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45
Ethan's pov

Monday had gone by peacefully, and so did Tuesday. Ivy and I pretty much spent most of our time together. Going to school, after school brunch with Fiona, late night movies and a blissful amount of kissing and cuddling.

There had been no moves from Glory, or the Inc. Everything had been quiet and that was exactly the thing that scared me. It was so unlike Glory to make a threat and not act on it.

I tried my best to be relaxed and just keep it in mind that everything was now okay. But knowing the Inc like I do, you shouldn't be too relaxed. They were up to something. Glory was up to something.

Although I wasn't calm, but I had to pretend that everything was okay. I had tried my best to occupy Ivy with various activities, just to take her mind off my Inc and off Roman. Even if she was trying to hide it, I knew she was worried and she didn't want to act on it. She didn't want me to get upset.

The least I could do was pretend like everything was okay. But I know- infact, we both knew that everything wasn't okay.

There was still a lot of questions to be answered, about me, about her, about Roman.

Basically about everything.

"What do you think of this?" Ivy asked, pulling out a book with a brown cover, from the shelf. We were currently at the ICHS library. Ivy wanted to borrow some books, and I was helping her hold on to them. In my hands laid four books on a single stack as I watched her scan and pick out books from the shelves.

"Looks boring." I stated out honestly, my eyes glancing upwards towards the clock in the library. It was almost time for basketball practice.

"Yeah, the cover might look boring, but the name isn't. The forever charms." She said, turning the book to read the blurb, description or whatever the hell they called it.

"When are we going to be done here?" I asked.

She looked up at me Immediately. "Why? Are you bored?"

"I have basketball practice in twenty minutes, I love to be early."

"Well, sorry babe you'd have to go late cause I need you to help me select books."

I sighed. "We have four already. What do you need them for anyway?"

She shrugged. "I love to read, and I could use a really good distraction right now." She said topping the stack with the brown book.

"Distraction? From what?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter what for, I just need a distraction." She said, walking ahead while I followed after her, stopping when she stopped in front of another shelf, her fingers scanning through the books.

She probably thought if she said something about my Inc I'd get angry. She had tried her best to stay clear of any conversation about my Inc and their intentions with me. I knew she was worried about me. But I didn't know how to convince her that I felt perfectly normal.

She pulled out a book with a gray thick cover. "What do you think of this one?" She asked.

I shrugged.

"I'll take it." She said, adding it to the stack.

I looked around me for a table where I could drop the books. I found an empty table not far away from where I stood. I moved there and dropped the books then went back to her direction.

All the while, she stood there, watching me with utter confusion. "Were they too heavy?" She asked, a teasing look playing in her eyes.

I smiled. "Yeah, real funny. What's the matter? Why do you need these books for distracting you? Am I not enough?" I asked, playfully tugging at her ponytail.

A small smile maneuvered it's way to her lips. "You're more than enough. But- I- I feel like I'm missing something."

"Explain." I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

She let out a shaky sigh. "Do you ever just- just get that feeling like, like there's something you're missing? I feel like I'm missing a great deal of myself and I need that part to be filled up. So- I guess occupying myself with what I love doing is what I should be doing. Or maybe I'm just trying to distract myself from that emptiness I feel." She said.

I studied her, she was honestly struggling to divert this conversation from going to where she really wanted it to go. "What are you trying to distract yourself from?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Somethings."

"Somethings like what?" I asked.

"You know already. Stop asking." She said, making an attempt to turn from me. I stopped her by holding her wrist and pulling her back to me.

"It's only normal for you to still think about my Inc." I said, and just like that, she sighed.

"I really want to stop thinking about it. I want to distract myself from thinking about it but I can't. It's just like a shadow, reminding me that I- that I'm not safe and that something big is gonna happen and I wouldn't be able to stop it."

Instantly I went closer to her, cupping her face. "I'll never let anything hurt you, as long as there's still breath in me, I'll never let any harm come to you."

"I know but-"

"I will never let anything happen to you, and that's it." I said stopping her. "You have every reason to be worried, hell I am worried too. But I'm not letting it bother me so- forget it. It's been four days now... We're fine. Everything is back to the way they were."

"How about you?" She asked.

"What about me?"

"You're not okay."

"Ivy-"

"We both know you're not okay. And if we sit back and do nothing about it, things might get worse. I don't want things to get worse Ethan."

