After taking about three or four trips around the neighborhood, we all get ready to leave.
As I'm putting my uncomfortable shoes back on, I hear a knock on my bathroom door. Assuming it's Sin, I call out for him to come in.
"Hey," he says, closing the door behind him.
"Hey," I say with a giddy smile. I pat the bed next to me and he sits beside me.
"I can't thank you enough for the car, Sin. Really, it's absolutely insane and super thoughtful. I can't believe you did that."
He shrugs. "It was all of us. We knew you needed your own car, and I didn't want you spending all the money you've been saving on a car when you still don't know how your parents are going to react when they find out you want to change your major."
Of course he remembers that. He remembers everything.
"Well," I start, not really even sure that else to say. "It's perfect. Thank you."
"That's not your only gift," he informs me, pulling a tiny box out of his pocket.
"No, no, no," I stop him, putting my hand up. "You've already given me way too much. I mean, you got me a fucking car, for Christ's sake. There is no way I can let you spend any more money on me."
"Well, in full disclosure, this didn't cost me anything."
I look at him curiously, and he holds out the box. It's red and satin, just like the one the car key came in.
I take the lid off the small box, and peer inside. The light catches on a beautiful green gem.
I lift the necklace out of the box, seeing a long silver chain with cute triangle hung from it, with an emerald inside the shape.
"It's beautiful," I breathe, taken back at how perfect it is. Emerald, like his eyes.
"It, um..."
I look up at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.
"It was my mom's."
My heart nearly stops. Sin is giving me mother's jewelry? This is his mom's necklace?
"Sin, I can't take this," I say, feeling the gravity of the gesture as if the necklace in my hands weighed a thousand pounds rather than a few ounces.
The serious look on his face tells me he is also realizing the magnitude of the gift.
"You can," he assures me, taking the necklace from my hands and unclasping it, reaching behind my neck to put it on me.
After a second, he manages to clasp it together and let the beautiful emerald design hang around my neck and down to my chest.
"I mean, it's not like I'm going to wear it," he points out with an amused grin. Then the serious look returns and he says, "There's no one else I'd rather have given it to."
My eyes almost water, and I feel my heart pounding in my chest as I lean forward to kiss him softly.
I pull away after a moment, resting my forehead against his and reaching up to touch the necklace.
"Thank you," I say softly.
I'm overwhelmed with gratitude and love for my friends, and this just seals the deal. Sin is so incredible, so perfect.
It feels unreal that I've haven't really known him for that long. Sin has become such a part of my life that I don't know what I would do without him. This past week has been hell, and the loss of his presence makes me so much more grateful for it now.
I lean forward again, pressing my lips against his once more and kissing him more passionately than before.
After a quick moment, Sin pulls me closer to him. My mind is muddled with his smell, the feeling of him pressed against me, and the joy that's overwhelming me today.
I kiss him with everything I've got, all the passion that's been built between us since we met, and move to get closer to him.
His hand reaches around and hoists up my leg. I end up straddling him, one knee on each side of his waist, and lean down, connecting our mouths again.
I arch my back and press my chest against his, his hands going to my back, which is still bare from the backless shirt. His mouth kisses down my neck, and just as I move to attach our lips again, pushing my hands in his hair, the door swings open.
Sin and I break apart and look over to see all six of our friends standing there, gawking at us.
"I KNEW IT!" Aubrey screams as she points at Sin and I in victory.
"Oh my god, MY EYES!" Beckett shouts dramatically, covering his eyes.
"HEY! I thought there was a no hook-up rule!" Peyton shouts. "Not fair!!"
I move off of Sin's lap, my cheeks heating to twelve different shades of pink, and cower behind him, still sitting on the bed.
"Cough it up," Kace says in his usual strong voice, completely unphased, holding his hand out. Beckett pulls a twenty out of his pocket and hands it to Kace, as does Peyton.
They also hand Taylor twenty bucks each, and I gasp.
"You guys really placed a bet on us?!" I shout. "I thought Aubrey was joking! You guys are unbelievable."
"I told you guys she'd get mad," Skylar gloats, crossing her arms.
Aubrey turns to me and Sin as I stand up, off the bed, and says, "Look, we all knew it was coming, okay? Can we all just be happy for you and go listen to some music?"
"I second that," Taylor says.
I huff, but let it go, just happy no one's freaking out over the me-and-Sin thing.
Everyone leaves the room, leaving Sin and I alone, and I laugh, looking back over at him. He laughs with me, grabbing my hand.
