Star-gazing: Eric Coulter

Chapter 9

TW: swearing, intoxication, sexual themes, emetophobia.

Song: Can you feel my heart
Artist: 6EJOU

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Layla's pov:

On my walk up the corridor, Four jogs up next to me. I try my best to ignore him and not beat him to a pulp right here, right now; but my attention grows short when he grabs my elbow and roughly pulls me into a tiny side room along the long, straight hallway.

Quickly, I push him off and punch him in the nose— hard— he almost seems to allow me use him as a human punching bag and he doesn't back away when I go to re-raise my fist again.
"What the fuck, Four?!" I yell as we circle around the room, facing each other as if we were about to fight.
He raises his hands, surrendering, before he talks. I feel my jaw clenched when he opens his mouth, "Just let me explain, Layla." He sighs and looks guilty (as he should be), "Please."
I shake my head and start to get agitated due to how there isn't any windows in this room or air conditioning. This room was getting hotter by the second, and the faint feeling from a few days ago was resurfacing— whatever he had to say he better say it quickly then leave me the hell alone.

"You might want to sit down." He tells me, taking a seat directly in front of the exit door. I am about to tell him I'm fine and do not want to 'sit down', but when my vision begins to blur, I know that I have to. Fuck this fucking 'problem'.

I reluctantly sit down opposite Four, my hand harshly gripping my pistol in the belt-loop of my cargos. I point my other arm at him, "I swear to god, Four. If you try anything—"
"I won't." He interrupts me, "I promise, Layla. Just trust me on this."
"How the fuck do you think I can do that? You ruined everything." I snap back, rocking my head against the back wall that I was leaning on. The wall is really cold and my head really isn't. I feel like I'm about to kill him, almost as if there is steam flowing août of my nose and ears.
"I know..."
I motion with my free hand for him to 'explain', then 'hurry up'. He nods and leans forwards slightly (clearly being fed up of my 'messages').
"I'm with you, on you're side." I go to interrupt again but he shushes me, "I found my mother, she's alive and running the Factionless bases. I told her that I'm with her, that I'd protect her. I think she's trying to do some good. She wants to take down Jeanine. Your team is safe, they're all there with her in one of the more secret bases. They're under the radar, in a base that our Faction don't know about. They aren't harmed though." He explains making me speechless and close to tears. They're okay, they're safe. "I know you probably don't trust me yet, but I thought I owed it to you to tell you."
I smile, weakly. The heat overwhelming me, I feel sweat slide down my forehead like a melting ice lolly.
"You're not lying?" I ask, still stunned.
He shakes his head.
"Thank you, Four." I say, we both stand up and make our way out of the room. I walk up to him awkwardly and give him a little hug. He wraps his arms around by shoulders and I thank him again. Usually, I can tell when people are lying about something and I genuinely believe that Four is telling the truth. His body is relaxed, but not too relaxed. His eyes weren't all over the place when he was telling me. He isn't even sweating in the slightest.

I glance at him when we pull away, "We should probably hurry up and get to the initiates' rooms. Eric will be there and will be on the hunt for me." I tell him, sighing slightly. I love my husband with every cell in my body, but sometimes he is just too damn protective over me.
"You mean on the prowl." Four jokes back, and for the first time in a long while I feel like I've got my best friend back. I shake my head and shove him into a wall, hard.

We wander past some of the initiates: Christina (the mouthy-one), Will (the too-smart-for his-own-good one) and Al (the top-quiet-for-his-own-good one). They look miserable because their friend Tris is in the infirmary after the fights and phase one. Eric officially kicked her out before and the trio certainly weren't happy about that. As much as they try to mouth off, one stern glance from either Eric, Four, Max or myself and they all fall back into line again. It's great fun.