Dedicated to arvilover for her sweet comment, thank you! :)
--
(Unedited)
When everything's wrong,
You make it right.
I feel so high,
I come alive.
I need to be free,
With you tonight.
~I Need Your Love- Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding
Something was buzzing.
And it was bothering me.
Like, a lot.
I wasn't exactly sleeping, but I didn't want to wake up either. I opened one eye slightly to see that I was still on the jet. Except I wasn't in my seat, exactly, like I had been when I had fallen asleep. Instead, I had somehow ended up on Kaden's lap. Awkward. But I was too comfortable to move, so I just closed my eyes and pretended I was sleeping.
The thing that had been buzzing had turned out to me Kaden's phone. "Hey Perri," I heard Kaden say. Perri? His publicist? "Yeah, we just landed.... No, they're sleeping." After a moment, he let out a quiet string of curses. "Okay, I'll them... Yeah, Raine's here." At the sound of my name, I opened an eye, looking up at him. "She's sle- Never mind, she's eavesdropping," he said, looking down and noticing my state of conscious.
"Hi," I mouthed, sitting up so I wasn't lying on him anymore. He shot me a slight smile, then narrowed his eyes at something Perri said. He set down the phone on the table in front of us and switched it on speaker so I could hear what she was saying.
"Raine?" Perri asked. Kaden leaned forward and turned down the volume so it wouldn't wake the others.
"Hey" I said, waving slightly, then stopped when I realized she couldn't see me. Kaden chuckled from beside me, causing me to blush.
"You guys have an interview tomorrow. On the Today Show," she told us, sounding grim. Kaden groaned.
What? I didn't watch the Today Show, but I had heard of it plenty of times. It was pretty famous. That should be good, right? "What's so bad about the Today Show?"
"Conner O'Conner, the host is... Difficult," Perri said slowly.
I raised an eyebrow. "Conner O'Conner?" I repeated, the name distracting me.
"Apparently, his parents had a weird sense of humor," Kaden replied amusedly, his thumb rubbing lazy circles on the back of my hand. "Difficult's an understatement, though."
"What's so difficult about him?"
"He's harsh. He's revealed fake relationships before. He might even go as far as to making you guys say 'I love you' on live TV," Perri explained. I turned to stare at Kaden with wide eyes. He returned my look with a grimace.
I love you?
Our track record sucked when it came to those three words. And I wasn't sure if doing it for the cameras would make it any better.
"I've emailed you a list of questions. Expect more than those, though, he'll probably try to pull something. Be prepared," Perri warned.
"Okay, thanks."
"I'll see you in a bit." Was all Perri said before hanging up. Kaden clicked off his phone and leaned back, sighing.
"If everyone hates him so much, why hasn't he been replaced?" I asked. It can't be that hard to find an interviewer. I'm sure there are a lot of people that would give up their firstborn to be able to meet and interview celebrities.
Kaden shrugged slightly and pulled out his laptop. "A lot of people like him. Just not the people he's interviewed."
"Then why don't they just refuse to do an interview?" It was starting to sound like celebrities tried to make themselves as miserable as possible. I mean, it was just an interview, right? It couldn't be so necessary that you did it even though you despise the host.
"It's a popular show. Publicity is publicity, even if it's bad," he told me, typing his password in to unlock his laptop. I had the slight urge to ask if his password to his laptop was January, like his phone, and like Kallie had said, but I didn't, because despite the fact that we were better, I guess, it was still an awkward question. "In our case, we're doing it because Summer Productions wants it."
"Wait, we're doing this now? Why aren't we getting off?" I asked as he logged onto his email. Stupidly enough, I hadn't considered the thought that the reason he had his laptop was to look at the interview questions.
He shot me an amused look. "Is it just me, or did that sound dirty?"
I returned his smirk with a flat look, fighting to keep from blushing. Kaden's chuckle told me I hadn't succeeded. "It's just you."
