Cove's outfit above ^^^
Cove's POV
It's the next day and right now we're walking into school. Today I'm wearing a blue jumpsuit with daisies on it, and some white shoes. I left my hair down in its natural waves and put on some mascara.
Once we go to my class, River and I parted ways and I sat down at my desk. It's kinda become a routine now, River walks me to my classes every morning and whenever he has the class before with me.
As I was waiting for the teacher to come in, a girl that I've become pretty good acquaintances with came to my desk. Her name is Riley and she has long pretty black hair.
"Hi Cove!" She greeted a little too enthusiastically. I looked up and smiled
at her, saying a gentle good morning.
"Sooo, rumor has it somebody's birthday is coming up," she beamed while wiggling her eyebrows.
Ahh, here we go. My birthday is on Sunday, which is actually really soon come to think of it. I guess I've just too busy to notice, last time I checked it was still 2 weeks away.
"Yeah, I guess it's only two days away now," I replied nonchalantly, making Riley scowl.
"Oh c'mon girl, it's your SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY! Don't you want to do something special?" She exclaimed.
I once again shrugged it off and looked back down at my desk. I'm not a big birthday kind of gal, I'd rather keep it on the down low and hangout with a few friends, maybe even go out for dinner but that's all.
Riley rolled her eyes, but luckily the teacher came in before she could continue to pester me about it.
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The next few classes flew by and it's now time for lunch. I decided to wait for River by his locker, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time.
As I was waiting, Leah came up to me with a huge grin plastered on her face. Oh boy, here we go again.
"Cooovvvee," she leaned against the locker beside me. I gave her a what-the-heck-do-you-want-this-time look, making my disinterest clear.
"Oh don't be like that, can't a girl be exited for your BIRTHDAY?" She practically yelled the last part. I playfully rolled my eyes before turning to face her.
"Leah, you already know that I don't like to do much on my birthday, I just want to-" I was cut off by a different voice.
"Birthday, what birthday? Is it your birthday Cove?" River questioned as he went to stand behind me. Oh lord, now we got River involved.
"Yeah, my birthday is coming this Sunday," I tried to play it off as nonchalantly as possible, but the two beaming humans standing beside me made it nearly impossible.
"What!? Why haven't you told River yet? It's like you don't want anyone to know!" Leah scolded. Umm yeah, the goal was for no one to know. But now that's not going to happen.
"Cove, why didn't you tell me," River gasped. I looked up at him with the most innocent eyes I could muster to cover up all of my guilt.
"I just wanted to keep it on the down low," I "pouted," sticking my lip out for extra effect.
River had a quick inner debate with himself before sighing and gently leading me out to our spot by my hand.
"Baby, how am I supposed to plan anything out now?" He asked as we sat down. I sighed deeply while coming up with a response.
"That's the point, I don't want anything big. I just want to hangout with my parents in the morning, then maybe go birthday shopping with some friends or you," I rambled.
River hummed in response and lightly stroked my hair. Even though he hasn't specifically said anything yet, just by him demeanor I can tell that he's barely taking anything I just said into consideration.
"Okay baby, but I still really want to take you on a date. We can keep it on the down low, but promise me you'll come with me in the evening," he proposed.
"Of course River, that sounds really amazing. I promise," I smiled up at him sweetly. He smiled back and leaned down to press a wet kiss on my forehead before responding.
"Good, It's a date."
ð ð ð
The rest of school passed by pretty uneventfully. The only weird thing is that Brad kept avoiding me. Not just like ignoring me, but making it a point to turn away the second we made eye contact.
Weird, anyways River just pulled up to my driveway. He got out to open my door and I mumbled a quick thank you, then we walked inside.
When we got in, River immediately made himself comfortable on the couch while I set down my bag and took of my shoes.
"I'm glad that making yourself comfortable," I teased. River chuckled then patted his thighs, silently asking for me to come sit. I quickly walked over and plopped down on his lap, my front still facing the TV.
