60

The lines on the page were all starting to look the same. I groaned as I put the book down on my face and pressed my hands against the cover.

"What's wrong?"

I lifted the book and snapped it shut. "I'm bored."

Caroline sighed. "So do something."

I turned my head and looked at her sitting in the chair. "I can't. You put me on house arrest, remember?"

She looked at Stefan, who was at the other end of the couch, then looked at me again. "I'm not letting you out of this house until I know you're not in danger of being hurt again."

I rolled my eyes and then sat up off the back of the couch, tossing the book on the coffee table. "I told you I handled it." I looked at her. "Those people are no longer a threat to me."

"And who exactly was it? You never explained anything." She leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.

"All you need to know is that it won't happen again."

"How do you know it won't happen again?"

With every word she said, my frustration grew. "Because I do!"

"That's not a good enough answer!" All I could hear when she said it was that man's voice. My heart started beating faster. The front door opened. I didn't need to look over to know that it's Kai, Alaric, and Damon. "Who were these people? Why did they take you? Where did they take you? How did you get -"

"Caroline, stop!" I didn't feel like fighting with her anymore.

"No! This isn't something you can ignore, Evelyn. I'm not going to let you."

"Let me?" I put my hands on the couch cushion on either side of my body. "This isn't something you can control, Caroline."

"I'm not trying to control you; I just want to understand what happened, and I can't because you won't tell me anything!"

"Caroline," Stefan started. "Stop."

My chest felt tight. "You really want to know what I did?"

"That's what I'm asking."

I nodded. "Okay." I felt like I could break down, but I didn't. I got up and walked out of the living room, then out of the house, ignoring Kai, Damon, and Ric. I started walking down the street, heading toward Jo and Ric's house.

I stormed inside, forcing the door open. I could hear footsteps from the others heading toward me. I headed to the basement, tearing the door open. I trudged down the steps. The man who I chained to the wall was severely sick and unconscious. I broke the chains from the wall. I dragged him by his arms. I grabbed the head off the ground.

I dragged the body up the steps of the basement, unbothered by the weight of him. I gripped the hair of the head tighter. The man was groaning as he started to wake up. I dragged the man down the porch steps, then let go of him. I looked at Caroline as I tossed the head toward her feet. The faces of horror and disgust that stared at me made me feel worse.

"I was here the entire time, chained to the wall of the basement. Every few hours, they decided to ask me where Joshua Parker was. When I said I killed him, they didn't believe me. He told me it wasn't the right answer and then had me killed." I stepped off the last step, then took another step forward. "So, I'm sorry if me not talking about this was upsetting you, but you need to get over yourself and stop acting like it was worse for you."

All the color was drained from her face as she stared at the head. I glanced at the nameless man. He was unconscious again.

"Hey." Damon was closer now. I looked at him. He grabbed my hand. "Let me walk you home." He squeezed my hand gently as he started to pull me to walk home.

I walked by his side, staring at the ground as I did.

"Don't beat yourself up too much, kid."

I felt tears in my eyes. I inhaled sharply as I looked up. "I feel like a monster."

He was quiet for a moment. "You're not a monster, Vale. You did what you had to do to survive. That doesn't make you a monster. That makes you strong."

He let go of my hand and put his arm around me. I put my arm around him, resting my head on his shoulder as we kept walking.

I lifted my head and stopped walking. He started up the steps, walking toward the front door. I sat on the steps of the porch, crossing my arms over my stomach. I stared out at the road. After a moment, Damon sat next to me. He put his hand on my knee.

"Sorry I act like a bitch to you all the time."

"I'm not. It gives you spunk."

I laughed. I looked at his hand. There was a ring on his finger. I reached for his hand, running my finger over the silver band. "You got married?"

"Engaged. I proposed to Elena last night. It felt like the right time."

I smiled as I looked at him. "Congratulations."

He smiled, turning his hand palm up and holding mine. "Don't tell anyone. We didn't get to that part yet."

I nodded, "Your secret's safe with me."

He looked at our hands. After a minute or so, he started talking. "So, how's it going with Kai? Stefan said you two have barely left each other's sides since you got back." He looked at my face. "Three weeks is a long time to spend with someone you're not with."

"We're fine."

"I don't doubt that."

I furrowed my brows. "But..."

