Kait dropped the phone in horror. This wasn't possible.

He could not be getting out already. The thought of him made her physically sick to her stomach.

She didn't even want to think of his name, let alone his face. His name alone made her want to run and never look back.

Kait could feel herself become dizzy with all the thoughts of him roaming around inside.

He was dead to her, and for the sake of her sanity there was no possible way he could be out of the dungeon he was in.

Dead....dead....dead she muttered to herself. He can never, ever hurt me again.

What if she was wrong? Who else could be doing this to her? It all made sense now... The paranoid feeling she had all day... the random rose and now this text to seal the deal.

She picked up a glass and poured herself some water before she passed out. This was too much for her.

It wasn't before long she fell asleep on the couch until a loud series of knocks made her jump up and get the door.

Once she safety verified the individual through the peephole, she swung the door opened and crushed Leslie in a gigantic bearhug.

"Woah," Leslie chuckled, returning the hug. "Is it my birthday sweetie?"

Kait reluctantly let go and shook her head. "I'm just really happy to see you."

"Touché." Les winked at Kait putting the grocery bags she brought inside on the floor. "It smells really good in here. Whatcha cooking?"

"Herb and garlic marinated chicken with a light chef salad."

Her eyes lit up and she ran over to
stove, peeking inside. Les was completely obsessed with food.

Kait tsked playfully at her best friend and shut the oven door. "10 more minutes."

Les pouted and sat down at the table. "Guess who I saw at work today?" she whispered excitedly, the food quickly forgotten.

Kait wished she could share the same excitement as her best friend, but he still lingered fresh in her mind.

That demonic bastard.

"Hellooooo," Les waved her hand in Kait's face. "Earth to Kaity."

"Huh?"

She waggled her brows, completely unaware of her best friend's sour mood. "I said, the meatman came today."

At that, Kait genuinely laughed for the first time today. Thomas "The Meatman" Jones was the young, sturdy mailman at Leslie's office, and her current friends with benefits partner who had a rather large ahem, manlyhood. Leslie spared Kait no details of their daily bedroom (and office) romps.

"Jim came to the office to drop off the final papers and almost caught me with my draws off on top of the copy machine."

Jim, Leslie's ex-husband who had an affair almost a year ago and who was desperately trying to repair their broken marriage but was failing miserably, came by her office everyday to make sure she wasn't meeting anyone new and moving on in her life.

He knew Leslie got along with almost everybody with her magnetic personality. She wasn't gonna stay a single divorcee for long.

"My god, are you serious?"

She nodded proudly, and bit into a piece of lettuce she picked from the salad bowl. "Deadly."

Kait just shook her head and got up to take out the chicken. Leslie was practically drooling and tore into her food as soon as she handed her the plate.

"So," she said while chewing a piece of chicken. "Are you gonna tell me who gave you that rose or am I gonna have to drag it out of you?"

Shit, she didn't miss a thing.

"Hmm?" Kait stalled, trying to think of an answer for her extremely observant friend.

Les narrowed her eyes, fully aware of Kait's antics. "The rose," she pointed to it slightly hidden under Kait's purse. "Who's it from, darling?"

Should she lie? She really wanted to. This issue was buried deep a long time ago. They swore never to speak of him again. Besides, Les would go overprotective motherly mode as she did before and treat Kait like a child, which she didn't like whatsoever.

"Louiegaveittome." She prayed Les didn't understand her incoherent mumbling.

But of course she did. "Louie?" her eyes widened in disbelief. "As in slumlord Louie?"

Kait laughed nervously. "The very one." she lied.

Kait felt bad about lying to her Les, but felt it was completely necessary. Les had her own troubles to worry about, she didn't need Kait's as well.

"You're lying."

Kait's mouthed dropped opened but no words came out. She was stuck .... and caught.

Les looked disappointed. "Did you really think you could lie to me?"

Kait looked down, too embarrassed to answer. "Maybe." she mumbled.

It was silent for a few minutes and only the sound of Les chewing and scraping her plate clean could be heard throughout the apartment. Kait's plate remained untouched, while her mood sunk by the minute.

"When you're ready, you will tell me." Les spoke, after taking a sip of her water.

A ghost of a smile appeared at Kait's face at Les' understanding that she wasn't ready to open up just yet.

Maybe when she sorted things out, but not right now. Kait rarely, if ever lied to her best fried but this was some heavy stuff she was dealing with right now.

"Yeah," Kait agreed. "Thank you."

Les just winked with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Anytime. Now about the copy machine with my ass print on it....."

Kait grinned. She seriously loved this girl......