Mariah awoke to the sounds of construction workers jackhammering outside of their hotel building, realizing she should be getting up around this time anyway. They'd be checking out soon, and she wanted to make sure they had enough time to clean up before leaving.

She reached over for Sage, picking her head up once she grabbed at the air. One of the only things she disliked about him was how early he got up. It didn't matter if he went to sleep at 5:58am, he would be up at six on the dot with energy like he was well rested.

Figuring he was outside on the porch where she could currently see his journal, she turned over to gently shake Solana awake, and leaned over to kiss her face at the same time.

"Wake up baby. Take a shower with me." She mumbled, sliding her arms around her waist once she began to twist out of her sleep.

"Mariah," Solana reached back to grab her hand when it lowered between her legs, a smile on both of their faces. They had a time last night.

"Come on, crazy." She chuckled, climbing over Solana to get out of the bed.

When they were both up, Solana grabbed the bag she'd brought with her yesterday and carried it with them to the bathroom. Inside were just a fresh set of clothes for the three of them, and toothbrushes too since Mariah and Sage didn't bring anything with them besides the decor for the room.

The first thing the two did was brush their teeth, then they got in the hot shower together where the glass door immediately became foggy from how steamy the bathroom was.

"I didn't think he would let us take it that far but he was so comfortable. I love being able to see that." Solana rubbed Mariah's back with the white washcloth, lathering it up in soap.

"It was because of you. You make a bitch-er, I mean, and a nigga-melt from your touch, like literally. I be having to catch my breath 'cause you be tryna slick take my soul." Mariah said, both of them smiling at her brief mess-up.

"And do. Don't be playing no games at all." She chuckled, shrugging her shoulders.

To tell the truth, Solana didn't know exactly how she became so good in bed because Mariah was the only partner that she'd ever been completely comfortable with-and now Sage, too.

Physical intimacy was a big part on connecting with your partner, well, at least for Solana it was. Being able to know and understand them inside and out made her feel good, and she liked making Mariah and Sage feel good too.

That's why she was as much of a tease as she was. Intimacy, to her, wasn't just about having sex. She liked holding hands, eye contact, hugging, caressing, and talking too. She felt that their connection was strengthened even more when she was in close and sensual proximity to her partners.

"I'm proud of you for trusting him. It worked out in your favor too, huh?" Mariah slyly smirked, remembering the way Sage had her acting last night.

"Shut up Mariah." Solana stepped out of the shower with a towel around her body, causing her to laugh as she did the same.

"Where is he, anyway? It's mad brick outside, I know he ain't still out here." She walked to the patio, frowning her face up when she realized he wasn't there.

"What?" Mariah asked, confused.

"He's not out here. It's just his journal and his pen." Solana held up both contents, and Mariah matched her frown.

If he wasn't in the bed, the bathroom, or the patio, then where was he? They both knew that he hated being in places he wasn't familiar with so they knew for sure he wasn't just roaming the hotel halls or something.

Plus, he left his journal and his phone was still on the nightstand. Sage never went anywhere without his phone because it was what kept his attention the most. He wouldn't leave the room without it, especially since he didn't have the key card to get back into the room.

The two of them didn't know if they should panic or not since he was fully capable of taking care of himself if he did happen to step out, yet they couldn't help but to worry. This wasn't like him at all.

"His gun is gone. Why would he take that but not his phone?" Mariah frowned after looking in the nightstand drawer where she'd made him put it yesterday when they first arrived.

"Something's wrong. Shit. Why wouldn't he wake us up, oh my god." Solana struggled to pull her panties up her thick thighs since her skin was still kind of damp; both her and Mariah rushing to put some clothes on.

When they had all of their stuff, they took the elevator down to the first floor to ask the receptionist if she'd seen Sage leave the building. They hoped he was still here somewhere, and had probably gotten too focused on something to where he'd lost track of time.

The receptionist hadn't saw him, but she let Mariah and Solana watch the camera footage from their floor to see where he went. After going out of the door that led to the stairs, Sage didn't pop up on any other camera in the whole building.

He appeared to be frantic for some reason, leaving the room at 5:47 on the dot. That was a whole five hours ago. Now, the two women were panicking. Why would he spent five hours in the stairwell?

Thanking the lady at the front desk, they then went back on the elevator to make it to the floor they were previously on to retrace his path. There was no trace of him though.

Mariah immediately became emotional once they couldn't find him anywhere on the many flights of stairs, and Solana tried to console her while also trying not to cry herself. Neither of them had been through this before.

"Baby please stop crying. That's not helping anything." Solana held her hand, pulling her towards the G-Wagon truck that Sage had drove them to the hotel in yesterday.

If he was now on foot, how far could he have possibly gotten, and how were they supposed to find him?

"Mariah, stop crying." Solana stopped her mid-walk, becoming slightly aggravated with her soft cries even though she tried hard not to, but the crying really wasn't going to solve anything.

"We'll find him, okay? Please stop crying. He's fine. He'll be fine." She assured, holding her face in her hands. Sage was the type of person who would always make sure he was good, so Solana had faith that he was taking care of himself right now, wherever he was.

