#jessica and jeff? go back and forth

[catdadeddie]

I just want a good season 4 of a show

[waratah-moon]

Cheerleader x eddie but the hellfire guys didn't know that Eddie and the cheer are Dating until she comes walking to the room asking Eddie if she can come over tonight 😁

Y'all know Eddie x cheerleader is my kryptonite, but add in oblivious Hellfire... omg guys you're spoiling me! reminder that a full length Henderson!reader is also on my WIP and she's a cheerleader too

masterlist / send me a request

"Suddenly, the boulder rolls across the cave entrance, trapping you inside in pitch black darkness!"

Everyone at the table groaned. "Seriously? So now we have to waste a spell opening the door?"

"Or you could venture further into the cave, up to you." Eddie tilted his head, waiting for the party's next move.

"He wouldn't trap us inside for no reason. I say we venture forth," Gareth said, tossing his dice on table. "Who's with me?"

A murmur of agreement made its way around the table. Dustin piped up, "are we going to go down the left tunnel or the right tunnel?"

Before anyone could answer, the door to the drama room cracked open and you stuck your head inside. When you spotted Eddie, you swung the door open.

"Eds?" Eddie lit up at the sound of your voice, the rest of the table looked at you in confusion. "Can I stay over tonight?"

"'course you can baby girl." He noticed the flatness in your voice. "You okay?"

"Yeah, Dad's being a dick and I don't want to deal with him," you took out your cheer mandated ponytail, letting you hair fall loose over your shoulders and pushing the scrunchie up your wrist. "Jessica picked me up so I don't have my car."

"Okay, we're almost done here, so we can head off soon. Come sit down," he pushed his chair back and you made your way over to him, ignoring the stares emanating from the other boys at the table.

You sat down on his thigh, adjusting your cheer skirt so you weren't flashing the table. Eddie wrapped his arm around your waist to steady you, his touch instantly putting you at ease.

Eddie cleared his throat, returning to his dungeon master persona. "So are you venturing down the right or left tunnel?" Eddie asked the party who were all staring at him with wide eyes.

"Um," Gareth started, not sure how to ask his friend what the fuck was going on.

Dustin didn't seem to care about the optics, though. "What the fuck, Eddie?"

"Excuse me?" Eddie narrowed his eyes at Dustin.

"Since when are you two dating?" The table broke out in chatter. They all knew who you were, of course. Everyone at Hawkins High did. You were the homecoming queen, cheer co-captain, and on track for an Ivy league college. You were insanely popular. Eddie was not.

"Oh," Eddie smirked, resting his head on your shoulder. "A few months." The chatter died down.

"A few months?" Dustin squeaked. "How did you two even meet?"

"We've known each other since middle school, Henderson. I just finally won her over with my charm and quick wit." You rolled you eyes, picking at your nails. It was semi-true. He'd actually asked you a question about an assignment in Mrs. O'Donnell's class, and you'd offered to help him with it. One thing led to another and here you were.

"So you finally made your move, huh?" Jeff asked through a small smile. "Only took you four years."

"I sure did," Eddie grinned, kissing your cheek.

[visforvengeance]

Alex Standall: gimme -Smut-

Requested by: anon :)

Request: Can you do an Alex Standall smut where it takes place in Jeff’s basement in the scene where they’re all taking the pill and y/nand Alex are ex’s and they have sex because their high and horny pls oml

Notes: yo. here’s one of many requested things. i wrote this in like 3 hours, bc i had to find a song for it to go with lmaooo. hm i hope you like this anon.

Warnings: cursing obvi. awkward sex lmao (it’s only awkward for me ok). blowjobs ;). it’s better if you use a condom, my dudes. maybe bad grammar and spelling errors. i didn’t proofread. drug use and vulgar language ohohoho. i’m a virgin y’all. sorry if my smut sounds like a grown man wrote it for his erotica on sexstories

Y/N’s POV

“How’d I let you talk me into doing drugs?” Hannah giggled. Hannah and Clay invited me to join them on their little drug adventure. “I mean, seriously. How do you just bring up the topic of doing them? ‘Hey, guys. Wanna go do some molly?’” Clay questioned. “Yes. That’s exactly how. C’mon, Clay. Let loose for once! I love you, but you’re like the most uptight person I’ve ever met.” He feigned offended. “I-I am not uptight.” 

“Sure.” Hannah accused as we walked into Jeff Atkins’ basement. I heard the familiar giggle of Alex Standall overpower our conversation. Once the pair realized what made me lose interest, they instantly apologized and told me about how they didn’t know he’d be here. 

You see, Alex and I dated, on and off, during freshman and sophomore year. Each time we broke up, it was because of Jessica Davis. She’d call (unintentionally) and he’d come running. Always. I never understood what she did to have him wrapped around her finger, but it always ended in me having my heart ripped out of my chest. That was stupidity on my part. I’d let him cry and tell me just how much he missed me and somehow, I’d end up with him between my legs. 

All of us were seated. Me, Clay, Hannah, and Sheri on one couch. Alex, Jeff, and Jeff’s girlfriend on the other couch across from us. Alex had his eyes on me since we walked through the door. Lust and regret swirled in them. He did try talking, but he saw how uninterested I was and stopped. 

Everyone was a giggling mess. “Wait. Do y’all think we choose our families before we’re born?” Silence. Then laughter. “That’s trippy,” Sheri mumbled. Laughter had filled the room again. I looked around the room, Hannah and Clay were laying on the carpet. Sheri has moved to the floor also. Jeff has left along with his girlfriend to do...things. Alex and I sat on the same couch. How’d this happen? 

Alex turned to me and stared for a second. He finally spoke up and asked if he could talk to me in private. Usually, I’d decline. But my normal brain function was delayed. I allowed him to lead me upstairs, no one stopped us because they were all too busy being fucking lifted. 

“So. What’d you want?” I questioned, awkwardly. The last time I had spoken to Alex, he told me that it was over. But this time seemed different. “Um. I miss you.” No. He missed fucking me. “Why, Alex? You’re not getting pussy from Jess anymore? So you come to me. Like I’m your second fucking option? This is getting tiring.” He shook his head. 

“That’s not why I always come back to you, Y/N. I fucking need you. You drive me crazy, you know that? Jessica was the first girl I ever loved, and I keep hoping that maybe I’ll feel the same spark that I get when I kiss you.” He stepped forward, and now there was no space between us. “I can’t stop my mind from finding its way to you. How it feels to have you wrapped around me.” My breath hitched in my throat as he placed his hand on my waist. 

Turns out, I wanted this as much as he did. “You miss the way my body feels against yours? How I pull on your hair when you’re fucking my brains out?” I trailed my hands down his body and hooked my fingers inside his pants. “The way your name rolls off my tongue when I’m so close?” I pushed myself against him and heard him groan in my ear as I whispered sweet nothings in his ear. 

I guided him upstairs to an empty room. I walked in while he closed and locked the door. I had already started undressing and he stood as shy as ever across from me. I felt his eyes scan over my body as I undid my bra and let it fall to the ground. The tent in his pants proved he was just as turned on as I was. 

I straddled his waist and placed kisses on his neck. “You missed it, didn’t you?” He nodded. His breathing was uneven and he could barely keep still. I helped him take off his clothes, so now we were both completely naked. 

I trailed wet kisses down his body until I was face to face with his cock. I took his member into my hands and kissed the tip of it. He moaned softly and practically begged for me to suck him off. I sighed. “Fine. Since I’m so nice. No teasing this time.”

I took him into my mouth and kept going until I couldn’t anymore. I began moving back and forth, meeting his soft thrusts every so often. When I looked up at him through my eyelashes, he was already looking down at me. He liked when I looked at him while sucking his cock. He threw his head back and let out a moan. 

Before he let himself cum in my mouth, he gently pushed me off of him. A string of saliva attached itself from my lips to the tip of his cock. It broke once I moved away. 

I straddled his waist again and kissed him hungrily. I ground myself self against his member and gripped my thighs so hard, a bruise would be there tomorrow. He positioned himself at my entrance and I sunk down on him. We both moaned at the movement. I wonder if they can hear us downstairs? 

He placed his hands on my bouncing breast and squeezed my nipples. “You missed the way I rode your cock? How wet I get when I feel your hands on my tits?” He was close to orgasming, I could tell. 

“Let me hear you, baby. Don’t hold back.” His breathing quickened and his eyes shut tightly. He pushed his hips into mine and came deep in me. 

My hearing began fading and I suddenly felt warm all over. I clenched around him repeatedly while stars began to cloud my vision. My fiery pleasure started to flow through me and I collapsed on top of him. “I see why you would miss it,” I mumbled as I crawled off of him. 

We put our clothes back on and walked back to the kitchen. You could hear Clay, Hannah, and Sheri laughing downstairs. “Well, that was nice,” I said as I turned to look at the blond-haired boy. “It was beyond nice.” 

We walked into the basement and all eyes were on us. 

“Did you guys have fun?”

[xladyxfatex]

Chapter Eight (FMITN Book 1)

~* 2 and a half years later*~

Jeff now nine and Matt 11 years old, while Jessica was seven. Aleister and Jess have grown close almost like siblings. The visits over the years have helped to not only improve what spells and things Jessica had learned but also her in ring abilities. Melissa had gotten sick again, but this time is wasn’t the kind that could be fixed with medications, surgeries or healing spelling. Over the next six months, Jessica turned eight, and spent almost all her free time with her mother, as did the boys. Even one their transformation nights the wolves just stayed near Melissa.  On the day of Melissa’s passing, the whole family mourned. Matt, and Jeff cried and held each other, Jessica couldn’t get out of bed, and Gilbert tried to be strong for his family, but his wife had passed and he was finding that nearly impossible.

Gwendolyn and Aleister came to help with the arrangements, but when Jessica couldn’t be found, both worried and had to ask the boys where she might be. 

“She’s in here room….” Matt trailed off, fact of the matter was he wasn’t even sure if she was still there her scent had long faded. “...I think. But her scent is faded, maybe she did leave?” Becoming worried he tracked down Jeff to see if he knew anything about where their baby sister had disappeared to. Jeff had been out in the makeshift ring that the three of them built with their dad, he was working on more risk taking moves. Waiting for his brother to be on the mat, Matt spoke up.

“Jeff! Is Jessica with you practicing in the ring? Do you know where she is? She’s not in her room and her scent is too fade to know when the last time she was in the house.”

Growling Jeff snapped his head and began to sniff the air, finding that Matt was indeed right, Jesse’s smell was too faint and judging by that she had left days ago. This was not good. Aleister waved his hand, in hopes he was right that she was still wearing the necklace he’d give her years ago on her birthday. 

“Um, I might be able to find her if you two have no idea where she went.” Aleister looked down feeling embarrassed but he had seen something like this in one of his visions so he knew the spell he placed on the charm was necessary precaution. “The necklace I sent for her birthday years ago, if she’s still wearing I can find her location. I enchanted it in case she went missing.”

“Well try to find her!” Matt and Jeff yelled in unison. Aleister began the spell that would light the path to finding Jessica. Following the path, the walked deep within the woods, walking for miles, Aleister began to think the spell was wrong, till he spotted a lake, and small figure sitting beside it. The long strawberry blonde hair being all he really needed to see to know it was Jess. Running towards her he through his arms around her hold her close as she shook and cried. Soon after her brothers had found them. Aleister just rocking Jessica back and forth and holding her tight. A whisper left Jessica as she spoke.

“Ho..How did you find me?” Her tear stained cheeks and red puffy eyes evident enough of her crying. Her dirty clothes, hands and feet indicating she had been out her for a few days at most. But the thing the only thing other than holding the one he called his sister, that made him smile was seeing the pendent still around her neck. 

“I told you your charm was enchanted all those years ago de kleintje (Dutch for Little one). I used the spell to find you, your brothers said your scent was too faint. How long have you been out here?” He looked into Jessica’s eyes getting her attention. She sighed and spoke softly.

“I’ve been here for three days. No one noticed I was gone and I took it to mean I could stay, even if they did notice no one came till now.” Jess hung her head low, honestly if she could have she would have gone further away, without her mother she had no one. Well she had her father and brothers, but she had no one to help her magically, no one to teach her girly things, no one to cuddle up with and play dolls. She had no mother anymore and that left a feeling in Jess that she knew could never be filled. Her wolf cried and whimpered in her head from the loss but was semi calmed by the presents of her best friend and unofficial brother Aleister. “ Hey grote broers (Dutch for big brother), can we go back to the house? I’m tired and dirty.” Jessica looked between the three boys. She knew only Aleister would understand what she said, over the last few years, between letters, phone calls, and visits, she had asked him to teach her Dutch, and unsurprisingly she was a fast learner.

Standing up Aleister reached his hand out to Jess whom took it gratefully, and the four made their way back to the house. Once there Jess ran right to her room for a change of clean clothes and then  the bathroom and took a long hot bath. Once fully clean she got out, got dried off and dressed, brushed her hair and teeth, then went to the kitchen for something other than a granola bar to eat. Sitting down she looked at Matt and Jeff and hung her head low, she could see the anger and worry in their eyes, but she saw something else she couldn’t really place. The next few days Jessica spent doing in ring work with the boys, healing injuries that were received and working on learning more Dutch. She had once heard a rumor that if you could fluently speak another language when you got to high school you weren’t required to take a language class.  What better language than Dutch, and she had her own personally teachers with Gwendolyn and Alesiter. 

[rawiswhore]

Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Billy Gunn x Fem Reader- “I’m Gettin’ In the Hot Tub!” Part 1

It's June 2020, and I've had crushes on Triple H and even Shawn Michaels since August 2019.

________________________________________________________________

The end of 1997 really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Why?

Not only is the year almost over, but so many pro wrestlers in the WWF right now are so sexy.

Shawn Michaels is the sexiest he's ever been, so far.

The former Hunter Hearst Helmsley is now known as Triple H, and he's gotten rid of those braids he wore behind his head in the summer of 1997.

This time, he's letting his glorious, beautiful golden hair all hang down, no hair ties in his hair.

Billy Gunn has joined the New Age Outlaws, got rid of that shitty Rockabilly gimmick and especially got rid of that horrid brown hair the color of the sauce in Bush's Baked Beans, now his hair is back to blond.

Jeff Hardy, who doesn't have that goth look he'd have years later during the height of his popularity, has had some matches with his brother at the end of 1997.

And so far, he's sexier than ever before, and legal too!

Davey Boy Smith/the British Bulldog is pretty sexy, but you've heard he's a pretty awful person, not as awful as his former tag team partner in the 80's known as the Dynamite Kid, but quite awful nonetheless.

Then again, Shawn Michaels is notorious for being a jerk (especially during the time this fanfic is set) and he's invited to this little romp, so is Triple H.

Rob Van Dam's a hottie, but he's now back to wrestling for ECW, though the WWF did think of hiring him.

It upsets you the WWF didn't hire him, because he's so sexy and talented.

Though, Rob's even hotter when he doesn't have any facial hair.

And while Bret Hart is pretty hot, he's joined the WCW, and while he is pretty attractive but not hot enough.

He's nowhere near as sexy as Shawn Michaels, and speaking of Shawn, he and Shawn don't get along with one another.

Wrestlers always usually get tired and exhausted from wrestling and traveling, which makes their muscles and bodies tense and ache.

What's good for an ache? Spa treatment!

While many other wrestlers are busy getting massages and whatnot, you however, have a plan with some wrestlers you think are hot and sexy.

You've invited them to this little room that has a hot tub inside, and that room, for now, is reserved for you and for these wrestlers you think are hot.

The door was closed, a "do not disturb" sign was on the door, and you wish you could have all the time in the world to spend with these wrestlers.

Before you entered this hot tub room with these 4 wrestlers, you told them what you wanted to do with them in that Jacuzzi room, which they were happy and excited for.

You and these wrestlers (Triple H, Shawn, Billy Gunn, and Jeff) entered this room wearing bathrobes and slippers, only to remove the slippers and hang the bathrobes up on the coat rack.

All of the wrestlers were dressed in swimming trunks and nothing else, you dressed in a bikini.

Once the wrestlers were all sitting in the hot tub, you just had to do this to them.

