Love and Lies

Chapter 20 - The day I'd been waiting for

I knocked on 13 Bassett Street at 12:35pm. The door opened to a cheeky face of a 15 year old. Marcus.

‘Hello’ he said, raising an eyebrow as his chestnut brown hair fell over his eye. I nodded and smiled.

‘Hey’ I replied and he beckoned me into the hallway. ‘How are you doing?’ I asked him as I took off my shoes.

‘I’m good. Gosh, Zara, you’re looking beautiful’ he said as I placed my shoes by the door. His usual toothy grin spread across his face, his voice low and arousing. Awwh, he was trying to flirt.

‘Charming, as usual’ I replied and pulled him into a hug. His sea green eyes lit up. ‘You’re looking very handsome’ I returned the compliment as I let go and held him at arm’s length to finally get a proper look at him. He did look handsome. He’d grown up a lot since I’d seen him last. Marcus was Jonah’s little brother, a year below me. He was the spitting image of Jonah, the same facial features, the same tanned skin. Just Marcus had a crush on me. I found it adorable; Jonah on the other hand…did not. 

Oh, ‘scuse me love birds’ Jonah said as he walked down the stairs, a hint of sarcasm and a hint of anger. I didn’t realise he was there, but he must have been stood there for a little while. I laughed and let go as Marcus turned an adorable shade of red. Jonah walked down the stairs then gently budged Marcus away. I pretended I didn’t see and Marcus didn’t try to fight back. Jonah was definitely the man of this house.

‘Zara, what a surprise. What are you doing here?’ He said as he took my hand and lead me upstairs. I tried to resist then gave up.

He closed the door to his bedroom when we were inside and leaned on it. I walked over and sat on his bed.

‘William.’ I said. One simple word and his eyes lit up like flames, ignited like a fierce explosion.

Then all of a sudden they softened, and his body recoiled into the door further.

‘What about him?’ He mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

‘Oh… oh nothing. Just the fact that my boyfriend was beaten up by a gang you are in and is now no longer in this town, wait, no longer in this country for all I know!’ I said, anger rising in my throat.

‘He … he got relocated?!’ He stared up at me with wide eyes. He gulped then slowly walked over.

 ‘Oh don’t act like you know nothing about it Jonah. It’s pathetic really’ I almost shouted, my hate for him emanating through the room as the mood turning sour. He was the one who told the Shadows of where William was, he was the reason my boyfriend…If I could still call him that… was now far from my reach.

After many hours of re-reading the letter, I had come to the conclusion that the message behind it was William ‘letting me down gently’. He broke up with me; I think. So everything I had in my life was gone and it was all down to this one boy, stood in front of me.

‘Wowww Zara, calm down babe’ He said in a hushed tone and took my hands in his. Something about him just … seemed different. ‘I didn’t know about this, I haven’t talked to the Shadows since Friday night. I didn’t even know William was in hospital… I mean I guessed, but I never told them.’ He said, as he stared deep into my eyes. I had to believe him. He was so sweet, so gorgeous, so innocent.

‘Believe me’ he said, almost whispering and gently cupped my face. I stared back into his eyes and everything came back. The few years I’d loved him. Everything I’d felt.

The overwhelming feeling of desperation hit me harder and I momentarily lost my breath. It was all too much… but something about his eyes kept me looking, kept me searching for something. And only now did I find it, after months of agony and jealousy and endless nights of turmoil. For some reason I wanted to reach up now, touch him, let him know of everything I felt for him. But a voice in my head kept repeating ‘William’ and I gasped suddenly; and as if pulled from a hypnotic trance, scurried back to the head of the bed, leaving Jonah stood at the end. His eyes locked on to mine then faltered, hurt. We just stayed there, like that, for a few minutes.  What had happened?! I shook my head and Jonah came round to sit on the edge of the bed.

‘Zara, I know it’s hard but you have to believe me.’ He said.  I laughed.

‘Jonah, you tried to kill my …’ I stopped. Not boyfriend. ‘You tried to hurt William’ I carried on, ‘and tried to hurt me too.’

‘I tried to stop them! I stopped them from hurting you’ he replied, but I didn’t quite understand. He sighed. ‘When I was told we were going to get William, I didn’t realise you were going to be with him. Remember? I told you to stay away from him. Then when I saw you were with him, I stepped out and told Jack I didn’t want you hurt. I asked him if I could take you away. That’s why I took you away from them. And that’s also why I ran after you, shouted to them to not hurt you, and then hit Jack when he did.’ He said, his eyes still locked on mine.

‘You… you hit Jack?!’ I asked in disbelief.

‘Yes… no one ever hurts you Zara.’ He said, in a slightly hushed tone, as though he didn’t want me to hear. ‘They hurt you, I hurt them.’

Some people would find this overly violent but I found it strangely sweet. Very sweet. He was only trying to protect me. He really did care about me, enough to go against his gang and to hurt the leader.

‘I’m sorry I punched you’ I said apologetically.

‘It’s ok… You can hit harder than I thought you could’ he replied with a smile that made me laugh.

‘So… if you didn’t tell the Shadows where William was, who did?’ I asked, getting back onto topic.

‘I don’t know. But Zara… you need to forget about William. I know it may be hard but he really was bad news. It’s best if you forget about him. I’ll help you find who told them, if you promise you’ll get over him. I can’t risk you getting involved with the Shadows or getting hurt again’ He said. I understood where he was coming from. I did need to get over William, for my sake and for his sake. He had moved on so now it was my turn. ‘Ok’ I replied after a few minutes.

‘But how am I even going to get over him?!’ I asked, more to myself than to Jonah.

‘Me’ Jonah replied and his brown green eyes lit up, the same cheeky grin I’d seen on Marcus’ face now mirrored on his.

‘Dream on’ I said then stood up and hugged Jonah. ‘I should be off now.’ I said.

‘What’s the rush?’ he asked, tilting his head to the right side. ‘Stay here for a bit’ he said and climbed back onto the bed and patted the place next to him. I sat down and he turned on the TV.

I thought about what Jonah had said. ‘Me’. The word lingered in my head. It sounded stupid when he’d said it, but the more I thought about it, the better it sounded. Maybe it was the right thing to do. After all, this time last year I wanted this to happen. I’d been waiting for this day.

Hesitantly, I reached for his hand and draped his arm over my shoulder. He smiled to himself and I laughed as I rested my head on his shoulder. Yeah...maybe this really what I needed. Jonah.

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Thanks for reading- hope you're enjoying it. I have some twists in the plot lined up for the next couple of chapters so keep reading!  Fan/vote/comment blah blah x <3