The next two chapters are going to be the darkest in the book. Please tread carefully if you're not in a good headspace. TW for violence and domestic abuse. If you don't want to read it and just want a summary of the chapter feel free to message me!
Joe tried his best to remain calm as he walked up to Zoey's front door. He had no idea why, but his anxiety was much worse than usual. Yes, he hated it when Zoey was mad at him, but this felt like a whole new level.
He was scared. He was terrified of what was going to happen. What was she going to do to him?
He rang the doorbell, nervous about waking her parents up at one in the morning. He took a step back, glancing at the driveway. He hadn't noticed before, but her fathers car wasn't in the driveway, which gave him the impression that her parents were out of town.
Why did the idea of being alone in the house with Zoey make him feel so much worse?
A few moments later, a car pulled up into the driveway. A flicker of hope lit in his chest; were her parents back?
He got his answer a moment later when the door to the house opened, and he turned to find himself face to face with Sam. Joe took a step back from the taller boy, who was smirking at him. "Sam."
"Walker," he teased, walking past him and towards what Joe now recognized to be Craig's car. "I'd hate to be you right now buddy," he whispered, breaking out into laughter.
Joe gulped, stepping inside of Zoey's house. He found her sitting on the staircase, her blouse torn, hair and makeup a mess. "Did you get my call? I did call, I know you told me to call you."
"Yeah, I saw it," she said simply, looking up at him. There's was something about the smile on her face that was unsettling him. "And I watched your location after that. I see you came straight here, like I told you too." She stood up, walking towards him. "Sorry I didn't pick up, but I was busy telling Sam about what a pathetic little cheater you are."
Joe took a step back from her. He didn't trust her calm demeanor at all. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I would ever cheat on y—"
"You know what Sam said I should do?" Zoey cut across. She continued to walk towards him, and Joe backed away from her until his back hit the wall. She closed the space between them, placing her hands on his chest. "Do you know?"
Why did he feel so scared? She wasn't doing anything bad to him. "I-I don't."
Zoey giggled, leaning up on her tip toe so that she could whisper into his ear. "Well, first he told me to leave you, like everyone does. But I explained to him how badly you need me," she kissed his cheek. "How quickly you'd fall apart without me," she moved her lips to his jaw. "And how broken and lonely you'd be if I wasn't constantly taking care of you." She brought her lips to his, kissing him roughly. Joe stayed frozen, knowing that she wasn't kissing him out of affection. "Once he understood why I pity you so badly, he gave me a new idea." She stepped back away from him, gesturing for him to follow her up the stairs.
Joe obeyed, a knot in his stomach forming as her bedroom grew closer and closer. They finally reached her bedroom, where Zoey went straight to her bed, sitting with her legs crossed. She gestured for Joe to come sit next to her. He sat down nervously. "He told me that the best way to really keep you in line was to remind you of how desired I am." She whispered, yanking him by his shirt so that he was laying down on her bed. Before he could say or do anything, she had crawled on top of him, straddling his waist. She leaned down and kissed his neck, sucking lightly. Joe groaned, his anxiety way too high to want to do anything like this. The sensation of her lips against his neck made him feel sick to his stomach. He tried to pull his neck away, but she gripped his hair harshly to keep him in place. Joe yelped in pain when she pulled on him, but it was awhile before Zoey released him. "He suggested that I give you a taste of your own medicine and cheat on you. And I have to say, he really made a strong case for it baby," she whispered sensually, before leaning down and kissing his cheek.
Joe didn't move, feeling incredibly confused. Had she just admitted that she'd cheated on him? No, she wouldn't take things that far. Was she joking? "Are—are you threatening me? Is this your way of saying that if I don't stay away from Brian, you-you'll cheat on me?"
She scoffed. "Did I say that? I don't remember saying that." She leaned back down and returned to where she'd been sucking on Joe's neck, biting down harshly. Zoey laughed as Joe groaned in pain, climbing off of his lap. "Are you really making cheating accusations at me? You do see the irony in that, right?" She pulled Joe up by his shirt, making him sit up. "I'm sorry, but just how big of a hypocrite are you?"
"I-I'm not accusing you of anything," Joe muttered, already regretting his words. He should've just not said anything.
"No, no, I'm pretty sure you just asked me if I was threatening to cheat on you." She stood up in front of him, leaning down and placing her hands on his thighs.
"Because I don't understand why you're telling me all of this stuff you talked about with Sam." Joe answered honestly. "I don't know if this is real, a threat, a joke, or what. Are you just trying to upset me? I'm-I'm so confused."
"Aw, do you need me to slow it down for you?" She asked, gently cupping his face in her hands.
