6. Overprotective

       Trevor and I didn’t pull away from each other, but we both opened our eyes. We looked at each other, and then brought our attention to the car that intruded on us. I wasn’t focused on the car so much as the driver getting out. My brows creased together. I should’ve known it was him.

            Damon.

            Damn it, I cursed. Just when I thought that one time was the only time I’d ever see him. Trevor rubbed my arm.

            “Sorry to interrupt playtime, but it’s time to go,” Damon said rudely. Trevor and I looked up at him, both of us not happy at all.

            “Umm, excuse me, but the last time I checked, you’re not my mother, father, or my brother,” I snapped.

            “True, but that doesn’t apply here. You’re leaving with me.”

            “Who says?” I retorted.

            “I do, and so does Elena.”

            Elena. Oh damn. She had to have come back home early and noticed I was missing. I didn’t think it through with the possibility that Elena could come home, find me missing, and conduct a search mission just to find me. Way to go, genius, I scolded myself.

            “W-what?” I stammered.

            “I’ll explain later. Now come on.” Damon ripped me up off the ground. I pulled myself out of his grasp, nearly having a pratfall in the process. He shot me an impatient glare. “Faith.”

            “I’m not going with you,” I said. Trevor stood up, brushing himself off.

            “You have no choice.”

            “The hell she doesn’t,” Trevor snarled. “What are you, a bloodhound? How the hell did you find us here?”

            “That’s for me to know and for neither of you to ever find out.” Damon smirked. “Now, I’m not going to tell you again, Faith. Let’s go.”

            “No,” I said simply, folding my arms across my chest. “I’m not going with you.”

            “Look, I can tolerate so much stupidity before I lose my temper.” Damon grabbed me roughly again. This time, his grip was better on my arm. Shockingly, it wasn’t painful like I had anticipated it to be. Damon started dragging me away.

            “Who made you in charge of her?” Trevor roared. Damon stopped, turning himself and me around to look at Trevor. Trevor looked pissed. His blue eyes froze, giving him a deadly look.

            “Her cousin did, actually,” Damon retorted harshly. “She told me Faith would most likely be with her stalker, and she was right.”

            “I’m not her stalker!”

            “So you say.” Damon’s voice got colder. “Just keep away from her.”

            “What will you do if I don’t?” Trevor challenged.

            “Oh, believe me; you don’t want to find out.” Damon’s voice turned velvet soft—soft, but threatening.

            “Who died and made you her guardian?”

            “Nobody,” I interjected.

            “Elena did not too long ago,” Damon retorted to me. My eyes narrowed. Damon’s eyes didn’t leave Trevor. “Like I said, keep away from her. She doesn’t need to be involved with someone like you.”

            “Enough!” I groaned. Damon glared down at me. “Don’t pester each other. It’s bad enough you’re here. You like to make things worse, don’t you?”

            “It’s become a pastime of mine. Anyway, I think we’ve stuck around long enough.”

            Damon dragged me away from Trevor. I threw Trevor an apologetic smile, but he had the coldest look on his face. I was pretty sure it wasn’t intended for me.

            Damon shoved me in the passenger seat like I was being pushed into the back of a cop car. I buckled myself up, crossed my legs and arms, and stared straight ahead while Damon got in and started the car. I was so pissed.

            It was going to be a silent, tense car ride.

            It felt that way for ten minutes. I was seething inside. The one time something good happened to me, Damon had to ruin it. What else was he going to ruin for me? What else would be taken away from me? My freedom had been temporarily, and now I knew it would be permanent because of what I just pulled. It’s your fault, stupid. You didn’t think your great plan through, and now look where it’s gotten you.

            Well maybe I wouldn’t be here if Elena wasn’t an overprotective cousin, I countered.

            You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t spoken a word to Trevor.

            My conscience defeated me. Even though I was at fault as was Elena and her witness protection program, I had more of the blame.

            “What were you doing with him?” Damon asked softly. I didn’t turn my head or even look at him. I was surprised he was even talking to me. I wanted a silent car ride. I guess I wasn’t getting that now.

            “What do you think? He took me out for a ride, and then we were talking,” I said snippily.

            “That didn’t look like talking when I found you. He looked like he was about ready to suck your face off.”

            “No comment.”

            “How could you stand to be near him anyway? He reeked badly.”

            “So what? His cologne went bad,” I snapped defensively. I wanted to try and keep the chatter off of Trevor a bit. “How did you find us, anyway?”

            “Like I said, that’s something for me to know and for you to never find out.”

            “I can’t believe Elena sent you to find me. I’m not a criminal, I’ve done nothing wrong!” I moaned.

            “That’s what you think.”

            “I should’ve known there was no way you’d come find me on your own. Well, there probably was a chance of that, but it seemed very unlikely.”

