I frowned as I heard the doorbell ring; I ignored the sound, hoping it would stop in a few seconds. When it didn’t I rubbed my eyes and slowly climbed out of bed, looking around the room and groaning slightly when I read the time on the clock. 5:20a.m.
Where was Katrina when I needed her?
Scowling, I made my way downstairs, and opened the front door, frowning in confusion when I saw nobody there.
“Hello?” I called out, unconsciously reaching for my gun.
When there was no reply I went to close the door before I noticed something on the floor, crouching down, I noticed what it was, a single blood red rose. I picked up the rose and closed the door, making sure that there wasn’t anything else on the floor that I hadn’t seen.
I sat down on the carpeted floor and stared at the rose in confusion until my eyes fell on the note attached to the flower. It read:
I’m sorry.
B
I blinked at the note in shock, memories flooding back to my mind of everything that had happened last year with Blake. What had happened at the park and in Canada, the things Blake had said, I took in a deep breath and leaned my head back on the wall.
Why was he even trying to talk to me again? He was out of prison now, so why wasn’t he hoping to put the events of last year in the past, like my brothers were trying to. I froze at the thought of my brothers; they would kill Blake if they figured he was out of prison, let alone trying to contact their sister.
I shook my head, no matter how much Blake had hurt me, hurt us, in the past, I wasn’t going to let him get hurt by my brothers again. I didn’t know exactly why I couldn’t bear to see him get hurt by my brothers again, but whatever that reason was, I still wasn’t going to let him get beaten to death again. The question of why he had let himself get hurt like that was still one that had been left unanswered, Blake could fight of my brothers, he could do it with one hand with his eyes shut so why had he let them beat him up so badly?
And then there was the question of why Blake was apologizing to me again. I thought he didn’t care about me, I thought he hadn’t cared about me in the first place, so why did he have to come back and make me doubt my own feelings like he always seemed to?
I pulled my knees onto my chest and rested my head on my knees sighing as I closed my eyes, thinking about Blake as I clutched the rose tightly in my hand.
***************************************
“Skye!” Someone shook me awake.
I opened one eye to find Elliot looking down at me, “What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes sleepily.
Why was he waking me up so early? I looked around in confusion before realising that I must have fallen asleep downstairs after what happened last night.
“Why did you fall asleep down here?” Elliot asked, his voice both amused and confused.
“I...” I trailed off, thinking of the rose I had found last night; I looked down and frowned when I didn’t see it.
“Yes?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey Ellie, have you seen the...” I stopped midsentence, realising that I couldn’t tell Elliot about Blake, he would be furious and definitely wouldn’t be happy about Blake sending me messages, no different to what any of my other brothers would say.
“What?” Elliot asked, frowning slightly.
“I,” I paused, deciding that I would just look for it later, “Never mind.”
Elliot nodded slowly, looking confused, “Okay, why did you sleep here?”
I shrugged, “I can’t remember, I must have just fallen asleep down here because I was so tired after last night.”
He nodded, as if accepting that as a valid answer, “Go upstairs and get some sleep, you must be knackered after last night,” Elliot said, yawning, “I know I still am.”
Nodding, I stood up and went upstairs, looking back to see if the rose was anywhere in sight, my shoulders slumped when I didn’t see it.
I turned around and continued up the stairs, praying that it was still somewhere downstairs.
***************************************
ELLIOTS POV
I watched Skye climb the stairs and disappear out of sight, when she was gone, I pulled out the small red rose that she had been holding when I found her and read over the note that had been attached to it. I felt slightly guilty for doing it, but I knew Skye wouldn’t tell me otherwise.
Running a hand through my hair, I put the rose down and stared at it in confusion, who the hell was ‘B?’
Then I finally realised who it was from.
Blake Reynolds was back.
*****************************************
(STILL IN ELLIOT’S POV)
I stormed into the kitchen where Aaron, Marcus and Jake were all sitting.
“He’s back,” I said, dropping the flower onto the table in front of them.
Aaron frowned, “Whose back?”
I gritted my teeth, why did I have to get given the world’s stupidest family ever?
Grinning, Jake picked up the rose, “Has Ellie got himself a girlfriend?”
I scowled at him; Jake was definitely the stupidest member of the family. He probably even wasn’t a Moreno. When I was younger I had tried to convince my family on many occasions that Jake had been switched at the hospital with another baby or that Jake was an alien from out of space. Sometimes I wished they had believed me and not laughed in my face. “No, and don’t call me that!”
Jake read the note and the grin immediately fell off his face as he processed the words and realised who it was from, “Is this from...?”
I nodded, “It’s him, I’m sure it is.”
Aaron and Marcus exchanged baffled looks, clearly not understanding what we were talking about since none of them had read the note. Silently, Jake handed Aaron the rose along with the note and I watched both him and Marcus read it.
Marcus stood up, his fists clenched, “That idiots messing with our sister again.”
Aaron pulled Marcus back down, “Are you sure it’s him?” He asked.
I nodded, “Who else could it be?”
“Anyone,” Marcus spat, “Anyone but him.”
“It’s him, it has to be,” I said, wishing that Marcus was right and that it was in fact, anyone but Blake.
“What are we going to do?” Jake asked.
“Call Mac,” I instructed, Jake took out his Iphone and dialled Mac’s number, before handing me his phone.
“Hey,” I bored voice said from the other end of the line, obviously Mac.
“Mac, I need you to do something for me,” I ordered.
“Elliot? Hey dude, how are you?” He asked, jokingly.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance, “I need your help with something.”
“Um, okay, what do you need?”