"You know, we never finished watching Pretty Little Liars," I hummed while leaning agains his chest. He smiled and handed me the remote as a sign to turn it on.
I quickly flicked the TV on and went to Netflix, which was a little hard since River is rubbing my thigh, making sparks of what feels like pleasure and electricity shoot up my whole body.
I hit play and tossed the remote to the side, then sunk into River's warm body. Today he's wearing a soft black hoodie, it feels super comfortable and I'm not even the one wearing it.
It only took about 15 minutes for River to get bored and start slowly kissing up my neck. I turned a gave him the hardest glare that I could muster, at which he smile innocently in return.
When I turned back around, he resumed kissing my neck, this time speeding up the pace and trailing his hand higher and higher up my thigh.
"River, I'm trying to watch," I whined. He smirked at me in response and pulled me flush against him.
Leaning forwards, he whispered in my ear, "good luck with that." His breath sent shivers down my spine as it fanned over my ear and on my neck.
He then returned to kissing my neck and shoulder while I tried my hardest to focus on the TV.
When the episode finally finished, I bolted up from River's lap and nearly ran to the kitchen, muttering about how I'm hungry.
River chuckled and followed behind me, watching as I pulled out a jar of Nutella and a spoon. I gave him a cheeky smile and sat down on the counter facing him.
"Do you want anything to eat River?" I asked as I put a spoonful in my mouth. He shook his head in response and stepped closer to me.
"Do you like Nutella?" I questioned. Instead of responding verbally, River's eyes filled with mischief and a smirk took over his face.
I gave him a weary and confused look before he put his hands on my legs and leaned forward to captivate my mouth in a deep deep kiss.
His mouth moved expertly against mine as his tongue moved along every surface in my mouth. Fireworks erupted throughout my body, everything about this kiss just feels right.
"Only when it comes from you."
He pulled away and chuckled at the confused and flustered look on my face. What? Only when it comes from me, what does that mean?
"Never mind baby, don't think about it too hard," he chuckled. I gave him a playful glare and hopped down from the counter, throwing away the now empty jar of Nutella.
"Let's do something," I suggested as we made our way back out to the living room. He nodded in agreement as we both plopped back down on the couch.
"What do you want to do? Do you want to go somewhere," River asked.
"Yeah! Let's go to... oh how about we go on a walk?" I suggested. River smiled and stood up.
"That's a great idea," he said while slipping on his shoes. I got up and put my white sneakers back on. I love how nicely complement my outfit.
"You look adorable baby," River complemented as we walked outside, hand and hand. A light blush ran up my cheeks as I stuttered out a reply.
"T-thank you, I'm glad you like it." He smiled down at me, then brought my hand up to his mouth and placed a kiss on the back of it.
"Anything looks good on you really," he husked. My blush got darker and this time I wasn't able to form a reply, choosing instead to just nod and smile.
We took a different route then we did last time, this time walking towards a small strip of shops only a mile or two away from my house.
The strip has a few clothing stores, a Sephora, a jewelry shop and a couple of other random stores, such as a souvenir store. There's also a Mexican restaurant with a nice patio for outdoor seating with fairy lights decorating the top.
To top it all off, there's a beautiful fountain in the middle of the strip that you can sit on around the edges. We walked silently towards the fountain, the only sound surrounding us being the sound of light chatter coming the restaurant.
As we sat down, a light breeze came making me shiver. River pulled me into his side and began rub my bare arm with his warm hands. I curled into his embrace in order to warm up, the task not being too difficult since River is like a big ball of heat.
We quietly watched as the sun started to set, decorating the sky with beautiful shades of red, orange, and purple. Everything in this moment just feels perfect, River and I cuddled up while watching the beautiful sky.
My hand grabbed River's out of habit, and I placed our interlocked fingers on his lap. He smiled warmly while still looking up at the sky and began to softly rub the back of my hand with his thumb.
I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed in content.
"River this is perfect," I whispered.
