2 Years Later
Kendall's POV
"Come on, just one more club" Scott said and I rolled my eyes and nodded
"Make it fast, I need to go home. Bella's waiting" I said and he nodded
"Come on guys, let's go" he said "you're gonna like this one Kendall, seems like your scene"
"What is it, a gay bar?" I laughed
"Not exactly" he said and pointed toward a strip club across the street
"You've got to be kidding me" I murmured but went inside nonetheless, there were hot girls getting naked in there, something I hadn't seen in a while. The music was blasting loudly in the speakers that were seemingly everywhere, and there were girls on poles everywhere I looked.
"Look at the ass on that" one of the guys said and pointed to one of them, and I nodded in appreciation. I loosened up a little when I'd sat down in a lounge with the guys and I could just look at everything happen in front of me. Later on in the evening after a few more songs and drinks, I could feel eyes on me from one of the girls and realised they were probably wondering why I was here, a woman in her thirties with some middle aged men.
"Someone likes you" Scott said
"They're strippers, they don't like you" I sighed
"They're people too"
"Debatable. They take their clothes off for money" I shrugged and looked up, finally allowing myself to meet the dark eyes that had been on me for a while now, and they looked completely dead so I was about to look away. Then I recognised her. She was slowly swaying her hips in time with the music while she held her pole delicately, and she bit her lip when we made eye contact again. I stared at her in disbelief, and she looked ashamed of herself. So she should be. She'd dyed her hair platinum blonde and put on much heavier makeup, but it was definitely her. Her movements and expressions all matched as well, but something was really off.
I frowned at her while she continued to move provocatively and it made me sick that other people could and had seen her like this, I was overcome with a deep jealousy. I decided to go and do something about it, she couldn't be a stripper. She wouldn't stoop that low.
I got up and stood at the edge of the platform, and she looked down at me and slowly got on her hands and knees and lay on her front in a very compromising position "what the fuck do you think you're doing?" I hissed
"Working" she murmured "what are you doing in a strip club?"
"You get down from there right now, and put some clothes on, your ass is very distracting" I said
"I'm working"
"Not any more, get down right now young lady, or I'll make you get down" I said through my teeth and she raised an eyebrow
"Give me some money and I'll do whatever you ask me to" she bit her lip suggestively and I didn't know how to react to that so I just shook my head and carried on being assertive.
"No, get down. You need a talking to, right now" I said and she sighed and got off. I sat down near my friends and patted my lap, and she rolled her eyes. I gave her a fifty and she sat on my knee. "What's wrong with you? Why are you working at a strip club and talking down to me?"
"Because your attitude sucks, I know what you think about strippers and I just think it's ridiculous that you're here, surrounded by them"
"Let's go, you're not working with these whores" I scoffed
"I'm half naked" she whined and I took my coat off and shoved it against her body "I'm not wearing your coat, I'm not your girlfriend"
"I didn't ask you to be" I snapped and she put it on. I turned to my friends and pointed to her standing with her arms folded, scowling at me "I know her and this is all a huge mix up and she has to go home now, I'll text you" they all nodded and said goodbye and she followed me outside and into the street, where she trailed along behind me and I kept on having to pull her along by the sleeve of my coat. She looked like she was going through a lot of different thoughts and emotions quietly on her own, and I didn't want to make it worse for her so I let her mope about being caught by me. When we got to my apartment, she sulked on the sofa and scrolled through her phone while Pablo got excited about her coming back. "Aren't you speaking to me?"
"Nope" she said without looking at me
"Is it because you're ashamed of yourself?"
"You're not nice to me" she frowned
"Of course I'm not, you know very well what I told you, but you were too immature to follow even the simplest instruction" I said and she looked like I'd just spat on her and pushed her aside "don't look at me like that"
"Stop it" she said
"Stop what?"
"Being mean" she frowned and her eyes still looked completely dead
"Have you been drinking?"
"Nope"
"How much sleep did you get last night?" I asked and checked inside her eyelids for any white patches, and she just let me
"12 hours"
"Then why do you look like you've just snorted ten tonnes of coke?"