"Things won't get worse. And trust me when I tell you this, Ivy. I'm very fine. Very."

She shook her head. "Something is going to happen. I can feel it."

"Stop over thinking this." I said.

"I want to. But I can't stop. What Roman said was right. What if they try to hurt us? Ethan you said it yourself, your Inc isn't some small organization. They're dangerous."

"Your safety is ensured, Ivy. Both you and Roman. I promise you that."

She nodded.

"Now stop worrying."

"What are we gonna do about Roman? I'm not ready to let him go just yet. He doesn't want to be close to me because he thinks we're not safe, he's scared."

"I'll take care of him." I said.

"Really?" She asked, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah, I'll talk to him. I don't like that he's stressing you up. So I'll make him understand."

She gave a sigh of relief, not sensing my tone. "Thank you." She smiled, engulfing me in a warm hug. "I'm so glad I have you in my life."

"Me too. Now will you please let me get to practice? And stop finding books for distraction when you have me."

She pulled away. "Okay babe."

I smiled, she had made an habit of calling me babe ever since we made our relationship official. Not that I minded though.

It was nice to hear.

"Also, prepare for an adventure tonight... I have something I think might help you stop over thinking things."

"What is it?" She asked eagerly, her eyes widening and brightening.

"Patience, Ponytail."

"Ugh! You shouldn't have told me. Now I'll spend the whole day over thinking about the perfect distraction you have for me."

I poked her stomach. "At least it'd stop you from thinking about a certain place that starts with an I and ends with a C, and sounds like the word, Ink."

She chuckled. "Get out!"

I smiled, leaning in about to kiss her but she stopped me. We were only inches apart. "What?" I whispered against her lips.

"No kissing in the library." She said, pointing to a sign behind her.

My eyes lifted up an inch, seeing the sign there with a red slash across it.

My eyes went back to her mischievous ones. "The library doesn't own my lips, neither does it own my heart. You do. So screw the sign." With that, I connected my lips with hers, it was like a sweet drum stick had hit my heart and put it straight on a new lane and a new pace.

Her fingers found a new place, tangling my hair in an attempt to pull me closer. I wasn't objecting.

I pulled my body closer to hers, pulling her waist to get even more closer to her, which only made her back connect with the shelf behind her, causing some books to fall straight to the ground.

The sound made us pull apart. Ivy chuckled. "This feels so bad." She said.

I blessed her with a grin, placing my forehead atop hers. "You drive me so crazy I want to do bad things with and to you everyday."

She smiled, her fingers moving softly on my soft curls, connecting our lips again. This time, in a more softer kiss. I kissed her back with as much softness. It made me feel warm all over. She made me feel warm.

My heartbeat had gone totally crazy, and if it was possible, I felt like I was about to lose it.

The bell rang, signalling the beginning of the last class.

She pulled away. "You're late for practice." She said.

My head still blank, I asked. "What practice."

She chuckled hitting my chest softly. "Basketball practice, idiot."

"Oh that."

"Yeah that." She said, but still, neither of us moved.

The warmth crawling through my skin was too good to let go.

Just looking at her was enough distraction I needed. Hell, Ivy Fisher was everything I needed.

It felt like she wanted to say something, I also wanted to say something but either of us waited for the first person to say something.

Oh screw it.

"I-" we both chorused at the same time.

She smiled. "I knew that was going to happen."

"Me too." I replied, my mind pushing me to tell her what my heart wanted to say. I was about to speak when she stopped me.

"You're seriously going to be late for practice Ethan."

I groaned, pulling away from her hesitantly. "I'll see you later." I said, placing a quick kiss against her cheek, really really close to her lips before backing away and jogging my way to the boys locker room.

She had me.

I don't know how she did, or how she managed to make a place inside my heart. But I knew she had me. If she hadn't stopped me by saying I'd be late for practice earlier, I would have totally exposed myself to her.

I was literally about to tell her that I was in love with her. That would have just scared her off. I didn't want her to pull back from me because of my feelings. So... Thank God she stopped me when she did.

But- how am I supposed to withhold my feelings for another while longer? How am I supposed to tell her that I love her without totally scaring her?

It was still too soon wasn't it? I shouldn't just put it out there. She'd definitely back away. I don't want that.

So, I'll probably just wait a little while longer.

That would be way better.

Would it?

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Nora.