“Fuck off! I am far from whipped.”

“Okay Eden, you can be the judge of this. So this one—” He motioned toward Blake. “He has some chick who gives him attitude, dismisses his advances, yet he still won’t jump on any of the groupie pussy that is available because of Violet. Now tell me that isn’t being whipped.”

My laughter filled the table. This was what I wanted; friends, laughs, distraction, and comfort. This kind of talk was an everyday occurrence with Colby until he moved to Los Angeles a year ago, and I missed it. I missed him.

Blake rose from his seat. “Fuck you Colby! I am heading to the bar; if we are talking about this I need booze. What do you want?”

“I’ll just have a Coke.”

He nodded and left Colby and me alone.

“You look good.”  Colby’s voice dropped and he leaned over the table and grabbed my hands in his. My hands looked so delicate against his decorated hands, covered in bright colors and shades of black.

“I’m so scared Colbs,” I whispered through broken breathing.

His face lost color. “What the fuck is going on Eden?”

“It’s hard being here, I won’t deny that. I am scared that I am going to run into someone or freak out at the worst possible time. I keep getting text messages from an unknown number and that’s starting to freak me out and today Douglas turned up at Ky’s apartment to tell me that Jeremy has been released.”

“Fuck Eden! Why didn’t you call me?”

“I just wanted to ignore the text messages, but now Douglas is investigating them. If I didn’t think about them then I didn’t panic but now with Jeremy somewhere close I can’t help it.”

“Eden, promise me that you will tell someone. What about Ky? If anything Blake has told me, it’s that he seems to have an invested interest in you so tell him.”

“He knows about what happened to me.”

“What?”

I looked at him and sighed. As soon as I admitted this Colby would go into protective mode and I knew what he was like and I knew he would storm into Ky’s office the first opportunity he got yet I couldn’t lie to him.

“The other night I went back to the hotel and found someone had broken in. I called Ky and he came and got me and now I’m staying at his apartment.”

“What the fuck Eden? Has he tried anything? Has Ky fucking tried anything with you?”

“Colby calm down. We kissed and then I told him everything that had happened. He knows I can’t say no, and it pisses him off.”

“It pisses me off too.”

My eyes glistened with tears, and I blinked furiously trying to cease their escape. I couldn’t cry. Not here, not now.

“Give me your phone Eden.”

“Colby, please. What are you doing?” I fished my phone out of my bag and handed it to him with shaking hands. I watched with wide eyes as he pressed on the screen and lifted it up to his ear.

“No, this is Colby. Eden’s best friends from Cali. Yeah. She is here. Just fucking listen to me. We have a problem. I know she told you. She is getting text messages from an unknown number and now fuckstick Jeremy has been released. Do you think I don’t fucking know that? When are you back? Good. Take care of her. This is on you. Sure.”

I stared at Colby with wide eyes. He was ripping Ky a new asshole, and I wish I knew exactly what he was saying. I had come to learn when Colby was pissed by the way he would shift his jaw and right now, sitting opposite me, was a man that was way beyond pissed off.

Colby abruptly held out my phone toward me and nodded at the screen.

“He wants to talk to you.”

I didn’t want to talk to Ky.

“Hello,” I choked as I held the phone to my ear.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me? How long have you been getting these messages? What are they saying? Fuck!” Ky roared down the phone.

“Ky, please don’t yell at me,” I whispered as fresh tears formed in my eyes.

“Babe, I’m not yelling at you.” He sighed deeply down the line. “You should have told someone. If not me, then Josh, Ashlyn, Colby, Tori! Don’t keep this shit to yourself. Was it happening before your hotel room got broken into? What were you told about Jeremy?”

“I got the first message when I was having chocolate cake with you, on my birthday, and all I know is that he got released today. I’m really scared Ky. I don’t know what to do.”

“Fuck!” He fell silent, and I dropped my eyes to the table. “I’m coming home early. Be in my bed when I get home.”

He hung up.

Everything passed in quick succession. I hung up the phone after hearing Eden’s petrified voice, called Simon Davenport to inform him that I was leaving due to an emergency back home, rushed to the LAX, and now I sat on the first plane back to New York awaiting departure.

Knowing that she was on the other side of the country scared, alone, and frightened did something to me that I couldn’t explain. All I knew was that I needed to get back home and sort this mess out to make sure she was okay. Well, as okay as she could be.

The moment my feet landed on New York soil it had just clicked over to five a.m. and I was soon making my way back to my apartment. My leg bounced as the cab driver weaved our way from the airport and back to the island. I didn’t think my feet touched the ground from the moment I left the warmth of the cab and stepped into the eerie stillness and chill of the air. I had one goal in mind and that was getting to Eden.

Once I was in my apartment, I headed straight to my bedroom. Fuck I hope she had listened to me. I wanted her in my bed. There would be no further discussion; my bed was hers for the rest of the month.

The moment I pushed open the bedroom door, the world lifted from my shoulders as my eyes landed on perfection curled up on her side, cocooned in the thick comforter. My chest heaved as calmness and relief swamped me. I silently undressed down to my boxers and slipped in beside her. The moment the weight of my body hit the mattress, I wrapped my arms tightly around her body, pulling her to the protection I offered.

“Ky?” her sleepy voice called, waking at the sensation of my body against hers.

“I’m here, go back to sleep.”

“Okay.” Her face fell to the concave of my neck and her calm breath caressed my skin. “But Ky, thank you for being here.”

My eyes closed as I rolled into Eden, circling her waist with my arm and pulling her as tightly as possible against my body. The softest of sighs escaped her lips. I lay in the darkness in silence, wide awake, and listened as Eden slept peacefully in my arms. I was physically and mentally exhausted, but my brain wouldn’t switch off. Knowing that Jeremy Davis was lurking in the shadows caused a wave of uncertainty to linger over me. Someone like him wouldn’t stay quiet, and he wouldn’t remain hidden for long.

Soon sunlight teased through the thick blinds as a new day was born, a new day where things would change. The moment Colby told me about the threat to Eden it was the jolt of electricity I needed and it made me clearly see that I wanted her in my life beyond December.

“Did you sleep?”

I rolled my head to the side to find Eden’s sleepy eyes staring back at me.

“No,” I replied honesty.

She untangled her body from mine, a move that instantly made me feel the loss. She pulled herself up and leaned against the headboard. The sheet fell from her body and puddled around her hips. I hissed at the sight of the tight white camisole molded against her skin, creating the perfect curve of her breast which only enticed my ever wandering eye. Her nipples hardened under my gaze, peaking and becoming slightly visible through the stretched fabric.

God I was losing it.

“Are you okay?” I finally asked once I got my thoughts under control. “Actually tell me how you are feeling?” I backtracked knowing full well that she would have said yes.