Fears To Face

∞ Chapter 25 ∞

~ Rayne ~ 

Why was I doing this? Why did I even come up with it in the first place?

When I arrived at Kayley’s in the early afternoon, my stomach was already unsteady. She came out of the door with a smile on her face, wearing a blue jeans with bleached oval flecks and a light yellow shirt. She frolicked off the stairs and straight into my car, kissing me before she settled in the seat. “You okay?” she asked.

Hell no. “Not really, but I will work it out,” I smiled, convincing myself more than her. It didn’t help, because the closer we got to Mendocino, the more my gut turned and twisted. Kayley knew that too. She watched me from the corner of her eye and reached over every once in a while to squeeze my hand or to bring our entwined hands up to her lips to kiss the back of my hand. It was reassuring, but only for a few seconds before the nerves kicked back in.

“You know what I figured out yesterday?” she said when we were close to Caspar. “Liam likes me.” My hand on the wheel clenched automatically at the mention of his name. “He was trying to warn me again, so I told him to leave you alone and that he knew nothing about you. I wondered why he interfered anyway and then he said because he did because he cared for me.” She nearly laughed, like she hadn’t heard something so ridiculous in a long time, her voice light.

My jaw tensed along with every other muscle in my body. I had to struggle to keep my breath under control as my hands clenched around the wheel and I could feel the material starting to protest under my hold. Liam could ruin my job, fine, take it, I don’t care, he could make my colleagues hate me, whatever, but he could not steel my girl. I couldn’t bear to lose her. Especially not to him.

She must have noticed my mood change, because she gasped silently and turned to me, giving me her full focus. “Rayne? What’s wrong?” It took her half a second to figure out, without me even opening my mouth. “I don’t like Liam. You know I’m not interested in him at all. Never have been. He’s a complete jerk. You’re the only one, you know that,” she said as she gazed at my face. My knuckles slowly got back their colour as I loosened them and I inhaled deep. I could see small dents on my wheel where I’d gripped them. Crap. I was still peering out of the front view when she explained, “I only told you in hopes of getting your mind of where we’re going. I don’t want to keep things from you and honestly, I thought it was hilarious. Like he is anywhere near my type.” She snorted.

Shit, I was such an idiot. She was right, I knew she disliked him. “So, what is your type?” I asked innocently.

She bend towards me slowly and my pulse accelerated. Distracting me from traffic, her right hand crept up my neck seductively and locked in my hair on the left side of my head, her arm under my chin, causing her scent all around me, her lips pressing small kisses on my jaw. Holy shit she smelled good this close. “That’s the question, isn’t it?” she whispered low with a smile in her voice.

I swallowed, unable to say anything as my heart raced.

She chuckled as she fell back in her seat, yet stayed close to me, our fingers entwined. I needed that, because even though I wanted to deny it with everything I had; I was losing it. Once the little houses of Mendocino scattered around us grew in numbers and there were more and more people walking around on the streets, she straightened in her seat, too. Letting the upcoming feeling of nerves inside me getting to her.

When we were only a few blocks away, I could barely keep my hands from trembling and uncertainty took over. “What if they moved?”

“Then we will find their new home,” she said calm and reassuringly.