Keeper of the Lost Cities- Deathgrip

Confession session

Sophie rapped her knuckles loudly against the polished door of The Shores of Solace, internally praying that Keefe answers and not Lord Cassius. But no such luck. Keefe's father opened the door and an oily smile appeared on his face. "Sophie. My son is not available. He's catching up on homework."

Sophie rolled her eyes. Hard. She was so not in the mood for this. Not after what Fitz said. "Oh, give me a break. School hasn't even started yet."

His smile tightened at the corners. "A good student always is ahead of his class."

"A good parent... is not you." Oof. Sophie was not good at smack talk. 

Lord Cassius raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. Sophie pushed past him, ignoring that and sped towards Keefe's door at the end of the hall, knocking on the door. No more shirtless Keefe incidents, people. "Keefe, it's me, Sophie."

She heard footsteps pad towards the door and Keefe poked his head through. "Um, just give me a second."

He shut the door again Sophie swore she heard papers being shuffled around. He opened the door, fully this time, a few seconds later. Sophie cut right to the chase. "Keefe, what exactly did you say to Fitz?!"

Keefe's eyes widened and he stepped out of the room, Ro right behind him. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

Sophie debated for a second but thought that some fresh air would be good to clear her head. "Okay. But you're going to tell me."

Keefe nodded and they walked out the back door of the house to the beach. They walked in silence for a moment, the wind whipping Sophie's hair into her face. Keefe led her closer to the water and took off his shoes and socks. Sophie followed and they strolled along the shore, toes dipping in the water. "Sophie. When I told you I had to speak to someone after the mud incident, I meant Fitz. I knew exactly why he was acting the way he was... because I had felt the same thing just a few weeks earlier. We just dealt with that emotion differently."

Sophie frowned. "What emotion?"

Keefe closed his eyes, stopping. "God, Sophie! You know, open your eyes! Jealousy!"

"What? Keefe! Why jealousy?"

"Okay... You really want me to say all of it. Sophie, you're beautiful, smart, powerful, kind and you keep my head on right! From the moment I saw you, I fell head over heels for you!"

Sophie stopped dead in her tracks. "...Keefe?"

Keefe spun to face her, his blue eyes full of emotion. "Sophie. Will you go out with me? On a date."

Sophie closed her eyes this time and threw her head back. "Keefe, I did too!"

Keefe looked confused. "You did what?"

"I fell for you too... Fitz is right. You're the real reason I broke up with him. I just didn't know it. But... I don't think I should go out with you yet. I still want Fitz as my friend and he told me he still likes me. So, I think the wound is still too fresh."

Keefe smiled a little but looked a bit hurt. "Forever the logical one."

"Forever the impulsive one," Sophie shot back. 

Keefe smirked mischievously. "He doesn't have to knooooow..."

"You know what?" Sophie said, throwing all common sense into the wind. "Fine. But we'll have to tell him when I know he's over me."

Keefe pumped his fist into the air and picked her up, spinning her around in the wind. "YES!"

Two beefy arms picked them up and spun both of them around. Ro. "YEEEEEEESSSSSS! FINALLY! I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER TELL HER, HUNKYHAIR!"

When she put them down, Keefe was beet red. Sophie offered her own smirk. "You told your bodyguard?"

"Secrets hinder her ability to protect me?" Keefe mimicked with an uncanny resemblance to Sandor's voice. 

Ro grinned. "Nope. He's just a big softie. All I had to do was look at him when we met and all his secrets spilled out."

Keefe turned his back to her and guided Sophie down the beach. "So... I'll pick you up tomorrow?"

"Mmm. Where are we going?"

Keefe grabbed her hand and tingles shot through her entire body. "You'll see. And Foster, don't hide those fuzzy feelings from me anymore. I know now what they are and I also know that empaths give you aaallll the feels."

Sophie blushed furiously. "No! Empaths will be the death of me."

"Have I told you you're cute when you're flustered?"

"Watch it. I can still cancel our date."

"No, you can't." Keefe teased, squeezing her hand, sending even more sparks shooting up her body. "Nobody can resist an empath."