It was past nine-thirty in the morning, and Veronica was still sleeping. She had fallen asleep in my arms last night, and I had carefully carried her back to her bed, where she had snuggled in under the covers and promptly drifted off to sleep again.

Neil, Avi, and Ashley had left early in the morning and had promised to come back later. I had decided to let her sleep for some more time and had gone for a long run. But now I was back and like I had expected, she was still asleep. With nothing left to do, I decided to wake her up.

When I walked into her room I found her sprawled out on her bed like a starfish, sleeping on her stomach and I grinned. Her long dark hair was strewn across her pillow. In her sleep, all that sass and the fiery spirit that I had come to love so much was put to rest and she looked...free.

I wished she was more like that, not hiding behind the tough exterior she showed the world.  She was like a damn wildfire, but there were these little moments when I had glimpsed the happy, carefree, and vulnerable version of her. Those were the moments that had consumed me.

She was a walking contradiction. Fierce yet kind. Sensual yet demure. Broken and strong, all at the same time.

Suddenly, she shifted in her sleep, kicking off the covers and my eyes fell on her left arm, which was hurt yesterday. My gut twisted at the thought of how close she had come to getting seriously hurt last night, and the fact that I was mostly the reason behind it just made it worse.

Neil had told me about everything that had happened last night, and it didn't take me long to figure out that Max was behind all of this.

For whatever reason, he had always had an underlying issue with me, and I ignored it, and him. Everything that I did, he was doing it too, always trying to be better than me. I didn't mind because I could compete – I usually just didn't care enough to bother. He wanted the prettiest girls, the flashiest car, whatever. As long as I had what I wanted, what was necessary, it was enough for me. And that bothered the shit out of Max. 

I never let his antics bother me, because really, what effect did it have on me? Unfortunately for me, it wasn't that easy. He first tried to blackmail me with some pictures of my dad that he supposedly had and were bad enough to ruin my father, which would in turn ruin my mother. And I listened to his bullshit for a while, but he knew I would soon be over it, he knew his hold on me was weakening because I was going to talk to my parents and deal with it anyway. He realized it that day when I threw the first punch in the cafe, in front of Veronica. 

It took him long enough but he identified another thing that would actually get under my skin. My weak spot. Veronica. 

And just the thought of that made me sick to my stomach. I'd be damned if I let him hurt her again. Not on my watch. 

"You know it's kinda creepy to watch someone sleep, " I heard my tiger say, her eyes still closed. 

I walked up to her bed and sat down beside her. I kissed her cheek, softly and she snuggled into her pillow with a sleepy smile. "Good morning, sleepyhead." 

"Good morning." There was a long pause before she cracked her eyes open and looked at me. "I overslept, didn't I? Why didn't you wake me up?" 

"You needed some sleep, you were up late, last night. All of us are not going to school today, your friends went home to get changed, and they'll be back here soon. We will have lunch together." I brushed some of her hair out of her face and she gave me a sleepy smile. "How are you feeling?" 

"Perfectly fine, " she grumbled. "It's our senior year, we should not be missing school."

"One of your classes got canceled today, so don't worry, you won't be missing much. You're practically a genius."

"Genius, my ass." She snorted and sat up on the bed.

"What? Weren't you the topper in all of your classes last year?"

"Not all of them...Josh was the topper in math by a small margin, and I came second, " she murmured, her lips twitching.

I smirked. "Show off."

"Hey!" She swatted my chest with her good arm, and I caught it to pull her closer. "Dude, you were one of the students in the honor roll last year too, plus you're a football team captain. If anybody is a show-off it's you."

I chuckled, before leveling her with a pointed stare. "How are you really feeling?"

She shrugged. "I'm fine, I just don't understand who would be behind all of this."

When I didn't say anything for a while, she stared at me for a few seconds and frowned. "What's on your mind?" 

"You saw a car. You said it was a dark Camaro." 

"Yeah, why? Do you know someone with that car?" 

I nodded. "Max." 

"Of fucking course." She groaned.  "Why is he so obsessed with us? What the hell is wrong with him?" 

She was yelling, clearly pissed off, but I was lost in my own thoughts. I couldn't digest the fact that he had come so close to her, that he had barged into the one place that was supposed to be safe for her- her home, and slipped off undetected.

She snapped her fingers in front of my face. "What's going on?" 

"He was here...and you were alone, he could've –" 

"Stop that. Nothing happened, " she interrupted me, with a stern expression.

"Nothing happened because he didn't want anything to happen. Don't you see that? He could've easily hurt you last night." I buried my face in my hands. "I should've done something."

"What could you possibly do?" She asked, incredulous.

"That day when you met and spoke to Andrew at school, I had an encounter with Max the same day too. He was furious and he wanted to know how much you told his father about that night. He was drunk out of his mind and he kept babbling about how he'll ruin our lives and when I warned him to stay away from you, he asked me to break up with you if I wanted to keep you safe." I sighed, looking away from her.

"What the fuck!? Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I didn't want to worry you. And I didn't think it was important... but maybe it wasn't an empty threat after all." 

"Why does he hate me so much?" She murmured, more to herself.

