"Have you ever seen the stars in the night? See them closely, they will tell you, how to be open, how to love, and how to shine and twinkle without any differences and jealousy of other stars."

― Santosh Kalwar.

Irene's POV.

"You already did a mistake running away from me and now look you even dragged your poor boyfriend into this," With his gun piercing into my waist, Alex whispers into my ear as I look at Reese who's held down by his men. Reese's eyes never leaving mine begging me not to trade myself for him.

"Take me, l-let him go," I beg with my voice cracking. I can't let Reese take the fall, I love him and he deserves much more than getting killed by Alex. "Oh my sweet Irene. So innocent and always caring for people,"

Alex kisses my neck making me clench my fists and making Reese angry too as he tries to break free from those guys, "You and that stupid ass of your boyfriend have tortured me enough so its time for both of you to pay for it,"

Alex grabs my hands and forces the gun into my hand before guiding it to face Reese, "N-no no please don't do this," I beg him as I try to free my hands from his. I look at Reese who's holding a stern unreadable expression, staring at Alex. My heart beating probably hard enough for even Reese to hear it. I can't let this happen.

I can't fucking let this happen.

~•~•~•

My eyes jerk open with tears and Reese's face comes into view as he shook me awake, "Oh my god Reese," I pull him into a hug. "It's going to be okay," his hand runs over my back gently trying to calm me down as my tears continue running down my face. The worst fucking dream.

He kisses my forehead pulling away and taking my face into his hands, "What was the dream about? Want to talk about it?" his hands caress the sides of my face as I just shake my head, 'no' before getting back into his embrace. He holds me close, lying still next to me as I calm my crying down. I've told him about all my nightmares every single time but this, it feels too much to even think about it again.

The option of me going back to Alex doesn't stand anymore because now he's already on the hunt for Reese as well and for once, I chose to stay instead of letting down Reese.

"What time is it?" I ask Reese once my breathing steadies.

"About two am I think, you've just been asleep for an hour,"

"I'm sorry I woke you up," I apologize kissing his cheek.

"You didn't wake me up silly, I just couldn't sleep so just continued watching the movie," he pulls me into a kiss still wrapped up in his warm embrace. We just decided to sleep in the living room so just on the floor with a comforter below and snuggled into the arms of the person I love the most.

My hands rest on his chest as we continue our kiss as Reese makes me forget the disturbing dream, he tucks my hair behind my ear before breaking the kiss and resting his forehead against mine. Our perfect little bubble that I could live in all my life.

"So want to talk it out?" he asks me again noticing me deep in thought. I finally give in with a nod before bracing myself for another probable set of fresh tears.

~•~•~•

Walking out of the shower, I notice the empty room with Reese t-shirt left out on the bed for me. A smile makes its way to my face as I realize he left it for me with a note in his shabby handwriting.

Pancakes for breakfast with an accompaniment of kisses.

- Love,

Your handsome hunk.

A giggle escapes my lips before I shake my head and grab my clothes to go with the t-shirt. He's such a sweetheart and tries to make me smile even when things aren't all that good. Last night was a turmoil of emotions for me though it was just a bad dream, it spoke volumes to me but Reese held me through it and never once complained.

Once dressed in my black slacks and Reese's grey t-shirt, I walk out of the room tying my hair up into a messy bun. I look at him setting up two plates of pancakes on the dining table. I smile as he finally looks at me, damn Reese without a shirt and just shorts is a sight to see or rather, my favorite sight to see. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I stand tiptoes kissing him.

His lips curl up into a smile against my lips as he holds me by my waist, "Well that's one kiss and pancakes are waiting for us to get to,"

Kissing me once again he drags me to the table. He sits down next to me before we dive into the amazing pancakes and once again I'm in love with his cooking as the flavor of cinnamon hits my taste buds, "That's the most delicious pancake ever!"

My voice is more of a squeal as I kiss his cheek and get back to my heavenly breakfast while Reese laughs. Have a man who cooks amazing and treats you like a princess.

"That is the quickest I've seen you eat," Reese says in surprise as I put the last bit of pancake in my mouth. "Well, you did make an amazing breakfast,"

He smiles grabbing my plate and heading to the kitchen with me hot on his heels, "Coffee?"

He nods and I grab the jar of steaming expresso right of the machine before pouring it into two mugs and adding some sugar. And like always, Reese's arms snake around my waist as he kisses my shoulder, "I want to get used to this,"

"Me too," I reply with a smile as I relax back into his chest before he turns me around for a kiss, "Told you kisses were an accompaniment,"

He says before kissing me in a way enough to make me melt in his arms. Grabbing my butt, he places me on the counter a little away from the coffee with his lips still on mine. His hands wander under my t-shirt as the kiss gets heated while moans escape my lips.

The sound of the doorbell interrupts us followed by a familiar voice, "Guys open the door," Reese groans into my shoulder making me stifle a giggle.

