Chapter 8
Mickie’s P.O.V.
I didn’t like changing with him in the room but I understood why he was doing it. I changed into the dry clothes and pulled my wet hair up into a ponytail. I finished and walked quietly across the room to where Zack was.
“Finished babe,” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“Ok, I’m gonna go get some dry shorts on. Will you come with me?” he asked, looking sorry for making me come with him.
“Absolutely. Don’t be sorry for how you’re acting, I understand that you just wanna know I’m safe.”
“Thank you Mickie.” We walked into his room again. He didn’t have a big closet so he grabbed his clothes and went into the bathroom. I went to follow him but he stopped me, “You can stay in here if you want, I’ll just be a minute.” I nodded and sat down on his bed, playing with the edge of my shorts. He came out a bit later, just as my stomach growled.
“Are you hungry?” he asked with a little smirk.
“A little,” I replied.
“Come on, let’s go eat something then we’ll come back up here.”
“Ok,” I said with a smile. We walked down the stairs hand in hand.
“What do you want to eat?” he asked, leading me into the kitchen.
“Um, what do you have?” I asked him.
“Burgers, hot dogs, cereal, we can get pizza,” he paused and looked at me.
“Let’s get a pizza and we can eat in your room,” I suggested.
“Good idea; pepperoni right?”
“Yeah,” I said smiling. He smiled back and ordered our pizza. We hung out downstairs while we waited for the food. We laid out the couch and I had my head resting on his thigh while he was running his fingers through my hair.
“So what are we gonna do if we run into Talen?” I asked him.
“I don’t know; we don’t really need to worry about it either because I don’t plan on letting him get anywhere near you.”
“I know but just in case,” I shrugged.
“Ok, if he shows up when me and Micah are both round, then you’ll go with Micah. If you’re just with one of us then hide and wait…”
“But I can fight,” I protested.
“I know but I don’t want you risking it. Only fight if you have to.” I nodded and then the doorbell rang. I jumped up and grabbed the money while Zack answered the door. I walked into the hall, right as he opened the doors to the pizza…and Talen.
“Pizza,” he said with a smirk for Zack and a wink for me.
“Go Mickie! Get Micah!” Zack yelled at me. I ran upstairs and into his room. I took his phone and called Micah.
“Hello?” the voice asked.
“Micah?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong? Where’s Zack?”
“It’s Mickie. Talen’s here. I’m upstairs and Zack’s downstairs. He told me to call you.”
“Ok, go hide in Jay’s closet. I’m on my way.” He hung up and I rushed into Jay’s room and into her closet. I locked the doors leading to the bedroom and the bathroom. On my way in, I had grabbed a pocket knife off of Jay’s dresser. I flicked it open and sat down on the floor. I pushed myself up against a wall so I could see both doors. And then I waited.
I could hear them fighting downstairs. I could hear both of them grunting and smashing into walls. They hadn’t shifted yet and I had to know he was ok.
Zack? I asked hesitantly.
Yeah Mickie? Are you ok? He grunted and paused in between his questions.
I’m fine, are you ok?
Alright. He grunted again and then groaned. I can hold my own in a fight.
I know. Micah’s on his way, I’m in Jay’s closet.
Good, stay there until I come and get you.
I will. Be careful.
I will, then he ended the conversation and I sat there for a while. After a few minutes, I heard a new yell and then a loud thud. Then, there were two sets of footsteps on the stairs. I gripped the knife tightly and came up to the balls of my feet, ready to jump up. Someone, or by the sounds of it, more than one someone were banging on the door.
“Mickie!” a familiar voice yelled. “Let me in!”
“How do I know it’s you?” I yelled back.
“Really Mickie?” the voice said, sounding angry and irritated.
“Yes really. Prove it!”
“Fine, you wear boy legs and have your nose pierced but you don’t have the ring in today. Is that good enough?”
“Yeah,” I flung the door open and Zack pulled me into a hug. I held the knife away and Micah took it. I pulled away from Zack and looked him over. The cut on his forehead was open and bleeding again. The side of his face had a big gash and was bleeding and he was breathing like he had hurt his ribs.
