49. Saturday Evening Week Twenty
Eli wasn't lying when he said that the Ryker house was chaotic, it was an absolute mess.
School had finished yesterday, not that Eli, Ty or I had gone in, but we were now officially on Winter Break.
Rosemary was in the kitchen with my Nan and Debbie cooking up a storm. Max was sat on a barstool, sipping beer with Rafael and attempting to help with chopping up the veg but they kept getting scolded for messing it up.
The twins and Ty were running around like maniacs together, he kept getting annoyed at me because I was repetitively giving him hugs whenever I saw him.
God knows where Riley was.
Raven, Cayd, Eli and Noah were nowhere to be seen but I imagined that it wouldn't be going the best right now. Eli was pissed off and he still strongly disliked Noah so I was certain that if they were together right now, it would be testosterone central.
Ty ran by me at that moment and I intercepted him, scooping him into my arms and squeezing him close.
"LYNI!!!" He screeched, "stop cuddling me all the time! The giwls will catch me."
I smothered his face with kisses, "okay," I muttered, though I relented and put him down, "I'm sorry."
He beamed at me, kissed my cheek and ran off.
"Everyone is in the den upstairs, Reillyn!" Debbie yelled from the kitchen which was to my right, "I think you should go up there before Ryker beats up that 'pretty boy' friend of yours."
Even though her back was to me and she couldn't see me, I nodded and clambered up the stairs to the den. The den was essentially this massive room that took up the whole third floor of the Ryker's house and was filled with games, sofas, everything teenagers wanted. Apparently, it was already here when they moved in and Mikael just let them keep it which was a benefit for us.
Surprisingly, when I reached the top of the stairs, I was greeted with the sight of our entire friendship group hanging out. Raven, Lana, Kins, Tori, Kie, Arik and everyone else, I couldn't keep the smile off my face when I realised that everyone I loved was under the same roof.
Startled, I jumped slightly when a heavy arm came to rest across my shoulder. I looked up at Kyle's cheeky smile, he pointed to the balcony with the pool cue, "he's losing his shit man, you've been gone for over an hour."
Eli and Cayden were casually smoking and leaning on the railing of the balcony, Eli mumbled something and Cayd clapped him on the back with a light laugh before his dual coloured eyes flickered back into the room and landed briefly on Tori.
"I'll go out and talk to him, he's gonna be annoyed," I said.
Jasper came to stand on my left, beer bottle in hand, "yeah, but you're the best at calming him down. His temper is ridiculous sometimes, but you seem to have a handle on it."
"Thank you!" I declared, "finally someone else recognises how ridiculous his temper is."
"Oh honey," Kyle began, "We all recognise it, it's just that none of us have the balls to say it out loud."
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle, "big babies," I muttered before heading out to the balcony, leaving their cries of protest to my name-calling behind me.
Cayden turned fully around at the sound of the balcony doors opening, whereas Eli's eyes remained focused ahead of him.
"Hey, koala bear," Cayden greeted with a grin.
"What?" I asked him with a laugh
"You know; because I think Thursday was like the third time I've seen you wrap yourself around Ryker like a koala bear does to a tree."
I released a loud laugh at his logic, "you're so wonderfully weird, Cayd."
He beamed at me as if he was proud of himself, "does that mean you'll wrap yourself around me too?" He suggested as he wiggled his eyebrows playfully.
"Fuck off Cayden," Eli grunted.
Cayd smirked at him before looking at me and rolling his eyes. His playful smile melted into an intense stare however when his eyes fell behind me.
I turned slightly and caught sight of Kyle being his usual impish self as he sat by Tori and teasingly flirted with her. She looked uncomfortable by the attention but I could see the amusement glistening in her eyes.
"Excuse me," Cayden muttered lowly before storming past me and taking a seat next to Tori on the sofa, effectively making himself a human wall between Kyle and her.
I snorted at his actions and made a mental note to ask Tori if anything was going on between them.
"You're not wearing the grey sweatshirt," Eli spoke, his back still to me.
Reaching behind me, I closed the patio door, silencing the noise of our lively friends and giving us our first moment of privacy since last Sunday in his gym in the apartment.
"Yeah, I figured you would've been less happy if you knew I had the black one on."
He blew out a puff of smoke, "you figured right."
Reaching forwards, I placed my cold hands against his back and smiled when I felt the muscles tense and contract under his black t-shirt, "Dante said that I didn't have to go on the dates."
