"Shut up, I know what it looks like," I retaliated, finding the rewind button. Then I looked through the glass at him blankly. "Do you want me to play it back now, Your Highness?"
Tay scrunched his face up at me. "No, I just wanted you to rewind it for your health," he snapped back. I opened my mouth to reply, but the door suddenly opened and Zac entered the room innocently.
The other sound technician in the room, Matt, looked at him with an amused look on his face.
"What?" Zac asked. Matt shook his head, grinning.
"Man, you guys are the weirdest fighters I've ever seen," he commented. Zac looked at me with confusion.
"Um, okay," he said finally. Then he noticed Tay in the recording booth and grinned, realization dawning on him. "Ahh, I get it now. Queen Tay-Sheba is in our presence."
"Hey!" Tay yelled, offended. Zac giggled wildly and plopped himself down in an empty chair. I high-fived him, then looked back at Taylor, who was still grumbling. I hit the "play back" button, and all playful banter was dropped. After about another hour of recording, play backs, and small disagreements, we decided to call it quits for the day. Zac and Tay walked out to the parking lot with me as I fumbled with the keys to my SUV.
"So, what are your plans for the evening?" I asked them as we crossed the pavement. Tay shrugged a little.
"I think I'm just gonna stay in tonight. Nothing big. Finish some applications," he answered, speaking of the college applications which he'd been going over as of late. He'd decided to take a year of from school to get things together, and was now ready to continue his education. Zac grinned.
"I'm gonna hang out with Reagan," he announced.
"Ooh, big surprise there," Tay commented, grinning slyly. Zac made an offended face.
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with spending time with her," he defended. He and Taylor got into a playful fistfight, but stopped when we reached my car. Tay turned to me, pushing a lock of hair out of his face.
"So, what about you? What are you doing?" he asked.
"I don't know. I want to see Willow; I haven't seen her since she got back to town. She's always been so busy every other time I've called her," I told them. An insidious smile spread across Zac's face.
"Hey now, watch it buddy. Isn't Willow's boyfriend here this time? You'd better watch yourself, he's a pretty powerful person," he teased. I frowned at him.
"If he has a problem with my seeing Willow and her being my best friend, well… then that's his problem," I stated firmly. Zac rolled his eyes.
"Dude, you need a thesaurus," he said jokingly. He grabbed the keys from Taylor's hands and headed off down the row of parked cars. "I'm driving home."
"No you're not!" Tay disagreed. He waved quickly to me and ran after our brother. Once in my car and on the way home, I dialed Willow's number on my cell phone.
"Hello?" a voice answered. I recognized it as Olivia.
"Hey, this is Isaac. Is Willow there?" I asked.
"Actually, she and Marc just left to go on a walk. Can I take a message for you?" Olivia informed me. I frowned a little.
"Oh, um, yeah. Can you just tell her I called?" I said. Olivia took down the message and said goodbye. When I got home, I went across the hall to Aaron's apartment and hung out with him for a while. He was in my music theory class, so we talked about some of the work we'd been doing for the past few days. Just as we were getting into the subject of our up-coming group projects, my cell phone rang.
"Isaac?" Willow's voice greeted me when I answered the call. I smiled.
"Hey, Will. How was your walk?"
"Ehh, it was okay. We walked," Will replied. I laughed a little.
"Yeah… that's what you normally do. Hence calling it a 'walk'," I teased her.
"Yeah yeah, I know. So, Olive told me that you called. What's up?" she asked. I waved a little at Aaron, then went back across the hall to my own apartment.
"Nothing much. I was just wondering what you were up to. I haven't seen you for a while," I told her. "Tay is staying in tonight and Zac's doing something with Reagan, so I'm all by my one-sies tonight."
"Aww, poor baby. Nobody wants to hang out with Ikers," Willow teased, laughing lightly. I pouted a little.
"Thanks Will. I appreciate your support as my best friend," I said sarcastically.
"I'm just kidding, Ike. You know that."
"Okay, so I do. Moving on. So what are you doing later? Let's get together and do something. I want to see you," I said.
"Okay. Well, Marc has some dinner meetings tonight so I wasn't planning on anything. But I guess I could change my plans for you…" she trailed off. I grinned.
