SOS!

My heart thrummed vigorously at Asher's text. We'd decided to use small codes in case of emergencies and the cause of my concern here wasn't the troubling text from Asher but the address mentioned below it. I couldn't care any less if he was in trouble.

I rushed to my car and drove as fast as I could. The worst case scenarios plaguing my mind, keeping me from cool. As soon as I reached Kayra's place, I ran towards the door and bumped into Jake, who was in the same disarray as me. Disheveled hair, wrinkled clothes, heavy breaths and the pools of concern in his eyes.

He knocked on the door once, twice and thrice. No answer. It made my heart drop all the more. But then the door opened and Jake engulfed a confused Amelia in a tight hug as if he was scared to lose her.

I moved inside, ignoring them and the moment I saw Kayra sitting in the living room, unharmed, my heart and head calmed. I sank to my knees, releasing a breath of relief.

The look of confusion on her face was evident. She was trying to understand my actions so I shook my head lightly to reassure her. Then I saw the bastard sitting across from her. My fists clenched and I was so ready to beat Asher to death. I was still pulling myself together, I almost lost it because of him and there he was, leisurely spending his time, laughing and messing with people.

In three long strides, I crossed the living room and grabbed that motherfucker by the collar. I knew that he deliberately did what he'd done by the way he apologized as soon as I came near him. “Sorry, sorry-”

I let go of him and grabbed the glass of water from the table. Jake and Amelia soon entered and I had to give it to Jake for being so patient. He didn't even lift a finger on Asher and left him with just a ‘That wasn't funny.’

“Seriously, why did you do that?” I asked as I sat beside Kayra. From the mood in the atmosphere, everything seemed good. No problem in sight.

“That was the fastest way I could think of to get you two here.” He reasoned and my urge to beat him to death awakened again. I would've landed at least a single punch on his face, if only Kayra hadn't held my hand from under the table.

“And it worked.” Asher laughed to lighten the mood but it only increased the heaviness. He was on the receiving end of two sharp death glares from me and Jake. “If you don't have a good reason for calling us here, then start digging your grave, Asher Carter.”

“Woah woah! Calm down, man. I do have a good reason for doing it.” Asher raised his palms to stop us. When we continued glaring at him. He beamed with obvious joy, “Ruby and I are back together.”

The room fell silent and everyone was just staring at Ruby and Asher. They interwinned their fingers and smiled at each other. It figures why Asher's mood was pleasant these past few days.

“I'm glad you guys figured things out,” Kayra stated, seemingly obvious to everything.

“You didn't separate to begin with and we knew you won't break up as well.” Amelia sipped from her glass. “You are like oxygen to each other.”

“It sounds cringe.” Kayra made a disgusted face as well as laughed. Was she drinking? I scanned the table for any liquor and there, in the upper left corner of the table was a half empty wine bottle.

“Yeah, right it does,” Ruby chimed in, giggling. And at once, all three girls started giggling and chuckling. Asher spared a glance at me and then averted his gaze to Jake. “Don't you have anything to say?” He probably wanted to hear something from his ‘Bros’.

“Yeah, I do,” Jake said and Asher's eyes lit up. “I don't think your reconciliation was reason enough for you to nearly kill us from panic.”

Asher's smile fell, “C'mon, I said I'm sorry. Now can't you say something nice?” He grumbled.

“Nice? My ass. You just pulled yourself out from the shit you created. It doesn't require any praise,” I said, though the words came out harsher than intended. He looked like a sad puppy hearing me. “Ok! fine. You did a good job.”

In an instant, Asher smiled like a sly fox after hearing me. “This calls for a drink.” He took out the wine bottle and poured it to everyone. “Now, Cheers to Ruby and my reconciliation.”

“Cheers!”

I stopped drinking when I felt Kayra squeezing my hand. She mouthed something to me and smiled. It took me a minute to realize what she'd said, so I squeezed her hand back in panic and mouthed that she was drunk and didn't know what she was doing.

In response, she murmured that she was perfectly sober and wanted to do it. She pulled out our intertwined hand from under the table and raised it so that everyone could see it. She smiled and an awkward smile of my own ghosted my lips. But no one seemed to had noticed us, everyone was busy drinking. So, she cleared her throat, “Guys.”

We both flinched when we heard two sharp squeals. They were Amelia and Asher. They both looked horrified and beyond shocked to see us together. On the other hand, Jake seemed calm and Ruby just sighed.

“What are you doing?” Amelia's eyes widened and she directly pointed at our intertwined hands. “Are you about to kill each other?” Asher chipped.

