✩ Roman's POV ✩
"Roman, where are my glasses?!" Alaiya paces around the house for the thousandth time.
"I sold them," I admit.
She throws a pillow at me in anger and like every time, I catch it since she throws like Autumn, if not worse.
"Sweetheart, we both know how this ends," I remind her, her glare intensifying at me as if I was the one threatening our family and putting myself in that coma.
She pats her head and realizes they were right there which I knew, I just wanted to see if she would blame me first. She did.
"Where's Dayton's chewing toy!" And, there goes the pacing again.
I grab her by the waist, pulling her back so she'll at least look at me which she hasn't done since we got back.
"Roman, we have half an hour and I've barely even begun on my own stuff and then I have to-." I cut her off by kissing her, my arm pulling her closer to me.
If I could have one singular wish, it would be to always be able to kiss Alaiya like this for the rest of our goddamn lives.
I hate how whenever I go to any event, I'm always told by the husbands how annoying their wife is and how they're 'stuck now'. Motherfucker, if you didn't want to marry the woman in the first place, why'd you do it? Do I call Alaiya annoying? Hell yes, and I'm not lying when I say that, but it's because I love that about her, not because I'm dealing with her since I have a ring on my finger.
She pulls away all of a sudden. "Roman, we can't do this right now. There is literally someone out to get us and I've already put our family in enough danger-." I stop her right there.
"You, haven't done anything," I tell her clearly. "You want to know who has done something? Whoever this person is that we're having to hide from, so stop blaming yourself and take one second to actually breathe."
"Tell me that if you were in my position, you wouldn't feel a little guilty," she tests me even though there's nothing to test.
"Guilty about what?! About how you were mentally and physically abused? That wasn't your fault! Walker took that damn picture all because you talked to the opposite gender! The only thing I feel guilty about right now is that I didn't do worse than punch him!"
I never raise my voice at Alaiya. I think it's dumb when people raise their voices at someone who's standing right in front of them, especially someone they love, but it makes me so damn angry that she doesn't see herself the way everyone else does. She doesn't see the fact that she's the most beautiful, stunning, strongest woman I've ever met and I wish I could make her stand in front of a mirror for five seconds because it took me just that amount of time to realize all those things, and that was even before we were together! That was during my whole denial phase.
What a dumbass I was.
She stands quiet because there's literally nothing she can argue with. Even she knows that I'm not lying, but I know how she thinks and I know that she'll put herself last no matter what, including if it has to do with her parents or Walker. She's too selfless for her own good.
"Now come here." The edge in my voice is still there from my previous rant, but I feel bad for shouting even if it's to get her to feel better about herself which is why I pull her in for a hug, kissing the top of her head. Her lavender-smelling hair invades my senses as I rest the side of my head on top of hers, the side of her head resting on my upper stomach.
I pull away, using my finger to pull her chin up.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you." And I got made fun of for not apologizing throughout my entire life. Look at my whipped-ass now.
"I needed it." She shrugs admittedly, going back in to rest her face after laying a small kiss on my stomach.
God, I fucking love this woman!
~~~~
Alaiya's been quiet the entire way to Ivy and Eldon's house. I know she's overthinking all of this and I wish I could tell her not to, but I'm in the same position as her. I asked Eldon if I could at least tell my dad and Fiona so they were safe, but he said he's already taken care of it and has bodyguards surrounding their house. He said my dad was on overdrive with the situation and said he would do anything to help out if we needed it. Eldon also took care of the house that we built for men and women that were in abusive households where Alaiya's grandparents live as well.
"Okay, the first car is going to take us somewhere and we'll get in another one just in case whoever this person is is following us. Some of my team will stay a couple of feet away to make it seem natural. Also, I need all of your devices because they could be tracked." Eldon holds out a bag for us to put all our phones and laptops in.
"Wait, but I still need to write for my job," Alaiya points out, speaking for the first time in an hour.
"There will be laptops at the location that can't be tracked. You can work from there. The both of you can."
"What about Autumn's school?" I ask.
"Summer break starts in a few days. Just quickly email the school and tell them you went on an emergency trip that couldn't have been pushed off. Now, I know you guys have a lot of questions, but we've taken care of many families and couples that have been stalked so I want you to trust us. The car's outside so get Autumn, Dayton, and Aubrey, and let's go." No matter how fucking much he gets on my nerves, I do trust Eldon with this type of shit since he has saved many lives.
