(A/N: Very short chapter, but very important!)
*Michael's POV*
"What the hell is your Dad doing here?" I ask Nicole before quickly struggling to jump to my feet and help her up as well.
"I don't know! You'd think he'd call before showing up like this!" She responds before throwing me my shirt. "Just hurry up and get in the shower or something." she says while struggling to get back into her jeans.
"Hey," I say to her. "you forgot to put these back on." I say with a smirk, dangling her lace panties from my index finger.
She flashes me a flirty smile. "Keep them." she says while walking towards me. "Once I get him out of here we can pick up right from where we left off." she gives me a soft kiss on the lips before lightly smacking me on the bottom, now go on before he kills you.
"Open this damn door! I know you're in there! Don't make me bust it down!" I hear Rick's voice bellow from the corridor.
I quickly dart from the living room into the guest bathroom and close the door behind me. I make my way to the shower and turn on the water, but I don't get in. Instead, I press, my ear against the door to see if I can hear what they're talking about.
A few sentences were exchanged before I could make out what they were saying.
"No! Dad, I swear we're not doing that stuff with each other." I hear Nicole say, assuming that she's lying right to his face about us sleeping together.
He slightly raises his voice. "Then why did Lucy tell me you guys did, huh? You know I don't want you two getting involved like that yet!"
"You believe what she said? You guys saw the video! She tried to do something with him! Why would you believe anything she says? She's trying to tear Michael and I apart and she's trying to turn you and Mom against him, don't you see it?" I hear her say.
"She said he tried to come onto her at the Christmas party and knew you wouldn't believe her. So she went to see him at work to see if he would try anything again. She was recording the whole thing in her pocket, but she didn't know Michael was too. She said knew what to say to look innocent; that he knew how to get out of it." I hear him say in a slightly calmer tone.
I so badly want nothing more than to punch a wall.
Lucy is lying. I never did anything to her. There's no proof I did either. If anything, there's proof she did something to me. I thought Rick and I had patched our relationship up, but evidently not since he jumped on the first chance he could to bury me, just like everyone else always has.
"Please, don't believe it, baby." I whisper to myself while desperately trying to fight back tears, praying that Nicole won't fall for his words and believe Lucy's story.
"I-I don't believe it. I can't and I won't believe it. Michael loves me, Dad! He would never cheat on me, he told me that himself." I hear her say.
Yes.
I hear Rick sigh "I don't know what to believe, Nicole. I want to believe Michael is a good man, I really do, because you love him. But, it honestly doesn't seem too far-fetched that he would try to bait another young girl."
"Well, I guess we'll just let the court decide what they want to believe then." she says before I hear the front door open. "It was nice talking to you, but it's getting late. I need you to go now." I hear her say.
I listen as Rick's footsteps recede to exit but not before he says something quietly to Nicole. I couldn't make out what it was at all, but it was obviously something he didn't want me to hear. I lean against the countertop, causing the slightly open medicine cabinet to open all the way, revealing the box of condoms I picked up on the way home.
The guilt eats me alive. Yes, I lied to her, but I just wanted to risk it one more time. What she said about it being God's divine plan if she were to get pregnant; I couldn't help but wish that it might happen. That way, I could use it as an excuse to ask her to marry me, and we'd be stuck with each other.
But that's selfish.
I'm selfish.
She's only 18. She doesn't want a baby.
But that doesn't stop me from wanting one.
I slowly open up the bathroom door and open my mouth to say something, but before I can get any words out, the unthinkable happens...
Nicole vomits all over the floor.
*Rick's POV*
I get in my car even angrier than I was before.
"Well, what the hell are we going to do now?" I ask her.
"I told you, we'll get Luke involved. She was swooning over him a few months ago, but she doesn't know anything about what happened between him and Michael, and I'm betting he hasn't said one word about it. Once she hears all about it , she'll believe everything you tried to tell her." she says to me.
I look over and smile at her. "I love you, Lucy." I say before taking her hand in mine.
"I love you too, baby. We're going to take this motherfucker down if it's the last thing we do." she says before kissing me passionately.
"You don't know how much I hate him, how much pain he's caused my family and now it's happening all over again." I say through tears of anger.
"Shh, baby, it's okay. I already told you we're going to get rid of him." she says while kissing my neck.
I hope she's right.
----
(A/N: ooo a twist.)