“No, we're not.” I said. I was being as patient as I could. But my patience was running thin. What was up with their reactions?

“Is this what they call the silence before the storm?” Asher raised his eyebrows and I swear to god, one more word from him and he'd be on his way to hell.

“If you don't shut up, you'll be the one to die.” I warned him as nicely as I could.

“We are dating,” Kayra said with the same subtle shy smile from earlier. Her cheeks had turned bright pink. The words from her left a sweet honey-like after effect. They felt like a declaration that I was hers and she was mine now. And I was falling for her all over again.

“I know,” Jake said. “I figured.” Ruby shrugged.

“Then why am I the only one who doesn't know?” Amelia looked betrayed. But Asher looked more betrayed and heartbroken than her “Me too?”

“Wait. How?” Kayra asked, surprised. I was sure she was thinking that we did a good job hiding our relationship then how did they find out.

“You made it super obvious. Both of you.” Ruby looked between me and Kayra. “I am sure, half the Uni knows this.”

“And you are slow to grasp things.” She looked at Asher and Amelia. “Figures.” Asher and Amelia both nodded, understanding. They both were definitely siblings.

Maybe we didn't actually hide our relationship well and to be honest it didn't really matter even if the whole world knew about us because I was proud to be her man. And I wished to remain that for a long, long time. Forever.

“You're not angry or…hurt because I kept it from you guys?” Kayra was worried about hurting her friends and seeing her disheartened was disheartening to me too.

“If I say I wasn't hurt then I'd be lying. I was so frustrated at one point that I was about to grab you by the collar and ask you the truth. But I figured you had your reasons.” Ruby passed her a small smile, reassuring her.

“But I am still hurt.” Amelia looked like she was about to cry and she did. “I am so sorry, Amy.” Kayra panicked seeing her and was about to get up but Amelia stopped her.

“It's okay. I can let it slide this once.” She smiled while wiping her tears as Jake patted her back. Female friendships are strange. I really can't understand them. Or maybe they were just drunk.

“You're really generous, Amy.” Kayra smiled and it brought a smile to my face as well. I was glad everyone took the news well.

Ruby smirked, “Anyway Kayra, you literally pulled the enemies-to-lovers card with this.” Okay, here we go. The most dreaded part of truth revelations. The gossip.

“Oh my god! That's right!” Amelia squealed and Kayra shyly smacked me. A little too hard.

“I mean you guys always went for each other's throats so we can say that.” It feels strange and distant to hear that now. And it was really embarrassing too.

“Yeah and it feels weird to see you getting along and being romantic.” Asher pointed at our hand. The amount of times everyone had pointed at our intertwined hand was beyond believable. At this realization I tightened my grip more. They were all going to jinx it.

A couple drinks later, everyone was just blabbering on their own. I wasn't drinking as I had brought my car but Jake wasn't drinking much either. Except us, everyone was wasted. And by wasted I mean this.

“Honestly, before I used to complain about Amy being only a year younger than me but now I thank god that my parents didn't hold back that night.” Asher was babbling nonsense from the last thirty minutes. He went on and on about literally everything.

“You're drunk, Asher.” Amelia smacked Asher whereas Ruby and Kayra just giggled. Jake and I exchanged glances from time to time, waiting for our limits to be crossed.

“Seriously Amy, thank you for bringing Ruby into my life.” Asher intertwined his hands with Ruby's. They were having a moment while looking at each other's eyes and staring intently.

I think we've had enough today, I've reached my limit.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•

I locked the door once everyone except Kayra left the house. Amelia had insisted on going with Jake and Asher and Ruby were just going to ours, because they wanted to have ‘quality time’. Because of this I had to stay here and I wasn't complaining one bit.

I glanced at the half asleep Kayra. Her head rested on the table with half open eyes. With her red cheeks and low hiccups, she looked adorable. I sat next to her, resting my head opposite hers. My eyes were taking in every small detail about her before settling on her unfocused eyes.

Her glossy eyes were looking like pools of melted chocolate and I just wanted to drown in them. She didn't know in how many ways she saved me. She makes living easier, like every problem has a solution and responsibilities are bearable.

“You look good.” She stared at me. Her fingers tracing the outline of my face. I smiled at the way she was admiring me now when she wouldn't have if she was sober. “Really?” I chuckled.

Instead of answering she abruptly sat up with her eyebrows knitted together. “Of course! You are the most handsome man out there.” She cupped my cheeks with that aggressive look on her face. I was controlling very hard to contain my laughter.

