{•Unedited•}
~Bex's POV~
When I get in the room, Marissa is pacing back with her hand up to her mouth, chewing on her nails. I keep telling she needs to stop doing that. She jumps when she hears the click shut. Her blue eyes widen. I wonder why she has blue and both her brothers have green. Hers don't even have the smallest hint of green in them, just pure blue.
"What are you doing here?" She asks, letting her arm fall to her side. Her eyes dart over to her bed numerous times as I just stare at her in confusion. When she sees me take a step towards it she wastes no time is throwing herself onto her bed, covering the phone with her body.
"What's going on?" I ask, moving my hair out of my face. She sits up, holding the phone in her right hand to keep it away from me.
"Nothing," she says, clearly lying. She doesn't look people in the eye when she lies. Still, she looks down at her phone. Anxiety is written all over her face.
"Come on. Are you talking to someone?" I ask. She nods tensely, finally looking at me. Why would she have a problem with me knowing she's talking to a boy? It would explain her constant running errands the last few weeks if she was seeing someone. The days she would be out she would be gone until the late out of the night. Atticus noticed the new behavior too but decided it was best for him to keep his nose out of her business, saying something about how being protective with her has already gotten him into enough trouble.
"Remember the night at the club?" She asks. My whole body tenses at the mention of that night. I don't think I'll ever even be able to pass by that place anymore. I nod, pushing back the sick feeling that rose in my throat. "That guy I danced with when you talked to that guy gave his number and we started talking. We've been seeing each other the past few weeks."
I didn't have enough time that night to see who Pablo was with, just that he had people with him. Anyone who hung around him aren't good people, they knew everything he did and never once did or said anything, and I'm not talking about only the rape. He kept his circle close due to his ways, so the ones who knew him knew him well.
"And what did he say?" I ask, gesturing to the phone, trying to keep my voice normal. She looks down at it, sighing. I want to tell her not to talk to him, to run as far away from him as she can, but that'll only lead to questions.
"He asked me if I wanted to make things official," she says. "I don't know what to say. I've been looking at the message for the past thirty minutes." I know she's expecting me to give her advise on what to do, but I don't. I can't support her being someone I know is possible of harming her.
"I don't think you should do it," I say. Her brows raise. "He's not a great person. He's cheated on almost every girl he's had and is a straight douchebag. Your brother would die if you seen someone like that."
She keeps her eyes on the screen. "I'll think about it. Thanks," she says. I get up and set my things on my bed. My phone vibrates in my pocket.
Zav: Wanna come to dinner with me tonight? I'm not gonna be in town for a while after today :)
I stare out the window, thinking of how to reply. Atticus wasn't happy the last time I hung out with Zav, it just resulted in us getting into a fight. But this time I won't be doing anything wrong, it's just a dinner. Plus, I could use a calm night out with a friend after all the shit I've been through this month.
Me: Yeah. Just give me a time.
Right after I send that message I get a call from Atticus. My eyes widen, finding it weird that as soon as I send that he calls me. Maybe it's a sign that I shouldn't go. No, I'm going. He can't control who I hang out with.
"Hello?" I ask when I answer, sitting down. My legs immediately feel lighter when they're levitated from the ground, having been on them all day walking from class to class. I've thought about changing some of my classes around so I don't use to walk so far to each one, but keep forgetting and sometimes I enjoy the walk.
"Hey," he says. "Are you doing anything tonight?" He asks. It's a question I would usually say no to even if I had plans, but looking over at Marissa I don't think that's the best thing. If I'm around him, it's gonna end up leaving me that she's seeing him.
"Yeah, actually," I say, laying down. "Zav asked me to dinner, so I told him I'd go."
"Zav?" He asks, his whole voice changing. I roll my eyes. I don't understand why he gets so insecure when it comes to his brother, him and I are only friends and I've repetitively told him so.
"Yeah, that's okay right?" I ask, knowing he won't say no. If he were to say no it would make him sound like he's jealous or insecure.
"Y-Yeah," he says, clearly not okay with it. "Just call me tonight."
"I will."
•••••
~Atticus's POV~
"We need to go," I say, barging into Alaric's dorm. He shoots up from his bed, eyes wide. When Bex told me that she was going to dinner with Zav, she should have been smarter than to give me the time when I asked. I tried talking myself into just trusting her and letting her go, but I don't trust him for the life of me. Coming here and grabbing Alaric because I don't want to go alone seemed like a good option to follow them.