You were once a former stripper before joining the WWF, and you've given a few lapdances before.

First, you sauntered up to Shawn Michaels, where you stood behind him once you were close to him.

One of your hands ran down his chest, your palm brushing down his torso, which felt so good for him.

Shawn's head slightly turned, where he looked up at you.

He couldn't wait to get what he's about to get, though he has gotten it before from you, and it's not an STD.

Good things come for boys who wait!

Many wrestlers in the tub were watching you do this to him.

Don't worry, they'll all get turns.

Next, you walked up to Billy Gunn, walking sexily to him.

Once you stood close to him, your face leaned close to his ear, you were standing behind him, and one of your hands ran and roamed down his chest.

He had his huge, adorable smile spreading ear-to-ear across his face, and he probably has the cutest smile of all 4 wrestlers in the tub.

He, too, was excited for what he'll receive later on.

You then lifted your hands off of Billy and sauntered up to Jeff Hardy, where you paused once you were right next to him, behind him.

One of your hands slid from the top of his shoulder all the way down to his chest, your touch brushing and tingling him.

Not just that, another one of your hands snaked down Jeff's torso, joining the other hand on his torso.

Both of your hands on his chest elevated up his chest, your palms brushing his chest.

Your touch felt so good to him, sending chills down his spine, the hairs on his arms standing up.

He could lean his head back at how good this felt.

Shawn and Billy were looking at Jeff, getting pretty jealous.

Why does he get you to brush both of your hands down his chest, but we don't? was what they were thinking.

Maybe another day you'll do what you're doing to Jeff to Shawn and Billy.

Your hands slid up Jeff's shoulders, only for your hands to move towards your sides, where you walked up to Triple H.

You seriously feel like Jessica Rabbit in that scene in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" where she's first on screen and flirts with all the men, I bet the wrestlers in the hot tub are thinking this too!

While you were walking sensually to these wrestlers in the Jacuzzi, flirting and teasing them, many of them were going "yyyeaaaaaaaaaaahh!" at you, giving you catcalls, sounding like some of the men in the audience at WWF shows leering at sexy women.

You slowly and sensually walked up to Triple H, much like how you walked up to the other 3 wrestlers in the Jacuzzi, and then paused once you were behind Hunter.

Your hand slid atop of Triple H's shoulders, only to crawl and snake all the way down his chest, your palm and fingers touching his chest.

Tingles were felt and appearing once your hand touched his chest, and he absolutely loved the way this felt.

He was the most calm of all the men in the hot tub, but of course he is, he once played Hunter Hearst Helmsley, an old fashioned 1800's gentleman straight out of a Jane Austen book!

Although, he doesn't have to be so calm in the hot tub now, and he probably won't be once you get in the tub.

You then walked up to the little stairs that helps people to enter the Jacuzzi, and as you walked where, your hands and arms on Triple H's chest slid up his chest as you walked away from him, thanks to you walking to the stairs.

Your hands and forearms slid up not just his chest, but eventually across his shoulders as well, and the base of the hot tub.

Once you were in front of those little stairs, you lifted one of your feet up from the ground and planted it on one step, then began walking up those steps, only to enter and crawl in that hot tub.

The hot, warm water felt so good on your skin, the water was basically sinking and drowning your body, the water was up to your waist.

Meanwhile, the wrestlers were so happy that you were in the hot tub, but you should make this quick since you don't want to spend too much time in the hot tub.

You've actually picked which wrestlers will be lap danced in order, and the first one who's going to get one is Shawn Michaels.

He's pretty much the current sex symbol and sex object of the WWF and has been for a long time, and he's absolutely gorgeous, especially this year.

You want to go with someone really sexy first, though the other 3 men are hotties too.

You gingerly crept up to Shawn, heading towards him.

He immediately got a huge smile on his face as you walked up to him.

Once you were in front of him, you slowly slithered your body a bit, swaying your figure in front of him, like most strippers do.

You showed an angle of your body in front of him, where his eyes stared at your curves.

You then tilted your body, to where your back was touching his torso, where you felt his erection poking through his swimming trunks.

You slid your back down his torso, your hips swaying back and forth, your knees bending under the water as you lowered your body down his torso.

The touch of your back brushed his skin, which felt so good for him.

He couldn't help but smile at this.

You then turned your body around, where now your torso and face were in front of his face and torso, where you plopped your rear end on his left thigh.

Your legs were spread across his thigh, where you dragged your bottom (your ass and your pussy) over his thigh, causing some friction.

Not just that, but you sunk your hands under the water, only to lift them up from the water, holding the warm water in your palms.

You placed those palms on Shawn's chest, where you began to slather and rub that hot, warm water on his chest, your hands sliding, slithering and snaking down his chest like your body was previously towards his crotch.

Your palms smeared that water on his chest, the water dripping down his chest, some of it dripping back down in the water.

This felt so good for him, having warm water on his body take his tenseness.

Your hands were caressing his chest, getting warm water all over every area on his chest, on his nipples, caressing your hands up and down his chest, sometimes rubbing his chest in circles.

You also slid your rear end further to his thigh, and not just that, but you stretched your other leg out towards his right leg, where your right calf dangled below his right thigh.

Not only that, but you also slid your ass from his left thigh to his lap, where you began rolling and grinding your lap back on his crotch.

You felt his boner poking through his swim trunks, your hands were caressing his chest in warm water.

You didn't just caress his chest in warm water, but also his shoulders too.

"Ohhhhhhh, yeahhhhhhhhhhh, baby" Shawn purred. "That feels soooooo good".

"Y'like that, baby?" you purred to him, your mouth having a sly little smirk and your voice as warm as the water you're soaking in.

"Fuck yeah" he replied, his voice husky and warm. "That's the spot right there".

Also, unlike the strip club you worked at, it's okay for these men to touch you and rub you.

Shawn put his hands under the water and lifted up some water with his palms, balancing and holding the hot water with his palms.

He slid his hands under your bikini top, where the warm water was dripping down below your tits, some of the hot water was touching your tits.

His hands began caressing and cupping your tits, getting warm water on your breasts.

Sometimes his hands squeezed your tits too.

Him rubbing his palms on your tits, especially considering they were drenched in hot water, felt so good on your areolas, and his hands slipping and crawling under your bikini top helped undo and untie the strings behind your back.

You actually want him (or anyone) to remove your bikini top as you grinded and lapdanced someone in the tub, maybe even caress your tits too.

Since Shawn's a sexy boy and he's so damn sexy, you have to do this to him.

One of your hands on his body moved to behind his head, where you began to run your fingers through his hair.

To be honest, you don't really like him with wet hair, he doesn't look all that good with wet hair.

You also leaned your face into his face, your eyelids shutting as you leaned your face into his face, and landed your lips on his lips.

He saw you lean your face into his face, and his eyes shut as your face pulled into his.

He figured you want to kiss him considering all this sexual tension between the two of you.

The two of you made out for a little while, lips attaching then separating, only to attach again, sometimes you slipped Shawn your tongue in his mouth, where he French kissed you back.

While the two of you were making out, Shawn's hands moved from your tits to behind your neck, where he undid the strings tied behind your neck, sliding one string out of the knot, until they were both separate strings.

He then moved his hands to behind your back, where the other strings of your bikini top were, where his hands tried to undo and untie the strings behind your back, and the strings eventually did slide apart even more.

Once your bikini top, or at least the strings, were in his hands, he then sat your bikini top next to him on the base of the hot tub, where hopefully it won't fall off.

He did think of tossing it away, but he doesn't want your bikini top to get dirty.

Shawn sunk his hands under the water again, only to lift them up from the water holding up warm water.

He placed those hands on your chest, the warm water dripping down your body, where his hands roamed all over your torso, on your tits, your stomach, your hips, his hands dampening your body.

His hands also rubbed the tops of your shoulders as well.

The men sharing this hot tub were all watching this, enjoying the view very much, sometimes even releasing some little "catcalls" at you.

While you love lapdancing Shawn, you shouldn't waste too much time since you shouldn't spent too much time in a hot tub.

You then pulled your face away from Shawn, only to spin your body around to where your back is touching his torso.

Shawn could feel your lips no longer on his, which caused him to open his eyes, only to see the back of your head.

You then proceeded to grind and gyrate your rear end on his crotch, feeling his erection through his trunks.

Even better, you were wearing a thong bikini, so your bare ass cheeks were grinding on his clothed genitals.

Shawn could see your ass under the water grinding on his crotch.

Your hands were on your knees, looking like you were somewhat twerking on his crotch, and you kind of were.

Shawn, on the other hand, slid his hands to your breasts, where his hands cupped and squeezed your tits.

Feeling his hot hands on your tits, made your eyes close and mouth open, looking like you were having an orgasm.

While this was fun and all to grind on Shawn's lap, you shouldn't spend too much time in the hot tub.

And you still have 3 more men to go.

Many of the men enjoyed you lapdancing Shawn, they could even throw their hands up and shout "woooooooo!", but they're in public now.

You'd love to lapdance not just these wrestlers in the hot tub with you but Rob Van Dam, Davey Boy Smith and maybe even Bret Hart (and eventually Bart Gunn) as well, in a hot tub or not, too bad Bret doesn't get along with Shawn, and Rob is currently in ECW.

And to boot, you'd love to lapdance them in a hot tub somewhere private, like at your eventual home you'll live in someday (hopefully), and hopefully neighbors won't hear you and see you having way too good of a time in the hot tub with these wrestlers.

There's other men you'd love to have sex with and lapdance too, not just in a hot tub, maybe one day you might even get the chance to, you could even have some orgies with these men and these wrestlers involved in those orgies.

Up next for you was Billy Gunn.

He was cute, but not as hot as the other men in the hot tub.

You slithered up to Billy, where he knew he was next.

He had an adorable smile on his face, he was so excited it was his turn now.

Once you were right in front of him, so close you could lapdance him, you had a very sexy, seductive look on your face like you wanted him.

You slid your ass and cunt across his thigh, where you began to grind, roll and gyrate your lap back on his thigh, like you were grinding on Shawn's thigh previously.

That wasn't all you did, you also lifted one of your legs and placed your foot on his other thigh, your ass still sliding back on his left thigh.

This surprised him a bit, his face looking a bit surprised and shocked, though he has been to strip clubs.

Billy saw Shawn put his hands on you with warm water, so Billy put his hands under the water, lifting his palms up from the water, holding warm water in them.

He placed those hands on your torso, where, like Shawn, his hands traveled all over your torso, running up and down your torso.

Since Billy's rubbing your torso, you may as well rub his as well, or at least his chest.

Your hands sunk under the warm water beside Billy's hips, only to lift up some warm water on your palms.

As you lifted the warm water on your palms, your fingers were attached to each other so the water won't slip out of your hands.

Billy and Shawn did the same thing when they lifted water up from the jacuzzi using their hands.

Your hands quickly ran and splat on Billy's chest, albeit you didn't hit Billy's chest too hard once your hands splat the water on his chest.

Your hands began to smear and roam around his torso, rubbing that warm water up and down his chest and torso.

You didn't just run your hands down his torso, but also ran them across his arms, wetting the tops of his arms.

While one of your feet was resting on Billy's thigh, instead of sliding your ass back on his thigh, now your ass was popping back over and over again, like you were twerking on his thigh.

If only he could see your ass popping like you were twerking, although he will pretty soon.

"You're so damn sexy" Billy complimented and purred at you.

"You too" you replied "I missed you with blond hair".

You moved one of your hands at the end of Billy's hair, where your index finger twirled a strand of his blond hair.

"Really?" Billy asked, looking surprised and shocked.

You nodded your head.

"I could shower you with money now" Billy said. "Too bad I don't have my wallet now"

I don't think the phrase "make it rain" even existed in the 90's.

"And the money would get wet if it fell in the jacuzzi!" you replied.

He laughed at this.

Some other wrestlers heard your conversation with Billy, and they laughed too.

So instead of really "makin' it rain" money, he pretended to do it, by putting his hands above your head, where one of his hands swiped across his palm, making it rain imaginary money down you.

"Yeah, Billy!" Shawn shouted across from the tub, pointing at him.

Jeff and even Triple H were cheering Billy on as this happened.

Your leg standing up was getting tired, so you let that leg drop on his thigh, your thigh replacing your foot on his right thigh.

You then directed your rear end to Billy's lap, where you began to roll your lap on and towards his lap.

Billy couldn't help but enjoy this, his face looked down at your borderline naked body grinding on his lap.

"Yyyyeahhh, baby!" Billy exclaimed, smiling a huge ear-to-ear smile.

You basically were naked, you just had a thong on.

Since you've kissed Shawn, you may as well kiss Billy as well.

Your face pulled into his face, your eyes shutting as your face pulled into his.

He saw your face pull into his, where he closed his eyes, figuring you're about to kiss him.

Your lips crashed into his, staying there, planting a pretty hard kiss on his lips.

Since that's how you wanna play and Billy saw you making out with Shawn, you and Billy began making out with each other like how you and Shawn made out.

You were the first one to slide your tongue in between Billy's lips, giving his tongue a few licks.

He felt your tongue tickling his tongue, where he raised his tongue from the bottom of his mouth and flicked your tongue.

One of your hands crawled to behind his head, where the palm of your hand ran up his hair, your fingers running through his blond, dry hair.

Your hands and fingers running through his hair messed his hair up a bit.

Billy, on the other hand, since his hands have rubbed enough on your torso, he began giving your tits a few squeezes.

Not only that, but he also ran the tips of his index fingers over and over on your areolas.

This felt so good, really good.

As you gyrated on his lap, you felt his erection hiding inside his swimming trunks, his boner being visible under his trunks.

You could massage his shoulders while making out with him and maybe he can do the same with you, but that's for another day.

You don't want to spend waaaaay too much in the hot tub considering that's the rules, so you had to interrupt this make out session by breaking the kiss, pulling your face away from his.

Billy's eyes opened, suddenly feeling your face wasn't as close as it was before.

You then turned your body around, your back in front of his torso.

You put your hands on your knees and began bouncing and twerking your ass on Billy's lap, your ass bouncing up and down on his crotch.

Billy saw what was going on, he was looking down at your ass twerking on him.

Yes, twerking existed in the 90's!

He eventually became an ass man, Mr. Ass, 2 years after this.

He could see your ass cheeks popping out at him.

He was thoroughly enjoying this very much, so much, he smiled an ear-to-ear smile at this.

He knows it's okay to touch you, unlike going to strip clubs, so he put his hands on your bare ass cheeks and gave them a little squeeze.

You then lifted your hands off of your knees, where you sunk your hands further and further down in the jacuzzi, until your hands reached and could touch the bottom of the hot tub.

As you lowered yourself down in the water, the water was up to your mouth.

You closed your mouth shut so water won't get in your mouth, however, some of that water got up your nostrils, which didn't feel very good.

Your eyes looked down at the bottom of the jacuzzi, although your vision was so blurry as your eyes were under the water looking down at the hot tub's floor.

You basically were "face down, ass up" as they say.

While you changed your position, you still bounced your ass on Billy's crotch, popping your ass out over and over again, twerking your buttocks on his genitals.

He still looked down at your rear end popping in front of him, his hands still squeezing your ass cheeks.

No wonder he got that Mr. Ass gimmick 2 years later!

Meanwhile, Shawn was somewhat jealous he didn't get you twerking on his lap or get to squeeze your ass, but, whatever.

Will Jeff and Triple H get this too?

You're thinking to yourself, while you'd love Rob Van Dam and Davey Boy Smith to join you in this Jacuzzi considering they're both sexy wrestlers yet RVD is back in ECW and Davey's kind of a prick, the thing is, this Jacuzzi is a little small, and you doubt Rob and Davey will fit in this hot tub alongside you, Shawn, Jeff, Billy and Triple H!

You then walked in the Jacuzzi to where Jeff was sitting.

He saw you walking up towards him, a smile was spreading across his face.

He was so excited and didn't know what he was going to get next.

Once you were so close to him that your skin was touching his skin, you turned your body around, and what he saw in front of him was your back and behind your head.

Your back was pressed on his torso, where you slithered and swayed your body left and right, lowering yourself down

You swayed your body on Jeff like you did with Shawn, and some people could say Jeff is the Shawn Michaels of the Hardy Boyz.

