*Tessa*

"Sorry, I had to follow my dad to play a game earlier." 

Wes finally responds to my message hours after he left them unread. 

I pick up my phone sadly after I hear the notification. He hasn't always been like this, so I wonder why I feel so unseen by him.

His only response was just to address why he didn't respond to my message, but he still hasn't responded to anything I said about the kidnapping. 

It feels like he doesn't care or want to keep being bothered with all I have to say. 

I place my phone on the table and walk back to the bed, squeezing myself into Marin, as she watches the movie.

"What did he say this time around that's making you wear a long face?" She grumbles.

"It's nothing. He didn't say anything, actually. It's the fact that he didn't say anything that bothers me. He's busy with his dad anyway, that could be the reason why his attention is divided."

The need to constantly make excuses for his shortcomings was beginning to get to me. I don't know why, but this time around, I'm more bothered that I could have been killed if Knox hadn't been present. I really needed Wes to give me words that would comfort me or show that he cared to know how I was doing and the details of how we were able to survive it.

"Don't act all cringe when I ask you this question." I sit up to look Marin in the face. "Do you think I'm a bit excessive for Wes? Maybe I'm not acting like his type of girl or fitting appropriately."

Marin doesn't like him, and I know she wasn't going to give me any advice that favours Wes, so I didn't bother to ask about me.

She smiles and uses her hand to brush through my hair. "I've told you several times. That boy is not a good match for you. You're way above him. The only good thing about him is the fact that he's from a wealthy home. I don't like his manners. If he doesn't have value for you, then what's the point, Tessa?" She rolls her eyes and adds. " I know you think I'm saying all this just because I don't like him. Which I very much don't, nonetheless, if he makes you happy, there's nothing I'd choose your joy over my thoughts. You're not excessive. You're perfect. Wes should get a life. Do you need me to call him?"

"Oh, no! At all. Thank you. I've gotten the perfect response I need. He didn't tell me I'm excessive or anything. I just wanted to know."

I didn't want Marin to cause me more trouble with Wes. I know her mouth is big enough to say worse things to his face.

My phone beeps.

"Ughhhhhh!" She groans, "He can't be around now. I'm just getting to the exciting part of the story. Ughhh!" She nags a little.

Marin's driver was waiting outside to pick her up. 

"I wish you could stay back a little longer." I hold Marin by her arm and escort her down the stairs. 

"I wish I could, too? Can't we do a little hide and seek?" Marin turns to gaze at Knox, who walks behind us. "Let's see if Knox can catch up with us."

My mood is dull, and I'd rather stay out, hugging someone.

"Nah. I think Knox has had a rough day already today. There's no use trying to make it worse for him."

"True." 

We both walked towards the Mercedes that came to pick her up. 

She hugs me, and I press her into my body tightly. 

"See you tomorrow." 

"Are we really going to be having school tomorrow despite the break-in?" I ask, more out of fear than concern.

"I don't know either. We will find out when tomorrow comes."

Her driver closes the door and passes the front to get to where he will sit. 

"Thanks for having her stay with you all through this." He adds. His correctly spoken words hit just right with his Indian accent.

Knox stands next to me as we both watch Miran leave.

"You're too unhappy for a boy who doesn't care for you. What exactly makes you like him this much, then?" Knox says, walking after me as I pace my steps upstairs.

I didn't know he could see that I was unhappy. I know he doesn't really like Wes, either.

"It's not that he doesn't care about me. He's probably just having his moments, and it's okay because everyone has them." I defend Wes.

Perhaps, that's what I think I'm doing.

"Do you game?" 

"No. You do?" 

I'm caught by surprise that someone like Knox will know how to play the game. 

"Who are you, Knox?" I turn to him, "Just when I think I know you enough, I realize I don't know you at all."

I am not bothered by his mysterious self anyway, but it just might please me to know more about him since he knows almost everything about me now. 

"You can't know much about me. It will be bad for your safety." He says with an assuring glance at me. 

Knox is quite as handsome as Marin had been saying. I am just seeing how perfect his eyes are as I glance at him.

We stand for a while, no word, no comment, just glaring at one another. 

My phone chimes, and it cuts loudly through the silence that fills the air. 

I smile and leave Knox behind the door and walk into my room. 

My phone lay on the table just a few steps away from the door.

"Shawn is throwing a party in his house. The party starts at 1 am. His parents are out of town. Let's go together. I'd pick you up."

I read a message from Wes.

I didn't feel like going, but I knew it made him mad the last time. I don't want to make him feel like I'm doing it intentionally.

