"Okay, okay, is everyone here?" Dave asked us all as he stood at the head of our poorly formed circle, looking around with a glass of champagne held sturdy in his hand.

"I'm coming!"

Everyone's attention was sent straight towards Jackson as he jogged his was to us, his brown locks of hair bouncing with every step he took until he reached us.

"Sorry for the hold up," he muttered.

"Where were you?" Meg asked as she handed him his own glass of champagne in which he took gratefully as he took his place next to her in the circle.

"Kaleb's hot bartender friend was here again tonight," Jackson said with a smug smirk.

"She's gay, man. Let it go," Kaleb voiced from next to me, his deep voice vibrating through his chest in which I was flush up against as Kaleb held me, his arm secure around my waist.

Jackson once again shrugged, taking a quick swig of his drink. "Things change."

There was a collective eye roll from everyone in the circle.

"Alright, alright," Dave broke through the silence and raised his glass of champagne in the air. "Now that everyone is finally here, I'd like to say a few things. This is the last time you guys will have to listen to me ramble on so listen up!" Dave joked, his lips lifting into a soft, crooked smile as his eyes scanned over all of us standing around him.

"This entire production process has been..." Dave cut himself off, his lips attempting to form the word that his mind scrambled to find.

"Surprising," he finally landed on, earning a bit of a chuckle from the small crowd around him.

"From the beginning, I knew it was going to be a special production. Something about the four of you together as a cast was just captivating from the very beginning. I think we can all agree that you four have raised the bar for all future productions that play at this theater and flawlessly knocked those performances out of the park."

At this, the small crowd gave Meg, Jackson, Kaleb, and I a round of applause, causing a blush to burn onto my cheeks as I nuzzled my face into Kaleb's shoulder to hide my embarrassment.

I felt the hairs on the top of my head move as Kaleb breathed out a laugh at my shyness before placing a firm, loving kiss on the center of my head.

"I've never been requested to extend the run of a show by an extra week and that just shows how deeply your performances were affecting the audiences. They couldn't get enough of you guys and I sincerely hope that you are as proud of yourselves as I am proud to be your director."

Dave took in a deep breath, seemingly steadying himself somewhat. His crystal stare flashed to mine briefly, startling my insides as causing a bout of anxiety to well up in the pit of my stomach with the heavy look embedded deep within Dave's stare.

"I know we've had some major bumps along the way to getting where we are tonight. Bumps that were... never expected and are still difficult to swallow. But we persevered. We fought and we came together as a team. Because when one of our team members is down, we all ban together and we fight for them; we fight with them so that they know they are never alone and they will always have love and friendship and backup within this team."

By this point, I knew and everyone else knew that Dave's words were meant for one person and one person in particular. This only became transparently clear as Dave's moving stare locked onto mine once again just as he spoke.

"And we never let our team members down," he spoke softly, his eyes boring into mine with the most evident display of emotions that I'd ever seen from Dave.

My throat tensed, thick with emotion as my feelings tried to pool their way into my eyes, threatening to spill over my eyelids in grateful water petals.

I felt Kaleb's hand on my waist give a short, supportive squeeze as I nodded my head just barely in Dave's direction, cuing to him that I had received his message and appreciated his words immensely.

With one last, meaningful look directed at me, Dave pried his stare from mine and steadied it back on the group once again.

Except now, his usual confident stare was etched with obvious nerves. This was made even more prevalent as I watched him shift from foot to foot, his hand fiddling inside his pants pocket.

"Now, as most of you also know, this production wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly as it did without the help of one very special lady and I would have been in far worse moods far more often than I was."

All attention was propelled to Meg as her large, brown eyes widened, an adoring look passing through her gaze as she settled her stare on Dave's.

"Now, this woman deals with more than any of you will ever know. I'm not the easiest person to get along with; as I'm sure some of you would agree. I've even been nicknamed 'Grumpy' at a few different points in my life, all by different people mind you." Dave let out a lighthearted chuckle at this.

Then, he turned his attention back to Meg with an affectionate smile set in place.

"But you... somehow you've dealt with me through all of my mood swings, made me laugh even when I'm in the worst of places... and you've made me a better person because of it. You being in my life Meg has changed me for the better... and I couldn't imagine living a single day without you by my grumpy side."

You could feel the energy in the room shift dramatically as Dave finally took his hand out of his pocket and descended to the floor, kneeling on one knee.

Meg let out an untamed gasp, her hand flying to cover her agape mouth as Dave held out a small, velvet box to her and ever so slowly, cracked it open.

A strangled whimper echoed through the room as it ripped from Meg's throat as the stunning, diamond ring meant for her finger and her finger alone came into view.

"Meg," Dave began, swallowing visibly as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "I love you more than anything and I would be nothing without you and we both know it..."

"Baby, will you marry-"

"Oh my god, yes!" Meg cut him off before he could even finish the most monumental question he would most likely ever voice.

A large cheer erupted as Dave slid the ring onto Meg's trembling finger before scooping her up into a magnificent, ardent embrace.

The energy in the room was thrilling and infectious and I felt my cheeks aching with the wide smile that I couldn't seem to get rid of. I couldn't fathom ever being this happy and yet, I was.

"I can't believe that just happened!" I said as I craned my head up to capture Kaleb's stare with my own ecstatic one.

My head reared back a bit in surprise as I found him already gazing at me; something profound swirling behind his radiant stare as he remained silent.

"What is it?"

At my question, he shook his head and chose to keep whatever it was that was rattling through his mind to himself.

"Nothing," he mumbled to me with that adorable, lopsided smile of his that I loved.

