"You just can't stand to be away from me, can you?"

"I'm dying to have you here with me...but that's not why I actually called." Elijah responded, his voice gravelly; completely laced with lust at the thought of being wrapped up in Kylie's warmth again. But as he completed the second half of his sentence, his voice undertook a rather serious tone.

"And here I was thinking you were calling to tell me how you couldn't wait to have me in that bed with you, again. What's up though?" Kylie sighed in response.

"You know when I was booking the hotel, they were supposed to send out a confirmation booking email with the date and time we're supposed to be checking into the hotel, right?"

"Right." Kylie yawned, carelessly slipping into her skin-tight floral playsuit after snapping yet another semi-nude picture for Elijah as had become ritualistic since he'd left. She'd loved how each picture sent had slowly begun to unleash Elijah's raunchy side, letting the composed pretence melt away; slowly shutting off higher brain function and allowing the animal inside him to awaken. She just knew that the next two nights of passion were going to be utterly mind-blowing.

"Well, I actually thought they'd not sent me it because I usually get email notifications to my phone. But I just checked my emails right now, and they did send it but I didn't get notified because the email has already been opened." He explained, the pace of his words becoming increasingly rapid indicating his current tense state.

"Okay, and I should care, because...?" Kylie droned, her boredom with the conversation increasing with each passing second.

"Because if I didn't open it, it means somebody else did!"

"Wow, you're really overthinking this right now. Firstly, does anyone else even have access to your emails?"

"Not that I know of. But sometimes I forget to log out of the laptop at home, and Jess knows my phone password."

"Wow, Elijah, just wow. I'm constantly astounded by your level of intelligence." She clapped her hands together mockingly, loud enough for it to be heard through the phone line and for him to groan audibly. "Okay, so now that we've well and truly established that you're the definition of an imbecile, you can relax. If Jess had seen it, she'd have said something by now, but I spent the whole day with her yesterday and she was her usual annoying self. And if anyone else magically happened to see it, they'd automatically think it was booked for you and Jess anyway."

"Yeah." He laughed nervously but gradually began to loosen up, "you're right, I probably opened it in a rush and can't remember."

"Exactly. Way to kill a romantic get-away Elijah. This is supposed to be about me and you, so I don't want to hear a single word about Jess or anybody else for that matter, okay?" She replied sternly, phrasing it more as a demand than as a question.

"Okay, just me and you." He whispered, an agreeable trace of huskiness lacing each word before he finally ended the call.

Kylie bit her lip, placing her phone in her little side-bag and making her way downstairs speedily, before entering the kitchen, "Jess, are you okay to give me a ride to Ma's later tonight?"

The hotel was approximately a fifteen-minute walk from Valerie's house and she could've easily taken a bus down there which would obviously have been the decent thing to do but she had wanted to completely cover her and Elijah's tracks. So, asking Jess to drop her off at her Ma's would ensure that Jess really did have no doubts as to Kylie's whereabouts.

"Yeah sure." She smiled a rather insipid smile; the grin not quite causing the usual miniature crinkles around her eyes to appear.

"Is everything okay?" Kylie sighed, leaning her body-weight against the kitchen countertop and giving Jess her undivided attention.

"I just remembered I have my 12-week scan tomorrow and Elijah's not going to be there."

"Oh...didn't he know it was tomorrow?"

"I told him, but he must have forgotten about it like I did. I just found the letter again today but it's too late now, he's gone." She exhaled, holding out the paper in her hand and then folding it and slipping it into her pocket.

"Maybe...maybe you should call him? He'd definitely come back if he knew your scan was tomorrow. He wouldn't want to miss it." Kylie felt the undeniable pangs of guilt in the pits of her stomach, but this time they were accompanied by a continual burning sensation covering every inch of skin; tainting her and leaving her with multiple metaphorical ugly scars and she knew she would be wearing them for the remainder of her life.

"No, it's fine. He was stoked about that research thing he's got on. But maybe, you could come with me instead?" She asked gingerly, the usual grin resurfacing on her cheeks.

"I'll be at Ma's tomorrow, you know that." Kylie clamped down on her lip again, threatening to draw blood. It wasn't just that she wanted more than anything to spend the next couple of days with Elijah but more-so because she couldn't bear the thought of having to watch Jess's face light up brighter than a colgate toothpaste commercial and have to fake the elation beside her at the scan images. Envy had always been Kylie's greatest sin when it came to Jess and she knew she would sit there, wishing once again to have what Jess had and not having to always receive the worst end of the bargain.