"Shut up" she said "am I sleeping here?"
"You are. Go to your room if you're going to be rude to me" I said and she accepted my authority and went upstairs to her old room and I heard the door shut quietly. I couldn't believe how I'd found her or how she was acting. Maybe she just needed the night to settle down and I could get her on her feet again.
On my way to bed, she came out of her room in just her underwear she'd worn earlier, and she looked even more tired and like she'd been crying. She'd taken her makeup off, and I could see how innocent she still was behind that shield she'd put up, and it made me feel for her. "Goodnight" I said and she followed me into my room without saying a word, and Bella was sleeping in there so I pulled her into the closet and closed the door "can I help you?"
"Can I have some clothes please?"
"What do you want?"
"Sweats and a sweater" she mumbled and I went through my closet and found her some of her old clothes and gave her a pile of them to take to her room, and she went away again.
"Hey baby" Bella said when I was getting ready for bed
"Hey baby" I sighed and kissed her cheek gently
"What's wrong?"
"I was out with the guys and I bumped into someone I know and she was in a bad way so she's sleeping in the spare room"
"Who is she?"
"Y/n"
"Your ex?"
"She doesn't want me and I don't want her either, don't worry baby" I said
"I don't want her to be alone with you" she frowned and I nodded because I understood she'd be skeptical of us spending time together after being involved with each other for more than a year "how long is she staying here for?"
"I don't know, as long as she needs to stay" I sighed
The next morning I went to check on her at 11 o'clock, and she was still fast asleep. I knew something was up so I checked the bag she'd brought with her and dug deep through the clothes and food, and found three bags of white powder. I widened my eyes and took them away, and came back with a thermometer, and that was when I realised she'd taken some just a few minutes ago because her nose was bleeding and she'd changed positions. I didn't know what to do, she was sleeping peacefully but I was afraid she might have overdosed, so I swiftly took away her bag and hid it in the large safe in my study, and stroked her hair to wake her up. "Morning y/n, I just came to check up on you"
She grumbled and snuggled closer to me with a little frown on her half asleep face, and my heart melted for her. Her nose was bleeding from one side and the blood was dripping down onto one of the pillows, and she opened her almost black eyes. She pushed her upper body up with her arms which she always did when she woke up, but collapsed after a few seconds and looked at me while she sighed in defeat. "Oh no" I said softly "do you need more sleep?"
"Mhm"
"You're doing so good, well done" I praised her and she didn't look any happier. I knew she felt less of a human because of what she was doing to herself.
"Where's my bag?"
"It's safe, don't worry" I said and she grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly
"Can I have it?"
"What for?"
"I have something I need in it"
"You don't need that. You have everything you need here now" I said sternly and she looked like she was going to burst into tears.
"No"
"Yes"
"No!" She shouted and buried her face into the pillow
"Don't act like that, I never thought I'd see you again"
"I hoped I never would" she retorted
"I'll let you chill out in here and I'll be in the living room if you need me" I said and she gave me a side eye and slapped the air "goodbye"
"Bye bye" she mumbled and watched me leaving
Later on, as soon as Bella had left for work, she emerged from upstairs and sat quietly next to me on the sofa. She was being very clingy considering how we'd ended things, she didn't seem to have held a grudge against me which was a good sign. "Come here, let me take your temperature" I said and put a thermometer into her mouth, which she didn't seem to be happy about but who would be? "Ok, all done" she spat it out across the sofa and stormed into the kitchen. I heard her slam a cupboard door and turn the faucet on, and I checked the temperature on the thermometer, which was very high. She came back and meekly walked past me to go into the sun room, and lay on her front while she buried her face into a cushion. She was going to get way too hot in there, and she didn't know it yet but that would be very dangerous. "Y/n, you'll get too hot in there. Come here"
She groaned loudly and wandered into the same room as me "I'm not a dog, I'm not your pet so stop treating me like one please"
"I'm not, but you're acting like an animal"
"I don't care, I'll behave however I like because you're not in charge of me"
"My point exactly" I said and she sat right next to me and buried her face into my neck. I knew she was going through so much confusion, she probably hated me for what I did but also knew she needed stability so she stayed very close to me. Throughout the day, where I went, y/n went. When I went for a cigarette, she was right behind me. It was endearing, but I wondered who'd hurt her to make her be this clingy.
