Page 85 of The Revenge Plan

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A few moments later we were all downstairs. Ax and I had managed to tie up and drag a knocked out Bryce down the stairs while Hailey called the cops. Her voice was still shaking when she made the call. I almost wanted to do it myself, but she insisted. We sat Bryce down onto the couch and waited for him to come to while we waited for the cops. Ax was still in shock.

“So you’re saying she knocked him out?” he whispered beside me after we sat on the couch opposite Bryce. My gaze went to Hailey, who stood with her arms folded as she stared down at the view of the city. I nodded.

“Wow. With a paperweight you say?”

“If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have been able to,” we were both startled when we heard her voice, “So thank you for that.”

“No problem,” Ax said.

Bryce slowly came to. He was unaware of his surroundings and jumped back when he saw where he was. He began struggling against his binds when he realized he was tied up. The police came soon after. I explained everything together with Hailey. They took our statements and took Bryce into custody. Ax bade us farewell when I asked him to stay. He said, “I was already feeling like a third wheel when Bryce was here. Him being gone will only make me feel even more of a third wheel.”

After he was gone, I turned to Hailey. She had tears in her eyes. This was, I noticed, the first time since Bryce had come, she was now crying. I went to her and held her. Her tears fell even more. I held her tightly.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you anymore. You’re safe with me now.”

She hiccupped a few times. “Why me? Why am I the only one cursed with this bad luck?”

Was she talking about what her brother had said? “Hey it’s not your fault what happened to your parents. Do you hear me? None of it is your fault.” I drew her out and held her at arm's length so I could see her face. It was tear stained and red. “Do you understand what I’m saying? None of this, what happened with Bryce, your father, your mother, had anything to do with what you did. Especially that bastard brother of yours.”

She sniffed back some tears.

“I need you to show me you understand.”

She nodded. Satisfied, I drew her back into my arms. We stood like that for what must have been hours. We were both comfortable in each other's arms. I was surprised how much it had taken me to realize what I would have lost. I could have lost her. The love of my life. I could have lost the love of my life in a blink of a second. I was a fool. It took the threat of death to see what I had all this time and that I was lucky to have her in my life. I never realized until now that I loved her so much. Love. I wanted to say that word over and over again because that’s how much I felt for her. It brought me the feeling of happiness I had never felt before. All my life, while I was pursuing vendettas, making deals, amassing wealth. I thought all of that brought me joy. None of them brought me the same amount of joy as being in the arms of someone I loved wholeheartedly.

After a while we drew back and moved to the couch. We both sat down in silence. “If you want to sleep here... If you want to, that is.”

“I do,” her voice was almost a whisper.

We both went upstairs. I was about to lead her to the guest bedroom. It was when I felt the lack of her presence beside me; I turned and saw her standing next to my bedroom.

“I want to sleep with you.” We both froze at the implication, “I mean, I want to sleep in the same room as you. I can’t stand being alone tonight. I could sleep on the settee or—”

“It’s fine. We can both sleep on the bed. I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

56

We both slept on the bed with most of our clothes on. We were tired from the ordeal and we didn’t want to waste energy by removing them. Caiden had taken me into his arms and laid my head against his chest. He was telling the truth when he said he didn’t want to do anything I didn’t want to do. Instead, we both slept together in that same bed like an old couple. We were far from it, though. We were neither old nor a couple. I turned my head toward him. Moonlight streamed into the room, creating a dark blue ambiance. I could make out most of him. His eyelashes fluttered against his sleeping eyes. They were big and made his eyes seem all the more beautiful closed. His breathing was even, which was a sort of calming presence. I drew circles on his chest in time to his breathing. The situation reminded me of something we had both shared a long time ago. Back when I was in high school and I had accidentally stumbled into his bedroom drunk. He had been drunk too and thought was his girlfriend at the time.

“Just like the first time I fell into your bed,” I said to myself

“Mmm.”

I frowned. “Are you awake?”

“Yes.” He didn’t bother opening his eyes.

“You should have said.”

“I just did.” His eyelids fluttered open. “You had jumped into my bed drunk with nothing but a t-shirt on.”

“You remember! The next day you said you were drunk!”

“I was drunk at the time and I never said I had forgotten. I mean, who could forget you, Hailey.”

“I was sure you felt nothing for me back then.”

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