We grab the kids and get in the car before a driver takes us to wherever the hell we're going.
~~~~
♡ Alaiya's POV: ♡
We are literally on the run from someone who's blackmailing and stalking us. And I thought our lives were crazy before.
I haven't spoken much in hours since there are so many things going on. First, Roman and I get into a fight. Then, Roman ends up in a coma. After he wakes up, I find out that a naked picture of me is being used against Roman. Then I end up getting drunk for the first time in my life. And finally, to top the icing on the cake, I end up getting questioned by my best friend's husband and he tells us that our family is going into hiding because this creep knows where we live now and is using it against us. And I know that most of us are in the public eye so someone could find our house with a simple Google search, but someone actually took a picture up close of each of our houses and then sent it to us. On numbers that are definitely not public. Plus, it's not just a coincidence that when the person took the picture of everyone at Iris and Legend's house, their high-tech security just happened to go down. And for them to be able to take a picture of Ivy and Eldon's house...well, that's just a different level.
"Mom, are we there yet?" Violet asks Ivy, rubbing her eyes.
"Yes, sweetie. Welcome to Narnia!" Ivy holds her arms out at the unknown location we're at, nothing seen in the far ten miles.
Definitely Roman's cousin.
"Aunt Alaiya, will you please adopt me?" Violet asks me, her hands folded together in a begging way.
"It doesn't get any better here." I point my thumb towards Roman, making everyone laugh as Roman rolls his eyes at me.
"Did you grab my straightener?" Ivy asks Eldon all of a sudden.
Eldon's eyes widen immediately. He turns the music up, meaning he didn't.
"Kai, turn this goddamn car around right now!" she demands.
"I'll buy you another one," Eldon promises.
"K." She smiles with a shrug, relaxed now. "I'll send you the link."
Eldon looks over at her with an annoyed look, but when he sees the way her smile is a teasing, yet loving one, he smiles back while returning to the road, his hand interlocking with hers and his lips kissing the back of her palm.
Aww! They're so cute!
"Someone get me a fucking vomit bag," Roman requests in disgust.
I nudge him with my elbow for interrupting their adorable little moment.
"I kept a few in one of my bags since I knew I would have to look at your ugly-ass face every morning now." Ivy innocently beams at him after turning her head around.
"Sorry, not all of us can afford botox," Roman fires back.
"They probably wouldn't accept your payment anyways. Not enough equipment to fix all of that." She ushers to Roman's face.
"They probably took you into the emergency room the second you walked in when they realized how much shit needed to be done."
Both of them go at it like this for a whole thirty minutes and I can't tell whose winning or whose insults are meaner.
These are the moments I wish I had a sibling.
An hour passes by of us just sitting in the car when we finally pull over to the side at around 4 a.m. The kids are fast asleep, and thankfully, this is one of the nights that Aubrey doesn't wake up as much so I was at least able to shut my eyes for a second after feeding her milk. Not to sleep though because I think I've lost that ability for a while.
We all get out of the car and move to the other one.
Once we're settled in, we drive to the actual location.
Roman hasn't fallen asleep either. He's just been holding me against his shoulder, rubbing circles into my thighs with his thumb.
After another hour of driving, we finally arrive at the location and we know it's where we're staying because it's the only object we've seen for miles.
And holy crap is it enormous!
If you've ever seen a castle in Barbie movies, this is nothing compared to those. Barbie actually wishes she could live here.
The house is all black, gray, and white with a square-type of frame. There are many layers to it with stairs on every deck, pools (plural), and freaking waterfalls! It's still dark outside so the beaming, alluring lights are still on, making the sight look even more stunning than it would during the daytime.
This is where we're staying!
"Hey Eldon, just a thought. You think a whole-ass mansion won't shine a light that I don't know, someone fucking lives here!" Roman starts with a soft voice and then gets aggressive by the end.
"There's no one that lives near this place. You'd have to be an idiot to get trapped here considering there's only one way out and even a GPS would get lost because of the awful reception," Eldon explains.
