a moment to stare at her reflection, her sharp teeth withdrawing into her mouth once she realized that she's biting her lip too hard.

Eddie noticed this while shuffling a bit in his seat. "It's fine if you don't want to share. I understand."

He scooted off the pool's edge as he jumped right back into the pool, swimming his laps around and around while emerging his head out of the water to breathe for a second.

Chirea got her feet back on the concrete to not interfere with Eddie swimming. She pondered about it. In her heart, she couldn't hide everything forever. Eddie seemed more relaxed than the last time she remembered. Probably less judgmental than his parents. The cheetah could understand why Buster comes to Eddie to talk about his feelings. Chirea thought about it for a while as she watched the sheep emerged from the water to take a breath.

"Dad and I were living in the streets."

Eddie popped his head out of the water the second he heard Chirea speak, shaking the water out of his ears. "What?"

Chirea frowned when she had to repeat what she said. "Dad and I were living in the streets."

There's a tender pause as Eddie hopped back onto the pool's edge with drenched wool. He sat next to Chirea while giving her a confused look.

"You don't live in a house?"

"No...Dad thought that co-owning the theater was the best thing to do but it turned out to be a bust since...both Dad and Buster's dad didn't agree with the same things. So, Dad and I left them. I attempted to get to Buster since...he's my friend...he's the only friend I have."

Eddie frowned while listening to her story and drying himself off with a nearby towel.

Chirea continued on with her story. "But that's until his father and your family shunned both of us from Buster. So, I lived on the streets for a while. It's about a while later that Buster's father offered to us to live in some shabby place...just to at least put a roof over our heads but Dad refused the offer since he shunned us. Thinking about it, I think Buster's father shunned us because he didn't want to be judged by your parents. There was one time they were about to duel until Buster's dad didn't show up to it. He didn't have the guts to do it and to be honest, I'm glad he didn't come. Dad thought of him as a coward though. One day, I stole sandwiches for Dad and I and the cops chased after both me and my father. They managed to catch my father and killed him right in the alleyway street. Those cops...happened to be disguised cops from the Rattler Society. I didn't realize that as a kid but...I realized it now. Serpent took me in and practically raised me."

Eddie wrapped a towel around his wet body to warm up since it's getting freezing as he listened to Chirea telling him the story.

Chirea glanced at him while sighing deeply. "You know...this is the first time I opened up to somebody about this. I didn't even tell Buster."

Eddie smiled weakly. "That's fine. You know, if you really get to know everyone in the theater, you'll find that they're the kindest people you'll ever meet. I mean, you get a couple of them that were questionable but most of the people you meet here are super nice, and...they are willing to listen to you if you ever need a listening ear. You know?"

Chirea nodded her head. "Yeah. Thank you."

"No problem. Do you want to continue or do you want to skip the subject?"

Chirea laid down on the concrete in the pool room, her feet in the water. Eddie followed her actions while laying down next to her to stare up at the ceiling.

Chirea sighed. "He was going to have me be one of the performers. However, he found I was too muscular for it so he trained me to be an assassin instead. Day and night. Sometimes I couldn't sleep or eat because of training. I was carrying out his contracts and killed the people he wanted me to kill. And he wanted me to kill a man. But that man had a daughter...a baby little girl."

Chirea paused as she took in the words she spoke and began trying to hold in her tears.

Eddie noticed his pause while patting her shoulder in reassurance. "It's okay. We don't have to talk about if you don't want to."

Chirea breathed deeply. "I feel like I need this."

Eddie nodded his head. "Okay, take your time."

Chirea took deep breaths as she continued with her story. "I left that little girl an orphan. And I realized...I realized what the Rattler Society was capable of. I saw what kind of entertainment they would produce. I never saw their performances until one time. And that's when I left them. I left and I never came back. I was the proof of their corruption. That's how I ended up back into the streets but...I found the streets home since Dad and I used to live in them. They've been hunting me down since I went rogue and I killed any of their men coming after me who ended up finding me. And I stayed there until I found out that Buster was also being hunted by them. So...there...that's the story of my life."

"Wow," Eddie uttered, almost pondering about her story. "You must've gone through a lot."

"Well, I would've explained it in more detail but--"

"No...it's okay. If you don't want to include the details, you don't have to."

Chirea looked over at the sheep, who just stared at the ceiling. "You know, you're not like your parents."

Eddie flicked his ears as he turned to look at the cheetah. "Um...really?"

"Yeah, you don't judge like they do."

Eddie nodded his head while shifting his gaze back on the ceiling and shaking his head. "I've learned not to. I used to be as a kid but now as an adult...I don't care about what type of clothes you wear or whether you're rich or poor."

"Oh, so if I'm naked and swim around the pool, you won't judge?" Chirea said in a playful tone.

Eddie blushed at the thought of Chirea being naked. "Uh--whatever floats your boat."

Chirea giggled. "Buster's right about you."

Eddie chuckled humorlessly with a plastered smile. "What? Right about what?"

"You're so laid-back."

Eddie smiled a bit to himself. "Yeah."

They both chuckled amongst themselves, sat on the edge of the pool, and let the silence filled in the air. 

To Be Continued...

A/N: Just in case...because I got to ask, would anyone want smut for Chapter Seventeen as something separate you guys can enjoy between Maya and Buster? 0-0