She was also simultaneously trying to convince herself that they were just being dramatic, like always, and maybe he'd just gone out for a run to cure his boredom or something and got side tracked.

After getting herself and Mariah into the car, Solana drove out of the parking garage, beginning to search the nearby streets for him. She never realized how many skinny men with dreads were in Atlanta until now. Everyone seemed to resemble him in some way.

"What if he walked all the way home?" Mariah wiped her face, sniffling through her words.

"Would he really walk twelve miles at six in the morning?" Solana made a u-turn just in time, heading in the direction of their apartment complex.

"He said he could walk twenty with no problem. They used to have to run for miles when he was in the military. He said so." Mariah told her, trying to calm herself down. She hoped he was okay.

"Okay baby. We can go check, and then if he's not, we'll go to the police okay?" Solana rubbed her hand that she held, and Mariah nodded her head, still looking out of the window in case he hadn't made it home.

They didn't get there for almost an hour due to traffic, which didn't help with their nerves at all. It seemed like they could feel every millisecond passing by since time mattered right now. He'd been gone for six hours now, and had nothing but his gun and the clothes on his back.

Mariah and Solana impatiently stood in the elevator after finally making it home, waiting for it to make it to the sixth floor. They still hadn't saw Sage anywhere.

Obviously the first place they checked was his apartment, but neither of them had a key and nobody came to the door when they knocked, so Solana had to kick it in. It took a lot of strength too-strength that she didn't even know was packed into her body.

They called out his name and checked the bedrooms and bathrooms, but only heard the echoes of their own voices. At this point they were scared out of their minds, because if he wasn't here and didn't have a key to their apartment, where could he be?

"We can still check pooh. Remember he said our house makes him feel safe? What if he w-," Solana cut herself off from reassuring Mariah once again after she said he wouldn't be at their place, laying eyes on their front door that was slightly opened.

"Sage?!" Solana went in first, not seeing anything out of the ordinary as she looked around. Still, no response.

Not bothering to try consoling Mariah again, Solana jogged back to their bedroom to check there, the bathroom, and the closet too. She couldn't see him anywhere, but the scent of his cologne was strong as if he'd been there.

She tried putting herself in shoes to see what she would do if she was him.

Then, she recalled the time Sage and Mariah were childishly playing hide and go seek in their two apartments, and Mariah had spent ten minutes looking for Sage, just for him to be behind the space of his living room TV stand.

It was pushed against the corner of his wall because he had told them that pushing it flat against it looked tacky. With how it was positioned, there was a small triangular space still left behind it. Solana didn't know what made her think of that, but she went back to his apartment to check anyway.

"Sage?" She called again, this time much calmer. If something was wrong with him, the panic in her voice wouldn't make him feel any better.

When she looked behind the TV stand, a breath of relief escaped through her lips at those familiar blonde and black locs. There he was, holding the center pillow from her and Mariah's bed against his chest, with his gun in his right hand, his finger on the trigger though it was still on safety.

Tears were streaming down his cheeks, but it seemed like his face was froze in the same expression that he had on the security footage they'd previously watched. Nothing but terror behind his dark brown eyes.

"Sage," Her voice cracked, almost too scared to touch him. She'd never seen him like this before.

"Oh my god," Mariah gasped at the sight of him, finally at ease that he was okay-or, alive, rather.

"Mariah don't t-," Solana was cut off after watching Mariah rub his arm in comfort, causing Sage to quickly take his gun off of safety, pulling down on the trigger.

The bullet flew just a centimeter past the side of Mariah's head, but scared her so much that she fell-from both being scared and from the sound of the shot going off.

The amount of fear that went through Solana's body could've burst a blood pressure cuff, thinking that the bullet had actually hit Mariah. When she saw no blood, tears still fell from her eyes at the mere thought of her getting shot.

What the hell was going on?

"I'm fine. Shit. I'm f-f-fine. I'm fine, right?" Mariah stuttered over her words, feeling over her body to make sure she hadn't been hurt.

Sage remained in the same position that he'd been in for hours now, his eyes never moving from the cord in front of him, only blinking every few seconds. He hadn't showed any reaction to shooting near Mariah, as if he hadn't realized that he'd done it.

After making sure that Mariah was completely okay-or, as close to it as she could get-Solana stood up to go near Sage again, but made sure not to touch him. She knew that Mariah wasn't supposed to touch him before she even reached for him.

From the looks of it, he was frozen in some sort of shock. Solana figured it was PTSD or something, she just didn't know what triggered it. Every single day, Sage woke up at exactly six in the morning like clockwork. Today, he was seen leaving the hotel room at 5:47. Something woke him up and caused him to go into this frightened state, but what?

Solana then remembered the sounds of construction happening right outside of their hotel when she woke up earlier. The sounds were similar to Sage's gun going off a moment ago, and she could only imagine what else it reminded him of. The jackhammering could've resembled a mine blowing up, for all she knew.

