Wanted

•Acting Weird•

        {•edited•}
                           ~Bex's POV~

         I wake to the feeling of heaviness on my chest and stomach. Looking down with squinted eyes, Atticus has his arm thrown over me, tucked under my side, and his head placed on my boobs. The man obviously doesn't understand how painful it is to have pressure there sometimes. Brushing hair out of my face, I look up at the ceiling, playing with his short hair.
     Smiling to myself, I let myself relax. In my past eighteen years of life never have I woke up on my birthday in silence. My mom usually walked into my room with Alaric screaming happy birthday; caused a few heart attacks, but I got used to it. I'd take this over that easily.
    He shifts, his hand slipping further under me. His eyes flutter open, not opening fully due to sleep and the brightness. "What are you doing?" He mumbles against my shirt.
    "Trying to breathe," I say, tracing the outside of the tattoo on his shoulder blade. He moves his head just to set it back down on my stomach. The wind blowing in from the window makes my parts hair fly back in my face. He chuckles, making patterns on my side with his fingers.
    "I missed your curls yesterday," he says. I glare down at him, considering hitting him again with the bread roller. I worked for about an hour and half on my hair just for him to pour water on it. "I don't regret getting it wet."
    "Even after getting hit with a roller?" He nods. "I didn't but you hard enough." Smiling, he pecks just above my belly button with his lips, going lower very slowly. "If you're trying to make me forgive you it's not gonna work by giving me some head."
    "I'm not," he says, pulling my leggings down a few inches. "I'm just giving you a quick birthday present." I was hoping he forgot. I lift my hips to help him bring the lower. His hand slips between my legs, running his hand up and down the insides of my thighs, not touching where I want him to. I don't understand how he can get me going so fast when I wasn't in the mood at all. 
    "I'm legal now; eighteen. It's probably not gonna be that good anymore," I joke, raising my shirt myself.
    "Trust me, it's always good."
    •••••

       "Bexley!" A familiar voice says behind me. I stop and turn around. Zavian jogs over, redirecting himself. My eyes dart around, not sure if I should stay and talk or make a run for it. He's taller, surely he'd be faster and I'd make a fool out of myself. The grey t-shift he wears him well, hugging tightly at his tattooed biceps.
    "Hey," I say, forcing myself to sound as polite as possible. He smiles down at me, his teeth as white as ever. Now I'm realizing he looks maybe a little too perfect, but still so tucking hot. "I'm sorry I didn't call like I said I would."
    "It's okay," he says, walking in with me now. I have to see Alaric too check up on him, make sure he hasn't caused more trouble for himself and when we get there will give me an excuse to leave. "I figured something came up." You're not wrong.
    "Yeah, a lot happened the past two weeks," I say mostly to myself. "I can't see you anymore or do whatever it was that we were doing. I'm seeing someone and I don't want to fuck it up." He nods, looking at the ground. I pull the door open, feeling the warm air from the heaters hit me.
   "Do you mind me asking who?" He asks nicely, walking closer. I swing my arms back and forth, an old nervous habit coming back. When I was younger I used to do it so much and accidentally hit a few kids.
     "See, its a complicated situation. Your brother and I had been talking and things were confusing. Neither of us wanted to admit we had feelings to each other because we're both too damn stubborn; I thought I hated him. Then something happened and made things more complicated and that was followed but other things. Now we're together," I explain. He probably thinks I'm terrible. "I'm really sorry. I didn't expect this to happen. He just-"
    "It's okay," he says, placing his hands on my shoulders to stop my rambling. I would hate to see their parents, all the kids are beautiful, are their parent's models?! "I kind of expected it after you moaned his name."
   "I'm sorry about that too," I say. He laughs, his arms dropping to his sides. The crooked smile on his face makes me want to slap him; why do you have to be so handsome?! "I promise I did have a good time."
   "If things don't work out...or you just get bored...call me and we can have some more fun," he says, eyeing me. I shift back and forth, not sure if I should feel uncomfortable by this. "Just a suggestion."
   "I'll think about it." He can take that one of two ways, I'm hoping he's smart. I press the elevator door button, smiling awkwardly. "Well, I have to see my cousin. It was nice talking to you."
"You too."
••••••

"I would jump up and hug you right now, but I feel more like I'm dying now than I was last night," Alaric says, laying flat in his back n his bed. Once again, he's lucky he doesn't have a roommate. I sit down on the edge of his bed, slapping his leg playfully. "Happy birthday."
"Thank you," I say. "We have to talk about what happened. What the hell happened to you last night?" He looks straight in front of him, his happy expression falling. I don't expect him to give me all the details, just enough.
"Yesterday when I went out for your dad he sent me with Pablo and a few others. You already know him and I don't mix well," he starts. "He started talking about how he saw you at Connie's party, that he was thinking of trying to hook up again; that he wanted to hurt you again. Then he started talking about what he did to you, making it seem like you wanted it. I couldn't take it so I fucking snapped. I beat his ass, finally, and I thought that was that."
"You're so fucking stupid; this is Pablo. Nothing is said and done with him," I say, running my hands through my hair. Standing up, my body feels heavy and light all at once. My head feels like it's spinning.
"One of the guys that came, I don't know him well, called and said we needed to go back where we were to finish something up. I wasn't thinking anything about it so I went. Before I could even do anything he shot me." Tears sting behind my eyes as I picture that scene in my head, the pain he must have been in. No one deserves that for no reason, especially him; he goes through enough hell.
"Is that why he shot you? Because he thought you'd tell me he wanted to hurt me again?" I ask, nausea starting to make its way to the nervous party. He nods sadly, his eyes holding mine. They're usually so full of life and humor, but now they're broken and full of pain. "Then I guess I'm gonna have to shoot him."
"Why do I have a feeling I'm gonna have to help you with this?"
••••••
~Atticus's POV~

"You look good after you work out," Bex says, running her hand down my chest, tucking her thumb under the waistband of my sweats, stepping close. She really stayed quiet the whole ride to say that? "What did you do?" She's acting weird.
"Boxing," I answer suspiciously. She nods, trying to seem interested, but I can tell she could care less. "What's going on with you? You were quite the whole ride, now you're being...nice."
"I can't be nice?" I shake my head. "I talked to Alaric about what happened and...it's a lot that I wish we were done dealing with." I want to ask what he said, how he got shot, but I know she won't give the answers I want.
"I'm sorry," I say, kissing the top of her head. She playfully punches at my stomach, hardly making an impact. I step back, looking down at her balled up hands in question.
"Show me what you did," she says with a smile. Her attempt to distract herself isn't going to work, so I don't give into it. She likes to push things out of the way until they come back more serious; I do the same thing. I walk over to the couch and sit down, hearing her quiet footsteps behind me. "You suck."
"Actually, that's you." She rolls her eyes, getting on me. I can't help but laugh she starts punching me again, a little impact this time. "What you gonna do? Just gonna sit there and take it?" She asks, throwing fake punches at me. The only reason I haven't done anything is cause I find her playful side adorable and it doesn't come out often. She's constantly just a body full of sarcasm and rude side comments.
"I can't hit a girl," I say, grabbing her wrists gentle to stop her from "hitting" again. She cocks a brow.
"You've done it before," she says.
"Did you really just go there?"
"FIGHT BACK, PUSSY!"

AN: A little calm chapter before shit hits the fan again ☺️ I really hope you guys enjoyed!
Question: Do you guys like Zav? What do you think will happen?

Also, just for a visual 😉