"Holy mother of dynamite!" Rider gasps as he gets out of the car he, Bethane, their kids, and Skyler and Sanchez were riding in.
"Never leave me in a fucking car with him again!" Sanchez demands, pointing towards Rider.
"You're just mad 'cause you don't have Whitney Houston vocals like I do," Rider huffs in response. "Alaiya!" He runs over to me, tackling me with a hug which he usually does, but this time it's a little tighter. "How are you feeling?" He pulls away, his hands on my shoulder.
I almost forgot that I got drunk last night with everything going on.
I smile with a tiny blush since everyone's looking at me now.
"I'm fine. I just had a small headache from the hangover."
He smiles before kissing the side of my head and then messing up my hair, but not by too much because he knows I have curly hair.
"If anything like that happens again, I want you to always know that you can call me."
I nod with a promising smile.
"I swear to god, he's been bragging about him being your favorite person for hours! At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if he printed out a shirt and gave it to Roman so he'd never forget," Bethane jokes as she walks up to me and hugs me.
"I'm sorry by the way that you have to go away from your job," I say after laughing at her previous statement.
"Though I love working, staying in a house with all of you wins." She smiles.
I smile back at that with more gratitude than she'll ever know.
Iris and Legend are heard getting out of the other car with their four kids. Maria, Nathan, and Ethan are in college at the moment so Eldon said they're safe since he's got his team watching out for them as well. Owning a foster home does mean having a lot of kids. I just don't know how they do it. Their kids are very-behaved though so then again, I get it. The best thing is that they're all close in age so they're each other's best friends. I think that's amazing since they always have each other to go to.
"Okay, grab all your backpacks and anything you had in your seat, please. Don't leave the car a mess." Iris's mom mode has been activated as Finn, Ava, Ellie, and Lilly get out of the car. "Legend, will you please grab our bags?"
Legend's already near the trunk, following every demand she says with no argument whatsoever.
"Is there a coffee shop around here?" Bethane asks, looking around at literally nothing in sight.
"Please tell me there's a coffee machine in that house before she commits a murder," Rider begs Eldon.
"Let's head inside. We can make the room arrangements then," Eldon suggests.
We all grab our bags. Well, the guys grab our bags for us. None of them like us doing any heavy lifting.
"The door is only unlocked by your fingerprint." Eldon shows us by putting his pointer finger on the pad which makes an unlocking sound.
"Human fingerprint?" Rider oddly asks.
"What fucking else?" Sanchez questions, irritated by the question.
"How will Ivy get in then?" Rider sarcastically saddens his voice, ushering towards her.
Ivy's mouth drops at the sudden insult when she was just minding her business. All of our mouths dropped too. Well, everyone except the guys who are trying to control their laughter.
Roman walks up, tapping Rider with the back of his hand, an expression that says he just figured something out as well. "You're right! You said your feeding bowl was in your suitcase next to the vomit bags, right?" And, now there are two against one.
"It's okay." Rider rubs her head like she's his little puppy which makes Ivy slap his hand away angrily.
"Hey Bethane, is Rider still having trouble coming too fast?" Ivy pops her head out to ask Bethane whose still looking around for a nearby coffee shop.
All of us are now definitely in shock.
I think Ivy's lying though because whenever the girls get together, we share almost every detail we could ever think of. And so far, Bethane has never shared a story that has to do with that particular subject.
Rider snaps his head towards Bethane who looks over at him with a blank face. I think her mind is still on the coffee.
"Huh?" she asks confused because she probably didn't hear what Ivy said.
"Wait, where is he coming?" Skyler asks, now interested.
Sanchez whispers something in her ear. It hits her after a couple of seconds.
"Ohh! Sex!" She nods.
Considering she's the one who can make the most "that's what she said" jokes, she sure is clueless when it comes to actual sexual things. Not that I have any room to talk considering I didn't even know what coming was. Not that I don't know now since Roman taught (showed) me plenty throughout the time we've been together.
"What's sex?" Hope asks Rider, tugging at his shirt.
"Nothing," all the guys boom in unison, unexpectedly.
And this is just at the front door. I can't imagine what it's gonna be like when we're actually living together or inside.
♥ ★ ❦ ✱ ♥
Word Count: 2823
*Please tell me if there are any errors.