Vile Games (book two)

29 - an ache in my heart

song for chapter:
same room - jp saxe
| we can't even be in the same room |
(highly recommend + put on repeat)

jaylee's pov
friday, 3:10pm.

my phone was blowing up with text messages from too many people asking the same thing. 'are you okay?' and 'i'm here for you.'

don't get me wrong, of course I appreciate their efforts in reaching out to me and wanting to make sure that i'm doing fine, but I'm just so bothered by the fact that ethan hasn't reached out to me about the article yet.

it's been two days and still no form of contact. not even to simply see if i'm okay.

and it's not like he hasn't read it yet. he sent it to osman.

osman, grayson, raven and froy all reached out to me wednesday when the article came out. so why hasn't ethan?

I turned the wheel of my car, turning onto the street of the twins house. exhaling a large breath of air, I pulled up next to the curb in front of their house.

today we are all going to the mall to shop for clothes we don't need and get some lunch. honestly, this is much needed because each of them know how to cheer me up just by simply being near me.

seeing all of their cars parked, I turned mine off before getting out.

the front door opened as grayson walked outside. lifting his head, he noticed me walking towards the house. "oh hey jaylee." he looked down to the silver watch on his wrist as I stopped in front of him. "you're early. ravens gonna be excited. she's been so impatient." he let out a soft laugh.

immediately the sound of his laugh made my entire exhausted body calm down. that's what I meant by 'they know how to cheer me up by being near me'. he just soothed all my uneasy feelings.

both of us standing on the front porch, I looked at him as he put his wrist back down by his hip. I wanted to say something in response to him, but I couldn't really get any words out.

this is the first time in a couple days that my emotions have simmered down and it happened in only a couple of seconds.

he tilted his head slightly while narrowing his eyebrows as his eyes looked around my face like he was trying to read what was wrong with me.

I knew that realization hit him when his facial expressions loosened. his hands grabbed onto both of my wrists as he pulled me towards him. without any warning, his arms wrapped around my head, barricading me into his chest.

I blinked a couple times from the unexpected hug, but an overwhelming feeling of safety swarmed in me causing my hands to automatically wrap around his waist.

I closed my eyes, exhaling a large breath of air as we both stood in silence for a few long moments.

I didn't realize how badly I needed that kind of care.

he exhaled a deep breath of air while his arms unwrapped from around me. his hands held onto my arms as his eyes looked directly into mine. "you okay?" he asked, sounding honestly concerned.

I tucked my lips inwards as I nodded my head to let him know that I was okay. "I'll be fine." I admit in a soft tone.

his light brown eyes looked back and forth between mine as he nodded, then let go of me. "come on. everyone's inside." he informed me, turning around and grabbing onto the door handle.