            “Elena saw the door was unlocked when she came home. She called Stefan and me, begging for us to help find you. Mind you, she only had us search for you. She didn’t call on Caroline or Bonnie to help search for you. It was just me and Stefan.”

            “Great, so now if I escape my prison, you and Stefan are the guards or whoever that hunt me down and take me back to my cell hell,” I joked tartly.

            “You think that’s a cell hell? If you want the real meaning of what you said, I can easily lock you in a real cell; it’ll make it more realistic for you.”

            “I think I’ll pass,” I growled, skimming my fingers along the car window.

            The moment Damon stopped the car in front of the house, I stuck to the seat. I wasn’t going to get out; Damon would have to pull me out if he was going to get me inside the house. When he got out, he opened the door for me—a polite gesture, but I still wasn’t going to get out.

            “Look, we can do this two ways: you can either come out willingly, or I drag you out,” he threatened.

            “I’d like to see you try to get me out,” I growled, looking at him with icy eyes.

            “You really shouldn’t have said that.” Damon smirked.

            Damon tried to rip me from the seat, but I dug my nails into the seat. I yelped, trying to fight my way back into the car. Sadly, Damon yanked me out of the car and over his shoulder—such a barbaric way to carry someone to her own house. I knew I had no chance of freeing myself so I gave in early, hanging limply over his shoulder.

            “Damon!” Elena panicked. “What happened?”

            “Relax, Elena, she’s not dead or unconscious,” Damon retorted. “She just didn’t want to come home.”

            “So you felt the need to carry her in like this?” Her voice sounded cracked from hysterics.

            “Isn’t it wrong, Elena?” I sighed dramatically.

            “I’ll get to you later.” There was no joking manner in her voice. “Set her down, Damon.”

            “Yes, Damon, put me down!” I demanded.

            “God, you are a handful,” Damon chuckled, setting me down on my feet. I backed away from him, my eyes slits. “No wonder he’s got a thing for you.”

            “Damon, that’s enough,” Elena said gently. “You don’t need to be here. I can take care of her. Thank you, for finding her and bringing her back.” Damon gave a nod and strolled out of the house. “All right, Fay, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

            “Actually, I’m not in the mood to talk right now,” I snarled.           

            “Excuse me, but I have a right to know what happened since you live in my house.” Elena turned me around to look at her. I looked at everything else but her, but I didn’t tune her out. “What I’d like to know is how he found our house.”

            “Elena, he said everyone practically knows I live with you. And apparently a lot of people know where you live.” I shrugged.

            “How did you get out?”

            “Trevor broke me out with a bobby pin. You really need a better lock system on the door.”

            “I should just make it one of those kinds of doors that requires a card or a fingerprint so that it can keep people like him out,” she said coldly. “That’s what I really should do at this point. And by the way, what did Damon mean by ‘he’s got a thing for you’?”

            “I don’t know.” I refrained from chewing on my lip out of anxiety.

            “Faith.” But Elena didn’t need me to answer, because the revelation crossed her face in a second. She stumbled back a step, startled. “Oh God. Oh no. Please don’t tell me you fell for him, Fay. Please.”

            “Well…” I rubbed my arm, looking down at my feet.

            “Oh God, he got to you! No! Caroline was right.”

            “Oh, so apparently if I like a guy I can’t be with him?” I crossed my arms.

            “Faith, that’s not true. If the guy you liked wasn’t shady, then I would let you come and go as you please! But Trevor—he’s not someone to trust.”

            “He won’t hurt me, Elena. He said he wouldn’t.”

            “You can’t trust what he tells you, Fay. He could be feeding you lies!”

            “How would you know if he was, hmm? Can you read his mind?”

            “Well, no—”

            “Then you can’t tell me that he’s lying to me when you don’t even know that he is,” I said snottily.

            “You can’t tell me that he’s speaking any truth! You barely even know him!”

            “It’s not like you and Stefan got to know each other much before you guys got together.”

            “Don’t talk to me like that,” Elena snapped. “Just because you’re my cousin doesn’t mean that you get to talk back to me like a rebellious teenager. You live under my house, so you have to listen to me, whether you like it or not.”

            “You realize that you can’t keep us apart, right?” I shifted my weight.

            “He’s got his hooks into you.” Elena shook her head. “I’m disappointed, Faith, I really am. I would’ve thought your trust issues would keep you away from him.”

            I winced. “Ouch. Low blow, Elena.”

“Do you want to know why we don’t want you around him?”

            “Enlighten me.”

            “Nobody knows where he came from or what he does. He’s not enlisted at Mystic Falls High School nor does he have a job anywhere here in the town.”

            “Judgmental much?”

            “Sometimes being judgmental is the right way to go. Now do you see why we’re protective over you? We don’t want you mixing with the wrong people, Faith.”

            I backed out of the argument; I didn’t want to bicker with Elena anymore at the moment. I turned on my heel and stomped upstairs, slamming the door of my bedroom.

