May 10, 2023

Queen

I bounced down the stairs gleefully and Saint giggled with each movement. We spent the morning getting ready for today and we were only minutes away from leaving- meaning we were minutes closer to being back home. I felt a confusing mix of emotions when I woke up that made me rethink my plans today. But the overpowering euphoria and peace I got when I woke up to Saint and Syn took my worries away.

I stepped into the living room and saw Syn speaking with Paris. I walked toward them curiously yet kept my distance so as to not interrupt anything. "We're going to be gone until tomorrow night or so. Feel free to stay here or go home and rest until then."

"What about Drake?" Paris spoke up. "Do you want me to start a surveillance on him?"

"Yes," Syn said. "If you find him, I want to be the first to know."

"Of course." Paris's eyes landed on me from behind Syn and he gave me a sweet smile. "Good morning."

"Hey," I said, looking between the both of them.

"Well I'll be going now," he said to Syn. "I'll keep you updated. Happy birthday, Saint." Saint nervously placed his head on my face to hide away from the attention on him and I laughed softly.

With a nod, Paris excused himself and left through the front door, leaving the three of us in the living room. Syn looked down at me with his arms crossed and I gave him a strange look. "What?"

"Were you snooping on us?"

"W-what..." I breathed out. "I would never."

"Hmm." He placed his hands on my waist and pulled me closer to him. "Did you hear anything of value?"

"Was there something of value that you didn't want me to hear?" I raised a brow.

"No," he said simply before picking up the bag beside our feet. "I have nothing to hide from you. We're still looking for Drake and the only thing we have at the moment is the messages he sent to you."

"Are they helping at all?"

"Not currently," he said. "But we'll find him."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean and then what?" He looked over his shoulder at me before walking out the front door. I followed closely behind him as he reached his car and I propped Saint on my hip.

"I mean what are you going to do when you find him?"

"What do you think?" He closed the trunk. "Is everything you need in the car?"

"Yes, but—" I waved away his abrupt change in subject and followed him back to the house. "I'm thinking that you're thinking about killing him," I said.

He grabbed a couple of things around the living room before walking out and meeting me on the porch. He took out his keys and locked the door with a sigh. "I'm not thinking about killing him," he said.

"Good. It'd be—"

"I am going to kill him," he clarified, turning away from me and jogging down the wooden steps. I looked at him in annoyance, not moving at all and he opened the passenger door. "You coming?"

I tilted my head, still not pleased with him and he rolled his eyes, shutting the door. He walked back to the house but stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked up at me. "What would you have me do, Queen?" He questioned, crossing his arms.

"Not kill him," I said. "He's a powerful man—"

"He's a dangerous man," he said. "And he's a threat that I plan to eliminate."

"There has to be another way."

"There isn't." He shrugged, turning back to the car.

"There is." I walked slowly down the steps. "And you know the other way, don't you?" He stopped walking at my question and I knew immediately that I was right. He slowly turned around and looked at me in irritation.

"Why can't you just let me handle things the way I always do?"

"Because I don't want you to get yourself hurt," I said. "You said for yourself he's dangerous and has a lot of supporters. What if you kill him and someone comes after you? You're not indestructible, Syn."

"Maybe not," he said. "But I'm pretty damn close." I rolled my eyes at the one point he chose to expand on in my sentence and he gave me an amused grin before cupping my cheeks in his hands. "It's adorable that you're worried for my safety, but I swear I'll be careful. I won't be impulsive, alright? I'll speak to him very nicely before I do anything. Is that okay with you?"

I nodded. It wasn't one-hundred percent what I asked for, but I felt like that was going to be as much as he compromised. For the sake of having a good day and not arguing, I accepted it. "Thank you."

He placed a kiss on my lips before walking back to the car and helping me get Saint into his car seat. When we finished, he held the door open for me before getting into the driver's seat and pulling out of the forested driveway.

When we made it back into the road, Syn parked and pulled out his cell phone. "Where is the hospital?" He muttered.

I took a mental note of his abrupt change in attitude at the mention of the hospital and riddled off the address. He typed it into his GPS and I sat back as he propped it up and began driving.

"One hour and thirty-seven minutes," he said reading the time of arrival. "Is he worth it?"

I side-eyed him and tilted my head at him. "Is a friend in the hospital worth driving an hour to check on?" I shot back. "I think so."

"That's not what I asked."

My eyes fell on his hands. His grip on the steering wheel was so strong that I could see the whites of his knuckles. I couldn't see his face as the black hoodie obscured my vision but I could just imagine his scowl.

I held my hand out between us and he glanced at me before looking at the road. A few seconds later, he placed his hand on mine and we intertwined our fingers. I placed a kiss on his knuckles and sighed. "You smell good."

"And you're changing the subject."

"Because there's nothing else to say about it," I said.

"You could always try to...you know, tell me I have nothing to worry about." He shrugged condescendingly.

"You have nothing to worry about." He nodded slowly, his face clearly still not believing me and I scoffed. "See? Nothing I say will make you trust that."

"It's not you that I don't trust—"

"You better not say 'it's him'. That line is the biggest load of horse shit I've ever heard."

"It's the truth," he said. "I do trust you."

"Then prove it," I insisted.

"Okay," he finally gave in. "I'm sorry."

"You are forgiven," I whispered and he smiled. 

The rest of the drive was quiet except for the faint music playing in the car. Syn kept his hands on my thigh as he drove, tapping my skin to the tempo of the music. I was so relaxed that I almost fell asleep, but when the car came to a slow, I sat up.

"Here we are." He parked the car and leaned back in his seat to look at me.

I took the seatbelt off and grabbed my purse from the backseat. I lowered the mirror in front of me and checked to make sure I didn't look a complete mess. I could feel Syn's eyes on me the entire time and my nervousness grew. "What?" I glanced at him.

He rubbed the stubble on his jaw and shook his head. "Nothing."

"Syn." I pushed the mirror back up. "If you have something to say then just say it, please."

"You look good."

"Do you mean that in a good way or bad way?"

"Whichever way you want to take it."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes at his attitude. I placed my hand on the door handle and opened it, but he reached over me and closed it shut. He turned his head towards me and I swallowed a lump in my throat at his proximity. His face couldn't be more than a couple of inches away from me.

A sexy smile spread across his lips as he looked me up and down and I crossed my arms. He looked good. And he knew it. If I let him, he'd take advantage of that. I couldn't let myself forget that a few seconds ago he was being a jerk. "Can you move?" I asked.

"You're going to leave upset with me?"

"I mean who's fault is that?" I asked.

"I'm going to piss you off, Princess. It's what I do best."

I scoffed. "You're not wrong."

"Promise me something."

"You think picking an argument with me is the best way for me to promise you something?" I asked.

"No," he admitted, looking into my eyes. "But I'm trying my hardest here." I searched his eyes and saw nothing but sincerity...maybe even desperation in them. With that, I sighed and sat back to hear him out. "Promise me that when you come back, you'll still feel the same about everything."

"Is that what this was about?" I asked and he averted his eyes. "Syn, nothing is going to change. I'm just going to go speak to him for a few minutes and then I'll be right back. I'm not here for anything else."

He looked at me for a second and then moved his arm to open the door.

"We'll be waiting then."

꧁꧂

Author's Note
Mmmm.

Is anyone looking forward to seeing Aiden today?🧍🏾‍♀️
Idkkk mannn but obviously Syn is bothered. What do y'all think?

Lmk your thoughts❤️