“How bad are you hurt?” I asked.
“Not that bad. My ribs hurt a bit though.”
“Ok, come into the bathroom so let me clean the blood up.”
“I’ll be in in a minute, let me talk to Micah real quick.” I nodded and walked into the bathroom and waited for Zack.
Zack’s P.O.V.
She walked into the bathroom and Micah and I walked into hallway.
“How bad are you really?” Micah asked.
“Pretty bad, I think he broke a rib. But I know that I dislocated his shoulder.”
“Ok. I’m gonna head back to my house, give you and your girl some privacy.”
“I’d feel better if you, Tanner, Derek, and Lance stayed here. Mickie’s brothers and Emmilyn are probably gonna come too because I’m making Jay stay here.”
“Ok, I’ll go get all of them and some clothes and we’ll be back.”
“Ok, you know where all the rooms are so just show them around. I’m gonna get cleaned up and probably pass out.”
“Have fun,” he said with a smirk before leaving. I laughed and walked back into the bathroom where Mickie was waiting.
“Hey babe,” she said, standing up and wetting down another washrag.
“Hey.” She stood in front of me and dabbed at the cuts on my face and then threw the rag in the dirty towels pile. She started looking around in the medicine cabinet for something.
“Shirt off,” she said over her shoulder.
“Why?”
She held up what was in her hand, a roll of medical tape and a wrap. “I’m gonna tape up your ribs, and don’t act like they don’t hurt because I can tell they do.” I sighed because she was right. I shrugged out of my shirt, wincing. “Told ya so,” she muttered, unwrapping the tape. She wrapped the tape around my ribs before wrapping the bandage over the tape. She finished and put the rest of the tape back in the cabinet. I waited and walked behind her into my room. She came in and went straight to the bed. She fell face first onto the bed; I smiled and carefully moved her around so she was on one side of the bed. I climbed in after her and we fell fast asleep. The last thing I remembered was her laying her head on my shoulder.
~~*~~
I woke up and just laid there for a minute. I shot up when I realized that Mickie wasn’t beside me or anywhere in the room. I stood up and ran down the hall into Jay’s room. I flung her door open and saw Jay lying on Tristen’s chest. Right now it didn’t even bother me. Tristen sat up, careful not to wake up Jay.
“Have you seen Mickie?” I asked him.
“Yeah, she came by the door about a half hour ago I think.”
“Thanks,” I said before closing the door again. I kept walking down the hall to where Micah was staying. The door was open so I walked in. he came out of the closet.
“Hey man, what’s up?” he asked.
“Have you seen Mickie?”
“Yeah, came through here a little bit ago headed to the gym.” The gym was what we called the room where we had a bunch of workout equipment.
“Thanks man,” I said before walking down the hallway to the very end. I opened the door and saw her. She was in the corner of the room wailing on a punching bag. She had her iPod in her ears so she probably didn’t hear me come in. I walked over to where she was at and held the bag for her. I didn’t expect that the bag would be too hard to hold still but it was. She packed a lot of force behind her punches and kicks. She flashed me a smile to let me know she knew I was there and then went back to what she was doing.
About ten minutes later, she finished with the bag and pulled her ear buds out.
“Hey,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
“Hey,” I returned and went to give her a hug. She put her hands on my chest and pushed me away. “Why won’t you let me give you a hug?”
“Because I’m all sweaty.”
“I don’t care; I think you look hot.”
“Well duh, I wouldn’t be sweating if I was cold.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
She smiled, “I know but I couldn’t resist.” I laughed and pulled her into a hug anyway. I finally let her go and she hit my chest.
“Jerk,” she said.
“I know but I’m your jerk.”
“True; now I’m gonna go take a shower.” I followed her out of the room and down the hall. She was fixing to go into Jay’s room when I stopped her.
“You go on; I’ll get your clothes.”
“All of them?” she questioned.
“Yes all of them. I’ll get Jay to bring those things.”
