Preacher Man // ross lynch + driver era

36

His eyes are intently watching my mouth as I speak. "Why were you crying? What did he do?"

"He told me he loved me." I say, Ross' eyebrows furrowing. I can see the anger growing across his face. "He kissed me. He forced himself on me when I wasn't paying attention – when I was getting in my car."

I decide to get it out all at once.

"What?" Ross yells making me jump. "He forced himself on you?"

I nod, tears surfacing to the top. "Yeah. I slapped him though."

"Come here," he says, tugging on my arms. He pulls me into his chest and I curl up in between his legs.

I push my head against the soft cloth of his jumper, my hand touching the fabric. We stay quiet for at least a minute and I know it's because Ross is processing everything I have said.

"He really scared me," I confess into the silence of the room.

He nods. "I'm so sorry, babe." Ross leans down and presses his lips to the top of my head, his hands rubbing my back gently.

"Where were you when I called?" I ask.

I know he wasn't home in his apartment because he told someone he'd talk to them later.

"I was with Chance and Ellington," he informs me.

I lean my head up so I stare up into his face. "You can go back, I'm okay. I was panicked."

"I don't want to leave you," Ross replies, his hand moving up so his thumb was rubbing my cheek. His thumb moves down to my lip, lightly dragging it across my bottom lip as his eyes are focused on my face.

"You can stay for a bit, but you should hang out with them more today. You haven't seen them in a while. Deal?"

He nods. "Deal," he answers. I continue staring up at him as his thumb moves around the features on my face as he stares at me with soft eyes. "I'm really pissed off he touched you like that," he says.

"I know, I'm pissed off, too." I say honestly.

Dave has hurt me so many times before and he thought he had a right to touch me in that way? To forcefully push me around and kiss me? And to tell me that he loves me still?

It sickens me.

Ross' hand drops from my face and I turn my attention back up to him.

"I'm sorry that it happened to you. You don't deserve it," he says, his head now leaning against the wall.

I shrug. "I shouldn't have agreed to meet with him, I should've known better."

Ross leans up abruptly and scoots himself back so he can see my face entirely. "What did you just say?" He asks, his voice laced with aggravation.

"It's true," I defend myself.

"Absolutely not true, Hayley. How can you even say that? You are in no way responsible for his actions. You did not ask him to kiss you, you did not ask him to follow you, you couldn't have known better," he snaps.

I nod, my eyes shifting from his face down to the blanket.

Ross continues. "So you're saying that if it was Rydel in the situation, you'd blame her? Say that she should have known better?"

I shake my head, extremely ashamed of the two sentences I said only moments ago. "No," I reply sternly.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Hayls."

I sigh, "I get it, okay? I was wrong, thank you." I rub my face in frustration and move my palms so I can jump off of the bed.

As soon as my feet are planted on the floor, Ross stares at me. "Where are you going?"

"Bathroom," I answer shortly before walking inside of the bathroom and shutting the door behind me.

I lean against the counter and stare at my reflection. I look like utter shit and can't wait to shower to wash away the day.

I wash my face and throw my hair up in a high ponytail before walking back to the bedroom.

Ross' head pokes up from the bed and he places his phone down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I know you had a long day and I made it worse. I'm sorry."

I nod as I climb back onto the bed. "It's okay. I wasn't thinking right." He is sitting horizontally on the bed so his back is against the wall. I sit right beside him.

"I'm probably going to head back over to Chance's. They want to drink and play video games," he says.

I nod. "Okay. Call me if you need me. Have fun," I say as he climbs off of the bed.

Ross smiles, "I will. I love you. You call me if you need me too."

I can tell Ross is hesitant to kiss me because of today's events so I lean over and push my lips onto his. His hand reaches up and holds the back of my head to hold me close as he kisses me back.

Once we pull away, Ross smiles again at me before walking out of the bedroom. Shortly after I hear the front door close.

I have hope that Ross won't try to get in contact with Dave. But will he?