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"Mmm... more chocolate please," someone groaned beside me.

I yawned and opened my eyes. Callie's leg was draped over me and Melissa's hand was stretched across my belly. When did I become a pillow for these two?

"Girllsss," I groaned, wiggling to break free.

Melissa and Callie opened their eyes and stretched drowsily.

"Morning!" Callie chirped brightly.

"What time is it?" Melissa asked sleepily.

Callie glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and then got out of bed.

"It's just after eight. Come on," she said, grabbing my feet and pulling me off the bed. Melissa just rolled over until she was at the edge and then fell off.

"We're leaving at twelve and I still haven't checked out the hot tub," Callie complained.

"You have a hot tub at home," I reminded her.

"Yeah, but this one is by the beach," she grinned.

"I'm not alive until I get some coffee," Melissa grumbled, still half-asleep.

After we took turns using the bathroom and got dressed, we headed downstairs. Trey and Kevin were playing a basketball video game. Ashton lounged around the table on his phone and Demetri was nowhere to be seen.

"G'morning," Kevin said as the game ended in a tie. "I need to tell you two something important," he said to Melissa and Callie.

He looked at me and nodded and I got a feeling that I knew what he was about to tell them.

"At least let me tell my man good morning first," Callie yelled as he led them outside.

Trey blew a kiss to Melissa and then smiled at me. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks," I smiled back at him.

I could feel Ashton's gaze on me. I'd thought a lot about what Kevin had told me last night, how the king was trying to control Ashton in more ways than one. I wanted to believe that Ashton wasn't as bad as he had seemed yesterday. I was not going to apologize to him, but I at least wanted to make an effort to understand what he was going through.

I turned around to face him and our eyes connected. Okay, I could do this.

"Asht-"

"Hey," Demetri interrupted as he came into the room.

I groaned internally. Great, just when I had managed to work up the courage to talk to him.

"Do you know who this belongs to?" he asked, holding something golden. I looked closer. Wait, that was my necklace.

"That's mine..." I said. "How did you get that?"

"It was sitting on top of the trash," he explained casually.

I whirled around as Ashton stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him in anger.

"Wait!" I called and was about to go after him, but Demetri caught my hand.

He dropped the necklace into my palm and went into the kitchen. I followed him hesitantly. Maybe I should let Ashton cool down a little.

"Did you find this in here?' I asked, peering into the trash can.

"Yeah," he paused, then added, "I'm guessing he gave that to you."

I nodded, still very much confused as to how the necklace I had left in my room ended up in the trash.

"It looked like Ashton was a jerk last night," he said, moving closer to me. "Maybe that thing really should be in the trash."

I stared at him. Was Demetri actually being nice to me? This was a first. Like he wasn't bad or anything, but I just got the feeling that he didn't like me very much.

"I think I'll hold on to it a little longer," I told him. "Thanks for returning it to me."

"So... you and Ashton are a thing?" he asked.

"I don't know what we are," I sighed.

"You both seem really close."

I was a little surprise by his sudden interest in me and Ashton. "We're not that close. We just started hanging out."

He smiled. "Good."

He tucked a few strands of my hair behind my ear. He tilted my chin up and leaned in closer to me. I hastily pushed my hand out to his chest to stop him from doing what it was that he was about to do.

"What are you doing?" I gasped as I increased the distance between us.

"Nothing," he chuckled and left the room.

I stayed rooted to where I was, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. If I had hesitated for a second, that would have been a kiss. I was pretty shaken up by that.

Not only did Demetri try to kiss me, but he tried to do that while he was dating my best friend. My confusion turned to anger and then morphed into sorrow.

Could I even tell Callie about what just happened? She was trying her best to get over Daniel and now she finally found someone who she liked. This would break her heart. But then if I didn't tell her, what kind of friend would I be?

