This calls for a little more than chocolate and tissues

Chapter 13

Hello there!! I haven't uploaded in like a year and a half. If you waited for me to do so and never left me a nasty gram then bless you. I going to give this another go. It may not turn out as you or I thought it would, but what the heck. My story to play with. Here goes.

Kate

I decided to walk to the coffee shop. I didn't want to have to explain a missing car to anyone, and god knows these people could check their fancy GPSs and see just where I had been. I began to realize that the slightest underestimation could mean my head on a platter. Or at least the 21st-century-Texas-mafia version.

The time it took me to walk to Starbucks allowed me to formulate a few intelligent sounding sentences. However, when you're contemplating how to tell someone that your parents were stalked (and now dead) and that you may be about to marry into the most influential criminal family in the country, what's a girl to say, really?

Matt

Everyone has a nervous habit. Biting nails, twirling hair, cracking knuckles, tapping feet: we've all seen them. My nervous habit happens to be spinning my cell phone on tabletops. It's a bit hard to do, however, when said piece of technology lays in a demolished heap at the bottom of a trash bin. So....here I sit. I don't think I've ever felt this close to hyperventilating. Short, ragged breaths. Clutching the table. Then I stop breathing altogether.

There she is.

Same pretty brown locks, lanky stride. That scar she got from an extreme game of badminton is still faintly visible on her right knee. But she's wearing sunglasses. Oh, to see those eyes again.

She cautiously approaches the table as if to assume that she would need to introduce herself. I stand up instantly and flash what I hope is a confident and charming smile and not some oddly contorted grimace.

"Hi stranger."

She grins, the tension in her shoulders visibly eased. With a quick move of the hand her sunglasses are off and perched atop her head and her arms are around me for a friendly embrace. I nearly shiver at her touch. As I stand there and hold her for what seems a lifetime, I consider just how fragile this girl is with her small frame and gentle manner.

We manage to pull away from one another and collapse into seats opposite each other.

 And then I look her in the eyes.

They are nearly impossible to describe...something along the lines of molten crystal, if that's even possible. I manage to sputter out the words "How's life?"

At this she frowns. "Dangerous, unpredictable, terrifying and utterly confusing. You are so going to think I'm crazy."

"I would never think that."

She looks around the room nervously, her eyes darting warily from one innocent patron to another.

My heart sinks a bit as I realize the paranoia she's living with. It kills me to see this girl, this beautiful, smart and lively girl, living in fear. "Why don't we take a walk?"

She pauses for a moment to process, and then nods vigorously.

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 She explained everything. Her family, why she was getting married, what happened to Rose, and what she had found. But as soon as she had finished, I stopped mid-stride and simply stood there, looking at her in disbelief. Not because I was hearing anything new, but because I never dreamed that she would trust me so fully. I almost thought that she would forget the fact that we were once best friends.

I stood there, not moving, feeling like an idiot but not being able to move. I just wanted to scoop her up in my arms and hold her. Keep her from harm. All the years we knew each other, all the times I had to be her friend and nothing more because I didn't want to drive her away, they erupted in my forethought, threatening to drive me past the edge of reason. But I knew better. I would have my chance. Eventually.

Kate

I turned around when I realized that he had stopped walking several paces ago. My face fell. He thought I was insane. That's why he had that look on his face. He would tell me that, walk off, and I would never see him again. I didn't want that. He had been my best friend...and secret crush. But I would never tell him that. I was getting married. To someone I didn't know, granted, but he would never be mine.

I was on the verge of tears. "Please say something."

His expression softened visibly. He was over to me in less than a second, hugging me, holding me, not letting go. And I was fine with that.

"Whatever you need, I'm here. Would you feel better staying with me?"

I considered it. "But what if they target you? I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard for them to find me..."

He smiled an almost wicked grin. "Not if we don't want them to. Why don't I drop you off at their house so you can get your stuff, and I'll come back and pick you up at, say, six?"

I smiled, no longer quite as scared. "Sounds perfect."

He dropped me back at the gates and I let myself in. I was still smiling as I walked in through the foyer.

"Did you really think you would leave with that kind of information so easily?"

The voice chilled my blood. It belonged to the governor.

Before I could protest, something hit the back of my head, and I was unconscious.