While you swayed and writhed your body as you slithered and shimmied down his torso, you could feel a bit of his erection protruding slightly through his swim trunks.

That's not all, he placed his hands on your ribcage, where he ran his hands down your body, his hands running on the outlines of your waistline and hips.

His touch tingled as his hands caressed the sides of your body.

When your ass was right in front of his crotch, you began to roll your ass on his erection, your ass brushing up his clothed genitals, and once you reached the elastic waistline of his swimsuit, you placed your buttocks below his cock, only to brush your ass up his crotch again.

You did this little process over and over again on his genitals, not twerking on his crotch like you were with Billy Gunn.

You could feel Jeff's, erm, hardy, poking through his bathing suit, almost wanting to get in your pussy or ass.

Jeff placed his hands under the water, but instead of scooping the water up with his palms, he lifted his hands from under the water, where his hands were drenched.

He placed his warm, soaked hands on your tits, giving you a "hand bra" a la Janet Jackson when she posed for Rolling Stone in 1993.

His hands began caressing that warm water on your tits, rubbing his hands in circles on your breasts.

Not just that, but he also gave your tits a squeeze.

While you enjoy him squeezing your tits, you've rolled your ass on his lap long enough, now's the time for him to see your face!

You swiftly turned your body around, to where now your torso and tits were in front of his face.

As you turned around, Jeff's hands lost grip of your breasts.

Don't worry, he'll get to hold onto them again.

You sat on Jeff's lap, your thighs resting on his thighs, your lap sitting on his erection.

You proceeded to roll your ass back on his erection still.

"Don't worry, Jeff" you informed him "You can still grab and play with my tits"

Jeff could breathe a sigh of relief at this.

Speaking of water, you placed your hands under the water, letting them get under the water enough for them to get soaked.

You raised your hands from the water, your hands warm and wet, where you placed your hands on Jeff's chest.

Jeff, however, put his hands under the water, only for his hands to scoop up some water in his palms, holding and balancing the water in his hands, trying not to spill the water.

He put those hands on your breasts, his palms cupping your tits.

"You've got such hot tits, baby" Jeff purred "You're so fucking hot"

"So are you" you replied, sounding sexy.

The water in his hands was spilling down below your breasts, and his hands proceeded to squeeze and caress your tits.

Meanwhile, you were caressing Jeff's chest, smothering and smearing that water all over his chest.

"That's it, baby, that's it" Jeff said, referring to the spots you're hitting as you caress his chest.

You shouldn't spend too much time with Jeff in the hot tub, and there's something you haven't done to him.

Your face quickly shoved into his face, your lips nudging into his lips.

You remembered to kiss Jeff while you're lap dancing him in the hot tub, your ass was still rolling on his erection.

His eyes shut after your lips landed on his, and the two of you began making out with one another, lips attaching and separating over and over again.

One of your hands ran up his chest and placed behind his head, where your hand ran up his head, your fingers combing and lacing through his hair.

Your tongue quickly snuck into his mouth, where your tongue tried to entice his tongue, the tip of your tongue giving his tongue a few flicks and licks.

His tongue lifted from the bottom of his mouth, where he slipped his tongue both into your mouth and atop of your tongue.

The two of yours tongues clashed, twisted and collided with one another, your tongue rolling on top of his tongue and vice versa.

Meanwhile, other wrestlers in the Jacuzzi were watching you do this with Jeff.

While you were having quite a bit of fun with Jeff in the Jacuzzi, you actually wouldn't mind if another wrestler danced with you.

You broke the kiss with Jeff, pulling your face away and opening your eyes.

"Does anyone wanna dance behind me?" you asked, raising your voice so the men could hear and turning your head.

The men in the hot tub heard this, and Shawn raised his hand, of course he'd love to dance with you, though so would Billy.

Shawn walked over to where you were with Jeff, where he got very close to you, close enough for his torso to touch your back, and started rolling his ass backwards.

Shawn put his hands under the water, lifting them up from the Jacuzzi and put those hands on your body, since Jeff was busy playing with your tits.

Shawn began caressing your body with that warm, hot water, rubbing it all over your stomach and your body's outline.

Wonder if you could throw your hands up and shout "whoooooooo!!!" at this little party going on, as well as the other men?

Billy was enjoying this very much, having a huge ear-to-ear smile watching this.

And while you're having a lot of fun, you shouldn't spend way too much time in the hot tub, you should hurry things up and go on to the last wrestler you haven't lapdanced.

That wrestler is Triple H.

You've saved the best for last.

Okay, maybe he's not as lusted over as Shawn Michaels and, eventually, Jeff Hardy, though Triple H is still very sexy and yummy.

You bumped your rear end on Shawn's crotch, nudging him to move away, your head slightly turned looking at him.

"Hey Shawn" you said to him. "I'm gonna lapdance Paul"

Who's Paul? Triple H's real name.

(Wonder if pro wrestlers call each other by their real names in real life?)

Shawn heard what you said, and he knows how the rules of the hot tub is you shouldn't spend too much time in it, which Shawn probably doesn't even care about.

Shawn took a few steps back so you couldn't be so sandwiched tightly between him and Jeff.

You slipped out of Jeff and Shawn, Jeff's hands no longer holding onto your tits.

The Jacuzzi water was up to your tits, which felt good for your breasts considering he squeezed your tits a bit.

You walked over towards Triple H, who was quietly minding his own business.

While he did enjoy this and even made a few catcalls, his classy Hunter Hearst Helmsley character is even coming to a close now, but he was mostly meek during this little Jacuzzi romp.

You looked seductive in the face as you stared hard at Trips, licking your lips, trying to entice him.

He enjoyed this very much, his mouth spreading a sly little smile and smirk, and he's about to enjoy this even more.

Once you were right in front of Hunter, you put your hands on his thighs, where you bent one knee slightly, while keeping the other leg straight, then the straight leg slightly bent at the knee whereas the previously bent knee pulled until that leg was completely straight.

You did this with your legs over and over again, and not just that, but swayed your ass and hips back and forth.

His eyes watched your ass sway back and forth behind your head, and the other wrestlers were watching your ass sway back and forth, getting a good view of your rear end.

"Wooooooooo, yeahhhh!!!" Billy shouted, he could nearly "fist pump" at this, though, to be honest, he sounds like a redneck saying that, but Billy does speak with a Southern accent.

You then lowered and squatted down further into the jacuzzi, the water was now almost up to your shoulders.

You crawled sexually and sensually up to Triple H, looking like you wanted him, and by God, you did.

As you crawled up to him, your body was escaping from the water, more of your body was being visible to him as well as the wrestlers looking at you.

Albeit, you were still inside the hot tub.

The water made your body look so shiny, which was so sexually arousing.

"Yyyyyyyyyyyyeah!" Shawn shouted as you crawled out of the water.

Once you were very close to Triple H, you sat on his lap, your legs sitting on his thighs.

You then proceeded to roll your pussy forwards on his lap, rolling and grinding your genitals on his lap.

As you rolled your pussy on his crotch, you could feel his erection under his swimsuit, you grinding on it.

"Alriiiiiiight, baby!!" Triple H exclaimed, a huge, wide, ear-to-ear smile on his face, as you grinded and gyrated on his lap.

Before you could what you wanted with him, you leaned your face into his face, and instead of putting your lips on his lips, you put your top lip at the top of his nose.

Many people have made fun of and noticed Triple H's big nose, but you love his nose, you've even pleasured it a few times.

Your upper lip brushed and dragged down his nose, his nose was also basically halfway in your mouth, your lips circulating it a bit.

As your upper lip slid down his nose, one of your hands moved behind his head, where you ran and combed your fingers through his golden blond tresses.

When your hand reached the ends of his locks, your hand went up to the top of his head, only to run back down to the end of his hair, your fingers woven and running through his hair.

You did this to his hair over and over again.

One of your hands was under the water, trying to get as much water as possible on your hand.

Your hand rose out from the water, where you placed that wet hand on Triple H's chest, and began to caress his chest, rubbing that water up and down his chest.

Speaking of chests, Triple H put his hands on his sides next to him, his hands were under the water, he was soaking his hands.

He raised his hands out of the water, where he placed those hands on your tits, and began to caress your breasts.

His hands helped warm your tits, rubbing water on your breasts.

"That's it, baby" he purred at you over you grinding his lap "Grind on me"

You were still grinding your lap on his lap while brushing your upper lip down his nose, and not just that, you even sucked his nose a few times.

You then brushed your upper lip from his nose down to his lips, where you paused at his lips.

You fit your lips atop of his lips, your lips in between his two lips, and began kissing him.

He felt your lips on his, and he began to make out with you.

You were exchanging your breath into his mouth, your breath a bit hot, making things intense.

While Triple H was squeezing your tits, he also squeezed your nipples a bit, your nipples in between his index fingers and thumbs, where he slightly twisted and tweaked your nipples.

Your tongue slipped into his mouth, where the tip of your tongue flicked on his tongue.

His tongue raised and toppled over your tongue, where the two of yours tongues nudged and bumped into one another.

You actually raised your foot from the floor and nudged your calf against Triple H's calf, running your calf up his calf.

He felt you do that to him, but he didn't mind it.

You've probably ran your fingers through his hair for too long, so you directed your hand from behind his head to under the water, where you scooped some water up with your palm.

You placed that palm on his chest, where both of your hands and palms helped to smear that water up and down his chest.

You wish you could have some other arms so you could run your fingers through his hair and run your hands up and down his arms.

And speaking of that, for one last time, you placed your hands under the water, where you scooped out some water in the Jacuzzi with your hands, holding the water in your palms.

You placed your hands on his shoulders, only to run and slide your hands holding that water all the way down and across his arms.

Water was dripping down his arms like rain on a window, some of the water dropping back down in the Jacuzzi, but you wet and dampened the tops of his arms by dragging your palms down his arms.

You'd love to rub his shoulders too, though maybe that's for next time.

Even though the two of you are having quite a lot of fun, now's the time to do something else to him.

Albeit, you'll still give him a lapdance!

You turned your body around, where now your back was in front of his chest and torso, your ass still on his lap.

You slid and rolled your ass up his erection, although it was covered by his swimming shorts.

Though, this is a good thing, that way the wrestlers cocks won't get in your pussy or ass!

When you rolled your ass up his erection, once your ass reached the elastic of his waistband, it went back down to the bottom of his shorts, only to brush up his genitals again.

You did this over and over to his crotch.

While you were rolling your ass over his lap, he resumed playing with your tits, squeezing them, rolling the tips of his fingers over your areolas.

"That's it, baby" Triple H purred, looking at your ass. "Just roll my ass on my crotch"

That wasn't all he had to say.

"You've got such a hot body" he gushed "Grinding and rubbing on me"

He also sometimes ran his hands down your body, sometimes even over your torso.

While you had a lot of fun lap dancing these men in a hot tub, it's a bit disappointing you don't have any music to play during this romp.

2 decades later, it makes you happy when people say Dean Ambrose and CM Punk are modern wrestlers who would've been awesome in the WWF's Attitude era.

Why?

So you could have sex with them because they're both hotties, especially late 2000's era CM Punk when he was in WWE's revival of ECW.

Maybe you could even have some orgies involving not just those 2, but these aforementioned men in this fanfic along with maybe Rob Van Dam and Davey Boy Smith too.

[sophiewritesworld]

A Kiss To Change It All (Part 22) - Montgomery de la Cruz

Pairing; Montgomery x Reader; Jeff x Best Friend!Reader

Warning: None

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: Shitty chapter, I apologize. But I have a serious lack of sleep and time (thanks university)

When the whispers you heard were all about you and Montgomery not being together anymore, now they turned into how your best friend almost died in a car crash and most of them were saying that he was completely drunk while driving which obviously was completely untrue. Jeff was sober. But of course, the twisted the story was, the better the gossips were. You walked on your own through the corridors, dragging everyone's attention on yourself. Well, how couldn't you? Dark circles, messy hair, oversized sweatshirt. You had the perfect look of someone who hadn't slept in days. And indeed, you hadn't. You hadn't slept properly since the beginning of the academic year and now it had gotten worse since you spent most of your free time, at the hospital by Jeff's side.

You kept walking back and forth, holding his jacket in your hands as if you let go of it, you wouldn't see him anymore. Minutes turned into hours and soon the sun was rising outside when the doctor finally showed up in the corridor filled with Liberty's juniors. No one had slept and the ones that were a bit drunk quickly sobered up when they heard about what happened. You weren't surprised to see these many people showing up to see how things were for Jeff, everyone liked him. Even Montgomery was there, standing a little further away from you all, hands shoved deep in his jeans' pockets. You held your breath until the doctor finally spoke. "Your friend got extremely lucky."

"Oh thank God..."

You had to beg the doctor to allow you to see your best friend, even if it was from afar. "Five minutes and no more than two people." He instructed. Both Clay and you followed the doctor to the room but you couldn't get in, you stayed behind the large window glass behind which your best friend was, tied to many monitors and machines.

"He's gonna be fine, (Y/N)." You nodded, unable to say a word. Clay was right because just a few hours after Zach drove you to your house, you received a phone call from Jeff's mother telling you that he woke up and that he wanted to see you.

"Jeffereykins..."

"Am I in heaven?"

"Shut up, idiot, you scared the hell out of me, you know." He had to stay there for at least a week which meant you spent most of your free time there, sometimes falling asleep on the uncomfortable armchair but you didn't mind as long as you were by your best friend's side.

"You should go home and rest for a bit."

You shook your head. "Nah. I'm good."

"You're obviously not, (Y/N)." Jessica was more than concerned about your well-being. You weren't smiling anymore, didn't pay much attention to your physical appearance or school work for that matter. You were barely able to hold a complete conversation with people and not to mention the fact that you didn't eat properly. "How about we go have lunch somewhere else?" You didn't fight back, you just followed Jessica to her car and let her drive to Rosie's. "I know it's not the right time to talk about that but you didn't tell me what happened with Montgomery."

A loud sigh escaped from your lips as you dropped your hamburger back on the plate. "I was naive to believe everything he said... or did for that matter." You said the last part of your sentence in a loud whisper, memories of happy days with the one you thought had changed coming back to your mind, breaking and crushing your heart once more. Only this time tears didn't fill your eyes as they did during the first few days after he broke up with you. It was like your body was numb at this point in your life, you were too tired and worn out to start crying or get angry.

"What happened? (Y/N) you seemed so fine together..."

"We were..." You glanced down at your left wrist where a leather bracelet tied in an eternity knot was hanging. "That's what he made me thought."

There wasn't a day in the past nine months you spent with him that he didn't surprise you somehow. Every single day, you would discover a hidden side of Montgomery de la Cruz. It was a blessing being with him, who would have thought that? He put so much effort in your relationship and in his behavior that even his mother was noticing the drastic change in her son and she didn't hesitate to mention it to you the last time you saw her. She was extremely happy to see him this way. During the last day of the summer holidays, you decided to hang out by the dockside. Classic spot, you would say, right? It was a sweet reminder of where everything between the two of you took its real start. The place where you used to sneak behind everyone's back just to be together and somehow you still do that even though everyone knew about your relationship. It was your happy place. "I don't wanna go back to school." You whined, hiding your face in his neck.

"Jesus Christ, you don't wanna go back to school? Am I hearing you right?"

You gently smacked his chest and pulled away, turning your back at him. "Shut up, Cruz. I never liked school."

"Says the girl with straight As." He shot back at you with a smirk. You didn't have to look at him to know it. God, you knew him so well that you scared yourself sometimes.

You spun on your heels, arms crossed over your chest. "You're annoying, you know that?"

"Hmm hmm but still you love me." He quickly grabbed your waist and pulled you back against him. You couldn't fight the smile on your lips and certainly not able to suppress the urge of kissing him. He was a drug and you were addicted to him. "When did I get this lucky?" He whispered when you broke the kiss. The blush on your cheeks was inevitable. You were amazed by how after so many months of dating, he still had the same effect he had on you the very first time he kissed you. "I love you so much, (Y/N)."

"I love you too, Monty."

