"Here we are." Brook said as we stopped in front of Kyle's door.

I stared at the door, unsure of what to do.

Brook smirked, "what are you waiting for? Knock!"

So I did. A few seconds passed before the door flew open, and Kyle was standing there expectantly.

"Well, I'll be going now," Brook said, and I smiled at her. I had grown quite fond of her.

"Thanks for showing me around today."

Brook grinned. "Of course!" She hugged me then, much more strongly than I thought a girl as short as her could manage, and she kissed my cheek.  She walked off, and I turned to Kyle, who silently stood out of the way for me to walk in. He had changed out of his suit and he was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, looking ridiculously sexy.

I stepped in, taking in the familiar surrounding of Kyle's apartment. Even though I've only been in here once, it was somehow more comforting than my own home. My house was decorated with expensive paintings and always impeccably clean, but except for me and my brother's rooms, they felt so un-lived in. But Kyle's apartment, it was clean, his walls ranging from a pretty shade of dark blue to the faintest of white. Books lined many parts of his walls, and there was a poster of constellations, a few posters of famous rock bands with signatures on them, and a cork board covered with projects, ideas, and pictures of him and his friends. 

I turned to Kyle, after my eyes lingered on the poster of constellations. "You like stars?"

"Yeah." He answered vaguely, obviously not wanting to talk to me.

"You're going to have to talk to me one time or another, you know."

Kyle sighed, not answering my statement. I sat down at one of the sofas in his living room, letting the plush pillows bury me.

Finally he said, "you shouldn't have done that."

"Done what? Sit on the sofa or volunteer to help out for this plan?"

"Sit on the sofa. It's set so that if you sit on it, it'll spontaneously combust in two minutes."

My eyes widened as I stood up abruptly. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Kyle cracked a smile as he sat down on the sofa. "I'm just kidding."

I stared at him for a few seconds, looking up at me innocently, and I sunk into the sofa beside him.

"I hate you." I told him, but a smile was creeping up on my lips.

"It's not my fault you're so gullible."

"Well, there have been so many crazy things going on lately, how would I know what's true and what's false!"

Kyle laughed, a melodic, amused laugh that made me want to laugh with him.

"Okay, well maybe sofas spontaneously combusting was a tad far-fetched..." I admitted, which only made Kyle laugh harder. 

When his laughter died down, I peered at him through my eyelashes. "So, are we on speaking terms again?" I gave him my best puppy dog face, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Fuck. Stop that face." He said, looking away from me. I laughed, and brought my legs up so I could wrap my arms around them.

"I'm still uneasy with you becoming the bait in this plan." Kyle said quietly.

"I'm going to be perfectly fine. You heard them, they said they were going to do everything they can to make me safe."

"Yeah, I know, but..."

"Kyle, you've had your orders. I need you to focus on your own job so we can get the information we need." 

"You sound like you've been working as a spy your entire life."

"Maybe I was a spy in my previous life." I said, and Kyle turned to look at me, an amused look glittering across his boyish features. I felt my heart stutter, and I wished he didn't look so damn perfect all the time.

"By the way, did Brook give you any clothes for you to wear?" He said, and I shook my head. I looked down at my outfit, still in my golden-brown dress from the party.

Kyle stood up, "I'll give you something to wear."

He went over to his room, where he shuffled around through his closet, and tossed me a T-shirt and shorts.

"Thanks." I said, going into the bathroom to take a shower. The shampoo was the exact same smell as before, of mint and lemons. I let myself soak up the smell; it might have become my new favorite smell. I related it to Kyle, and it was so familiar and comforting.

After the shower, I slipped into the shorts and T-shirt, just like the last time I had stayed here. It was like it had become a routine.

I slipped out of the bathroom as I tied my wet hair up in a bun. 

"Do you want something to eat?" Kyle asked as I stepped into view. He was sitting by his computer, reading off something on his screen.

"Uh...sure." I said, and I realized for the first time that I was starving. It had been five exhasting hours since I ate at Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes's party. Kyle stood up and picked up pans from his kitchen, and he started tossing things into it. I sat on a kitchen table and let myself stare at him, with his lean yet muscular body, his extremely handsome face, and his blonde hair that looked so soft I had the urge to twist my fingers in there.

I found myself sighing, and Kyle glanced at me, and I straightened, pretending I wasn't just gawking and admiring his handsome figure. I quickly checked if I wasn't drooling.

"Do you always cook for yourself?" I asked.

"Yeah. Well, except for lunch."

I imagined him sitting exactly where I was sitting, eating in silence. "Do you eat alone?"

Kyle placed a plate of pesto pasta in front of me, and he passed me a glass as he set a carton of orange juice in the center of the table.

