Caden's POV

Skylar refused to answer any more of my calls or the texts that I sent her--which wouldn't have been so alarming if she hadn't sounded so strange earlier.

Back when she'd answered my call. Back when she had been there at that bridge. Costa Bridge.

"Fuck," I swore as I got out of my car, slamming the door shut behind me.

Not there, I thought. Why would she go there? Why would she when I'd never told her of--

I took out my phone and saw Seth's name flashing in an incoming call.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Hey," he said. "So there's bad news and good news. The bad news is that she's switched off her phone. And the good--"

"What do you mean she's switched it off?" I exclaimed, raking my free hand through my hair. And god, I was mad. Livid. Because I couldn't stop remembering that absurd fear in her voice--the last phone call of mine that she'd bothered to answer. She'd sounded strange, and I couldn't, for the goddamned life of me, think of a reason why.

Costa Bridge, I reminded myself. Why had she gone there?

"I mean...she's switched it off," Seth said, then sighed. I clenched my jaw because surely, taking it out on him won't make things easier, would it? "I can't track her down any further than I already have. And I promise I'm not half-assing it, Caden."

A group of people stumbled out of a bar at some distance and I scowled.

"The good news, as I was saying, is that we know she's somewhere near where you are." He continued. "Pretty near, if you ask me. How about you look around and ask the people around you if they've seen her?"

"Or how about I just punch someone." I gritted out. "Something."

Seth muttered something incoherent before adding, "If you think that'll help you find Sky, sure."

"Don't bother smart-mouthing me." I hissed, but it lacked any real threat. "She could be anywhere right now. I don't--Why the fuck is she not answering any of my calls?" I tried thinking in a sensical manner, but I couldn't. Not when I didn't understand why she'd been at that one location I told myself never to think of. Not when I was dreading to even think of what could've happened to her.

"Her phone's switched off," Seth repeated in that calm way that he always somehow had himself in. It was fucking annoying.

"I fucking know that!"

He sighed again. "Give me a second."

I gave him a second. I gave him two seconds. "What--" I paced. "--are you making me wait for?"

"Okay, so the last spot I can see here, where Skylar last was, is right where you are. Street 14, yes?"

"Yeah." I scrubbed my free hand over my face.

"Hm, okay." I could hear the distant clicks from his end. "You see some sort of a...club around you? A bar?"

I looked back at the scruffy bar that I'd spotted earlier. "Yeah. Is she in there?" And I was already making my way over there. If Sky was in there all alone--

"Nope," Seth responded. "The alley that goes behind it. See it?"

I neared the bar and took a turn into the narrow, old alleyway. "This is it?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said. "That's the last spot I can track from Skylar's phone. Sorry, man."

I kept going ahead, eyes scanning every dark corner until I met a dead end. And there was no Skylar. Still no signs of her. I bit back another curse and exhaled heavily, closing my eyes.

"Okay. That's--fuck, that's fine." I said into the phone. "I'll talk later."

Once I'd hung up, I tried calling Skylar again. But like Seth had just told me, her phone was switched off. And I was seconds away from throwing my own against the nearest wall when I saw it.

A phone--a broken phone lying on the ground just a few feet away from me.

A phone, I realized as I picked it up, that looked so similar to Skylar's. I tried switching it on, but there were visible cracks on the screen and the phone itself looked pretty dead.

Carefully sliding it inside my pocket, I headed outside of the alley, gaze darting from one corner to another, looking for one person only. What if she was in danger? I found myself thinking, and it wasn't the first time. What if she'd meant to call me, but someone was after her and she couldn't?

I'd only taken three steps out of there when I noticed someone standing in the middle of the dark, empty street, staring specifically at my car. Someone, I registered as I walked closer, who happened to be wearing my jacket. At least that's what I recognized first.

It was the red converse that I noticed next. And I didn't think I'd ever been this grateful to see such a hideously familiar color.

"Sky!" I shouted, running the rest of the way towards her. She turned around almost instantly. "Fucking hell, where in the world--"

The rest of my words were knocked out of me, so bloody abruptly, that I could only stare when her eyes found mine.

Just one painfully silent second.

And then I was in front of her, hands on either side of her face, eyes darting across her face, and fuck, there was blood on her cheek. A bruise that looked recent. And she flinched. Skylar flinched when I touched her, and that itself was like another stab to my own fucking gut.

"Caden." She murmured, blinked, and her gaze seemed to skitter past my face.

"How did this happen?" I pulled my hands away, curling them into fists, only to lean closer and hold her face in between my palms again, excruciatingly careful of the reddish bruise. "Who the fuck did this, Sky?"

