Katie had gone to bed hours ago, so I was all on my own for the rest of the night. I lay down on the couch and tried to relax. Between thoughts of the chain and the intruder, my attention went to the almost unbelievable image of her and Kevin kissing.

What the hell were they doing? What the hell was he thinking? I knew what Katie was thinking; it wasn't a secret that she a thing for Kevin, so I could understand to an extent her part in it.

I couldn't understand why Kevin would even think that as appropriate. True, she was eighteen, but only by a few months. He had just found out his fiancé had cheated on him. Why would he be kissing Katie? Was she being used as some sort of a rebound? It didn't sound like Kevin to use anyone, but after what he had been put through over the past few weeks, maybe he wasn't the same guy.

I shook my head. Thinking wasn't going to get me anywhere. If I needed answers, I would have to go directly to the source.

I must have dozed off, because I nearly fell off the couch when my phone rang. I caught myself before my face could hit the coffee table. By time my brain caught up with my body, I had missed the call. It was Javi. I stood up and stretched. I had a few hours to kill before I had to be to work, so I went straight for the coffee.

I was just finishing my first cup when Katie crept out of her room. She looked restless. I guess we both were.

"Morning."

"Morning," I echoed in a whisper.

While Katie was grabbing some breakfast, I texted Javi, asking if it was okay if I came over before work. Of course he said yes. I wanted to talk to him about how strange I acted yesterday. Javi was just being nice and I was painting him as an asshole.

"You get much sleep?" Katie asked, sitting down next to me.

"I don't know. Maybe a couple hours." I yawned. "It's hard to sleep here now that I know some weirdo has been in here."

"Besides you?" She joked.

I lightly smiled. "Yeah." I put my cup in the sink and then looked at her.

"What?"

"About last night..." I started but wasn't sure if I really wanted to talk to her about it.

"What about it?" She asked and looked a little nervous. I shook my head. Not now. I would do my talking with Kevin.

"I just wanted to apologize for being so crazy. I'm sorry if I scared or freaked you out."

She exhaled with relief. "Don't worry about it. It was understandable. Someone broke into our place twice. That's not something you just get over. I think, considering everything, you handled it very well."

I laughed. Now she was trying to assure me. That was a switch.

"Yeah, well someone will be coming over soon to change the locks. I don't know if it will do any good," I added. "I just don't know what else to do. Can't really afford to move, you know?"

"I think getting new locks was a good idea," she laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"If Dad was here, he'd be getting the best security system for us."

I smiled. She was right. "We'd also have armed men around at all times."

She giggled and I joined in. "I miss him."

"I know. I miss him too." I rubbed my neck.

"How often do you think about him?"

"Every day."

"Me too."

We exchanged a smile.

"Well I have to shower and get ready for work. What do you have planned for the day?"

She shrugged. "Probably hang out with friends. Don't really want to be here alone."

The ride to Javi's was difficult. The shower hadn't helped with my fatigue. How in the hell was I supposed to stay awake all day? Maybe I could have Derek cover for me at the diner. Sure he wasn't my biggest fan or I his, but he was the only one qualified to run the diner.

We hadn't exactly been the best of friends since we broke up. Sometimes he would come to work in a good mood and we were actually able to have a conversation without tension hovering over us. More often than not though, he would act bitter towards me. Things only turned worse when he knew that Javi and were dating.

It was hard to hide it from Derek. Especially when Javi would come in and not so subtly rest his hands on my hips when we would talk.

Things didn't work out with Derek. He could say all he wanted that it had to do with my lack of communication, but I knew more than likely it mostly had to with my close friendship with Javi. I could tell it bothered him, but I thought over time he would have let go of the jealousy. I mean I was underage at the time. Javi never touched or talked to me inappropriately. Derek had no reason to me be jealous when it came to Javi.

I guess now I was feeling a bit of empathy. Here I was, still hating the fact that I was jealous that Lanie was staying with Javi. I didn't want to feel this way. Logically I knew I didn't have anything to worry about, but sometimes my logic wasn't always sound.

I wanted to stop by and show Javi that I was okay with everything. I didn't want either him or Lanie to think I was acting like a child.

After a few knocks the apartment door opened. Javi was still in pajamas. Despite his physique, he looked like a child when he wasn't in regular clothing. "Thought we discussed the knocking?"

"Sorry," I hunched my shoulders. "It slipped my mind."

He shook his head disappointingly. "I expect more from you."

"You need to lower your standards."

"Well," he smiled. "If I did that, I wouldn't be with you."

"You might be surprised."

