Dolan Enterprise ~ e.d.

XXII

Ethan

I stiffen once I see her. I haven't seen her in years.

It's like someone's got ahold of my heart and is just squeezing it as hard as they can. The tight feeling travels to my stomach as she turns to me and flashes me a smile.

As if I didn't feel bad enough Kendal stands up and I know exactly why. Grayson's been telling her about Alissa recently and she knows that she's stood right in front of us.

"I see you keep great company now a days." She grins as she plops down into her seat. God, sometimes I wonder why I've been so caught up on her.

"She's beautiful company." I say flatly as I stand up and throw my thick napkin on the table.

She is great company and now I have to explain everything to her and she's going to leave. The one girl I've felt something for since Alissa.

The table falls silent as I turn on my heels and begin to shove through the fancy dressed people. My head is on a swivel as I look for kendal. My heart's racing as I think of all the bad things that could happen to her here.

"Woah, where you going?" Grayson stops me as he places his hand on my heaving chest. "I gotta find kendal." I say quickly. I need him to get out of my way. "Where'd She go?" He ask confused. "I don't know." His confusion only twist up his face even more. "Look who's here." I motion towards the table. "Oh shit." He sighs as he takes in Alissa's presence.

"I'll stall him. I think you owe her an explanation." Grayson says sternly. I just nod my head vigorously as he works his way towards the table.

I work my way all the way to the door without seeing her. "Shit." I murmur to myself as I fling the door open.

My breath hangs in the air as I exhale sharply. My head snaps to the right to see her practically down the street with her arms crossed over her chest. She doesn't have her expensive heels on anymore either.

Kendal

"Kendal!" I hear his voice scream behind me. I just roll my eyes. I don't want to be here anymore. I definitely don't want to look at the girl he's still hung up on.

"Come on princess. It's pretty cold out here." He murmurs, trying to get me to stop. The pet name he always calls me almost stops me but I stay strong.

"I can take care of myself." I spit. "I don't think so. The hotels the other way darling." I can practically hear the grin on his face. Even in a fucked up situation like this he still manages to be smug.

I huff as I turn around and begin to walk the other way. He steps in front of me causing me to roll my eyes.

"Come back inside." He says quietly. I grip myself a little tighter as the wind picks up and tosses my hair all over the place. God, I can't believe this place was actually hot not too long ago.

We fall silent while my mind screams all sorts of questions that I've been dying to ask him. I think I deserve answers at this point.

"Do you still love her?" I blurt. He shifts from foot to foot as he shoves his hands in his fancy pants pockets. "I thought I did." He murmurs. I have no clue what to say to that. I was hoping for a straight 'no' as an answer.

"Then I met you and I realized I didn't love her at all." He says as our eyes lock.

"You're shivering. Come with me. I'll explain everything." He rambles as he shrugs his jacket off and wraps it around my frail shoulders. It smells just like him and it instantly puts me at ease.

"Promise?" I ask as if I'm a five year old asking for a pinky promise. "I promise." He says genuinely.

I let out a large sigh as I look around, finally taking in my surroundings. "What about your deal?" I ask taking in the large lit up building that's half way down the street. His head swings over his shoulder as he takes it in himself. "I don't need it. Trust me." He murmurs holding his hand out.

I hesitantly take his hand and it's plenty warm. It spreads goosebumps all across my arms.

"I won't hurt you." He says barely above a whisper as he takes in my timid state. "Physically maybe not but mentally I'm not so sure." I say boldly. It's something that I've constantly thought about. He's already managed to mess with my feelings and we're not even together.

"I'm gonna tell you everything and if you wanna leave I understand." He says as we make our way down the street.

"Why did you wait so long to tell me?" I ask, looking up at his moon lit face. "You'll see once we get back to the room when I tell you." He says flatly. I just nod and decide not to ask anymore questions until we get to the room.

"Why'd you take your shoes off?" He ask, taking in my bare feet. "Oh uh. The shoes were hurting my feet." I murmur.

I'm taken off guard as he sweeps me off my feet and carries me bridal style. "I might as well take care of you while I can since I haven't done a very good job of it so far." My cheeks heat up and my eyes become a touch watery. I somehow feel like no matter what he did I can look past it and it won't scare me away. I love him too much.

I don't dare say anything. I just reach my freezing hand out to his cheek and lightly graze my thumb across it. His skin is always soft.

His eyes lock with mine as he continues to walk to the car. I want to close the space between us so bad but now's not the time.

"Leaving early sir?" I hear a voice behind me. My head whips around to see Charles at the car. "Yes. I'll need you to come back and get Grayson later." Ethan says calmly. Charles just nods as he swings the back door open.

Word count 1071