"May the flowers remind us
why the rain was so necessary"
— xan oku

One More Mistake
Chapter fifty-two

❱ When I entered the house, Bruce was waiting for me by the stairs. He looked up, expecting me already. He looked calm and I would've believed he was but I saw the way his eyes darken. His lips parted open but I stepped around him and continued up the stairs.

"Is that what Alec did to you?" He asked softly and I stopped. I looked over my shoulder and noticed his eyes were on my wrist.

For a moment I thought he was concerned but when he locked eyes with me I realized he was satisfied.

"I knew he had it in him" he said lowly, talking to himself and I wanted nothing more than to push him down the stairs.

I wanted him dead, and I wanted him out of my life. It would be so easy to just get it over with it now.

I gripped on the railing, trying to contain the anger that was growing. I stopped my thoughts from becoming any darker and continued to walk up the stairs.

"What? You're not going to yell at me? Tell me I'm horrible?" He asked but I didn't turn. He kept teasing me and taunting me but once I got to my room I locked the door. I let out a breath when and soon his voice became nothing but silence.

"You okay?" I jumped up when I heard a deep voice come from my room. I quickly turned and noticed a figure sitting on my bed, it was Kace.

"Kace, what are you doing here?" I asked, slowly putting my guard down. I walked towards him, feeling less tense.

He stood up and noticed his eyes linger on my wrist.

"You scared me" I whisper, taking him in.

It felt like I haven't seen him in weeks but I saw him just yesterday but that felt like forever ago. Because throughout that time, so much has happened.

"You don't look okay" he continued and sighed when he didn't mention anything about the bruise.

After everything that's happened to me tonight, I wanted nothing more than someone to talk to and Kace was here, doing exactly that but he wasn't the person I wanted to talk to.

I felt a sudden pang of guilt when I realized Kace wanted me to trust him. He wanted me to talk to him and tell him how I actually felt. He looked at me almost longingly and I knew I didn't deserve that kind of look from him.

"I'm fine" I reassured and started to walk towards my closet.

"What are you doing here and how the hell did you get in?" I asked as I tried to ignore his eyes. through my drawer, trying to look for my sweats.

"I entered through your window, and I might've broken your lamp. Sorry" I quickly looked over my shoulder and furrowed my eyebrows with a small smile forming on my face.

"Never liked that lamp anyway." I said, and a smile played on his lips but I knew it was forced. His eyes were sad, just like mine were. He was still thinking about my bruise and wondering what happened to me. I know I must look horrible, I felt horrible.

He leaned on the closest door frame while having his arm across his chest.

"I know," he whispered, his eyes studying me.

I ignored it and once I've got my clothes, I walked out of the closet and threw the clothes on my bed. Flashbacks from what happened last night this bed haunted me.

I froze in my spot.

No, please.

"Thea" Kace spoke softly.

I've felt his warm hands come down at my shoulder and in a swift movement, I turned towards him and pushed him away.

My walls were up now and I wasn't going to let down any time soon, not for anyone, especially not for Alec.

"Woah.."Kace said as he held his hands out in front of him.

I took a heavy breath, hating myself for pushing him away, for bringing up my walls and now staring at Kace like he was the one who hurt me.

"You aren't okay." he confirmed, frowning at me.

"Can you please go?" I asked as tried to hide my trembling hands. I held them tight together but I still felt them trembling like crazy so instead I crossed my arms across my chest. I know Kace noticed this.

"What?" He asked, his voice low and weak.

I wanted to apologize, and be honest with him but I couldn't. I was already having trouble standing here while he stood in front of me waiting for me to break. I didn't want him here and not after what happened to me last night. I suddenly felt exposed in front of him.

The thought of Kace and I being alone in my room, brought chills down my back.

Why was I afraid?

This was Kace, he wasn't going to do anything to hurt me, but why did I feel afraid?

"Please" I silently begged and for a moment he stood still, quiet and thoughtful.

"Okay" he said and just like that he left, shutting the door in silence.

I sat still on my bed and hated myself for being that way with Kace. He hasn't done anything to me, he wasn't the one who hurt me yesterday. This was Kace, probably the only normal person out here.

So why was I treating him like he had done something wrong?

Why was I even acting like this at all? This wasn't me, I never panicked about Kace being in my room alone before, why now?

The ringing of my phone, snapped me out of my thoughts.

I grabbed my phone from my pocket, checking who was calling me. It was Sterling and I hesitated before answering the call.

"Sterling," I said, my voice sounding weak.

"Are you okay?" Once I've heard Rory's voice, I knew it wasn't Sterling on the other side. Even though I wasn't expecting him on the other line, I was glad it was Rory.

"Where's sterling?" I asked, ignoring his questions.

"He's standing right in front of me." He started, then paused.

"Are you okay?" he asked again and I fought the urge to tell him everything.

"Yeah, I'm okay" I said quickly. I walked back to my bed and laid my head on the pillow. I needed to rest.

"You don't sound okay" he responded back and hated that he didn't need to see me to know that.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, all along wondering why his voice sounded so soft.

"You sound tired, exhausted and I don't need to see you to know that you're holding on by a thread. Now, tell me the truth, are you okay?" He asked again and I rubbed my forehead in frustration.

"I want to talk to Sterling, pass the phone to him" I told him instead, completely ignoring what he said. However it might be true, I wouldn't ever admit my feelings to him and only to give him satisfaction.

"Are you serious?" He asked and when I didn't say anything else, he realized I was actually very serious. He shouldn't be surprised, neither should I.

The call went silent and for a second I've thought he hung up.

"How did everything go with Alec?" I furrowed my eyebrows when I've realized that I wasn't talking to Rory anymore. It was sterling now. I didn't know why I felt disappointed.

"How about I'll tell you tomorrow? It's sort of a long story" I told sterling, a heavy feeling deep in my heart.

"Yeah, that's good, see you tomorrow then" he said, just about to end the call.

"Wait" I said quickly.

"Is Rory still there?" I asked, hating myself for even mentioning him.

"No, he left, he seemed angry. Did you want me to tell him something?" He asked, curiously.

"Tell him that I was just.. you know what never mind, see you tomorrow." I said as I hanged up on him and threw my phone on the bed.

I shouldn't feel bad, Rory was just a boy who didn't care about me. I also shouldn't apologize for not being an open person, and opening up to Rory. Although, a small part of myself wanted nothing more but to open up to him, but I couldn't because I was afraid of what the consequences might be.

Thank you for reading!!