I shook my head with a groan. When did my life get so weird? And now Ashton was mad at me all over again because he thought I threw his necklace in the trash. I literally had no clue how it even ended up there. I racked my mind trying to figure out how I could have removed it from its box and accidentally toss it in the trash.

I face-palmed myself. I would have to explain this to him somehow. My stomach grumbled and I decided to distract myself by making breakfast. I rummaged through the ingredients and decided to make pancakes. I made banana pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes.

Trey ended up joining me after his nose led him into the kitchen. I was a bit cautious around him at first, in case he started behaving like Demetri, but he just chatted with me good naturedly and made scrambled eggs and bacon. Eventually I got to relax around him.

"I do not have a gummy bear addiction," I protested for the fifth time.

"You ate four pounds of gummy bears in a day."

"It was just a sweet tooth," I pointed out.

"Right," he laughed and I brandished the wooden spoon in my hand at him.

"This is my ultimate weapon against gummy haters," I joked.

"That's nothing compared to my mom's chancla," he chuckled.

I waved the spoon at him and he surrendered with a laugh.

We were finishing up the breakfast when the girls returned with Kevin. Melissa looked lost in thought, but Callie's eyes were shining brightly.

"That smells good!" Kevin said, stealing a grape from the fruit salad I was making. I smacked his hand with the spoon.

"Eat at the table," I scolded him.

"Yes, mom," he droned with a roll of his eyes.

"I'll go get Ashton and Demetri," Trey offered.

I returned my attention to the fruit salad. I didn't want to see either of those guys right now. As soon as Trey stepped through the door, Melissa and Callie attacked me.

"Liz, why didn't you tell me that Kevin was something straight out of a fantasy movie?" Callie whisper-shouted.

I grinned at Kevin. "You finally told them."

He smiled back and massaged his arm. "Callie freaked out and threw a rock at me," he grimaced.

"Are you okay?' I asked, rushing over to inspect his arm, but he just grinned. There wasn't even a bruise.

"In my defense, I thought you were joking," Callie shouted. "I was protecting Mel."

"Don't use me as your excuse," Melissa laughed.

"Ignore the minor details," Callie grinned as she turned to me.

Melissa shook her head, still pretty much in disbelief. "Who knew you were keeping something like that from us."

Kevin shrugged. "I was just waiting on the right time to tell you."

"They're taking this information better than I did."

"Well, they did have enough time to freak out before we came back. Remember, you can't tell Demetri and Trey or anybody else about this, okay," he reminded them.

"Did you tell them about Ashton too?" I asked.

"Yeah, but they still don't know about the whole soulmate thing yet. That's for you to explain," he grinned and raced out of the kitchen before I could catch him.

"I can't believe Ashton's a prince," Melissa sighed. "It's kind of hard to believe. I thought that Prince Ashton was supposed to be out of the kingdom."

"For the record, so does everyone else in the kingdom. Kevin really filled you in. You were gone for a long time."

"I'm mind-blown," Callie sighed, stealing a slice of pineapple. I glared at her, but let her get away with it.

Trey came back as we were moving the food to the dining table. "I can't find Ashton, but Demetri's on his way in."

"Thanks, babe," Melissa said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"So cute!" Callie gushed. She linked arms with Demetri as he walked in. "Let's go to the hot tub after this."

Demetri nodded and then smiled at me. I ignored him and took an angry bite of my pancake.

"Where's Ashton?" Callie asked after Kevin came in alone and sat down to eat.

"He's not hungry right now," he said. "He... went for a run."

I swear a smirk played on Demetri's lips, but I ignored it. I wasn't going to let him ruin the rest of my day. I had to figure out a way to tell Callie without crushing her heart and I hoped that was possible.

Melissa and Callie cleared away the dishes while Kevin tugged me away from the others.

"Did something happen with Ashton after we left?" he asked.

"Kinda," I sighed. I pulled the necklace that I had thoroughly disinfected out of my pocket. "Demetri found this in the trash."

Kevin frowned. "In the trash? How did it get there?"

