I was restless during the night and I woke Alexander up a few times. I had a hard time falling asleep and when I did, I woke up, sitting up, feeling afraid and unsafe. That was until Alex woke up and calmed me down. He helped me get through most of the night. I'm so happy about that because I don't know how I'd do it on my own.

I wake up early in the morning. Alexander slept through my alarm, all sprawled up on the bed. I can't even blame him because he was awake most of the night with me.

He comes to the bathroom when I'm getting ready for my morning class, looking all ruffled and messy, rubbing his eyes and squinting at me. He stops, dropping his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Good morning," I say brightly, looking at him in the mirror and smacking another layer of concealer under my eyes. I wear make-up on rare occasions and today just calls for it because, holy moly, do I look bad. All pale-faced with really, really dark circles that stand out and tired eyes. "I'm just getting ready for my class."

"Gabrielle," Alexander says gently, just looking at me.

He doesn't say anything more, just stands there, watching me.

"Baby," he says softly when I start coating my lashes with mascara.

"What?" I ask, turning around to face him.

He shakes his head at me, still not saying anything more.

"What is it?"

"I think you can take a day off."

I roll my lips together, already against the idea. I thought about it, sure, but I have to go. "I need to go. I can't just stay at home. I'll fall behind and I can't do that right now."

"Fuck that. You can ask someone for notes later."

I shake my head. "No. I have to go."

Alexander crosses his arms, still giving me a patient, soft look. "Why?"

"I'm tutoring today after classes."

His lips fall into a straight line, clearly displeased with my answer. "Reschedule," he recommends. Or more like demands.

I turn back around, putting my hands on the sink, hanging my head. "I'm going. I'm going because if I stay here, I'll just think about Ryder and yesterday and what he almost did. And I'd be thinking about your mother turning against me. And I'd be also thinking about how scared and lost I feel regarding us and our relationship because I don't know what to do because I have no idea what the right thing it is to do here."

I didn't realise the tears are falling down my face and I'm sliding down towards the floor until I feel Alexander's arms around me, pulling me back up and against his body. I completely break down then. I didn't let myself think about what happened last night. I just pushed it out of my mind and tried to fall asleep. That obviously didn't help.

I feel his lips pressing on the top of my head, sighing and softly murmuring, "Baby."

I start crying even harder which makes Alexander hug me even tighter. "I really should go to class," I say mid-crying.

"You really shouldn't," Alexander says back. He's completely right. I really shouldn't. My life is currently falling apart and I need to get a grip and put it back together, piece by piece. His hand strokes my hair, comforting me. I sigh into his chest, burying my head against his hard muscles. I noticed he must've been working out even more now that I wasn't here because his shoulders are wider and I noticed he has even more muscles now. Not that I'm complaining.

Alexander easily picks me up and takes me back to the bed where he sits down with me on top of him. I lean my head against his chest and he wraps his arms around me, kissing the top of my head again.

It doesn't take me long to calm down and stop crying. I still have this weird, tight feeling in my stomach that reminds me this will stay with me for some time and follow me. You don't forget things like this easily. Alexander's mid-running his fingers through my hair when he speaks again. "We're going to be okay, you know. You don't have to worry about whether you're doing the right thing or not. You are. I needed a kick in my ass to get my shit together."

I smile at that. I believe so, too. I believe we are going to be just fine. But that still makes me wonder where to go from here. What to do. "I should maybe go and speak to your therapist."

His body goes completely still. "Why?" he asks with a weird undertone in his voice that makes me lift my head and look at him.

"Just so I can get an opinion from someone else. Don't worry, I won't ask about your secrets or anything."

He makes a sound in his throat. "I don't keep any secrets. Not from you, that is."

Although that is very comforting to hear, it's also very debatable if I just think back about the things that happened. "Right," I say, unconvinced.

"What?" Alexander asks, clearly offended. "I don't. You know everything about me."

"Hmm," I say, not commenting on it.

"Gabrielle," he grunts. "I'm serious. I tell you everything. You know more than my own mother."

"Yeah, you just forget to tell me a few things here and there," I murmur, thinking back how he kept the drugs from me. That didn't make me feel good at the time because it made me feel like he's keeping other things from me he didn't want me to know. Like Lena going with him to the race.

"I do forget, actually," Alex murmurs.

I don't say anything back. I don't want to fight with him over this again and bring it up all the time. We're past it, we talked about it and I moved on from it. I tried to, at least. But it still tainted my trust in him because things like this are a huge deal for me and I can't just move on from it like it's nothing.

But then again, Alexander's my anchor. Especially now after everything that happened yesterday. He's still my person and he's still the one I go to when I need comfort because he's the only one that can give it to me. And this is why I get even closer to him and lift my head, getting closer to him. Alexander gives me a wary look, dropping his hand from my hair, his eyes narrowing slightly.