"The paparazzi were tipped off about when we would be arriving. Perri will text me when they leave," he replied. He clicked on the first email in his inbox, the one Perri had sent him, then opened the file attached to it. "Okay, first question... Some people are saying your relationship's so sweet it seems fake. Anything you want to say about that?" Kaden read. He sighed and shook his head. "He really doesn't waste his time, does he?"
"I say we answer honestly. Short and sweet," I suggested hesitantly. "He's trying to get us to say it's not fake so it seems fake.
Kaden raised an eyebrow. "And I thought you weren't used to this stuff yet."
"Google's useful."
"It's not really fake, though, is it?" he said, watching me cautiously.
"I guess not." We weren't exactly in a fake relationship, after what had happened las- no, two nights ago. I didn't know what we were, though. Friends, I guess, but more. I wasn't really ready for the for real, dating thing, though. "Can we not do labels, though ?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I wasn't ready for the boyfriend, girl friend label. "Sorry," I whispered when he smiled sadly at me and nodded.
Kaden shook his head. "It's okay. Baby steps." He offered me another slight smile and pulled me into a hug, pressing a light kiss on my forehead. I'm pretty lucky. I was certain thousands of girls would kill to be where I was, with Kaden. I wasn't sure why he hadn't given up on me yet, but I was, in a selfish way, glad he hadn't, glad he was still with me. "Okay, next question," he said, pulling away. "Is it weird playing characters that hate each other for Call Me Cupid?"
Okay, this is just weird. They might seem like normal questions to the audience and fans, especially if he added stuff around them, but to me, it seemed like he, or the Today Show was trying to get us to slip up. I think I get how he revealed fake relationships now. "Well, we can't really say no, he'll lead everyone to believe we do hate each other," I said.
"But we can't say yes either, people might start thinking Summer Productions didn't cast well." Kaden finished.
"Just say it's a bit weird, maybe? I mean, we don't hate each other for the whole move," I suggested.
He paused, thinking it over for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, that works." He turned back to the computer. "Raine, how does it feel to be the girl who tamed the Heartbreaker Heir," he read, rolling his eyes.
“Heartbreaker Heir?” I repeated, raising an eyebrow at the title.
“What, you don’t think my looks are heartbreaking?” he joked, his tone all too fake.
“Kaden.”
He sighed. “I didn’t date.” What? No, I remember seeing him on magazine covers, and news shows with girls. He had to have dated before. “There were rumors, but none of them were true,” he continued, as if he had read my mind.
“Did the movie companies not ask you to?” I wouldn’t really be surprised if they had let him get away with saying no, now, since he was pretty famous, but even when he had just started? And that didn’t really make sense, since he was doing the fake dating thing.
“They did.” He smiled, then, a little wickedly. “I said no.”
So my guess had been right. “Why did you agree this time, then?” I asked. The question caused the smile to fall from his face instantly. He shrugged and looked away. I probably should’ve let it go, but I wanted to know. I wanted to know if Summer Productions had bullied him into it, or if it had been his choice. “What made it so different this time?”
Kaden didn’t reply, instead just let silence fill the air. Just as I was about to give up and suggest we move on, he ran a hand through his hair, then turned to meet my eyes. “I didn’t want to all the other times,” he replied steadily, almost monotone. Oh. Wow. That meant he had wanted to this time. When I didn’t reply, he turned to his laptop and scrolled down to see the next question.
“I’m glad you agreed,” I whispered when what he had said finally registered in my mind.
A small, but genuine smile broke out across his face. The grin dropped a little as he read the next question, though. “Kaden, you’re planning on taking over your parent’s law firm. What’s going to happen to you and Raine, then?” He sighed and leaned back. “Well, at least it’s easy.”
The question reminded me of another one, one he had avoided answering. “Hey, you never answered my question from Saturday,” I said, changing the subject, slightly.
He shot me a confused look. “Which one?”
“The one about whether or not you really want to take over the firm.”
He shrugged. “I said I was fine with it.”
“But…” I trailed off, leaving him to fill in the blank.
He didn’t. “There is no but.” Instead of replying, I simple shot him a doubtful look, hoping silence would do the job. It worked. “I’m just scared it’ll affect my personal life.”
