Sooooo, I'm back babes!
I'm so sorry for the prolonged absence, as graduate school got very hectic and my mental health went down the drain for a minute. Anywho! I recently dislocated my knee over the weekend so I'm stuck in bed for the next couple of days, so what better time to focus back on the story? This is an unscheduled chapter, and I'd like to say sorry for not posting for a while, but going forward the chapters will be uploaded on Sundays once again! <3
Kalen Davis:
After the door closed behind Sorren, I sat against the window's ledge. My fingers ghosted over my lips. I was stunned. I never thought the day would come when I would get to kiss Sorren, let alone during this chaotic experience. An experience that still had me locked away in an unknown room at an unknown location.
I was barely able to wrap my head around the last 24 hours before a group of armed men stormed their way into the room. I felt a tremble in my hands, expecting myself to be gunned down by the men in front of me.
"We're here to take you home," the man closest to me spoke softly yet authoritatively. I stared, wide-eyed, glancing between each one.
They can't be serious.
After all this, I was just...going home? What was the catch?
"If you'll be so kind as to follow me, there's a car waiting for you," the same man instructed.
I closed my eyes tight, shaking my head. It had to be a prank. A cruel, unrelenting prank because what kind of world was I in where I was dragged to God knows where, locked away, and then suddenly freed?
When I didn't move from my position next to the window, the man moved closer, touching my arm. My eyes flew open and I jumped from the man's touch, putting as much distance between us as possible- which wasn't much considering the wall pressing against my back.
He bowed his head slightly, watching me through his eyelashes. As if I was a weak, corned animal. I took the time to survey the room around me, noticing a unanimous look of pity across every man's face as they watched me.
It angered me. It angered me more than anything else that had happened over the last couple of hours.
I was not some weak, cornered animal.
Okay, maybe I technically was cornered. But I refused to feel cornered any longer. I raised my hand to wave the man's pity away, glaring sternly in his direction. "I'm capable on my own," I tried to mimic his same authoritative voice from earlier.
Surprisingly a shadow of a smirk peaked over his lips as I pushed my way past him to walk towards the doorway. I passed the rest of the men as they stood waiting. I was completely clueless as to where we were heading or how to navigate the hallways of the massive house, yet I was a firm believer in faking it til I made it.
I was going to have to do a lot of 'faking it' even if I wasn't completely sure I was going to 'make it'.
The group of men moved from my path, allowing me and the other man to pass without a word. Once in the hallway, the man I spoke with was at my side, smiling now.
Without the chilling fear of death running down my spine, I was able to take in his appearance. He was younger than the other men who were surrounding us yet he seemed to be the one in charge at the moment. Only, his playful smile and the devilish glint in his eyes said he was anything but the authoritative figure he was probably expected to be.
"I can see now why Sorren is so affected by you," he stated casually.
A laugh broke through me unexpectedly as I followed his lead, only one step behind him. His words took me off guard, which I'm sure he deliberately planned.
"I'm sorry?"
He peeked over at me, grinning wider. "I was confused at first, after hearing the orders," he matter-of-factly stated. I noted his carefree attitude as if he was placing a coffee order instead of walking a previously imprisoned man to his freedom. I couldn't help but think this was just another day of work for him, and suddenly it was me feeling pity for him.
How much of the carefree attitude was a ploy? A mask to hide behind. Was it possible for someone with a light, airy energy to be surrounded by so much darkness consistently?
"Sending you home...well, that's a big risk," he pulled me from my train of thought with his explanation. "A massive risk. A risk Sorren would never take. Yet..." his eyes glanced over at me again, "Today he's taking that risk and here I am wondering why?"
We walked through the hallway, taking occasional turns as he spoke. I began chewing nervously on my bottom lip, assessing the other man's words. The truth is, I was wondering the same thing. I never expected to just be released, so spontaneous and carefree, as if without a second thought.
"I've known you for maybe five minutes, and already I can understand."
I scoffed, watching him closely.
"You don't know anything, and you don't know me," I challenged. He chuckled to himself in response.
We reached the large double-door entrance of the building, where two guards were posted. As we neared, they opened the doors for us to pass through. Outside there was an all-black SUV with dark window tint waiting, the engine already running.
