Take One Last Breath

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^*Kori’s POV*^
I wanted to grimace, and possibly throw up after Bam kissed my forehead, but something just wouldn’t let me. He stopped in the doorway, and I looked over at him, thinking something was wrong with him. He had shown a different side this past day, I’d give him that, and it almost worried me.

“You do care, don’t you, Bam?” I asked, and he turned sharply, seeming like I pulled him from his thoughts.

“About what?” He said, sounding a little shaken.

“About Austin.” I said and he took a deep breath.

“She’s my cousin…and when she was little and used to visit, I used to think of her as a sister.” He looked down, and nodded. “So yea…yea, I do care.” He looked back up at me.

“Do you care about me?” I wanted to stab myself in the face with a broken bottle after the words fell from my lips. I didn’t mean to say them out loud, but once I did I shut up completely as his facial expression become indescribable, but then softened.

“I haven’t exactly figured that out yet.” He whispered, and walked out, closing the door behind him this time. ‘I haven’t exactly figured that out yet.’…What? What had he not figured out? What we had going on? What we had become? His feelings? …Did…he have feelings for me? Did I have feelings for him? Since when did I have a heart for that sorry ass motherfucker? Since when did he have a heart? Since when did we have fucking feelings?!

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^*Hanna’s POV*^
“And what the hell was that?” I asked Bam and he jumped five feet in the air.

“Fanna, what the fuck are you doing?!” He asked in a hushed whisper, and I shrugged. I had been on my way to see if Kori wanted anything to eat, because Phil was grilling burgers, but I heard Bam and Kori, and hid at the wall out of sight. I had to admit, I was skeptical about all I had heard.

“You can care?” I asked, not sure what to think of this new fact I had overheard him speaking of.

“You can stop drinking?” He mocked and I rolled my eyes as he walked past me. I heard Kori ask if he cared about her. I followed Bam towards the stairs and then continued my interrogation.

“Have you been coming onto Kori?” I asked and he scoffed, nearly gagging.

“Jesus no, what the fuck is wrong with you?” He asked, stopping halfway down the stairs and turning to me.

“Oh my god.” I stated. “You’re trying to get with Kori.” I said and he looked like he was about to protest, but quickly changed his expression to hostility.

“You ever fucking say that again and I’ll rip every fucking piece of you off and feed all of you to Phil.” He growled in my face and it made me take a step back slightly. “Fucking say a word to a soul and I’ll kill you.”

“Wait…” He seemed so…defensive. “You are trying to get in her pants?” I asked seriously and he glared and brought his fist back before letting it fly into my face, and it was a KO.

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^*Bam’s POV*^
Hanna’s little confrontation really fucked me up, and had me shaken to the core. Right after I knocked him out, I didn’t even pay attention to the blood dripping from his nose, I just ran back to Kori’s room, shutting the door quietly and leaning back against it.

“Oh fuck…oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.” I muttered and Kori stood up, coming over to me.

“What the fuck is wrong? Did something happen?” She asked, sounding almost concerned and I nodded.

“Fucking Hanna’s fucking onto, us, Kori.” I said, looking up at her, and she got a terrified look on her face.

“N-no, no he can’t be!”

“I just…we need to get out of here. I can’t stay in this fucking house with anyone because I’m so fucking on edge I can’t fucking think straight because I think everyone’s going to find out about whatever the hell we’ve been doing.” I said and she nodded.

“Okay, okay, then let’s just go, but…is Hanna okay?” She asked and I rolled my eyes.

“All I did was knock him out, he’ll be fine. C’mon.” I said, and turned, locking the door before I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bathroom.

“Why the hell-”

“Just shut up, I know where I’m going.” I said and locked both doors before getting on my knees and opening up the cabinets under the sink. I took no time moving a few extra bottles of soap, and some cleaning products out of the way before I slid open the bottom. “Go.” I told her and she looked at me like I was insane.

“Why can’t we just walk out the front door and go on a little nature walk or something?! Something normal for once!” She exclaimed and I shook my head, pulling her down to the floor.

“Just go.” I told her, and she got into the space.

“Where do I go?” She asked.

“To hell.” I suggested out of habit, and she brought her hand back, flipping me off.

“Well thanks for the offer, but now’s not really the time. I’ll just take a rain check for tonight, though.” I smirked, and mentally slapped myself for the remark. It all needed to stop, really. “Just shut up and crawl over to the right wall, then you’ll find a ladder. Climb up it, and open the hatch at the top and wait for me..” I instructed, and crawled in behind her, reaching back through to close the cabinet doors and slide the door closed.

“Bam, why the hell are we doing this, again?” She asked as I turned and began following her in the dark space, and I heard her on the ladder, the rungs creaking from age.

“Because we need to get out of this house for some air.” I said, and held a hand out in front of me, feeling around for the ladder.

“Well we sure as hell aren’t gonna get any air in a fucking ladder in your fucking wall.” She spat, her voice growing distant. I found the bottom rung and pulled myself up as I started climbing.

“You found the hatch yet?” I asked, raising my voice slightly, and I heard her fumbling with metal.

“I think so. Trying to get this damn latch- never mind, I got it.” She said and I was right with her in a few seconds, and she climbed out, the dim light from the roof leaking in. I got out behind her, and she seemed shaky. “Jesus Christ, why the hell are we up here?” She asked and I shrugged, closing the hatch as I sat down, and she sat beside me.

