Playing for keeps

30. Under the stars

E A S T O N

My bed creaks as I toss and turn for the hundredth time in the past five minutes. The moon casts a soft glow around my room through the windows, the deafening silence too much.

Flopping onto my back, I stare at the ceiling instead, frustrated by the lack of sleep that isn't coming my way.

The rest of Natalie and I's shopping trip was fun once I'd found a dress for the ball. She's fun to hang with and although she drives like a maniac, I was glad of her company. Excited to have someone to shop with other than Oakley or my brothers.

My phone buzzes from my bedside table and I'm expecting the call to be from Oakley with some stupid question about space or a horror movie, but it's not.

There's a smile on my face when I answer. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"A very hypocritical question, don't you think?" Kaleb drawls and I can hear his smile, too. "What are you doing right now?"

My stomach tightened at his suggestive tone. "At one a.m.?" I laugh, rolling onto my side. "Gee, well I've just finished doing some cartwheels."

"Alright, Smartass," Kaleb chuckles over the phone. "Open your balcony door, it's fucking freezing out here."

My stomach drops. "What?" I shoot up.

"Open," Kaleb repeats with a slight hint of a smile in his voice. "Your balcony door."

Keeping my phone to my ear and walk over to my balcony door and tear open my curtains. Sure enough, there's a Kaleb-shaped shadow standing outside.

I hold in my gasp and make sure to be quiet as I open the doors, careful not to make too much noise, and alert Zach, whose bedroom is down the hall. 

Damien and Sebastian are currently in New York for some meetings, so Zach drew the short straw and got stuck with babysitting duties. Luckily for me, he's a terrible babysitter.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hiss as I hit his chest lightly. "Do you know what my brothers will do if they find you here?"

He only answers with a tilt of his head and a shit-eating grin. "Baby, I'm a fully trained assassin. No one is catching me if I don't want them to."

"How did you even get in?" I peer past him, down to the driveway and the locked iron gates at the front. "You need a code...Which you have," I huff, his mischievous expression enough. 

"C'mon, get your shoes. We're going," he tells me, breezing past into my room. He stands in the middle of the room, looking at everything with interest. At my bed, my desk, my closet, and the pictures on my wall.

I'm already in sweatpants and a t-shirt, so while Kaleb continues to be nosy, I slip into some sneakers and a hoodie. "Where are we going?" I ask as he comes to stand in front of me. It must be mad that I'm even going with him, no questions asked. 

He doesn't answer, only slips his hand into mine and pulls me towards the balcony and to the tree he must have climbed up to get to my balcony, jumping the short distance.

Kaleb goes over first, holding his hand out to me. I stand at the edge, looking down at the two-story drop.

Damien and Seb would kill Zach if they came back and there was an Easton-shaped splatter on the front porch.

"I won't let you fall. Promise," Kaleb says gently, his arm still reaching out to me.

"You better not," I sigh, lifting one leg over the railing. "Because I will so come back and haunt your ass."