"That's what I would like to know too," I exclaimed. "See, I left it in my room and then poof, it's in the trash."

"You say Demetri found it?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, and he was acting really weird," I said, twirling the necklace around my finger in thought.

"How weird?"

"He kept asking about me and Ashton," I muttered.

He looked at me for a moment. "And what else?"

I stared at him in shock. How did he know that there was something else?

"Can you read my mind or something?" I wondered.

"No, but I know when something's bothering you,"

I sighed. "Promise you won't do anything if I tell you?"

He searched my eyes. "That depends on what you tell me."

"Kevin," I pressed.

"...Okay, fine. I won't do anything."

I looked around to make sure no-one was listening and then whispered. "Demetri tried to kiss me."

"What?!" he roared. He was on his feet in a second and was storming towards the door. I ran in front of him and tried to push him back to the sofa.

"Kevin, you promised!" I reminded him.

He looked down at me in frustration. "I can't not do anything about this. He's not only messing with you, but he's messing with Callie too," he pointed out.

"I know, but I don't know how to tell Callie without hurting her," I griped.

"Don't know how to tell me what?" Callie asked, stepping into the room with Melissa. "We heard shouting," she explained.

I glanced at Kevin, who was fuming with his fists clenched.

"What's wrong, Kev?" Melissa asked going over to him and rubbing his shoulder. He stared pointedly at me. Great!

Callie cocked her head to one side. "What's going on?"

"Callie, don't take this the wrong way, but Demetri might have tried to kiss me."

Callie stared at me blankly. "Is there a right way to take it?"

I scratched my head. She was taking this rather well.

"You're not upset?" I asked.

She shook her head. "He explained to me that you might have misunderstood. You see, where he's from, a kiss on the cheek is a way to cheer people up. He apologizes for scaring you."

Kevin narrowed his eyes and Melissa didn't look convinced.

"Cals, he wasn't going for my cheek," I mumbled awkwardly, wishing I could just disappear.

"It was probably a mistake," she grinned widely. "Don't let it get to you so much."

She came over and gave me a long hug and then hugged Kevin too. "I appreciate you telling me this, Liz." She beamed. "What? Did you think I was going to be upset with you? Never. Sisters before misters."

I forced a laugh too, but I wasn't buying Demetri's excuse. The way he was acting... that wasn't a casual attempt to cheer up someone who was practically a stranger. But Callie seemed happy, so I decided to let it go. Hopefully he would never do that with another girl again. I would have a little talk with him to make sure of it.

"Now enough about me. What's up with you and that sexy prince Ashton?" she grinned.

I turned to Kevin, who chuckled. "NBA 2K awaits me out there," he said, pointing to the living room and jogged off.

"You might want to have a seat, it's a long story," I said, sitting down and patting the space beside me. They sat on either side of me and listened in astonishment as I filled them in on everything that had happened since the party.

"That's crazy, Liz," Melissa stated with a frown. "All of that happened in a few weeks?"

"So... you and Ashton are supposed to be together?" Callie asked in confusion. "How does that even work?"

I sighed and nodded. "Between the betrothal and the soulmate bond, I don't know which is worse."

"That explains why he's been hanging around so much lately. But the most important question is, what do you want?" she asked softly

"That's the thing, I don't know. I do know that I don't want an arranged marriage, which is kinda what this is. But at the same time, I don't want to end up hurting anybody."

Melissa chuckled. "It's a bit ironic that you and Ashton ended up like this."

"I know right, the one person who I tried to avoid is the one person who wants to date me."

"Well, technically he wants to marry you," Callie laughed.

I slapped her arm and she giggled. We stayed in the room and talked for some time, until Kevin came in. "Sorry to crash your girl talk, but it's almost time to leave."

"What?" Callie shrieked and checked the time on her phone. "I didn't even get to use the hot tub yet."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Melissa said, jumping up and pulling us up too. "Let's go then!"

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