The Streets Higher Stakes

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Trish's POV

Ever since Cole had been shot my emotions had been getting the better of me and I didn't know how to get them under control again. The memories of my mother were fresh again as the ones between Zeke and I.

I heard Cole and the Twins come back from wherever they had gone. I felt the bed dip next to me as I peered up and over the sheets. Cole had sat down at the edge of the bed and smiled at me.

"Morning babe." He said as he kissed me on the forehead. "How are you today?" He asked tentatively.

I sighed,"I'm okay."

His eyes stayed concerned but wary as he continued to look at me. "The others want to practice for the Chinatown dance," he said. I could hear the others voices as they talked on the makeshift dance floor.

I bit back a groan. I didn't want to do anything. But I had no choice if we wanted to win the next competition. It was the second to last one of the year and it was time to do our best.

"Give me a minute," I said. I threw off the sheet, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom.

I looked in the small mirror that Dakota and I had under the sink. I looked terrible. My hair looked like it could use a wash, my eyes were sore and red rimmed. I shoved on my sweatpants that I grabbed and a tank top as I made my way to our practice area.

The Twins were at the sound set as they fiddled around with the knobs to try and get the perfect sound. Theo and Thayer were huddled, looking on something on their phones. Dakota, when she saw me walked away from Cole and came to hug me," We have to talk," she said to me as she leaned away. I looked at her concerned motherly eyes and didn't say anything. I looked behind her to see everyone else was giving me concerned looks.

"I'm fine guys really," I said as I tried to reassure them. It didn't seem to work as they all looked at each other and then back at me.

"Let's just get dancing," Thayer muttered and he broke the moment. They all seemed to reluctantly looked away and focused on the dance.

We knew the moves, it was just a matter of making it as best as it could be. But as the music started, I didn't feel pumped, but I felt my energy drain. I kept up easily but I wasn't into as I usually am. I felt my timing become off as the song started to end. I stood there in the middle of the group, all of them sweating while I hadn't broken a sweat.

I rubbed my hands over my face as I tried to get it together. I couldn't let my crew see me fall apart again. I felt a pair of warm arms wrap around my waist. I took my hands out of head as I leaned my head back on Cole's broad chest. "Do you want to take a break?" He whispered into my ear.

I nodded my head as he released me, only to turn me around and put me back into his arms and I welcomed his scent that was familiar to me. He smelled faintly like cologne, mixed with sweat. He pulled back and cupped my face in his large hands," I don't like seeing you like this." He spoke as our foreheads touched, his way of asking what was up.

I leaned away, not opening up. "Another subject that I don't like talking about," I replied. I knew the others were listening to us but I didn't care.

He mushed his eyebrows together but didn't push. He knew what happened the last time he had pushed me to talk about something. He pressed me into to him again and placed another kiss on my forehead.

I heard the others as they started to occupy themselves, leaving Cole and I to our moment. He bent down, scooped me up and placed me back on my bunk bed. We laid there, both of us silent even though I could hear Cole's mind working. We looked at each other not saying anything until my eyelids started to get heavy and I fell back to a peaceful slumber.

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Hey I hope you all are enjoying the book so far! I wanted to show you this side of Trish because I think it's really important that even the strongest of us have our secrets and our bad days. Speaking of secrets, I'm going to be telling you what Zeke and Trish were arguing about within the next few chapters.

Until then!

-Taylor