Catastrophic

8

Kiara's pov

As I guessed on the silent ride back to the house, they had moved. From the outside, it looked a lot larger than the old one.

Which was good for them, but bad for me.

That meant there were more places to hide a ring.

If I were Colby, I'd keep it on me no matter what I'm doing and I wouldn't show it to anyone.

It made me consider the fact that Colby was wearing a chained necklaces that was tucked into his shirt, hidden underneath his jacket.

I grabbed both of my suitcases, following Jake as he pulled his own towards the front door, "Oh the girls are gonna love this," He smiled at me before opening the door and shouting, "Guys, look what we have!"

Before I could step through the threshold, I felt a hand grab the back of my neck and spin me around, making me face Colby.

He still didn't look happy, and by the look on his face he knew that whatever he had to say must be important.

"If you say a single fucking word to any of them about what you're doing here, I will kill you myself," He looked over my shoulder, his face instantly softening to more of a cold expression, not as enraged as before.

"Colby, who is this?" I turned around to see a brunette woman standing with her arms crossed to toughen herself up.

It was clear she wasn't as cruel as she painted herself to be as she stared me down, more curious than hostile.

Neither of us could get the words out before the room filled with squeals coming from the rest of the girls. Kat, Carrington, Tara and Devyn didn't care to greet Colby or Jake, but instead practically knocked me over as they wrapped their arms around me.

"Oh my god, who are they killing?" Corey asked as he probably walked in the room.

"Surprise?" Jake said quietly, and Kat pulled everyone away from me and grabbed me by the shoulders. "What are you doing here?" She seemed equally excited as the rest of them, but something about the smile on her face seemed forced.

Being Sam's girlfriend meant that Sam probably told her exactly what happened in Florida. So, unlike Tara and Devyn who probably thought I was dead for a year, Kat knew I was in New York.

Working with her boyfriend and his bestfriend's enemy.

"No way. You survived an entire car ride without this one being all over you," Tara pointed at Colby, and I looked over my shoulder to see him just taking in the moment.

"Someone had to drive. And I would not let Jake do that," I giggled as I nudged Jake, trying to get him to put up a happier front.

The three of us had to reassure them that me being here was just a coincidence.

"How was it? Did you die and come back to life?" Devyn asked, hugging me one more time, "I bet you were so scared,"

"I-"

"Where did you stay?" Tara asked, rubbing her hands together, "Was it a five star hotel?"

"Why did you end up being gone so long? We missed you," Carrington pouted as she stepped back, closer to Kat than Jake or Corey.

"Is someone going to tell me who this is?" The brunette asked. I could see she made it much closer to Colby in the last couple seconds since I walked in the door.

"Stas, this is Kiara, Kiara used to work with us until things went wrong on a job a while ago and she almost died," Corey explained, motioning back and forth between the two of us.

"Really?" Stas looked at me, "Why didn't you guys stay with her?"

"She's the one that saved Colby," Sam said, leaning on a doorway at the corner of the room. "There was a shootout and she jumped in front of the gun. She was down. They got Colby seconds later,"

He seemed somber, as if it was the first time he had to tell that story. It shocked the girls into silence, looking back and forth between all the boys and myself

"Yeah, that's what happened," Colby confirmed quietly, stepping forward and grabbing my wrist, "I'm taking her to her room,"

Everyone was left to stand there as Colby and I went past Sam down the hallway, where we were met with a flight of stairs.

"This place is going to confuse me," I said half to myself when Colby brought me up the stairs. The hallway was almost the exact same as the first floor one.

Colby didn't respond, but let go of my hand as we got to the end of the hall. He turned the doorknob, opening up into the bedroom that I could assume was my own.

I realized he was most likely giving me the silent treatment like a child, but I didn't want to do that, "Look, Colby, I'm sorry about how I acted at the airport,"

"Why?" He glanced at me as he flicked on the lights, revealing a very plain bedroom with a bathroom down the hallway in the corner.

"What?" I asked as I walked over to the bed, feeling the plain gray covers before I sat down.

The bed wasn't incredibly comfortable, but it'd do for now. I wouldn't be in here much anyways, because I'd be looking for the ring.

"Why are you sorry?" He seemed like he had a reason for asking this, sitting at the very edge of the bed to face me.

"Because I should be grateful for being able to stay here, not pissy for something that happened in the past," I admitted, watching as a sympathetic, almost-grin appeared on Colby's face.

"I don't think we should worry about that anymore," Colby seemed to have calmed down a bit since the car ride from the airport, which meant he was more sensible.

"What makes you say that?" I furrowed my brow as he sighed. "It's been a year. I've moved on, Kiara. Like you said before, we aren't in love and I don't think we ever really were,"

"So why would you say it?" I felt my voice become weaker, the way he confused my sick, twisted heart made me wonder whether or not this conversation was worth it, "Why would you tell me you loved me if you didn't mean it?"

"Because I knew I would, with the way things were turning out. One day, I would tell myself I loved you even if you were really dead. Which is why a part of Sam's story is true, for what happened to you. We thought you died, maybe not literally, but you tried your hardest to be loyal to me. For only you to hurt me in the end,"

I didn't know how to respond, so I didn't. I stared at this man I hardly knew, the one that I used to think I knew so well. A piece of that person was in there somewhere, the one showing me kindness right now. That was him.

After a couple of seconds, we heard knocking on the door before it popped open, with Stas sticking her head in, "Colby? Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," He stared into my eyes as he spoke, before a slight shake of his head forced him to look over at Stas, who was waiting expectantly as her body hung into my doorway, "Yeah, I'm coming,"

He stood up, adjusting his shirt and nodding to me, "I'll come check on you when we get back from lunch with Stas,"

"Okay," I nodded, glancing over to Stas one more time.

"Let's go ba- Stas," He quickly corrected, guiding her out of the room and shutting the door behind him, leaving me alone.

Giving me time to try and find that ring.