Save Me

by Amanda Heath

  “Royal…I don’t even know…how can you say something like that?” ,a female voice I’m becoming familiar with, says from the front door.

  I open my eyes and spy Rachel standing in the open front door in a pair of black skinny jeans and a green shirt cut low in the front, showing off a good amount of cleavage. It’s also really tight, leaving her curves on display. I’m going to be asking her to wear a robe every day it seems.

  Royal turns toward Rachel and sighs. “It’s true. He’s going to ruin your life and your kid’s life.”

  This time I don’t feel hurt or anger, I feel rage. I shove his shoulder without thinking because I’m just that pissed off. “Don’t you ever say that shit again. If there is one thing in this life I would never do, it would be doing anything to hurt my child.” I’m the one getting in his face now and I have a lot of pent up shit to let out on his ass. “Ruining a child’s life is watching your father beat the ever-loving shit out of his mother. Then turning it on him because the child decided he wanted to step in between them. It’s seeing his mother covered in blood and dying on the living room floor hoping the fucking ambulance gets there in time because he didn’t know how he could live without his mother. You don’t know the terror that courses through his body every time he thinks about it. You didn’t spend weeks in a hospital while his mother recovered. You didn’t watch what it did to his siblings, what it did to his entire family.” I shove his shoulder again but he’s too shocked to notice. “Don’t ever say I would do that to my child. Or to a woman. That fucker ruined my life up until the day he fucking croaked.”

  Then I turn around without another word and get in my Charger. I don’t look back up at the porch again.

  ***

  An hour and a half later, my mother pops her head in my bedroom and sighs. “What are you doing here? I thought you were taking Rachel out?”

  I’m lying in my bed staring at the TV even though I’m not taking in what is happening on it. “Her plans changed,” is all I give her.

  Being my mother, she doesn’t let it go. “What does that mean? I thought you were going to get to know each other and get married! That’s what you promised! You are making me a grandmother way before I’m ready! I deserve some compensation!”

  I look at her now, waiting for it to pass. The dramatics really get on my nerves but most of the time she runs off before getting into a really big fit.

  And I’m right, because a second later she walks back out of my room slamming the door. I’ll explain later that nothing could work out between Rachel and I and maybe after several years, she’ll get over it.

  Another knock sounds and I roll my eyes. I get up off the bed and rip the door open when I get there. “I’m not in the fucking mood to talk. Just leave-”

  I cut myself off because it’s not some annoying family member standing there. It’s Rachel. “I’m sorry. I thought you were one of three people who won’t leave me alone.”

  She gives me a little smile and takes my hand. Her fingers are a little cold but they are soft and fit mine perfectly when she laces them together. “Come with me?” she asks softly.

  I nod and follow her out of my bedroom. We make our way into the living room, where I find Royal, Channing, Paisley and Wesley. I gently jerk my hand from Rachel’s and stop at the mouth of the hall. “Didn’t we already do this over an hour ago? I’ve had enough people getting in my face today.”

  Channing, surprisingly, slaps Royal on the back of the head. Royal looks at him and sneers. Channing has his pissed off look on today and it’s not directed at me. “You make it right.”

  Royal huffs and says, “Fine.” Then he turns toward me and crosses the short distance until he stands in front of me. “Look, I’ve had some things explained to me over the past hour. It was in a lot more detail from my father and Wesley about what happened the day your father attacked your mother. I didn’t know that about you.” He smoothes a hand over his face before meeting my eyes again. “If I had known all that, I wouldn’t have said anything to you. Or maybe I would have, but I wouldn’t have thrown in that last remark. I was just pissed off about what I assumed you did to Wes and Channing. I didn’t want you anywhere near my sister.” When a look comes over his face that resembles constipation I want to laugh. “I’m sorry. From now on, I’m going to leave you alone about it. Unless you hurt my sister, then I’ll beat your ass. And I’m not talking about the physical kind of hurt, just in case you took it that way.”

