Page 13 of Sage

Hans took notice of the panic that had washed over Sage's face as he took her by the hand. "It's going to be okay." He assured her, and for the first time in the past forty-eight hours, they both let out a nervous chuckle and decided to call a truce. Giving in to the fact that they were all that each of them had left.

"Have you forgotten that you tried to kill me two nights ago?" Sage glared at him as he smiled and shook his head at her. "I'm being serious, Hans." She let out a sigh.

"Again, you left me no choice." Hans shrugged.

"I left you no choice?" Sage was in shock. Regardless of their damaged relationship, and the fact that she had stalked him and held him hostage, Sage had never intended to follow through with killing him.

"You weren't going to just let me go and be like, ‘yeah go back to your apartment and resume your life’." Hans mocked her voice and mannerisms until Sage cut him off.

"And you didn't exactly offer to save me from the forest and move in together."

Hans leaned in, his mouth just centimeters from Sage's ear. "You killed Alana."

Sage waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, minor details."

"It wasn't minor tome." Hans felt his anger building up in a sexual rage. "You also lied about who you were."

"Uhm, excuse me?" The cab driver interrupted them. "Can you two continue this lovers quarrel outside of the cab? I've got other customers to get to."

"Yeah, sorry," Hans and Sage apologized in unison. Sage looked back as she got out of the cab to see Hans following right behind her.

"What are you doing?" Sage stopped him once he set one foot on the ground.

"I'm getting out so he can get to his other customers," Hans started to explain.

"Youarehis other customer." Sage insisted. "You need to go." She started to walk away when she felt Hans' hand wrap around her wrist and spin her around in his arms to face him.

"Let me stay." Hans pleaded. "We can get a cab in the morning to get our cars."

Sage bit her lip and looked off into the distance, the ride home had been a sobering experience and she couldn’t believe that after everything she had experienced, her plan hadn’t been a bit more thought out. "Hans I-"

He interrupted her. "You what? You can't have a boy over?" Hans rolled his eyes.

She let out a deep sigh. "It's okay. He'll stay here."

"Great!" The driver's sarcasm struck a nerve with Sage. Hans handed him the money to cover the fare along with a generous tip. The driver tipped his hat and quickly sped off.

The two continued to stand there awkwardly looking at each other and down to the ground when their eyes met. Sage began to fumble around, searching her clutch for the house key as they slowly made their way to the front door. She unlocked the door and invited Hans to come inside.

"Whoa.Thisis Marco's place?" Hans couldn't believe his eyes while he looked around, taking in the sight of everything laid out before him.

"What did you expect? He was a bachelor. Alana only stayed over what appeared to be some nights and-"

"And the position he was in, did not warrant being able to afford this lifestyle." Hans started giving himself the home tour.

"Maybe it belonged to his parents?" Sage shrugged. "Who knows? It doesn't really matter much now, I suppose." She wandered over to the fireplace that rested between the living room and bedroom, turning the dial to light it. As the fire started to blaze, she stood there, admiring the beauty as it crackled. Sage turned back towards Hans who had already kicked off his shoes and made himself at home on the couch with a beer from the fridge.

"Hey, haven't you had enough for one night?" She skipped over to him and plopped down next to him, snagging the beer out of his hand and taking a swig. "Me?" Hans acted shocked. "What about you missy?" The two started playfully wrestling over the beer. "Hey, get your own."

Then, in a moment that felt like it was moving in slow motion, their lips met, pressing together vigorously like they hadn't seen each other for years.Damn, I knew I should have gotten some lip balm,crossed Hans' mind as Sage had begun to unbutton his shirt, refusing to let him pull away from their lip lock.

"Sage, I don't think we should." Hans pressed his forehead against hers once he was finally able to catch his breath.

"Why not?" A look of disappointment fell over her face once more. "You almost told me you loved-"

"You lied to me." Hans cut her off trying to forget the activities of the previous night. "You had ample opportunity to tell me, and yet, you didn't," He continued his lecture.

"So, you thought you loved me as Sage but stopped loving me the moment you found out I was Gretta?" Sage pulled away.

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