"I'm going to kill him,"

"It's early for doing any of this and it's his house. So get your ass off me so I can open the door. Poor Ty is waiting for us to open the door to his own house while we were close to ruining his kitchen," pushing Reese back a few steps with a smile, I get off the counter. He pulls me back to peck my lips with a smile before letting me go.

"It's not poor Ty sweetie, it's poor Reese and I'm going to spend all day in bed with you today," Ty's voice again cuts Reese off making him glare in the direction of his voice. I just let out a small laugh before getting to the door.

Reese has been spending way too much time in bed with me and working late at night or early in the morning. Talk about behaving like a horny teenager but I've got no complaints though.

"Hey there!" Ty's greets me as I open the door.

"Hey," I reply with a smile before he walks in to see Reese walking out of the kitchen before they both greet each other with Ty grinning.

"Stop being all grumpy Reese, I could hear you guys at the door. You really should keep things to the bedroom if you don't want me walking in on you guys," my face is red with embarrassment as I look at Reese who's just rolling his eyes in a still sexually frustrated look while Tyler just laughs walking into his room.

I storm off into the bedroom unable to contain my laughter for some reason once I saw Reese's face once my embarrassment wore off and burst into fits of laughter falling onto the bed. Now I agree, poor Reese.

He looked so mad that Ty interrupted us and then he had to be told to keep things only to the bedroom. Reese walks in surprised to see me laughing, "And what are we laughing about here?"

"No-nothing j-just your expression was priceless," my words come out as stutters as I control my laughter and he joins me on the bed just to tickle me with a smirk plastered across his face.

I laugh getting breathless before Reese finally stops with both his hands on either side of my head, "There's no one to interrupt in my apartment in LA,"

He grins before planting a kiss on my lips, wrapping my arms around his neck I pull him closer kissing him back, "I love you," he says breaking away from the kiss making me smile.

"Love you too," his lips make their way to my neck making moans escape my lips. And just then his phone rings to interrupt us making him groan again. I giggle sitting up once he gets off me to get to the phone call, "Hey Rob,"

I recognize the name immediately, that's the cop that is getting me the restriction order against Alex. My heart beats faster out of anxiety as Reese's grip on the edge of the bed tightens in clear anger.

This can't be good.

"We'll be there soon, give us twenty-four hours," he drops the call sighing before turning around to face me, "The good news is the restraining order is ready and the not so good news is that there have been suspicious people around the apartment I live in and the other apartment residents reported it but Rob is sure that it is probably Alex's guys keeping a watch. He also asked if there's any kind of extra proof that can make the whole case stronger just in case Alex decides to go legally against you," looking at my probably disoriented expression, Reese pulls me into his arms.

"I-I took a picture of the agreement between my dad and Alex and e-mailed it to Mia," my voice is just loud enough for Reese to hear. He's tracking down Reese's home, what if he gets to his parents too?

"That's good, that's great evidence against him," Reese reassures me with his hand rubbing circles on my back.

"Reese what if... what if he tracks down your parents too?" I breathe out the words with my chest feeling heavy yet again as my doubts start resurfacing. I'm dragging innocent people into my fucked up life.

Reese grabs my face forcing me to look at him while wiping the tears I didn't realize streaming down my face, "He can't get to my parents because Rob already arranged for patrolling across that street every day and the bakery is always busy so there's no way he can walk into a busy bakery and make himself visible to everyone cause that'll put his reputation at stake,"

"Rob owes me this so he's doing everything he can to help and I trust the guy to do a great job. Alex can't get to us," he reassures me with certainty in his eyes along with promise and love.

"Now you need to send the picture to Rob and also cc a copy of it to me before we hit the road," he kisses my forehead before stealing a kiss on my lips and reaches out to his laptop on the nightstand to give it to me.

"I'll just go update Ty on things," he says before giving me a quickly scribbled paper with his and Rob's email id on it. I log into my e-mail and notice my empty as usual and head over to the trash where the e-mail I sent to Mia is hidden.

Recovering the mail, I forward it to both the e-mail id before opening the picture once again to read the agreement that made my heart clench. This is what made me understand the reality of my so-called family. They exchanged me like I was some property they own and for what? Money.

My dad, whom I trusted even when he never gave me any sort of attention a kid deserves after mom died, did the worst thing he could ever do. He betrayed me. He betrayed his daughter.

All of a sudden, a hand closes the laptop and I look up to see Reese, "They don't deserve your tears love,"

Reese keeps the laptop aside before hugging me once again. "As much as I hate it, we've got company for our trip this time around. Ty's coming along too," with much annoyance in his voice, Reese shakes his head disapprovingly but we knew Ty could help us cover our tracks and reach LA safely but also he started feeling like family in the few days we knew each other. He's like Reese's older brother always looking out for him and of course, that makes him family. 

~•~•~•

So there goes yet another chapter! I'm excited to read your comments! Please do vote, comment, and share. 

Have a great day/night!

With love,
Ana... ❤️