Playlist for this chapter:

James Blunt ~ Goodbye My Lover

Coldplay ~ The Scientist

One Direction ~ Love You Goodbye

Ed Sheeran ~ Give Me Love

Snakehips x Mø ~ Don't Leave

"Ashton!"

"Ash! Fuck! Man, get up!"

"Get the fuck up. It's time, bro. Let's go, Al is downstairs and dad's asking for you"

I open my eyes and immediately realise that I must have fallen asleep right here on the floor. I was so angry, so upset; it was just all too many feelings at once, I had to calm myself down or I would've ruined dad's night.

"What's the time?" I ask groggily, standing to my feet.

"It's past midnight. Where's Kaia?" Axel asks curiously, looking around the empty room.

"She left. I don't wanna talk about it. Let's go" I brush off his question by walking out the door.

As I walk briskly down the stairs, my mind drifts back to Kaia. She must hate me right now. I just know it. On top of that I don't know how she got home. Maybe dad saw her leave, I'll have to ask him later.

"Oh! It's nice that the brothers are joining us. Come, sit" Al Ramirez cheerfully calls out as he sees us enter the main room.

He was seated beside his slutty daughter, Alexis; who bit her lip soon as she saw me. I swear she needs to get a life. She's fucking crazy, this bitch.

Ax sat beside dad on the couch and I grabbed the chair beside them, glaring at Alexis. I hope she can sense how much I fucking hate her guts. It's taking everything in me not to stand up and strangle the living daylights out of her. Fuck!

"Okay. Now that we're all here. You say you have my money?" Al speaks up, eyeing dad.

"As promised. I do" dad says, gesturing for one of his boys to bring in the briefcase.

I recognise this guy as the stiff one that came by my room. He sets the briefcase on the table infront of us. Dad opens it up and turns it to face Al before leaning back again.

"You're a man of your word, Mr. Parker. I'm impressed" Al says with a smirk while scanning though the briefcase.

"You can count it if you like, but I assure you it's all there" Dad says, gesturing to the briefcase.

"No, no" Al cuts in, closing the briefcase. "There's no need. I trust you."

"Good" dad says, standing up and straightening his suit. Al stands up as well with the briefcase already in his hand.

"We'll be on our way now" he says, holding his hand out for dad to shake. Dad gives it a firm shake then walks Al to the door.

"I'll see you later, sweetie" Alexis hisses as she slowly stands up from her seat. I roll my eyes at her and walk out of the room, uninterested.

"You know, you're lucky you were able to pay up on time" she says, following me.

I turn around to take a good look at her. I'm not in the best mood right now and she's pushing my buttons.

"Well we came through. Now leave!" I snap, pointing towards the door.

"Woah, calm down now babe! No need to get all angry. Just saying though, if you didn't pay up; your sweet Kaia would've been the first on my hit list."

I grab her by the arm and hook her closer to me, not wanting to play anymore games with her.
"You stay the fuck away from her, got it?! Don't fucking test me, Alexis. You have no idea what I'm capable of" I warn her, my eyes boring through her lifeless ones.

"Fine!" She spits, pulling her arm out of my grasp.

I walk into the kitchen to get a drink. Finally, I can live in peace with Alexis out of the picture. I thought we were never gonna pay them back. I wonder what this means for dad's business though, he must've suffered a loss already. There's no way he raised that much tonight, some must've come from his business. I'm sure of it.

"Now, are you gonna tell me what happened tonight?" Axel calls out as he enters the kitchen.

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and take a huge gulp, not interested in answering his question.

"Fine. I'll just call her" He says with a smirk, pulling out his phone from his pocket.

"Go ahead, asshole" I reply, walking out of the kitchen.

I walk out of the house and to the font porch where dad was standing, smoking a cigar.

I sat on the steps and stared out into the night. It was cold out, I hope Kaia got back safely.

"The night was a success" dad speaks up, breaking the eery silence.

"Um, yeah. Good job" I reply, glancing over at him. He had a tired but relaxed look on his face, I could tell he was glad this was all over.

It was silent again. Dad didn't say anything else and I remained quiet, just looking up at the skies. All the stars were out tonight. They were beautiful. I think back to the time I compared Kaia's eyes to the stars, I told her that her eyes were brighter; more beautiful -- but she just laughed and shoved at my shoulder. Typical Kaia. She pretends like she hates my cheesy compliments, but I know she secretly lives for them. The way she blushes says it all.

"Son, I know it's not my place or my business to ask but. ..what happened between you and Kaia tonight?" Dad speaks again, this time coming to sit beside me on the steps.

This is the first time my father has asked me something to do with my private life. Everytime we talked it was either about something I was doing wrong or just business stuff. I was nervous about confiding in him.

"Um. ..well --"

"It's alright if you don't want to tell me. I completely understand. I've never really been there for you" dad chuckles.

"What I was going to say was that we had some issues, mainly me keeping this whole Al Ramirez thing to myself. Kaia found out, got upset that I lied and took off."

"Wow. Well that really teaches you a lesson, son" dad says, tapping my shoulder. 

"What do you mean?" I answer back, confused as fuck. There must be something laced in his cigar, what the fuck is he on about?

"I mean, it's crystal clear why she's so upset. She loves you and she wants to be a part of your life, your whole life -- not just the half that you've been giving her."

I never thought I'd say this but I think for the first time in my life, dad is right. I'm such a fool for telling her to leave. An even bigger fool for not telling her everything. I knew keeping secrets would end badly, I mean look at us now.
Wish I would've just said everything when it mattered, now she's gone and I don't know if she would forgive me.

