Kidnap My Heart

Chapter Forty-One: Will

A/N: Last chapter! Can't believe it, oh, my God. Again, it's not edited or proofread so if you see any mistakes, just bear with me! 

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Kidnap My Heart

Chapter 41: Will

Rage asked me to give her two weeks, and that was exactly what I did. I gave her some space for two weeks. I didn’t get to see her for two entire weeks.

I mean, we talked on the phone and texted and all, but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t like when we’d lived together and spent every waking hour together and every night together. Falling asleep without her was basically impossible the first week.

I guess I kind of understood why she was putting distance between us for a couple of weeks. There was too much media hype over the kidnapping. She was just watching out for me. I just kind of wished I could be the one looking out for her, but instead, I was the one who got her in this mess in the first place.

But like I’d said earlier, I didn’t regret a thing. Even if I could go back and reject my dad’s proposition, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t trade what I had with Rage for anything.

Day 11 of my exile. Willpower weakening. Sleep-deprivation awakening the monster inside. I need a shot.

Every day, I sent Emma a similar text, just with a different day at the beginning, obviously. And every day, she told me to quit whining and be patient.

My notification ringtone blared from my phone not long after I sent Emma that text, and I opened her reply. The first part was the lyrics to the song “Shots” in all caps—of course. She’d hung out with me way too much—and the second part read: There should be a package coming soon that will curb the monster inside. Watch out for it and tell me when you get it!

What the hell was she planning? She’d said she was going to prove she was in this for the long run, same as me, but I wasn’t sure what a package was going to prove. Sending something to my apartment didn’t say much. She still wasn’t going public with this. I wasn’t sure she actually would.

I didn’t blame her. There was a reason the whole cat onesie metaphor had come up in the first place. We were polar opposites, at least on the outside, and now we were back in the real world. Emma was back at home with her parents, going to a private high school with her fellow ridiculously-privileged classmates and friends, and I was back at my apartment with Eric, working a temporary job until I finished college in the fall. What if we were being shoved back into reality? I didn’t want to go back.

“I’m off to work,” Eric called out from somewhere outside my room. I looked up even though I couldn’t see him. “You better hurry or you’ll be late.”

“Yeah, I’m off, too,” I called out, pocketing my phone. Yup. Back to reality it was.

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I came home that afternoon to a package, just as Emma had said I would. I still didn’t understand how this was going to help, but her last present had been the best one I’d ever gotten, so I didn’t hesitate to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I grabbed the cardboard box and carried it over to the couch. It was rectangular and about the size of two shoe boxes stacked together. I was tempted to shake it, as I usually was, but I resisted the urge.

“What do you have up your sleeve, Rage?” I muttered, sitting down with the package on my lap. I ripped off the tape with ease and threw it aside, pulling the cardboard flaps aside so I could see the contents. Inside was…