It was perfect. Everything was perfect. Montgomery took out of his pocket the leather bracelet he got for you a few days back but was unsure of when he should give it to you. He grabbed your left wrist and with a few movements managed to tighten the bracelet around it, ending his gesture with a kiss on the inside of your hand. You could see the exact same one on his right wrist. "Cheesy right?" He said when he caught your gaze on the one he had.

"You're ruining the moment, idiot." You giggled.

He smiled and pecked your lips."I want us to last forever."

"We will."

Maybe it was all part of the bet. Maybe you should have known that he would never change and certainly not for you. Or any girl. Or anyone. Maybe you should have kept your distance with him when tutoring him. Maybe you shouldn't have done a lot of things but you did them and the worst part of this: You didn't regret any of them and if you had to do them again, you certainly would. "I was a bet, Jessica. A stupid bet to him and one of his teammate."

"He did all of this for a damn bet?" You could sense anger in her voice. You nodded and proceeded to explain and repeat everything he said that day, your heart aching in pain. "There must be something else, (Y/N)..."

You shook your head. "Jess, promise you won't say a word about that to Justin..."

She sighed. "I won't." You gave her an insisting look. "I promise." After finishing your food, you still wanted to head back to Liberty for your afternoon classes even when you knew that those you had were with him. You were welcomed with whispers when you entered the French class and quickly you understood why. The only available seat was the one next to Montgomery. Great. You dropped your bag on the floor and sat down, ignoring the curious students who turned around to look at the two of you. This was going to be a very long afternoon.

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Tags : @pllfanatic

[anamuseinglife]

Iditapod: Rainy Pass, Race Rookies, and Rohn Axe-Throwing

[sound of an axe hitting wood]

[men cheering]

Discordant voices: Ayyy! That was it! That was it hitting the bullseye

[theme music plays]

Casey Groves: Welcome to the Iditapod! It’s a podcast about dog mushing and the Iditarod, and… axe throwing? We’ll get to that in a few minutes. But first, here’s a word from our sponsor

[ad plays]

CG: Well, my friends, since the last time we talked, the more than four dozen sled dogs teams competing in the 2019 Iditarod have mushed, or are mushing, into the mountainous Alaska range. When mushers say these are the most technical sections of the trail, they mean it is an area where mistakes can be especially dangerous, and expert sled driving is of the utmost importance.

So, the Rainy Pass checkpoint on the frozen alpine Puntilla Lake, is a spot many mushers stop to prepare for the often tough trail ahead. But, not last years second place finisher Nic Petit, who stayed only a few minutes, long enough for race officials and veterinarians to check out his team and gear. In fact, looking at Petit’s checkpoint times on Iditarod.com, he hasn’t stayed more than a few minutes at any checkpoint in the face, except for Rohn, where he stayed a whopping 20 minutes. Instead, Petit has opted, as mushers will do sometimes, to avoid the hubbub of the checkpoints and camp his team out along the trail. They pick up straw, they pick up supplies from their drops bags, and they take that along with them down the trail and just do their own thing. That’s why, after having the lead earlier in the race, severals teams passed Petit on the way from Rohn down to Nikolai. That is a village on the upper Kuskokwim River, roughly 250 miles into the 1000 mile race.

While Petit rested from Rohn to Nikolai, the race GPS tracker shows the defending champ, the Norwegian by way of Willow, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, passed Petit’s team, as did several others, including Bethel’s Pete Kaiser, Montanan Jessie Royer, and Two River’s musher Aliy Zirkle. Ulsom was the first to arrive in Nikolai a little after 6:30 Tuesday morning. And, remember, the race just started Sunday in Willow with the race clock ticking, at the restart, so they’re covering a lot of ground here very quickly, as they do. And we’re looking forward to hearing more about how it went for the team’s runs from Rainy Pass to Rohn and Nikolai. While the race reached Nikolai Tuesday morning, we’re going to go back to Rainy Pass, where as Iditarod mushers make their way over the Alaska range, they find the last checkpoint for supplies and a rest at the Rainy Pass Lodge on Puntilla Lake. As Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes reports, it’s a good place to pause, maybe reflect, and definitely to prepare before heading towards the most technical sections of the trail.

[sounds of dogs and supplies moving]

Zachariah Hughes: Sarah Stokey pulls onto Puntilla Lake with a team of dogs that has been gradually climbing the Alaska Range.

Sarah Stokey: Hi

Unknown Voices: Bib number?

SS: 52

Voice 1: Perfect. We’re going to give you your bags here

Voice 2: Are you going to stay or are you going to rest? SS: I’m going to stay

V1: She’s gonna stay, ok

ZH: Stokey grabs three heavy drop bags full of supplies, and parks her dogs for a rest. She’s in good company, except for Nic Petit and Pete Kaiser, who flew through mid-morning, almost all of the teams at the front of the pack are taking a break. Checkpoint at the Rainy Point Lodge has a festive atmosphere. Frozen lake is covered with planes and helicopters that bring tourists for day trips, the rustic wooden building is ringed with picturesque mountain peaks. It’s not where Matt Hall would have chosen to stop, but he wanted a veterinarian to check out a dog’s toenail problem.

Matt Hall: Little noisy, but they rest good.

ZH: Hall came off the Yukon Quest a few weeks ago, and likes camping out with his team beyond the hubbub of checkpoints, but he knows that enough teams are likely to stop here that he can keep toward the front of the pack.

MH: It’s definitely an advantage, being toward the front early on, just because of that, you know, you get 20,000 dog feet over it, and 50 sleds, and it starts getting softer and softer, then as the heat of the day comes on to.

ZH: Hard packed, smooth trail that gets punchy and pulverized after heavy traffic is slower and more effort for the dogs. In the cool, early hours before many mushers had gone over, Linwood Fiedler says the trail heading up toward the Rainy Pass checkpoint was something to behold.

LF: I don’t think I’ve ever seen it better. It’s certainly one of the best trails ever. Yeah, I mean, it’s the Iditarod trail, but boy it’s pretty good shape.

ZH: Fiedler also wants to take advantage of the midday warmth, rest his dogs while the bright sun and relative warmth soften the trail.

LF: It’s just gonna get warmer and warmer and warmer, when it’s like this, 5 degrees, going up makes a huge difference. I mean, it’s just, you can just see that team kind of wilt [laughs] I mean, they’re like a car with no antifreeze in the radiator

ZH: After the lodge, the route keeps going up, until it hits Rainy Pass itself, it weaves back and forth, over a river, enveloped by steep mountain peaks on both sides. This year, trail crews had to build 20 bridge crossings over sections of open water. From Puntilla Lake, it’s 35 miles up and through the pass to the Rohn checkpoint. It’s a kind of dog driving that requires some finesse.

Jessie Royer: I’d have to say, my team is pretty controlled anyways.

ZH: Jessie Royer is in a good mood as she straws her dogs. It’s not just the pass that’s challenging, she says, what follows is the drops and turns of the gorge, and the bumps of the tunnels. Royer’s approach is to rest and charge her dogs, before embarking on the hours over the pass, but keep them moving, winding down their power, until all the technical stretches are behind them.

JR: I don’t stop until we get out of it all, so I do it all in one run. Cause otherwise, if you don’t if you stop in Rohn, you’re leaving with a fresh team right away on the buffalo tunnels, which is even worse. Buffalo tunnels is always worse than the gorge.

ZH: It’s a stage in the race when there’s strategy not just in reading the trail, but in using a dog teams relative restedness or fatigue to help navigate perilous terrain. From the Rainy Pass Lodge on the Iditarod Trail, I’m Zachariah Hughes.

Casey Groves: So between Rainy Pass and Nikolai, is the checkpoint of Rohn. To get there, the teams navigate some pretty treacherous sections, reaching the races highest elevation of 3,160 feet. I mean, it’s a mountain pass. You’re going on some pretty narrow trail, and there’s mountains and ravines, there are twists and turns, ups and downs, there’s some mushing on the edge of the ravine - it’s intense. If you want to get a look at it, I encourage you to google “Jeff King Dalzell Gorge”. The first video that should come up is from a very low snow year in 2014. Those sections of trail destroyed some sleds and destroyed some mushers dreams of reaching Nome that year. I first saw those sections of trail that same year, in 2014, from the safety of a helicopter. That was my rookie year on the Iditarod. But as a rookie, in the race, it must be daunting to hear the stories and then finally get up into the pass and see what you got yourself into. And, Jeff King’s a four time champion. He’s very experienced musher. He’s run the Iditarod as much as anybody competing in the race these days. But, in addition to the really competitive slate of mushers in this year’s Iditarod, which includes five past champions (King, one of them), nearly one in five Iditarod mushers this year is brand new to the race. As Ben Matheson reports, the ten rookies each set out on the trail with a deep range of skills and experiences.

Ben Matheson: 21 year old Martin Apayauq Reitan is coming off of Yukon Quest, in which he took home Rookie of the Year honors. But, he had a tough time managing his sleep during the race, something he wants to improve upon in his second 1000 mile race.

Martin Apayauq Reitan: We need to have a good time, and we’ll see if I’ll be able to race or if I’ll oversleep again, and then, you know, I’ll have to adjust my expectations, but I’ll try my best and have fun.

BM: Reitan lives on the north slope of Kaktovik, where, among other things, he guides polar bear viewing expeditions. After the race, he’ll skip the jet and instead mush his team north, to Kotzebue, where his dad will run the Kobuk 440. After that, it’s hundreds of miles north to and to the east, to Kaktovik, the same epic trip he made two years ago with his dad. Mushing is also a family affair for Jessica Klejka, who grew up the oldest of 7 kids running dogs in Bethel. Her passion for mushing also overlaps with her professional life - she’s a veterinarian. But Klejka says her professional knowledge can cause her to overthink things with her dogs.

Jessica Klejka: And so I see something happen and, you know, like if I toss a dog a piece of fish and he doesn’t eat it right away, I start going okay wait, what’s going on, why doesn’t he want to eat the fish. And I start smelling the fish, like is it okay, and - but for the most part I think it’s very advantageous because I get a lot of calls from mushers the last few weeks before Iditarod, asking a lot of questions, and it’s kind of fun.

BM: For more than two decades, Ed Hopkins from Tagish Yukon Territory, has been running the Yukon Quest, notching several top five finishes. But, after watching his wife, Michelle Phillips, running the Iditarod in recent years, he says the Iditarod temptation became hard to ignore.

Ed Hopkins: Actually, you get the itch, and I got the itch

BM: His team has already completed a 1000 mile race this year. Phillips ran the team to a 4th place finish in the Quest last months. Hopkins says the race-hardened dogs know more about the trail than he does.

EH: I’m a rookie in a lot of senses, like I don’t know some of the little hidden things that are out there that give advantage to a lot of other people, so, I’m just gonna go and do my own thing pretty much.

BM: Norwegian Niklas Wikstrand has worked with Pete Kaiser in Bethel for a few years, and gotten his race experience in brutal, Kuskokwim river conditions, and he’s been on a specific schedule to get the dogs the right racing experience.

Niklas Wikstrand: Going a little slower, rest enough, and that’s our teams main goal, to rest and run quite conservative, and make sure that as many dogs get to Nome, and just keeping the dogs happy and healthy.

BM: As the rookies navigate the races most technical and steep sections in the first couple days in the race, they’ll be one step closer to joining the elite club of Iditarod finishers. I’m Ben Matheson, in Anchorage.

Casey Groves: These rookie standings are definitely subject to change as teams leapfrog each other here in the race. At least check, Ed Hopkins was leading the rookies in 32nd place; then Richie Beattie in 34th; Sebastien Dos Santos Borges in 37th. There’s Jessica Klejka, who we just heard from, in 38th place; Niklas Wikstrand in 41st, Blair Braverman in 42nd, Ryan Santiago in 46th, Alison Lifka in 47th, Martin Apayauq Reitan in 48th, and bringing up the rear, in 52nd place, Victoria Hardwick.

At least check, all the rookies in this years race still yet to reach the checkpoint of Rohn, and I want to mention Rohn real quick. It’s not really a community or anything, they’ve listed it at population zero, it’s basically just a cabin or a roadhouse they call it, and definitely the population swells when it’s an Iditarod checkpoint. They’ve got veterinarians there to checked the dogs, they’ve got race officials - and of course, they’ve got mushers coming in. And, different Iditarod checkpoints have totally different flavors. Some are hectic, full of visitors and volunteers; others are literal ghost towns, nestled quite deliberately in the middle of the wilderness.

The Rohn checkpoint is the latter, with hardly any amenities or distractions. The volunteer staffers have to find ways to amuse themselves, in the lulls, when there are no mushers - it might be a little boring, they’re trying to entertain themselves. This year, as Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes found out, they are throwing axes.

[sound of an axe hitting wood, men cheering]

Men’s voices: Aha! That was it? That was the bullseye, dead center, that’s perfect!

Zachariah Hughes: Like, what’s the right technique for doing it? Like, when you’re giving someone an introductory lesson, how do you explain it?

Man’s Voice [Unknown]: Uh, normally I ask, you know, right or left handed. If you’re right handed, you want your left hand on the bottom, right hand on top, you know I try to keep everything in a straight line and use your whole body.

ZH: What are you guys doing right now? MV: Axe throwing? Yeah, we’re axe throwing

[sound of an axe, throwing]

MV: [loudly] Yeah! That was it, that was perfect

ZH: The Rohn checkpoint is mostly just a cabin, it’s in a clearing in a pretty wooded area, just after the Dalzell gorge, near a river, they’ve got some arctic ovens set up, some snow machines, there’s an outhouse, but - mostly it’s a one room cabin from 1910 that the Parks Service maintains. Nowadays, it’s a shelter cabin.

Woman’s Voice: We find something to do, we tell our stories

ZH: Throw weapons

WV: Well, we don’t allow guns out when the mushers are here, but pre and post race we do a little target shooting. But, I asked Mark to bring an axe, because I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve never done this before.

ZH: Oh, and you guys knew each other before this?

WV: I met him last summer at the lumberjack show.

ZH: Mm.

[sound of axe thudding]

ZH: The volunteers here have to be a little bit more hardy than at other places, because they’re left out here mostly unsupported, it’s basically camping.

WV: Well, there’s nobody lives here year round, so we all come out for Iditarod, because we like dogs, we like going to remote places in Alaska, meeting people from all over, and it’s a satisfaction of helping people get down the trail, whether it’s snow machining, or walking, or mushing dogs, so it’s a good camaraderie feeling of Alaska.

ZH: Do you like throwing the axe? WV: Yeah, it feels good. You should give it a try.

[sound of axe thudding, woman yells “nice!”]

Man’s Voice: And when you release, you want kind of to release high so the axe carries down into the target, because it’s heavy

ZH: Do you guys always do this every year, out here? MV: This is my first year, so no, I don’t think so? But maybe from now on [laughs] I got started in college as a collegiate sport, so it’s called the woodsmen’s team in college, and so I competed collegiately. Me personally, I ended up doing well enough at the end of my four years, I was able to go pro, and then I competed professionally and also did lumberjack shows.

ZH: Is that what brought you up to Alaska?

MV: Yeah, I did a show for Great Alaska Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan Alaska, I did that for four years, one of my good friends, Tina Sheer, owns a show in May, and she’s the one that did a show at the Alaska State Fair, and she’s actually worked the Rohn checkpoint too, in the past.

[axe thuds]

Casey Groves: I still have a lot of questions about Zach throwing axes. And, that’s a contrived segue to today’s listener question! It’s actually two related questions in Aaron Knight’s language arts classes out in Unalaska

Alyssa; My name’s Alyssa, I’m also from Unalaska, and my groupmates are Michelle, Natalie, and Alyssa-Marie, and our question is have any of the mushers got hurt, and did they have to stop participating in the race?

Aaron: Hi, my name is Aaron, my groups are Matius and Zach, what happens if the dogs got hurt?

CG: Thanks for listening, and thanks for the great questions everybody. So, what happens when there are injuries on the trail? Here’s our trail reporter, Zachariah Hughes, with the answer.