He smiled down and me and gently squeezed my hand before answering, "only because you're here babygirl." (Eww that felt so cringy to write)
I smiled at the nickname that I like even though he rarely calls me it. In a way, I like that he doesn't call me that very often, it makes it special whenever he does.
We sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's company for about 15 minutes until the sun fell behind the buildings and the sky got dark.
"We should head back baby," River whispered softly. I reluctantly nodded in agreement before slowly standing up, trying my hardest to bask in these last few moments of peacefulness.
I instantly felt cold at the loss of touch, the lack of sun doing nothing to help my situation. Seeing me shiver, River immediately stood up and slipped off his hoodie.
He gently put it on me and pulled me into a hug, once again welcoming his body to spread heat to my own. After a minute or two, he finally pulled back.
"Is that better sweetheart?" He asked.
"Yes, thank you," I answered while smiling at him.
"Anytime baby, I love seeing you in my clothes," he responded. I looked down at his hoodie that completely covers my outfit and almost goes reaches my knees before grabbing his hand and re-lacing our fingers together.
I lightly swung our joined hands as we started the 25 minute journey back to my house. The sky is now completely black and the bright stars are the only things lighting up our path.
Usually I'd be scared to be out in the dark, but now I have River with me. He makes all of my fears and worries go away because I know that he'll never ever let anything bad happen to me.
I don't feel any fear at all.
That's until there was a loud sound. Not just any loud sound, oh no no no no no. It's a sound that I recognize to be a gunshot.
Trigger warning: mass shooting
Before I couldn't even process what is happening, several more shots erupted and screams coming from the shopping center filled the air.
Good thing we're hundreds of feet away from there by now. We're safe.
Or so I thought.
Although I froze in my spot, River immediately took action my gripping my hand tighter and running in the opposite direction of then where the shots came from.
It took my body a few more seconds to process what's happening, then it immediately unfroze and I took off running along side River.
As we ran, I heard several more loud bangs followed by heart breaking screams.
I turned back for just a second and made out dozen of men dressed in all black with red bandannas covering their mouths as masks shooting massive guns.
Before I could make out anything else, River pushed my head away. As I focused on the road in front of us, my heart nearly shattered at what I saw from the corner of my eye.
A handful of the men are chasing after us.
Tears brimmed my eyes as the realization came to me. We might die today. I might die today. Or worst if all, I might loose River.
"River! River they're coming after us!" I screamed. River looked behind us for a brief second before cursing and pulling me into an alleyway.
He took us to some dumpsters and we hid behind them. River made sure to crouch down in front of me, even though I tried to fight it.
"River no, no I'm not letting you die. I'm not letting you die because of me."
He turned to face me as those last words left my mouth. His once emotionless yet demanding look softened and his eyes filled slightly with sadness.
"Baby we're not going to die. Neither of us are going to die, everything is going to be okay. Trust me."
I nodded and he turned back to face forwards. I can't help but try and believe his words, but there's still a small part of me that's doubting everything he just said.
We're going to die. We're going to die just like all of those people that just got shot right behind us. If I don't die, then River's going to die. And I'll be all alone.
I clutched onto the back of his shirt, willing with everything inside of me for him to stay safe. Please please please, let us make it out of here safe unharmed.
As much as I don't want him putting himself in front of me, I know that if worst comes to worst, he would be able to take a bullet better than I could.
He'd have a better chance of survival. No no no, I have to stop thinking like this. We will both be fine, we'll both make it out of this alive and healthy.
River will protect us. He will protect me.
Minutes passed by in deafening silence. Then my worst nightmare came true, I heard footsteps approaching.
I felt River grab something from his pants or pocket, I'm not sure. That's when I remembered that River has a gun.
He has a freaking gun! He can protect us! As long as we're not outnumbered, River will keep us safe. I can only hope that that's what he pulled out.
As the footsteps got closer, I was able to make out some faint voices.
"Are you sure they came this way?"
"Yes I am! I saw him and the girl come over here."
"Are you sure you're sure? Boss will kill us if we don't get him."