"Besides, isn't it kind of frowned upon to have such a casual conversation with an ex-prisoner? I would imagine in your line of work, the fewer words the better. I can't imagine others would be too happy to learn of our chat."
The man I was speaking to opened the back passenger door, ushering me inside. I threw my foot up, heaving myself up into the cab to take a seat.
I looked back at the man, who winked at me. "Then I guess it pays to be close to the boss, but I'm sure you would understand that," he teased before shutting the door. The vehicle drove forward immediately, away from the chaos.
____________
Just like that, I was back home and to my 'normal' routine.
Even so, I had spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed, trying to make sense of it all. The meeting. The kidnapping. The white-haired man. The time with Sorren.
The kiss.
I felt crazy, but after everything I'd been through over the last 24 hours, that was the most prominent memory. The thought of Sorren's lips pressed against mine left me feeling just as light-headed as I had felt when the kiss happened.
I stood leaning against the counter of the cafe, daydreaming about said man's lips when the front door of the shop opened up. I was pulled from my daydream and I dragged my gaze up to meet our most recent customer. When doing so, I couldn't help but notice the recurrent face in the corner. The same face which had been there all morning, since I opened the cafe. The same eyes I kept making contact with, suggesting they were always waiting, always watching.
It left me feeling uneasy. The man in the corner ordered a coffee early in the morning when he first arrived but it's been hours since and he's yet to order anything else. He barely spoke ten words to me since I first laid eyes on him, and considering the whirlwind of a day I had yesterday, I could only assume the worst from him.
I took the newest customer's order and quickly made it. I had given Sarah the day off today since she ended up staying the entire day yesterday while I was... indisposed.
I was grateful she didn't ask too many questions and also didn't seem too pissed with me for not contacting her either. Instead, she giggled like a schoolgirl while teasing me about how Sorren had likely swept me off my feet and straight into his bed and that's why I was unreachable the entire day. I did nothing to argue her assumptions away, they were a better thought than the truth anyways.
I made a mental note to give her a raise in pay because after yesterday she definitely deserved it.
Once the latest customer left, it was just me and yet again another mysterious man in my coffee shop. Only, this one wasn't at all captivating like the last.
It was almost two in the afternoon now, so I would be closing the shop soon. I started my daily routine of closing tasks from behind the counter while continuously eyeing the lonely stranger in the corner.
He wasn't watching me at this very moment, but that didn't make me feel any calmer about the situation and the tension building in the room. With us alone, my thoughts started to spiral.
What if he was here to do something bad? Maybe he was here to threaten me or worse- hurt me. I knew yesterday was too good to be true- being let go so spontaneously. It had to have been a trap. I knew it was a trap.
I was lost deep in my worries, so much so I wasn't even cleaning the dishes anymore. My hands were frozen in place, clutching the coffee mug in one hand and the dish rag in the other. I could feel my chest pull tight as the panic set in. I shut my eyes tight and tried to take deep breaths as I could feel my body begin to tremble.
Just as I started trying to think of what to do, conjure up some plan to protect myself for when the man made his move, I heard the front door of the shop open. When I spun my head around to look, the man in the corner was gone.
I stood alone in the coffee shop.
Great going you paranoid ass, I grilled myself.
I mean, I genuinely almost gave myself a full-blown panic attack from mere overreacting.
Clearly, yesterday was messing with me more than I had first anticipated. I shook the thoughts from my head and got back to the closing tasks ahead of me so I could go home. I hadn't slept well last night, and I definitely needed a nap or something to clear my head.
After a couple more minutes, I was ready to close the shop. Heading out, I switched the lights off and locked the door behind me. Usually, I stopped by to see Art in the alley, but today I didn't have the energy to see him. Instead, I made a straight shot toward my apartment.
My apartment was only a few blocks, so I usually enjoyed the walk. It gave me time to get fresh air and think of lighter thoughts.
That wasn't going to be possible today though because when I raised my eyes from the sidewalk, I saw a familiar face just across the street, on the other side. The same man from the coffee shop.
So he had left, but he was still nearby.
