Free The Scars of Us by Nikki Narvaez

Friday, I was behind on my work, swamped with documents and spreadsheets. Mondays were typically the busiest day of the week, especially since we had our weekly meeting to discuss happenings throughout the whole company.
    Once I got home, I couldn’t wait to go work out and relieve some of the tension from the day. I dropped my keys and purse by the door before trotting to Kamden’s bedroom. Tapping on his open door, I peeked in. “Hey, you want to go to the gym?”
    His eyes rose to mine from his laptop. The screen illuminated his handsome face. Thank God he doesn’t look like me.
    “Yeah, I was waiting for you. I need to talk to you about something first, though,” he stated while closing his laptop.
    Great, what now? “Okay,” I said as I walked in and sat on his bed. He swiveled his rolling chair to face me before saying, “I set up an appointment to speak with the head of the hospital.”
    My mouth suddenly became dry from his words. I swallowed deeply before asking, “For when?”
    “Six weeks from today— April 28. Do you still want to come with me?”
    My first instinct was to say no, but I thought about my goal, about the baby steps I had made so far. “Yes. I want to do everything we can to keep him in there. I don’t want him to be released.”
    Pride shined in his blue-gray eyes as he smiled at me. He turned and rifled through some documents on his desk. “Great. I think we still have the paperwork from the attack somewhere.”
    “I don’t know—I haven’t looked at them since we filed them. They should be in the filing cabinet unless you took them out.”
    “I’ll look for them. Go ahead and get ready for the gym,” Kamden said as he continued to search through the mess of papers on his cluttered desk.
    I hopped up off his bed before going to my room to change. Fifteen minutes later, we were out the door on the way to the gym. Nervous, excited energy bounced through my veins as I anticipated seeing Ryker. Play it cool, you’re supposed to take things slow, remember?
    The drive to the gym seemed to drag on as my nerves continued to build up, making me feel like a kid on a sugar high. I practically skipped into the building, but my mood deflated when I realized Ryker wasn’t there.
    I didn’t want to seem like a stalker by asking for him at the front desk, so I just assumed it was his day off—Monday probably wasn’t a peak workout day. Oh well, I’ll see him tomorrow at class.
    Brushing off the disappointment, I headed to my usual elliptical. Kamden went straight to the weight room, but he joined me in the cardio room to finish up his workout before we left.
    When we got home, I decided to call Nori again, needing to talk to her about what Kamden and I discussed before we went to the gym. After dialing her number, I cradled the phone between my shoulder and ear as I took out some of the leftover takeout from the other night. I could hear the surprise in her tone—I typically didn’t call her two days in a row. “Everything okay, Kaiya?” she answered.
    I chuckled, “Yes. But I have something to tell you.”
    “You did it, didn’t you? That was fast, you whore,” she teased, giggling.
    My eyes popped in shock as I pulled two plates from the cabinet. “No, I didn’t, Nori! I can’t believe you think I’m that easy.”
    “I don’t, but he’s hot, and he seems very determined to have you from what you told me.”
    I sighed, a little disappointed. “I didn’t even see him today.” Pausing, I cleared my throat. “But that’s not why I called. Remember I told you about Kaleb possibly being released?”
    “Yes,” she said, her playful tone from a second ago gone.
    Setting the plates down, I went to sit at the breakfast bar. I released a deep breath before explaining, “Well, Kamden and I are going to the hospital to try to stop it. I wanted to see if you would come with me. You know, for support.”
    Without hesitation, she answered, “Of course, Ky. When?”
    “April