Cat's POV
"I don't think that's how butter works," Kenny mused as we laid on my bed and munched on the salt and vinegar chips that I found myself falling in love with more and more with every bite.
"I think it is," I argued. "I think I heard somewhere that butter is just cream that was vigorously shaken for a long time-"
"-You know you can't trust all those Instagram facts profiles right?-"
"-Or was it the other way around?" I muttered to myself with knit eyebrows. I was confused. "I'm going to look it up," I announced as I grabbed my brand new laptop and opened it. After the mostly-awkward breakfast I shared with my mother and practically-brother, my mother decided that the way to win me over would be to take me shopping, which worked a little bit. And since we went after hours and my mother had her "connections" we had the whole mall to ourselves and barely lost a penny. This laptop came with restrictions, of course. I couldn't go on any website that had any outside communications or anything like that. My mother made sure of that by having her tech wizards install that software that blocks certain features the way a school-provided computer has. Luckily for me though I could still freely surf YouTube and Netflix. She also made it very clear that if I even attempted to make contact with anyone there would be server consequences, and she made it crystal clear that though she'd "prefer not to" she wouldn't hesitate to punish me. And I knew she meant it.
Kenny chuckled as I typed in my burning question, a frown instantly forming on my face once I saw that my belief was debunked. "I told you you couldn't trust the internet," Kenny chuckled as he continued snacking on his chips.
"I probably heard Mason talking about it or something. That boy said the weirdest things," I slightly chuckled, a heavy feeling settling in my chest. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. Kenny chuckled once more but something was obviously bothering him.
"What's wrong?" I asked, causing him to sigh before his eyes darted to the closed door before he scooted closer and before I knew what was going on, he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.
I was about to ask him what he was doing before he harshly whispered, "I can't tell you now, there are cameras in here. I'll tell you later, just trust me." That was all he said before he broke the hug and said "I just needed a hug, that's all," he said normally, probably for the cameras he claimed were in here. "I'll be back in a bit and I'll send the doctor check in your leg wound." And then he was gone. For a split second, I was confused what wound he was talking about, but it quickly came back to me. I guess so much had been going on that I barely noticed the dull throb that was pulsating throughout my injured leg. I still don't know if I fully forgive him for shooting me. I probably won't. But like I always remind myself: it's both important and kinda nice to have a semi-sane friend in the midst of this dangerous mess.
Despite my obvious confusion, I nodded and let him go, a bit curious as to what he wanted to tell me. But nonetheless, I hopped back onto Netflix and continued searching for shows to watch.
***
"I don't understand why I need to be here," I sighed as Kenny led me to a training room very similar to the one that was back at the safe house minus the knives hanging on the walls. "It's clear that my mom isn't planning on letting anyone but you, her, and those two guards that are always outside my door anywhere near me, so I don't understand why I need to train. Plus, in case you've forgotten, I can't really do any training," I said motioning toward my newly bandaged leg.
"Well, you're going to have to try," He said as he began to stretch before he sighed and straightened up and placed a hand on either of my shoulders.
"Kenny, what's going on? You're kinda scaring me more than normal," I slowly said as bad scenarios started filling my head.
"Something big is happening very," he lowly said. "I don't know what, but it's something big. I've heard Katherine whispering and talking about amping up security. I'm pretty sure I even heard River's name pop up a couple of times." I swallowed as my heart rate greatly increased at the mention of my love's name before I fully processed what Kenny said.
"Wait, no. He can't come here. Catherine will kill him, no doubt you will too," I said shaking my head and taking a step back from Kenny, the very thought of Catherine touching a hair on River's head causing both fear and anger to course through my veins with a fiery passion. "I can't let him come here. I-I won't. I mean, Mason could already be dead and I can't lose anyone else. I need to-"
"Cat, calm down," Kenny said as he took my shoulders once more. "I know this might sound crazy, but I don't want River dead. I mean I might've three weeks ago, but after meeting you and seeing how happy he makes you...I don't want to do that to you. Like you said, it's possible Mason is already dead and I don't want to be responsible for taking someone else away from someone as amazing as you." By the end, he was looking down at his feet. "Plus, killing him won't bring my parents back, and I don't want to disappoint them more than I already have when I killed his girl and kid."
Sometimes I was so caught up in how gentle Kenny was with me that I forgot that he'd done such horrible things. But River has too. And Liam. And Mason. I sighed and nodded. "Well thanks, Ken. But what are we going to do? I mean, you might not want to kill my boyfriend, but my mother definitely does and I doubt that she'll have a change of heart. I mean maybe we can call him and warn him or-"
"No Cat. All calls here are recorded and tracked. Trying to call him is a death wish for you and him. No. What we're going to do is train you as much as we possibly can before that day comes. We have very different techniques than River and his lot, so you're going to need to catch on very quickly if you want to survive."
"Wait, wait, wait," I said holding up my hands and slightly shook my head. "Why am I training? I'm confused on why I'm doing this."
"Because I believe that you're going to be put in the line of fire and be used as bait. We all know River would do anything for you, even if it meant getting himself killed, and that's what Catherine is counting on. And if things go gravely south, which I believe they will based on how crafty your boyfriend has proven to be, you need to be able to defend yourself if you want to get yourself and your boyfriend out safe." Of course Catherine would put me in harm's way because that's how much she really cared about me. I should've known.
I took a deep breath and looked at my ring, instantly finding comfort and strength in it before nodding. "Where do we start?"
***
Hey y'all, I hope you liked this chapter and if so make sure to comment, vote, and share! My updating schedule will continue to be wonky because the world is just against me for some reason, but at least I found time to update tonight. I'm also jamming out to Troye Sivan right now, so that's pretty great.
Anyway, see y'all next week (hopefully because I really need to finish this freaking book because it's been over two years since I started it...oops)
Love y'all- Jordan]
PS If you're still reading, comment your favorite thing to do in your free time. My favorite thing is to write, watch YouTube, and listen to music. M'kay. Bye