Half ryder half rose btw.

"Break the lock! C'mon, we've done this before. You're gonna get us caught!" Ethan whispers at Lucas.

"Shut up." With that he cracks open the door and we all file in.

"Finally..." Ethan remarks, turning the corner out of the kitchen presumably to his locker. Will follows him.

Luke and I go to find his note.

We decided to sneak in using the backdoor, with our hoodies up and our hands gloved, we should be fine. There's no evidence it was us.

The moonlight lights the dark hallway as we jog to his locker. Lucas stops and seems lost as he looks up and down the wall.

"What is it?" I whisper.

"I forgot which one my locker is... I don't exactly come to school much." He says avoiding my eyes.

I suck my teeth and push him aside.

He's so fucking lucky I memorized all three of their locker numbers and the passwords.

Opening the container, a crumbled up tissue sits in front of me with some kind of red mark. Like a combat letter.

I smile.

"This is it." I grab it.

Lucas reaches over and snatches it from me. My heart skips a beat and I gasp.

"It could've ripped! Be fucking careful!" I hit him in the back of his head.

"Oh, sorry, but this letter is mine. She would've gave it to you if she wanted you to have it. There's a reason she left it to me." He holds it in his fist and nods.

"We're all reading it together. Don't think you're special. We all got one." I close the locker and we begin walking towards the back exit.

"This is the first thing Rose has ever entrusted me with. I feel like it's my responsibility to do exactly what she wants. She's our queen." He seems to be talking more to himself than me.

"Whatever." I don't like that 'our' in his statement. It's like I'm sharing her. After all this blows over, I won't let her out my sight. No more secrets, we'll be together always.

I don't think I ever want to be away from her again. Even now, I'm going crazy and it hasn't been a full day yet.

I just want to be stuck on her.

"You guys took your time." Ethan and Will stand at the exit waiting for us.

"Blame him he-" Suddenly the alarm goes off and we spring into action, running out the door.

"We're outta time!" Will says as we run.

"I thought you said you disabled the inside cameras and alarms!" Lucas yells over the beeping.

"It was only for 10 mins any longer and they'd get suspicious!" Will responds, hoping in the driver's seat as we jump in the back.

"Let's just get the hell away, huh?" Ethan suggests, as we all awkwardly try to fit.

"Yup!" Will hits the gas pedal and we speed for the mansion.

I don't have to sit in some jail cell, while Rose is rotting away in that prison.

Getting caught isn't an option.

We drive down the road and Will slows down, turning as if we didnt just escape from the school.

Two police car pass by us and we all let out an audible sigh of relief.

Shit, that was close.

"Tell us next time you decide to put a time limit on our little adventures, ok?" Ethan crawls to shotgun.

"I really thought we'd be out faster than that. It didn't feel like 10 minutes." He shrugs.

"This isn't the time to gamble with things like the police. Rose is in serious shit and we have to save her. Save the bullshit for another time." I say, looking out the window.

The car gets quiet and Will mutters out an apology.

I don't really care about anything other than Rose right now. Their hurt feelings can wait.

Rose can't.

Caleb turns around and walks back into the room, wiping his blood hand on his pants.

I ignore it.

"I have something to say to you. Come sit back down." I pay the space next me and his eyes light up.

He quickly closed the door and comes to my side.

"Do you...understand a little bit now?" He looks at me cautiously.

I nod.

"I think Ryder was always between us. I didn't realize until just now, you're a man I could love too. I heard all about you when I was little and yes, I wanted to meet you too." I put my hand over his and squeeze it.

He begins breathing harder.

"Really?" His tone is light and hopeful.

I nod.

"You wanted to meet me too? I wasn't the only one?"

I nod.

He laces his fingers through mine and the fake smile on my face becomes genuine.

I scoff.

Tightening the hold on his hand, I bring his arm around his back and twist it, getting up behind him by bouncing off my knee up to the bed. Kneeling now, I put my right knee inbetween his shoulder blades, pushing against his back and use both my hands to pull as hard as I can, threatening to dislocate his right shoulder.

He groans out of pain and I pull harder.

"If you scream I'll make sure to ruin your life. I'll make sure we go to war. Busken against Killats." I seethe out..

"You-don't have that power." He pants out.

I laugh and tug.

He struggles against me but only causes more pain to himself, realizing this obviously, he stops.

"I don't? Why do you think my father needs me so badly? He's knows I'm the key factor to this alliance and the moment I decide to act up, it's over. At the altar all I have to do is break your father's neck and the war will begin. You'll be useless, thrown to the side because you never really mattered. I do. I'm the one who'd be ruling over both the Busken and the Killats after this marriage and I swear to God, if you kill Ryder or even suggests to my father he kills him earlier, it'll be over for you and the Busken." I pull at his arm even more and hear a small crack.

He bites his lips in pain.

"I want you to tell my dad this, every single word. If he still goes ahead with his decision, tell him I'll make it so the alliance never happens, cause I'll be gone."

It's a buff but one not to far from the truth. If Ryder dies, so do I. Not in body, but in soul. I couldn't kill myself if he died because I'd have kill everyone one who caused it. Everyone who let it happen too. Then I'd go to prison and let myself rot away until I could join him again.

Caleb begins shaking his head, fast.

"I'll try to convince him. I'll do anything I can, anything so please don't kill yourself. Please." He pleads with me.

They really have him thinking he loves me. This is getting sad.

"If you don't, I already told you what I'll do. Now get the fuck out." I kick him off the bed, letting go of his arm and getting off it myself.

"Can I just ask if you meant it when-when you said you wanted to meet me too? Was that true? Even a little?" His eyes seem full of hurt but I don't care.

I won't lie to him though. I heard about the boy who was supposed be my future husband once when I was still little and I was curious. For a second, I was.

"I was only curious about you. I'm not sure I wanted to meet you back then and I'm glad I didn't." I glare at him.

He nods and smiles sadly.

"That's good enough." He breathes.

With that, he hurries out and closes the door.

I lay back on the bed and sigh.

It's been a while since I've had to blackmail someone like this. I think it's my second time doing it seriously. At least my father was useful for something.

I tried to protect Ryder all the ways I know how.

Bait him in with seduction.

Trap him with strength.

And finally, blackmail him with strategy.

What happened, happened. Now I can only wait for the results.

Suddenly, all my energy runs out and I'm sleepy.

I put my head on my pillow and shuffle under the covers.

I pray I dream of Ryder and us back in that hotel room.

Warm, safe, and in love.

But best of all, together.

______________________________________

924k

2/7/19

I'm updating earlier because I wanted you all to get this chapter, for those even still reading.

One million is on its way and I think I might do a Q&A for it just cause so drop whatever question you want. Everything that comes to mind. Right here.

I'm sorta late for school but not really so i think it's fine. For all you guys going to school rigjt now im sorry I let it out now.

I know I said I'd update on Feb 8 but I can't help it soo...

Here.

Thx so much for everything.

Ciao.