"Gee thanks. I mean, I know how busy you are…" I joked. We planned to go out to a local restaurant/pub for dinner. Will said that she'd head over to Tulsa as soon as she saw Marc off on his meetings. After getting off the phone, I went to take a shower and get ready to go out.
"I know… And you love me for it," I told her, grinning. Reagan blushed a little.
"Among other reasons…" she trailed off.
"Ooh," I said, intrigued. I put my arms around her waist again and leaned down to kiss her. Reagan pulled away, scooting farther across her bed in her room. I smiled slyly. "Oh, I get it now. I always enjoy a good game of cat-and-mouse."
I crouched down and squinted my eyes, mimicking a cat on the prowl. Reagan watched me uncertainly, and I pounced suddenly, kneeling above her. She laughed as I started to tickle her sides. "No… Zac, stop it!" she laughed. I pinned her arms down to prevent her from pushing me away again.
"Now… tell me again that I'm a hellion… Go ahead, I dare you," I teased, my eyes gleaming. Reagan shook her head, biting her lip a little. I grinned victoriously and leaned down to kiss her, my hands leaving her wrists to be placed on her waist again. Reagan sighed a little as I moved my lips to the corner of her mouth, then to her jaw. Just then, we heard footsteps out in the hallway. A light knock on the door was enough to catapult me up off Reagan and sit me on the edge of the bed.
"Hey guys? Dinner is ready," Mrs. St.Pierre announced to us, standing on the other side of the closed door. I held my breath a little and looked over at Reagan. She smiled at me and stood up.
"Okay mom, we'll be right down!" she answered.
"Don't forget to wash your hands!" her mom reminded us as she headed back down the hall. I looked down at my hands and examined them. Reagan grabbed my hands and I looked up at her wit h a confused look.
"Don't Zac. I know what you're thinking," she said, smiling. She pulled me up to stand beside her and I gave her an innocent look.
"No you don't. How do you know what I'm thinking?"
"Because… I'm psychic."
"I was only gonna ask you if my hands were dirty," I said in a small, playful voice. Reagan gave me an exasperated look.
"Come on, we both know the answer to that one," she stated teasingly, entwining her fingers with mine. "I mean, how can you even stop and think about that? Are your hands dirty?"
"You better believe they are," I said in a low voice, trying to sound sexy. Reagan laughed, and I put my hands on the skin of her waist, just under the hem of her shirt. Reagan put her arms around my neck and pulled me close to her. "I've got those idle hands, you know? The ones that do the Devil's work."
"Oh, is that what you call it now?" Reagan asked, trying not to laugh. I nodded, and rested my forehead against hers, bring my hands up under the back of her shirt. She looked up at my face and smiled.
"You know, Zac… you're going to get us in big trouble someday," she said softly.
"Where were you last night?" Marc asked one afternoon, about 3 days before the wedding. I gave him a strange look from my seat on the oversized easy chair in the den of my brother's house, where I was going over some notes from one of my classes. Because I was taking a week off from classes, I would have a lot of work to make up when I got back to Boston.
"What are you talking about?"
"I tried to call you on my way back from Dallas, and Brad said that you were out. So where were you?" he demanded, his voice tight. I shrugged a little and looked back down at the papers on my lap.
"Just out. I went out with some friends. Is that okay with you? I didn't know that you'd mind, I mean, you weren't even in town-"
"Do not get smart with me!" Marc bellowed. He crossed the room with lightning speed. I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye and looked up, startled, when he was standing in front of me. "I did not come all this way to have you smart mouth me."
I sighed a little, and looked away. "I know. I'm sorry Marc. I'm just tired, that's all. I didn't get home until late…" I explained, trying to say anything to calm him down before he made a scene. Olivia and Brad Jr. were just a few rooms away in his toy room.
"Well, that is your own fault," Marc said, a little more calmly now. He sat down stiffly in the chair beside me and picked up the newspaper from that morning. "Who did you go out with?"
I tensed a little, not knowing what his reaction would be. "Just some friends from Tulsa. Isaac and some of his friends," I said quickly. Marc was silent for a moment, and I looked over at him to see what he was doing. My heart doubled its pace. He was looking at me, his eyes cold.
"Oh really? Isaac?" he repeated, his voice strange. I nodded a little. "How nice. You seem to be spending a lot of your time with him. Much more than with me."
