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Kellin and I practically spill into our home once the door is flung open. We abandon our luggage at the entrance and head directly to the sofa where we just collapse, feeling exhausted.

"Why does it still feel like we travelled across the world when we didn't even leave town?" Kellin groans, leaning against me.

"I know what you mean." I admit.

"As much as I love to be home, I'm sad our honeymoon is over." Kellin frowns.

"Me too." I admit. "But now we can officially settle into married life and grow old together."

"We're twenty-six, Vic." he snorts, nudging me softly.

"I know. I just can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." I blush.

Kellin chuckles and shifts closer to me.

"You know we would have spent our lives together anyway. Even if we didn't get married, or start dating, I would have always been by your side." he assures me.

"I don't know if that's true though, Kells." I frown, looking to the carpet.

"What do you mean?" he asks confused.

"I remember how much it hurt me to not have you and I imagine you felt the same. I think it was inevitable that we would grow to resent each other." I explain, not daring to meet his gaze. "I mean, we were already drifting apart before he came along."

Kellin just silently takes my hand, in a comforting manner. His silence urges to me to continue so I do.

"I was in so much pain, Kells. I was down all the fucking time. I threw myself into reckless relationships and probably pushed our friendship a little too far at times, just by holding your hand or kissing your cheek or spooning you. And those things just made the pain worse. I feel like our friendship was becoming toxic. I was hurting over you more than it was healthy. And I assume you felt the same." I ramble.

Kellin squeezes my hand almost to silence me, then he drops my hand altogether.

"I'm so sorry, Vic." he whispers.

I finally turn to him and he looks completely distraught.

"Oh, no, baby," I say quickly. "It's okay. In no way was that your fault. I'm just glad I told you my feelings before we let it get any further. And I'm so sorry something so horrible had to happen for me to find the courage."

He gives me a sad smile and kisses my cheek softly.

"What's important now is that there's no more pain. We have each other. And it's forever." he whispers. "And I know I get overwhelmed and emotional sometimes, but I need you to know that you make me feel okay. As long as I have you, I am okay."

His words warm my heart and I have no words to adequately respond to him so I just kiss him.

The kiss starts off simple and sweet but soon he's pushing me down onto the sofa and climbing on top of me. I hold his hips between my palms as his tongue pushes against mine and his hands push up my shirt.

I'm excited for where this kiss seems to be going but we're interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a miniature heart attack. Not only was I not expecting another person to be in my house, but also I wasn't expecting to be caught in the midst of a steamy makeout session with my husband.

Kellin and I look to the intruder to find Jenna near bursting with laughter.

"Am I interrupting?" she chokes out, trying to compose herself.

"Uhh..." I blush as Kellin scrambles to get off me.

"I forgot you were coming over." he blushes.

"We were literally texting ten minutes ago." Jenna screeches with laughter, finally breaking.

"I got distracted!" Kellin whines covering his face embarrassed.

I sit up so I can comfort him.

"Oh my god, clearly! I'm guessing the honeymoon went well." Jenna snorts. "Can you imagine if I walked in five minutes later? I would be traumatized."

"Well I'm now traumatized," Kellin giggles burying his face in my shoulder.

"Oh relax, Kells." Jenna chuckles, taking a seat on the armchair. "Anyway, I want to know all about Paris."

"Oh shit." Kellin blurts out making me laugh.

"What?" Jenna frowns confused.

"You can't be mad." Kellin says slowly.

"Can't be mad? Why would I mad? What did you do?" Jenna questions skeptically.

"Well," Kellin begins, looking to me for help but I put my hands up in defence. No part of me wants to tell our best friend that we lied to her.

Kellin sighs and looks to Jenna nervously.

"We didn't actually go to Paris." Kellin says almost flinching at his own words.

"What do you mean?" Jenna chuckles seeming very confused.

"Well you see, our flight got cancelled the day of our wedding but we still wanted to have a honeymoon so Vic suggested we have a staycation and pretend we're in Paris so we booked a hotel in town and have been there for the past week." he rambles so quickly that I can see Jenna struggling to keep up.

"Wait, what? You were here the whole time?" she frowns.

"Yeah, we wanted to tell you but we also wanted to be as immersed in our honeymoon is possible." I explain, now rubbing my husband's tense shoulders.

"Oh, well, now I'm really confused. And sad that you guys didn't get to go to Paris." Jenna pouts.

"We had a good time. I don't think going to Paris could have possibly made our honeymoon any better." Kellin smiles, relaxing into me.

Jenna grins at us, now seeming happy.

"That's so great. So how's married life?" she beams.

Kellin looks back at me fondly and smiles.

"It's perfect." he murmurs. "I just feel so complete now."

"I wholeheartedly agree." I murmur kissing the top of his head.

Jenna starts asking about our honeymoon but the ringing of my phone interrupts her.