Zachariah Hughes: If the dog’s hurt, his or her musher will leave it at a checkpoint. The veterinarians take care of it and the Iditarod takes over, they’ll take groups of dogs who are hurt, or dropped, or sick, and move them back to Anchorage, or somewhere where a handler or somebody who knows the musher picks up the dog and takes care of it for a while. Mushers, unless they’re really really hurt, will keep going. One time, Aaron Burmeister broke his knee coming down the Dalzell Gorge, and he finished the Iditarod hundreds of miles later, limping over the finish line, but he made it. So, other times mushers will fall of their sleds and crack ribs and maybe withdraw or maybe keep going, they are pretty tough and it’s really up to them, if they’re hurt, if they want to keep trying to finish the race.

CG: Thanks for getting that answer to us Zach, and as always I want to remind the listeners that you can send your questions to iditarod@alaskapublic.org. The best way to do that and maybe get on the podcast is to open up your smartphone, find that voice memo app, record your question in your own voice, and send that to iditarod@alaskapublic.org and that’s the best way to get your answer. Well, everybody that’s all the time we have for today, our theme music is by the band Sassafrassh, I’m your host Casey Groves, and until next time - happy tails.

Linwood Fiedler: You just gotta be ready to be game on and not be sleepy [laughs] so.

ZH: How are you gonna do that?

LF: How am I gonna do that? I’m gonna try and take an hour nap here. [laughs]

ZH: Out here, like in the sled bag?

LF: You know, I may lay down with them, or I guess there’s a little cabin we can get in if we want.

ZH: But you don’t have like an exoskeleton for the gorge?

LF: [laughs] No. My head hits a tree, is what’s gonna happen.

ZH: Well I hope you make it out in one piece, thanks a lot man, take care

[gaysparklepires]

9. Port Angeles

Read on AO3

It was too bright for me to drive into town when I got to Port Angeles; the sun was still too high overhead, and, though my windows were tinted dark, there was no reason take unnecessary risks. More unnecessary risks, I should say.

I was certain I would be able to find Jessica’s thoughts from a distance—Jessica’s thoughts were louder than Angela’s, but once I found the first, I’d be able to hear the second. Then, when the shadows lengthened, I could get closer. For now, I pulled off the road onto an overgrown driveway just outside the town that appeared to be infrequently used.

I knew the general direction to search in—there was really only one place for dress shopping in Port Angeles. It wasn’t long before I found Jessica, spinning in front of a three-way mirror, and I could see Beau in her peripheral vision, appraising the long black dress she wore.

Beau still looks pissed. Maybe I shouldn’t of told him about Tyler. But at least he’d have someone to go with to Prom. That’s not so bad, right? But I guess I see his point, I mean, Tyler is totally not into boys… probably. Maybe. God, I don’t even know. Since when did boys get so complicated?

“I think I like the blue one better. It really brings out your eyes.” Beau said.

Jessica smiled at him mischievously.

“And the girls.” Jessica swayed her body suggestively at Beau. I quickly tried to block out her thoughts and searched close by for Angela—ah, but Angela was in the process of changing dresses, and I skipped quickly out of her head to give her some privacy.

Well, there wasn’t much trouble Beau could get into in a department store. I’d let them shop and then catch up with them when they were done. It wouldn’t be long until it was dark—the clouds were beginning to return, drifting in from the west. I could only catch glimpses of them though the thick trees, but I could see how they would hurry the sunset. I welcomed them, craved them more than I had ever yearned for their shadows before. Tomorrow I could sit beside Beau in school again, monopolizing his attention at lunch again. I could ask him all the questions I’d been saving up…

So, he was upset about Tyler’s presumption. I’d seen in Tyler Crowley’s head—that he’d meant it literally when he’d spoken of the prom, that he was staking a claim. I pictured Beau’s expression from that other afternoon—the outraged disbelief—and I laughed. I wondered what he would say to Tyler about this. I wouldn’t want to miss his reaction.

The time went slowly while I waited for the shadows to lengthen. I checked in periodically with Jessica; her mental voice was the easiest to find, but I didn’t like to linger there long—too much rambling. I saw the place they were planning to eat. It would be dark by dinner time… maybe I would coincidentally choose the same restaurant. I touched the phone in my pocket, thinking of inviting Alice out to eat… She would love that, but she would also want to talk to Beau. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to have Beau more involved with my world. Wasn’t one vampire trouble enough?

I checked in routinely with Jessica again. She was thinking about her jewelry, asking Angela’s opinion.

“Maybe I should take the necklace back. I’ve got one at home that would probably work, and I spent more than I was supposed to…” My mom is going to freak out. What was I thinking? I should have asked Beau’s opinion first.

“I don’t mind going back to the store. Do you think Beau will be looking for us, though?”

What was this? Beau wasn’t with them? I stared through Jessica’s eyes first, then switched to Angela’s. They were on the sidewalk in front of a line of shops, just turning back the way. Beau was nowhere in sight.

Oh, I didn’t think about that. Jessica thought, worry tinging her thoughts. “I think so. We’ll get to the restaurant in plenty of time, even if we go back. And besides, I think Beau wanted to be alone… I want to make sure we give him his time, I mean he was so sweet to come with us and help us with our dresses.” I got a brief glimpse of the bookshop Jessica thought Beau had gone to.

“You’re right. Let’s hurry, then.” Angela said. I hope Beau doesn’t think we ditched him. He was so nice to me in the car before… He’s really a sweet person. But he’s seemed kind of blue all day. I wonder if it’s because of Edward Cullen? I’ll bet that was why he was asking about his family…

I should have been paying better attention. What all had I missed here? Beau was off wondering by himself, and he’d been asking about me before? Angela was paying attention to Jessica now—Jessica was babbling about that idiot Mike—and I could get nothing more from them.

I judged the shadows. The sun would be behind the clouds soon enough. If I stayed on the west side of the road, where the buildings would shade the street from the fading light…

I started to feel anxious as I drove through the sparse traffic in the center of the town. This wasn’t something I had considered—Beau taking off on his own—and I had no idea how to find him. I should have considered it.

I knew Port Angeles well; I drove straight to the bookstore in Jessica’s head, hoping my search would be short, but doubting it would be so easy. When did Beau ever make it easy?

Sure enough, the little shop was empty except for the anachronistically dressed woman behind the counter. This didn’t look like the kind of place Beau would be interested in—too new age for a practical person. I wondered if he’d even bothered to go in?

There was a patch of shade I could park in… It made a dark pathway right up to the overhang of the shop. I really shouldn’t. Wandering around in the sunlight hours was not safe. What if a passing car threw the sun’s reflection into the shade at just the wrong moment?

But I didn’t know how else to look for Beau!

I parked and got out, keeping to the deepest side of the shadow. I strode quickly into the store, noting the faint trace of Beau’s scent in the air. He had been here, on the sidewalk, but there was no hint of his fragrance inside the shop.

“Welcome! Can I help—“ the saleswoman began to say, but I was already out the door.

I followed Beau’s scent as far as the shade would allow, stopping when I got to the far edge of the sunlight.

How powerless it made me feel—fenced in by the line between dark and light that stretched across the sidewalk in front of me. So limited.

I could only guess that he’d continued across the street, heading south. There wasn’t really much in that direction. Was he lost? Well, that possibility didn’t sound entirely out of character.

I got back in the car and drove slowly through the streets, looking for him. I stepped out into a few other patches of shadow, but I only caught his scent once more, and the direction of it confused me. Where was he trying to go?

I drove back and forth between the bookstore and the restaurant a few times, hoping to see him on his way. Jessica and Angela were already there, trying to decide whether to order or wait for Beau. Jessica was trying to figure out what Beau would like so they could maybe order for him.

I begin flitting through the minds of strangers, looking through their eyes. Surely, someone must have seen him somewhere.

I got more and more anxious the longer he remained missing. I hadn’t considered before how difficult he might prove to find once, like now, he was out of my sight and off his normal paths. I didn’t like it.

The clouds were massing on the horizon, and, in a few more minutes, I would be free to track him on foot. It wouldn’t take me long then. It was only the sun that made me so helpless now. Just a few more minutes, and then the advantage would be mine again and it would be the human world that was powerless.

Another mind, and another. So many trivial thoughts.

…think the baby has another ear infection…

Was it six-four-oh or six-oh-four…?

Late again. I ought to tell him…

Here he comes! Aha!

There, at least, was Beau’s face. Finally, someone had noticed him!

The relief lasted for only a fraction of a second, and then I read more fully the thoughts of the man who was gloating over his face in the shadows.

His mind was a stranger to me, and yet, not totally unfamiliar. I had once hunted exactly such minds.

“NO!” I roared, and a volley of snarls erupted from my throat. My foot shoved the gas pedal to the floor, but where was I going?

I knew the general location of his thoughts, but the knowledge was not specific enough. Something, there had to be something—a street sign, a store front, something in his sight that would give away his location. But Beau was deep shadow, and the man’s eyes were focused on Beau’s frightened expression—enjoying the fear there.

Beau’s face was blurred in his mind by the memory of other faces. Young men and women, all wearing the same frightened expression. Beau was not this man’s first victim.

The sound of my growls shook the frame of the car, but did not distract me.

There were no windows in the wall behind Beau. Somewhere industrial, away from the more populated shopping district. My car squealed around a corner, swerving past another vehicle, heading in what I hoped was the right direction. By the time the other driver honked, the sound was far behind me.

Look at him shaking! The man chuckled in anticipation. The fear was the draw for him—the part he enjoyed.

“Stay away from me.” Beau’s voice was low and steady, not a scream.

“Don’t be like that.”

He watched Beau flinch to a rowdy laugh that came from another direction. He was irritated with the noise—Shut up, Jeff! He thought—but he enjoyed the way Beau cringed. It excited him. He began to imagine Beau’s pleas, the way he would beg…

I hadn’t realized that there were others with the man until I’d heard the loud laughter. I scanned out from him, desperate for something to see. He was taking the first step in Beau’s direction, flexing his hands.

The minds around him were not the cesspool that his was. They were all slightly intoxicated, not one of them realizing how far the man they called Lonnie planned to go with this. They were following Lonnie’s lead blindly. He’d promised them a little fun…

One of them glanced down the street, nervous—he didn’t want to get caught harassing the boy—and gave me what I needed. I recognized the cross street he stared toward.

I flew under a red light, sliding through a space just wide enough between two cars in the moving traffic. Horns blared behind me.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I ignored it.

Lonnie moved slowly toward Beau, drawing out the suspense—the moment of terror that aroused him. He waited for Beau’s scream, preparing to savor it.

But Beau locked his jaw and braced himself. Lonnie was surprised—he’d expected the boy to try to run. Surprised and slightly disappointed. He liked to chase his prey down, the adrenaline of the hunt.

Brave, this one. Maybe better, I guess… more fight in him.

I was a block away. The monster could hear the roar of my engine now, but he paid it no attention, too intent on his victim.

I would see how he enjoyed the hunt when he was the prey. I would see what he thought of my style of hunting.

In another compartment of my head, I was already sorting through the range of tortures I’d born witness to in my vigilante days, searching for the most painful of them. He would suffer for this. He would writhe in agony. The others would merely die for their part, but the monster named Lonnie would beg for death long before I would give him that gift.

He was in the road, crossing toward Beau.

I spun sharply around the corner, my headlights washing across the scene and freezing the rest of them in place. I could have run down the leader, who leapt out of the way, but that was too easy a death for him.

I let the car spin out, swinging all the way around so that I was facing back the way I’d come and the passenger door was closest to Beau. I threw that open, and he was already running toward the car.

“Get in,” I snarled.

What the hell?

Knew this was a bad idea! Kid’s not alone.

Should I run?

Think I’m going to throw up…

Beau jumped through the open door without hesitating, pulling it shut behind him.

And then he looked up at me with the most trustful expression I had ever seen on a human face, and all my violent plans crumbled.

It took much, much less than a second for me to see that I could not leave him in the car in order to deal with the four men in the street. What would I tell him, not to watch? Ha! When did he ever do what I asked? When did he ever do the safe thing?

Would I drag them away, out of his sight, and leave him alone here? It was a long shot that another dangerous human would be prowling the streets of Port Angeles tonight, but it was a long shot that there was even the first! Like a magnet, Beau drew all things dangerous toward himself. I could not let him out of my sight.

It would feel like part of the same motion to him as I accelerated, taking him away from his pursuers so quickly that they gaped after my car with uncomprehending expressions. He would not recognize my instant of hesitation. He would assume the plan was escape from the beginning.

I couldn’t even hit the monster with my car. That would frighten Beau.

I wanted the man’s death so savagely that the need for it rang in my ears and clouded my sight and was a flavor on my tongue. My muscles were coiled with the urgency, the craving, the necessity of it. I had to kill him. I would peel him slowly apart, piece by piece, skin from muscle, muscle from bone…

Except that the boy—the only boy in the world—was clinging to his seat with both hands, staring at me, his silver eyes still wide and utterly trusting. Vengeance would have to wait.

“Put on your seatbelt,” I ordered. My voice was rough with the hate and bloodlust. Not the usual bloodlust. I would not sully myself by taking any part of that man inside me.

He locked the seatbelt into place, jumping slightly at the sound it made. That little sound made him jump, yet he did not flinch as I tore through the town, ignoring all traffic guides. I could feel his eyes on me. He seemed oddly relaxed. It didn’t make sense to me—not with what he’d just been through.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice rough with stress and fear.

He wanted to know if I was okay?

I thought about his question for a fraction of a second. Not long enough for him to notice the hesitation. Was I okay?

“No,” I realized, and my tone seethed with rage.

I took him to the same unused drive where I’d spent the afternoon engaged in the poorest surveillance ever kept. It was black now under the trees.

I was so furious that my body froze in place there, utterly motionless. My ice-locked hands ached to crush Beau’s attacker, to grind him into pieces so mangled that his body could never be identified…

But that would entail leaving Beau here alone, unprotected in the dark night.

“Beau?” I asked through my teeth.

“Yes?” he responded huskily. He cleared his throat.

“Are you all right?” That was really the most important thing, the first priority. Retribution was secondary. I knew that, but my body was so filled with rage that it was hard to think.

“Yes.” His voice was still thick—with fear, no doubt.

And so I could not leave him.

Even if he wasn’t at constant risk for some infuriating reason—some joke the universe was playing on me—even if I could be sure that he would be perfectly safe in my absence, I could not leave him alone in the dark.

He must be so frightened.

Yet I was in no condition to comfort him—even if I knew exactly how that was to be accomplished, which I did not. Surely he could feel the brutality radiating out of me, surely that much was obvious. I would frighten him even more if I could not calm the lust for slaughter boiling inside of me.

I needed to think about something else.

“Distract me, please,” I pleaded.

“I’m sorry, what?”

I barely had enough control to try to explain what I needed.

“Please, just talk. Talk about anything you want until I calm down,” I instructed, my jaw still locked. Only the fact that he needed me held me inside the car. I could hear the man’s thoughts, his disappointment and anger… I knew where to find him… I closed my eyes, wishing that I couldn’t see anyway…

“Um…” He hesitated—trying to make sense of my request, I imagined. “I’m going to run over Tyler Crowley tomorrow before school?”

Yes—this is what I needed. Of course Beau would come up with something unexpected. The threat of violence coming through his lips was so unexpectedly jarring it was almost comical. If I had not been burning with the urge to kill, I would have laughed.

“Why?” I barked out, to force him to speak again.

“He’s telling everyone that he’s taking me to prom,” he said, his voice filled with frustration. “Either he’s insane or he’s still trying to make up for almost killing me last…well, you were there, you remember,” he inserted dryly, “and he thinks taking me to prom is somehow the correct way to do this. So I figure if I endanger his life, then we’re even, and he can’t keep trying to make amends. I don’t need enemies and maybe’s Lauren’s brother, Logan, would back off if Tyler left me alone. I might have to total his Sentra, though,” he went on, thoughtful now. “If he doesn’t have a ride he can’t take anyone to prom…”

It was encouraging to see that he sometimes got things wrong. Tyler’s persistence had more to do with the accident. Beau didn’t seem to understand the appeal he held for the human boys at the high school. Did he not see the appeal he had for me, either?

