sweets || bryce hall

Chapter 66: Home

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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Kio POV

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I hear her swallow as she waits for a response, everyone on both sides of the phone unable to speak after both of their powerful words. Bryce finally begins,

"Alright. You're right, Sweets, um, wait-" He gets interrupted,

"Yo, they're back!" A loud voice whisper yells some distance away from the phone on the other side, sounding like Blake. My head snaps up, my eyes widening along with Rory's,

"Wait, what Bryce? What's going-"

"I gotta go, Sweets. I love you, okay, soon. Everything will be back to normal. I swear," Rory evades my gaze as she goes to answer him, more and more tears falling down her face,

"Okay, I lo-" Before she can finish her response, he hangs up. She falls silent, staring at the phone in her hand. After a moment, she picks up the glass from her lap, setting it on and end table, before standing and walking towards me, "They'll always get in the way," Her voice comes out shakier and quieter than before, her hand outstretched to hand me the phone before softly padding back into the hallway to the guest room she had been in before.

After only a few moments I hear her sobs sound through the walls, her strong exterior she's been trying to keep up showing it's cracks.

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Blake POV

Bryce's face goes completely white as he lowers the phone from his ear and we hear a pound banging in the distance and some yelling, "What do you mean..." I gulp, nodding,

"Josh just texted me, I was too busy to check my phone because I was listening to you. They were trying to break in to the goddamn house when he drove up," I clench my teeth as I watch his and Noah's faces shift from shock, to confusion, to anger, then to relief, and then back to anger, "The police just got here because he called them."

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Rory POV

My arms squeeze around my shins tightly, gripping onto my thighs, while I rock back and forth and stare at the wall.

Yo, they're back!

They're back.

I knew I wasn't going back, I knew I had to wait.

But, I thought, I thought just maybe... I laid awake all night hoping for them to be gone. That by some miracle it could just be over for once, quickly and painlessly.

But they're back again.

And as the thoughts in my head swirl around, I barely register that I'm not even thinking out the next few days with logic. My past, my experiences, my learned habits back in the throne to rule over my brain.

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Kio POV

I bite my lip, looking up at the clock on the oven. It's been an hour since Bryce hung up, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I don't even want to try to get Rory out of her room, because I'm not sure that anything I could do would be any help at all. I can barely handle waiting on Bryce out of building anxiety for my friends, but Rory's heavy sobs from the other room.

In the past year, when she breaks down like what I can hear, I've never seen anyone but Bryce actually be able to help. It's not even that I don't want to, I'd be happy to. Rory is so strong and so wonderful. But I can't imagine expecting anyone else to be able to handle everything else the last month or so, let alone that phone call, well. I'm impressed.

I don't even mind having her here or being the middleman. I just want her to be able to go home.

I see my phone start moving and I pick it up just as the ring sounds, not wanting Rory to hear it, "Bryce?" I let out a strained whisper, trying to keep quiet but hoping it was him since I didn't check; hoping also for much more,

"Hey man," his voice sounds tired, answering. I wait for more but when he doesn't say anything else I push, leaning my elbows against the counter from my chair,

"So? C'mon dude, I need more than hey. It's been an hour and you haven't even texted me to tell me what's going on! What am I supposed to be doing?" He sighs back before responding,

"I know, I do. It's just, dude, it's crazy. Josh apparently was coming over, to see what's up, y'know. They were trying to break in, apparently. Like up on the roof. He called the police and was texting Blake like mad. He assumed it was them and I'm fucking glad he did, because he could have just assumed it was for a bit. Blake was listening to Rory and I talk and when he finally saw it I guess the police were almost here. We had to deal with it. We were fucking lucky though dude, they started fighting and never actually made it in the house. I'm pretty sure Alijah got freaked out," I hear a snide, harsh kind of humor in his voice, pairing with anger and sadness together, even though I can still hear the exhaustion,

"So what, what do I do? Do I go get Rory?" I stop for a second, "They seriously tried to break in? Like come in through the windows type shit? What did they think they were gonna do?" I dryly laugh, running a hand through my hair in shock at these people. These fucking people. I wince as I hear a particularly loud sob come from the bedroom.

"Dude, I don't know. I really don't," I hear him sigh in exasperation as he pauses, "And no. We decided as a group that Rory already told us her wishes. And honestly, I had a thought that Noah helped with. I know that Rory can handle this. We all do. But this is past what she needs to. We can handle this. She told us what she wanted to do, and she wanted it to be over. I think I know my girlfriend well enough so we are going to get this over with. So she can finally be happy." I nod slowly, responding,

"Okay man, like I agree. If you think that's what's best, cool. So what are you telling the police? They're just her random, assholes of a family who Rory separated herself from and when they found out she was getting famous..."

"Pretty much, I mean we just chilled with it. They weren't saying much to the cops, so we just kept it simple. They'll leave, and they'll never come back. They'll never get to hurt Sweets again." He says firmly, making a small smile come across my face, knowing my friend might finally be able to really feel safe.

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Bryce POV

I hang out with Kio, hearing Josh, Blake, and an officer calling me over, "Hey, what's up?" I ask, jogging over,

"We're going to take them down to the station. I guess they're from Alabama, so we'll handle that. Other than that, I think we're all done here! We will be in touch, but there won't be much else to do if you guys aren't pressing charges," The cop raises his eyebrows at me, as if giving me one final chance to change my mind. I look between the other two boys, knowing already in my heart that this is what I have to do for Rory,

"No, I think it's been taken care of. Thank you officer, I really appreciate all of you." We all shake his hand, and he follows the other officers down to the cars at the street where Alijah and Mr. Matthew's already are before we turn and head into the house where Noah and Nessa, who was with Josh,

"So you're really letting them go?" Nessa asks, taking Josh's hand as we join them around the counter. I just nod, looking around,

"Rory can come home now. And she can stay."

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Authors Note from before I removed this from the sequel:

I wanted to end this story arc to be honest, but I don't hate this ending. I hope you liked this one!

Let me know what you thought and who you think should tell her! Comment and vote also to let me know anything else or what you thought!

I love Rory so much and I'm sorry she wasn't in this chapter a ton.

By the way, all new covers, coming sooooon!

Love you guys, thank you so much for reading and supporting!