Cove's POV
New year, new day. New me, new.. everything!!
Tonight is New Year's Eve, and I cannot wait.
I walked into my room and looked around at all the presents still waiting to be put in place.
A new tv for my room, some lights shaped like cactuses, and a brand new laptop is what I got from my parents. They really spoiled me this year.
Looking down at my hand, the beautiful diamond ring River gave me sparkled on my finger. It's a promise ring. I can still remember how he gave it to me...
Christmas Day; 10 am..
After cleaning up the last piece of torn wrapping paper, I sighed and went to the door. River will be here any minute, he promised.
Knock knock knock.
Three firm knocks on the door caught my attention. I quickly walked to the door and opened it.
There on the other side stood River completely drenched in water. It's raining cats and dogs outside.
"Hey baby," he said with a small smile while moving the wet hair away from his face. Somehow, he still manages to look flawless, even while his clothes are completely drenched.
"River!" I smiled widely and hugged him, not minding that he got my outfit wet. I'd have to change later anyways.
"I got you something," he said and kissed my head before stepping back and pulling out something from his pocket.
A small pink box.
"What is it?" I asked mindlessly. In response, he flipped the top opened and revealed a beautiful diamond ring glistening in the light.
"Oh my gosh.." I whispered, completely speechless.
"Cove, I promise to make you the happiest girl alive. I promise to marry you someday when we're old enough. To be the best dad possible to our future children. I promise that we'll be with each other forever, no matter what."
He slipped the ring on my finger and kissed my knuckle. I chose to ignore the upset tone he used when he said "forever, no matter what." It's like something had happened to make him feel like someone or something is trying to break that promise.
"I love you River," I smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth.
"I love you more Cove, always."
He suddenly lifted me up in his arms and kissed my cheek a bunch of times, making me giggle.
"You're so precious my love," he said while stroking my hair and rubbing up and down my leg.
"Mm thank you," I whispered.
"You're my baby, my love, my darling. Mine."
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Every year my family and a couple of our family friends spend New Years up in a cabin. It's a lot of fun, we play games, bake food, go on hikes, explore. All of that.
I changed into a warm yellow sweater, a white skirt, and tights underneath since it's cold.
My suitcase is laid open on the bed as I think of anything I may have forgotten to bring. Clothes, check. Makeup, check. Hair brush, check. Book, check. I think I have it all.
We leave in 15 minutes, I'll have to call River before we go. Smiling, I picked up my phone and called his number.
He didn't pick up. Weird. I called him again, and just as it was about to go to voicemail he answered.
"Hey baby what's up?" He said coolly, trying to hide the fact he's out of breath.
"Hi River! What are you up to you sound tired?"
"Oh nothing nothing, just running around doing some errands and stuff."
"Oh alright.. well guess where I'm going?"
"Hm where?"
"I'm going to a cabin! There gonna be no service but we'll bring a hotspot. That means we can't text or call though."
"Oh no.. are you sure? Is there any other way?"
"Well, we can always use Snapchat?"
He thought for a few moments, then said, "I don't even think I have that app still downloaded."
"What? You're weird!" I laughed. "Well you should get it and I'll add you, what's your username?"
"It's just River underscore smith. I made it like 3 years ago"
"Hm.. found it! You have no bitmoji, it's creepy."
"Yeah, it's a waste of time. Okay I'll download it later and I'll add you back, bye baby."
"Bye, love you." With that, I hung up.
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I looked around with wide eyes as we drove up the dirt driveway. A 5 hour long road-trip later, and we finally arrived.
The air bnb we rented this year is a bit smaller than usual. My parents, who were in charge of finding the house, decided to wait until the last minute to look which left us with basically nothing.
Once parked, I got out of the car and immediately stretched my arms. Even with the whole backseat to myself, my body cramped up. I don't know why my dad finds the need to put his seat so far back, it squishes me.
"Cove!"
I broke out of my thoughts at the sound of someone calling my name. Looking around, I noticed that 2 other cars were already parked.
Great, we're the last to arrive. Us Bentleys are known for being late.
"Hi, Luca" I smiled politely when I saw the sandy haired boy approaching me. He's grown a lot since I last saw him.
"Hello hello, ohh look I'm finally taller than you." He laughed and put his arm around me, hugging me from the side.
"Hm.. barely," I joked, even though he has a good 4-5 inches on me now. He chuckled at my comment and stepped back.
"So, where is everyone else?"
"Everyone is inside, you were taking forever so we started a game of monopoly in the livingroom. Come join, it's not too late."
I nodded quickly and followed him inside. The moment I stepped in, I immediately felt a change in atmosphere.
The outside was somewhat welcoming, a bit old looking though. But as soon as we walked in, I could feel this sense of.. unwantedness. It's as though this cabin didn't want anyone, more specifically us, in it.
"This is kind of creepy, don't you think?" I commented in a quiet voice.
"Hm, no not really. I like it, it's very open," Luca countered and shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe you're right, I just need to get used to it."