The only place Sage felt comfortable at was his own home, which is probably why he walked over twelve miles to get here. She assumed he'd went to their apartment to get something that reminded him of them first, before hiding behind his TV stand for a sense of security. He had said more than once that she and Mariah was whom he felt the safest with.

Carefully stepping behind the TV stand, Solana sat beside him on the floor, and he didn't even glance at her. His eyes never left the yellow HDMI cord connected to the back of his TV, but tears still fell from them. She wondered how long he'd been crying for.

"Aw, baby," She wanted so badly to just give him a hug, but it was obvious how that had worked out for Mariah. He didn't need to be touched until he was snapped from whatever trance he was in.

She didn't know what else to do. The sounds of their voices, Mariah's touch, and even their scent hadn't pulled him out of the daze. How was she supposed to 'fix' him?

"Why isn't he moving?" Mariah now had her phone in her hand, so close to calling the police. She wanted to get him some help, and obviously neither of them knew what to do in this predicament.

"I don't know pooh." Solana spoke, roaming over Sage's body language.

Leaning her head over, she locked on that same dark stare he always had, seeing his pupils dilating. The veins in his hand was straining from how hard he was clutching his gun and the pillow, and the sight broke her heart. He was obviously scared out of his mind.

The longer she stared at him, she could see the muscles in his face starting to relax, as if he was coming out of it. She wondered if her eyes gave him a sense of familiarity, letting him know that he was okay. He probably recognized them from how he always stared so deeply into them, along with Mariah's too.

"I'm going to take the gun now, okay? You're okay papa. It's just me." She softened her tone, and Sage didn't move a muscle. He didn't even blink.

Solana grabbed the barrel of his gun with some force, and then took it out of his hand. As soon as he let it go, she dropped it and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

His head slowly dropped into the crook of her neck, and she could feel her skin become wet, but she didn't care. Him being okay was all that mattered. He had scared her and Mariah so much, and himself too.

Mariah pushed the TV stand out of the way so that Sage could have some room to stretch his long limbs out now that he was no longer stuck in that trance. Then she hugged him too, feeling his arm go around her waist within a few seconds.

"I'm so sorry." He mumbled, addressing nothing in specific as his voice cracked. He didn't know what he had done, but he could tell something was wrong.

"What did I do?" He then asked after neither of them responded, and Mariah looked over at Solana who had finally started to cry.

"Nothing. We just couldn't find you for a lil' bit. That's it." She rubbed over his furrowed eyebrow, and he slowly nodded his head, looking around at his surroundings.

"Why are we behind my TV?" He asked another question, clearly having no recollection of the prior events.

"Playing hide and go seek again." Mariah spoke after glancing at Solana, both of them figuring it would be best that they didn't tell him until later.

"Oh. Did I win?" He looked over at Mariah, who he assumed he was playing with.

"You did. You always do." She chuckled, leaning her head down to kiss his cheek. That put a smile on his face, and he tilted his head to the side to tell Solana that he wanted one from her too.

Smiling as well, Solana softly kissed his cheek, then used her thumbs to wipe his tears away. He still hadn't notice that they were even there.

"Let's go home now, okay? I think you need to get in the bed." Solana stood to her feet, her and Mariah helping Sage do the same.

They walked back over to their apartment, and when they got there, they convinced Sage to take a shower. When he asked why, Mariah explained to him what had happened; starting off with the fact that he had walked twelve miles in just a pair of sweats.

He had a hard time believing what they were saying, so they showed him that his gun was missing a bullet-which was currently lodged into his wall. He went quiet after that, and even half an hour later, he still hadn't said anything.

Mariah, Solana, and Sage were now in the bed, and both girls knew they wouldn't be going to sleep until Sage did. Mariah even locked their room door so that they could hear if he so happened to leave again. She didn't know how they didn't hear him this morning.

"Am I still supposed to be getting surprised today?" Sage finally broke the silence, which made Mariah remember that they had a flight to catch. A flight that took off over an hour ago.

"No baby. We missed it. We'll make it up to you though." She assured, and he just nodded his head, going quiet again. He looked down at Solana who was staring at the TV that was now playing The Boondocks-Sage's comfort show.

"Did I scare you?" He asked. She hadn't spoken to him since they'd left his apartment.

"Oh, of courseeeee not." She did a motion with her hand to sarcastically wave him off, causing a smile to grow on both his and Mariah's face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." He told her, his smile slowly fading. He would've never thought the brief sound of construction could send him into a state of consciousness that had him too scared to even move.

"I know baby. You're okay now, so that's all that matters. We just have to be more mindful of where we are now." She referred to triggering surroundings, grabbing ahold of his hand.

She rubbed over the healed self-harm marks, tilting her head down to kiss his tattooed arm. He wrapped that same arm around her to make her lay on his chest, doing the same to Mariah. He was so in love with them.

They made him feel safe.

Next chapter the last one. When I said short story, I really meant that! No pregnancies or ending sex scene or nothing since 'Kai books always go the same way'. I don't give no fucks shorty I promise