He moved forward and pulled me to him. I sunk into our embrace and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"So, I heard." He kissed my hair.

Heard?

"What did you hear?"

"I talked to Ry."

What was he getting at? Did Kevin tell him about the chain being returned? I begged him not fill Javi in.

"And?"

"You must be going crazy." He pulled me back to look at me.

I was going to kill Kevin and I was already planning on talking to him, so this just added to the ammunition. I sighed. How was I going to handle this without Javi becoming overprotective?

"It's not that big of a deal. There's really no reason to be concerned. I'm taking extra precautions." I tried, but didn't know if it would do any good. He motioned for me to come with him and we sat on his couch.

He gave me a weird look. "Precautions?"

I nodded.

"What kind of precautions are there for Katie moving out?"

What did he say?

"What?"

"Katie's moving out, right?"

I nodded. He wasn't talking about the intruder?

"What precautions do you have set up for that?"

I knew my eyes had widened. I wasn't sure what to say. "I, uh, just mean that maybe you can come stay with me." I nudged him with my elbow.

"I wouldn't mind that," he smirked. "So really, how are you taking it? Knowing you won't be able to protect her around every corner."

I shifted and rolled my eyes. "I'm fine with it. Really, I am."

He threw his arm around me. "She's gonna be fine. It'll be good to put some space between you two."

I nodded, but it wasn't exactly easy for me to accept. It wasn't a switch I could turn and off. "I know. It just won't be easy."

"I can help you adjust." He smiled leaning over and laying kisses to my neck. I started laughing when he restrained my wrists with his hands. I wasn't strong enough to put up a fight against him. "No getting away. You're all mine," he smirked.

Just as he was about to kiss me, we were cut off by Lanie. "Javi, I think something is wrong with the shower, it keeps leak..." She stopped talking when she saw us on the couch. "Oh my god! I'm sorry," she said before disappearing into the guest room.

"Sorry about that." Javi leaned down to kiss me, but I couldn't help it as I moved my head. He nearly kissed the couch cushion.

"Whoa! What was that for?" He asked.

I gave him a weird look. "Lanie was only wearing a towel."

"And?" he asked.

"And you don't think that's a little inappropriate?" He had to know that it was weird for her to being doing that.

"I never really thought about? Should I have?"

"Let me up." He hesitantly moved off me.

I couldn't make this make sense. Why would she walk around in just a towel? She couldn't have changed in the bathroom?

"Are you upset?"

I snorted. "Yeah, a little." Sarcasm flew off my tongue.

"Why?" He laughed.

"You can't be serious?"

He threw his hands up.

"She doesn't live here. She's single, you're not, and she's your ex. That's why she shouldn't be walking around like that."

"You're jealous?" he asked, and I swore a smile pulled at his lips.

"That's what you took from that?"

His eyebrows pulled together. "It's not a big deal."

"It is to me."

How did he not understand?

"Seriously, you are okay with her walking around in just a towel?"

"Nothing is going on between us."

I closed my eyes. "That's not the point." I got up.

"Okay, tell me then. What's the point?"

I shook my head. "I should go. I need to get to work."

"Bri! Come on, you don't need to freak out."

I couldn't believe he was being so dense. "I gotta go." I walked out, ignoring his calls for me to come back.

How could I be the crazy person? I didn't understand it. I didn't think I was being too ridiculous. What if the situation was reversed and Derek was staying with me and walking around with just a towel on? I didn't have to be Einstein to figure out that Javi would stare Derek down and make it well known he wasn't happy. Why couldn't he understand my frustration?

I was too upset and tired to go to work, so I called Derek and told him that he'd have to cover for me. He was pissed, but agreed. Not that he really had a choice.

I couldn't help but let my mind run. Mostly about Lanie. Why would she stay with Javi of all people? I believed Javi when he said that nothing had happened between them, but did that mean nothing would happen? Maybe Lanie would try and pursue him? Maybe I was crazy. I would be thrilled to know that I was just crazy. I didn't like thinking of Lanie that way. She'd always been really nice to me.

I didn't want to doubt Javi, but I couldn't exactly stop myself from thinking that with his past with Lanie, that maybe it would be impossible for something to happen. I mean, they had a history with each other and it didn't help that Lanie was so much prettier than I was. She was closer to him than I was. Physically at least. I was feeling more insecure than ever that Javi and I hadn't had sex yet.

When I got home, I found a note from Katie telling me she left with a friend and that she'd be home later.