"You're always away…" I defended myself feebly.
"That has nothing to do with the fact that he is always around. Not physically, no. But mentally… You are always thinking of him or talking about him," Marc accused. I shook my head.
"Marc, he's my best friend…"
"Why am I not your best friend?!" he suddenly demanded loudly, slamming his fist on the table beside him. I jumped a little. "We have shared so much together. We love each other. You should be desiring and thinking of me, not some rockstar from your past. Why does he even care for you now? There must be some reason. It can not possibly be because you are entertaining or a good conversationalist."
"Marc, don't do this. Don't start this here," I pleaded, gripping my notes tightly in my hands.
"Why does he desire you? Do you let him kiss you and touch you? Does he pleasure you like I do?" Marc sneered. I gritted my teeth and didn't say anything, which was a mistake. Marc started to laugh. "So that is it? He thinks that he loves you? Do you tell him you love him back?"
Tears stung my eyes as something inside me snapped. I turned to him with an angry look on my face. "Stop it! How dare you do this? You come into my house and accuse me of such things! So what if I do love him? He treats me ten times better than you ever have!"
Marc was a little taken aback by my outburst. It took him a couple seconds to recover, and his face turned red with anger. He stood up quickly, but I was faster. I was on my feet and halfway to the door before Marc reached me. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me backwards sharply, sending me to the floor. I landed with a thud on my backside. Although a little stunned, I wasn't hurt physically. I looked up at Marc with something new in my eyes, something I never thought I'd feel for anyone in my life. I knew then that I hated Marc Conroy for every way he'd treated me and everything he'd done to me.
He leaned down and grabbed my wrists tightly. I could feel his grip crush my skin, and knew that I would have bruises there in a short time. "If you love him so much, then he can have you. You are nothing but worthless trash, and I am through with you."
"What are you going to do? Hit me? I would like to see you try! You, who is nothing but filth to me," Marc sneered. He let go of my wrists and stayed hunched over in front of me. I rubbed my wrist for a minute, just looking at him, but didn't move. He nodded a little. "I knew it. You would not hurt me. You are too weak and miserable to do me any harm."
He started to turn away, but turned suddenly and lifted his hand. I held my breath in the complete silence for the second before the back of his hand connected with my left cheek. I felt the sting of the slap, and my eyes burned with tears. The force behind his hand sent me sliding back on the floor a few feet. I turned my head and just lay on the floor, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. I heard footsteps as Marc left the room, and I began to shake. A couple of minutes later, I heard movement in the hall again. I looked at the door with terror, thinking that Marc had come back. Instead, I saw Olivia peek her head into the room.
"Willow?" she asked. She saw me on the floor, and her face lit up with surprise. "Oh my God, Will."
She hurried into the room, BJ in her arms. She knelt beside me and set her son down, then helped me to sit up. "What happened?"
"Marc…" I managed to mumble, gently pressing my hand against my stinging cheek. Pain instantly seared through my face, and I flinched. Olivia looked shocked.
"Marc did this?"
I nodded. "We were fighting… I couldn't stop him…"
"Where did he go?" Olive demanded, standing up and balling her fists. I reached up and put my hand around one of them.
"Olive, no. Let him go. It's over. He's leaving," I said quietly, trying not to move my jaw too much when I talked. My sister-in-law stared at the door for a second longer, then knelt beside me again. She brushed my hair back away from my face. I looked into her eyes, and they were blurred with tears.
"How could he do this?" she asked. "I thought that everything was okay between you."
"It was," I told her. She helped me move to sit back in the easy chair. "Everything was good in the beginning, but then it all changed. He changed."
"Has he done anything like this before?" Olive asked. She looked down at my hands and saw the raw, red marks around my wrists where Marc had grabbed me. I nodded a little, trying hard not to show her how upset I actually was in. I pulled my hands away from her.
"It's okay. I'll be fine. I just need some ice," I explained hastily.
"No, Will, it is not okay. You need to report him. He can't get away with this," Olive insisted. I shook my head, standing up.
"I don't want to make this any worse. I just want some ice…" I repeated, cautiously walking out into the hall. Marc was nowhere to be seen, so I went into the kitchen with Olive and BJ following me. I put some ice cubes in a small plastic bag, and touched it lightly to my cheek.