We entered the livingroom and I looked around at everyone. Cassidy, a sixteen year old girl, immediately smiled at seeing me and stood up.
"Finally decided to join us, Cove."
I smiled at her and quickly wrapped her in a hug. It's a shame that I only get to see her, along with everyone else staying here, once a year. We all live really far apart and it's hard to get together.
"Don't forget about me!" Cassidy's 14 year old brother playfully glared at me from his spot on the floor.
I let go of Cassidy and walked over to him, then bent down to reach his height. He still hasn't hit puberty, so he's short.
"Hello to you too, Jake." I ruffled his hair, then took a seat on the couch. The couch dipped down on both sides of me as Luca sat down on my right, and Cass on my left.
"And me? Where's my hello."
I turned my head to the door and saw Xander walk in. Xander is Luca's 19-year old brother. To be honest, I often forget that he exists. He's quiet and keeps to himself, mostly staying in his room or going out on walks for long periods of time.
"Oh, hi Xander." I smiled politely, then looked over at Cassidy. She was frowning a bit while looking at him, but she quickly shook her head and turned to face the table.
"Cove, you get to be the ice cream cone." She handed me the little playing piece as Luca started gathering my money. I assume he's banker, he's always the banker.
An hour later, I was beating everyone's asses. A good 2/3 of the board was covered in my houses and castles. I had a fairly thick stack of money in my hand while everyone else was nearly going bankrupt.
"Aha! Pay up." I smirked as Jake landed on my property for the third time in a row.
"But it's $700! I only have $25, and I've sold all my properties."
"Well it looks like you just went bankrupt!" I giggled and collected his remaining money as he rolled his eyes and stood up.
"Whatever, I'm going to go make a snack."
"I'll join, we all already know Cove is going to win so there's no point." Cass sighed, setting down her money as she got up and followed him to the kitchen.
"I guess me and you." I turned to face Luca, and he looked at me with a small smile.
"Nah, you win. Good job Cove." He started to pack up the money, and I joined in.
Once we finished putting everything away, Luca suggested that we go see what the others are making.
"Yeah, I'll meet you there. I need to go to the bathroom first."
He nodded and walked away, leaving me alone. I sighed quietly and stood up, then started walking through the cabin searching for a bathroom.
As I got farther away from the common area where everyone else was, I felt a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Briefly, I considered just going back without peeing. But my weak bladder opposed.
"Cove?"
I looked up and saw my mom coming down the stairs.
"Oh, hi mom. Do you know where the bathroom is?"
"No, actually I've been looking for it. But I'm going to the store now just a few miles from here, I'll be back soon okay? Why don't you get back to everyone else."
"Okay mom. And I will as soon as I find the bathroom, don't worry."
She nodded and kissed my forehead before walking away. For some reason, I had the urge to call her back and tell her to wait there with me until I was able to find the bathroom. But I didn't.
I walked towards the back of the house and started to pull on the doors. Most of them were locked, and the few that did open were small closets or spare rooms.
Just as I was about to give up, I heard another set of footsteps coming down the stairs. This set sounded heavier, so I immediately knew it was a man.
Maybe it's my dad? That or Luca's dad. Cassidy and Jake only have a mom, she adopted both of them when Cass was 2 and Jake a newborn.
Both of my guesses, though, were proven wrong when the person got to the bottom of the stairs and called out my name.
It was Xander's voice.
"Oh um yeah, what is it Xander?" I turned to face him and forced a smile on my face, although I felt pretty uncomfortable with him being near me.
Why does he keep wanting to talk? He never talks to anyone, ever. Unless it's completely necessary. I don't think I've even heard his voice before today.
"This house is pretty, isn't it?" He attempted to start an innocent conversation to lighten the mood, but I didn't miss the way he took a small step towards me while talking.
"Yeah it is," I whispered while subtlety taking a step back. "Although I can't find any bathrooms, do you happen to know where any of them are?"
He silently nodded. "Yes, follow me."
Before I had the chance to respond, he grabbed my hand and started to lead me towards the stairs.
I gently tried to pull my hand away without making it too obvious, but he caught on and subtly tightened his grip.
"Actually, I think I saw one near the kitchen. I'll just use that one.." I said, trying to break away from him.
"No," he sharply retorted. "There's none downstairs, only upstairs."
"Oh," was all I managed to reply as he lead me up the stairs and the feeling in my stomach got worse.
"So Xander, what do you think of this town?" I asked him a question to try and break the tension between us and ease my nerves.
"Hush."
His grip on my hand became painfully tighter as that harsh word left his mouth. With him no longer trying to sound friendly, his voice was cold and empty.
"What-"
Before I was able to finish my sentence, his other hand clamped down to cover my mouth.
"I said, hush. Be quiet."
His voice was terrifyingly cold and drained of any emotion at all. It's as though nothing at all was going through his mind, he was just.. there. Existing.
