His Identity

52

|Aveline's POV|

"Can you stop freaking out?" Ryver asks, his question being directed to Nat who's sitting on his couch, mumbling incoherent words to herself.

She's been doing that for the past twenty minutes— ever since we got here. And it's starting to freak me out. Apparently, Ryver too.

I didn't think Ryver would take us to his house but he did considering the fact that it was close to where we were. He said we'd be safe there and I don't know why but I trust him even though he's suspicious and shady as hell.

"No," my best friend looks up at him and shoots him a look. Right now, she's staring at him as if he's insane for even asking her that question. "No, I can't stop freaking out, Ryver."

At least there is a hint of sarcasm in her tone so that's a win. Kinda. I'll take what I get at this point.

I'm sitting on the kitchen counter with a bottle of cold water in my hand. It's unscrewed but for some reason, I still haven't taken a sip. My mind's overwhelmed with questions that I know I won't get the answers to from Ryver. He's barely said a word about it ever since we got here and he made it pretty clear he won't either.

"Fine then," the guy in question huffs, visibly annoyed, "don't. Just don't throw up or something all over my couch. I'd hate to throw it away, it's one of my favorites."

Nat barks out a humorless laugh. "I cannot believe this. Are we seriously having a normal conversation right now?" She flickers her eyes to me, a brow raised in question. "Are we going to ignore what just happened?"

"No, we're not." I answer, finally gathering up the energy to drink the damn water. I didn't know how much I needed it until I feel it hitting the back of my throat, a cooling sensation spreading throughout my entire body. Damn, that feels good.

"We're just waiting for Nick to get here," Ryver cuts in, nodding to himself as he speaks. Then he pulls out his phone from his back pocket, looks at the screen before letting out a string of curses.

"What?" I ask, curious as to what caused that reaction.

Ryver lifts his head, sparing me a glance. "Nothing," he shrugs which makes me shoot him an 'are you serious' kinda look. A groan leaves his lips, "alright, fine. Nick says he won't be coming right now. He's busy with someone so I'm supposed to drop you two home."

I have to physically refrain myself from jumping that motherfucker. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope." He pushes himself off the wall, "I'm gonna drop your asses to your respective homes."

"They know where Aveline lives, they said it." Nat speaks the words as if she's suddenly remembering them. A look of horror crosses her features, "oh my god. What if they're waiting for her back home? What if they kidnap Rhys and ask for Ave in return? That's how it usually works—"

"I'm gonna need you to calm down." Ryver says once he realises that I'm not going to be the one to calm her down. I've been trying and it seems like getting her to calm down was impossible.

"Don't tell me to calm down," my best friend snarls, baring her teeth at Ryver like some beast. I would've laughed if I wasn't feeling all the shit I currently am.