The Arrangement

Chapter Four

Taylor's POV

I woke up the next morning with the worst fucking hangover ever. My head was pounding at fifty miles an hour and I kept throwing up my intake from last night.

After I took some medicine, I sat at the counter and drank some coffee, — praying that it'll relieve some kind of pain — and ate an avocado toast for breakfast, grateful when I didn't throw it up immediately.

As I drink my coffee and finish off my toast, the memories from last night suddenly flood my mind and I have even more questions than before.

While my thoughts are all over the place, the bedroom door swings open, revealing Sophia in her hangover state as she scratches her head.

Her hair is a big ass mess on top of her head and I have to refrain from laughing.

I look down and stare at my phone blankly as I replay the events in my head that took place last night, making sure it wasn't just the alcohol playing it's part.

"Hey Taylor," Sophia says, breaking me out of my thoughts as she walks out her room.

She still doesn't know what happened and I don't know how I'm going to tell her or if I'm even going to tell her, considering the text I got after it happened.

It sounded threatening, like if I told someone something would happen to me next.

But this is Sophia. My best friend who I've known since middle school. She'll want to know what happened, so I don't really have a choice here.

"Hey," I mumble as I continue to sip on my coffee. "I'm going to over to my house in a few days to get my clothes and the rest of my things."

"Alright," Sophia says, pouring some coffee into a mug.

Being that Ryan thought staying with Sophia was the safest thing to do right now, I stayed with her last night, but I don't know how long I'll be here or if Nicolas is going to come after me after I saw what he did to that man last night.

His name on my tongue made my stomach churn in discomfort.

I could practically feel the bile rise in my throat, but I quickly swallow it back down.

My only questions were what really happened last night, and why did Nicolas kill that man so effortlessly? As is he's done it hundreds of times before?

He looked to me like a natural murderer.

I continue to sip on my coffee as Sophia takes a seat next to me at the island counter.

"Hey, are you ever gonna tell me what happened last night why we left in such a hurry or are you just going to keep avoiding the topic?" she asks the question I've been avoiding since it happened.

I sigh before rambling, "Last night at the club, when I went to use the bathroom, I saw a man upstairs with a gun and him and another man who was tied up were talking before he killed him," I say quickly, trying my hardest to leave out the part that I knew who the man was.

I look up at her staring at me, confused.

"Can you repeat that a little slower and make it make a little bit more sense?"

"You remember when I went to the bathroom?" I ask her and she nods. "When I left the bathroom, I got lost and took a wrong left turn. I heard some weird shuffling and talking, so I decided to take a small peek inside a secluded room. When I looked inside this weird, dark room, I saw a man tied up."

"Ok? What's the problem?" Sophia asks. "Did you see a naked stripper or something?"

"No, of course not," I chuckle. "Trust me, if I did, I would've been "stuck" in the bathroom and we would've stayed there much longer," I assure her.

"Anyway, the tied up man was talking to another man who was standing above him. He was clearly begging the man before he ended his life," I stop to see if she sees where I'm going with this.

"So...a naked male stripper who's into bdsm?" She asks.

I snort and shake my head.

"He pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man. He killed him Soph," I explain, the sentence making my stomach twist painfully.

"Woah," she says, her eyes wide.

"I know," I sigh, stirring my straw in my iced coffee.

"That's...kinda hot," she smirks at me. I turn to her and give her the most disappointed look I could muster. "Come on Tay. You can't lie and say that that's not hot. It's somewhat scary yeah, but still very hot in a way," she explains, shrugging shamelessly.

"Something's wrong with you and I'm very concerned," I shake my head as I stand up and put my mug and plate in the sink. I adjust my clothes and head back to my room.

"But it's hot Taylor," she shouts as I reach my bedroom door.

"Nope," I say loudly as I close the door. I grab my towel and make my way to the bathroom to take a long, hot shower and try to erase the memories from last night from my mind.

I close the bathroom door and strip off my clothes, turning on the shower. I put it on the hottest setting and step in, the hot water making me sigh in relaxation.

After my shower, I put on a white t-shirt with a rainbow shirt and jeans. I pair that with some gold rings and call it a day.

I leave my bedroom and walk into the living room, seeing Sophia on the couch on the phone with someone.

"Hey Aubrey," she says as I take a seat next to her. Who is that? I mouth to her and she fans me off, making me roll my eyes at her and smile a tight lipped smile.

"Well I'm going out," I tell her as I stand back up and grab my shoes from my room.

"That was Aubrey. You know, the girl I winked at last night at the bar. I must've been drunk out of my mind," she sighs and mutters the last part, but I still heard her regardless.

"The bartender?" I ask as I put on my shoes and grab my keys and purse from my room.

"Yeah, she asked for my number because she was interested in me," she sighs again. "I gave it to her because I thought maybe we could be friends. I don't know how I'm gonna tell her that I'm not interested in her and that I'm not into girls."

"Just tell her the truth, she'll understand," I smile.

"You're right. Where are you going again?" She asks me.

"To the mall and the park. Just to clear my mind a little," I explain, putting on a jean jacket.

"Ok- wait you look cute Taylor," she says, eyeing me and wolf-whistling. I laugh.

"Thank you," I smile, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and taking a huge gulp from it.

"Do you want something from the mall or anything at all while I'm out?" I ask her.

"No, I'm good. I think I'm gonna meet up with Aubrey and tell her how I feel," she hops up from the couch.

"Alright," I laugh and leave the small apartment, heading to the park.

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xoxo, aaliyah rose <3