"Find her, Ashton. Make things right. It's the right thing to do" dad tells me before standing up and heading inside.

I sigh loudly and run a hand through my hair. Dad's right. I have to find her. I quickly stand up and walk to my car.

Suddenly the front door bursts open and Axel comes rushing outside with his phone lighting up in his hand. What the fuck?

"Where is she, Ashy? Her phone is switched off and Dani hasn't seen her" Axel says, shoving his phone in my face.

"Who?" I spit, still walking towards my car.

"Kaia, you dumbass! Where'd she go? She's not at her room."

"Why are you so concerned?" I turn around and question Axel, who's frantically pressing on his phone.

"She's my friend, okay? And she's a sweet girl, one that you came here with and now she's missing. Wait, why aren't you panicking? She's your girlfriend ..unless. ..unless you hurt her. I swear to God I'll--"

"Shut up!" I cut him off, before getting into my car and driving off.

"You better find her!" Axel shouts at me as I drive off.

As I neared the main road, I realised that I had no idea where to look for her. Axel said that Dani hadn't seen her. Maybe she's there now, I'll check just incase.

It was after midnight and the roads that led into town were empty. Just as well, I fucking need to drive as fast as I can. I switch the radio off to try and focus. With every minute that passes, I'm thinking of what to say when I finally see her.
By the time I reach campus it's 12:50am and I fucking hope Dani is awake.

I pull up opposite the dorms and exhale loudly before stepping out of my car. My body is cold and my hands are shaking. I'm fucking praying that she's safe inside her room. Even if she's asleep, I just gotta see her.

I take one last deep breath before knocking on the door. Please be awake. Please be awake.
I count to ten and when no one opens the door, I knock again.
This time I hear shuffling from inside the room and few seconds later, Dani opens the door.

"Ash! What are you doing here?" She asks in a suprised tone, looking at me.

"Kaia -- is she here?" I ask impatiently, not wanting to waste any more time.

"Err, nope. But West and I are heading to his place so you're welcome to stay and wait for her" Dani suggests, opening the door for me to step inside.

"Oh, I didn't realise you had your boyfriend over" I say, feeling crappy that I just appeared out of nowhere.

"It's fine, Ash. We were just leaving" she responds, putting on her jacket.

Just then, someone appears from the bathroom area pulling down his t-shirt. He looks at me and smiles. I'm guessing this is the boyfriend.

"Hey man, I'm West" He says in a calm tone, extending his hand towards me.

"Ash" I reply, shaking his hand and giving him a nod.

"Let me know when she gets here" Dani says to me, before pulling West's hand out the door.

After they leave, I shut the door; take off my jacket and unbutton half of my shirt. This shit is hot and uncomfortable, how can some guys wear it all day?

I walk over to Kaia's bed and sit down, feeling alot lighter now that I'm surrounded by her things. Her jacket is thrown carelessly on her bed. I pick it up and hold it close, burying my face in it. I close my eyes as I breathe in, smelling her deliciously sweet scent. It's as if she's here right now.

I lay back with her jacket clutched tightly in my hand and wait for her to knock on the door. After some time I find myself drifting off to sleep, my mind struggling to stay awake but my eyes giving up.

* * *

I awaken to a loud knocking on the door. I bolt up and head towards it, eager to see Kaia.

"Angel?" I say breathlessly, swinging the door open.

"Uh. .Danielle, but Angel is fine too" Dani replies, stepping inside.

"Oh" I say, trying not to sound so disheartened but I can't fucking hide the disappointment in my voice.

"She didn't come here, huh?" Dani says to me,  giving me a sad look.

"Nope" I reply, sitting down on the chair by the study table.

"I'm sorry, Ash. I'll give Todd a call, maybe he's heard from her. Her phone is still switched off too."

"Yeah, cool. I'll just use the bathroom" I tell her, standing up and heading down the small corridor.

I shut the door and stand in front of the mirror. I sigh as I see my reflection. I look like shit. I need more sleep. I turn on the faucet and splash the cool water on my face, attempting to freshen up my look.

I turn and pick up a face towel, drying my hands and most of the water off my face. As I chuck it in the laundry basket, I take a second glance when something red catches my eye.

"Ashton!" Dani calls out, knocking on the door.

"Just a sec" I shout back, picking up the red material from the laundry basket.

No way. This is Kaia's dress. But, how?  I was here. I would've felt if someone was rummaging around the room. If she took a shower, I would've heard the water running. Fuck! Why the fuck did I have to fall asleep? Shit!

I unlock the door and hold up the dress to show Dani who was leaning against the wall. She looked just as shocked me.

"It's Kaia's dress" I tell her, stepping out of the bathroom area.

"I'm waiting to hear back from Todd. He's driving right now and can't talk" Dani fills me in, walking beside me.

I run a hand through my hair and exhale loudly, trying to think straight.

"Um, I'll head out. Just. ..just call me or something when you get news" I explain before letting myself out.

"I will. Take care" she says, handing me my jacket.

I take it from her and leave, heading back to my car. I'm glad she didn't fight with me. See, Dani is the kind of friend that I want. The type that cares enough about you but also doesn't pester you with nagging questions and shit.

I get in my car and just sit there, thinking about Kaia. I know she's safe, because she came back to her room. What's killing me is the fact that she didn't bother to wake me. Does she hate me that much?

"Fuck. ..up! I'm.. such. .a..fuck up!" I grumble as I repeatedly hit my steering wheel with my fist, harder with every word.

I lean my forehead against the steering wheel, frustrated as fuck. I was on the verge of tears right now.

This has been the worst fucking morning ever.

Where are you, Kaia?

Where are you?