Stay Away from Pleasure

Chapter Fourteen

"Matt, I barely touched her!"

"Oh please! You've never liked me! You've always taken everything away from me and now you're taking her!"

"Matt get over yourself! She just fainted!"

"It's been almost six hours! She's only meant to be out for a few minutes!"

"Well maybe she's gone into shock or something. You heard her screaming."

"What did she see?"

"Maria said she acted weird when she saw Zack at HQ. It was kind of like she was afraid of him."

"I fucking knew it! That bastard!"

"Matt just—"

"If you fucking tell me to calm down I will knock your fucking lights out!"

"Stop swearing. She doesn't deserve to wake up to that."

"She is my whole world, Theo. She is everything and I don't know what his game is. I don't know what he wants."

"Maybe you should just leave her alone."

"I am so close to putting a bullet through your brain. Do you not understand? I love her! I can't let her go. I know I don't deserve her and I should just stay away from her and let her carry on life like it was before she ever met me, but I can't do that now. Only a couple fucking days and I'm already madly in love with her."

"How do you know it's love?"

"Theodore, you know me. I am poison. If it's love, I'll know, but I must confess, you are right. I don't love her. This is not love, it's something much more. It's not even that I can't live without her, I refuse to live without her. Verily, she is the only woman for me. I know that one day I'll probably marry her. She will be mine forever and we will grow old together. She is my happiness and what we have is much more than just a mere relationship. Believe me when I say, I will destroy anyone that gets in the way."

I stir in the comfy bed. Footsteps paddle towards me and I feel hands stroke hair away from my face. There's fairly sharp breathing around me as if people are anticipating a crucial moment. My eyes flutter open briefly and my vision is blurred. The second time, I can tell that I'm in a bedroom. The third time I can see that there's more than one person in this room other than me. On the fourth flutter, I can see a male figure in front of me that seems oh-so-familiar. Finally, my eyes open and I am greeted with a wild hug from Matt and vast kisses.

"Are you okay? How do you feel? Why did you scream? What's going on with you and Zack? Are you in pain?"

"Matt slow down. She's just woken up."

It was them two all along. It wasn't a dream. Matt and Theo were in here while I was unconscious. They were talking about me. I heard everything they had to say but would never say to my face. If only they said something about Matt's big secret or given me more detail on his parents' deaths.

"Are you in pain?" Matt asks softly, stroking my hair. He's kneeling beside the bed in his suit that he put on this morning. His tie was cast away and the first two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned.

Speech is not something I'm good at in this moment. My mouth is dry and it feels like my throat is going to combust. I settle for a nod so he still gets the point. I'm not in pain, apart from my throat.

"Can you talk or do you need a drink?" He asks me. I nod and he asks, "you need a drink?" I nod again and he hands me a glass of water from a nearby table. This isn't his room and it looks too fancy to be a hospital. "Better?" He asks after I've taken a few sips. I nod and then look at Theo.