The rest of that rehearsal passed with little conversation between Kaleb and I; both of us needed on stage or one of us off in the audience watching the other actors as their scenes were blocked. Thankfully, the rest of that week was dedicated to scenes between Jackson, who played Larry in the play and myself and then the rest of Meg and Kaleb's scenes.

That was, until Friday.

Halfway through rehearsal, without more than a few side glances from both Kaleb and I, Dave decided the flip the cards on us.

"Can I get you up here Leah and Kaleb, can you help move the bed from the side, left wing out onstage?" Dave asked as he lifted himself up onto the stage from the floor and walked off the help Kaleb move a large, white bed onto the left side of the stage.

Once the bed was in place, Dave and Kaleb walked back over to me and Meg as we waited patiently for directions.

"Alright, this is gonna be a transition scene into Anna leaving Dan. So I'll need Leah and Kaleb on the bed and then Meg off to the side, ready to walk up and knock on the door to Dan's place but you hear the moaning and whatnot going on inside and you have a moment of self-discovery before you turn around and take off. Then we will transition smoothly into the confrontation scene."

I knew Dave was still talking but my mind had zoned out with some of his first words.

Leah and Kaleb on the bed.

Of all times, it had to be now. Exactly a week after our brief but intense interaction, followed by a memorable beating from Zach, and his ever floating threat through my mind of what he would do if he ever saw me and Kaleb together again.

I couldn't do this.

But I had no other choice.

My mind and body were numb as I took each dreadful step towards the bed. In order to get through this, I would need the help of Alice.

So, as I took my rightful place on stage, waiting for Dave to continue on with his instructions, I concentrated all of my energy on Alice. On honing in on every one of her desires, every bit of her confidence, and slowly but surely, I felt my mind begin to ease.

My muscles relaxed, my heartbeat, which was erratically thumping in my chest seconds ago calmed to an acceptable pace, and overall, I felt... freer.

I felt Kaleb approach next to me, his presence as demanding as always, but I found that I didn't mind this time. I didn't care that he was just inches away from me, his arm occasionally brushing across my own.

In fact, I wanted it. Alice had taken over and Alice craved the connection and only yearned to lean into his touch even more so, welcoming the warmth he would bring with open arms.

My attention was flipped from Kaleb's body to Dave as he appeared in front of both of us.

"Okay, you two. I need heat. I need passion from you two in this scene. I know it's only a transition but it's an important moment for Meg's character so I need you to bring your A game. I know these moments can be awkward for two actors but that's just part of acing and part of the roles you've accepted," Dave explained to us, his eyebrows raised as he stared at both of us, waiting to see if either of us would protest.

Both of us nodded our heads, accepting our characters fate with grace and professionalism.

Dave's eye lit up and he clapped his hands together. "Perfect. Alright, so get on the bed and I need you on your back Leah and Kaleb on top. It's not a sex scene but it's most definitely not a PG scene either. Got it?"

"Got it," both Kaleb and I responded at the same time.

And with our confirmation, Dave winked at us, and turned to go and talk to Meg on the other side of the stage.

Kaleb plopped down onto the mattress without any reservations. His massive body took up a good portion of the bed as he stared up at me, a mischievous look twinkling in his eyes as he patted the spot next to him on the bed.

"Care to join me?"

Oh boy.

The soft mattress enveloped my body as I laid myself down on the bed and I couldn't help but to relax into it. It felt amazing on my sore muscles and I willed my mind to relax just as much, continuously reminding myself of Alice's confidence and ease in these sorts of situations.

"You seem mighty comfy," Kaleb mused from next to me, his voice light and observational.

I hummed out appreciatively as I nodded my head, closing my eyes and reveling in the rare peace I felt in that moment.

I even felt the familiar feeling of exhaustion invading my senses as a yawn slipped past my lips and my arms lifted above my head as I stretched out, getting even more comfortable and falling deeper into the embrace of the mattress.

My back arched and I felt the cool air hit my stomach as the shirt I was wearing rose up with my stretch.

"Holy shit," Kaleb breathed out in a startling voice as I felt the mattress move next to me.

