Song: You Broke Me First by Tate McRae

Chapter Eighteen: You gave me the heebie-jeebies

"Thanks so much for the ride." I said as I got down from the car.

He grinned at me. "Stop saying thanks. It was no problem at all."

"Bye Wren." I waved before shutting the door.

I walked into an empty living room. Reveka was probably in her room.

I stopped in the kitchen and munched on some leftovers from the fridge after I microwaved it. I began on my way to Reveka's room, but stopped when I saw the door to Dad's office was slightly open with the lights on.

None of us had really gone there since he left. No one bothered to tidy up the things he left behind. I wouldn't volunteer. I don't plan on digging up old memories.

I pushed it open slightly and stepped in. Mom was sitting at the table, head rested on it. She looked like she was sleeping. I stepped closer until I heard light sobs.

"Mom?"

Her head snapped up and she tugged on her sleeve to wipe the tears off.

"Charvi!" She exclaimed. "You're home early. Weren't you at Leyla's birthday ball?"

I gestured to my outfit. "Well, things didn't go quite as planned."

She chuckled. "You had fun."

I laughed a little, recalling the night's event, then stopped when I realized Mom was sniffing to hold tears in.

"Mom. What's wrong? You're crying."

"I'm not."

What does she think you are? A child?

I walked up to her, wiped a tear from her face, and showed her my wet finger.

"Ok. Maybe I am crying."

"Why?" My voice was laced with concern.

"I came here to get some things out now that he's back to give him, but the feeling of just being here was way more than I could handle and I didn't realize it until I was in tears." She sniffed.

"It's okay. I get it." I said as I patted her hair.

I didn't bother to tell her to stop crying. Sometimes it was good to cry, to let it all out. So that's why I stayed there comforting her as she shed all the tears she wanted to until she was ready to go to bed.

When I was with her, I forgot the uncomfortable outfit which was only damp now, no longer dripping water.

*****

"I thought you worked behind the cash register." 

A voice called out as I wiped the tables of the customers that just left. The voice was unnerving enough, so even after not hearing it for a while, I still recognized it.

If I only worked behind the register, I wouldn't make enough money.

It was a little after 4pm on Sunday. I had one more hour till my shift was over and I couldn't wait. My legs hurt from standing. Sunday shifts were the hardest because I served food, I worked behind the register and I helped with the cleaning too. And I had to balance all this because I asked for it. So no complaining.

"You've been here a lot. Shouldn't you know?" I snapped without looking up.

"You should be a lot nicer to me, you know." He replied as he sat down at the table where I was cleaning. "I'm a paying customer."

I turned to him with a sickly smile. I made it very clear it was forced. "You've been here a lot. Shouldn't you know?" I repeated in a softer tone.

He smiled. "Better."

I went back to cleaning the table, ignoring his eyes on me. Isn't he going to order something?

Creep.

"Won't you ask where I've been these past few weeks?"

I just assumed he decided to stop coming here.

Assumed? I wished.

I gave him an incredulous look. "You're a customer. It's none of my business."

"I'm way more than a customer and you know it."

I didn't see it fit to reply him, so I just groaned.

"I missed you Avery."

I raised my brows. "Why? I'm not very nice to you."

It's true, I wasn't.

Why should you be when he's always trying to get with you? Even after you've turned him down a thousand times.

"Your smile is enough."

I dropped the napkin and put my hands on my hips. "Aren't you tired?"

"Tired of what?"

"All your silly antiques Jaxon. You're a grown ass man, act like it."

He ignored my second sentence and only replied to the first one. "Silly? I'd say they're very impressive."

I rolled my eyes. "Well try them on someone else because they aren't working on me."

"I'm never going to stop until I have you."

I scoffed. "What am I? An object?"

"Yes. You're the feeding bottle to my heart."

He's clearly sick.

"I rather be the TNT to your ego. You clearly need it." I said before I moved to the next table.

He followed me and sat at the table I was about to clean.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes."

"Can I help you with it?"

"Yes, actually."

He didn't continue. I gestured for him to talk, but he doesn't seem to understand hand signals. "What is it?"

He ignored my question and asked me another one. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"No." I can't listen to his nonsense. I guess I'll clean this table later. "God, I don't want to go anywhere with you."

I turned to go to another table, but he grabbed my hand.

"What is this?" I exclaimed as I struggled to release my hand. "Are you obsessed?"

"Yes."

What?

"What the- why?"

He didn't answer on time. "Jaxon. Please leave me alone. You've been at this for more than six months. Go find someone else to bother. I'm exhausted."

"If you just came with me, we wouldn't be having this problems." He raised his other hand to touch my cheek. I turned my face.

I yanked my hand away forcefully and stepped back. "Jaxon. Leave. You don't want to have to deal with me."

"You're so tiny, what could you possibly do?"

"I am not tiny and I can do plenty." I said through gritted teeth.

He rubbed his hands together and smirked. "Let's find out in the bedroom."

Gross.