“But you never told me that before.” I wanted to tease her. She was going to be embarrassed once she remembers this. “It's because you weren't before.” Her every word felt like someone throwing stones at my face. I couldn't tell if I was messing with her or I was the one being messed with.

“But you do now because…” She leaned closer to me. So close that our faces were just inches apart. My heart couldn't take the closed distance between us and thrummed loudly. Her eyes never left mine and she smiled. “You are mine.”

She whispered those words before landing her lips on mine, muting the outside world. I was still processing what was happening. She called me handsome and hers, all in one single day, that was unbelievable. She was driving me insane.

I closed my eyes, surrendering to the bitter yet intoxicating taste of wine when she inserted her tongue in my mouth. She licked my lower lip after biting it but soon she gasped when I pulled her on my lap.

Our bodies were pressed together so tight that I didn't know where I ended and she began. We were so drunk on each other, savoring this moment to the fullest. My hands closed around her waist, keeping her in place while hers tousled my hair.

She abruptly pulled away from me, breathing heavily. She was red like a tomato and looked the other way. I guess she was feeling it. My erection pressing down at her. Was she embarrassed? But the look on her face was saying otherwise. “Are you okay?” I asked but all she did was avoid my gaze more.

“I'm feeling sleepy. I should-” She detached herself from me and was about to stand up but I stopped her. She was behaving strangely, she refused to go further at the hideout too and now she was doing the same. She was deliberately avoiding it and her poor excuses confirmed it.

“You seem uncomfortable. You don't want to do it?” The question left my mouth and my eyes showed the weight of it. And she seemed to understand it too. She finally looked up and met my eyes. “No, it's not like that.”

“Then why are you avoiding it?” My voice was low and considerate. I wanted to know her reason. I never had to overthink anything and just accepted the things as they were and appeared. But It was not the same with Kayra, she made me look deeper into things and ponder on their meanings.

Right now, I was overthinking. Overthinking about her behavior. Was she not satisfied with me? Was I not good? All sorts of questions ran through my head. Maybe my sexual performance degraded due to the long hiatus. All the possible reasons and her potential answers clouded my mind. I was afraid to hear her disapproval.

“It's just…” She hesitated. “I'm not confident.”

She stayed still and I sat there patiently listening her, letting her complete. She sighed and finally continued, “Nolan, I think I am not good and just not satisfying you enough. I feel like I am not good at sex.”

What? How can she say that? I was   fucking stone-hard right now, and it was so painful to bear, all because of her. And she didn't even have to undress for me to be like this. She really doesn't know what she does to me.

A long sigh made its way out of me. “Oh God, Kay! Who said you're not good?” I chuckled. I was sure my cheeks were red due to embarrassment and disappointment. I was disappointed in myself.

“If you aren't good then I wouldn't have become turned on by just being with you.” I squeezed her hand lightly. I was honestly telling her the truth and doing what I should have done before. Reassure her.

“I might sound like a pervert but everything about you gets me excited. Your smell, your touch, your very presence.” I leaned towards her and cupped her cheeks, my thumb stroking her red cheekbones slowly.

“You drive me crazy. So much so that I lose control of everything, even myself.” My words were a soft whisper against her forehead. I left a kiss on her forehead as a proof for everything I just said.

“You are perfect and I'm dying to feel you again,” I said, meeting her eyes. She didn't seem convinced as her expressions didn't change at all.

“It's not just sex. What if I am not making you happy? What if I'm so lost in my own shit that I am pulling you down with me?” She wasn't just insecure about the physical stuff but about the emotional and mental stuff as well. She was already going through a lot and the fact that she still thought about me made my heart flutter. But most importantly, she was wrong about not making me happy.

“No, you're not, Kay. You see yourself as dark, throwing me in a pit of agony but ask me, how I see you. You're my sun, the moon, all the fucking stars, and the only person I want to be with.” She didn't know that her mere presence brings me joy. That there is happiness only when there is she.

“I want to do everything with you. Only you. You make me happy, Kay.” Her pupils dilated and she blinked a couple of times.

“I'm sorry. It was my fault that I didn't say this before. If I had reassured you constantly then you wouldn't have to feel insecure about yourself. I'm sorry-” She cut me off with a kiss. A light kiss like a feather. There was a naughty gleam in her eyes and a mischievous smile plastered over her beautiful face when she pulled back.

“Are you going to keep apologizing or take me upstairs and fuck me?” The earlier fret from her eyes was gone and the only thing visible was playful pools of need. Her eyes, wet lips and red cheeks screamed at me to take her and I couldn't wait anymore.

“You really wake up the beast within me.”