“Thanks you. I’ll be in the shower if ya need me.” she reached up and kissed my cheek before walking into my room. I stood there for a minute before knocking on Jay’s door.
“Come in,” Jay yelled. I walked in and Tristen was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Tristen?” I asked.
“Shower. Whatcha need?”
“Clothes for Mickie, she’s in the shower.”
“Got it, pick something out for her to wear and I’ll get her a bra and underwear.”
“TMI Jay.” She laughed and walked into the closet then back out with stuff for Mickie. I walked into her closet and grabbed white skinny jeans, black thank top, white vest, and black heels. I knew she wouldn’t like the heels but I didn’t care, she’d have to deal with it. I walked out of her room and down the hall into my room. Jayce was just leaving and eyed the shoes in my hand.
“You know she is not gonna like those,” she said.
“I know but she’s just gonna have to deal with it.” She laughed and just shook her head and didn’t say anything. I walked into the bathroom and set her clothes on the counter and the shoes on the floor. I closed the door and leaned up against it. The shower cut off and a few minutes later I heard her yell.
“What the frick is this?” I opened the door slightly and she chucked the heels at the door. “I’m not wearing those.”
“Then you’ll go barefoot!” I yelled back.
“Guess I’ll be going barefoot to school then!” she yelled back.
“Have fun with that!” I heard another thud as she threw the shoes again and I laughed.
“Let me out Zack!”
“Not until you put the shoes on!”
“Fine!” I heard shuffling and an ‘ouch’ before she yelled again. “They’re on now let my out!” I opened the door and she looked hot, except for one thing, the heels made her as tall as me.
“Shoes off,” I said.
She smirked, “I thought you liked them.”
“I do; I don’t like the fact that they make you as tall as me now.”
“Huh, I guess they do. If they weren’t so annoying then I’d leave them on just to bug you.”
“Of course you would,” I said. “Here,” I handed her the Converse that Jay had left, “Jay left these in here for you.” She took them and handed me the heels. I smiled and set them down by the door while she put on the shoes. She finished and quickly brushed her teeth and ran her fingers through her wet hair.
“My turn to pick out your clothes,” she said with a smile. I groaned and she skipped to my closet. She threw me a pair of dark jeans and a gray long sleeve t-shirt with three buttons at the top. She turned around to face my closet while I changed. I pulled the sleeves up to my elbows and she tossed me a pair of black Vans. I put them on she went to leave the room. I grabbed her around her waist and pulled her close to me.
“I told you I’m not letting you outta my sight.”
“What are you gonna do when I have to go the bathroom?” she asked, following me into the bathroom so I could brush my teeth.
“Simple, you can hold it till you get home.”
“Yeah right.” I shrugged. She hit the back of my head and was laughing. She walked out and I followed her out, grabbing her bag before I left the room. I hooked a finger around her back belt loop and followed her down the stairs. Matt, Emmi, Micah, and Derek were already sitting on the couches. Lance, Tristen, and Jay came down after Mickie and I sat down.
“Where’s Tanner?” I asked Micah.
“With his girl,” he replied.
“What room’s he in?”
“Blue room.”
“Great, I’ll go get them,” I sighed and stood up, deciding Mickie would be fine down here for five minutes.
Mickie’s P.O.V.
Zack stood up and I was surprised that he didn’t make me come with him. He went upstairs to get tanner and his mate while I stayed down here with everybody else.
“Hey Jay, how did you get here? You weren’t here when I went to sleep.”
“Zack wanted everybody here until the whole thing with Talen is solved,” she sighed,” which would go a lot quicker if somebody would just do something.” I reached over and hit her the same time Matt and Tristen did as they knew what she was insinuating.
“It would make all of our lives easier Mickie,” Micah pointed out.
“Ugh, will you people stop it! I’ll do it when I’m ready!”
“We get it Mickie, nobody’s pressuring you, we’re just stating the obvious,” Tristen said.
“Ok, now can we please change the subject?”
“Change what subject?” Zack asked, coming down the stairs.