“It’s about Skye-”
“Is she okay? Is she hurt? What happened?” Mac questioned, cutting me of midsentence. I rolled my eyes, Mac had always had a crush on Skye, but it had always been pretty obvious that Skye didn’t return his feelings. Not to Mac however, I think Mac still believed he had a chance with Skye, especially after Blake was out of the picture.
“She’s fine, but I think Blake’s trying to contact her,” I answered rubbing my temples. What was that guy’s problem? Hadn’t he caused our family enough problems without bothering us again? It was clear from how upset Skye had looked after Blake had not returned that Blake returning didn’t seem to be a problem for her. But what she didn’t get was how much of a problem he was to us, how much he could hurt her and I didn’t mean physically.
“Already? But he only got out of prison yesterday!” Mac exclaimed, causing me to freeze.
“Shit, what? He’s out of prison?” I asked, shocked. He was out of prison? That meant that there was an even bigger chance of him trying to see Skye, or even to stir up some trouble with us again. This was definitely not good news.
“Yeah he got out yesterday,” Mac confirmed; the annoyance in his voice was clear as crystal.
“Get me his address, as soon as possible, I need it.”
“Okay, I’ll try my best; I’ve heard his staying under the radar for a while so it might take some time,” Mac said.
I let out a growl of frustration, “Fine, just try your best to get it, okay?”
“Yeah, alright, bye.”
The line went dead and I handed Jake back his phone.
“Why did you ask for his address?” Aaron asked.
“We’re going to warn him about staying away from Skye. She may not admit to it, but Blake broke her heart once, I’m not letting him break her heart again,” I replied.
*******************************************
SKYE’S POV
When Jake found me, I was on my hands and knees, on the floor, crawling around like an ant, desperately trying to hunt down the rose.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jake asked, almost tripping over me.
I sighed and crossed my legs, sitting down, “Just looking for something.”
Jake sat down next to me, “Something?” he raised an eyebrow.
I nodded, “Yeah... just, something,” I smiled at the thought of the note, “Something important.”
“Are you going to tell me what that something is so I can help you find it?”
My eyes widened, “It’s nothing!”
“You said it was ‘something important’ something important can’t be just ‘nothing,’” He said.
“I...” I attempted to explain what it was without telling him, but failed drastically.
Jake sighed, “I know what it is Skye, you can stop lying really badly now.”
I scowled at him, “I do not lie really badly!” I stopped talking, realising what he had said, “Wait, how do you know what it is?” He couldn’t know what it was, if he knew what it was then that meant he must have found the rose and the note. And if he found the note then he must have read it
“Elliot found it.”
I stared at him in shock. Elliot found it, he must have found it when he woke me up this morning and then showed it to Jake and the others after I went to bed.
My mouth dropped open, “He what?? He’s not supposed to know, what about Blake...” I stopped talking when I noticed Jake’s shocked expression, “What?”
Jake opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it like he was a fish, “Nothing.”
“What? Tell me!”
Jake started to say no but stopped and stared at me, “Do you... Do you still care about him?”
I frowned, “Care about who?”
“Blake!” Jake accused.
“What? No! I don’t... I mean, you... but....” I trailed off, feeling flustered.
Jake raised an eyebrow, “Does Skye have a crush on somebody?”
I punched him, “No I don’t.”
Jake laughed, “Yes you do.”
“No I most certainly don’t!”
“You’re really bad at lying you know,” He said.
“I’m...” I trailed off, suddenly uncertain about whether I was lying or not.
Jake put an arm around my shoulder and I rested my head on his shoulder, “You forgave him didn’t you?” Jake asked.
“I didn’t want to,” I whispered.
There was a moment of silence before Jake spoke, “You love him.”
My head snapped up to look at him, “What?”
“You love him,” Jake stated again.
“Of course I don’t!”
“Don’t lie, Skye,” Jake joked.
I scoffed, “I’m not lying and I’m not in love with him.”
Jake looked me in the eye, “You are in love with Blake Reynolds.”
“No. I’m. Not.”
“Yes. You . Are.”
Prove it,” I retorted.
Jake snorted, “You know how I know? Because you look at him, the same way mom used to look at dad.”
I froze, “W-what?” Jake never talked about our mom and dad. Ever. Jake was only a year older than me and we hadn’t been very old when our parents died. But out of all of us, Jake was the one that it had hurt the most, so much in fact that he hardly ever spoke of them.
Jake smiled sadly, “You might not remember, but back before they died, they looked at each other the same way.”
“Really?” I asked, staring at him in surprise.
Jake nodded, “Uh-huh.”
Another moment of silence passed between the both of us.
“Elliot doesn’t know that you know that he knows,” Jake informed me.
“I figured as much.”
“Don’t tell him that you know, okay? He’s mad enough already about Blake trying to contact you, I think it’s better if we let him calm down before we.... break the news of your undying love for Blake to him.”
I rolled my eyes, “It’s not ‘undying love.’”
“Yeah, of course it isn’t,” Jake rolled his eyes, “Just don’t tell him.”
I frowned, “Don’t you think it would be better if we told him, you know, before he figured it out for himself and freaked out or whatever?”
“Trust me, he’s smart but he is not a genius. He won’t figure it out.”
I sighed, “Fine, I won’t tell him that I know, just make sure that he doesn’t try and do anything to Blake.”
Jake nodded, “I’ll try my best, but you know what Elliot’s like.” Jake stood up and stuck out his hand, “Come on, you must be hungry, let’s get you some food.”
I grinned and put my hand in Jake’s, letting him pull me up, “Thanks Jake, you’re an awesome brother.”
“Yeah,” He said grinning, “I know.”
*******************************************
Authors note: Not quite sure if I liked that chapter or not. The 'confession of love' went as planned, but I'm not sure if it turned out the way I wanted it to or not... Let me know what you thought of it!