"What the fuck is that, Leah?"

Kaleb's question hit me just as I felt the material on my shirt be tugged up even further. My eyes flew open and scurried to what Kaleb was doing and what he was talking about.

Oh God.

My bruises.

An ice cold bucket of terror crashed over me as I was violently ripped from the calming peace of Alice's' character and thrown back into my miserable reality.

"It's nothing," I said as I flinched my hand down to grab onto my shirt and tug it back where it was supposed to be.

My hand stopped midair though, my fingers visibly trembling as I felt another set of cool fingers brush across my bare stomach.

My breath hitched in my throat as I watched on in apprehensive astonishment as Kaleb ran his fingers around the outlines of my bruises as gently as he could. His eyes were intent, watching his own fingers as he trailed them softly across my stomach.

My abs constricted and my breathing increased as Kaleb's stare slowly came up to meet mine.

"Where did these come from?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I... I ran into a counter top," I answered meekly.

Fear trickled through my body as I saw a flicker of disbelief move through Kaleb's stare.

"Were you running full speed when you hit it?" he asked somewhat sarcastically.

"I just bruise really easily," I fessed up with a pathetic excuse of a chuckle.

He stayed quiet for a moment. His eyes were swirling with thousands of unspoken emotions and thoughts. Several different shades of worry and confusion flashed through his intense stare.

His silence was slowly gnawing away at my sanity.

Did he know?

There's no way...

I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth, chewing on the sensitive skin mercilessly, needing the slightly painful distraction like a fish needed water.

"Where did those bruises really come from?" Kaleb finally spoke again after what seemed like an eternity, his eyes dancing back and forth between my eyes and the lip captured between my teeth's grasp.

"I told you, I was running through my apartment and happened to clip the corner of the counter pretty hard," I explained with more confidence as I reached up and tugged the bottom of my shirt out of his hands and quickly covered my discolored stomach.

Kaleb sighed, his shoulders sinking, and his features creasing in irritation.

"You're-"

Before Kaleb could finish his sentence, he was abruptly cut off by Dave's voice.

"Alright! Leah, Kaleb! We're about to begin. I'll cue you when to start and when to stop but the in between... is all you two. So, get it on! I wanna feel the steam from all the way on the other side of the stage. We're ready to start when you two are ready."

Oh no.

I wasn't ready. Due to the discovery of my bruises, I was no longer in character.

Alice was the one who was confident, who enjoyed sex and the touch of a man. I did not. I had at one point but now those three things were something that was practically foreign to me.

Zach had ruined all three over the course of time, making sure there was no chance of survival for any of those qualities.

Yet, now I had no choice. Now, I had to lie on this bed with a man that stirred so much confusion and apprehension and an even more confusing bout of excitement within me that he often overwhelmed me.

"Any time this year would be nice, guys," Dave's voice broke out with a slight hint of annoyance coating his words.

I could feel my heart begin to pound harder in my chest. I suddenly found that my mouth had dried up, my throat parched as I swallowed a few times to try and salivate it.

My eyes flitted back and forth over Kaleb's own stare and I was positive he could pick up on the fear within my eyes.

Kaleb let out a sharp sigh through his nose, his brows knitting together as he adjusted himself on the bed. The mattress moved beneath me as Kaleb brought his body closer to mine.

Now, his entire body was pressed up against my side and my own body was having none of it. It trembled visibly and I could feel the tears burn the back of my eyes as panic began to push through every boundary I had set in place and make itself known.

I tried to keep it in, I truly did. I tried to will my mind to relax and slip into that of Alice's again but it was too late. I was already forcefully thrust into this physical interaction and nothing at this point could save me from the panic attack that was about to ensue.

Kaleb's piercing blue eyes locked onto mine as he stared down at me. His fingers came up and I felt a strand of my hair being pushed off of my forehead and tucked behind my ear gently.

"Tell me if I hurt you, okay?"

My mind stilled.

There was that look again. The look that said, I care what happens to you, I don't want to hurt you. The look that stilled one touch induced panic attack already and now was on its path to stunt a second one.