“Nothing!” I yelled, cutting off whatever Micah was about to say.
“Doubtful, but I’ll let it go.” He picked me up and sat me back down on his lap.
“Hey people!” Tanner yelled. He came into the living room holding hands with a pretty blond girl I hadn’t ever seen before. She had platinum hair reaching just past her shoulder, kind blue eyes, and was slim. She had on a deep blue dress and sandals.
“Everybody, this is my mate Amanda,” Tanner said. Amanda waved shyly and smiled.
“You all ready to go?” Tanner asked. We nodded and got up. I linked my arm through Jay’s as we walked outside.
“Are you going to torture today?” I asked her. Torture was what we called our boarding school.
“Nope, Tristen enrolled me at your all’s school.”
“Awesome!”
“I know!”
“Who are you riding to school with?”
“Tristen, Matt, and Emmi.”
“Ok, I’ll see you at school.” She got in her car and I walked over to Zack. “Which car are we taking?”
“We can take my truck today if that’s ok with you.”
“Sure,” I took my bag from him and walked around the back of his truck to get in the passenger seat. He got in the driver’s seat, looked at me, then grabbed me and moved me until I was sitting in the middle by him. He smiled at me and then we headed to school.
We had been staying at Zack’s the whole week seeing as the whole problem with Talen wasn’t solved yet. I had been sleeping in Zack’s room and I usually had to wake him up.
This morning was different though. I was laying on my stomach in a sports bra and shorts. My eyes shot open when I felt fingers trailing up my back and the down side of my ribs. My arm flicked out to the side and I stopped my fist less than an inch away from somewhere that would’ve hurt to have been hit. “Stop!” someone yelled; I hadn’t been planning on stopping but the voice was familiar. I put my hand down turned over on my back.
“Sorry babe, I didn’t expect you to be up before me. What time is it?”
He started running his fingers over my stomach, “That’s ok, I couldn’t sleep, and it’s 6:45.”
I groaned, “Ugh, it’s so early!”
He laughed and pulled me close to him. “I know. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“That’s ok,” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“You can go back to sleep if you want.” I nodded and he rolled over onto his back, taking me with him. Half of me was laying on him and our legs were tangled together. He was resting his hands on my stomach and on my back. I was almost asleep again when I heard the door creak open.
“Zack?”
“Yeah Jay?” he whispered back.
“Is Mick awake?”
“No why?”
“Well, we were going to skip today and go shopping.”
“I’ll take you.”
“No, you, Tristen, or Matt can’t come. It’s just me, Mickie, and Emmi going.”
“Well, you’re not going on your own so take someone.”
“We’ll take Micah then.”
“Thank you.”
“Whatever, wake Mick up before you go to school.”
“I’m not going to school if she isn’t. I’ll wait here for you all to come home.”
“Ok, then wake her up at eight.” I felt him nod and then I heard the door close again.
“I know you’re awake Mick.” I looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back and I tugged at the bottom of his shirt.
“Let me check your ribs.” He shifted me off of him and took his shirt off.
“They feel better now. Could you take the bandage and tape off?”
“Sure, no problem as long as they’re better now.” He nodded and I unwrapped the bandage and then the tape and threw them on the floor.
“Thanks.”
“Welcome. Now what are we going to do since I don’t have to get up until eight?”
“Hmm…” he said thinking. I raised my eyebrow at him and he pulled me back to lay on his chest.
“Hmm…” I returned.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about this,” he said. He shifted me around so I was laying flush on top of him. He pressed me close to him and started running his fingers along the bottom of my bra, down my ribs, along the top edge of my shorts, and then back up the other side of my ribs. I shuddered and pressed myself even closer to him. I placed my hands on his sides and buried my face in his neck. He started kissing my shoulder and slowly moved along my collarbone up to where he had marked me. His hands had moved to my thighs and he moved my legs so I was straddling him. He started kissing my mark and then bit it again before he kissed me passionately. He put both of his hands on either side of my face and said the last thing I expected him to say.