“Pretty neat place, huh?” I asked, smiling slightly. I had found this place a while ago, when we first moved into the house. It was neat, and a place away from everyone. It was fun appearing on the roof and having everyone wonder how you got up there when there wasn’t a ladder in sight.

“Yea, yea it is.” She whispered, staring off at the sunset over the trees. We fell silent for a second, and I realized just how close the two of us were to being found out. I nearly got caught by Missy, Novak, and Mark today. It just seemed like a matter of time. But I don’t know why I really cared, because Missy had really gotten under my skin. Hell, really, she had always been there since I met her, but Kori’s just the first person that’s really shown me that I have options. I have the option to get out of the shitty marriage I was in, and rip off all the chains she’d put on me, and breaks the locks I had been under. I had the option to start living again.

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^*Kori’s POV*^
As I sat in the cool air, staring at the dimming sun with Bam, for once things were peaceful. I wasn’t in a breakdown over my best friend, him and I were insulting each other, or fucking, or trying to kill one another, and everything was nice. I scared myself back in my room, when I began flipping out in my head that we were going to get caught. I mean…I didn’t really want this to end. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t.

“I guess you’re gonna get your wish any day now.” Bam muttered, and looked down, picking at his fingernails. I looked over at him, not sure what he meant.

“What do you mean?” I asked and he sighed.

“You started this between you and I because you wanted me to get in trouble with Missy, and for her to leave me.” He whispered and I shifted around slightly, almost cold in the chilled afternoon air.

“Technically I wanted to ruin your life and make you miserable.” I corrected and he looked over at me.

“Well that’s not happening.” He stated, matter-of-factly.

“You just said-”

“I said that you were going to get your wish for Missy to leave me, but everything’s kind of backfired with the whole, ‘Make Bam miserable and ruin his life’.” I just looked at him oddly. I had no clue what he was talking about.

“What are you saying?” I questioned and he smiled slightly.

“I mean you’ve done everything but make me miserable. For the first time in a while, I’m happy, and that’s without alcohol, or any violent shit towards someone else. And for the whole life ruining thing, well, you’ve given me a reason to legitimately realize what a bitch Missy is, and that I don’t want to be with a person like her when…” He trailed off. “You know, fuck it, just…the bottom line is that you’ve made my life something other than miserable for a while.”

“No, no, no, back up, what were you going to say?” I asked, and he tweaked his lips, looking down again.

“I don’t want to be with a bitch like her when…when I can have you.” He said and I smiled slightly. I didn’t know why, but his words just made me feel all fuzzy on the inside. It made me realize just how much of a sweet guy he can be when he wants to.

“You know, I’ve been telling myself that I don’t like you, and that I hate you, and that I want as far away from you at all times as possible but…” He looked back up at me, and I looked down then, feeling my cheeks begin burning. “But you can actually be a really nice guy when you want to.”

“Yea, I’ve been thinking the same about you, you’re not a bitch like I thought.” He chuckled slightly, and I couldn’t help but laugh a little as I picked at the hole in the knee of my jeans.

“I’ve gotten that before.” I sighed. I hadn’t realized it before, but I had slowly slipped into liking him. I liked him a lot, actually. I kept trying to force it back down, but goddamn…he’s just…he won’t let me keep doing that. “I really like you, Bam.” I said as I looked back up and he nodded.

“I really like you too.” He whispered, and I smiled.

“We care about each other.” I stated, and he nodded, smiling as well.

“Yea, I guess we do, don’t we?”

“We’ve got to figure out what to do now.” I said and he took a deep breath as he turned back to the sunset that was almost gone now.

“About Austin?” He asked and I nodded, chipping off my dark navy blue nail polish.

“Exactly. I don’t want her out there all alone in a different country.” It took everything in me to keep the raging flow of emotions down. I wanted to rip her face off of her skull, but at the same time I just wanted to break down and cry over it all. “I mean,” I looked back up. “She can be in god knows what, and the way she sounded…Who the hell knows what’s happened. She could’ve gotten kidnapped, she could be in danger, she could be lost, or…or fucking hurt and just…” I could feel the tears already, but I wouldn’t start crying right now because the anger wouldn’t let me. “I can’t fucking stand the fact that I can’t do shit.” I felt Bam’s arm around my shoulders, his hand rubbing my arm. “I don’t like feeling this helpless.” I whispered.

“We’ll head out by Friday. I still feel like I owe her one for that one time I dumped that bucket of pond water on her and she had to go to the ER to get leeches removed…” I turned to Bam, not amused.

“That makes me want to punch you in the face.”

“Well, don’t.” He said simply. “Because I’m your only ticket to Finland.” He stood up, and grabbed my hand, helping me up as well. “We’ve got two days to still act like we hate each other.”

“Don’t want the shit to start flying yet?” I asked and he shook his head.

“Not yet. I’m still amazed over the fact that you’ve discovered my heart somewhere in the cave I call a chest.” He said, carefully going back to the hatch.

“Well, still want that rain check for tonight?” I asked with a smirk as he opened the hatch and looked up at me.

“Why the fuck do you think we’re going inside?”