  Everyone looks toward me and I really don’t know what to say. “I’m not going to hug you bro,” comes out of my mouth, and I grin when everyone laughs.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Royal mutters before walking over to Wes, who knocks his arm off her shoulder when he places it there. My little spitfire cousin.

  “Now that that’s out of the way, you all need to leave. Pierce and I have a date to go on.” I look down at her and realize she’s still wearing the same clothes as earlier. Wes comes over and hugs me. Then everyone but Rachel files out of the front door.

  “Babe, I don’t feel like going out now,” I tell her, planting my ass on the couch.

  Rachel just smiles and goes in to the kitchen. When she walks back out she’s holding a white, Styrofoam box and a Sonic bag. The box she sets on my lap, before sitting down next to me. I open the lid and find my favorite food. Sushi. A salmon roll, an angel roll and a California roll to be exact. I smirk and look back up at her. “Wes said you’d kill for sushi. I went and picked that up while everyone beat Royal’s head in. Since I’m preggers and all I won’t be eating sushi with you because, apparently, raw fish isn’t good for the fetus.” She opens the Sonic bag and pulls out a New York dog, well, two of them, and a thing of tater tots. “Sucks big time too, because I freaking love sushi. Which makes me feel all kinds of happy toward you because no one else will eat it with me.”

  I lean over and place a sweet kiss on her lips. “Thanks, G.”

  A flush steals over her cheeks and my smirk turns into a smile and I lean in and kiss her again, just for the hell of it. “You should really stop doing that. We are going to end up making out with food in our laps, which will end up on the floor, and I’m starving.” Then she pats her belly and grins at me. “I’m feeding two now so I think I can eat like a pig whenever I want.”

  I sit back on the couch and open my chopsticks. “You can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Nobody is going to say anything about it while I’m around. I promise you that.”

  We eat in silence for a moment but she can’t seem to keep quiet anymore. “I’m really sorry about my brother. I don’t know what came over him when he said all that shit to you. It was wrong on so many levels and I kind of want to shank him. He had no right at all and I don’t care if he thought he was protecting me. I mean, if you had been horrible or run off after you found out I was pregnant, then he might have a right, but you’ve been the most supportive during this whole thing. I’ve only known for two days or whatever, but you haven’t been in my face like everyone else. You’ve let me do what I’ve needed to do.” She gives me a shy smile, something I would never think to see on her face. “Thank you. For being you.”

  I feel my hand come up and cup her face. I look deep into those amazing brown eyes and something just clicks inside of me. She’s supposed to be here, right now and always.

  Chapter Eight

  “Pierce…I love you, too.”

  My eyes pop open and I blink, looking around my bedroom, looking for Annabella. For the first few weeks I did nothing but dream of her, think of her, and still love her. Then it slowly started to disappear, and as of Saturday, I haven’t thought that much about her. Which is strange because I constantly thought of that crazy bitch, even though I shouldn’t have.

  Rachel’s hair tickles my nose like it did yesterday morning. I about fell off the couch when she walked in from her car with a huge overnight bag. She’d packed her entire bathroom and half her closet in that bag. Or, at least, that’s wha
t I thought, but apparently it was only one percent of her stuff.

  This isn’t something I’m turned off by, in case you were wondering. I loved Annabella for how long? Annabella is the most high maintenance chick I have ever met. Rachel is tame in comparison.

  Though, Annabella never left the bathroom door open while she changed or got ready. Rachel does and for some crazy reason I like it. I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with seeing her transform from one Rachel into a completely different one. I also have a feeling I’m the only one she would let watch her.

  I lift my right hand up from my stomach where it was tangled with Rachel’s hand. I scrub it down my face trying to wipe away the sleep. The alarm clock says it’s 7:00 a.m. which is thirty minutes before I get up. Damn Annabella for waking me up even when she’s not here.

  “What time is it?” Rachel groans in my neck, not lifting her head.

  “Seven,” I mumble, trying to dislodge Annabella’s ghostly words out of my head.