I tried to pull his hand off of my mouth, but he took both my hands together and trapped them with his own.
I whimpered from the pain of his tight grip. Just as he was about to say something, a different voice interrupted.
"Cove? Are you up here? I'm looking for my wallet, I've seen to have lost it."
The sound of my mother's voice has never been so relieving to me.
Xander quickly let go of me, and before I had the chance to do or say anything, he disappeared up another flight of stairs leading to the attic.
My mom soon appeared in front of me and took ahold of my hand.
"Honey, what happened? You're always so clumsy, you need to be more careful."
She gently stroked the already appearing bruises on my hand, then let go and looked around.
"Oh, it looks like you've found the bathroom. Well, I'll leave you to it then. I think I can just use your dad's wallet."
She quickly left, leaving me shocked and still speechless. I didn't even have the chance to talk before she was gone.
What just happened?
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It's now around 8 o'clock and we finally decided to start making dinner.
After using that bathroom, I went back downstairs and silently ate some of the snacks that Jake and Cassidy made.
I haven't seen Xander since, and I decided to just try and stay away from him.
"Cove is anything wrong? You seem kind of off." Cassidy joined me in the livingroom where I was sitting on the couch with my head leaned against the arm rest.
"Mhm I'm fine," I mumbled.
She sighed unbelievingly and sat down next to me, comfortingly putting her hand on my leg.
"You can tell me anything, you know that right? Whether it's about boys, school, family, friends. I'm here to listen."
I smiled at her and sat up a bit more. "Thank you, but I promise I'm alright. Just a bit tired from the car ride, that's all."
She nodded. "Oh, alright. It was a pretty long one so I understand."
As she was about to walk away, she spotted someone walking past the living room and pulled down the end of my skirt frantically. It had risen up a bit when I sat up.
I turned around and was able to catch the sight of brown hair before that person once again disappeared up the stairs. It was Xander passing by.
"No offense, but he kind of gives me the creeps." Cassidy sighed and let go of my skirt, letting it rise back up a bit.
"Me too, was he looking here?" I motioned to my thighs.
"Yes, that's why I was pulling your skirt down. Horny guys." She rolled her eyes.
I laughed it off and stood up. "Yeah, horny guys. Is dinner almost ready? I'm starving."
"No not yet." She shook her head. "Let me go finish, it'll be about another 10 minutes before it's ready."
I watched her walk away, leaving me alone in the living-room. My phone went off with a notification, when I looked down at, it said:
River Smith has added you back, say hi!
Smiling to myself, I quickly clicked on the notification and typed "hi" in the chat. I wonder what took him so long to add me back.
He appeared at the bottom of the screen, which looked pretty weird since he had no bitmoji.
Hi baby
I smiled at the name and sighed.
We got to the cabin. It's pretty, but kind of creepy.
I'm glad you got there safely, what makes it creepy?
I don't know really. It just has an off vibe, but that's alright. What have you been up to?
Oh just a lot of work and stuff.
I could feel that he wasn't telling the full truth, even through the screen.
Work? What kind of work?
Just some things my dad wants me to help him with. But listen, I promise that I can talk to you all day tomorrow. I just need to finish up okay? I'll be back later.
What? You're already leaving me :(
I'm sorry baby, I promise I'll make it up to you okay? Have a good night of rest later, I love you.
Love you too.
He left the chat before seeing the last message I sent and kept me on delivered. I wonder what he could possibly be doing to make him so busy.
River's POV
The last couple of days have been hell. Everyone should know not to piss of my dad, because once he's truly mad, everything crumbles to pieces.
When he doesn't get his way, no one can stop his anger. It's embarrassing for a grown man to be this mad when something happens that he doesn't like or approve of.
I don't blame any of this on Cove of course, but she's the cause of his tantrum.
What makes everything worse for my dad is the fact that my mom doesn't agree with him. He's used to her always backing him up, and now that she's not, he's struggling to accept that he's the one in the wrong.
Since we had dinner with Cove, my dad has been the definition of grumpy. He's making me do so much useless work. Just yesterday, he made me rob the house of some random guy that accidentally tripped him back in high school.
He's that f*cking petty.
Basically, for the past week he's been making me do the most useless sh*t in order to leave me no time to see Cove. He's trying to hide his intentions, but we can all see past that.
It's annoying, and I don't think I can put up with him anymore. Thankfully, he's leaving tomorrow.
I feel bad that I'm not able to talk to Cove. I'm trying to, but I'm just too busy.
Well, at least she's having fun up in that cabin. I really hope that she enjoys it. And at least I know she's safe off with her family, so there's nothing to worry about.
Right?
3160 words
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I honestly have no words to express how sorry I am that it took me this long to update. Things have been rough, and every time things finally get better, something else happens.
I promise I'm trying, and I'll finish the book soon. It's almost over and there's no excuse for me to make you all wait this long for an update when there's only going to be a few more.
Anyways, I hope to update again soon. I can't promise anything but I know it shouldn't take too long <3