He drew in a breath as he looked at our hands. "Before everything went down, you two were engaged. I'm just confused on how you took a step back from that." He looked at my face again.

I stared at him as I tried to find an answer. "It's not really a step back, we're just readjusting to being together again. Hopefully, we'll get back to where we were, but that won't happen immediately and I'm fine with it. Obviously, he's fine with it too because he hasn't done or said anything that suggests otherwise."

He furrowed his brows. "Yeah, you sound fine with it."

I tilted my head. "I am."

He nodded. "Sure. You're fine with being his girlfriend."

"As a matter of fact, yes. I am fine with being his girlfriend." I pulled my hand from his.

"Yes. You're fine with it, that's what I said. You're fine with the bare minimum."

I knocked his hand away. "I don't think you should be talking. I seem to recall a time in your Delena-ship where you-"

"Delena-ship?"

"Yes. Now. I remember a time when you and Elena broke up because you were jealous. I'm pretty sure it was more than once, actually. So as far as I'm concerned, 'the bare minimum' is fine with me."

He nodded. "Good for you."

"Yes, it is." I looked away from him, looking out at the street again.

Now that he brought the subject up, Kai hasn't been as touchy as usual. We haven't had sex at all. Any time we've gotten close, he's pulled away and deescalated the situation back to just talking. It's frustrating, to say the least. If he doesn't want to have sex, he could just say that.

His phone started ringing. He pulled away from me, getting up and walking away to answer it. I tuned out his conversation as I focused on trying to rid my thoughts of my, now sexless, relationship.

"Hey, Ev." I looked at Damon. "I have to go. Elena needs me. Will you be okay by yourself?"

I nodded. "I'll be fine."

He walked over. He put his hand on the side of my face before leaning down and kissing the top of my head. He pulled away and walked to his car. I sat there for a few more minutes before deciding to get up and go to my room.

I shut the door before walking to my bed. I laid down and stared at the door, waiting for Kai to walk through it and come hold me.

After hours of silence from everyone and being alone, the phone started ringing. I pulled myself out of bed to go downstairs and answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey," Stefan answered.

I crossed my arm over my body. "What's going on?"

"Sorry we didn't call or anything. Caroline felt bad and didn't want to bother you anymore. She thought you would need space, so we just came home."

"Oh." I looked down at the floor. "She couldn't..." I looked up again. "She couldn't talk to me?"

A brief moment of silence passed, making me feel sick. "She didn't want to upset you anymore."

I felt a lump in my throat. "Okay." I pulled the speaker part of the phone down from my mouth as I breathed out shakily.

"You're not alone there, though, right?"

I swallowed as I shut my eyes. "No." Lying is better. It will stop them from coming back, which is what they want. "I'm gonna go, though. I'll talk to you later." I hung up before he could say anything else. I took a moment before calling Kai, trying to calm myself down.

He answered after a minute. "Hello?"

"Hey." Tears filled my eyes. "Are you coming back?"

"Of course, I am." He sighed quietly. "I'm sorry, baby, I should've called. I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." I wiped the tear off that rolled down my face. I pulled the phone away and ended the call. I put the phone back down.

I started to walk back to my room. I stopped on the steps, the feeling of overwhelming misery making me sink down. I buried my face in my hands as I sobbed.

After a moment, I lifted my head to take a deep breath. I wiped the tears off my face as I tried to console myself. I pulled myself to my feet and walked the rest of the distance to my room. I laid back down, staring at the door. Tears occasionally broke free from my eyes.

The door to my room pushed open and Kai walked in. He stopped for a second, taking in the sight of me. The door stayed open, letting the darkness from the hallway bleed into my room.

He laid behind me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me back against his body. He kissed my cheek softly and I closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here with you. I thought they had come back to be with you."

I opened my eyes. I kept my arms wrapped around myself, trapped under his. "Where were you?"

"Taking care of the mess."

I felt exhausted. I unwrapped my arms from around myself, pushing his arms away. I turned to face him, wrapping my arms around him and resting my head on his chest. He laid on his back, letting his arm pull me closer to his body. His other hand moved to the side of my face, pushing my hair back then wiping the tears of my cheeks.

His palm rested at the side of my face, his thumb strumming my cheekbone slowly. My eyes slowly closed, as I was unable to hold them open any longer.