Preacher Man // ross lynch + driver era

27

"What's wrong?" I ask quickly as I adjust my body to face him better. I reach my hands over to grab his.

Ross shakes his head. "Baby, you have to quit your job or something." I watch as his chest expands much more rapidly.

"Why? Talk to me. Please," I put my hand onto his cheek and gently push his face to look at me.

He looks over at me. "Can you show me a picture of her? Instagram, Facebook, anything." He begs.

I nod and pull my phone back out. I open Instagram and type in her name. I pull up her most recent picture. "Here," I say softly as I hand my phone to him.

"That's my fucking ex-girlfriend." He breathes out. "Fuck," he yells as he pulls one of his hands out from mine and rubs it over his face.

My eyes widen automatically. Morgan. My mind flashes back to us sitting on his couch a while ago as he confessed about his ex-girlfriend who treated him like shit. The one who made him lose his hope in love. No way do I work with this girl.

I nod. "Okay, okay." I mumble. "Do you want me to talk to her about it? What do you want me to do?"

"Give me your phone," he demands. He looks out of his mind right now so I simply hand it back to him. He clicks on her name and brings the phone up to his ear.

I lean over and grab onto his hand again. "Babe, please. Think about this," I whisper.

Ross shakes his head and pulls the phone down. Just as I think he is going to hang up, he puts the phone on speaker. "Hayley?" I hear her high pitched voice come through the phone.

"No, this is Ross," he replies coolly. Too coolly that it's freaking me out.

"Oh. Hi Ross. Is everything okay?" She asks nicely.

Ross exhales into the phone. "I know it's you Morgan. I remember how your first name was always Jamie, but you insisted you liked Morgan better which is why you never called yourself Jamie."

"Ross. I can explain," she starts to begin talking when he cuts her off.

"What the fuck, Morgan? You said you were moving to Utah or some shit years ago? Next thing I know, you're asking my girlfriend all about me and being a bitch to her?" He snaps.

I hear her breathing start to increase. "I needed to know how you were! You always denied my calls or messages. I got a job at the bookstore literally to just pass time, I didn't know she would wind up being your girlfriend!" She screams back.

I look away from the phone and look up to Ross. His eyes are closed and his head is resting against the cushion behind it. I move myself closer to the middle console so I can pull his arm to me. I rest his hand onto my thighs as I intertwine our hand. My other hand rubs gently along his arm.

"I don't want to see you. I don't want you to talk to my girlfriend especially if it is about me. You're out of your mind, Morgan."

She laughs. "I'm not going to quit. I'm happy where I am. I like my job and I like living in Littleton again. Shit, I didn't think you'd catch on this quick."

Ross looks down at the phone and hangs up on her. I look back up to his face. "Are you okay?" I ask quietly as I continue the small motions on his arm.

"Yes. No. Kind of," he mumbles. "I'm sweating my ass off though."

I lean down and cut the heat off. "Sorry," I quickly apologize.

His hand squeezes mine. "Don't. It's fine. I'm just overwhelmed and I don't want to take it out on you. I should just probably head home." Ross says.