"Plus that girl looks like a good fling" River's body tensed at the last part, I'm not sure if it's due to what he said or the fact that there's a third guy.
All I know is that is it, we are completely outnumbered. Even if there were only two guys, I'd be useless. I can't fight, or do anything for that matter.
"I'm sure, now shut up the hell up Ron."
The voices and footsteps abruptly stopped in front of the dumpster. I silently pulled our bodies together as close as possible, praying that everything will all be okay.
The footsteps resumed as they walked around the dumpster, and in that moment I knew that they found us. I pushed my head into River's back in order to block my view.
I don't want to see what happens next. My last wish is for this to be quick and painless death. I don't know what's about to happen.
All I know is that we're toast.
River's POV
I felt Cove tense behind me as they walked in front of us. I let her push herself into me and hold me close, it's better that way anyways. She wouldn't like to see what's about to happen.
Am I scared? Not at all. It's just a weak little gang trying to kill me and take over my gang. But that would NEVER happen. My men are already on the way, as if I can't deal with this myself.
The only emotion I feel right now besides anger is sadness. I'm angry that this pathetic little gang who I can't even recognize thinks that they can kill me and steal over my gang.
I'm angry that they think they can just "take" my baby against her will. No one will ever, EVER, touch my baby like that except for me. No one will EVER hurt her like that, or in any way for that matter.
I'm also a tiny bit sad because my baby is scared. She's scared, upset, she thinks that I'm going to die. I wish that I can comfort her, but for now I have this "gang" to deal with.
They will pay for upsetting and scaring my Cove, I'll make sure of it.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" One of the three guys snarled. Cove let out a small whimper from behind me and pushed herself impossibly closer into my back.
"Aww hi there little one," a different guy cooed with a fake hint of sweetness in his voice.
Cove looked up to meet his gaze for a split second before cowering back and once again hiding her face in my back.
"Aren't you just a pretty little thing, don't worry we'll take great care of you," he teased. It took everything in me not to shoot him right then and there, umm does he not see me?
I growled, bringing their attention back to me. Their eyes shined with mischief at what they're about to do.
"Oh don't worry, we didn't forget about you River. Don't worry, we'll kill you first so that you don't have to see of the nasty things we're about to do to your little girlfriend. Oh wait, maybe we should let you see. If we just disable you, you can watch it all unfold in front of you while you're completely useless."
Cove let out a quiet sob as he said that and clutched onto my shirt like her life depends on it.
The guys smirked at this, and reached to pull out their guns. I didn't want it to come to this, I don't want to shoot them in front of Cove. But they leave me no choice.
The guy standing in the middle aimed his gun at my leg, but before he could shoot, four loud shots rang through the alley.
I didn't shoot. Those weren't my shots.
I lowered my gun slowly and looked around. I don't feel any pain, then again it might just be the adrenaline running through my veins.
It didn't even take me a second to spot three dead bodies laying in front of me. Their dead bodies.
Then I saw it. Ryan is standing at the entrance of the alleyway holding a riffle, completely surrounded by my men.
End of trigger warning
I nodded at him as a thank you and stood up slowly, making sure that I'm okay and I'm not shot anywhere. Not that it would matter too much, I've been shot many times before. It just might affect my mobility.
Once I was sure that I'm okay, I turned to Cove. She is still on the ground, sitting with her head on her knees and her eyes tightly shut.
I softly placed my hand on her arm, making her flinch back. I scowled, she's f*cking terrified because of those son of a b*tches!
I crouched down to her level and softly rubbed her back with one hand, the other still resting on her hand.
"Baby it's me, everything is okay," I reassured her gently. Slowly, she moved her head up from her knees and looked me in the eye.
My heart broke at the sight of her puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks with tears still occasionally falling down them.
Her eyes darted behind me but I quickly blocked her view from seeing any of the bodies. That would traumatize her for life, even more then what she already is. And I don't want that.