I pulled a face of disgust and walked away, ignoring the fact he was watching. At least, this time he didn't follow me. He must have left sometime later without ordering anything because I didn't see or hear from him again.

Paying customer, my ass.

*****

"Did your shift just end?"

It was a little after 5pm, and my shift was finally over. After Jaxon left it had been pretty peaceful. I just don't understand why he wouldn't just leave me alone. There are a lot of pretty girls, his age, out there that would date him in a heartbeat. He couldn't be obsessed, could he? I mean what was there to be obsessed about? I'm average.

"Yeah. I'm going now."

"Bye Avery." Corinne waved at me.

"Bye." I waved back and walked towards my locker.

I planned to call Leyla when I was done with work. I know it seems late, but I slept early and woke up late. God knows why I'm still tired.

I ended up sending her a message asking if she wanted to meet up. I dropped the apron, grabbed my bag and headed out the back door for workers only. 

Once I opened it and turned to my right, I heard a jingling sound behind me. I turned around slowly and cautious, only to be surprised by a doofus resting on the wall, twirling keys in his fingers. I touched my chest and let out a breath.

I punched his shoulder. "Geez! You gave me the heebie-jeebies."

He chuckled and pocketed the keys he was twirling in his finger. "You could have just said you were scared."

"We can correct my English another time. Right now, what the hell are you doing here?"

He smirked. "Isn't it obvious? I came to pick you up."

I blinked in confusion. "Why?"

"I told you I would see you tomorrow, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I just thought you didn't want to admit you didn't know what you were saying." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Haha! Very funny."

I laughed a little at that. "Where are we going?"

"You'll just have to wait and find out." 

"You don't know where, do you?" I joked.

"Of course I do." He stuck out his bottom lip and touched his heart. "I'm upset you think so lowly of me."

"I can't help it. It comes naturally."

"Well, stop it." He warned. "I came from a different direction, so the car is out back, I'll meet you in front."

"Okay." I nodded to him. He started heading towards the back and then disappeared around a corner. I began heading to the front, when I heard a ding sound from my phone. Leyla had texted back.

Leyla: How about now?

I rested my back on the wall beside the door.

Me: I'm kind of busy. When else are you free?

It didn't take long for her to answer.

Leyla: How about tomorrow at school?

Me: Can't it be before tomorrow? I wanted us to hangout.

Leyla: Maybe later on today. When you're done with whatever you're doing, call me.

Me: Ok. That's fine with me.

I was about to pocket my phone when I heard another ding.

Leyla: Are you at home?

Me: No. Why?

Leyla: It's just that Axel hasn't been answering my calls and messages and I wanted you to check if everything was alright.

I was too busy on my phone. That's why I didn't notice the hand snake around my waist. I looked up from my phone and was met with the black eyes of Jaxon. A mixture of surprise and panic filled me.

I tugged at his hand to release myself. "Jaxon. What are you doing?"

"You refused to come willingly so I'm taking you with me."

"That's called kidnapping."

"I know your pretty mouth can speak pretty words. Let's go so I'll help you find out what else it can do."

I stomped really hard down on his foot, and pressed until his arm released me. He winced in pain as he held onto his foot.

"You're sick!" I spat before turning around to run towards the front. He's too busy wincing in pain, I'll get to the front before he recovers.

A hand grabbed mine, and the other one covered my mouth.

Wrong.

I didn't think he was serious about this kidnapping thing. He must be drunk.

He snaked the hand that was on my hand before around my waist and slammed me hard against his body.

I stomped on his foot and bit on his hand but none of that seemed to be working. He was like a trained soldier or something. I started screaming for Zane or anyone around to help me but my voice was muffled.

"Do not let me hurt you!" He warned to my ear.

That didn't stop me from what I did next. I bit so hard on his hand, it was sure to draw blood, causing him to snatch his hand from my mouth. I started screaming really loud for Zane.

Where is he?

It was getting dark, and although Jaxon had removed his hand from my mouth, his hand was still firmly around my waist. It had moved up to my stomach now, and he was clutching it so hard, I thought I might faint.

"Stop screaming!" He literally barked at me, but I didn't stop, hoping someone would hear me.

He released me, and I collapsed on the floor from sheer exhaustion. My phone dropped with a crack somewhere away and so did my glasses. Even my throat was hurting, from all the screaming.

I saw Jaxon's foot step on my glasses. I began getting up, but he kicked my side, making me fall back down to the floor.

"I told you I didn't want to hurt you. I would never want to, but you left me no choice."

I wasn't one to beg, but I think now was the time.

"Jaxon." Was all I could get out, before he kicked me again. He kicked me and kicked me. I coughed and coughed and grabbed my waist, trying to scramble away with the little strength I could muster. It was no use. He just followed and kept kicking me.

Ouch.

I was in pain and nearly unconscious, but I still struggled to get away when he grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. I refused to give up. I think I was in tears by that time, but my head hurt so much, it was hard to realize. I kept hitting his back with my fists and kicking, even though it was weak, when he turned around to walk away with me. He stopped, and bent to pick something from the floor. "What is this?"