I nervously tapped on the kitchen counter. I wasn't too thrilled to be here by myself. I felt like eyes were on me at all times. Half of me knew I was probably just being paranoid and there was nothing to worry about, but the other part told me that someone had been in here twice and didn't care whether we were home or not. A chill flooded me.

While trying to think about anything else, there was a knock at the door. I jumped and felt stupid. 'If someone wanted to break in, they wouldn't knock.' I told myself. It didn't stop me from looking out the peephole. It was Kevin. Probably here for Katie. I opened the door even though I was mad at him.

He looked nervous beyond belief. I noticed his hands shaking. I decided to throw him a bone.

"Katie isn't here."

He nodded. "I came to see you."

"Okay. I'm not really in the best mood though." I warned, hoping he might decide to come back later.

"It's about last night."

"Kevin..." I was quickly cut off.

"I know that must have been really strange to see, but I want you to know that I didn't force that to happen."

"Kevin, like I said, I am not having a good day, can we talk about this later?"

"No. We can't. It has to be now, because it has been eating at me." He walked past me and entered the apartment.

"Well, that was rude." I said under my breath as I closed the door.

He turned to me. "Come on, I know you saw it and that it has to be bothering you."

I sighed. "Fine." I crossed my arms. "Are you sure you want to talk about it? Are you really sure?"

"Yes, absolutely." He nodded.

"Alright, so how long have you been kissing my sister?"

"Just that once."

"Did she kiss you or did you kiss her?"

"I don't know. Maybe I kissed her. It happened kind of fast."

"Alright, why?"

He looked down for a moment. Probably coming up with a way to try and cover his ass.

"I wish I knew."

I was obviously confused. "So, you just go around kissing any girl who makes you laugh?" I was sounding more bitter than intended, but he wasn't exactly being helpful at the moment.

"No. Not at all. You know how I feel about Katie."

I shook my head. "I thought I did."

"What's that mean?"

"It means I don't know how you feel about her. I never thought you felt the need to kiss her. Was it just a one time thing?"

"No," He stopped and his eyes grew wider as he noticed my reaction of pure disgust. "I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that..." He shifted his eyes away. "I wasn't using her."

"That's not the way I see it."

"How do you see it?"

I wasn't going to hold back now. "It's been obvious to me and maybe even you for a long time the Katie has a thing for you, right?" He slowly nodded. "If you knew that why would you toy with her?"

"Toy with her?"

"You and Jenny just ended. You are hurting, it's more than obvious. So are you sure you weren't just using her?"

He gave me a look of genuine hurt.

"I would never do that to her."

"If that's true, why would you put her in that situation?"

He didn't say anything.

"It doesn't matter. It's never going to happen again, right?" I questioned.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Katie. You know that can never happen again, don't you?"

He stared at me for a minute, his eyebrows pulling together. "Are you serious? Wouldn't you say that's between Katie and I?"

"Kevin, your fiance left you. You are hurt. Please start thinking rationally here!" I sighed. "Don't you dare use Katie as a way to get over Jenny!"

"I'm not!"

Who was he kidding? "You don't see it, but that's what you are going to do and I can't let that happen."

"Like you have a choice in the matter," he shot back.

"Katie is too clouded by her attraction to you to even care that you are using her! Just stay away from her!" I walked over to the door. "I want you to go."

"Bri," he began.

"Kevin, I want you to be happy. I really do. With that being said, leave Katie out of your healing process!"

He stood in the same spot for a couple moments, then nodded. "Fine." I watched him storm off, looking pissed as he drove away.

"Why am I the only damn adult around here!" I screamed.

A while later I was in bed. I wanted to sleep. To escape everything just for awhile. I grabbed some sleeping pills I got from Aunt Carmen. I didn't use them often, but now they were starting to looking more appealing.

I grabbed two and chased them down with water before going and flopping on my bed. I didn't want to think, see, talk, or hear. I just wanted to sleep. To float away into a deep slumber. Maybe dream about better days. Would I see any of those again?

I woke up feeling disoriented, which wasn't surprising. I always felt this way after taking those pills. This time though, I felt a lot more dizzy. My throat was very dry, so I wanted to get some water. I couldn't force myself to open my eyes, but I was sure I wouldn't need eyes to get some water. When I tried to move I realized I couldn't.

I was now aware that my arms were behind me and I wasn't laying down. I was sitting on a chair. I tried to move again, but I couldn't do it. My arms were restrained along with my waist and legs. I groaned when I ended up hurting my wrists against the wood on the chair.

I opened my eyes and couldn't see anything. It was pitch dark. What the fuck was going on?