"Well, I guess everyone knows," I say, shrugging. He smiles and leans down to kiss me again.
"Aren't you kind of relieved everyone knows the Sin Black is off the market?" he asks, leaving his hands on the sides of my face and his lips dangerously close to mine.
"Oh, you are?" I tease, looking up in his gorgeous eyes as he stays so close to me.
"Aren't I?" he teases back, pressing another kiss on my lips.
This is what I love about Sin. There's no need to have that awkward 'what are we?' conversation. We just understand each other.
"Ugh, thank god," I sigh, reaching up on my tiptoes to kiss him one last time.
We pull away after another quick moment, and I grab my purse, fixing my lip gloss as we go downstairs.
"Oh, Sin," I stop to tell him before reaching the stairs. He looks at me, confused, and I say, "I love the necklace. Thank you."
When we get downstairs, everyone is waiting for us.
"Ugh, thank god!" Peyton shouts. "It took you long enough to put your clothes back on."
"Our clothes were not—" Peyton cuts me off before I can defend Sin and I's actions.
"I'm just glad you could take a break from getting it on long enough to let us throw you a party."
His voice is kept light and playful for the most part, but for a moment, I contemplate whether he's actually annoyed or just teasing like usual.
"We were not getting it—wait... I said no party!" I whine. "You guys never listen to me, do you?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Taylor asks. "Now get your ass in your awesome new car and drive us to this music lounge!"
The eight of us load into two cars to go to the live music lounge.
Peyton, Taylor, and Sin ride with me, in my new car, and Beckett, Aubrey, and Skylar ride with Kace in his truck.
Thankfully, no one discusses Sin and I's moment of libido, probably because Sin and I are both present. The only one who is not afraid of Sin's wrath if provoked is Aubrey, and she's not in the car.
"So you really love the car?" Taylor asks me as we pull into the parking lot of the music lounge.
"I love it more than I could even describe," I assure her. "I owe you guys forever."
"You owe us nothing!" she insists. "You've been put through the ringer this past year, and since you've been here. You deserve to be happy."
"I second that," Sin chimes in.
"Third!" Peyton agrees, reaching up to squeeze my shoulder.
I smile, parking the car and getting out. I'm practically on cloud nine right now with everything going so perfectly.
I've never had a birthday where all my friends and family made a big deal or did anything extravagant, let alone buy me car. It's always been pretty low-key. This is all so new to me.
We go inside, and I see Kace, Beck, Aubrey, and Skylar already sitting at a huge table.
"There they are, the Birthday Girl and Lover Boy," Aubrey announces as we sit down with them.
"Our sweet little Haven has become a Sinner."
I roll my eyes and look at Sin. "That can't be the first time you've gotten that one."
He shakes his head. "Definitely not. But A for effort, Aubrey."
She crosses her arms and sulks when she realizes we're not going to let her make fun of us.
"You guys lost me fifty bucks," Peyton complains. "You couldn't have held on a few more days?"
"Peyton, let it go or I'll call your mother and tell her you had sex with Elsa Van Jansen on her bed," I threaten him. I know his mother loves me, and she'll throw a fit over Peyton having sex at all, let alone on her bed.
"You wouldn't!" he gasps.
"You had sex on your mother's bed?" Skylar questions.
"It was Elsa Van Jansen!" he exclaims. "She wanted to, and she has such an exotic name... I felt like I was having sex with Elsa from Frozen."
"Well, now I can't ever watch Frozen the same," Taylor mutters, shaking her head.
"I ordered some booze for the table," Beckett announces. "They didn't even ID me. It was too easy."
I take one glass of vodka cranberry, barely sipping it since I'll be driving home in a few hours.
Soon enough, the band sets up and starts playing. Halfway into their fourth song, I notice a group of guys come in, all of them loud and most of them drunk.
The place isn't that busy yet, but there's a fair amount of people in here, so I don't think anything of it and go back to listening to the music.
Once the band takes their intermission, letting the restaurant fall into silence, Taylor nudges me. I look over at where she's looking, and I see a waiter carrying a giant chocolate cake with sparklers on it.
"Oh my god," I realize.
My friends all start singing Happy Birthday to me, making blush but swoon over the love I feel from my amazing, loyal friends.
Aubrey pulls out the camera and starts snapping shots of us all, getting close ups of me as the cake approaches.