"Do none of you mother fuckers knock? You just tap your knuckles on the door, it's not hard," he says. I cock a brow.
"Bex went to dinner with Zav," I say. I know it's only friendly, but that could be only on her side. He's fucked up my past relationships before.
"And?"
"We're gonna follow them. I feel less weird for stalking them with someone," I say, thinking I sound completely reasonable.
"Are you actually just asking me out?" He asks with a smirk. "You don't have to lie, Daddy." I cringe, slowing stepping out of his room.
"Just hurry up."
••••••
"You look nice," Zav says when I get in the car, putting emphasis on the word nice. "Modest, but sexy." I roll my eyes, looking out the car window. The heater feels good, warming the whole car.
"I've looked like a mess for the past three weeks, might as well look good for once," I joke. He chuckles, his lips turning up into a smirk. Looking at him from the side, I see things I hadn't noticed before. His bottom lashes are long, matching the ones on top that fan out. There's a scar on the side of his head where his hair is faded nicely. "What happened right there?" I ask, pressing my finger against it.
"I got in a fight," he says. "The guy whipped out a knife and tried getting my throat, missed, but still did damage." I rest my head back, a soft smile on my lips. I trace it with my pointer finger.
"Did you still win?" He glances over at me, that smirk still there.
"Of course, I did."
•••••
I'm happy he doesn't take me to the same place he was planning to take me the first time we were going gonna out to dinner. This is more laid back and casual, nothing fancy going on at all. The minute we walked in there were stares a older people whispering "he's gonna regret those when he's older" about his tattoos.
"I can tell you're having a good time, but you're still tense. It's kind of ruining my vibe," he says. I shrug, not sure what to say. I'm sure I could tell him about Marissa and not him do anything drastic like Atticus would, but I'm still questioning if that's the right way to go.
"Just really stressed about a lot of stuff," I tell him. He rests his chin in the palm of his hand, smiling.
"Tell me bout it." I guess.
"Well between getting raped, killing the guy, having a miscarriage, and now finding out that your sister is seeing one of Pablo's friends...I feel like I'm going to crack at any second," I tell him. His hand falls back down to the table. He leans in a little on his elbows.
"When the hell did the last two happen?"
"This week. I don't know what to do about Marissa," I tell him. He sits back, brows raised as he looks at the table in thought. "Whoever it is isn't safe and I don't want what happened to me to happen to her. When she told me I didn't tell her anything about what happened or what he does, just made some shit up about him cheating and doing bad stuff in the past. I don't think I scared her away from him."
His eyes meet mine. The dim light makes his hazel eyes seem lighter. "Why don't you talk to Atticus about this? She listens to him, not me. I'm the fun brother, he's the serious one." I've been thinking of telling him, but every time I do I find another reason not to.
"I'm too scared to tell him, so you were the best option," I tell him, leaning in close to him so he can hear me over the sound of waisted coming to tables with food. I also don't need the people sitting next to us to hear me. He looks around, leaning on his elbows again like me.
"Do we kill him?" He asks, his voice and expression completely serious. I shake my head. "Why the hell not?"
"I'm trying to be a normal person and have that not be my first plan of attack," I tell him. He rolls his eyes, sitting down with a grin. "Why are you grinning like that?"
"Cause you're trying to be something you're not," he says. "Listen, I'm not gonna lie, I know you're family, therefore, I know how you are." My eyes widen.
"Excuse me?"
"The people I work for have done some deals with Castel and Santiago, your dad, and he's been at some of the things I've been at," he admits. What the fuck. "I'm not telling you that killing him is a good option, it's not. But come on, is that really what you want to do?"
"We can't jus keep killing people when-"
"You sound like my brother," he says. I put my head down. "What do you actually want?"
"I want to chop the fuckers hands off along with other parts of his body just for touching her that one night dancing," I snap. He presses his lips together, nodding.
"There we go. There's my Bex."
••••••
~Atticus's POV~
"Why the hell are they leaning in like that?" I ask Alaric, watching Zav and Bex from a good way back, but still able to have a good view. I'm too far to hear what they're saying, and I'm sure it'd be too loud to hear her anyways if I was closer. Alaric seems like he could care less about this whole thing.