*Tessa*

How am I going to tell Knox I am going to a party just after he saved me?

I'm sure he will think I don't care about my safety, and giving Wes an excuse isn't an option.

"Wes says there's a party at Shawn's. Are you coming?" I sent a text to Marin.

"I hear it's exclusively by invitation. I don't really like Shawn anyway. I'm not going, but you should if you want to." She replies.

If Marin isn't going with me, I'd feel left out in the crowd because I know girls will start flocking around him as usual and I won't be able to have him all to myself. 

"What am I going to do?" I sit on my bed and throw myself into the unknown realities and expectations I'm faced with.

I stand up, holding my phone close to my thigh as I saunter towards Knox. 

His eyes were closed, so I thought to prank him by taking his phone from his hand. 

I reach for it and touch its tip. He grabs my hand and squeezes a bit before letting me off, like he had been watching before I even thought to touch his phone. 

"Gosh!" I jump a little. "You scared me." 

"Why are you poking your nose where it shouldn't belong? Do you think I'm sleeping?" He laughs.

I glare at him and snarl, rubbing my hand. 

"I want to ask for a favour."

"What do you need?" 

I didn't know how to tell him in the face that I needed him to escort me to the party, so I could see Wes, but more importantly, so I wouldn't feel left out. 

"There's a party I need to attend tonight, and I want you to please follow me because Marin says she won't be there, and I know Wes will get occupied with his female friends and I won't have anyone to talk to." 

"You don't have to go." He responds in a curt manner. 

"No, no. I must. I must go. Please." 

The look on his face. It's clear he's not interested in the party or excited to know I'm thinking of attending a party.

"Pleaseeee. Just this once. Please." I squeeze my face like that of a baby who shouldn't be ignored. 

"Two hours max, and we are out of there. I'm not invested in you not choosing something else to do from night till dawn. I mean, there's a lot you can do if you stay behind here."

"Wes can even come over." He suggests, and I know well that he wouldn't want Wes to come over. 

They both will have a hard time because he will have to keep a close watch on both of us having our moments.

"Fine. Two hours is enough." 

I didn't have a choice, but I am full of excitement and I find myself wearing a short black dress. 

Maybe a little too short. I needed to call the attention of Wes as fast as I could. 

I glance at the mirror, turning front to back and then to the front again. I couldn't help but adorn myself with fancy jewelry and chains. They always have a way of making my outfits look more sophisticated.

"I'm ready." I hope out of my room, my bag swinging on my shoulder.

Knox takes a good glance at me from head to toe, as though he were assessing me, and he will send me back into my room if he doesn't like something I put on.

I hope he likes what I wear anyway, but I just stand still. 

"Alright, after you."

He finally says.

A breath of relief proceeds out of my lungs afterwards as I walk down the stairs with my boots.

I get to the car, and Knox was still approaching. 

"It's open," he oddly says

"Oh." 

I expect him to get the door for me like he always would, even on days when I act like an asshole. 

"Are you angry at me or what?" I turn to look at him.

"Why do you ask?" He stands and looks at me with a weird smirk on his face as though he's aware of why I was asking anyway. 

"Uhmm, it's nothing." I proceed to try opening the door myself but it wouldn't open. "The door is..." 

I keep pulling on the handle when Knox walks over to me and places his hands over mine. 

An uncomfortable pause fills me as I could feel the wrap of his body over me, hiding my whole body. 

He removes my hand from the door. "Step aside."

I've not heard a command sound so hot. 

His voice tingles in my ear as I move aside, confused. 

I didn't know if I'm the one feeling a strong tension between the two of us, or if I'm the one falling for how masculine he is.

Knox presses the button on the keys in his hand and pulls the door open.

It was locked all along. 

I shook my head at him as I walk into the car to sit.

He closes my door and hops in moments after and drives off. 

We arrive at Shawn's dad's mansion.

We were met by the security in front of the gate. 

I stretch forth my ID to the man who walked up to our vehicle, and he waves his hand, signaling for the gate to open.

The gate opens and Knox drives in a zoom into the dark drive. Despite being inside, the house is farther down, with its beauty, hidden by the tall trees that cover it.

Soon we begin to hear a loud play of music and the voices of people. 

Knox drives slower as we approach the building itself.  

I have been there before, so I wasn't moved by the beauty of the mansion. 

"I'd like to go in by myself first, then you'd come in afterwards." 

"You know that's never going to happen," Knox gets down and walks over to my side of the car and opens the door for me.