"No one." She sighed and shrugged off my hold.

I pulled back as if punched, and my face must've shown something since she sighed again and took a step closer, stumbling a little until I gently grabbed her by the arm. Her eyelids fluttered and she exhaled heavily again.

"Skylar--"

"It was an accident." She wasn't looking at me. She wasn't fucking looking at me and she was lying. "It's not even--"

"Anderson." I tugged on her arm until she looked up--finally looked me in the eye. I gritted out, "Who the fuck did this to you?"

She looked exhausted, I managed to notice amidst the plain, mad anger I felt right then. Either that or just drunk. Had she been in that bar? If I wasn't so enraged, I'd have pulled her closer. But I needed to see her and I was scared of hurting her even more, I was on the verge of losing it, and why the fuck wasn't she answering me?

"Skylar, for fuck's sake, I'm asking you something." I heard the raise in my voice, the silent, pleading edge in it because I couldn't understand. Who had dared? "Do you honestly think I'll believe it was an accident when you've got a giant bruise on your face?" I let my hands drift down to her neck, gently angling her face up and I think I saw faint marks around her throat. Inhaling sharply, I gritted out, "Fuck. Sky, I swear I'll beat the shit out of the first person I see if you don't start speaking."

Her brows furrowed a little. "It's not a...giant bruise."

I exhaled out frustratedly, letting go of her and taking a step back. And then I couldn't help curling my hands into fists as I sharply looked up at the sky. "Fine. Have it your way--"

"Caden." She cut me off, her voice soft and pleading. "Let's go home."

Home? "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who hurt you!" And then I nearly almost punched my own self when I heard her wince. "You're drunk. Why the hell are you--Sky, I can't just--"

I couldn't understand. I was furious beyond belief. Was she expecting me to just let it go? And I must've been making this a thousand times worse, I realized in horror when I saw her eyes darting away from me, chin quivering.

"Fuck. Fuck, I'm sorry." I breathed out, brows furrowing, and I stepped closer once again, hands on her arms as I held her. I could feel her trembling and I was suddenly so furious at myself. "I'm sorry. I'm not making this any better." Then I was raking my gaze down the rest of her. My jacket. Her clothes. Nothing else seemed disheveled. "Where else? Where else are you hurt?" Where else?

She sniffled and I cussed myself out some more, pulling her closer in my arms and pressing my lips to the side of her head, careful not to hurt her anymore. "I'm sorry. Shit. I won't punch anyone, I promise. Not...right now. Hey, hey, Sky, don't cry." Because I, even after this long, didn't know what to do when I saw her cry. I didn't know what I could do to stop the way it made something inside my chest twist so horribly.

"Just my shoulder." She leaned against me. "It-It hurts a bit there."

"Your shoulder?" I tried not to grind my teeth together. For fuck's sake, where else was she hurt that she wasn't telling me? And who had done this? Why wasn't she telling me?

Because of me, I swore in my head. Had it been someone who came after her because of me?

"Okay. Okay." I whispered and pressed another kiss into her hair. She pressed closer and I tried not to tighten my grip on her. "I'm here. I'll take care of you."

She sniffled again and I tried to stop my thoughts from racing so fast. Someone had hurt her. Someone had hurt my Sky. And I would, I swore. I'd kill them with my bare hands.

"Home?" She asked in a voice so small that I barely even heard it.

"Where's...that?"

"Anywhere that's w-warm."

I blinked. "I can do that."

••••••

Skylar's POV

Caden seemed to be pissed. Not as much as he'd seemed back there when he found me on that street, but he still seemed on the verge of losing it the whole time as he drove. I could see the way his hands grasped the steering wheel, the way he glanced at me every few seconds later, and ran his hands through his hair every time that frown came on his face.

I would've said something if only I knew what to say. Were there any words that I could say, words that could make this all a bit better? Maybe, but I couldn't think of them right now. Not when I was halfway under the influence of alcohol, and halfway grimacing with the dull, throbbing pain in my jaw and the one at the back of my shoulder.

Instead, I tried closing my eyes and forgetting everything for that brief moment.

It was getting a little fuzzy. The whole day was starting to get bleary if I started thinking of all that had happened. Perhaps I really was a bit too drunk.

"Stop," Caden said, still frowning as he glanced at me. "Don't do that."

Only then did I realize I was trying to feel the graze on my cheek with my fingertips. I pulled my hand away and looked out of the window, blinking tiredly.

Caden stopped his car in a driveway--an empty driveway--before he opened his door and got out. Once I was out of the car too, I looked over at the house in front of us and I was left a bit surprised at the sheer unfamiliarity of it. And even amidst the grogginess in my head, I knew I'd never really been here before.

