Cliché with a player

Chapter 36 - There is a first time for everything

Irina's POV

The house is dark when we return.

I exchange worried glances with Noah. Wylan puts a reassuring hand on our shoulders, but I can't help but worry about Laken. What she had to go trough today...

It was a total disaster.

Dad steps inside first. I just now realise how he doesn't actually know Laken, this person who's been living in our house for I don't know how long. It feels weird acknowledging that since she feels like part of the family — she's a sister I never had and always wanted, and I couldn't ask for a better one.

And Matt really loves her, like really. He deserves someone like her.

I'm hanging my coat on a rack, when my phone buzzes in my jeans. I don't even register the smile that makes its way across my face.

I ascend up the stairs into my room, close the door and answer the call. Myles' concerned smile welcomes me.

"Hey, Rina. I'm just checking in on you. Are you okay?" The way his eyebrows scrounge together makes my heart melt.

I answer with a smile of my own, saying, "Yeah, don't worry about me, it's Laken you should be worrying about."

"I am, but she's got Matt and her own family."

"I have a family too," I tease.

My knees buckle when he smiles once more, only this time it's a smirk from the devil. "But you don't have a boyfriend."

I barely manage to keep a straight head and will as much calm in my voice as I possibly can in a given situation. "No, no I don't."

~~~

Laken's POV

We stop at a gas station along the highway to refill the tank. Matt has taken up the wheel again, considering I don't know where we're going and he does. It's quite suiting because my body really wants to sleep, and that is hard to do behind the wheel.

I tap the hood of the car. "It was nice driving you, buddy." It is possibly the best car I have ever driven. Scratch that; it is the best car.

I wait for Matt while he pays and he returns five minutes later with a white plastic bag in his hand.

He puts it down next to my feet — not on the car, obviously — and leans in. His kiss is soft, loving, safe, it's checking up on me and reassuring me that everything's going to be alright.

"I bought you ice cream," he breaks away.

My fingers, that were clenching his shirt while we kissed, straighten the fabric back into place, I smile and lean my forehead on his chest. "Vanilla?"

"No, I know you don't like it."

"Oh, thank god," I jokingly exhale.

He presses one final kiss on the top of my head and strokes my hand with his. "Come on."

~~~

I fall face first on the mattress and groan. I stay like that for a minute.

I'm proud of myself that I didn't cry this time. I'm done crying, I've done it enough in the past few months.

I should be happy, my wish came true. I got away.

The only thing I'm feeling is determination to make it out of this without one more scratch.

Matt throws himself on the bed next to me, prompting his hand behind his head and sighing, "Damn, this bed is heaven."

He jumps up and down on it. "It doesn't even squeak like mine."