"Usually." He answered my question, "sometimes Mikey and Brook invite themselves in because they're too lazy to cook for themselves."

I smiled at the thought of Kyle rolling his eyes, and remembered how Brook said she thought of Kyle as an older brother.

We ate in silence for a little while, especially because we were both too hungry to talk much.

"Well, I'll give it to you," I said, "you are really good at cooking."

Kyle laughed. "Thanks."

As we ate, I remembered to ask Kyle something that had been bothering me.

"Hey, during the meeting I thought of something I wanted to ask you."

He looked me in the eyes, waiting for me to continue.

"I remember, back when I just found out you were my bodyguard and everything, you told me someone close to me gave you a tip that the Rhodes were planning to hurt me."

"Yeah?" Kyle said, even though he knew what I was going to say next.

"Who was it?"

He contemplated it for a while, but gave the smallest of shrugs, like he had nothing to hide at this point.

"It was Rebecca."

I gaped at him for a second. It took me a moment to process. "Like, Rebecca Amador?"

"Yes."

"But—why?"

"Apparently she was at the Rhodes' home when she overheard Derek on the phone. She didn't know what to do, so she told your family, and your family told the police, who directed it to us."

I was mind blown. "But... why didn't my mom get all suspicious when I was out with Zayden?"

He shrugged. "She was probably just wary of his parents, and not him."

Just then, I had an epiphany. "Oh my god. That's why you were talking to Rebecca that time, at school, early in the morning."

Kyle laughed at that. "Yeah, we met up early to be out of earshot of everyone, and for some reason, of all people, you're there. I couldn't believe it."

I smiled with amusement and tucked a hair behind my ear embarrassedly. "You kind of hated me back then."

Kyle's easy smile slipped away to a more serious expression. "I didn't know you back then." Then he chuckled slightly at the memories of when we had just met. "But do you know how awkward you were when we just met?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away from him. "Ugh. I know I'm an awkward fuck. Please don't rub it in."

"And nosy too."

"Yeah, I was." I said, covering my face as Kyle laughed. "But in my defense, you were really suspicious from the moment I met you. Like, you were hanging out outside my house! And everything about you made me feel like you were always watching me."

"Because I was. You have good instinct. It was annoying as all hell, but it can be useful."

I smiled, glad that he understood. 

We finished the rest of the meal in silence, and once finished, I put away the plate, glass, and silverware into the sink, as I started to clean it.

"For a rich girl who has everyone do things for you, you're not all that spoiled." Kyle teased as he put his plates in the sink as well.

"Don't stereotype rich people." I scolded mildly, continuing to wash the dishes. Kyle stood beside me, leaning against the counter, watching me. I resisted the urge to squirm under his stare.

"What are you staring at?" 

"You."

"Has anyone told you you're very blunt?" I asked, hoping he didn't realize my flaming cheeks.

"I can list a few names." He said, chuckling slightly.

I finished off the dishes, and Kyle handed me a towel for me to wipe my hands.  I walked out of the kitchen, and sat down on the sofa in the living room. Suddenly, with nothing to do, I started to feel awkward. I didn't really have anything to say or do, and it was still 8, too early to sleep. I fidgeted with my hands.

What was I thinking? This was precious time that I had with Kyle, to talk to him, to get to know him better. It was time for me to step out of my introverted shell.

"Kyle?" I said, and he looked at me expectantly. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Kyle's thoughtful attention was on me. "Sure."

"You told me once your parents died when you were seven, and you came here when you were nine...what happened between those times?"

At first I thought I had overcrossed my boundaries, hit a nerve. But Kyle walked over to me and sat down beside me. His eyes were far away, his mind back in time as he thought of his past.

"My parents were killed by the Shadow Legion." He said, and my heart skipped a beat.

"You mean...?" 

"Yes, the Shadow Legion, the one we're going after right now."

"Oh my god." I breathed, and realized why this was so important to him.

"Well, they were on a mission to find out who was in the Shadow Legion, and they did find out things, but they were killed before they could tell anyone..."

I stared down at my toes, the new information making my heart feel heavy.

"Anyway." Kyle resumed, "after I heard the gunshots and saw my dead parents, Theo came over to sort things out."

"Theo?" I asked.

"Yeah. He was my parents' boss, and he sorted out their funerals, wills, my orphange papers, all that stuff."

"You went to an orphanage?"

Kyle nodded. "It was an orphanage especially built for rich kids with bright futures with parents who died abruptly. Lived there for two years. It was terrible. The kids there were plain mean, and I was the main target of their bullying."

I couldn't imagine Kyle getting bullied. He was so confident and strong.

"Oh and one major reason why I hate rich kids? Because every single one of the kids there were ridiculously rich, and I only have bad memories there."