Before I could get to find out what he was talking about, I was dropped on the floor, harshly. My eyes slammed shut.

After a while, I forced my eyes open and saw Zane holding Jaxon against the wall.

"You need to understand that no means no!" I heard him bark out. Everything was blurry, but I could tell the shapes. I planted my hands to get up, but they were wobbly. I felt something furry beside me. I turned my head and my eyes seemed to catch something red.

Isn't that your wig?

I tried getting up one more time, but I collapsed.

"Zane." I breathed with a cough.

The last thing I felt was being lifted up, before consciousness slipped away.

******

My eyes flashed open. Everywhere was white. Why is everywhere white?

I shut my eyes and tried to lift my head, but it felt so heavy.

"Keep it down." I felt a cold hand on my forehead. "Don't hurt yourself."

Zane? What's he doing here?

I turned to where I heard his voice. He was sitting on a chair on my right, holding my hand.

"Zane?" I breathed out.

Why do I feel so exhausted? My eyes fluttered open, but were still heavy. 

"I'm here. It's okay."

And for some reason that felt very assuring as I drifted back to sleep.

***

"Do you feel better?"

It had been about 3 hours since the accident and I had finally woken up. Zane was still there though. I'm very grateful to him for being there when I needed him. I would tell him, I just hadn't had the chance to. Now Zane was sitting on a couch in the corner of the room, ruffling his hair.

I recalled the events of that evening when I woke up the second time. I used to dislike Jaxon, saying he was just an obsessed creep, but now I hate him. He is a serious lunatic.

"Yes doctor." I said sitting up a little. I still felt like shit, but at least I felt better. "What exactly is the problem?" I just woke up and no one told me anything.

"You had a concussion and you suffer from mild rib contusion."

"Uh huh." I nodded slowly not understanding a bit. "Translation please."

He gave me a half smile. "You have a few slightly bruised ribs."

"Oh." I nodded.

"We're going to release you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Are you sure I can't go this night?"

That means I'd have to tell my mom. She'd want to know why? I know I can't hide it forever because bruised ribs would take a while to heal, but I thought I'd at least have time to think of an excuse to why I had bruised ribs.

"It has to be tomorrow. We've only made a diagnosis. An X-ray, MRI, or CT scan may be needed to confirm the diagnosis and rule out more serious injuries, such as a rib fracture or damage to internal organs."

I gulped. "Is that necessary? I don't think I can afford all that."

He gestured to Zane who was staring at the ceiling looking like he zoned out. "Your boyfriend here said he'd take care of all the costs."

I had the urge to correct his assumption, but I just let it go.

I turned to the doctor with a smile. "Please can I speak to him alone?"

"Of course. Don't take too long though. We plan to do all the scans tonight, so tomorrow is for resting." He said before he exited the room.

The door closing made Zane's eyes snap to mine. "What's wrong? Why is he gone?"

"You really don't pay attention, do you?"

"I'm serious Cherry." He said as he walked up to my side.

"So am I. What does he mean by my boyfriend," I put air-quotes around it, "would pay for everything?"

"He means exactly that."

Minus the boyfriend part.

"Let me just do the X-ray. I don't need the rest. They probably all do the same thing."

"Even if. Three times a charm."

I wrung my fingers together and stared at them. "I can't let you pay for everything. I'll just be a burden." I mumbled.

He lifted my chin so I was staring right at him. "I would never see you as a burden. Plus, this whole mess is my fault."

My eyebrows creased in confusion. "How could it possibly be your fault?"

"I got carried away with my phone. I should have come sooner."

"Don't blame yourself. None of it is your fault. If not for you, who knows where I'd be right now?" I stared at my fingers again. "Where's he anyways?"

"He ran away when I rushed to you. I would have gone after him, but you were unconscious and I didn't want to take any chances. Do you wanna talk about it? I mean, who was that guy?"

I stared at my wrung fingers again. He must have sensed I didn't want to answer it, so he continued. "He knows you were wearing a disguise. Your wig fell off. And your glasses too." 

"Oh."

Oh? All you can say is oh?

What am I supposed to say? I don't even know what I'm supposed to do.

"You can't go back there." He ordered.

I choked. "What?"

"You can't continue working there." He rephrased. "It's too dangerous."

"And because of that, I should live in fear? Living in fear isn't actually going to protect me from anything. He has already seen the real me."

"Well then," He paused. "I'll have to go with you."

"Every time? I'm sure you have more important things to do."

"Your safety is more important." He persuaded.

I was flattered by his words, but still I said. "I don't need a bodyguard."

"You sure do." He gestured to my state. "I mean look what happened, and that's the earliest you said you leave work."

I didn't reply because I knew he was right. I didn't need to anyway, the doctor walked in.

"Are you ready for the scans?"

*

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Thanks and Toodles <3