Ah, it was working. The baffling processes of his mind were always engrossing. I was beginning to gain control of myself, to see something beyond vengeance and torture…

“I heard about that,” I told him. He had stopped talking, and I needed him to continue.

“You did?” he asked incredulously. And then his voice was more frustrated than before. “If he’s paralyzed from the neck down, he can’t go to the prom either.”

I wished there was some way I could ask him to continue with his delightfully deadpan comments. He couldn’t have picked a better way to calm me. His voice somehow managed to soothe me, even thick with frustration as it now was.

I sighed, and opened my eyes.

“Better?” he asked timidly.

“Not really.”

I leaned my head back against the seat, staring at the ceiling of the car, willing my face to relax without much success.

No, I was calmer, but not better. Because I’d just realized that I could not kill the monster named Lonnie, and I still wanted that more than anything else in the world. Almost.

The only thing in this moment that I wanted more than to commit a highly justifiable murder, was this boy. And, though I couldn’t have him, just the dream of having him made it impossible for me to go on a killing spree tonight—no matter how defensible such a thing might be.

Beau deserved better than a killer.

I’d spent eight decades trying to be something other than that—anything than a killer. Those years of effort could never make me worthy of the boy sitting beside me. And yet, I felt that if I returned to that life—the life of a killer—for even one night, I would surely put him out of my reach forever. Even if I didn’t drink his attacker’s blood—even if I didn’t have that evidence blazing red in my eyes—wouldn’t he sense the difference?

I was trying to be good enough for him. It was an impossible goal. I would keep trying.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered.

His breath filled my nose, and I was reminded why I could not deserve him. After all of this, even with as much as I loved him… he still made my mouth water.

I felt a new wave of self-loathing wash over me. I couldn’t bring myself to speak, I didn’t deserve to speak to him. I was a monster. I continued to stare at the ceiling, despising myself.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, I felt his warm hand rest gently on my arm. If my heart could beat, it might have exploded out of my chest. My eyes snapped to his face, he was looking down at my arm. When he looked up to face me, his expression was gentle and concerned.

“Edward, what’s wrong?” He asked again. Hearing my name, the way he said it, with such tenderness was like a soothing balm to the core of my very being.

I could not keep anything from him. I would give him as much honestly as I could. I owed him that.

“Sometimes I have a problem with my temper, Beau.” I stared into the depths of his beautiful eyes, wishing both that he would hear the horror inherent in my words and also that he would not. Mostly that he would not. Run, Beau, run. Stay, Beau, stay. “But it wouldn’t be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those…” Just thinking about it almost pulled me from the car. I took a deep breath, letting his scent scorch down my throat. “At least, that’s what I’m trying to convince myself.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” he said softly, soothingly.

“I shouldn’t go back to those…” I struggled with the word, “Those thugs.”

Even I was unsure if I had made a statement or asked a question. Perhaps it was somewhere in the middle.

“Um, no.”

I took a deep burning breath, letting it out in a long, slow sigh.

Beau said nothing else. How much had he heard in my words? I glanced at him furtively, but his face was unreadable. Blank with shock, perhaps. Well, he wasn’t screaming. Not yet.

It was quiet for a moment. I warred with myself, trying to be what I should be. What I couldn’t be.

“Jessica and Angela will be worried,” he said quietly. His voice was very calm, and I was not sure how that could be. Was he in shock? Maybe tonight’s events hadn’t sunk in for him yet. “I was supposed to meet them.”

Did he want to be away from me?  Or was he just worried about his friends’ worry?

He slowly removed his hand from my arm. I tried not to think that meant he wanted to be away from me. I said nothing, but I started the car and took him back. Every inch closer I got to the town, the harder it was to hold on to my purpose. I was just so close to the monster…

If it was impossible—if I could never have nor deserve Beau—then where was the sense in letting the man go unpunished? Surely I could allow myself that much…

No. I wasn’t giving up. Not yet. I wanted him too much to surrender.

We were at the restaurant where he was supposed to meet his friends before I’d even begun to make sense of my thoughts. Jessica and Angela were finished eating, and both now truly worried about Beau. They were on their way to search for him, heading off along the dark street.

“How did you know where…?” Beau’s unfinished questioned interrupted me, and I realized that I had made yet another gaffe. I’d been too distracted to remember to ask him where he was supposed to meet his friends.

But instead of finishing the inquiry and pressing the point, he just shook his head and half-smiled.

What did that mean?

Well, I didn’t have time to puzzle over his strange acceptance of my stranger knowledge. I opened my door.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding startled.

Not letting you out of my sight. Not allowing myself to be alone tonight. In that order. “I’m taking you to dinner.”

Well this should be interesting. It seemed like another night entirely when I’d imagined bringing Alice along and pretending to choose the same restaurant as Beau and his friends by accident. And now, here I was, practically on a date with the boy. Only it didn’t count, because I wasn’t even giving him a chance to say no.

He already had his door half open before I’d walked around the car—it wasn’t usually so frustrating to have to move at an inconspicuous speed—instead of waiting for me to get it for him. Was this because he wasn’t used to being treated so well, or because he didn’t think of me as a gentleman?

I waited for him to join me, getting more anxious as his girlfriends continued in toward the dark corner.

“Go stop Jessica and Angela before I have to track them down, too,” I ordered quickly. “I don’t think I could restrain myself if I ran into your other friends again.” No, I would not be strong enough for that.

He shuddered, and then quickly collected himself. He took a half step after them, calling, “Jess! Angela!” in a loud voice. They turned, and he waved his arm over his head to catch their attention.

Beau! Oh, he’s safe! Angela thought with relief.

Oh, my god, I’m going to kick his butt for scaring me like that. Jessica grumbled to herself with acute relief that Beau wasn’t lost or hurt. That made me like her a little more than I had.

They hurried back, and then stopped, shocked, when they saw me beside him.

Oh. My. God. Jess thought, stunned. No freaking way!

Edward Cullen? Did Beau go away by himself to find him? But why would he ask about them being out of town if he knew he was here… I got a brief flash of Beau’s mortified expression when he’d asked Angela if my family was often absent from school. No, he couldn’t have known, Angela decided.

Jessica’s thoughts were moving past the surprise and on to excitement. Beau’s been holding out on me.

“Where have you been?” She demanded, staring at Beau, her voice full of concern.

“I got lost. And then I ran into Edward,” Beau said, waving one hand toward me. His tone was remarkably normal. Like that was truly all that had happened.

He must be in shock. That was the only explanation for his calm.

“Would it be all right if I joined you?” I asked—to be polite; I knew that they’d already eaten.

Holy crap but he’s hot! Jessica thought, her head suddenly slightly incoherent.

Angela wasn’t much more composed. Wish we hadn’t eaten. Wow. Just. Wow.

Now why couldn’t I do that to Beau?

“Er… Sure,” Jessica agreed.

Angela frowned. “Um, actually, Beau, we already ate while we were waiting,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”

What? Shut up! Jessica complained internally.

Beau shrugged casually. So at ease. Definitely in shock. “That’s fine—I’m not hungry.”

“I think you should eat something,” I disagreed. He needed sugar in his bloodstream—though it smelled sweet enough as it was, I thought wryly. The horror was going to come crashing down on him momentarily, and an empty stomach wouldn’t help. He was an easy fainter, as I knew from experience.

These girls wouldn’t be in any danger if they went straight home. Danger didn’t stalk their every step.

And I’d rather be alone with Beau—as long as he was willing to be alone with me.

“Do you mind if I drive Beau home tonight?” I said to Jessica before Beau could respond. “That way you won’t have to wait while he eats.”

“Oh, wow, that’s… so thoughtful.” Jessica bit her lip, trying to read Beau’s face, looking for some sign that this was what he wanted.

Ooh, I bet Beau wants to be alone with him. I mean, who wouldn’t? Jessica thought. At the same time, she watched Beau wink.

Beau winked.

“Okay,” Angela said quickly, in a hurry to be out of the way if that was what Beau wanted. And it seemed that he did want that. “See you tomorrow, Beau… Edward.” She struggled to say my name in a casual tone. Then she grabbed Jessica’s hand and began towing her away.

I would have to find a way to thank Angela for this.

Jessica’s car was close by and in a bright circle of light cast by a streetlamp. Beau watched them carefully, a little crease of concern between his eyes, until they were in the car, so he must be fully aware of the danger he’d been in. Jessica waved as she drove away, and Beau waved back. It wasn’t until the car disappeared that he took a deep breath and turned to look up at me.

“Honestly, I’m not hungry,” he said.

Why had he waited for them to be gone before speaking? Did he truly want to be alone with me—even now, after witnessing my homicidal rage?

Whether that was the case or not, he was going to eat something.

“Humor me,” I said.

I held the restaurant door open for him and waited.

He sighed, and walked through.

I walked beside him to the podium where the hostess waited. Beau still seemed entirely self-possessed. I wanted to touch his hand, his forehead, to check his temperature. But my cold hand would repulse him, as it had before.

Oh, my, the hostess’s rather loud mental voice intruded into my consciousness. My, oh my.

It seemed to be my night to turn heads. Or was I only noticing it more because I wished so much that Beau would see me this way? We were always attractive to our prey. I’d never thought so much about it before. Usually—unless, as with people like Shelly Cope and Jessica Stanley, there was constant repetition to dull the horror—the fear kicked in fairly quickly after the initial reaction…

“A table for two?” I prompted when the hostess didn’t speak.

“Oh, er, yes. Welcome to La Bella Italia.” Mmm! What a voice! “Please follow me.” Her thoughts were preoccupied—calculating.

Maybe they’re cousins. They couldn’t be brothers, they don’t look anything alike. But family definitely. They can’t be here on a date.

Human eyes were clouded; they saw nothing clearly. How could this small-minded woman find my physical lures—snares for prey—so attractive, and yet be unable to see the soft perfection of the boy beside me?

Well, no need to help him out, just in case, the hostess thought as she led us to a family-sized table in the middle of the most crowded part of the restaurant. Can I give him my number while he’s there…? She mused.

I pulled a bill from my back pocket. People were invariably more cooperative when money was involved.

Beau was already taking the seat the hostess indicated without objection. I shook my head at him, and he hesitated, cocking his head to one side with curiosity. Yes, he would be very curious tonight. A crowd was not the ideal place for this conversation.

“Perhaps something more private?” I requested of the hostess, handing her the money. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then narrowed while her hand curled around the tip.

“Sure.”

She peeked at the bill while she led us around a dividing wall.

Fifty dollars for a better table? Rich, too. That makes sense—I bet his jacket cost more than my last paycheck. Damn. Why are all the good ones into guys?

She offered us a booth in a quiet corner of the restaurant where no one would be able to see us—to see Beau’s reactions to whatever I would tell him. I had no clue as to what he would want from me tonight. Or what I would give him.

How much had he guessed? What explanation of tonight’s events had he told himself?

“How’s this?” the hostess asked.

“Perfect,” I told her and, feeling slightly annoyed by her resentful attitude toward Beau, I smiled widely at her, baring my teeth. Let her see me clearly.

Whoa. “Um… your server will be right out.” He can’t be real. I must be asleep. Damn. I’ve got to tell Adam about him. If I’m not his type, maybe Adam’ll get lucky… She wandered away, listing slightly to the side.

Odd. She still wasn’t frightened. I suddenly remembered Emmett teasing me in the cafeteria, so many weeks ago. I’ll bet I could have scared him better than that.

Was I losing my edge?

“You really shouldn’t do that to people,” Beau interrupted my thoughts in a disapproving tone. “It’s hardly fair.”

I stared at his critical expression. What did he mean? I hadn’t frightened the hostess at all, despite my intentions. “Do what?”

“Dazzle them like that—she’s probably hyperventilating in the kitchen right now.”

Hmm. Beau was very nearly right. The hostess was only semi-coherent at the moment, describing her incorrect assessment of me to her friend on the wait staff.

“Oh, come on,” Beau chided me when I didn’t answer immediately. “You have to know the effect you have on people.”

“I dazzle people?” That was an interesting way of phrasing it. Accurate enough for tonight. I wondered why the difference…

“You know you do,” he said, still critical. “So I don’t know why you’re acting surprised.”

I grinned at his tone.

“Do I dazzle you?” I voiced my curiosity impulsively, and then the words were out, and it was too late to recall them.

But before I had time to too deeply regret speaking the words aloud he answered, “Maybe.” And his cheeks took on a faint pink glow.

My silent heart swelled with a hope more intense than I could ever remember having felt before.

“Hello,” someone said, the server, introducing himself. His thoughts were loud, and more explicit than the hostess’s, but I tuned him out. I stared at Beau’s face instead of listening, watching the blood spreading under his skin, noticing not how that made my throat flame, but rather how it brightened his fair face, how it set off the cream of his skin…

The server was waiting for something from me. Ah, he’d asked for our drink order. I continued to stare at Beau, and the server grudgingly turned to look at him, too.

“I’ll have a coke?” Beau said, as if asking for approval.

“Two cokes,” I amended. Thirst—normal, human thirst—was a sign of shock. I would make sure he had the extra sugar from the soda in his system.

He looked healthy, though. More than healthy. He looked radiant.

“What?” He asked—wondering why I was staring, I guessed. I was vaguely aware that the server had left.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

He blinked, surprised by my question. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t feel dizzy, sick, cold…?”

He was even more confused now. “Should I?”

“Well, I’m actually waiting for you to go into shock.” I half-smiled, expecting his denial. He would not want to be taken care of.

It took him a minute to answer me. His eyes were slightly unfocused. He looked that way sometimes, when I smiled at him. Was he… dazzled?

I would love to believe that.

“I don’t think that will happen. I’ve always been very good at repressing things,” he answered, a little breathless.

Did he have a lot of practice repressing things, then? Was his life always this hazardous?

“Just the same,” I told him. “I’ll feel better when you have some sugar and food in you.”

The server returned with the cokes and a basket of bread. He put them in front of me, and asked for my order, trying to catch my eye in the process. I indicated that he should attend to Beau, and then went back to tuning him out. He had a vulgar mind.

“Um…” Beau glanced quickly at the menu. “I’ll have the mushroom ravioli.”

The server turned back to me eagerly. “And you?”

“Nothing for me.”

Beau made a slight face. Hmm. He must have noticed that I never ate food. He noticed everything. And I always forgot to be careful around him.

I waited till we were alone again.

“You should drink,” I insisted.

I was surprised when he complied immediately and without objection. He drank until the glass was entirely empty, so I pushed the second coke toward him, frowning a little. Thirst, or shock?

“No, I’m fine.” He shook his head slightly.

“I’m not going to drink it,” I said, fighting a smile

“Right,” he said, because he knew I wouldn’t drink it. He saw too much. “Thank you,” he breathed after downing the entire glass. He shuddered once.

“Are you cold?”

“It’s just the coke,” he said, but he shivered again, his lips trembling slightly as if his teeth were about to chatter.

The deep blue shirt he wore looked too thin to protect him adequately; it clung to him like a second skin, almost as fragile as the first. The deep V-cut of the collar exposing his ivory chest… I refocused my thoughts. “Don’t you have a jacket?”

“Yes.” He looked around himself, a little perplexed. “Oh—I left it in Jessica’s car.”

I pulled off my jacket, wishing that the gesture was not marred by my body temperature. It would have been nice to have been able to offer him a warm coat. He stared at me, his cheeks warming again. What was he thinking now?

I handed him the jacket across the table, and he put it on at once, and then shuddered again.

Yes, it would be very nice to be warm.

“Thank you,” he said. He took a deep breath, and then pushed the too-long sleeves back to free his hands. He took another deep breath.

Was the evening finally settling in? His color was still good; his skin was cream and roses against the deep blue of his shirt. My eyes wandered down his jaw, following the line of his neck, along his collarbone, and down his lean chest…

“That color blue looks wonderful with your skin,” I complimented him. Just being honest.

He flushed, enhancing the effect.

He looked well, but there was no point in taking chances. I pushed the basket of bread toward him.

“Really,” he objected, guessing my motives. “I’m not going into shock.”

“Humor me?” I smiled at him.

He rolled his eyes, picking up a breadstick.

I laughed. “Good boy.”

“Don’t push your luck,” He narrowed his eyes at me.