I wanted to ask but I didn't. At least not right then. I was just exhausted. I didn't want any sorts of questions for a few hours.

"Come on." He took my hand in his and started walking towards the porch--a beautiful porch by the looks of it--and then to the front door. I couldn't see much of the garden under the darkness of the night, but I saw enough to know that it was being taken care of. And so was the house, I realized, as Caden unlocked the door and we stepped inside.

It was mostly bare, with just a handful of furniture. Bare walls, bare wooden floor, but it was clean and tidy and it smelled like lemons and apples. So much warmer than outside.

Caden dragged me inside and towards what looked like the kitchen, and made me sit down on the chair he'd pulled towards the kitchen island before taking out a box from one of the drawers. A first aid kit, I realized after a few seconds. All the while, he remained silent. I did too. It just made the house seem much much quieter. And that felt weird since I almost always had Chicken roaming around me even when I'd been alone at my house back in Crestmont.

Chicken, I thought of her and grimaced, unconsciously reaching out and patting my pockets for my phone to ask Nova if she was taking care of my cat, when I realized that I didn't have it. My phone, I mean.

"I can do it," I told him, breaking the silence when he pulled another identical stool in front of me and sat down.

Caden paused and regarded me with a frown before choosing to ignore what I'd just said.

"It really doesn't hurt that much," I added quietly as I watched his features tensing. I think my reassurances weren't really working. So I didn't say anything after that, not for the next few minutes.

"My...my phone, it's..." Still in that alley. Crushed under that man's boot. The one who'd punched me. The man who had been following me, maybe the whole day.

"I have it," Caden said, wiping the blood off my cheek with a cotton ball, his movements soft and slow.

"You have it?"

His green eyes found mine. "Yes."

He'd done much thinking during the ride here then. I could see that he was trying not to act so abrasively, but he was still angry. There were these tiny details, like the swift clench of his jaw and the little furrow between his eyebrows and the way he kept blinking and avoiding directly looking at me, that told me he was trying hard not to show it.

"Caden." I sighed, grabbing his wrist and stopping his movements, making him look at me. "I am fine."

He didn't pull away, just stared at me. He stared at me for a long time.

"Someone hurt you."

I bristled. "He..." I trailed off with a shrug and kept my gaze trained on our hands.

"I'll kill him." There it was again, the near-murderous edge in his voice. "Once I find out who it was, I'll kill him. I'll make him--"

"Caden."

"Sky." His fingers circled around my wrist and I looked up into his eyes. The green in them looked wild, hurt, furious. "Someone hurt you to get back at me."

"I never said that."

"You don't have to." He shook his head. "It's all my fucking fault."

All of a sudden, the corners of my eyes stung. "I was the one who refused to call you."

"Why?"

"Because..." I trailed off. Because I couldn't do this anymore. Let myself think that maybe, just maybe the only reason you're here with me is that you feel like it's your responsibility to keep me safe. Every single time. Was this it?

"I don't know." I tried swallowing past the lump in my throat and pulled my hands away from his, digging the heels of my palms into my eyes. "I don't know."

I was weak and I didn't have a clue on how to protect myself and I messed things up and Caden didn't have to stay. He could have so much better. Be free of this stupid responsibility any time. Was it that he felt obliged to stay?

"Sky," Caden's voice had gone soft, a little confused, as he hooked a shoe under my stool and pulled me closer. "Look at me."

"I'm just tired of this." I breathed out shakily and pulled my hands away, not bothering to wipe my tears--not when my whole entire face was starting to hurt now. "I don't want...I just want to pretend that everything is fine. That there're no..." Secrets. Enemies. Murders. "...I-I'm scared that you'll go away." That I might lose you.

Caden frowned and the fact that he leaned forward, the first aid kit on his lap long forgotten, just to wipe off my tears, made a tiny sob escape my lips. God, it really was hurting now, wasn't it?

"Why would I go away?"

"I don't know." My voice broke as another hot tear rolled down my chin.

"Is this...Is this because I was furious a few seconds ago?" He asked, still looking so confused. He always got that lost look on his face whenever it was that I cried in front of him. It shouldn't have made me feel so utterly sad. "Because I said I'll murder the person who hurt you?"

No, I wanted to say. "I wouldn't...fuck, Skylar, I wouldn't. I'll try not to be such a bastard. I promise. Just don't--"

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning impossibly closer and pressing my forehead in the crook of his neck. A shudder left me when Caden's arms came rather quickly around me.

And then I closed my eyes shut.

"Don't," I whispered through my tears. "Don't kill anyone for me."