"Happy Birthday, dear Haven, Happy Birthday to you!" They finish strong, and I blow out flame on the cake.
"Aw, thank you guys!" I say, looking around the table. "I love you all so much. And even though I told you I didn't want any kind of actual celebrating, I had a lot of fun today."
"We told you," Taylor says. "And we love you, too. Now eat some cake!"
We all start cutting the cake, but before any of us start eating, the boisterous group of boys all walk over at the same time.
"Hey, who's birthday is it?" one guy asks, stumbling over and catching himself on our table, leaning over Aubrey in the process.
"Woah there, dude, ever heard of personal space?" Aubrey snaps, pushing the guy over and out of her face.
"We juss wanna wish the birthday girl a vury happy birthday," the stumbley guy slurs.
"Hey, Mike, come on back over with the boys. You don't need another girl," a familiar voice says.
Then I see Jack Turner, the guy from the festival earlier today, come over to try and coax the drunk guy back to his own table.
"Haven!" he says, his eyes lighting up with recognition. "Wait a minute, it's your birthday?"
"Do we know you?" Peyton asks, clearly feeling a bit protective.
Jack sizes Peyton up as he stands, and clenches his jaw, also trying to puff out his chest or whatever guys do to seem tough.
"Haven and I met earlier," he tells Peyton, standing as tall as he can. It's clear that Jack has been drinking as well, but he's trying very hard to win this weird stand-off with Peyton.
"Peyton, it's okay," I tell him, waving at him to get his attention. He look at me, unsure, but sits down nonetheless.
"Happy Birthday, Haven," he tells me. "Sorry about Mike, he's a total lightweight."
I smile politely and try to nicely urge him away. "Thanks, it's okay. Y'all have fun."
I turn back to my friends and the cake Taylor is still working to cut into slices. However, this guy clearly didn't learn anything from our run-in earlier, because he still won't give up.
"Let me buy you a drink, then, if you're celebrating," he says, then looks toward the bar and yells, "Barkeep! We need some shots of tequila over here!"
"Shots?" I repeat, breathing a laugh as I fight back a grimace. I don't really want to get plastered on my birthday, especially in a town I don't know, before I'm supposed to drive. "Thanks, Jack, but—"
"Is anyone else starting to really like this guy?" Aubrey asks, laughing loudly as she snaps some more pictures.
I think she's pretty buzzed already, too.
"Really, that's okay, Jack," I tell him. "We need some designated drivers."
He takes a seat nonetheless. Not only does he sit at our table, he grabs a chair from another table and wedges himself in between me and Sin.
Like I said before, guys are never subtle.
"So what are you guys doing at Lake Tahoe?" he asks, turning his chair around backwards and resting his elbow on it, his chin in the palm of his hand as he looks up at me with an interested expression, like he's already hanging onto every word I haven't said yet.
"Well, like I said before, we're just vacationing here for the weekend," I say, feeling a little uncomfortable with his flirting, but not wanting to be rude and escalate the situation, especially since he hasn't technically done anything rude, buying us tequila and chit chatting at our table.
"Well, maybe you guys should make plans to come back," he suggests. "I know I'd love to see you around here more often."
"I don't think so," I say, looking over his shoulder at a very agitated Sin.
I'm honestly a bit surprised that Sin hasn't made a scene or said something yet.
"Aw, I love your accent," he tells me. "You said you were from North Carolina, right? I should tell the band to play some good ol' country music when they get back."
That catches me off guard. I didn't tell Jack where I was from, did I?
Before I can ask him how he knew that, I hear Kace stand up at the table. I look over to see him practically seething as he stares at another guy in their group.
A few of Jack's "bros" have joined our table, including one who looks particularly interested in Taylor.
"What the hell are you doing here, Ian?" Kace says, stalking right up to Ian's face and nearly snarling. "I told you earlier to leave her alone or I'd deal with you myself."
"Hey!" Jack shouts at him, standing up from the chair beside me now. "Lay off my boy! What's he done to you?"
Kace doesn't even pay attention to Jack, like he's an annoying little gnat he can flick away. Sin, however, stands up too.
"Chill out, homeboy," Sin says, totally just annoyed at this whole situation. "Just get your friends away from our table."
Jack clearly has a death wish, because he doesn't back down from Sin at all.
"Are you trying to tell me what to do, Tattoos? How about we take this outside, huh? Or we can stay right here. Take your best shot!" Jack shouts, his eyes wild and bloodshot.