When her eyes once again met mine, tear filled them and began to fall out at a fast rate. I quickly pulled her into my arms as a heart breaking sob shook her whole body.
"Shhh, it's okay now, everything's okay. I'm okay, you're okay. We're all okay now baby, it's over," I consoled her.
She threw herself against me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. There she cried for a good five minutes while I rubbed her back and did my best to comfort her.
By the time she was able to stop crying, her body went limp against mine in exhaustion. I carefully picked her up and carried her away, making sure to tuck her head in my neck so that she won't see any of the dead bodies or blood.
I carried her to where all a bunch of my men's cars are now parked and sat down in trunk of a truck with Cove in my lap.
Any men standing within a ten foot radius of that area immediately moved away to give us some space.
It took ten minutes of us sitting there for even Ryan to build up the courage to approach me.
"Umm boss I think that it might be a good idea to have a medic come check you guys out," he suggested nervously.
I glared at him for a second, then gave a stiff nod. Even though I feel fine, Cove might not be.
A male medic then came over with a first aid kit in hand. He looked between me and Cove unsurely, but luckily I understand what he wants.
I gently lifted her up, making her release a small whine of protest which I simply shushed. I lifted her off my lap and placed her right next to me.
She immediately curled into my side and tiredly laid her head on my chest, to exhausted to argue any further.
I looked up and gave the medic a quick nod if approval, and he slowly came towards us. First, he quickly checked me. The task proved to be a little difficult due to Cove's silent refusal to move, but it was fine in the end.
Obviously I'm okay, so now comes the hard part. Cove.
He gently tapped her shoulder, causing her to flinch back and stir slightly, but other than that she didn't move an inch.
I then lightly tried to pull her head away from my chest, and luckily she didn't fight it although I can tell that she's not happy about moving away from me. Trust me, I'm not either.
She faced the medic for the first time and her eyes instantly filled with fear and worry. She scooted closer to me and away from him, grabbing my hand in the process and tightly gripping it.
Her breathing started to speed up and tears resurfaced in her eyes. No no no, she's panicking.
"Hey, It's okay Cove. He's just going to check you to make sure that you're okay, alright?" I assured her.
She violently shook her head no and tears fell down her beautiful face. I looked up at the medic and mouthed for him to give us a few minutes, to which he agreed.
Once he left I pulled Cove back into my lap and wiped her tears away with the pad of my thumb.
"Baby what's wrong?" I asked gently.
"I-I hate d-doctors. P-please d-don't let him t-touch me, I j-just want t-to go home," she sobbed, speaking for the first time since it all happened.
She hates doctors? I never knew that. I honestly would have never guessed that she has a fear of random people touching her, seeing how touchy she was when we first met. Well not really first met but still. We were strangers back then.
"Baby It'll be fine, he's just going to make sure you're okay and all safe. It won't even take five minutes, I promise." She still shook her head no.
"C'mon babygirl it'll be over before you know it. You can even sit on my lap the whole time, and we can go home straight after," I compromised.
She thought for a second, then reluctantly nodded. I beamed at her and whispered "that's a good girl," then motioned for the medic to come back over while flipping her so that her back is against my chest.
The medic came back and gently grabbed Cove's arm. She tensed in my lap but stayed quiet as he examined it, then moved to the rest of her body.
Just like I promised, not even 4 minutes later we were all finished. The medic went away and I called Ryan over.
"Can you drive us home? I'll give you directions," I asked although it's more like a demand. Ryan nodded and we walked to his car.
The drive to Cove's house was honestly like a blur. I sat in the back with her while Ryan drove.
When we arrived, I lifted her out of his truck and we walked inside. As soon as the door closed, I scooped Cove up and carried her up to her room.
I tucked her into bed and went to take off my shoes, but was interrupted by a small hand being placed on my arm.
"Please don't leave," Cove begged, her voice sounding completely desperate and broken.
"I never planned on it," I replied while climbing into bed with her and pulling her flush against me.
Her breathing soon evened out, and I fell asleep to the sound of her soft snores.
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