Then I realised it was me.
"Please" she begged and sat on the floor, holding my ankle. There was a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, and I realised she was probably going through withdrawal.
"No, you're not coming with me. I don't want you going anywhere near cigarettes anymore"
"But I need you to help" she said and burst into tears
"No, go sit on that chair and you can see me without inhaling the smoke" I said sternly and she cried even harder at the idea of not being close to me. I gave in and she happily sat on the floor next to me and looked over the city while I smoked.
"Please can I have the coke?"
"No, I've got rid of it"
"That cost me thousands of dollars!" She shouted "please say you're joking"
"It's really bad for you, you're going to kill yourself" I said and she stormed off to her room and slammed the door. I heard her loudly pacing around upstairs and then I heard her going into my room, so I went upstairs to see what she was doing. I found her with her head in one of my cupboards, and I cleared my throat and she jumped and hit her head on the hardwood and yelped loudly.
"Why are you creeping up on me?"
"What are you doing?"
"Looking for my stuff"
"It's gone. You're not getting it" I said
"Yes I am" she snapped and carried on rooting through my things
"That's very rude, you don't look through people's things without permission" I said and pulled her away "do I have to lock my door while I'm not in here?"
"No" she mumbled and went back into her room. I went to check on her after a few minutes of silence, and she wasn't in there. I went into her bathroom and she was standing by the sink with a guilty look on her face, like she was doing something she wasn't supposed to.
"What have you been up to in here?"
"Nothing" she said and glanced at the edge of the sink, and I motioned for her to move away and went to look at it. Sure enough, there were a few little white bits of powder.
"Empty your pockets" I demanded and she shifted around uneasily "now!" She flinched and edged away from me, and I took the bag out of her pocket "what is this? I'm trying to help you, but how can I do that if you're going behind my back and doing it anyway? You can stay in here without this, and you can get clean. Then you can speak to me"
"I'm sorry Kenny, I don't wanna make you mad"
"No. Sorry isn't good enough. You're ungrateful"
"And you're sexy" she bit her lip and I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. I put my hand on her hip and she smiled at me, and I realised that even thinking about this was wrong, she was high out of her mind and I had a girlfriend who loved me. I let go of her and she looked disappointed, but she wandered off to her bed and lay down under the covers while she watched me looking for anything else that she could use to get high. Her eyes were fluttering shut and the next time I looked up, she was asleep with her lips parted a little while she breathed steadily.
She slept all the way through the afternoon, so I went to bed at 10 while I knew she would still be asleep, and I fell asleep very fast. I woke up with Pablo shuffling around at my feet, and I moved them away. Then I realised that wasn't the dog, it was y/n. She was trying to be quiet and still, but she was shivering at the end of the bed under a little blanket. "Y/n, what are you doing?"
"I'm cold" she whined and scrambled under the covers next to me. I sighed and let her snuggle up to me, until she started to kiss my neck and put her hand up my shirt to feel my abs.
"No no no, none of that" I scolded and she grumbled and kept her eyes closed while she tried to kiss my mouth "no, stop it. Time to go back to your room"
"No!" She protested and I carried her back to her room with her blanket while she struggled to go back to my bedroom.
"Stop acting like that, you're an adult and you can sleep in your own bed"
"No!" She squealed when I sat her in her bed, and she groaned when I was about to leave and buried her face in the pillow. I went back to bed, and about five minutes later I heard her moving around in her room and then leave her room. She came into my room and tried to sneak into my bed, but I took her back to her room again, and I had to keep doing it over and over until I realised what was wrong. She wanted to snuggle with me to feel warm.
"It's okay, come here" I soothed and put a blanket between us so we weren't touching skin to skin and I let her cuddle up to me how she wanted and she smiled into my chest and fell asleep.