my only savior ❧ book one ❧ completed

Chapter Eleven

Tara

Mark and I stayed at his mother's house, in his old room. Right now, I was sitting on the bed, Indian style, with my phone in hands. I was watching Jessie on Netflix because, well, everyone is a kid sometimes. Mark was taking a shower. I wore his Table Flip shirt that he wore for the day and sweatpants.

"Is it safe for me to come in?" Mark's mom's voice called through the door.

"Yep," I turned off my phone and she stepped in.

"I wanted to talk to you." She said.

"Oh," I mumbled. "It's about me and Mark isn't it?"

"Yes," She sat down next to me. "Mark's relationships.. Never really ended that well. All I wanted to say was, I support you guys. And I just want Mark to be happy."

"Wait," I said. "You don't hate me? You don't think I'm a bad person?"

"No," She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. "You seem to be a lovely girl, who makes my boy happy."

I sighed of relief. She smiled again and got up, leaving the room. Mark came in soon after, with a towel over his bare shoulders and basketball shorts on. I returned to watching my show, with happiness flowing through me. Mark laid down next to me and watched the show with me. No questions like "why are you watching this?" or "isn't this a kid show?" He rested head on my arm, slowly drifting to sleep. As the episode finished, Mark was snoring softly.

•

I found myself staying up most of the night. I fell asleep at about 3am. I woke up with my forehead pressed against Mark's. When I opened my eyes, he was already looking.

"Good morning, Tara Bear." He said, just above a whisper.

"Good morning, Markimoo." I said.

He slipped his hand behind my neck and kissed me softly. Butterflies erupted in my stomach as he pulled me on top of him. I grabbed his hand and played with his fingers.

"Ta-" Mark started, catching my attention. "Alyssa?"

"Yes?" I replied, surprised at his use of my real name.

"I love you," He said. "Like, a lot."

"I love you too," I kissed his forehead. "Now get up, I'm hungry."

"It's kind of hard to do that when you're on me."

I giggled and started to climb off of him. He stopped me by putting his hand on my neck and pulling me down to him. He touched his lips to mine, slowly pulling me closer. He grazed his teeth over my lip, causing me to shiver. He softly pushed me away, a smirk rising on his lips.

"Tease." I muttered.

"Indeed."

•

Mark, his friends, and I went to the bar later that night. Mark was extremely drunk on whatever he had. I constantly pulled on my leather jacket, covering up the tank top I was wearing underneath. There were men, over the age of 35 staring at me. Mark eventually noticed how uncomfortable I was.

"Hey?" He called. "What's wrong?"

"The men here," I mumbled. "Can I stick with you?"

He nodded and put his arm around me. I felt another hand on my shoulder, turning me around. A man, bigger and older than Mark stood in front of me. Some girls may call him attractive, but not me.

"Hey buddy," His gruff and scratchy voice said. "You can't get all of this girl to yourself."

"Actua-" I said, but was interrupted by the man.

"Sorry Sweet Pea," He snapped. "I wasn't talking to you."

"I'll have you know," Mark said, starting to wobble on his feet. "I can. She is mine."

"Whatever." The man snorted, reaching for me again.

[Play Song Now]

Mark threw his arm over me and pushed me behind him. The man growled and threw a fist at Mark. Mark dodged it, whipping his arm at him. It hit the man with a loud thud. I tried grabbing Mark's shirt to pull him away from the fight, but he only pushed me back away. I found myself being pulled back. I threw my arms around and cried at Mark.

"Tara, he'll be fine." Wade's voice said, sounding slightly confused.

I remembered, we hadn't told him yet. Or anyone, except Tom and Mark's mother. I turned and hugged Wade, even though I knew his girlfriend was right there. I heard thudding and groaning, sounding like Mark. I winced with each sound I heard. I heard a final thud and a spit.

"That's what you get for touching my girlfriend." Mark snapped.

I felt Mark's soft hand pulling me away from Wade and into his arms.

Mark

I held Tara in my arms as she sobbed into my neck. Wade stood in front of us, confused and in awe. I gave him a look that meant We'll talk later. Tara clawed at the back of my shirt. I rubbed my hand against the back of her head, kissing the top of her head multiple times.

"I'm fine, Tara." I said.

"You could have died." Her soft voice croaked.

"But I didn't," I said, lifting her head to look at me. "I'm here. And I'm here to annoy you forever."

She weakly smiled and stood on the top of her toes. Placing on kiss on my lips. She tucked some of my hair behind my ear. I smiled at her. She dug her face into my chest. I heard mumbles of "I love you" in her voice.

"I love you too," I said, making a glance of eye contact with Wade.

"Aly."