  Rachel pops up and my hand falls out of her panties where it was resting on her ass. This is the second time I’ve woken up this way with her and we didn’t fall asleep that way. I’d be dumb not to like that as well. Annabella couldn’t sleep far enough away from me. She said it was like sleeping with a bon fire.

  Rachel climbs over me and rushes into the bathroom, turning on the water in the shower. I watch her strip out of the green pajama shorts and matching tank top. This time they are just plain green, like the cover of trees in spring, and silky. They aren’t as cute as the pink skull and crossbones but they are sexy, showing off enough skin to make Ron Jeremy blush.

  Ewww.

  That was the most disgusting thought I’ve ever had. Ron Jeremy and Rachel should never be compared with each other in any way. Yeah, I just shuddered.

  Anyway, I roll onto my stomach once she gets into the shower completely naked. I want to run in there with her but we don’t have time for everything I want to do to her. I close my eyes for a moment willing my erection to go away. The fucking thing has a mind of its own.

  After twenty minutes she pops out, and I only notice because she curses. She can’t find my towels. I’m not going to lie, I totally went back to sleep. “Under the sink,” I tell her, getting up and rubbing my eyes.

  “Thanks, Court,” Rachel states absent-mindedly.

  I blink and my eyes get wide. She just called me Court when only my immediate family calls me by my first name. I feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead and my breathing becomes labored. I know I got the chick pregnant but I think it just clicked that she’s immediate family now.

  Jesus.

  “Are you okay? You got pale out there,” Rachel questions with an unplugged blow dryer in her hand. She has a black towel wrapped around her body showing off her legs from mid-thigh down. I totally forgot her question as I stare at them because her legs are like the Holy Grail or something.

  “Pierce? Seriously, are you okay?” Rachel puts the blow dryer down and walks back into my bedroom, stopping right in front of me.

  “You called me Court,” I blurt out, my hands coming up to the outsides of her thighs. Wow, she has soft skin. I didn’t know females could get their skin this soft; it’s like rolling around on nothing but cashmere.

  She blinks and tries to step back but I stop her when my hands tighten on her thighs. “I did? Are you mad?”

  “No…” I trail off, watching as a trail of water runs down her neck to her breast where it disappears under the towel. “I liked it. It felt right.”

  “Oh. Well, then I’ll call you that more.” Her hands come up under my chin tilting my head up to meet her striking brown eyes. “You know…if you like,” she whispers, bending slowly at the waist until her mouth is centimeters from my mouth.

  “I like,” I whisper back, moving those last few spaces until our lips lock. Her lips part over mine and I thrust my tongue in there, trying to pull her into me.

  Her knees come down on either side of my thighs and she leans down until my hardness is pressed to her softness. “We should really get ready for school.” She gasps when I break away from her mouth to travel my lips down her neck.

  “Yeah. We should totally do that,” I murmur back, not stopping the track of my lips. They are on a mission and I’ll be damned if they don’t get there.

  And of course, my mother being my mother, she bursts into the room, instead of knocking like she usually does. “Oh! Jesus! Get a room!” she screeches out, throwing a hand over her face.

  “You’re in my room!” I bellow, lifting Rachel off my lap and walking around her into the bathroom. “Last time I checked, you used to knock!” I bellow through the closed door. I know Rachel needs to get ready but I can’t care right now. I’m pretty close to breaking something from all the pent up lust.

  I guess we could have done it last night but Rach seemed really tired and passed out before I even got under the covers. I was not about to wake her up and be all “Let’s do it.” That seems pretty harsh to me.

  I’m rinsing the soap off my body when Rach walks into the bathroom. “She’s gone. She said from now on she really would knock.” Once I climb out of the shower I find her standing by the closed bathroom door. Her cheeks are blushing but I don’t know if it’s because I just came out of the shower wet, dripping and naked, or because my mother walked in on us getting ready to do the nasty. “I think we should stay at my house tonight…”

  I’m down on my haunches getting a towel when she says this, so I jerk my head up and find I can see pretty far up her towel. “Are you sure? With Royal being there…I don’t know.”

