sweets || bryce hall

Chapter 62: Door

This is one of the chapters that was previously published in the sequel before being moved into the book. If you were up to date on the sequel, you should skip to Chapter 70!

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Rory POV

I hold my fork up in front of my face, staring blankly at the melted cheese covered piece of steak that I stabbed with the fork from my bowl.

"Rory, eat it come on," Nessa says, swallowing a bite as she picks up the sweet tea that she ordered. Kio looks up from his phone, chewing quickly before sending me a slight smirk,

"Do it for no other reason than Nessa used my card to pay," I giggle slightly, nodding and taking the bite into my mouth. They both smile at each other in satisfaction before all of us look up in alarm as a heavy fist bangs on the door. Kio holds out a hand, signaling us to stay in our seats as he walks over to it.

Nessa glances to me as she looks towards him, obviously making sure I don't freak, but I keep my eyes on the door. I know realistically that Bryce, Jaden, and Josh are on their way.

But also, so are Alijah and my father.

And I don't have my phone to get a text from any of them because I don't have my phone anymore now that it's broken. Because I'm smart.

I take a deep breath, gulping, as Kio unlocks the door and slowly inches it open, before completely relaxing. He grabs someone's hand, pulling them into a bro hug thing, and I see Josh, before he does the same thing with who I see to be Jaden.

But within seconds I see Bryce who not so gently pushes bast the three of them, running into the apartment. Him, Jaden, and Josh are all carrying things, a bag, a pillow I like, and another bag, but once he meets my gaze with his, Bryce immediately drops the backpack and rushes towards me.

He doesn't even give me time to stand up, scooping me out of the chair and into a tight hug, his hands grasping my arms communicating the fear, anxiousness, and love we feel so that we don't have to speak it into the air. Our minds are only focused enough to hold onto the other, even once my feet touch the ground.

As Nessa walks into her boyfriends arms and Kio and Jaden begin whispering back and forth, Bruce eventually pulls away, moving his hands to the sides of my face. He checks, glancing over my body, if I'm okay physically, as if something could have already happened to me, before looking into my eyes and pressing a short but sweet kiss to my lips, "Are you... no, never mind. I know that answer. You know I love you right, baby? You know I will do everything for you that I can possibly do? Right?" Bryce questions, desperately gripping one hand still on my cheek and the other moving to my waist in order to pull me closer once our lips part. I gulp, not breaking eye contact as I nod frantically to reassure him. One of my hands raises to the back of his neck while I rest the other on his chest as I speak,

"Yes, I-I know, of course I know. I love you Bryce, so much," I look up at him as tears enter my eyes once again, "I don't want to leave you, you know that. I need you to know that, okay?" He shakes his head, pulling me back into him chest completely, holding me even tighter than before,

"That's not happening. I'm not letting that happen. I care about you too much to let them touch you ever again." I wrap my arms around him as Jaden moves over to stand next to us,

"We all do. That I can promise you, Ro," I look up, smiling weakly towards Jaden as he smirks at me before pulling me away from Bryce and into a hug. Josh smiles at me, Kio and him moving towards the hallway so him and Nessa can show it all to Josh. Nessa looks back at me, quickly pointing between me and the food and calling out to Bryce and Jaden,

"Make sure she eats that!" before she's disappeared out the door. They both turn back to me, eyebrows raised. Jaden chuckles, shaking his head and moving to sit down in Nessa's spot as Bryce gives me a look. I just raise both of my arms in the air, going back to my seat and picking the fork back up. He promptly sits in Kio's chair, next to me, and I can hear his leg start immediately bouncing up and down, the anxiety and irritation at the current situation evident on his face alone. As I start eating, Jaden speaks up,

"So, Bryce said... you have a plan Ro? Or, should we be putting you in a plane within the hour?"

"Because we will," Bryce firmly interjects, before I can answer, "Actually, we would prefer it." I look between him and Jaden, who just shrugs,

"I mean, Rory, seriously, you know this is bad right?" I widen my eyes, dropping my fork,

"Are you kidding me?"

"He's just saying," Bryce starts, "You normally freak out about things way less bad than this, Sweets, and you seem, well, a lot more calm that I've pretty much ever seen you. We just want to make sure-" This is when I stand up, and he stops talking, expressions of shock spreading on both of the boys' faces,

"Bryce, I love you. Very much. You're my wonderful, understanding, amazing boyfriend. You're great. Jaden? You've helped me and protected me from and during so much the past year and I love you. You're my actual brother. But, please, never insinuate that I don't understand the serious, terrifying, warranted fear that comes with the idea of going back to... to those people. Okay? I'm terrified. But I know, if I want this to all be over, for good? I can't panic. I can't fall into that. So trust me. Okay?" I look between them and they hesitantly nod, Bryce grabbing my hand, to try and reassure me.

"Alright," he nods, so I nervously smile, sitting down before continuing,

"Basically, I need to..."

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Authors Note from when this was part of the sequel:

Okay, I hope you guys liked this!

The next chapter is going to be a different format, but because of that, I needed to end this here. I'm sorry that it's kind of short.

Thank you for getting this book to 1k in literally two days with only one chapter. I love you all so much, and I appreciate the support more than y'all know!

Comment and vote to let me know what you thought, I read everything and I enjoy it a lot!

Comment what you thought and who you think is going to be in this or who/what you want to see!

Thank you so much for reading, I love you guys!