A small, thoughtful smile sneaked onto my face. I still didn't like how he was biased about wealth and rich people, especially with me being one, but at least there was a reason behind it.

"Theo kept on checking up on me at least once a month, and when he realized the main reason I was miserable wasn't because I was mourning over my parents but because of the other kids there, he took me in and he's been like a father to me ever since."

I thought back to how friendly Kyle was to Theo. I knew they were close, but the fact that he was a fatherly figure to him made everything make so much more sense.

"Well at least you had someone rescue you out of there." I said.

Kyle nodded sincerely. "I'm definitely one of the lucky ones."

"So what happened afterwards? I mean, after you started living here?"

"Well, I still needed to go to school, so I started going to school from here... But then all my classes were too easy, so I switched to homeschooling."

I rolled my eyes. "So you're one of those kids."

Kyle chuckled. "So maybe I am."

I looked at him, wide eyes with curiosity. "So how did you meet Brook and Mikey?"

"Mikey's parents have been working here for a long time, and I met Mikey the first time I came here, because he was my age. And Brook, well she was at the same orphanage as me, and Mikey's parents adopted her after they saw me and how miserable I used to be."

"Wait, so does that mean you were friends with Brook ever since you were at the orphanage?" 

"Exactly. We were friends...I guess. More like allies, really. We both got bullied by the 'top leader' at the orphanage, and we sort of fought side-by-side."

I fell silent at the new information. Such a complicated history like that...that kind of bond must be strong and unbreakable.  

"That's....so...." I said, trying to form a sentence but failing.

"Interesting? Depressing?" Kyle suggested.

"I was more going along the lines of...intrepid, or inspiring."

Kyle's expression was unreadable. For one second I thought he looked surprised, but then he also looked tired, and then awed, but also pensive. But then he said, "the things you say never fail to surprise me."

I blushed. I could feel his closeness now, and I wanted to scoot over and rest my head on his chest. His presence made me feel relaxed and excited at the same time.

But just then my exhaustion from the day took over and I yawned loudly.

Kyle's face looked amused as he said, "is it bedtime for the princess?"

"I think so."

"Let me just grab a pillow and a blanket and you can go to sleep." He said. I bit my lip. It was I say it now, or never. Take Brook's advice, or regret it later. I would hate to think about my what-if's later on.

"It's fine, you don't have to sleep on the sofa." I said, and held my breath to wait for his reply.

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you actually think I'd let you sleep on the sofa?"

I chewed on my lower lip and looked up at him. "No, I mean, you can sleep on the bed, as well."

Kyle's eyes barely widened but I saw the look of surprise on his face. "I..." He started, but then trailed off. I was suddenly fighting down a grin. He was speechless. This meant I was on the upperhand, I was in control.

"It's okay, I don't mind. Sofas are uncomfortable and I don't want to make you sleep on it. It is your house after all." I said nonchalantly, low-key teasing. 

"Uhm...I don't know..." Kyle started again, and I smiled coyly.

"What are you worried about?" I asked, and I could feel my eyes gleaming, as if I was in on a joke he didn't know of.

"Well, I guess if that's fine with you." Kyle looked incredibly flustered, so different from usual.

"I'm going to go ahead and sleep now. By the way, do you have an extra tooth brush I could use?"

Kyle snapped out of his flusteryness and said, "yeah, of course." He opened a drawer and handed my a toothbrush. 

I smiled at him, "thanks."

I quickly brushed my teeth and dried my hair with his hairdryer, and got into his bed, curling up. I laid there for twenty minutes, exhausted but unable to sleep. I kept on thinking of our mission, or getting kidnapped, and adrenaline kept my eyes wide open.

Then, Kyle walked into the room, and he climbed into the bed beside me. He probably thought I was asleep already, and I closed my eyes. Kyle was lying on the other side of the bed, but I was so aware of his presence that it sent a shiver down my back.

"Are you awake?" Kyle whispered after a few moments.

I exhaled slowly. "Yeah."

"Having trouble sleeping?"

"Kind of." He was so close that I itched to reach my hand out and trace his skin, or get closer to him so I could hug him as I slept.

"Are you worried?" 

I looked up at the dark ceiling above me.

So damn anxious. 

"Yes."

"Of what?"

Rape. Getting kidnapped. Rejection. Failure. Not knowing what's going on.

You.

"I don't know, I'm just sort of overwhelmed I guess."

"Speaking of experience, everything ususally isn't as bad as you think it is." His voice was husky, and I could tell he was getting sleepy.

I could feel my chest rising and falling more slowly now too. "Goodnight Kyle."

"Goodnight."

 * * * * *

My midterms are over! I'm so happy because I haven't had any time to write lately!
Thanks for reading! vote and comment please xxx