Hopelessly Devoted

Chapter 34- Together

"Crud!"

"Shoot!"

"Darnit!"

Now is one of those times where I wish I cursed.

My mind is going a mile a minute, tripping over itself to figure out what the heck is happening.

Well, that's not exactly true.

I knew EXACTLY what was happening.

We'd been caught. I'D been caught. Someone had caught Sean and I kissing and now they're gonna out me to the school unless I do... SOMETHING... for them.

What I DIDN'T know was what that something would be and, more importantly, what to do in this situation.

I... I need Sean.

I don't know what the frick is going on right now, but I need him.

But my father said I couldn't leave the house...

Screw my father!

I stuff the envelope into the back pocket of my jeans along with my phone, wallet, and keys. I walk over to the window in my bed and yank it open. My room is on the second floor but, thankfully, there is a trellis leaning against the house about a foot from the window. I'd always known about it and knew it could be used to sneak out, but I'd never truly felt sneaking out was necessary before today.

With shaky breaths, I lift one leg out of the window, then the other until I'm sitting on the sill. My right hand shoots to the trellis, grabbing it so tightly I'm afraid it may break.

I muster all of the upper body strength I never possessed and used that arm to allow me to sort of swing onto the lattice-work. The terror of those few split seconds where I was flying through the air were horrifying, but somehow I did manage to land pretty gracefully. The actual climbing-down part was easy, and before I knew it I was in my car and speeding off to Sean's.

When I got there, I frantically rapped my knuckles against the door. All of my patience had vanished and each second that passed was excruciatingly painful as I waited for ANYONE to answer the door.

"Bunny-Rabbit? What are you doing here?" The tiny face that opened the door asked me.

"Look, Aurora, you know I'd love to talk but I really need to talk to your brother right now."

"You can't. Seanie's sick. He's already giving you cooties, I'm not letting him give you germs too!"

On any other day, the stamp of her foot and the pout on her face would have been absolutely adorable. Unfortunately, today is stupid.

"It's ok, I promise. I just need to talk to him, so please let me in."

Reluctantly, she steps out of the doorframe to let me by. I give her a quick "thank-you" as I bound up the stairs. I refrain from taking them two at a time, as I don't want to worry the poor kid.

"Sean?" I ask shakily as I push the door open.

Sean is sitting cross-legged on his bed, under the covers, playing Halo on the giant tv across the room. He doesn't look that bad, but you can see by the box of tissues and the abundant bottles of cold medicines that he must have felt worse earlier on.

"Rabbit?" His voice questions as he pauses the game. "I thought you said you couldn't come over?"

I bite my lip nervously. "I really needed to talk to you."

I walk over to his bed and start to crawl in before his gentle hand on my chest stops me.

"I'm sick, baby, remember?"

My head immediately starts shaking. "I don't care." I pull the covers away for a second to allow myself to sit in his lap. I pull them back around us so that his warmth returns, and then wrap my arms tightly around him while my face buries in his neck.

His strong hands immediately find my back. "Luka, what happened, baby?"

Wordlessly, I remove one of my hands from his neck and retrieve the envelope. I gently place it in one of his hands before returning my own to its prior position.

Sean gets the hint and starts to read the letter. I place my right ear against his chest as he opens the envelope. The soothing rhythm of his heart tends to calm me down. Its reliable tempo gives me some feeling of control.  At least, usually, it's reliable. Today it isn't, as the more of the letter he reads, the faster his poor heart starts to beat.

"This bastard's got a goddamn deathwish!" He growls under his breath. I fight back a shiver at his aggressive voice, instead opting to snuggle closer.

Not the time, body...

"Luke, where did you get this? Who gave it to you?"

"I-I dunno. I found it in my bag." I whimper into his shoulder. The arm that was holding the envelope wraps around me once more. "I dunno what I should do."

He pauses for a moment.

"We, baby."

I lean back in confusion. "We, what?"

He gives me a soft smile. "This is a 'we-thing', Luka. It may suck, but we're in this together." The smile leans down to give me a reassuring peck on the forehead.

"Fine. I dunno what WE should do."

"I'd say for you to just ignore it, but I'd assume he has other copies of that photo."

I instinctively wince, knowing he's right. We have to do damage control, otherwise, that photo could ruin my life. 

"I'll go to the bleachers on Friday..." I begin before my boyfriend cuts me off.

"Hell no, you aren't! I don't trust this dick to not hurt you!"

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," I roll my eyes playfully. "I'll go to the meeting under the bleachers Friday and you can hide on top. The person won't know you're there, and you can film whatever they say or do. Once we have evidence, we can just blackmail them right back."

"I guess that could work..." He thinks for a second. "I'm just worried I won't make it down there in time if they try to do anything."

I just shrug. "You got a better idea?"

Sean sighs and shakes his head.

"Look, this whole situation sucks but," I reach around my back and dislodge his hands, bringing them in between us so I can hold them as I speak into his eyes. "At least we can do it together, right?"

He smirks and pecks me on the lip. "You bet."

"By the way, Sean?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Despite how awful this karma is, I still don't regret... messing around with you that day." My cheeks fire red, but I felt like I needed to say it.

Sean laughs at me and returns his hands around my body. He pulls me flush against him and gently makes my head tilt so I'm looking into his eyes. Our noses are almost touching.

"Well, baby." His deep voice sends a vibrato through his body and into mine. "That makes two of us."

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Hi :)

WARNING! THIS BOOK IS VERY MUCH NEARING THE END.

I know, sad, but it must be done. 

IDK how many more chapters I'll get, but somewhere around 5 seems right.

So, enjoy our boys while ya still can!

Be sure to like, comment, vote, and all that jazz and I'll see y'all later!