Both Jen and Kell look to me almost expectantly as I pull my phone out. I immediately recognize the number as the private investigator's, which fills me with both eagerness and anxiety.

"I'm going to get this. I'll be back soon." I say quickly, kissing Kellin's head.

I then head out the front door for some privacy, but not before I see the look of confusion on Kellin's face.

I answer my ringing phone with a "hello" when I'm sure I'm out of ear's reach.

"Hi, Mr Fuentes, I think I've located Carter Cruz." his name makes me flinch.

"You did?" I sigh relieved. "Where is he?"

He recites an address to me which is located just a few towns over. Carter's not far at all. It's literally only an hour's drive. He's been so close to us this entire time and I had no idea.

"He works at a used car dealership two streets over and lives with a woman named Kylie. I believe they're romantically involved." the PI explains.

I almost consider that this isn't my Carter, the PI got the wrong guy, but Carter never explicitly stated that he was gay. There's a significant change that he's bisexual. But I'm confused as to why that would never have come up. Although, come to think of it, he never mentioned any previous relationships at all.

Besides, his job at the dealership solidifies the fact that this is definitely the Carter Cruz. After all, that's how we met. He worked at a used car dealership and brought an old mustang into my uncle's mechanic business for servicing. He was flirty so I got his number and our relationship grew from there.

The memories make me feel sick now.

I get the address from the PI and then hang up. I put the address in my phone for later then head back inside. I find Jenna alone on the sofa.

"Hey, where's Kell?" I frown confused.

"He insisted he make everyone lunch." she chuckles.

I smile at that as I sit back down on the sofa. He's such a sweetheart.

"Who was that?" Jenna asks.

"Hmm?"

"On the phone. Who called you?" she asks, seeming a little suspicious.

"No one." I answer quickly.

"No one? No one called you? Don't lie to me, Victor." she warns.

I sigh and look over my shoulder to make sure Kellin's nowhere in sight. I can hear him humming softly from the kitchen as he potters about making lunch.

I turn back to Jenna but avert my gaze to my hands.

"Can you keep a secret?" I ask her quietly.

"Why, Vic? What's going on?" Jenna frowns.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise to never tell a soul, especially not Kellin." I urge, looking up at her concerned face.

She looks conflicted but nods.

"Okay, I promise." she decides. "What's going on?"

"I found Carter." I say softly. His name evokes a bitter taste in my mouth.

"You what? What do you mean you found Carter?" she asks confused.

"I hired a private investigator to find him. That's who just called me. He did it. He found Carter. I have his address." I explain to her.

"Why though?" Jenna questions looking puzzled.

"I want to talk to him–" I begin.

"You what?" Jenna screeches.

I quickly shush her. "I want to talk to him. Convince him to turn himself in."

"Vic this is a very bad idea."

I'm disheartened by her lack of support.

"He needs to he locked up, Jen," I urge.

"Hun, I couldn't agree more, but you should just let this go. You can't bring him into Kellin's life again. He's healing." she explains.

I shake my head.

"I don't know if he is, Jen. He's still jumpy and anxious. He told me himself that Carter is still affecting him. I don't think Kellin can begin to heal until he knows he is safe and Carter isn't going to reappear in his life."

She sighs, her forehead creasing with stress.

"He is healing though, Vic. It's just a slow process and that's to be expected, but he's already come so far. I just don't want his process destroyed by you bringing Carter back into his life." Jenna states.

"He's not going to find out though," I assure her. "What he doesn't know can't hurt him."

Jenna nods and falls silent. She stares down at her hands for a minute in thought before she meets my gaze again.

"But are you sure you want to start your marriage off by lying to your husband?" she murmurs.

But before I can ever consider the question, Kellin walks into the room so I sweep the whole conversation under the rug.

"Hey," I grin at my beautiful better half as he holds two plates of nachos in his hands and balances one on his arm, something he picked up through his career in hospitality.

"Hey," he chuckles seeming a little confused, as he passes a plate to Jenna, then one to me.

"What were you taking about?" he chirps, sitting down next to me.

Jenna turns a little pale and looks away so I decide to answer.

"The wedding." I lie.

"Ooh what part?" Kellin asks before he stuffs a nacho in his mouth. 

"Just how beautiful you looked." I flirt and he chuckles.

"Oh my god, you need to stop. I can not put up with another seventy years of this." he grins, kicking me gently.

"Sorry, babe, no can do. You knew what you were getting yourself into." I tease.

"Isn't he just the worst?" Kellin huffs jokingly to Jenna.

I watch her force and smile and avoid Kellin's gaze as she nods.

Maybe telling her was a bad idea. Or maybe not telling Kellin is a bad idea. Maybe this whole thing is a really, really, bad idea. But it's worth the risk. I'd do anything to make Kellin happy.

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