I Can See You - Original - [18+] - COMPLETE

Four - Meet me Tonight

Unknown: Meet me in the dive bar on the east side. There is a back door if you don't want to be seen.

Kenzi read and reread that message until it was burned into her retinas. A bitter chuckle escaped her, and she shook her head. It was a challenge.

A dare.

To see if she was going to keep him a secret, wear the wigs, and hide from the hunters with cameras and cell phones. Or if she was brave enough to meet him as Kenzi and walk in the front door.

She had thought she was protecting him by hiding and keeping him secret, but now she understood it had hurt him. She knew her reaction when they were found out hadn't been reassuring for him. All she'd seen were headlines.

Her face would be plastered everywhere. The jokes and memes that always spread when the world knew she had found love again would hound them for months. And she had panicked. He had needed her to reassure him, stay calm and handle it when it happened. But she'd been too lost in her head to see it.

Her life had been a daydream and nightmare of extremes.

The scales were never balanced, and she was always either on top of the world or at rock bottom. Her tendency to dive in headfirst, chasing the butterflies and the addictive rush of new romance, meant she often found herself in a crisis. It was her fault, as much as it was the fault of the media or the men, that broke her heart.

She didn't know how to do things halfway and never wanted to learn. She liked feeling everything so intensely and permanently. It wasn't worth it if it didn't leave a mark, a phantom bloodstain on her skin, or a new hastily patched-up scar on her tattered heart.

It was almost midnight. She had to decide fast.

Was he worth the uproar that would no doubt make her life insane until the news died down? While she had been lost in that haze of lust and new love, she would have said yes without hesitation. But weeks of him running from her, no sign he cared except the burning weight of his eyes a second before he bolted, had left her feeling sour.

Still, she wasn't the type to play it safe. And she was so tired of pretending she was fine. Sighing, she glanced in the mirror and frowned. The dress she wore was far too fancy for that bar. They'd spent a few blurry nights there; most wore casual clothing.

She had made up her mind and was soon stripping out of her gown, throwing on a comfy sweater dress before shoving her feet into a pair of flat boots. She grabbed her wallet and phone while leaving her hair in its elaborate braid. Sneaking out of the house wouldn't be too difficult tonight.

It was like he'd planned it this way as she crept through and managed to make it to the stairs without being seen. She sent a text to Lana, telling her where she would be and to tell her mom if she happened to find out she was gone and panicked. As she reached the ground floor, she realized the front door was a no-go. It was too well guarded, but she knew Stefan always took the back door and was always up for shenanigans.

Running on silent feet to the back entrance, she shoved the door open and found Stefan standing with his arms crossed.

"And where do you think you're going?" He smirked, and she laughed at the teasing tone in his voice.

He was older, more mellow than the others, and he knew how much she chafed at being under constant surveillance.

"I fancied a drink. Wanna come?" She waggled her brows, grinning as his eyes twinkled.

He sighed, pretending to think it over before he said with a shrug, "Why not? The gruesome twosome won't care if I take my "break." Come on then, I'll be discreet."