Octavius

xxvii

        A light snort escaped my lips as the little black, furred cat snuggled inside the cusp of my arms, mewing softly as she nuzzled her fur into my silky skin. Raven.

        "Babe?" A sweet, feminine voice called out followed by the soft knocking at the door. "Are you okay? I heard.. I heard crying, and I just wanted to check in. Is everything okay?"

"Yep!"

"Finnie," Presley let out an sigh. "You know it wasn't your fault. He was a jackass who didn't know the worth of what he had. He didn't deserve someone like you... he didn't deserve someone like you at all. You deserve so much better, babe. You deserve the absolute world. We're here if you ever want to talk. Enzo and I."

I sighed fidgeting with the strings of my dark hoodie. "Yeah, I know. I... I keep expecting him to call me.. to say everything was a mistake and he doesn't m-mean it. I keep hoping, and I know I shouldn't but... but it's so hard to move on."

"I wish I could say I understand but I don't. I do know that if I ever come across that man, I'm giving him a piece of my mind and these hands," She said, making me giggle to myself. "By the way, someone sent you a bouquet of roses with a note but there's no name or address."

          Roses?

        With a push, I rose from the ground and sauntered towards the door coming face to face with Presley's beautiful, sweet smile. Before I could say anything, pair of  comforting arms unexpectedly flung and surrounded me into a bear hug, nearly squeezing the life out of me. A low laugh from the cusp of my throat left my lips as I returned her tightly, reassuring hug.

        "Happy birthday!" Presley gushed, swaying with my small frame before she released me with a admonishing look. "I can't believe you didn't say anything, Finnie. What the heck? It's your freaking birthday! You're finally old enough to drink, babe!"

Raven mewed, almost agreeing with her in cat language and she sauntered into the living room past Enzo.

"Woah. Happy birthday, Fin," Enzo—Presley's boyfriend—gruffly called out gesturing his hand in the air for an high five. I slapped my small hands against his, softly mumbling a thank you.

I had been living with Presley for the past two months after the breakup with Octavius; I decided the best thing for me was time. Time apart from my controlling family, time apart from everyone. And I needed to focus on myself, mentally and emotionally.

The only person that knew where I was residing was Darcy because he was the closest out of all of my brothers—and even though they had all lied to me, even though they all betrayed me.. they were family.

"All right, ladies. I'll see you both later. Come here, you," Gently, he grabbed her face between his palms, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "I'll be back when I can. Be careful, baby. Hm?" He spoke to Presley in a sweet, commanding voice that somehow reminded me of him.

I had fought very hard, tiredly to forget about him—his scent, his touch, his taste... everything. Somehow he was everywhere but nowhere.

Nope. No, I'm moving on.

I'm putting my big girl pants on and buckling them..