I didn't open my eyes even as sleep left me. I felt like I was floating on a cloud. Happy feelings ran through my stomach all the way to the tips of my fingers. Of course, that was all before the recent events crashed through my dreams and left me shaken like a leaf as I sat up, blood rushing down from my head and making everything go black for a second.
We had fallen asleep on the couch. And by we, I meant Cage and I.
Oh no.
Cage was snoring away next to me. His head rested on my bare lap. My pajama shorts had ridden up. I felt my stomach turn a cartwheel in a way I had never been able to as a kid. His stubble felt weird on my skin, a rough feel that left me itchy. On the contrary, his hair was really soft. And I knew this because I was running my fingers through them until I realized how creepy it was and stopped.
My ankle was wrapped in thick bandages and felt stiff. It didn't hurt as much. The thought of Cage doing something so sweet was strange, but it also made me cringe at the thought of him seeing my feet. I hated my feet. My toes were too big.
One of the advantages of waking up first was that I was welcome to do anything I wanted to Cage. I would have drawn a penis on his forehead except I was too scared and also, I didn't have a Sharpie.
So I did what anyone would do.
I shoved him off me. As a fellow heavy sleeper, I knew how horrible it was to be woken up so suddenly and so surprisingly. That's why I considered alarm clocks a creation from the seventh circle of hell itself.
Cage fell off the couch, but he was back up in an instant. His black hair was all ruffled up and his green eyes were furiously glaring at me. I saw his red lips move in a colourful trail of curse words. In all honesty, it was utterly adorable. Everything except how angry he was with me, of course.
"God damn, November." Cage muttered. He still wasn't completely recovered from being woken up. He rubbed his eyes like a child. I stayed on the couch, trying to hide my smirk. "Did you have to do that? It wasn't necessary. Shit, that's the last time I'll ever fall asleep next to you."
He frowned at me and turned away, cursing softly.
"Where are you going?" I asked curiously when he disappeared around the corner, further into his home. Quickly, I jumped up and followed after Cage. "Wait, don't go, I'm scared. I'm sorry. It wasn't necessary, I know. But it was fun. I've never seen someone be so out of it." I chuckled. "Cage, you should have seen your face. You looked like you just saw-"
Startled, I stopped talking. Cage had reappeared suddenly.
"November, I don't know how much you know about me." He said. "But you have to understand what I do and who I am. I don't play nice. I am not a good person. I've done things that make high security prisoners look like amateurs. What happened last night wasn't your fault. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"What?" I snapped. "I was in a restaurant parking lot. In my car. That you destroyed. I was minding my own business. I think it's the other way around, Cage. You were at the wrong place at the wrong time. You killed a police dog!" Anger furled up when I remembered that. "And then you steal my car and have the audacity to imply that what happened was because of me. I know what you're capable of. I watch the news, you know."
"Great." Cage growled. "Then get dressed. We have somewhere to be."
"Somewhere to be?" I repeated with anger. "You mean you have somewhere to be. Cage, don't drag me any further into this. You keep on doing your illegal activities and I'll just, you know, go back to my life. In Ivey."
Cage glared at me. "You know that is not an option, November."
"It can be!" I was getting frustrated. "I heard what happened last night. You had a drug trade in Sector 13 that went sideways because of a police officer, Angelo Martin. You guys killed him and two others. And then the cops arrived and you had to get away, using my car to do that. There's also a man named Romeo that you seem to be great friends with and Micheal told me about the Crow hacker called Jonah."
"Yes, November." He walked past me, still talking. "You got most of that right. And you see...that is the problem. You know too much for me to let you go. There are many ways to get rid of evidence, princess, but a teenage girl is harder than that. Now, there are ways we can shut you up. But I'm not willing to do that because despite what you may have heard, I do have a heart and the things we can do is inhumane. What happened in Sector 13 was an accident. I have to fix it now."
"Okay, but fix it yourself." I trailed after him, babbling. "I don't see why you need me. I'd just get in the way, Cage. My sister Fern told me about this Romeo dude. He's an Italian mobster, isn't he? He works alone because he doesn't trust anyone. What makes you think he would appreciate you bringing me along?"
"I never said we were going to see Romeo."
