I Found You, Something Told Me To Stay - (Jason Berry/Zacky Vengeance)

Chapter Seventy-Five.

“What?” He asked me, suspicion coating his tone. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Just am.” I quickly shrugged, keeping the smile pulling at my lips. “You’re nice to look at.”

His other eyebrow rose to match the cocked one. “...Right.”

Just from his tone irritating me, it became harder to the keep the smile on my face, but I somehow managed to do so. Ronnie studied my expression uneasily for a second, his face dropping into a frown, and he eventually stared forward again.

“I’m not stupid, you know.” He said, shaking his head ever so slightly. “I know what you’re doing. And no matter how sweet you act, nothing’s going to stop me from doing this.”

I gulped, dropping my smile. “Doing what?”

In response to my question, I expected somewhat of a sickening and malicious smile to tug as his lips, but he simply laughed, shaking his head.

“I’m not going to kill you, silly.” He continued to laugh. “Jeez, Midge. The look on your face.”

“Then what do you want from me?!”

His serious expression returned, and he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, staring forward and tilting his head. The sudden bout of fear that began to wash over me made me want to cry. I was weakening and losing confidence, and I knew I absolutely couldn’t do that. If I wanted to get out of this situation, I had to keep positive.

“You.” He quietly answered, his eyes flickering to me for a split second. “That’s exactly what I want. I want you to myself.”

I should have expected him to say something like that, considering he’d been giving out those types of signals for months and he’d practically confessed it before, but it still somehow managed to shock me a little. I’d probably have felt less awkward if he’d said he wanted to kill me.

“But, Ronnie...” I sighed, staring down at my hands. “I don’t want you. As harsh as that sounds, I—‘’

“What is it about him, huh?” He cut my words off, sharply turning his face to glare at me. “Zacky Baker? What’s so fucking great about him?”

“I—‘’

“Is it because he plays guitar?” He interrupted me again. “Because I can sing...”

“You can?” I raised my eyebrows, at which he nodded. “Well, maybe you should start a band.”

“If I did, would I have a chance to win you over?”

A sigh escaped my lips and my gaze dropped back down to my hands again. It was clear that it was going to be hard for me to get my point across.

“What do you think this is, Ronnie?” I calmly asked, fidgeting in my seat. “Some sort of game?”

He said nothing, and simply stared at me. Obviously, it was a game to him, and that only seemed to irritate me.

“I’m not with Zacky because he impressed me with his guitar or because he’s in a band...” I shook my head slowly. “Sure, those are cool things, but I’d still be with him if he didn’t do either of those things. It’s got nothing to do with that. I’m with him because he makes me feel secure. He makes me smile and laugh and he always knows the right things to say, and...” I trailed off then, realising I was getting a little carried away. “And I love him.”

At that, Ronnie grimaced and diverted his gaze forward again. Obviously, there was going to be no explanation that was enough to make him see how the situation really was. That only had me losing even more confidence.