I shift on the bed and sit astride on his legs, looking at him. Alexander raises his eyebrow when I lean down and kiss the corner of his mouth, putting my hands on his hard chest. "You've been working out a lot," I observe.

I feel the corners of his mouth lift. "Yeah. Had a lot of energy I needed to take out somehow." His hand comes to my waist, but he doesn't squeeze it like he usually would. I kiss the other corner of his mouth before I place my lips on his in a soft, yet hungry kiss. Alexander puts his hands on my head, but instead of pulling me closer, he pulls me back a little. "Gabby," he murmurs, shaking his head.

"What?" I say in a whiny voice, trying to lean closer again, feeling as if someone just took sugar from a child and is now trying to get it back.

Alexander stops me and sits up straighter so I can't reach him anymore. "Gabrielle, wait a minute."

I sit back on his legs, giving him a pouty look. "What?" I repeat.

He pushes a hand through his hair, looking away. It looks like he needs a minute to pull himself back together. Okay, so it's not that he doesn't want to or that he's not in the mood, but then ... what? I impatiently wait for him to give me an explanation of what the hell is going on.

He finally looks at me after a few minutes, staring straight into my eyes. "I don't think we should do this after what happened and when things still aren't straight between us."

I shake my head and lean forward again, but he moves his head so I only get to kiss his jaw. "Oh, come one," I say. "I want to. Besides, that'll help me forget."

"Yeah, that's exactly why we shouldn't do this right now." He puts his hands on my arms.

I sigh and get off him, sulking.

"Gabrielle, seriously. It's not that I don't want to, but I don't want to do it for the wrong reasons. You know?" His hand goes through his hair again.

"Yeah," I mumble grudgingly. I put my feet down on the floor, ready to get up from the bed, but Alexander puts his hand on my arm and pulls me back.

"Are you seriously going to sulk about this now?"

"Yeah," I mumble again, refusing to look at him.

I hear him sigh before I suddenly and unexpectedly feel his hands on my ribs and he's suddenly tickling me. I shriek and try to jump from the bed, away from him, but he's holding me back. "No, no, Alex ..." I shriek again when he hits a certain spot that makes my whole body double over. "Stop! Oh, my ... God!" I'm giggling and squealing, trying to let him release me and get away from him, but I can't.

"Are you going to stop pouting and understand that I only mean the best when it comes to you?" Alexander says close to my ear.

"Yes!" I agree immediately. "Yes, yes!" I shout. I'd agree to just about anything right now just so he would stop.

His hands drop, but he still holds me because I bolt and I want to run, but I'd most likely fall down on my nose if he didn't hold me back. "Good," he says calmly while I'm hyperventilating.

"That's manipulation," I say, looking at him over my shoulder.

He just grins, not sorry about it at all. But he at least managed to put me in a better mood. It's good to know he didn't stop wanting me just because of what happened yesterday.

˙˙˙

After we eat breakfast, we head to the police station where I have to give a statement. They couldn't give us any information about where Ryder which pissed Alexander off because that meant he escaped. He lost his mind there and I had to calm him down before they put him away and lock him up.

I have to say it made me feel uneasy to know that he's walking around freely somewhere. What if he does this to someone else? To another girl? What if he tries with me again? I don't think I'd be able to live with that, knowing he attacked someone else. Or me; again.

When we leave the police station, Alexander is completely riled up. When we sit in his car, he has to take a few minutes to get a grip, glaring at the road and gripping the steering wheel so hard that it looks like he's trying to rip it out. I bite down on my bottom lip, not saying anything, just placing my hand on his arm.

That makes him wake up from his trance. "You're not going to stay with Sam, you're coming back home. I can fucking go and sleep on the couch, but you're not going anywhere without me."

That statement makes it all so real and it actually scares me because it's a reminder that this situation is real and scary as hell. "Okay," I agree easily. I wouldn't even want it otherwise because I'm way too scared to go anywhere alone right now. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder already.

I see his jaw tick and he nods, starting the car. "Good. We're going to go and talk to my mum so she can put his ass in the jail to rot."

I don't reply because I don't have anything to say to that. It's not a question.

We go to his parents' house and I feel just a little nervous meeting his mother again when we still haven't talked about what happened. Alexander must've noticed me shifting in my seat because he puts his hand on my thigh. "Don't worry. My mum's not mad at you anymore. She's going to be glad to help you with this."

I nod and swallow a lump in my throat. I don't know why I feel so nervous and restless all of a sudden. When we get to the house, Alexander lets me out in the driveway and then drives to the garage because it looks like it's about to start raining or snowing any minute now.

I go up the stairs alone and ring the bell, but no one opens which is weird. I try the door and it's open. I close it behind me and call out, "Hello? Is anyone home?" because the house seems awfully quiet.

I don't get any answer and I mindlessly walk to the living room to wait for Alexander but then I stop when I see two people sitting on the couch, my eyes widening.

Lena and Ryder both turn their heads to look into my direction and I immediately start walking backwards in shock and fear.