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

Chapter Sixty-Seven.

I was finding it extremely hard to take it all in, so much that it didn’t feel real. The last thing I expected after everything had happened was for my house to catch on fire...and I didn’t know how.

A frown shadowed my face and I pulled my hand from Zacky’s grasp, chewing my nail as I stared forward. It felt almost as if I was about to hyperventilate, and he quickly reached forward, squeezing my arm.

“Hey. You’re okay.” He said, though he didn’t seem all that reassured himself, as this time, a sob really did come out. “I got you out of there and you’re okay.”

But, of course, I didn’t feel okay. It was ridiculously unfair that all of this had happened. In one day, my dad had practically expressed that he hated me and stormed out, my mother had called me out of the blue and also decided to throw her particular dislike for me out there, I’d walked in on the only guy I’d ever loved cheating on me with his ex-girlfriend, and now I’d found out that my house had also caught fire.

It had to be the worst luck ever.

An exhausted, exasperated and completely stressed sob left my lips, and I buried my face deeply into my hands, feeling hot tears stream down my cheeks. Zacky’s hand stayed firmly on my arm, giving it a comforting squeeze as he quietly cried along with me, but whatever he was trying to gain from his gesture wasn’t happening. I was getting absolutely nothing from his sympathy.

“We just have to focus on the positives.” He choked out another sob, snivelling and wiping at his eyes with one hand. “You got out of there alive and you still have us and everything is going to be okay.”

“Oh, yeah?” I cried harder, digging my nails into my head. “Then how come you’ve never sounded so unsure about something before, huh? Why can’t I believe you?”

A shaky, uneven breath left his mouth and my demanding questions only seemed to make him cry harder. Retracting his hand from my arm, he buried his face into his palms, pulling at his hair. It honestly did pain me to see him like this, considering nothing had changed the fact that I was completely and utterly in love with him, but I wasn’t ready to comfort him. It was supposed to be the other way round and I was determined to keep it that way.

After calming himself down a little, he proceeded to sit back in his chair and silently stare around the room, his expression giving it away that numerous thoughts were whirring around his head. Again, he licked his lips, as if he was nervous about something, and his gaze eventually met mine.

“There’s something I need to tell you. Something you’re probably not going to be all that happy about.” He said, causing my stomach to drop even more. I really couldn’t deal with any more negative things right now.

“Just say it.” I demanded, resting my head back and staring at the ceiling with my stinging eyes, glazed over by my tears. “How much worse can life get, after all?”

He sighed at that and shifted again, and my stare slowly wandered back over to him. I took in the fact that he looked somewhat timid and unsure about whatever news he was about to deliver, and he refused to meet my gaze, dropping his own to his hands.

“You’re going to be staying with me for a while.” He announced, not once looking up. “I’m not sure how long for. It depends on how long it’ll take for your house to be completely fixed. We could be looking at months.”

I felt the need to groan at that, but I suppressed it, clearly being able to tell that he had more to say.

“Your dad will be staying with one of the other guys. Jimmy, I think.” He continued. “Again...that’ll be until your house is fixed.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why can’t I go where my dad goes, huh? I’m sure Jimmy won’t mind one more person in his house. I get that you’re trying to help, or whatever, but my dad is the person I need in all of this.”

He sharply looked up, shaking his head. “It was your dad’s choice that you guys live separately.” He said, causing me to scoff in disbelief. “He thought it best that I take you in.”

I knew my dad was beyond angry and that we weren’t on the best of terms right now, but after something like this happening, I knew he wasn’t the type to continue holding a grudge. I expected him to burst in here with open arms and be over the moon that I was okay. That was purely why I couldn’t believe what Zacky was saying.

“Why would he do that, huh?” I snapped a little harshly, my eyes still narrowed in a glare. “After being in the middle of a house fire, I’m pretty sure my dad will just be thankful that I’m alive and will save whatever problems he has with me for later.”

“He is thankful that you’re alive.” He nodded with a shrug. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s extremely angry with you. Livid, even.”

The way he spoke the words immediately gave me no choice but to believe him, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, work out why. I knew that I’d betrayed my dad’s trust and done some terrible things recently, but it didn’t feel fair that he’d hold those things over me at a time like this. I just wanted him to hug me and comfort me. And tell me that everything was going to be okay.

“Why?” My voice cracked again as another sob left my lips. “Why is he mad at me?”

He sighed again and dropped his gaze back to his hands, uncomfortably fidgeting in his chair. It was easy to tell that he didn’t want to tell me the reason, but he knew he had no choice.

“Because the cause of the fire was inspected, Midge.” He explained, studying my face nervously. “And they’ve said that it was started deliberately.”

Of course, I immediately knew what he was insinuating, but I didn’t want to believe it. There was no way I could believe it. It was completely unfair, and I was quickly growing defensive.

“How can you sit there and say that?” I raised my voice, wincing again. “I know exactly what you’re saying and it’s not fair! I won’t let you—‘’

“The fire was started deliberately, Midge!” He also raised his voice, his upset turning to anger.

“So?”

“Deliberately.” He repeated, shaking head. “And you were the only one in the house.”

And the only reason I didn’t run away from what he was saying was because I was stuck in the stupid, small hospital room.