“I don’t know how you can be so blasé about this. You should be upset—anyone else would be. You don’t even look shaken.” I stared at him, disapproving, wondering why he couldn’t be normal and then wondering if I really wanted him to be that way.

“I feel safe with you,” he said, his eyes, again, filled with trust. Trust I didn’t deserve.

His instincts were all wrong—backwards. That must be the problem. He didn’t recognize the danger the way a human being should be able to. He had the opposite reaction. Instead of running, he lingered, drawn to what should frighten him…

How could I protect him from myself when neither of us wanted that?

“This is more complicated than I’d planned,” I murmured.

I could see him turning my words over in his head, and I wondered what he made of them. He took a bit out of the breadstick without seeming fully aware of the action. He chewed for a moment, and then leaned his head to one side thoughtfully.

“Usually you’re in a better mood when your eyes are so light,” he said in a casual tone.

His observation, stated so matter of factually, left me reeling. “What?”

“You’re always crabbier when your eyes are black—I expect it then. I have a theory about that.”

So he had come up with his own explanation. Of course he had. I felt a deep sense of dread as I wondered how close he’d come to the truth.

“More theories?”

“Mm-hm.” He chewed on another bite, entirely nonchalant. As if he weren’t discussing the aspects of a monster with the monster himself.

“I hope you were more creative this time…” I lied when he didn’t continue. What I really hoped was that he was wrong—miles wide off the mark. “Or are you still stealing from comic books?”

“Well, no, I didn’t get it from a comic book,” he said, a little embarrassed. “but I didn’t come up with it on my own, either.”

“And?” I asked between my teeth.

Surely he would not speak so calmly if he were about to scream.

As he hesitated, biting his lip, the server reappeared with Beau’s food. I paid the server little attention as he set the plate in front of Beau and then asked if I wanted anything.

I declined, but asked for more coke. The server hadn’t noticed the empty glasses. He took them and left.

“You were saying?” I prompted anxiously as soon as we were alone again.

“I’ll tell you about it in the car,” he said in a low voice. Ah, this would be bad. He wasn’t willing to speak his guesses around others. “If…” he tacked on suddenly.

“There are conditions?” I was so tense I wasn’t sure how my tone sounded.

“I do have a few questions, of course.”

“Of course,” I agreed, my voice hard.

His questions would probably be enough to tell me where his thoughts were heading. But how would I answer them? With responsible lies? Or would I drive him away with the truth? Or would I say nothing, unable to decide?

We sat in silence while the server replenished his supply of soda.

“Well, go ahead,” I said, jaw locked, when the server was gone.

“Why are you in Port Angeles?”

That was too easy a question—for him. It gave nothing away, while my answer, if truthful, would give away too much. Let him reveal something first.

“Next,” I said.

“But that’s the easiest one!”

“Next,” I said again.

He was frustrated by my refusal. He rolled his eyes, and looked away from me. He unrolled his silverware and picked up his fork, looking down at his food. Slowly, thinking hard, he took a bite and chewed with deliberation. He washed it down with more coke, and then finally looked up at me. His eyes were narrow with suspicion.

“Okay, then,” he said. “Let’s say, hypothetically, of course, that… someone… could know what people are thinking, read minds, you know—with just a few exceptions.”

It could be worse.

This explained that little half-smile in the car. He was quick—no one else had ever guessed this about me. Except for Carlisle, and it had been rather obvious then, in the beginning, when I’d answered all his thoughts as if he’d spoken them to me. He’d understood before I had…

This question wasn’t so bad. While it was clear that he knew that there was something wrong with me, was not as serious as it could have been. Mind-reading was, after all, not a facet of the vampire cannon. I went along with his hypothesis.

“Just one exception,” I corrected. “Hypothetically.”

He fought a smile—my vague honestly pleased him. “All right, with one exception, then. How does that work? What are the limitations? How would… that someone… find something else at exactly the right time? How would he know that he was in trouble?”

“Hypothetically?”

“Sure.” His lips twitched, and his liquid silver eyes were eager.

“Well,” I hesitated. “If… that someone…”

“Let’s call him ‘Joe,’” he suggested, a wry smile on his lips.

I had to smile at his enthusiasm. Did he really think the truth would be a good thing? If my secrets were pleasant, why would I keep them from him?

“Joe, then,” I agreed. “If Joe had been paying attention, the timing wouldn’t have needed to be quite so exact.” I shook my head and repressed a shudder at the thought of how close I had been to being too late today. Even then, I had to roll my eyes at the situation. “Only you could get into trouble in a town this small. You would have devastated their crime rate statistics for a decade, you know.”

“I don’t see how this is my fault.” His voice was sharply disapproving. His lips turned down at the corners.

I examined his face, frustrated that I had upset him. “I don’t either.” I admitted. “But I don’t know who to blame.” Who could I blame for his extraordinary bad luck?

“Don’t blame me then, I don’t appreciate it.” He said, pointedly.

His lips, his skin… they looked so soft. I wanted to touch them. I wanted to press my fingertip against the corner of his frown and turn it up. Impossible. My skin would be repellent to him.

“My apologies.” I said softly. I regretted upsetting him.

He leaned across the table toward me, all irritation suddenly gone from his wide eyes.

“How did you know?” he asked, his voice low and intense.

Should I tell him the truth? And, if so, what portion?

I wanted to tell him. I wanted to deserve the trust I could still see on his face.

“You can trust me, you know,” he whispered, and he reached one hand forward as if to touch my hands where they rested on top of the empty table before me.

A part of me craved his touch, but I still pulled them back—hating the thought of his reaction to my frigid stone skin—and he pulled his own hand back.

“I want to trust you.” My voice was low, soft. “But that doesn’t mean I should.”

I knew that I could trust him with protecting me secrets; he was entirely trustworthy, good to the core. But I couldn’t trust him not to be horrified by them. He should be horrified. The truth was horror.

“Please?” His voice was gentle and soothing again.

I read his eyes; though his mind was silent, I could perceive both trust and wonder there. I realized in that moment that I wanted to answer his questions. Not because I owed it to him. Not because I wanted him to trust me.

I wanted him to know me.

“I followed you to Port Angeles,” I told him, the words spilling out too quickly for me to edit them. I knew the danger of the truth, the risk I was taking. At any moment, his unnatural calm could shatter into hysterics. Contrarily, knowing this only had me talking faster. “I’ve never tried to keep a specific person alive before, and it’s much more troublesome than I would have believed. But that’s probably just because you are a magnet for trouble.”

I watched him, waiting.

He smiled. His lips curved up at the edges, and his silver eyes warmed.

I’d just admitted to stalking him, and he was smiling.

“A runaway van and a group of drunk thugs hardly makes me a magnet for trouble.” He countered. I didn’t know what to say so I remained silent. He seemed to reflect for moment before speaking again. He examined my face carefully, and his own turned serious again.

“You put yourself into that category, then? Of trouble?” he asked, softly.

Honestly was more important in regard to this question than any other. “Unequivocally.”

His eyes narrowed slightly—not suspicious now, but oddly concerned. He reached his hand across the table again, slowly and deliberately. I pulled my hands an inch away from him, but he ignored that, determined to touch me. I held my breath—not because of his scent now, but because of the sudden overwhelming tension. Fear. My skin would disgust him. He would run away.

He brushed his fingertips lightly across the back of my hand. The heat of his gentle, willing touch was like nothing I’d ever felt before. It was almost pure pleasure.

A half-smile turned up the corners of his lips.

“Thank you,” he said, meeting my stare with an intense gaze of his own. “That’s twice now.”

His soft fingers lingered on my hand as if they found it pleasant to be there.

I answered as casually as I was able. “Let’s not try for three, agreed?”

He narrowed his eyes, but he was still smiling.

“Did you ever think that maybe my number was up the first time, with the van, and that you’ve been interfering with face?” he asked.

I felt my body tense.

“Edward?”

“That wasn’t the first time,” I said, staring down at the dark maroon table cloth, my shoulders bowed in shame. My barriers were down, the truth spilling free recklessly, like his touch somehow had some power over me to compel the truth out me. “Your number was up the first time I met you.”

It was true, and it angered me. I had been positioned over his life like the blade of a guillotine. It was as if he had been marked for death by some cruel, unjust fate, and, since I’d proved an unwilling tool—that same fate continued to try to execute him. I imagined the fate personified—a grisly, jealous hag, a vengeful harpy.

I wanted something, someone, to be responsible for this—so that I would have something concrete to fight against. Something, anything to destroy, so that Beau could be safe.

Beau was very quiet; his breathing accelerated.

I looked up at him, knowing I would finally see the fear I was waiting for. Had I not just admitted to how close I’d been to killing him? Closer than the van that had come within slim inches of crushing him. And yet, his face was still calm, his eyes still tightened only with concern, and his warm hand still lingered on my own.

“You remember?” He had to remember that. “You understand?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice level and grave. His deep eyes were full of awareness.

He knew. He knew that I had wanted to murder him.

Where were the screams?

“You can leave, you know,” the words were like knives. It was the exact opposite of what I wanted, and yet, I had to be strong enough to allow him this chance to escape me. “You could take my car and drive home.”

I waited while he considered my offer. I wanted him to run. I wanted him to escape me, to be safe from me. And yet, I knew if he did leave it would destroy me. I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to love me.

“I don’t want to leave.”

My emotions warred with each other. My elation at his choosing to stay, choosing to stay with me, and yet the keen frustration that he would so willingly put himself in danger.

Hopelessly, I pushed one more time at the barrier that protected his thoughts, desperate to understand. It made no logical sense to me. How could he even care about the rest with that glaring truth on the table.

“How can you say that?” I felt helpless, having to voice my question out loud.

He didn’t answer, he simply sat and watched me. Then his hand squeezed mine. I felt a thrill of fear that he would be repulsed this time. My hand was unyielding stone under his… and yet, he didn’t so much as flinch. His hand stayed wrapped around mine. His eyes continued to watch my face. He wanted to stay. He would stay with me.

I didn’t know what to think of any of it. I used to be so sure of everything. I used to know what I was doing. I used to be always so sure of my course. And now everything was chaos and tumult.

Yet, I wouldn’t trade it. I didn’t want the life that made sense. Not if the chaos meant that I could be with Beau.

“You didn’t finish answering my question,” he said suddenly, pulling me from my reverie. “How did you find me?”

He waited, only curious. His skin was pale, which was natural for him, but it still concerned me. His dinner sat nearly untouched in front of him. If I continued to tell him too much, he was going to need a buffer when the shock wore off.

I named my terms. “You eat, I’ll talk.”

He processed that for half a second, and then slowly removed his hand from mine. I ached for the exquisiteness of his touch almost as soon as his hands had left. He picked up his fork and threw a bite of food into his mouth with a speed that belied his calm and popped it in his mouth.

“It’s harder than it should be—keeping track of you,” I told him. “Usually I can find someone very easily, once I’ve heard their mind before.”

I watched his face carefully as I said this. Guessing right was one thing, having it confirmed was another.

He was motionless, his eyes wide. I felt my teeth clench together as I waited for his panic.

But he just blinked once, swallowed loudly, and then quickly scooped another bite into his mouth. He wanted me to continue.

“I was keeping tabs on Jessica, not carefully—I honestly didn’t think you’d find trouble in Port Angeles—“ I couldn’t resist adding that. Did he realize that other human lives were not so plagued with near death experiences, or did he think he was normal? He was the furthest thing from normal I’d ever encountered.

“And at first I didn’t notice when you took off on your own. Then, when I realized that you weren’t with her anymore, I went looking for you at the bookstore I saw in her head. I could tell that you hadn’t gone in, and that you’d gone south… and I knew you would have to turn around soon. So I was just waiting for you, randomly searching through the thoughts of people on the street— to see if anyone had noticed you so I would know where you were. I had no reason to be worried… but I was strangely anxious.…” My breath came faster as I remembered that feeling of panic. His scent blazed in my throat and I was glad. It was a pain that meant he was alive. As long as I burned, he was safe.

“I started to drive in circles, still…   listening. The sun was finally setting, and I was about to get out and follow you on foot. And then—”

As the memory took me—perfectly clear and vivid as if I was in the moment again—I felt the same murderous fury wash through my body, locking it into ice.

I wanted that monster, Lonnie, dead. I needed him dead. My jaw clenched tight as I concentrated on holding myself here at the table. Beau still needed me. That was what mattered.

“Then what?” he whispered, his silver eyes wide.

“I heard what they were thinking,” I said through my teeth, unable to keep the words from coming out in a growl. “I saw your face in his mind.”

I could hardly resist the urge to kill. I still knew precisely where to find him. His black thoughts sucked at the night sky, pulling me toward them…

I covered my face, knowing my expression was that of a monster, a hunter, a killer. I fixed his image behind my closed eyes to control myself, focusing only on his face. The delicate framework of his bones, the thin sheath of his pale skin—like silk stretched over glass, incredibly soft and easy to shatter. He was too vulnerable for this world. He needed a protector. And, through some twisted mismanagement of destiny, I was the closet thing available.

I tried to explain my violent reaction so that he would understand.

“It was very… hard—you can’t imagine how hard—for me to simply take you away, and leave them… alive,” I whispered. “I could have let you go with Jessica and Angela, but I was afraid if you left me alone, I would go looking for them.”

For the second time tonight, I confessed to murder. At least this one was defensible.

He was quiet as I struggled to control myself. I listened to his heartbeat. The rhythm was irregular, but it slowed as the time passed until it was steady again. His breathing, too, was low and even.

I was too close to the edge. I needed to get him home before…

Would I kill that low-life, then? Would I become a murderer again when Beau trusted me? Was there any way to stop myself?

He’d promised to tell me his latest theory when we were alone. Did I want to hear it? I was anxious for it, but would the reward for my curiosity be worse than not knowing?

At any rate, he must have had enough truth for one night.

I looked at him again, and his face was paler than before, but composed.

“Are you ready to go home?” I asked.

“I’m ready to leave,” he said, choosing his words carefully, as if a simple ‘yes’ did not fully express what he wanted to say.

Frustrating.

The server returned. He’d heard Beau’s last statement as he’d dithered on the other side of the partition, wondering what more he could offer me. I wanted to roll my eyes at some of the offerings he had in mind.

“How are we doing?” he asked me.

“We’re ready for the check, thank you,” I told him, my eyes on Beau.

The server’s breathing spiked and he was momentarily—to use Beau’s phrasing—dazzled by my voice.

In a sudden moment of perception, hearing the way my voice sounded in this inconsequential human’s head, I realized why I seemed to be attracting so much admiration tonight—unmarred by the usual fear.

It was because of Beau. Trying so hard to be safe for him, to be less frightening, to be human, I truly had lost my edge. The other humans only saw beauty now, with my innate horror so carefully under control.

I looked up at the server, waiting for him to recover himself. It was sort of humorous, now that I understood the reason.

“S-sure,” he stuttered. “Here you go.”

He handed me the folder with the bill, thinking of the card he’d slid in behind the receipt. A card with his name and phone number on it.

Yes, it was rather funny.

I had money ready again. I gave the folder back at once, so he wouldn’t waste any time waiting for a call that would never come.

“No change,” I told him, hoping the size of the tip would assuage his disappointment.

I stood, and Beau quickly followed suit. I wanted to offer him my hand, but I thought that might be pushing my luck a little too far for one night. I thanked the server, my eyes never leaving Beau’s face. Beau seemed to be finding something amusing, too.

We walked out; I walked as close beside him as I dared. Close enough that the warmth coming off his body was like a physical touch against the left side of my body. As I held the door open for him, he sighed quietly, and I wondered what regret made him sad. I stared into his eyes, about to ask, when he suddenly looked at the ground, seeming embarrassed. It made me more curious, even as it made me reluctant to ask. The silence between us continued while I opened the door for him and then got into the car.

I turned the heater on—the warmer weather had come to an abrupt end; the cold car must be uncomfortable for him. He huddled in my jacket, a small smile on his lips.

I waited postponing conversation until the lights of the boardwalk faded. It made me feel more alone with him.

Was that the right thing? Now that I was focused only on him, the car seemed very small. His scent swirled through it with the current of the heater, building and strengthening. It grew into its own force, like another entity in the car. A presence that demanded recognition.

