Handcuffs, Wishes, & Misinterpreted Kisses | ✓

7 | We Can't Be Over

♔

WHEN I WOKE up, the spot where Kale usually laid, was empty.

It took me a few seconds to remember the events of the night before.

The guys, the fight, the stabbing, the breakdown. All of it came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks.

I sat up, wondering where Kale could have been.

The bathroom door swung open, and out came Kale wearing nothing but a towel that hung loosely around his hips. The indented V on his abdomen on display.

"Hey..." I started but trailing off soon after.

"How'd you sleep?" He smiled lightly, running a hand through his wet hair.

"Better than I thought. Listen—" He cut me off.

"Babe, you don't have to tell me anything. I know a lot went down yesterday. You can tell me when you're ready." He grabbed a tee shirt from his dresser, slipping it on over his tan skin.

"I—Okay. Thank you." I looked down at my hands.

"Anything for you."

I pulled the sheets back, turning so that I sat on the side of the bed with my feet planted firmly on the floor.

He walked over to me, stepping in between my legs, one hand resting on each knee.

"You're so beautiful, you know that?" My face instantly felt hot.

I didn't answer.

"Hey, you are. You're so incredibly astonishing that sometimes I wonder how you ended up with a guy like me." His hand caressed the side of my face, brushing his thumb across my lips.

He leaned down, placing his mouth on mine, before slipping his tongue into my mouth. I deepened the kiss, wanting more.

"We can't baby. We have a meeting downstairs in just a few minutes. Get dressed. Make sure you wear that sexy black dress that I know you'll look gorgeous in. Maybe once this whole thing is over, I can rip it off of you and we can go at it all night long." He winked, kissing my jawline.

Once we made it downstairs, all of the guys had taken their usual seats. I sat down next to Kale on the longer of the two couches. His arm immediately wrapping around my waist. The meeting was strictly about the funeral. What each and every person was to do, how the plan would play out, and most of all – the escape plan.

No one could afford to mess up, otherwise, we'd all go down.

Sometimes I wondered what could have possibly possessed me to agree to help them. I don't think it was Kale, or even myself.

As I sat around the living room, with the guys I'd grown extremely close with, I wondered how the whole situation would be.

Would this work? Would we all be okay?

These boys were my life; I'd gotten so used to being around them every day. Noon, that was the time of the funeral. The guys went the previous night – without Kale and I – to set everything up.

All we had to do was show up, and act like we belonged there in the first place.

By the time the meeting had ended, it was nine. Three hours until the big show. We had an hour or so before we had to leave, so I decided to make my way up to our room. I had bought the previous week, a thigh length black dress. It was hanging untouched on my side of the closet.

I was going to go find Kale, but he'd disappeared before I had the chance.

Business, I thought to myself.