Stuck With You

18: Scars

Someone was nudging my shoulder gently. "Rylee."

I slowly sat up from where I was laying on the couch, confused until I realized I'd fallen asleep. I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "Oh, I fell asleep, sorry."

Kason sat next to me. "It's okay, it's late anyway. But I brought you this." He held something out to me.

A smile tugged at my lips as I took the wrapped Subway sandwich. "I love Subway."

"I didn't know what you liked so I just got a club. I figured you'd be hungry."

"Thank you. I am quite hungry." I unwrapped the sandwich and began eating.

"Are you feeling any better? Sleeping usually wears the drug off."

I nodded, swallowing. "Yeah, I feel normal now. So... have you made any progress?"

Kason rubbed his jaw. "Dimitri and Jared are working on something. But... I'm not so sure it'll be all that easy."

I didn't respond as I tried occupying my mind with the delicious food. "Who knew I'd end up in a gangster movie?" I joked.

Kason smiled slightly. "At least you still have your humor." His face grew serious again. "I'm sorry, Rylee. You shouldn't have to deal with this. No one should. And I can't help feeling like it's my fault."

I set my food down and, without fully thinking, grabbed his arm gently, pulling his attention to me. "Do not blame yourself for this. If it weren't for you, I could have been taken by now with no clue of what was going on. But you're here and able to help me."

Kason nodded, though he still looked a bit guilty. "I know. I just- I worry about you, Rylee. And it scares me that you're in this mess now."

My heart fluttered as he said that. "You... you worry about me?"

His green eyes met mine, and his lips twitched nearly to a smile. "I do. Is that so bad? I mean, you worry about me."

I paused. "Uh, I know this seems random, but... what happened the other night? When we went drinking? I just woke up yesterday and I couldn't remember much of anything."

He let out a soft laugh. "You got very drunk very fast, so I got you out of that house before you passed out or made a fool of yourself. I took you home and made sure you weren't going to die, and then I left."

I cringed. "Did I... say anything? Like embarrassing things that will make me want to jump off a cliff?"

"Not that bad, sweetheart. But you did say some things that you might not have meant to share."

My eyes widened. "Like what?"

"I'll spare you. Better not to know, right?" He raised a cheeky eyebrow.

I pushed his arm. "You can't do that to me. Come on, what did I say?"

Kason chuckled. "You just rambled on, mostly. And you said you care about me."

I blushed slightly, but oddly enough, I wasn't... embarrassed and ashamed. "Oh. Well..." I looked down at my hands. "That's true. I- I wasn't lying about that."

Kason didn't move, and I looked up at him. He was looking at me, but his expression was impossible to read. What was he thinking?

I cleared my throat, looking away again. "I just made things weird, didn't I?"

"Nothing is weird, sweetheart." He ruffled my hair. "Relax, I'm not that lame."

I pushed his hand away, though I was smiling. "Yeah, you're annoying, not lame."