Somehow, by some random bout of dumb luck, Kaleb of all people seemed to be able to calm mind, body, and soul with just a look.

I'd never experienced anything like that before and I wasn't even sure on where to begin to try and figure out the why's and how's of it all.

So I just nodded. My eyes dried and widened at his seemingly genuine concern.

Kaleb took my nod as his cue. Keeping his eyes glued onto mine, his face that hovered above my own began to lower.

Without realizing, my breathing began to pick up. My chest was heaving slightly and I could feel the space around both of us begin to buzz. My body was on fire as my heart was slamming around anxiously inside of my chest.

This wasn't Dan about to kiss Alice. This was Kaleb about to kiss Leah.

And as Kaleb's lips got closer to my own, that fact was becoming more and more of a terrifying realization.

Kaleb's warm breath fanned across my face, invading my senses with its mint scent, causing my stomach to erupt into butterflies and my mind to thrash about.

My body and mind were at war with each other and it felt just as maddening as it sounds.

Kaleb's eyes drifted from my own and down to my parted lips. I watched as his stare sparked with hunger; with want.

If I wanted to stop this, I had to stop it now.

So that's exactly what I did.

Just seconds before his lips collided with mine, I turned my head to the side, resulting in his soft lips coming in contact with and placing an unexpected kiss on my cheek.

A soft growl vibrated in his chest at my denial. That sound alone forced a mixture of fear and excitement to sing through my body, the feelings only amplifying as Kaleb's lips left my cheek and began moving down.

His lips kissed tenderly down the side of my face, caressing down my jawline until his thick head of dark hair dipped down and his lips planted themselves on the sensitive skin of my neck.

My skin prickled with his touch and my body unintentionally tensed, every muscle in my body becoming hyper aware of his lips every movement.

"Relax," Kaleb mumbled into my neck, the hairs on the top of his head tickling the bottom of my chin as he brushed his lips back and forth against the base of my neck slowly, never fully making contact.

"You're so tense," he mused in his deep, rich voice.

"Sorry," I huffed out, squeezing my eyes shut to try and focus on anything that wasn't the feeling of his soft lips trailing across my skin.

"Don't be sorry," he ordered against my skin, his tone confident and seductive. Then, my mind and body erupted into a spasm and a gasp push through my lips and one of Kaleb's hands appeared on the back of my neck, his fingers slowly beginning to massage my tense muscles

"Just let me help you relax," he whispered in my ear, his husky voice invading my senses and sending a shiver right through my body and straight to my core.

Oh, god.

This can't be happening.

Every sensation in my body was on fire, amplified by Kaleb's touch and sensual words. I could feel my body beginning to heat up, my breathing starting to turn into soft pants, and my core was beginning to throb almost painfully so as my realization began to set in.

Kaleb was turning me on.

For the first time in over two years, I felt something. For the first time in over two years, I could feel myself wanting to thrust my hips up into his, grinding myself into his pelvis, desperate to feel his stiff member against my hips

And the feelings were directed towards possibly the last person on Earth that they should be.

My maddening revelation was put on hold as I felt Kaleb's warm hand begin to move down and away from my neck. His fingers trailed down the entirety of my spine, barely grazing the material of my shirt until he reached the hem of my shirt.

"Kaleb-" I tried to protest but was quickly cut off by a soft shushing next to my ear, followed by a firm press of his lips on the sensitive skin behind my ear in which I had to seal my lips together to keep the moan in that tried to escape

"I promise it will help you relax," he said as the tips of his fingers pushed underneath the fabric of my thin shirt.

My chest was heaving pretty rapidly at this point, my mind going berserk with the overload of pent up desire, the anxiety over being touched so intimately, and the circling fear that always sat in the back of my mind.

A soft moan slipped past my lips as Kaleb ran his fingers up the arch of my back and began to dig his fingers into the muscles that lay there, massaging and arousing my body all at once.

"Does that feel good?" he asked in a low voice as he moved his lips back and forth over my neck temptingly.

You have no idea.