Oh. I guess that made sense, with his parents and all. “Kade-“
He shook his head, cutting me off. “I love Mom and Dad, really, but they were rarely there.” He paused, looking away. When he spoke again, his voice was so quiet, it almost seemed like he was talking to himself. “If I ever have kids, I don’t want to be that absent parent.”
Awww. I don’t know what was sadder, the fact that that was the reason why he was uncertain about law, or that he really believed that he wouldn’t be a good father. Probably the latter. “I think you’d be a great Dad, Kaden,” I told him. I was lying, I knew that when we had been younger, and even now, he had always been the more responsible one. The one who looked out for me and Kallie, despite the fact that they had a nanny, and that he could be playing with his own friends.
But Kaden didn’t seem to believe me. “You know they say at least a third of us go on to repeat it.” Us meant, more or less, neglected children. Kaden and Kallie hadn’t had it too bad, growing up, they had had everything a kid could’ve ever wanted. The newest toys, expensive clothes, the best food, everything, really. Their parents had loved them, so it wasn’t love that was missing, necessarily, but more like a parental presence, since Mr. and Mrs. Fleming had been away on trips so much.
“You won’t be part of that. I know it. Please believe me.” Before I had the chance to tell myself not to, I reached over and pulled him into a hug, pressing a light kiss on his mouth. It wasn’t often that Kaden opened up about what he was scared of.
He laughed, though it was more bitter than happy. “You have a lot of faith in me.
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could a new, but familiar voice interrupted. "You know, you guys might not want to discuss how many babies you want to have on a plane with other people." We both turned to see Brett eyeing us amusedly.
"How long have you been up?" Kaden asked.
Brett shrugged. "It's not really fair, you know. I mean how come I-" he said, ignoring the question.
"Brett," Kaden said, glaring at his best friend.
I rolled my eyes and glanced down. My phone was peeking out of my pocket, so I grabbed it and switched it on, thankful for a distraction from Brett's teasing. There was a text from an unknown number.
Raine, it's Owen, Avril's brother. Call me when you land. Please. It's urgent.
Well, that was cryptic enough. It had been sent yesterday. No, two days ago, since it was two in the morning now. The day he arrived. What could've possibly happened in less than twenty four hours? Well, I guess a lot, but it had to be about Avril, right? That would've been the only reason he needed to contact me. And Avril was strapped to a hospital bed. There wasn't really anything that could've happened, other than a bombing or something, which would've been on the news.
Why don't you just call him, genius?
"I'll be right back," I told Kaden and Brett, standing up and walking to the back room so I would have a bit of privacy. I hadn't told any of them about Avril yet, it just wasn't something I wanted to share. I closed the door and copied down Owen's phone number, then dialed it.
He picked up on the second ring, despite it being two in the morning. "Raine?" he asked. It was weird, hearing his voice. I hadn't talked to him for a long, long time. We hadn't really talked, even before Avril ran.
"What happened? Is Avril okay?"
"Depends on how you look at it," he said, his voice unnaturally flat.
"What happened?" I repeated. What could've happened while Avril was in the hospital? With a broken arm, and bruised ribs and a whole list of other injuries.
"The medical reports came in," he paused, and his tone lost its dull edge. Now, he sounded angry, and pained. "They found hand shaped bruises on her inner thighs and more bruises inside her."
"What does that mean?" I whispered, even though I was almost certain I already knew the answer, but didn't want to believe it.
Owen sighed, and when he spoke again, his voice was strained. "She might have been raped, Raine."
-READ ME-
whoops. another sorta cliffhanger. x3
Short chapter, sorry. It was kind of off plan. :3
Vote, if you're glad Raiden's back(ish).
Comment, if you want to know what happened to Avril.
Fan, if this book has surprised you at least once.
Update: Aiming for Friday. Latest Monday.
Teaser: "How do you know he won't cheat on you?"
Question: Any guesses on what happened to Avril? (I admit, if anyone actually gets it right, I'll be surprised)
~JJ :)
PS. I don't watch the Today Show, I don't know how it works, it was just a random show I chose for purposes of this story.