[b]Tyler - Baton Rouge Streets - Matt/Scarlett[/b]

"I--"

He had nothing to say. He could feel the tension suddenly coming in from the others in the group, but there wasn't much he could do at this point. Further argument would just get Matt all up in his face, and who knew what his companions would do then. So-- "This conversation's over," Tyler said.

"Good," said Jon, signalling for the others to leave first. "Come on, Jackson," he said to the big man, who shuffled out dutifully.

"But," Tyler said, trying to sound meek. "What's in the bag? What did we just give you?"

Jon shared a look with Tina and Jace before laughing. "Wow, aren't you guys messed up? Didn't even think it was a secret." A look of amusement was clear on his face. Jesus, was he having fun watching all this? "[i]Drugs[/i]. Medical or otherwise. Some people just want to get high, especially with the world gone to shit."

With that, the three men left, leaving Tyler and the others in awkward silence. Without a word, Tina moved to leave, Jace hesitantly following after her. Tyler almost let them go, but soon he was rushing out of the building to stop them. "Hold up," he said, repeating himself louder when Tina chose not to respond. "Tina!"

She rounded on him, and he couldn't quite decipher the look on her face. "I get it," she said, surprising Tyler. "You probably did some bad stuff to get Katie back, I get it, that's in the past, and it doesn't matter to me. But--" She looked back at Jace for a moment before continuing. "This Matt guy, whoever he is, sounds like he has it in for you. He's working for Tremblay now, and that means Tremblay might have it out for [i]you[/i]. Do you get that? We're all in danger now, because of you."

Tyler hadn't considered that, honestly. He was expecting them to be angry about what he'd done. "I'm sorry. But that's not my fault, I--"

"It's not?" she asked. "We don't care about your past, but they do. That man who tried to kill your daughter did. We can't have you around anymore. I need you gone as soon as we get back."

She turned to head down the road, Jace pleading with her to stop. Tyler felt a familiar warmth wash over him, and he grew angry all over again. "I'm putting [i]you[/i] in danger?!" he yelled, forcing her to turn back around. "Who's the one supplying drugs to a group of thugs? You have [i]exposed[/i] my [i]daughter[/i] to drugs! Your idiot friend Adam has been using them to get high! He almost killed us when we first ran into him!"

Jace moved forward to protect Tina, but she only stared for a moment, eventually shaking her in disbelief. "Don't you dare make that kind of stuff up. Adam wouldn't do that... Katie or Liam would never have known! They'd never have found it! They never will, okay?"

This got Tyler moving forward, and Jace placed a hand against his chest. "Are you suggesting I leave my daughter with you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "That's not happening, Tina. You just heard what I'm willing to do to have her with me."

A harsh few seconds passed. At the back of Tyler's mind, a ludicrous thought passed his mind, of the idea of a tumbleweed passing by in this instance. Of course, there was no tumbleweed, and Tina knew better than to argue. "Okay. Just take her and leave, then. I'm sorry." She looked to Jace and sighed. "We're going on ahead." She turned to leave, Jace lingering for a moment to shake his head at Tyler. Then, they were both gone, and Tyler could only stare at their backs.

"... Scarlett." He turned to her, bringing up his hands to grip at his head. "Jesus, I've fucked everything up. I'm-- I'm sorry."