"Willow, if you don't call the police, I will," Olivia threatened. I frowned. Brad suddenly entered the room.
"Hey, what's going on? I just saw Marc peel out of the end of the driveway in your car," he said, oblivious to what had been going on because he had been out on the front lawn putting golf balls around. He saw me then, and his eyes widened. "Will? What happened?"
"Marc hit her," Olivia told him. "Brad, convince her that she has to call the police. She won't listen to me."
"Wait a second. He hit you?" he asked. I nodded. "Hard?"
I pulled the ice away from my face, and he saw the red swell previously known as my left cheek. Anger crossed Brad's face.
"Son of a bitch…" he growled, turning and running out of the room. Olivia and I ran after him.
"Brad?" she called.
"I'm gonna catch him, and when I do…" Brad was grumbling, fiddling with his jacket on the coat rack next to the front door. His keys were caught on something in the pocket. "Dammit."
"No, stop," I insisted, pulling on his arm. "Just let him go."
Brad paused and gave me a bewildered look. "You want me to just let him go? After he hit you? You're my baby sister, I can't just-"
"I'm not a child! I can take care of everything myself. And right now, I just want to leave Marc alone, okay?" I insisted. Brad and Olivia just looked at me for a moment, not believing that I was just going to let him go that easily.
"If that's what you want," Brad said finally. I nodded firmly. "Well, fine. I'm not happy about it."
I grabbed my jacket, hung beside Brad's, and headed towards the door. "Wait, where are you going?" Olivia asked.
"Brad, can I borrow your car? I need to just get out. I'm just gonna go for a drive," I told them. Olive gave me a concerned look. "I'm fine. Really."
With that, I took my brother's car keys, which he'd finally managed to free from his pocket, and left the house. Once in the car and on the road, I had no clue where I was headed. I just needed to drive, the faster I went, the better I felt.
"Hey Ike. You're up early," Taylor teased, poking his head into my room a little. A little startled, I glanced over at my brother, then remembered that I had invited him to stay at my apartment for these last few days before the wedding. I blinked tiredly at him, then fell over backwards and closed my eyes again. Tay laughed. "No, don't go back to sleep. You have to help me with some stuff."
"Stuff including what, exactly?" I asked groggily. Tay came into the room and leapt onto the end of my bed, rousing me from my state of semi-sleep.
"Oh, you know. Fun wedding stuff!" he said enthusiastically, then rolled his eyes. "Our tuxedos are gonna be done at noon, so we have to get those. The caterers want me to okay the plate presentation and give them any final changes…"
He rambled on about the things that "we" had to do that day. I zoned out again until Taylor paused to take a breath. He hit my leg. "Hey, are you listening to me?"
"Does anyone ever listen to you?" I shot back, grinning. Taylor gave me an un-amused look.
"Seriously, Ike. I need your help. And this is all you have to do, I promise," he told me. "Well, at least until Friday. Pleeeease Ike?"
"Yeah, whatever. Just let me wake up first…" I groaned, moving my feet and literally kicking him off of my bed. "Give me 15 minutes."
"Okay. Starting… now!" Tay said, looking at his watch. He grinned at me and left the room. Once I was awake and dressed, I barely had enough time to make myself some toast before Taylor herded me out the door and to my car.
"Okay, Miss. Daisy, where to?" I teased him. Taylor made a face at my attempted humor.
"Mom and Dad's. We have to check and see if two more tables can fit in the backyard for the reception," he replied. We reached our parents' house in a matter of minutes and found our mother in a cleaning frenzy.
"This house is a mess! I can't let 80 people into my house like this!" she stated, dragging the vacuum out of the hall closet. As Tay departed to the backyard, I headed into the kitchen to raid the refrigerator. Mackie and Avie were seated at the kitchen table doing some schoolwork with Zac, who was both overseeing their work and writing a paper of his own. I poured myself a glass of juice and looked over his shoulder at the paper.
"What's this on?" I asked him.
"The Arms Race during the Cold War," he answered, looking up at me. "Do you wanna read what I have so far?"
I shook my head. "Nah, I'd better not. History wasn't my strongest subject. I'm liable to screw it up somehow," I explained. Zac grinned.
"True, you probably would," he agreed. I knocked the back of his head gently.