It was true that Kylie hadn't particularly wanted a child, but when she had accidentally fallen pregnant over two years ago, she'd instantly warmed up to the idea of the life that was growing within her. The memories of that time – still raw and beyond tender, remained her soul torturer.

"It'll only be like an hour max. I'll even collect and drop you back home." Jess pleaded with her friend.

"No Jess. I can't." She retaliated weakly.

"Why not though?"

"Because I can't. I've already said I can't okay? Why don't you ever listen to me?!" She shrieked involuntarily. She hadn't meant to shout but she could barely even begin to control the voice that escaped her lips.

"Oh, Ky! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot." Her eyes brimmed with tears as realisation finally hit. She closed her eyes for a second, pressing the palm of her hand against her forehead in frustration with herself.

Kylie held her hands out directly in front of her as her friend took steps towards her, "Just stop, please. It's fine, seriously."

"It's not though, is it? I've been such a terrible friend to you. It's obvious that you're still hurting with everything that's been going on and I've not even been there for you properly." Jess jabbered on and on, slowing moving closer to her friend in an attempt to console her.

"I'm here for you. Always."

"I don't need your sympathy Jess, and I don't need you to be 'here' for me, okay?" Maybe it was just the guilt talking or maybe this was the first time that Kylie's true colours were finally surfacing because she spoke each word with such a bitter coldness. The same coldness that resembles a blade that carves aesthetic patterns into your body with each and every syllable spoken.

"Kylie...what's wrong?" Jess asked, worried at her friends' sudden strange outburst.

"You really want to know what's wrong? You. Jess, you're what's wrong." Kylie answered bluntly, before quickly turning on her heel, ignoring Jess's gentle pleas behind her and leaving the house.

Jess watched blankly as the front door slammed behind Kylie. She turned and climbed up the stairs slowly.

Slowly beginning to make her way to the top floor of the house; to the loft room. To Kylie's room.

Entering the room filled her with an avalanche of strange feelings. She searched the room's scape with her eyes, absorbing the deep burgundy colour of the walls, of the carpets, of the bed sheets.

It felt eerie to be stood in that room for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half months later. She reminisced the moments where she and Kylie stood at the doorway; at the time a completely joyous moment for the two of them.

"So, this is the largest guest room and your bedroom for the next six months."

She staggered towards the doorway of the room as she felt her stomach tighten tremendously. She recognised the feeling of the warm liquid rising through her chest, for she'd experienced it nearly every morning for the past month. She barely reached the toilet bowl in time before the cream coloured chyme emerged from her mouth. She sank to her knees and for reasons beyond her understanding, she began crying. The muscles in her chin trembled uncontrollably and sobs ripped through her very being with an excruciating pain.

She couldn't explain the emotions that had consumed her whilst she stood in that room, but she put it down to hormones.

A bang sounded from downstairs, disturbing Jess's thoughts, and she quickly wiped around her mouth and wet eyes and made her way downstairs.

"Kylie, you're back."

A completely unreadable expression was plastered across Kylie's face.

____________________________________________________

"What took you so long, you were supposed to be here two hours ago." Elijah groaned, opening the hotel room door to allow a disheveled looking Kylie inside.

"I got sidetracked." She mumbled weakly in response.

Before Elijah had a chance to complain further, she slipped off her long black trench coat that she had decided to wear after she'd left the house for the second time.

She revealed her completely bare body beneath the garment.

The right side of her naturally rosé coloured lips dragged upwards, mimicking a sinister but sensuous smirk on her tanned face; casting her spell of desire to Elijah's lust-filled eyes.

As the two of them melted into each others' arms once again, Jess's body laid unmoving at the bottom of the staircase at home.

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Authors Note: DUN DUN DUNNNN, we are FINALLY entering the dark/thriller part of the story!!
Lol, so I published this chapter earlier and after lots of people commented I realised somehow I had forgotten to copy and paste the final line onto wattpad so yeah, a major part of the chapter was missing. I'm so so stupid, I know. Don't judge me.

So what the hell happened to Jess? 🤔

This chapter is quite short, I'm sorry! But I couldn't really make it any longer without dragging it out unnecessarily which I obviously didn't want to do.

So let me know your opinions/thoughts as always! I live for your guys' comments, they're the best ❤️

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