Hey everybody! So I am completely horrified by how long it has taken me to get this chapter up. I apologize to everyone who is reading this.
You guys are amazing! I am so excited that you got me to 1,000 reads. I really appreciate it! If you guys remember my challenge, my story needs four more votes before I post the synopsis for my next book. Please read, comment, vote, and recommend! Thanks!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chapter 32:Peas and Betsy's Return
The second we step in the house, Seth practically sprints to his room. I move to follow him, but stop myself. He probably needs a couple of minutes to himself.
My eyes shift over to Krista who is sobbing on the couch, I move over and sit beside her, taking her in my arms. Suddenly a loud thud comes from the hallway followed by several more sounds. Somehow I know that the noises are from Seth, but I also know that he is not ready to see my yet. Krista starts sobbing even harder.
My eyes flick over to Arty who comes out of the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand. He quickly walks over to the couch and takes Krista into his arms. He mouths a ‘thank you’ to me and I give him a small sad smile in response. I move to get up, but Krista’s small hand shoots out and grabs my arm. My eyes move to hers.
“Please talk to him,” she whispers.
I give her a nod which she returns before moving back into Arty’s arms. He tucks her head under his chin and slowly runs his hand over her hair. I am so happy that those two are finally together.
Quickly, I stop in the kitchen and grab a pack of peas from the freezer. I make my way down the hall to Seth’s room and stop right outside of the door. I hear one last crash before the room goes silent. I wait for a couple of seconds before knocking on the door with the back of my knuckles. A quiet ‘come in’ comes from the other side of the door. I gently twist the door handle and push.
Seth is standing in the middle of his room that is completely destroyed. Books are strayed across the floor and his old baseball trophies are lying in shambles. The only things that are untouched is the bed and the picture of Vi, Seth, Tuckett, and I on his desk. Seth’s chest is heaving up and down while his mouth is gulping for air. The sight of him in so much pain is almost killing me.
I slowly inch my way into the room and stand right in front of Seth. Slowly, I reach for his hand. When he doesn’t pull away, I figure it’s okay to move him. I pull him lightly over to his bed and push him down to sit on the edge of the mattress. I kneel on the floor so I am right between his knees and hold the bag of peas to his face. He flinches slightly when the bag touches the forming bruise on his face but does not move away. After a couple minutes of this, his breathing begins to even out and his eyes close. I shift the peas so they cover the side of his temple and the top of his cheekbone.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” I ask.
“I’m sorry,” Seth mumbles a little louder, His eyes are still closed and his mouth is barely moving. If we weren’t alone I would think someone else was talking.
“What are you sorry for?”
“For that bastard. For throwing a fit. For letting him talk to you that way. For being such a lame ass boyfriend.” His eyes open lightly. “For not being enough to deserve you.”
Forget the pain killing me. I’m already dead.
I reach over and punch Seth in the arm.
“Don’t say things like that,” I growl.
When he doesn’t glare at me or complain about my man strength, I know something’s is really wrong.
“Seth, what’s wrong?”
He sighs and moves his eyes away from mine and back to the floor.
“My life is so fucked up. Everything goes wrong. The last thing I want to do is make you go through all the shit that I put up with. You don’t deserve that and I don’t deserve you.”
“Seth-”
“NO!” he shouts. Seth shoots to his feet and kicks his chair that is already lying on the floor. I jump at the loud crash but stay seated on the bed. “You have goals. You have the opportunity to go to college and make something of yourself! I am not going to hold you back, which I will do because I can’t afford to go to college or get out of this fucking town! I’ll probably end up working at Arty’s for the rest of my life!”
“What’s wrong with that?” I ask.
“What’s wrong is that is what happened to my father. He did nothing with his life and look where he is now. He’s a drunk asshole who does not care about anyone. That’s me in twenty years! Look at what he did to my mom! I’ll probably do the same thing to you.” He whips around and shoves one fist into the wall, and then another, and another. When he finally grows tired, he rests both of his bruised fists against the wall, along with his forehead.
“I don’t want to hurt you more than I already have,” he whispers.
I slowly get up from the floor and walk over to the aching man on the other side of the room. I wrap my arms around his stomach and lean my forehead against the muscles on his back. He tries to get away from me, but my arms just constrict even tighter around him. When I feel his muscles loosen slightly and I know he is not going to move, I slide around the side of his body until I am in between him and the wall.
“You won’t hurt me, you know why?”
Seth shakes his head no.
“Because you love me. You are the complete opposite of your father. That man does not have the capability of loving someone. You love and take care of everyone that you come into contact with. I mean, look at us. You hated me for most of your life and now you’re here with me.”
Seth still looks unconvinced by my speech.
I reach my hands up to cup Seth’s bruised face and brings his lips down to mine. He doesn’t react to me at first, but just keeps his hands down by his sides. So, I take my time, placing small kisses on his lips. I run the palms of my hands down from Seth’s face to the back of his neck before I massage the muscles there. When he still doesn’t relax, I pull the back of his neck down so his face is close to mine. I place soft kisses on his cheeks, nose, and temples before leaving my lips pressed to his forehead.
“You are important to me. Don’t ever doubt that.” I whisper and pull my head back. “Don’t doubt yourself.”
He stares into my eyes for what seems like hours before nodding his head.
Seth take my hand and pulls me across the room to his bed. He lies on his back and then pulls me on after him. My left leg ends up tossed over one of his and my head rests on his chest. I bury my hands between his shoulder blades and the bed. My eyes flutter close when the finger tips of his left hand start tracing soft circles on the skin in between the top of my pants and the bottom of my shirt. Goosebumps cover my entire body.