"Oh my god," I mutter, standing up now. "Can you guys chill the fuck out? There is way too much testosterone in this room and I'd prefer if—"
I'm cut off by the realization that no one's listening to me, because suddenly, Kace punches Ian right in the cheek, and Ian retaliates by throwing Kace over the table.
Kace lands all the way beside me, knocking Jack into Sin, and all hell breaks loose.
Suddenly, everything is complete chaos. Taylor is screaming, Kace is jumping over the table to continue fighting Ian, and Jack took his push toward Sin as a sign to throw a punch. All of my friends, and Jack's "bros" all start yelling, and no one can hear anything or think clearly.
I have to do something, my mind tells me. I can't just stand here like an idiot and do nothing.
Kace is closest to me, and while I'm sure he can handle himself in a fight, I have more confidence in Sin than anyone else to make it out unscathed.
I reach forward to pull Kace and Ian apart, but Ian's arm flies back and nearly hits me in the head, making me duck down to narrowly miss it. As I duck down, though, Kace's hand cocks back to throw another punch, and his elbow catches me right in the face.
It knocks me back, stumbling into the table, and I immediately feel arms wrap around me.
At first, I think it's Sin. My ever-present hero, here to whisk me away from danger and lecture me about getting involved in a fight.
But I can tell after a millisecond that it's not Sin whose arms are grabbing me right now.
I start flailing around like an idiot, trying desperately to remember what I was taught in that self-defense class this summer.
His arms are wrapped around mine, making use of my arms impossible. I'm being dragged away from the scene unraveling between my friends and Jack's, so I can't even see what's going on anymore.
This is it. He's found me.
I'm going to die this time.
For a second, I panic. Fear and horrible memories flood my mind, and I have to use every ounce of my being to push that away and come up with a game plan.
I can still use my legs, I realize. I stop flailing like an idiot, and I kick at a random bystander's chair, getting their attention.
"HELP!" I scream at them, and they look over at me, annoyed at kicking their chair, but then they realize what's happening.
They're being too slow, though. I notice a door to the kitchen, where waiters and waitresses have been going through all night.
I see a waiter coming out of it at the perfect moment, and I kick at his tray, knocking its contents all over my kidnapper and myself.
Of course, this had to be the tray of tequila shots that Jack ordered for my friends and I. The tray crashes to the ground, along with the spilled shot glasses, which crash into several shards of glass around my feet.
It works, though, because my kidnapper was caught off guard, and loosened his grip significantly.
I immediately break free and push him down before thinking, knocking him into the glass on the floor.
When he hits the ground, I finally see his face. And it's the weirdly familiar hoodie-wearing, hammer-buying, pizza-delivering creep that keeps showing up everywhere.
Before I can gather my thoughts enough to even say anything, he rolls over through the glass, onto his knees and scrambles up to his feet.
His first move is to grab me again, which I sidestep. I grab his wrist and twirl it around to pin against his back, between his shoulder blades.
His other hand reaches for me, around his back, and yanks at my hair. I use my knee to jab into his side, making him stop.
"Who are you?" I ask him as he struggles against my hold. "What do you want with me?"
The tequila on me is sticky; the shouting behind me, and the throbbing in my cheek from Kace's elbow is making it hard to focus on the guy in front of me.
The guy drops to a knee, making me loosen my hold his arm, and he rolls away, breaking my grip.
"Stop!" I shout as he scrambles away, weaving his way through the people standing up and rushing toward the back door he planned to take me through. I notice blood on his shirt from the cuts he inevitably got from the broken glass on the ground.
I take a deep breath, still shaken up, but glad I got myself out of that situation. I just wish I had gotten some answers as well.
"Haven, are you okay?"
I feel the right set of hands around me this time as Sin's strong but kind grip reaches my shoulders, turning me to look at him.
I nod, looking over him to make sure he's okay as well. Just as I predicted, he's completely unscathed, not a mark on him.
Despite my unraveled appearance, covered in tequila and a bruise forming on my cheek, I clear my head of that and try to make a joke.
"Aubrey's gonna have to lick her shots off the floor," I say with a light laugh.
Knowing I'm fine and already able to find a sense of humor in the situation, Sin relaxes and we go back to the table behind us.
Kace is standing over Ian, who is holding his face and groaning loudly on the floor.
"Is everyone okay?" I ask the room, looking for anyone severely injured.
They all nod, even Kace, who's bleeding.