He wasn't currently looking in my direction, but the fact that he was still around brought back the same uneasy feeling I had in the coffee shop. If he had something planned, I wish he would just get it over with. And if he didn't, then I wish he would disappear. My heart and mind wouldn't be able to take much more of this.
I tried my best to keep my eyes off the man as I continued my way down the street, but they would periodically flick over to him. It didn't help that he was walking in the same direction as me, always in eyesight.
It all seemed too coincidental.
I hurried my pace, slipping past the other people on the street to get to my apartment. If the strange man was tailing me, I wasn't planning on sticking around to chat about it.
Today was the fastest I'd ever gotten to my apartment from the cafe before. At the door, I fumbled with my wallet to get the keycard out, not bothering to notice the other man again.
"Kalen," a gruff voice rang out directly beside me. I jumped into the air, whirling around to face the culprit, and found the man who was previously across the street now in front of me.
I pressed my back into the wall of the building behind me, gawking at the man. I prayed one of my neighbors would walk through the front doors so I could slip inside to safety but to no avail.
My voice shook, "y-you know my name?" was all I could dumbfoundedly think to say.
I noticed a slight eye roll from the man. This close to me, I could tell he was easily in his forties. His dark black hair was peppered with gray flecks, showing his age. His beard mirrored the same color, with thicker gray streaks peeking through. The corners of his eyes were showing signs of wrinkles and his eyebrows were thick as they furrowed.
"Of course I do kid," he scoffed. "I knew where you worked, you think I wouldn't find out your name?"
Great, my own personal stalker.
"W-what do you want? I don't carry any cash on me. I can-"
He cut off my stumbling words, "Calm down, will you?"
My cheeks tinted pink, but not from nervousness or embarrassment. No, a wave of anger started brewing in me. "I'm sorry. Calm down?" I seethed. "You've practically been tailing me the entire day, stalking me home and I'm supposed to be calm about that?" I scoffed, pushing myself off the wall to stand tall in front of the man. "I think you need to explain yourself before this becomes just as unpleasant for you as it has been for me."
The man looked at me, a hint of shock crossing his features. Truthfully, I had no plan and I definitely had no idea how I'd be capable of making him feel unpleasant, but again- faking it until I make it.
We stood in silence on the street for a moment, me glaring up at him and a small smile shadowing his lips. It was until I cleared my throat in irritation that he spoke again.
"I've been assigned to watch over you..." he reluctantly shared. I tilted my head to the side, pursing my lips at him, causing him to continue. "I've been assigned to watch you."
"That sounds more believable. By who? Sorren?", I questioned. When he looked away and didn't respond, I knew my answer. "But why?"
Before I even asked, I already knew the answer, even if the man before me didn't share one. Sorren didn't trust me, or at least he needed to make it appear that he didn't. To appease his people. They obviously weren't happy with my release.
Even so, why would the man assigned to watch approach me? Isn't the whole point of tailing someone to be anonymous so they don't know?
"Why are you here? Talking to me?" I asked aloud.
The man chewed the inside of his cheek, looking anywhere but at me. "Listen, kid. You might not think so, but I say this because I care. Stay away from Sorren, okay? Stay away from all this. You don't know what you're getting into. You don't know..."
He started moving away from me, but not before his hand darted out to grip my hand, shoving a card into my grasp. "If you need anything, give me a call. But, I need you to understand. You're in danger if you don't stay away."
My head reeled as I watched the older man briskly walk away. Danger? More danger than yesterday? More danger than that creepy blonde kid?
I stood for a moment longer on my own until I could focus enough to scan my keycard to get into the building. I made it to my apartment door on the fourth floor, closing the door behind me before I remembered the card that was clutched in my hand.
When I looked down at it, the name read Marco.
.x.
Another mystery man in the cafe, how do we feel??
Also, I really like building Kalen's character. He has a very timid, fragile energy about him, but if you can't tell, in the heat of the moment he shows a little bit of fire. I hope as a reader, you are able to notice the depth of the characters I've created. I will be interesting to see how much of their personalities I can show off and their backgrounds I can explain as the story progresses.
Have any questions about the character's so far?? Feel free to ask away in the comments and when I get a decent amount, I'll host a Q&A!
Be sure to comment, vote, and follow for regular updates! <3