Separately Together

Chapter Eleven: 2/2

When I finally got back to the house it was filled with scents of different baked goods she had in the oven. I heard her singing softly to herself as she moved around the kitchen gathering more ingredients to make yet another pastry to stick in the oven. It didn't take long for me to realize that she was using her baking as her therapy to cope with what happened last night.

She was so good at everything she did, she was just crippled by the world's obstacles. I know one day she's going to excel in life. Maybe I'm around to see it.

"Honey I'm home." I pick at her, hoping that her cheeks would glow that familiar blush, one that I have only ever seen get as bright as it does when I flirt with her.

"How was your day sweety?" She picks back and even stands on her tiptoes to peck my cheek. I freeze, my body growing rigid. Will it away, Harley?

I tell myself to ignore the thoughts until they disappeared.

"Dreading." It was nice coming home to a house that wasn't empty and cold. she made this place almost feel like a home, if only she could stay here forever. I would never complain, that was a promise.

"What are you doing?" She asks me as I walk to the sink, wetting a napkin with warm water.

"You have flour all over your face," I explain before handing it to her and watching as she sheepishly wipes it off, missing most of it.

"Hand it here." I rolled my eyes because she couldn't make it any more difficult for me, could she? She was making it so hard for me to push these possessive thoughts away. I knew if I let myself give in to them that She would be mine, all mine. It wouldn't be fair to her. I could never give her the life she deserved or wanted, I worked too much, had too many problems, and had a family tree that forced me to be in a lifestyle I wouldn't trust her life with.

She hands me the napkin with trembling hands, she was plagued with her compulsive thoughts. The act was simple, wipe the flour away, but I found myself missing the spots that needed cleaning and rubbing the parts I dreamed about at night. Grazing her bottom lip with the edge of my thumb feeling her exhale against my hand causing my shoulders to tense.

I revert my attention to cleaning the spots that needed to be cleaned and pushed the thought of how warm and inviting her skin felt. I needed to be in control of my action, or this ship was going to sink a whole lot faster than I anticipated.

Her phone starts to ring knocking us out of the trance that we were both in. She coughs, either as a result of the flour or the tension. "It's Finnic." She says nervously laying her hand on the counter to brace herself.

She takes a deep breath and answers the phone, she puts it on speaker, assuming that she might need help avoiding telling him the truth about what happened last night.

"Hey." Her voice comes out shaky and I roll my eyes, she is not about to be able to keep this from him. She is a terrible liar, has been her whole life.

"Hey, where are you? We wanted to stop by and give you the gender reveal card before we head to Tennessee." I had nearly forgotten about the gender reveal, and that I had agreed to help plan it. I'd do anything for Finnic but the whole reason I had agreed to plan this event was that Maggie was going to be co-hosting it with me. "I've knocked on your door for five minutes."

After I was forced to go to work, I sent Jared by her apartment to lock up the place, I didn't want the Forefathers to ruin anything else in there.

"I- uh - I ." She stutters and looks at me for help on what to say to her brother.

I grabbed the phone, and she starts shaking her head. "No ..."

"Hey. When I went to drop her off there was a note on the door, something about a plumbing problem. Figured she could just stay at my place until it got fixed." Unlike Maddie's skeptical tone, mine came out smooth and calm.

"Are you sure? I can turn back that way and drop off the keys to the house and she can stay there." He asked, it was clear in his tone that the last thing he wanted to do was drive thirty minutes out of the way.

"It's fine. She's not bothering anything." This, I didn't have to lie about, because she wasn't bothering anything. She was making this place somewhere I was looking forward to coming home to, she was giving me a reason to be excited at the end of a workday. Something I haven't had in a long time.

"Okay, well I'm sliding the card under her apartment door when you get time." I heard him moving around on the other end as I assume he follows through with his plans.

"Okay, no problem."

"Alright, one more thing, Harley." His toned turned serious and I knew what he was about to ask before it even came out of his mouth. There weren't many things that invoked Finnic's serious side.

"Yeah?"

"Take care of her?" If he only knew to what extent I would go to ensure sweets were okay. If he had even a slither of an idea of the things that I would do for her, he would have bothered asking.

Maddie looks from the phone to me irritated with her brother for putting the weight of her safety on me. To Finnic it was a simple request, make sure she eats, sleeps, and bathes. He was thinking of life essentials, but Maddie knew that this was more than just that, it was a promise to keep the Forefathers from keeping their measly fingers off of her. Something I had already planned on doing so it wasn't much for me to say, "Of course."

Once the line goes dead and it's just me and Maddie left in the room, the tension doesn't take long to pick back up and I need to escape before I do something that we will regret later.

Was she this on edge every time she was around me? Did I invade her dreams at night, or how about her thoughts during the day? Was she lay awake at night thinking about me before she drifted off to sleep?

Just the thought of her lying in bed, makes me physically hurt.

Get away ...

Now.

So, I excuse myself.

Pathetic.

~.~.~.~.~

She's singing the same song she sang in my truck. Her voice was as soft as an angel, maybe even softer. Like velvet coming from her soft mouth, her doe-like eyes staring into my soul calling me closer. Like a siren, my personal siren.

She wears a white gown that clings to her soft curves that causes my gaze to linger longer than would be appropriate.

She might not seem like a temptress to anyone else, but I couldn't see her as anything but that.

Her brown hair flowed around her like we were in the water as she grows closer and closer.

Until she is standing right in front of me. The song echoes all around us, not just her voice anymore but different variations of it.

The music stops to a halt. The echoes cut off with it, and a scream so pain-filled takes its place. It's her screams, her pain.

I look down at her once-white gown to find it oozing blood from where the center of her chest.

"Maddie?" I ask but when I look into her green orbs they're glazed over. She's gone.

My eyes slam open with the force of a hurricane and everything about the dream vanishes all but the screams.

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