*Knox*

I follow behind Tessa as she approaches the building. It's quite larger than I expected, I must say, but I wonder why they find joy in hosting something like this. 

Guys and girls troop in and out of the house with red cups in their hands. I have to be sure Tessa isn't planning to get drunk. 

"Knox, please, can you stay here a bit while I go inside. If Wes sees you, he'd be mad and I don't want him to be. Please." Tessa insists just as we get closer to the door.

"You know that's not possible. I have to keep a close eye on you, and that boy has proved so many times that he's not someone I can trust you with."

She wears a sad look on her face. I wasn't thinking to buy into any of her looks anyway. I already made up my mind that I was going in with her, and there was no other reason why I'm here if not to follow her everywhere and ensure she's within my sight at all times.

She stands, tilting her head to the side like she wouldn't go in with me.

"I'd stay out of sight, but I'd go in. That's the only thing I can help you with." I wouldn't want her to have a bad evening because I'm here. 

I shouldn't be bothered about how she feels, though, but there's just something about her that makes me give in a little. 

Tessa enters, and I stay back a little. My nerves spike high as I didn't feel comfortable not going in the exact moment she went in.

I stay a bit longer. "Fuck it. That's it. I'm going in."

Two tall men stand by the door and stop me as I try to enter. 

They had seen me come with Tessa, so I wondered why it was occurring to them to stop me.

"You can't go in. It's strictly for students, and you, my guy, aren't." One of the guys tries to make a funny joke. At least, that's what it sounds like to my ear.

"I'm going in." 

I didn't care whatever his reasons were, so I took steps ahead.

The same guy who spoke drags me by my shirt and says, "Didn't you hear what I said?" 

I immediately caught him by the neck and pinned him to the wall.

"The next time you try to touch my clothes, consider yourself dead." I shove him aside, and he falls to the ground. 

Perhaps they weren't that much of a trouble as I thought they would because the second guy didn't come closer to me to act funny.

I enter, and I feel a little too late. 

I scan hurriedly through the disco lighted room. There were too many on the inside. The noise they made as some danced, played games, made out, and some were just discussing in the same large space was crazy. 

I knew if I found Wes, I might as well have found Tessa, so I look out for Wes. 

Tossing off the bodies of the young girls as they danced hard to the music, while I passed through them, was a no, no for me. 

I regret saying yes to this in the first place. 

"Hot body. Wanna have some fun too?" A drunk girl walks up to me, laughing and acting sluggishly. 

I pulled her closer to myself to perceive what she was smelling of. 

I knew it. These kids were also taking drugs. 

I need to find Tessa now, and we are definitely leaving this place immediately I do so.

I searched every part of the ground floor, but she still wasn't there.

Fuck! I should have just gone in with her. 

I saw some guys protecting the stairs, so I walked up to them, "Do you know Tessa?" 

"Who is this guy, a spy?" 

A kid said to me, laughing as he called his other friend's attention to me.

"Yo, he's asking for Tessa." 

"Who the fuck let you in here? Aren't you over aged to be at a party like this?" 

"I'm not here for trouble. Where's Tessa?"

"She's not here. I don't know where she is. She's probably high on something." They all laugh hard. 

I push them aside and force my way up the stairs. 

"Hey! Hey! You're not permitted to go there." They run after me and yell.

I hasten my steps because I don't want to beat the shit out of these rich kids and cause a problem that'd let Marcus send me away. 

The stairs lead to an even larger floor, with so many doors to different rooms. It's like a walkway.

The fuck!

I didn't know which room to start with, and I had the boys standing behind me like they were ready to get beaten.

I was left with no choice but to open the rooms one after the other. 

"We wouldn't do that if we were you." They say before charging at me.

"Tessa! Tessa!" I yell, pushing open the first door. I look inside but she wasn't there. It was just a girl and a guy, kissing themselves inside the room. 

One of the boys catches up with me as I closed the door to the first room.

"Old perv!" He yells and tries to attack me.

I grab him by his hands and squeeze them. 

He yells like a child, making the others fear coming close to me. 

I pushed him to the floor and warn, "I'm not here for trouble. All I'm looking for is Tessa. If you know where she is, I'd just go get her and leave."

They act like they didn't hear what I said and charge at me all at once. 

"Suck my dick,"  one of them yell like he was in a Marvel movie.

I grab them one after the other, smacking them in the face, hitting them on the hand and kicking their legs as they throw themselves at me. 

"Ouch! Ouch!" They cry aloud.