*      *      *

            I didn’t come down for dinner when it was ready. I never budged except for the times to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to be near Elena. Jeremy I could probably be around. After all, he wasn’t the protective guard dog like Elena was, who was ready to bite Trevor’s head off if he ever came near me again. I knew I would never be out of the house again unless someone had me on a tight leash—whether figuratively or literally.

            When someone knocked on the door, I didn’t answer. I just sat on the bed, not budging.

            “It’s me,” Jer called.

            “I don’t care,” I snarled. “I don’t want to see anybody.”

            “Please, Fay, just let me in. I’ve got dinner. I’m sure you’re hungry.”

            My stomach growled to answer Jeremy. I had planned on staying up late and sneaking out to the kitchen to make myself eat something, just so long as nobody caught me.

            “Fine,” I huffed. Jeremy thoughtfully closed the door behind him, putting the plate of food at my crossed legs before sitting on the edge of the bed. I glared at him. “What do you want?”

            “I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

            “Elena sent you in here, didn’t she?”

            “No, actually, I came on my own account. She’s at Stefan’s. She’s really upset right now.”

            “Why?”

            “You know why, Fay.”

            “The whole Trevor issue?”

            “Yup.”

            I groaned, slumping my back against the headboard of the bed. “I just wish she’d let me be with him. He won’t hurt me. I know you and everyone else have suspicions about him, but he’s harmless.” I picked at my nails. “I wish she’d just give him a chance.”

            “That won’t happen, not unless she warms up to him,” Jer said gently.

            “Yeah, that’ll be never.” I twisted a stray strand of hair around my finger. “I would ask you for advice on what to do, Jer, but I’m pretty sure I know what you’ll say.”

            “And what would that be?”

            “That you’re with Elena on this issue, or that I should do whatever my heart tells me to. I know that second one sounds like a cliché.”

            “Just a little bit.” Jeremy chuckled. I cracked a grin. “But actually, I’m not going to say either of those things. Now, I’m not saying you should listen to my advice, but at least consider it.”

            “Well, what is it?” I shifted to get comfortable.

            “I say just let this go and see how it all plays out. Don’t try and get on Elena’s bad side anymore than you already have. Let things settle down a bit. Who knows? Things might get better.”

            “Yeah, ‘might.’” I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the window.

I wasn’t sure what I was imagining, but I thought I saw Trevor around the house. I gulped. I’m just imagining things. If he is here, it’s not to stalk me, it’s to see me, I told myself calmly. There’s nothing to be worried about. Just don’t let on to Jeremy that you see him.

I met Jer’s brown eyes. “Is that all you wanted?”

            “Yeah. I figured since I’m not in the middle of things, it’s safe for me to try and talk to you.” He smiled.

            “You won’t relay what I’ve told you to Elena, will you?” I asked.

            “Not a word,” he promised. “Now, eat up before that gets cold. I just reheated it not too long ago.”

            “Thanks.”

            Jer patted my knee before leaving me alone in the bedroom. Once I knew he was gone, I lurched off the bed and stood at the window. My eyes weren’t deceiving me, Trevor was outside the house. His blue eyes found mine. I smiled sheepishly. He beckoned me to come outside. I shook my head. He tried again. I rejected him again. Trevor gave me a look.

            I looked around the room, digging for a pen and paper. I scribbled; I don’t want to get caught. Sorry. Trevor nodded. He threw me a wave and disappeared. I began to wonder…was Trevor the guy I saw on that morning of the day I met him and everyone else at the Grill? The age seemed right, but as for the features themselves, I was drawing a complete blank.

            I slipped the blinds over the window, stretching. I wondered what Trevor and I were considered at this point. After all, he nearly kissed me. Were we just friends or something more now? I wasn’t sure when I would know from him what we were—because I was sure I most likely wouldn’t see him for a long time, not while being kept under severe watch by Elena and her guard dogs.

            I should feel so special.

            I was pondering what I should do from here. Should I continue to try and see Trevor, even if it’s like a Romeo and Juliet deal, with him outside the house and me, on the second floor, us looking at each other, longing to actually be together? Not unless I want to be locked in the cellar or somewhere where he can’t find me.

Should I just do what Jeremy said and let things simmer down and hope that things get better? It sounded like the better option. I wouldn’t get into trouble; it’d keep Elena and her watchdogs off my back.

Or, could I muster the courage to pack my things and leave Mystic Falls? It would be a good idea if I wanted to see Trevor. But I’d be on my own, and I was kind of starting to like it here, despite the negatives I’d been facing lately.

            Hmm, maybe Jeremy’s advice was the ideal advice to follow.

I sprawled along the bed, wondering what the future would hold.

*What do you guys think of Trevor? Too suspicious or a good match for Faith, in a weird way?**