Caged

24

After Ethan had dragged me away, he'd dropped me off back in the library, and left without saying another word to me.

He had seemed tense, even on the ride home. Caleb had practice, so he couldn't drop me off.

I didn't know what to say, so I stayed quiet. It was easier in a way. He hadn't looked at me once, and I got out of the car wordlessly when he pulled into our driveway.

It was around seven in the evening and I was in the kitchen alone, using Caleb's laptop since I still didn't have my own. It was charging near one of the counters, so I was standing with my back facing the entrance when a hand on my back made me jump. I spun around to see Kaiden.

I blinked in surprise before I scowled. "What are you doing here?"

He chuckled, and leaned down to kiss my forehead, before he walked over to the mini bar. "I see you're still pissed at me."

"I'm always pissed at you," I grumbled, and watched as he poured himself a drink.

He came back over to stand across me, leaning back against the island. "What exactly are you mad at me for?"

I didn't really know. I felt like there were a lot of things so I settled with a, "I don't know."

He raised his eyebrows. "So you're just mad because you feel like it?"

"No, I'm mad because you're always fucking everything up, so I might as well stay mad before you do something again to actually make me mad."

Kaiden stared at me, his lips twitching into an amused smile. "Izzy, that made no sense."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the computer. "It made sense to me."

From the corner of my eye, I saw him set his drink down with a smile and before I knew it, he was moving. I yelped as he wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled me into him, keeping me locked in his grip. "You're a brat, you know that?"

I tried shoving him away as hard as I could. "Let go of me," I huffed, trying to maneuver myself out of his arms, but he held on tighter.

"Or what?"

"Kaiden, I swear to God, I'll hurt you in five seconds if you don't let go of me," I warned, squirming, and he pulled back to look me in the eye. When he realized I wasn't joking, he let go of me immediately with a roll of his eyes.

"You're the fucking brat," I hissed, hoisting myself up on the counter across from him. He smirked and brought the glass to his lips again.

I was about to ask him what he was doing here again when we heard the front door open and I heard some guys laughing. My heart sunk as I realized it was my oldest brother and everything from earlier came rushing back.

Everything Mia had told me.

There was nothing more I wanted than to scream at him and demand answers, but that hadn't gotten me anywhere in the past. He would lie to me again.

So, I would do the opposite.

I would talk to Amina because she seemed to be the only person I could trust. She could help me. We could help each other. I'd find out everything by myself.

The voices got closer, but I didn't recognize who the other man was.

Apparently, Kaiden did though because he tensed and snapped his head around to where they were approaching from. I frowned and was about to ask him what was wrong, but Elijah walked into the kitchen.

My attention wandered to the other man who'd just walked in behind him.

I would've thought of him as attractive any other time because he was, but he was also the most intimidating person I'd ever seen and that was more unsettling.