Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

140 - Colby

I woke up with Rebecca already awake in my arms. The memories of last night still plagued my every thought, like they had up until my body had given up and knocked me out. The sense of dread was strong inside of me because I knew we had to sort this problem out and soon, before Rebecca got hurt.

What was strange was that this Woods stalker never seemed to do anything: he just watched and got caught then moved on about a month later. Rebecca had told me that he'd stalked her mother before Angela, and now he was stalking her. It'd seemed to make sense before because he was stalking them for no longer giving him a bite after they'd quit, but Rebecca had never succumbed to his attempts, so he had no reason to go after her—unless it was still simply revenge on the other two.

Rebecca was lying facing away from me in my arms, scrolling through her phone. It was just the news and some mindless social media site, but she seemed occupied enough not to notice that I was awake, too. To test her, I held her tighter, shuffled into her, and sighed. I wanted to know what she would do if she thought I was still asleep.

She made no sound but she turned her head back and pressed it close to mine as if she was nuzzling me. I couldn't help it when I smiled and she paused. "You're awake early," she said softly, her fingers brushing back my hair from my face.

I opened my eyes. "It wasn't the best sleep anyway."

"Tell me about it." She sighed, dropping her phone and turning to me. Her body pressed close to mine as she continued to brush through my hair. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. I was tempted to playfully pur at her, but I knew she'd never shut up about it if I did. I chose to close my eyes again instead.

We laid there for a short while. Although I wanted sleep, I never let it come, forcing myself to stay awake even through the electric tingles coming from anywhere Rebecca touched me. She never stopped moving or smiling, as far as I was concerned.

When my phone buzzed in my pants pocket in the corner of the room was when we both broke out of it. As much as we didn't want to, we had to solve another problem so that we could live on like this for... however long we had.

Rebecca reluctantly brought her hands to herself as I opened my eyes again and rolled onto my back. She lifted so I could get my other arm back then pulled the covers moreover herself. I had to smile, darting to my clothes so I could respond to whoever had bothered us.

It was Sam.

"Aryia's waiting for me—I should go and talk to him," I said sadly, looking up at Rebecca. She was watching me half-hidden by the covers. She silently nodded, pulling the sheets away from her face. I knew what she wanted so I zipped over to her and kissed her. She smiled into it, wrapping her arms around my neck then dragging me down onto the bed. I knew this was a dangerous game to play, but I was all for it.

I was hovering above her, my one hand holding me up and the other at her thigh. She had one leg bent so I could fit between them. Everything about her made me want to stay and do ungodly things to her. From the big t-shirt—that was mine—to the bare legs to what she had roped me into to the feelings in the air around us. But I knew that if I wanted this later, I had to get to work now.

Goddammit.

I pulled back, placing one last little peck on Rebecca's lips. I longed for her when I darted to her closet, where I also had clothes at this point. I changed in the matter of about a second and texted Sam back. Going back over to Rebecca, who had curled back under the covers facing away from me, I kissed her cheek.

"I'll send Tara over to get you later—she'll probably bring Cassie as well."

"Okay, I love you," Rebecca murmured sounding like she was half asleep.

I smiled uncontrollably. "I love you, too."

Without another word, I started to zip through LA back toward the house. My heart felt tight leaving her in bed like that, but if she was as tired as I was, then I completely understood why she wanted to stay there. Early night tonight for sure.

The house was alive when I arrived. By the house, I meant the red room, but that was basically the same thing anyway. It was the only room we went in as long as we weren't in our rooms.

The boys were already waiting for me, but Aryia was sitting on the arm of the couch where Tara usually sat when she wanted to talk to Tara. Everyone had heard her call me last night—they'd all heard her say that Rebecca had rushed them back to her apartment and looked like she was about to cry. For that reason, Katrina was staring at me like a lost puppy.

I sat down before I even looked at her. "She's fine," I said, "so don't bother her when she comes over." Katrina opened her mouth but I shook my head. She looked at Sam and I turned to Aryia, who was waiting for me. "How's Angela doing?" I asked him, catching him off guard.

"Uh, she's great. Fine. She's fine."

I frowned at him. "You're being weird."

"It's just-"

"Aryia, just tell him, dude," Kevin snapped from across the room. I glanced between the two of them in confusion as they glared at each other. When Aryia turned to me, his head was down. I said nothing.

"Okay, I guess you have to know sometime." He drew in a breath. "Angela is my One."