He turned around and my hands fell limply to my sides. That scarred brow of his raised and his face was the picture of disbelief, "that's the payment, why would he just agree to cancel them?"
Smiling cheekily, I lifted up on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck, "would you believe me if I said I charmed him?"
He scoffed, "he wouldn't find you very charming after dating you for a few weeks."
"Eli!" I scolded, smacking the back of his head lightly.
A soft chuckle spilt from his lips, "I'm kidding, tigru."
I rolled my eyes before looking up at him through my eyelashes, "so you're not mad?"
The cigarette in his hand fell to the floor and he stomped it out with his boot before he gripped my waist and tugged me to him.
His forehead leant down to rest against mine, "I can never stay mad at you, micul meu tigru."
Chuckling I smiled up at him, feeling content for the first time in a long time, "what does that one mean?"
"Micul," he rumbled, "means little and 'meu tigru' means 'my tiger'," he bent down to kiss me softly, "my little tiger."
I reached up to kiss him more deeply but we were interrupted by a loud banging on the balcony door window.
Eli looked up from me, "what?" He growled
I looked over my shoulder at Kyle, "we're talking about New Years," he yelled through the glass, "you guys need to come in."
Nodding I attempted to pull myself out of Eli's arms, "Eli, we need to go and talk about this with the whole group."
"No," he grumbled, he had lowered his head to rest on my chest so his voice was muffled, "fuck them, let's just stay out here."
Rolling my eyes, I lifted my hands to grip his hair and pull his head back so I could meet his eyes, "don't be mean."
Adorably, he pouted at me and I couldn't contain my smile, "fine, I'll be good," he grumbled, "but I want something in return."
"Of course you do."
"Be my girlfriend again," he all but demanded.
"I thought we were going slow," I muttered, my smile falling away.
"Fuck slow," he grunted, "everyone knows you're mine anyway."
Slowly, a smile broke out on my face again and I began nodding furiously. Eli grinned and gripped my waist, lifting me in the air and making me squeal.
The moment was ruined by another pounding on the glass, "hurry the fuck up!" Noah yelled.
"One day, I'm going to kill that bastard," Eli growled.
Patting his cheek, I nodded as if I agreed with him before clasping my hand in his and dragging him inside.
"Fucking finally," Cayden announced and immediately, Tori's little hand shot out to slap his chest lightly.
"What?" He mumbled, rubbing his chest as if she could ever hurt him, but he had a small smile on his lips.
"Leave them alone," she mumbled, "they're finally happy."
I stuck my tongue out at Cayden as Eli took a seat and pulled me onto his lap, of course, Cayd returned the gesture.
"Are you children done?" Kiara asked from her perch beside Arik, "because Tori and I have found the perfect place for New Years."
Cayden and I nodded and she smiled satisfied before pulling out her laptop and showing us pictures of the cabin she found.
"We're going to Big Bear, California, bitches!"
"All endings are also beginnings" - Mitch Alborn.
Yes, this is the final chapter! how crazy is that, I cannot believe we have finished an entire book guys. I can't begin to tell you how special all you lovely readers are to me. You have all helped me so much on this epic journey.Of course, there is going to be a sequel, maybe that little quote^^ has given you a clue about who the next book is about...
!!!IMPORTANT!!!
I HATE THAT IT ENDS ON CHAPTER 49, ITS REALLY ANNOYING ME SOOOOOO I AM GOING TO WRITE A BONUS CHAPTER.PICK ANY CHAPTER IN THE BOOK AND I WILL WRITE IT IN ELI'S POV FOR CHAPTER 50 AS I AM NOT GOING TO BE DOING AN EPILOGUE. COMMENT WHICH CHAPTER YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE AND WHEN THERE IS A SUFFICIENT NUMBER, I WILL WRITE IT.Some chapters which I loved writing (in case you forgot):
- the first day they train (ch7)
- Eli apologises at the diner and meets Rei's Nan (ch9)
- Tori's Birthday Party (ch15)
- First kiss and when Vincent meets Rei (ch18)
- Eli opens up and has dinner at Rei's house (ch22)
- Lake day (ch23)
- Rei and Eli fight about Noah and then make out (ch27) my personal fave!
There's plenty more but those are the few that stuck out to me!
In the meantime, I am going to get started on the next novel. This isn't the last you've seen of Eli and Rei! THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!!
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