I stopped at the threshold of the kitchen, watching as Cage pulled things out of the refrigerator. A glimmer of suspicion went through me. "Cage, you are going to let me go, aren't you? Because that's the only reason why I didn't fight back harder to stay in Ivey. Because you said we can work this out. That we'll come to a consensus. Micheal said that-"
"Let's get one thing straight." Cage cracked an egg open into a pan. "Micheal, Nick, Heath, and I are not your friends. I don't know what impression you have of Micheal, but he's not who you think he is. None of us are, princess."
I didn't miss the fact that he never answered my initial question.
Cage stopped talking after that. In silence, he cooked breakfast. It was strange to see him do that. I think everyone assumed Cage Vickers spent his life with a gun in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth, killing people left and right. It wasn't like that at all. In media, they made him seem like a god. A brutal monster with no humanity. Like he was untouchable. I was beginning to understand that things weren't always what they seemed like.
After five minutes, I couldn't bare to be in the same room as Cage. His beauty and his personality didn't match at all and it was throwing me off. "Can I go to the bathroom?" Without waiting for him to answer, I stood up and walked out of the kitchen.
"It's on the left, the last room in the hallway." was his emotionless reply.
I walked around until I found the bathroom. I counted five more rooms on my way there. Most of the doors were locked and the ones that weren't had nothing interesting in them. But there was one bedroom that was stacked with gunpowder. It was like an explosion waiting to happen.
Cage's bathroom was just as lifeless as the rest of his house. Locking the door behind me, I stared at myself in the mirror. Fern and I looked very similar despite the age difference. We both had blue eyes, but hers were a little darker. Her hair was darker as well while mine was a bland strawberry blonde. Dark circles had begun forming on my cheeks. My hair was a mess and my cheeks was flustered.
I splashed cold water on my face, making the mistake of taking a deep breath and getting water up my nose at the same time. Coughing, I wiped my face with a white towel sitting on the rack next to the sink. It smelled like coconut shampoo, but magnified. After using the toilet (and washing my hands, let's not forget that) I walked back to the kitchen.
There was a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon sitting on the island counter. Cage sat on the opposite side, eating and scrolling through his sleek black phone. He didn't look up as I entered. Apprehensive, I took a seat across from him and picked up the fork.
Gangster, crook, drug dealer, mafia leader, killer. That was what Cage Vickers was. And now I had another label to add to it: an amazing chef, it seemed. I mean, he was like, Gordon Ramsay level good at cooking. Cage finished before I did and disappeared, only coming back as I was washing the dishes. He was dressed in a dark blue suit.
"You don't have to do that." Cage said. I turned around, suds reaching up all the way up to my elbows. He pointed to something underneath me. "There's a dishwasher right there."
I was under the assumption that he didn't have a dishwasher. That's why I was washing the dishes with my own two hands. When he told me that, I felt a rush of embarrassment curl in the pit of my stomach. Nervous, I turned back to the task of washing the plate in my hand. "It's okay. You made breakfast, I clean up. Thank you for not killing me, Cage. Besides, I like washing dishes."
"You like it?" He asked incredulously, coming up behind me. "November, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." I defended myself. Running my fingers through the mess, I gathered a whole bunch of bubbles in my hand. I was going to wash them off when a very terrible and considerably dangerous idea formed in my head. But then I decided it was going to be worth the consequence, so I turned around, and with my handful of bubbles, I smacked Cage Vickers right in the face.
I didn't hit him hard, but it was the bubbles that made it worthwhile.
Fluffs of soap when flying everywhere, but mostly on Cage. The look on his face was one of pure rage and shock. Laughing, I moved away. It was too funny. I wished someone else had been there to see it. Cage had a murderous look on his handsome face. He looked like he was about to kill me with his bare hands. Thinking quickly, I ducked under his arm and ran out of the kitchen, pleased with myself.
"November!" Cage's voice went deep when he raised it. I heard a string of angry curses coming from the kitchen, water running, and then footsteps.
I took a seat on the couch and waited patiently. I was planning to talk myself out of what I had just done until I saw the jug of ice water in his hand.
"No!" I shrieked and made a wild dive over the couch to get away from Cage. It wasn't the graceful fall that I imagined, but a more painful one that ended up useless. Cage was quicker than I could get back on my feet. He leaned over the couch, the jug of water directly above me. "No no no, wait!" I pleaded, now regretting what I had done. Cage smirked and the water tipped dangerously. "I'm sorry!"
"Hmm. You didn't think ahead, princess." Cage said with amusement. "And that's a rule we try to exercise everyday. I hope you learned your lesson."
And then without hesitation, Cage dumped the ice water all over me.