"You're over reacting," he says, turning around in his seat to look at them. His brows raise in surprise and he hums. "Never mind, you might be screwed." I glare at him, not impressed by his humor right now.
"I'm not over reacting, he has a history of fucking relationships up," I tell him.
"I was kidding anyways. It's loud in here, they're probably just leaning in to hear each other...or they're sharing a milkshake with two straws, we'll never know." I was expecting him to be a lot more friendly than he's being. The relation between Bex and him is becoming more obvious to me with their attitudes.
"You're big helping." His jaw ticks, looong straight ahead of himself at the seat.
"Why don't you ask her some questions about it when she talks to you?" He asks. My eyes roll back over to him. Ask her questions? "I talked her the other night and relationships came up. She mentioned the questions you ask about our family."
"Sorry for being curious about her background? Shouldn't I know about her family if it's a serious relationship?" He cleats his throat, sitting up straighter. His eyes are hard, no sense of humor in them anymore.
"Okay, I-I can't deal with this anymore," he says, setting his hands in the table. His expression went from being in "La La Land" to serious in seconds. Whenever he's serious I know it's bad. "You seem nice, and I can tell you're feeling for Bex are genuine, but I'm onto you."
My brows pull together in confusion. "Excuse me?"
"Don't play stupid. Before you two even got together you were around every day and your excuse was Marissa. She told me some of the questions you've asked, and those aren't just questions you ask a girlfriend about her family. You're just waiting for the perfect moment."
"What moment?"
"I said don't play fucking stupid." I look around us, hoping no one else notices his rising voice. "You already what you're gonna do eventually and it's gonna bite you in the ass. She doesn't deserve to get hurt by someone who led her on."
"Why the hell would I lead her on?" I know what he's saying and the fact that he's close to figuring it out makes me worry. I've thought about talking to the sheriff about being taken off the case, but he's been busy with meetings all week and won't be in during the weekend for his daughters wedding.
"I'm not answering your questions anymore. You already know what I'm talking about."
•••••
~Bex's POV~
Walking down the hall, I feel myself start to get more tired with each step. Last night I could hardly get any sleep due to thinking about all the tests I had today. Marissa has the same problem so at two in the morning we started quizzing each other to make sure we were prepared for all of them. We maybe slept for the maximum of three hours.
"Thank you for tonight," I say, looking up at Zav. He shrugs, saying hits no big deal. After he got me to admit what I wanted to do to whoever it is that Marissa is seeing he let the subject drop and the mood got lighter again. I have to remind myself that I have to figure out who exactly it is that she's seeing.
"I like being around you. You make me feel normal," he says with a laugh. I cock a brow, wondering how in the world I could make someone feel normal. Is it because I'm bad shit crazy? If he thinks he's not he's blind out of one eye and can't see out of the other.
"That makes me feel great about myself," I say, rolling my eyes. I take out my keys, not sure if Marissa will be there or not. I press my back against the door, crossing my arms. "Seriously though, thank you. The past few weeks have been shit and I really needed this."
"Remember, just call when you need me," he says, his voice softer than it was a few minutes ago. I smile, for some reason too nervous to move. His eyes drop down to my lips, taking a small step forward. I take in a sharp breath, not sure what's to happen. When he starts leaning down my eyes widen and in frozen in place.
My eyes involuntarily shut, my body tensing up from surprise. He pulls back, looking me in the eyes. When he leans back in this time he's more sure and puts more pressure in my lips. My lips move with his, my body working against my mind. His hands cups my face, creasing my skin with his thumbs.
Snapping back into it, I push him back a few inches, looking at the ground. He looks at me, both of us breathless. My chest rises and falls rapidly from both nerves and the kiss.
He clears his throat. "I should go so you can get some sleep," he says. I nod, trying not to make eye contact. I stay in place until he's a good distance down the hall. The door opens behind me, making me stumble back until I hit Marissa.
"Heeeeyyy," I say, fixing myself. She looks at me like I've grown to heads. Her eyes travel down what I'm wearing, eyes widening.
"Are those from my closet?"
"Just the shirt." Thank god, she didn't hear anything.
AN: HEHEHEEE! Zav getting places bbabbbyyyyy! New character coming next chapter (she has been added to the characters page already.) I really hope you guys enjoyed!
Question: Are you team Zav or Atticus? How do you feel about them kissing?