"Haven, I'm so sorry," he tells me, rushing over to me. "I never meant to hit you. You were just too close, and—"
"Hold on," Sin stops him, his eyes widening. "You hit her?"
"Sin, calm down," I tell him, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him back a bit. "It was an accident. I was trying to stop them from fighting, and then that guy grabbed me and took off. It was no one's fault."
"Who the hell grabbed you?" Aubrey asks, looking concerned now.
"I... don't know. I didn't see his face," I lie. "But it's fine. I got away."
"ALL OF YOU, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
We look over to see a very, very, very angry bartender, or maybe the owner of the bar, who is turning red as he looks over the amount damage that was just caused.
"NOW! BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE!"
I'm assuming he doesn't want to explain to the police how many underage teens he let into his bar and served alcohol, but I don't doubt he will if he has to.
My friends and I all scramble to grab our stuff and split, pouring out into the parking lot.
We all stop in front of Kace's truck and survey each other.
"What is all over you, Haven?" Beckett asks me, looking me over as the tequila drips from my hair and onto the ground. It's all over my gorgeous outfit, staining my favorite white jeans, and my makeup's probably ruined too, because I know a few shots landed on my head.
I look down subconsciously, and slowly look back up at him.
"What, am I the only one who likes to take tequila baths on their birthday?" I joke, trying to lighten the mood after that fiasco.
"You do know how to party, Ave," Peyton agrees, grabbing my arm and licking a line of tequila off.
I just stare at him as he does, too overwhelmed from tonight to even care.
"You want me to ring my hair out over your mouth?" I offer sarcastically, staring at him blankly.
He shrugs. "I wouldn't turn it down."
I roll my eyes, and Skylar says, "I'd rather be covered in tequila than cake, like poor Kace here."
I glance over at Kace, who wipes away a glob of icing on his neck. In Taylor's hand is his jacket, which is also covered in icing from my birthday cake.
"See? We got snacks and beverages," I joke. "What more could we want?"
"A picture!" a buzzed Aubrey shouts, popping the lens cap off the camera and pointing it at Kace. She takes a few of him, looking pissed off as usual, and then turns it to me.
"Really, Aubrey?" Taylor asks, looking annoyed and feeling bad for her bleeding, cake-covered boyfriend.
"Come on! Group photo!" Aubrey shouts, ignoring Taylor and getting one of all of us, then propping it up on a nearby car and taking one with the self-timer on.
"Okay, but seriously, does anyone have any towels?" I say with a laugh. "My new car is going to smell like a Mexican dive bar if I drive home like this."
"I don't think you have much choice," Sin says, also finding it a bit amusing.
"Well, I think we should go before that angry guy comes out here to arrest us," Beckett points out.
We all agree and get in our respective cars to drive back to the house. Sin does end up giving me his jacket to sit on so my seat doesn't get stained, which I appreciate.
Sin and I sit up front, and once we get on the road, he reaches over and intertwines our hands. I smile at him, his caring look making the anxiety from the night start to fade away.
When we get back to the house, we all pile inside, and I immediately take off my shoes, dropping them by the door. I lean against the wall dramatically, sighing with the weight of tonight's drama.
I mean, a bar fight, a nearly escaped kidnapping, getting kicked out, and leaving soaked in tequila? I think that's a successful outing.
All of a sudden, I hear footsteps, and then the doorbell rings.
I look through the foyer at Sin and Kace, who look back, just as confused.
"Who is it?" I ask, since I'm right beside the door.
"Maid service!" the voice on the other side of the door responds in some sort of foreign accent that I can't decipher.
I look back at Sin and Kace again, furrowing my brows. It's nearly midnight. And I thought the maid wouldn't be here until after we left, tomorrow.
"Beck, the maid is here!" Kace shouts upstairs, and I shrug, going ahead and answering the door.
I swing the front door open, and see a woman with voluminous dark hair, flowing beautifully around her shoulders. After I notice her gorgeous hair, though, what catches my eye is her outfit.
She is dressed as a French maid. Her hair covers more skin than her outfit, honestly. She's wearing a pair of tall black stockings, with garters attached, five inch black heels, and a low-cut black corset with a huge amount of cleavage showing.
I mean, I'm all for owning your sexuality, and I'm certainly not one to slut shame, but it's clear that this is not an actual maid's outfit. Something tells me she isn't the actual maid, either.
Then I hear Beck and Aubrey behind me, stopping in their tracks as Aubrey looks at the woman in the doorway.
"Mom?"