  Rachel shakes her head and finally walks around me to her bag sitting on the toilet. “Dad pretty much handed Royal his ass after I told him what he said to you. Royal won’t be a problem anymore. Or, at least, he shouldn’t be. I think he’ll think twice before starting something because Wes took his happy time away from him.”

  I cringe when I hear this because, while I know they are having sex, I just don’t want to hear about them having sex. “How can you stomach knowing that?” I inquire with a disgusted look on my face.

  She laughs while pulling on her underwear. “Because I’ve been friends with Wes for as long as she’s been screwing my brother. I’ve gotten used to it. I told her I never ever want details. I can deal with them having sex but I don’t need to know how, where or what happens.”

  “I don’t want to know anything. Wes is like my sister. I honestly think I might throw up.” I’m seriously thinking I might when I hear a gagging noise coming from Rachel. I look up from the sink where I’ve been getting my toothbrush ready.

  I look over at her and find her throwing her bag to the floor and ripping the toilet seat up. She goes down on her knees and I have a second to rush over and pull her hair out of the way. She upchucks for a few minutes and I rub her back while telling her it’s going to be okay.

  “Well, I kind of thought I wasn’t going to have morning sickness but it looks like I was wrong.” She goes to the side of the toilet while I flush it after putting the seat down.

  I lean over and kiss her forehead because I have no idea what else to do. I go back to the sink and find her toothbrush in my toothbrush holder. I take it out and put toothpaste on it and hand it to her with a small cup of water.

  “You are awesome,” she states as she takes the toothbrush from me with a small smile. “Seriously, I could kiss you.”

  I bark out a laugh and say, “As long as you brush your teeth first,” before I stick my toothbrush in my mouth.

  I leave the bathroom after that and get dressed for school. I opt for a pair of dark wash jeans and a black t-shirt with a V-neck. I pull out my red and black Chucks before sitting down on my bed to put them on.

  I look up toward the bathroom and get distracted from putting my shoes on. I watch, fascinated, as Rachel puts on her clothes, does her hair and then puts on her makeup.

  She walks out of the bathroom wearing a red pencil skirt wi
th a slit in the back I can barely make out as she walks toward me. Her skirt is joined by a black tank top with “Sassy, classy & a bit smart assy” in elegant red script on the front. Her ears have huge black hoops hugging her neck and her arms have red and black bangles clinking against each other.

  “Put your shoes on, Court. We are going to be late. And I have a feeling I’m going to be detained by a bunch of people before classes start. Kellan, the little shit, spilled the beans on Facebook Saturday night.” She brings a necklace up to her skin and clasps the black chain behind her head. The necklace has a pendant on the end that simply says, “Bitch.”

  I get over my distraction finally and put my shoes on. I grab her hand and pull her into the kitchen. I find the banana pudding I made Saturday morning hidden behind the milk carton. I grab a bowl out of the cabinet and glob the pudding in. I find a spoon and hand it to her. “Eat in the car. We gotta go.”

  “Uh, yeah, it’s 7:50,” she mutters, walking ahead of me out of the house.

  Once we get outside, we get in my Charger and head to school. Most mornings we stand out front with the rest of our friends but the parking lot is empty today. Likely due to the fact school just started and we are five minutes late.

  “We are definitely sleeping at my house tonight. I live closer to school,” she mutters, putting her bowl down on the floorboard and climbing out the passenger side. “The only plus to this is we don’t have to watch everyone stare at us.”

  “You really think they are going to stare at us?” I ask with one eyebrow raised while I reach into the back of the Charger for my backpack.

  Rachel clicks her sky-high heels against the pavement for some odd reason waiting for me. “Well, they won’t be staring at you. They’d be dumb to stare at you; everyone knows that. They will be staring at me though because I was dumb enough to get knocked up by a guy who wasn’t my boyfriend, a month before graduation.”