Within minutes, Seth’s breathing evens out and his eyes flutter close. My eyes scan his peaceful face one more time before I follow him to sleep.
It’s completely dark outside when I open my eyes again. Seth I stretch my muscles let out a light sigh. The surface underneath my head moves up and down. I look up and am met with Seth’s bright green eyes.
Then everything that happened earlier catches up to me. My fingers reach up and stroke the side of Seth’s face.
“Hey,” I whisper.
“Hey,” he mumbles back.
He is trying to put on a smile for me, but I can see the pain on the corners of his mouth.
“What time is it?”
He grabs his phone on the sideways bedside table.
“It’s ten.”
I let out a sigh and relax on Seth’s chest again.
“I should probably go home soon,” I mumble. Seth’s arms tighten around me and his whole body tightens up. “What’s wrong?”
“Is there anyway that you could stay here tonight?” he asks. When I look up at his face it is red with embarrassment.
“You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed,” I tease and pinch his cheek. His eyes narrow and he lets out a string of curse words that I do not feel comfortable repeating. I just laugh and kiss him on his chest.
“So will you stay?” he asks again.
“I need to call my mom and ask her.” Seth hands me his phone and I dial in the number.
“Hello?”
“Hi Mom?”
“Hey sweetie! How’s the beach?” she asks enthusiastically.
“Well that’s the thing . . .”
I spend the next five minutes going into a quick explanation of everything that happened earlier on in the day. Seth was stiff the entire time I was talking.
“So is it okay if I spend the night?” I ask cautiously.
My mom lets out a deep sigh on the other side of the line.
“Please Mom?”
When she doesn’t answer I get up off the bed and motion to Seth that I will be right back. I walk into the bathroom across the hall and shut the door.
“Please? Seth is having a really hard time with all of this. The last thing I want to do is leave him alone.”
I wait in silence.
“Do you love him?” my mom asks.
My hands clam up at the though of telling my mom about my feelings for Seth, but I can’t lie to her.
“Yeah,” I breathe out.
“I’m so happy for you,” she says. I know that she is smiling and the thought makes a grin split onto my face. “I always thought that when you were younger you guys would end up together,” she teases.
I groan and she laughs at me.
“So can I stay?”
“Yes you can stay, but I need you to come pick up your sister and take her to ballet. I have to go and pick up your dad from the airport.”
“Mom, my car is in the shop.”
“Arty called this morning sweetie. He has been working on it when Seth was at school this week. It’s done.” I am practically jumping at the thought of getting Betsy back. It will be nice not having to rely on other people for rides all the time.
“Okay. I’ll take Lizard in the morning.”
“Thanks. Okay honey. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you!”
“Love you too Mom.”
I make my way back into Seth’s room.
“Can you stay?” he asks.
I smile and walk to his dresser picking out a shirt and a pair of boxers. Rather than going back to the bathroom, I strip out of my clothes, leaving myself in only my bra and underwear. I know, I know, it’s slutty to basically strip in front of a guy, but hey, it wasn’t like he didn’t see everything the night before.
I pull on Seth’s clothes and slide under the covers before cuddling up to his side. Seth moves his hips away from me.
“You are seriously going to kill me one day,” Seth says. His voice is strained. I giggle at his words, happy that I could affect him so much. He once again smiles at me, but it does not reach his eyes. I rest my head on his chest.
“Is there anyway you could drive me to the garage tomorrow to pick up my truck?” I ask.
“Your truck?”
“Yeah, Arty finished it for me.”
Seth lets out a deep sigh.
“He’s really good for my mom, isn’t he?” Seth asks.
I nod my head in agreement.
Seth’s eyes glaze over, like he is lost in thought.
I kiss him on the lips and close my eyes. I massage his arm that is draped over my side until I feel him fall asleep. Soon, I follow him and drift off.
I wake up in the morning to the feeling of hands brushing over my hair.
“Good morning,” Seth whispers.
“Morning.” I grin at him through my tired eyes. He laughs at me and pulls me a little closer to him. “We need to get going if I am going to get my car this morning before picking Lizard up for dance.”
Seth groans when I slide off of him, but he still gets up and changes quickly. We slip out of the house and head toward the garage. Seth gets out quickly and backs Betsy out of the garage.
I squeal at the sight of my beautiful jeep and run over to it before hugging the hood.
“Ah, how I’ve missed you Betsy,” I say and kiss the hood. When I look up Seth is staring at me like I am a freak. “Don’t judge me.”
“I’m not, but I have to say, I’m a little bit jealous of Betsy.”
I smack his arm lightly.
“Okay, well I have to go.”
Seth pulls me into his arms and gives me a quick peck on the lips before getting in his car. He waits for me to pull out of the driveway before turning in the other direction toward his house. I race home and pull in the driveway just as my mom is coming out the door with Lizard trailing behind her. My sister still looks half asleep in her leotard and tights. She is hugging the Rapunzel doll to her chest while yawning.
“Hi Mom. Hey Lizard. Get in the back and buckle up so we can get going, okay?”
“Okay, I’ve got to go sweetie. I’ll be back in about an hour, so I’ll pick Lizard up from dance okay?”
“Yeah. Love you.”
“Love you too!” she says.
I hop in the car and back out of the driveway on the way to Lizard’s class. As we pull into town I look into the rearview window to see Lizard passed out in the backseat.
“Lizard,” I move one hand back and prod her leg. “Come on, you need to wake up.” My sister’s eyes flutter open and then grow huge. I turn around quickly to look out the windshield.
All I see is the car on my side of the road plunging toward me before it slams into my car. I feel sharp pain all over my body before the airbag pops out, slamming my head against the window. My vision begins to black out. The last thing I hear before I slip under is the sound of Lizard screaming.