"Uh huh," I huffed out in a weak, aroused voice that I hardly recognized as my own. Slowly but surely, I felt the tension in my muscles release as his fingers continued their expert assault on my bare shoulders. His other hand that was not currently massaging my back, came down suddenly and found one of my hands, lacing our fingers together intimately.

"That's it," Kaleb encouraged, his fingers moving in intoxicating circles around my hot skin, his body that was hovering above mine slowly started to creep down and cover mine gently.

"Just listen to my voice and focus on what you're feeling," Kaleb instructed softly against my neck as he rested his body against mine. Every dip and ridge of his hard, muscular body was pressed against my smaller, curvaceous one.

He was still overly cautious of how much pressure he put on my stomach though, which was much appreciated by my bruises.

His lips took up the task of caressing my skin in sweet, sensual kisses once again. My mind was overrun with pleasure and as I felt his teeth graze across the sensitive part of my neck, I knew I was in for trouble.

"Ahh," I gasped out loudly as Kaleb bit down on the sweet spot of my neck, forcing an erotic pain to cut through my vocal cords as well as send a jolt of pleasure directly in between my legs.

Kaleb's hand that was holding mine firmly in his grasp tightened with my erotic gasp.

"Fuck, that was hot," he mumbled out in a strained voice as he continued his lips assault on my neck.

Another moan escaped past my lips as I felt the warm wetness of Kaleb's tongue slip out and greet my skin in an open mouth kiss and his lips became more urgent; his kisses more heated.

My body was not my own as my free hand traveled up Kaleb's broad back and slipped into his hair, threading through the soft locks that I had been longing to touch since the first moment I saw him.

Kaleb groaned into my neck appreciatively as I freely touched him, my fingers getting lost in his hair as my mind ran wild with pleasure.

"Kaleb," I gasped out his name as he bit into the same spot on my neck again, my fingers tightening their grip in his hair and pulling on the strands in my grasp sensually.

"Holy fuck," Kaleb cursed out under his breath as he dropped his head into my neck completely. Suddenly, his hand that was intertwined with mine freed itself only to grip onto the bare skin of my thigh seconds later.

A gasp that was far louder than intended echoed through the theater as Kaleb moved his body in between my legs, locking the leg he had in his grasp around his waist.

"Tell me you wanted to kiss me that night, Leah," Kaleb demanded in a gruff voice, his words coated in lust as he ran his lips up the base of my neck feverishly until they reached my chin.

His lips pressed into my chin, planting a dominating kiss there before his eyes met mine.

"Tell me, Leah," he once again ordered, lust and raw sexual desire burning in his eyes.

I was panting; staring into his awaiting stare with what I was sure was the same amount of desire shining back through my lust-laden eyes.

"More noise guys!" I heard Dave order from the background.

I witnessed as Kaleb's eyes darkened considerably, a devious thought passing through his radiant eyes.

"Ahh!" A throaty moan ripped through my throat as Kaleb pushed his hips in between my legs, his hard cock pressing right against my core.

I threw my head back into the mattress as Kaleb grinded himself into me, causing my core to dampen almost instantaneously, and an obscene amount of pleasure to course through my body.

"Oh, god," I panted, my mind overrun and any and all thoughts of how wrong this entire interaction had just become nowhere to be seen.

"Tell me you want me, Leah," came Kaleb's demand once again.

"I think you can tell how much I want you," he said as he pressed his hips into mine once again, causing a pathetic whimper to slip past my lips as his member hit a major pleasure point over my shorts as it pressed against my sensitive bud.

This was wrong. It was so unbelievably wrong and yet the unimaginable amount of pleasure I was feeling so suddenly without him even being inside of me was messing with my mind, telling it to shut up and let it happen.

"I-I," I continued to pant out, readying to give him my obvious answer.

"And scene!" Dave's voice erupted through my mind.

Kaleb's titillating movements stopped immediately, his breathing as erratic as mine as he kept his stare fixed on mine.

"That was perfect you two! Not gonna lie, I'm a little turned on over here," Dave joked.

"I'll take care of that later," I heard Meg joked back but my attention was still held on Kaleb.

And just like that, it all came flooding back.

If he touches you, I'll fucking kill him.