Say you love me

Twenty-eight

KAIDEN POV

Chapter name: reasons to disappear

"So your mom is letting a girl stay under your roof?" Case asks, sprawled out on the bed. Tivelly awkwardly adjusts herself, her fingers tracing the healing bruises on her legs.

"Well, she lets me stay." Grey yawns.

"I knew you were a girl." Case judges Grey.

I can't help but worry about what will happen in the future. No one that hurt Tivelly has been put behind bars. They are still out there. They could be waiting for a chance to strike, to silence her for good.

What would stop them from hurting her? From killing her? I'm the only thing that stopped Able. If I didn't rush in there, then she wouldn't be alive right now. So what will stop him next time if I'm not around?

We can't watch her 24/7. It's just not possible. I can't always keep her protected, and soon they will find ways to find her. They will get to her.

"What are you going to do about school?" The attention is turned to Tivelly again. Her eyes are dull, and her face shows she's in pain. "I... I don't know." She responds, biting her lower lip in stress.

"Are you going to go back?" Jayce continues to question. "Yes, of course. I don't want to repeat my senior year." She glances at me and then back at the guys.

She's worried about Able showing up. If there's anywhere he knows that she will be, it's school.

"I'm feeling drained... do you guys mind if I just sleep?" Her voice is low as she asks.

Our voices sync as we say, go ahead, we all get off the bed, and I kiss her forehead before leaving the room, closing the door behind us.

Will she stay in my sister's room? Who knows.

"So, what are we going to do about Able?" Case asks, plopping down on the couch. "I doubt he would show up at school," Grey responds.

"If Tive is there, he might. To silence her? It's something he would do. He already tried to kill her once." I run my fingers through my hair as I remember her limp body in my arms. Her face was unrecognizable.

I glance at the door, hoping she's trying to sleep and not listening at the door.

We sit and talk for a few moments before there's a loud bang coming from my room. I lock eyes with Case and immediately spring to my feet.

Without hesitation, I am at my door, jiggling the stiff doorknob. "It's locked." Various scenarios run through my head of what this could mean.

Able? Did he come to kill her? What about her dad? Is that him? When did the door lock? What was that bang? Is she alive? Did she happen to knock something down?

"Tivelly?" I yell, slamming my hand on the door to get her attention. I wait a moment, hoping to hear her voice, but there is nothing but silence.

I take a deep breath, stepping back and shoving my shoulder into the door. "STOP. I CAN PICK THE LOCK!" Grey pushes me aside, shoving something into the lock and twisting it.

My shoulder is throbbing as I watch him with anticipation.

As soon as he unlocks the knob, the door is shoved open, revealing an empty room and an open window with my nightstand on the side.

"Tivelly?" I call her name as I run to the window. I look around, hoping to see her petite body, but she isn't there. "Did she leave?" Jayce asks.

Maybe we overwhelmed her?

"Where would she go if she left?" Case asks.

"The only place she could go. Her house."