"Me. He hates me. I never really understood why. He wasn't always like this, you know?" I turned to look at her. "He wasn't so toxic. We always had a rivalry going on between us since we were kids, but it was more like a healthy competition. There was no blind hatred between us." 

"What changed?" 

"I don't know. But I think it happened around a year and a half ago when he lost his mother. He became a completely different person." 

"How did she die?" She asked, softly. 

"Suicide. I don't know the reason behind it. I just know that she had overdosed on a bottle of sleeping pills."

"Shit!" I heard her murmur and then she gasped. "Wait, you said you could've done something...what did you mean? Are you thinking of breaking up with me because of him?"

I shook my head with a wry smile. I wished I could. I wished it would be that easy for me to walk away from her if it meant that she'll be safe. But it wasn't.

"I can't. I'd do anything to keep him away from you, except that." I cupped her cheek. "This is me being weak. This is me needing you too much to let you go." 

"Good. Whatever happens, we'll figure it out. Together."

I leaned in to kiss her, but she quickly backed away from me and I frowned.

"Morning breath, " she explained, with a smile.

"I don't give a shit." I tried reaching for her, but she quickly backed away some more.

"But I do." She got off the bed and scurried off towards her bathroom. "I'll be back in a minute."

Pretending to be okay had become my second nature. But Tyler saw through my pretenses, he always did and I hated that sometimes. 

We were in the kitchen, having a bowl of cereal for breakfast, while I was having an inner battle with myself over whether I should bring up my whole issue with Courtney or not.

He was silently looking at me with those eyes that always saw way too much, and I somehow knew that he could sense my inner turmoil.

"I don't know if I should give you your space or convince you to talk to me." He shook his head at me and sighed. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's bothering you." 

Okay. I sighed. This is how relationships work. I gotta talk. Communicate. No big deal. I cringed.

"Okay, so..." I hesitated and Tyler nodded, urging me to go on. "Yesterday, I was bothered by the fact that you were with Courtney so late at night." 

There. I said it.

His eyebrows shot up and he looked surprised. "How did you know that?" 

"Well, she told me, " I mumbled and when he frowned, I added, "When she answered your phone last night." 

"She answered my phone? You had called me last night?" 

"She didn't tell you that?" I gaped at him and he shook his head. "Unbelievable! I had called you, and she told me you were in the shower." 

"I was, I had just come back from the gym...maybe she didn't get a chance to tell me because as soon I got out of the shower, I saw Ryan's text and I rushed out to come here." 

"Stop making excuses for her, Tyler, " I snapped. 

His eyebrows drew together and he stared at me for a few seconds. "Are you jealous of her?" 

"I guess...maybe a little bit," I admitted, avoiding his gaze. 

"You have nothing to be jealous about. She is my friend. That's all. You have to trust me," he said, softly.

"But she likes you! And you don't see that or maybe you choose to ignore it. I just don't like that." 

"She doesn't like–"

"Please." I held up a hand, to stop him. "Trust me on this one." 

He let out a heavy sigh. "What do you want me to do? Stop talking to her?" 

"No! Of course not. I just...wanted to tell you how I felt. I want you to be aware of the fact that she likes you. Maybe you think of her as just a friend but she doesn't." 

He didn't say anything and just stared at his bowl of cereal. I shifted in my seat, uncomfortably, and continued, "Look, I'm just saying what I feel, like you asked me to. Maybe it's stupid because I know you guys are really good friends–" 

"It's not stupid, " he interrupted me. "I get jealous every time I see you and Josh together...hell I was a little jealous of Neil too!" 

"What!?" I shot him an incredulous look. 

"It was a long time ago..." he shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I have always had a thing for you. I didn't realize it back then, but I used to watch you cheering for him during our games, you guys were so damn close to each other, and I wished that I had a bond like that with you..." he trailed off. "Or just be a part of your life in some way."

"You had Courtney cheering for you at every game too. She literally paints your jersey number on her face!" I rolled my eyes.

"Courtney is not you." He walked over to where I was standing and cupped my face. "Jesus, do you know for how long..." He stopped abruptly and sucked in a breath.

"What?"

"Do you know for how long I've wanted to do this?" he murmured before slamming his lips on mine. He kissed me like a starved man. Slow and deep. He cupped the back of my neck, holding my head in place as he devoured my mouth and I kissed him back just as passionately. 

When we parted, he ran his thumb over my bottom lip. "That night at the lake was the first time I kissed you, but it wasn't the first time I had thought about it. I've always had eyes for you and only you. Why would I even look at another girl when I have you?"

I let his words linger in the air for a few breathless seconds before I grasped them with all my heart.

Our moment was ruined by a loud, obnoxious stomach growl. And it was definitely mine.

"Forget the cereal and let's get you a real breakfast." He chuckled. "Before Hunger Rage Veronica makes an appearance."

"That's so not a thing." I gasped.

"It's definitely a thing. Remember that day when – "

"Hey Ty, " I interrupted him and looped my arms around his neck. "I'm glad you finally kissed me."

He brushed his lips against mine and smiled. "Me too."