"That was a rhetorical statement," I insisted. Zac laughed and went back to his work. Just as Tay stepped back into the kitchen from the backyard, there was a light knock in the front door and we heard it open. I went to rinse my cup out in the sink when I heard voices.
"Willow? What's wrong?" my mother said. I turned around and gave Taylor a confused look. He merely shrugged, and we both went to the hall. Willow was standing in the livingroom door with her back to us, talking to our mother.
"Will?" I asked. She turned around to look at me slowly. I noticed instantly a deep red mark on the side of her face. "Whoa, what happened?"
Willow only shook her head, then stepped towards me. Her eyes welled up with tears, and I knew something was wrong. I opened my arms and closed the gap between us, wrapping my arms around her. She rested her right cheek on my shoulder and began to cry.
"Shh, Will, it's okay," I said softly, trying to sooth her. I looked over her at my mother, who looked just as confused as I felt. I pulled Willow towards the livingroom and sat her down on the couch. Mom handed me a box of tissues off the bookcase.
"We'll give you guys some time," she said quietly. I nodded at her, and she followed Taylor out of the room. I handed a tissue to Willow and knelt in front of her on the floor.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice shaky and broken from her tears. I shook my head and took her hand.
"No, no, it's okay," I assured her, rubbing the back of her hand. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Will hesitated, not looking me in the eye. I was going to tell her that she didn't have to talk about it, but she began to speak. "I talked back… If there is anything I've learned before is not to talk back…"
"What do you mean?"
She finally looked at me. "I talked back to Marc this morning and he got angry. I should have known better… I should have just kept quiet…"
Realization dawned on me. I reached up and took her chin in my free hand, turning her face to the side so I could see the mark left on her face. "He did this?"
Will nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks again. I sighed a little, and put my arms around her in a hug. I rubbed her back as she cried, trying to sooth her a little. A couple minutes later, she had managed to slow her tears down to little sniffles. I handed her another tissue, which she gratefully accepted.
"Why not?" he asked.
"I don't know… He's never done this before," I lied, trying to find an excuse of why I hadn't contacted anyone.
"Will…" Ike trailed off knowingly. I took a shaky breath.
"Okay, he's been violent before. But never like this. It was always little things before. I didn't know… I just should have kept quiet," I said softly.
"No, Will, don't turn this around. It isn't your fault. Marc has a problem. Don't blame yourself," he insisted firmly. I looked into his face for a moment, and saw only care and concern in his eyes.
"Why do you care so much about me?" I asked quietly. My question took him by surprise, and his eyebrows creased with confusion.
"What?"
"Marc said-"
"Oh, don't listen to what Marc said!" Isaac told me.
"Well, he made me think. Why do you care so much? What have I done but brought so many problems into your life?" I asked, my voice rising. Ike tightened his arms around me.
"No, Will, don't say that. You make me so happy just by being with me. Marc doesn't know what he's talking about. Don't listen to him, listen to me," he insisted. I looked up at him again. He reached up and brushed some hair away from my face, then let his fingertips glide down the side of my face. "You are such an amazing person. I care about you so much because of how fun you are, how kind and gentle and caring you are. You always make me smile and listen to me, even when I'm being ignorant. I don't know anyone else who would stay by my side and nurse me back to health like you've done before."
"Isaac-" I started to interrupt, but he kept on going.
"You care so much for everyone around you and put their feelings before your own. You're thoughtful and intelligent and so beautiful." He paused at that, and his eyes swept over my face. I swallowed thickly around an emotional lump that had formed in my throat. He didn't say anything after that, and I moved to get up.
"I have to go," I insisted, trying to push Isaac's arms away from me, but he wouldn't let me go.
"Where are you going? Stay here," he pleaded, attempting to hold me tighter. Panic flared in me, although somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that Isaac wanted me to stay out of concern for me, not like Marc who only wanted to control me.
"Please," I urged, struggling even more. Ike saw the look in my eyes and let me go. I was off of the couch in a flash and ran towards the front hall. I threw open the door and ran down the steps.
"Willow!" I heard Isaac shout after me. I ignored him and kept running. I didn't know where I was going, but I continued to run. My feet hit the pavement with a steady rhythm and I paid attention to that rhythm, turning corners and running down streets that had never noticed before. It didn't matter though, because I had no destination. All I knew was that I needed to get away.
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Installment Nine