I shook off Kaleb's curious behavior, far too engrossed within the excited festivities going on around us as Kaleb laced his fingers through mine; his thumb brushing thoughtfully up and down my vacant ring finger.

It wasn't but a half hour later that we were all piling out of the theater, everyone still merry with talk of the pending wedding ceremony.

"I'm so happy for you, Meg. No one deserves this more than you and Dave," I told Meg as we walked out, the breeze nipping at my bare arms in the darkening night.

"Thank you so much, Leah. I swear I had no clue! I'm still on cloud nine and probably will be for the next week if I'm being honest."

Both of us laughed at this as we began walking to the parking lot.

"Um, so I know this is super early since I just got engaged like ten seconds ago," Meg stated, her eyes wide with anticipation as she halted herself in front of me.

"Leah, I know we're not that close right now but I just have this feeling that we're going to be; we both know I'm persistent enough! So, I feel like the perfect way to start off a great friendship would be to just go all in!" she exclaimed exasperatedly, her hands flying into the air as she talked animatedly.

Abruptly, her cold hands clasped onto mine, her eyes drilling into mine with an acute severity.

"Leah, will you be one of my bridesmaids? Please, please, please, please, please!"

"Okay!" I agreed quickly, knowing that there was no possible choice in denying Meg at all, even more so when it came to her wedding.

"Oh my god, really?!" Her expression screamed with enthusiasm as she let out a victorious squeal as I nodded my head with a large grin planted firmly on my face.

I braced myself as I knew Meg well enough at this point to know a tight embrace was soon on the way. Sure enough, I felt her arms wrap around my shoulders seconds later and pull me into a crushing hug.

With each hug, each friendly touch from her, I was becoming more and more attuned to the physical contact, not feeling the desperate need to fly into an anxious panic attack with every subtle touch sent my way.

As I detached myself from Meg's surprisingly strong grip, I found myself looking for the familiar head of midnight colored hair walking around me, a cool smile undoubtedly set on his luscious lips.

But I didn't see him.

"Has anyone seen Kaleb?" I asked with curiosity gnawing at the back of my mind.

A resounding 'No' came from all around me.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom," Jackson threw out.

I looked all around, my vision casting across every inch of the poorly lit street. My heart began to pound harder in my chest as a familiar sinking feeling slowly crept into every pore in my body.

"Yeah...maybe," I answered back with little conviction.

"Hey, I'm gonna head back inside and check on him, okay?" I told the gang and without waiting for an answer, turned on my heel and headed back into the theater, a sudden adrenaline pumping through my veins.

This wasn't like Kaleb. He wouldn't just disappear.

I tried to calm my frantically beating heart that was now thrumming so rapidly and so ferociously, I felt like I could feel it in my throat as I made my way back into the lobby of the theater.

Everything was dark.

Everything was silent.

My stomach churned and I wasn't sure why, but an all too familiar sense of dread began to make its way through my mind, claiming it in a helpless stance.

I fought back the anxiety that threatened to lash out through my mind as I took step after step through the blacked out lobby; the moonlight being the only source of illumination for my vision.

With quivering hands, I reached out and found the doors leading into the theater.

"Everything's fine... everything's fine," I whispered to myself in the dark, my voice breaking and trembling as my own lie didn't seem to sooth any of my fears.

Sealing my lips together to keep in my terrified pants, I turned the door handle and walked into the theater.

It was black.

Everything was black. No source of light and my eyes were desperately trying to adjust to find some light. I didn't have my barring around me in the dark, my mind was quickly being thrown into a panicked overdrive and all I wanted in that moment was Kaleb.

Suddenly, the stage lights were thrown on and my quickly adjusting vision zeroed in on center stage.

The most sickening sense of horror sliced through my mind as my enlarged eyes took in what was displayed out for me like a piece of cruel art sitting in center stage.

"No..." I whispered out, my voice catching and breaking as a dry sob ripped painfully through my throat.

Kaleb was on stage, his arms bound behind him in a chair, and he was unconscious. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the stream of crimson blood that dripped down his chiseled, sleeping face and splattered across his baby blue shirt.

"Kaleb!" I screamed desperately, the force of my terror filled cry resonating in my throat as I lifted my foot to go to him.

A petrified gasp stuck in my throat as an arm wrapped firmly around my waist and I was tugged roughly back into a solid chest.

Disgust rolled through my body as lips found my ear and the voice that haunted my nightmares and tortured me in my dreams breathed out against my neck.

"Did you miss me?"

Rules are meant to be broken.

At least that was the motto that Kat Sanders led her life by. She said what she wanted, did what she pleased, and didn't give a damn who judged her for it. Her home life was far less than perfect ever since her father left and her mother spiraled into a drug induced stupor, leaving Kat with the heavy responsibility of taking care of her five year old sister that she loved dearly. So, in an ugly turn of events where Kat loses her job, she hurriedly accepts her friends offer to interview for a job as a nanny. Yet, when Kat meet her new employer, all bets are off. He's handsome, he's brooding, and enticingly dangerous with a gun tucked into his side and a badge of honor splayed proudly across his blue uniform. Dominic Reed had everything Kat could ever possibly want in a man.

Everything, aside from a wife.

Will Kat be able to downplay her normal, rebellious attitude and attraction to her new, married boss, or will forbidden feeling bud and temptation once again claim a victory over Kat and Dominic.

Yet, who can tell where this game of Kat and mouse will lead as Dominic's lethal job intertwines into Kat's life in a very real, very dangerous way that will leave them both vulnerable and fated for destruction.

Game on.