All Bad

28. Mercy

Please have mercy on me
Take it easy on my heart
Even though you don't mean to hurt me
You keep tearing me apart
Would you please have mercy, mercy on my heart....
- Shawn Mendes

Brie's POV

I sat running my hands through Derek's dark hair. I ran my fingers down the side of his cheek and along his jaw, smoothing down his perfectly neat facial hair as I went. I could feel his opposite cheek against my thigh as his head rested in my lap while he watched a pre-recorded Basketball game on the TV.

I'd spent every evening of the week at Derek's and had guiltily stayed over the previous night despite the fact that I was supposed to have a 'Girls Night In' with Cassie and watch movies. She'd called and texted me a whole bunch of times but I'd dodged all contact and then sent her an apologetic text that she hadn't responded to which informed me that she was extremely upset with me. I knew she was going to be extremely mad at me for hanging with Derek so I had been kind of avoiding her.

As much as I was spending a lot of time with Derek it wasn't like we were sleeping with each other. Yes there was a little bit of kissing and cuddling... And a small bit of touching when we were together... But it wasn't like we were cheating or anything, we were just friends, really close friends.

I hadn't been neglecting my relationship with Justin either, we still spoke every single day, I still texted him a lot, but he was busy as the date for the album's release got closer and closer so I guess he didn't have much free time. I hadn't seen him for about a week or two since he had started his promo tour and he didn't have a definite date when he would be back home either, so... I was still being an attentive girlfriend to him.

A smirk grew on my lips at the sound of Derek cussing loudly at the TV; he always got so into what was going on in games as if he was playing himself. "What the fuck is LeBron doing?" He shouted, raising out of my lap and making wild gestures with his right hand. "COME ON, MAN! COME ON!"

Once he had settled back down into my lap I began massaging his shoulder. "It's ok, Derek." I soothed while trying to hold in a laugh.

"This guy is getting on my damn nerves." He shouted.

"It'll be ok." I said as seriously as I could.

"Shit." He cursed once last time.

I watched Derek in amusement until the game was over; it was so funny when he got all pissy, plus he was really sexy when angered so it was just an all-round joy to see. Luckily for me his team lost the game so I got to see that frown etched into his handsome face just a bit longer.

After pointing the remote control at the TV screen and pressing the 'OFF' button, he rolled over on his other side so he was facing me as I leaned back onto the back of the couch.

"What are you staring at?" I asked as he stared at me. His head was still on my thigh, the side of his face resting against my bare skin; the t-shirt he'd given me to lounge around in had risen up higher than it needed to be.

He shrugged in response then brought his hand up to his mouth to stifle a yawn. "Nothing, you just all casual and still look good."

"What can I say? I just got it like that." I joked with a smile.

He chuckled. "Man, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"Take what?"

"Take being with you and having all these rules; it's annoying that we can't do the things we wanna do." He paused. "Lemme rephrase that; you won't let me do the things I wanna do. You wanna act like you don't want it too." He just had this way of saying things that reduced me to putty in his hands. It was something about the way he spoke that put thoughts in my mind that caused a reaction in a place that Derek was forbidden.