Before Joe could get a word out, she slapped him across the face, hard. Joe cried out in pain, his cheek burning. She pulled him back up by the rim of his shirt lazily, knowing that he wasn't going to fight back. "You're a sad, insecure, needy, desperate little slut who will do anything for attention." She whispered. "You're useless and unfaithful, and you're a waste of my time. I should cheat on you."
Joe was staring down at the floor as tears rolled down his face. His body was shaking from the shock of her hitting him. While she had threatened to hurt him before in fights, she'd never actually laid a hand on him.
"Look at me Joe," she commanded, and when Joe didn't obey, she slapped him again. Joe sobbed the second time, crying out as his anxiety took over. Why was she hitting him? Why was this happening? He started hyperventilating, the room beginning to spin. She grabbed his hair, yanking his head back to force him to stare up at her with tear filled eyes. "What I should actually do is leave you. But I know that you wouldn't be able to handle it. You're too shallow and desperate to be loved; you'd just wind up hurting yourself if I left you. Granted, sometimes I feel like you'd be doing the world a favor." She released his hair, allowing Joe to hunch over and sob into his hands. Did she mean that? Did she really wish that he was dead?
"You're lucky, that I'm a good partner to you. You're lucky that I care about you. Look at your life. Where on earth would you be without me?" As Joe continued to cry, she yanked his head back up by his hair again. "Answer me."
Joe took a deep breath, trying to control his crying enough so that he could speak. He was still hyperventilating. "I need you. You make my life so much better. I'm sorry I don't do the same for you. I want you to be happy, that's all I want." His vision was blurry from crying, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He reached up to pull the hand that was gripping his hair away, but she slapped his hand away and yanked his hair harder, making him cry out. "Baby, please stop, you're hurting me."
Zoey scoffed, releasing his hair and slapping him again. She pushed him down on to his back, climbing on top of his so that she was sitting on his chest. She placed a hand over his mouth to muffle his cries, which just set Joe's anxiety off more. "Stop crying Joe." She said, staring down at him with pitiless eyes. "You're fine. I barely even touched you. Don't be such a baby."
Joe listened to her words, everything still a monstrous blur. He tried to stop his crying, but he couldn't. Was she right? Was he overreacting? He wished that he didn't feel the way he felt, he wished he could turn his anxiety off. Why couldn't he stop? Her hand on his mouth wasn't helping.
He tried to turn his face away from her, but she used her free hand to pull his face back up by his hair. She released his hair, instead using her arm to lightly press against his neck. The sensation sent Joe into an even bigger panic. He was already having trouble controlling his breathing; why was she pushing down on his throat like this?
"Cut the dramatics. Calm down and I'll let you out," Zoey demanded, but Joe couldn't stop himself from crying. His fight or flight instincts were telling him to just push her off of him, but he couldn't bring himself to put his hands on her like that. He started screaming, his cries for help muffled by her hand. "You're your own problem honey. You'd be out of this situation if you just obeyed me."
He couldn't take it anymore. He was past the ability to handle her anger towards him. No matter what he did, he always managed to infuriate her, to the point where he was now terrified of her. He couldn't take the silent treatments, insults, guilt trips, hostility, everything about their relationship.
He was drowning, and she was the one pulling him down.
Eventually, for whatever reason, Zoey let go of him. Joe took a deep breath, trying now more than ever to focus on his breathing. The fact that she was still sitting on his chest wasn't helping. He tried to grab her hips to push her off of him, but she grabbed him by his wrist and pinned his arm down. "You'll get up when I say you can get up." She told him firmly, digging her nails into his wrist.
Joe writhed his wrist out from under her grip, using his arm to sit up. "Get-get off of me." he choked out between sobs, finally finding his voice. She tried to put more weight on his chest, but Joe was easily able to stand up, gently pushing her to the side. She grabbed at his shirt as he tried to stand up, yanking him back down to his back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she demanded, crawling back on top of him. "I own you. You're mine!" She slapped him across the face again.
"Let me go!" Joe yelled, wrestling her off of him. He managed to make it to his feet this time, making a beeline for the door. He tripped and fell to his knee but still grabbed the handle to rip the door open. Before he could get back up, Zoey grabbed him by his hair. She yanked his head back, before bringing her hand down to hit him again.
Joe cried out, tasting blood in his mouth. He looked up to see Zoey standing over him, ready to strike him again. As she raised her arm, he spit out a mouthful of blood towards her, causing her to jump back and disgust. He took the opportunity to jump to his feet, sprinting out the door and down the stairs, jumping over the last few steps.
"Yeah, you better fucking run!" Zoey screamed at him from the top of the stairs, for the first time sounding unsure of herself. "Get the hell out!"
The photo for this chapter is from Mariah's cover of 'Meant to be Yours' from Heathers which I feel perfectly captures Zoey's true character. Also go listen to Mariah's cover because it's almost at 1 million views on YouTube!!!