It had that; I burned. The burning was acceptable, though. It seemed strangely appropriate to me. I had been given so much tonight—more than I’d expected. And here he was, still willingly at my side. I owed something in return for that. A sacrifice. A burnt offering.

Now if I could just keep it to that; just burn, and nothing more. But the venom filled my mouth, and my muscles tensed in anticipation, as if I were hunting…

I had to keep such thoughts from my mind. And I knew that would distract me.

“Now,” I said to him, fear of his response taking the edge off the burn. “It’s your turn.”

[automaticpostinfluencer]

Zhang vs. Joanna; and Tony and Khabib, as well

Sometimes, to dig up the shiniest gems among sports performances, we have to look way deep into history. Like … three weeks back.

Zhang Weili made the first defense of her UFC strawweight championship on March 7, and her back-and-forth battle of attrition with former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk was an instant classic. It’s surely on the short list of greatest fights in MMA history. It might well be the finest ever in the women’s game.

And it returns to make our hearts pound on Saturday night, as part of a three-hour ESPN presentation of big fights from the UFC archives.

1 Related

The weekend lineup also features Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson — but not in the cage together, naturally. We’ve become accustomed to seeing these two lightweights orbiting each other without colliding. They’ve been booked to meet in the Octagon five times, and the first four bouts fell by the wayside because of various injuries to each man. Now Nurmagomedov and Ferguson are scheduled to finally fight April 18, with a location still to be announced. Will it finally happen, under the most improbable of circumstances? Or will the coronavirus pandemic scuttle booking No. 5?

Let’s not occupy our minds by weighing those possibilities. Let’s just enjoy the fights we have right in front of us. Here is what’s in store on Saturday night:

Fans got their kicks watching Zhang Weili, left, defend her belt against Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Caitlin O’Hara for ESPN

ESPN, 8 p.m. ET

The setup: Jedrzejczyk won the championship in 2015 and defended the belt five times, leaving an indelible mark on the 115-pound weight class. Even after “Joanna Champion” was dethroned, she remained the face of the division for many fans, because her first two successors managed but one successful title defense between them. Then along comes Zhang. She is just getting started as champ, winning the belt in August with a 42-second TKO of Jessica Andrade, and now is putting the strap on the line for the first time. Who owns the future at strawweight?

The moment to look for: We can’t choose just one. This fight is one, long highlight reel. But there is one pivotal moment: With about two minutes to go in Round 4, Zhang lands a straight right hand to Jedrzejczyk’s forehead, which becomes swollen in a big way right before our eyes.

The stat to take away (from Andrew Davis of ESPN Stats & Information): The 351 combined significant strikes are the third most in a UFC fight. Zhang absorbs more strikes in this fight than she did in her first four UFC bouts combined.

Watch the fight on ESPN+ by clicking here

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone took a wee bit of damage in his fight with Tony Ferguson. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

ESPN, 9 p.m.

The setup: Ferguson is a little over a year removed from having his scheduled challenge of lightweight champion Nurmagomedov derailed when he injured his knee. How did Ferguson hurt himself? Not by overdoing his training in the gym; that would be too normal for this pairing. He was injured while walking out of a TV studio following a promotional appearance. Hyping the fight killed the fight!

Once “El Cucuy” recovered, he started rebuilding his case for a title shot. After knocking out former champ Anthony Pettis, Ferguson now is booked against Cerrone, who has won his past three fights — the most recent win coming just four weeks prior.

Monday through Friday, host Mina Kimes brings you an inside look at the most interesting stories at ESPN, as told by the top reporters and insiders on the planet. Listen

The moment to look for: Anyone who has ever had a broken nose will tell you to avoid blowing your nose. It’s something you learn from experience. Cerrone sure does learn his lesson at the end of Round 2.

The stat to take away: Ferguson outlands Cowboy 104-68 in significant strikes, all of which occur on the feet, according to UFC Stats.

Watch the fight on ESPN+ by clicking here

Other fights to be shown during the hour: Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga (men’s flyweight, June 29, 2019); and Joaquim Silva vs. Jared Gordon (lightweight, Dec. 15, 2018).

Khabib Nurmagomedov showed off his unflappable ability to control fights on the canvas. Per Haljestam/USA Today Sports

ESPN, 10 p.m.

The setup: Nurmagomedov is back. This is his first bout since the crazy October 2018 night when he fought two fights — first choking out Conor McGregor inside the Octagon, then leaping the fence to attack McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis. For that unsanctioned second fight, Nurmagomedov drew a $500,000 fine and a nine-month suspension. While the champ was on the shelf, Poirier earned an interim title by battering featherweight champion Max Holloway and running his unbeaten streak to six.

The moment to look for: In the first minute of Round 3, Poirier puts Nurmagomedov in more trouble than the undefeated champ has ever seen. The sequence that follows is submission grappling gold.

The stat to take away: Nurmagomedov scores seven takedowns, the second most of his UFC career. He has 8 minutes, 54 seconds of control time.

Watch the fight on ESPN+ by clicking here

Source link

from WordPress http://justtoosilly.com/2020/03/27/zhang-vs-joanna-and-tony-and-khabib-as-well/

[ans-atkins]

Hurt Me

Jeff Atkins x Reader Request: Babes can you do a jeff imagine where him and reader get into a huge fight before jess’ party and don’t even speak to each other in the party but reader goes for a beer run and gets into an accident. No deaths and all tho. Do something about him being jealous xxx Word Count: 1,465 A/N: Ugh after a tough week, here we go. I have finals next week and then I’m done! Except I’m going to summer school and looking for a job😭 But again, I’ll still have some free time! And I’ll have some free time over the weekend because I don’t have school Monday! WOOOO I’m excited lol. Also, sorry this took so long! :( Oh and, I’m gonna start tagging people in their requests now.😌 Warnings: None?😂 Italics = You, Bold = Jeff, Italicized Bold = Monty (Y/F/C) = Your favorite color

The relationship between you and Jeff Atkins had been really rough lately. Fortunately you guys had started off really strong, but in these short months it seemed that he was developing trust issues. In your eyes, it wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t trust you, it was that he was skeptical of the guys around you. Especially with Montgomery De La Cruz and Bryce Walker constantly hitting on you, he was worried that he would lose you. Time and time again you tried to assure him that there wasn’t anyone else and there would never be anyone else, but it didn’t seem to convince Jeff at all. His actions were really starting to aggravate you, so you decided to talk to him about it. You left your last period early to wait for Jeff outside of his last class. Whenever you had reached your destination, the bell had rung and the people inside the room started to file out. Jeff, as usual, was the last out of the classroom. Your boyfriend’s tall, lean body made his way over to you, with a small smile plastered on his face. He intertwined his fingers with yours and placed a peck on your cheek. Giving him a weak grin, you pulled him towards the exit of the school. “We need to talk.” The expression on his face fell, as he assumed the worst. When you had reached your car, you turned leaning against the automobile to face him. You sighed before finally saying more, “Do you want to break up?” Jeff’s eyes widened from your question, as he shouted out an immediate response, “No! Of course not. Why would you think that?” It was evident that he was shocked and hurt, but you felt that it was something that needed to be asked, especially with his actions lately. Playing with the hem of your shirt, you stared at the ground underneath you. “You don’t trust me Jeff, it’s so obvious that you don’t.” “So that’s what all of this is about? Seriously?” His tone of voice had angered you. Sure you’ve had this conversation many times, but this time the conversation had become way more strenuous. “This is important Jeff! Our relationship is suffering from this.” Scuffing, he ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth a bit. “You do realize that you spend more time with other guys than you do with me right? How am I supposed to feel?” You shook your head, knowing that his complaint was directed towards the fact that you tutor Monty. “For all I know, you could be cheating on me with him.” “Do you really think Monty would do that to you? Do you really think I would do that to you?” The tears that had formed in your eyes skimmed down your smooth skin. His comment had deeply pained you, but it confirmed the fact that Jeff didn’t trust you. Stepping around to the left side, you opened the car door. You gave him no time to respond to your question before saying, “Maybe we should take a break. I’ll see you later Jeff.” Getting in, you inserted the key into the ignition, pulling off towards home. It was evident that Jeff has made you upset, but you brushed it off, encouraging yourself to be happy so you could have a good time at Jessica’s party tonight. As soon as you’d gotten home, you rushed up to your room. Plopping face first onto your bed, you closed your eyes for a much needed nap. Upon waking up, you hopped out of bed and stretched your limbs. Quickly grabbing an outfit, you laid it out on your bed before going to get in the shower. You let the hot water run over your body for a while before getting out. It had been the most refreshing thing out of your whole day. You applied a little makeup then threw on a pair of jeans, with a (Y/F/C) top. The events from earlier flooded your head as you walked out of the door. You know there was a one hundred percent chance of seeing Jeff at the party, but no matter what you wanted to make sure you had a good time. The ride to Jessica’s was a pretty long one, you’d decided to take a different way to prolong the drive. Once you had gotten there, you strolled up to the door and walked in. You could tell that you had arrived later by the stench of alcohol and the apparent drunks that stumbled around. As you made a beeline to the backyard where the ping pong table was set up, you received a bunch of greetings from pretty much everyone. Being Jeff’s girlfriend definitely involved being around the majority of Liberty High, but you had grown used to knowing a lot of people. When you had gotten near the back area, there were a few individuals around playing beer pong, and you noticed Monty among the few. Giving him a small wave, you went off to sit in a nearby chair. You couldn’t get drunk because you were your own ride home, and you didn’t want to participate in the activities inside the house in fear of spotting Jeff. Being alone had really made you think more about earlier, which was exactly what you wanted to avoid. Seeing all these people around having fun made you want to do something reckless.  Rising from your seat in hopes of finding something daring to do, you started to make your way in but bumped into Monty. “Sorry,” you mumbled, as you tried to move around his figure. “Wait,” Monty slurred and he gained a firm grip on your arm. The alcohol on his breath was very prominent and made your nose wrinkle. “Can you make a bear run for us?” Holding up a can, he shook it, showing you it was empty. “We’re out.” Sighing you agreed, partly because you had nothing else to do. Making your way back to the front door, you spotted Jeff in a game of suck and blow. It shouldn’t have, but it did hurt you, and of course you had only blamed yourself for his actions. Shaking your head, you jogged the rest of the way to your car, not wanting to linger on the scene any longer. Starting it up, you pressed on the gas a little too hard. Oddly enough the speed gave you the rush of adrenaline you’ve been seeking all night. You had arrived at an intersection, which you were almost positive there had been a stop sign there once. However, you Ignored the fact and continued. It was too late when you had failed to notice the other car bolting towards your side. The other vehicle hit you and the impact from the collision turned everything black. When you woke up, your vision was a bit blurry at first. Holding up an arm to shield your eyes from the harsh lights, you tried to sit up but couldn’t. Your whole body was in pain, and it was a struggle to move. Not to mention you couldn’t even remember what happened. You could make out a few bodies in the room, but couldn’t quite identify who everyone was. Feeling a squeeze on your right hand, you tried to turn your head. Growing frustrated, you tried to sit up again, but a hand on your chest stopped you. “It’s okay baby, stay down.” Easily identifying that voice as Jeff, you relaxed a bit. “W-what happened?” “You got in a car accident, you’re gonna be okay. Look I know we weren’t on good terms but if you were drunk then-” He stopped mid sentence and looked at you. “I’m sorry, you know I love you right? And I trust you, I really do. I promise when you get out things will be different.” Your attempt to chuckle sent you into a coughing fit making everyone rush towards your bed, but you waved a handing notifying them that you were okay. “I love you too Jeff.” You took this moment of silence to catch a glimpse around the room. Most of your friends were here, and it made you smile that you had people that cared about you. “So when do I get out?” Intensively staring at your boyfriend, he hesitated to respond. “They said it could be a few months. The doctors are surprised you even made it out alive, your injuries are really bad. I thought I was going to lose you.” You groaned, “That’s too long.” Jeff and a few others laughed, wondering how the time frame was the only thing you were currently worried about. “It’s no worry princess, I’ll be here every step of the way.”

~A

@rashnaxo

[psychedelic-rejects]

Sorry / Jeff Atkins & Zach Dempsey

Requests are open.

Requested

Warning: Emotional content

Flashback;

Zach’s POV

She was absolutely breathtaking, I couldn't help but just stare at her- her eyes were bright and filled with kindness, her lips were slightly parted as she concentrated, her hair fell to the side of her neck and scent smelled heavenly, God, I cant help myself - she is beautiful in many ways that I cannot even express; she was my definition of perfect and no one could tell me otherwise. Each day I spent tutoring her was like a day in heaven, she was my muse and the reason my heart was beating everyday but I watched as she fell for my friend, He is a great guy to be honest and I don't even blame him for falling for her but I just wished I had the chance to make her mine.

“Zach, is this correct?” she snapped me out of my trance as she held her notebook in front of my face.

“Yes, it is actually” I smiled but it was fake, not fake for her but fake at the meaning of smile.

Watching as her expression switched from confused and concerned to being happy and seeing her smile was my greatest achievement, Her mere presence was enough to kick start my day.

“Baby!” she squeaked and kicked back her chair as she stood up and ran into the arms of another, my heart was crushed but I had to play it cool.

“Hey Jeff” another fake smile spread across my lips.

I couldn't do anything but I simply woke up from the chair and headed towards the exit before my heart crumbled, this life was not meant for me, this thing called love was oblivious to my existence. I walked over to my locker and pressed my head against it to collect my thoughts and push it aside for a while, taking in a deep breath to control myself from feeling this way and then returning back to reality as I opened up my locker to collect my things and shut it lock, I turned around and saw them once more- Her smile was wide and she held his hand that hung loosely around her shoulders as he pulled her closer and pecked a kiss on the side of her forehead, I watched them as they walked by and my heart literally broke down and I felt the tears form but I never let them slip down.

“You love her don't you?” I heard an unfamiliar voice from beside me and I turned to see Hannah Baker standing there.

“I don't know what you’re talking about” I spat

“I know that look more than anyone here, that is the look of love and admiration and it is also the look of secrecy and loneliness” she spoke and each of her word sounded a little too familiar because it was the truth, it was my truth.

“He is a good friend of mine and they make each other happy. Who am I to stand in the way of that?” I sighed and eventually gave in to what she spoke of, I couldn't hide it anymore and I felt the need to share my loneliness with someone and maybe they might understand.

“Will you go out with me?” I asked

“No Zach, I will not go out with you, just because you cant have the person you want does not mean you can use me to get over her.” her words came out harsh and with the emotions I was harboring, I couldn't contain myself from feeling absolutely pissed.

“screw you” I walked off in such a hurry after I had punched the locker and probably caused a scene but I wasn't thinking straight and I regret my words.

In the Present...

Y/N’S POV

My mind has repeatedly gone back to that moment when my whole entire world fell apart, it was around 1AM after I had already headed home from Jessica Davis’ house party, I knew I shouldn't have left but my parents were strict on curfew, I left Jeff behind and that is my biggest regret.

I can still feel my phone buzzing from under my pillow as I slept, I can still remember waking up and hearing the cracked voice of Clay over the phone as he informed me of the devastating news that Jeff had left us that early morning. I can still feel numbness that shot through me in that split second and then feeling everything crashing down on me all at once. The sound of screams and cries still echo through my rooms and down the hall of the house as I fell to my knees with plenty of tears streaming my down my face- I can still feel the burning of my throat and lungs as I screamed.

For days I couldn't sleep, I had been brought to the hospital under mental health care because I was consumed to major depression which is the absolute worse- it creeps upon me at night when I least expect it, all those negative thought drown me until 4am when I am able to sleep after crying hours upon hours. I would hyperventilate and rock myself back and forth like a mad person but that's how I felt, He was the nicest person I had ever had the pleasure of meeting and the world took him from me- he was my person and he deserved better than that. I was on medications and was prescribed to see a counsellor four times a week for Psychotherapy and it actually did help, they weren't exactly what I imagined but it was aiding my mental health until I seemed normal again and I had a different view of life.

After Jeff’s death I had gotten closer to Zach because I know apart from Clay, he was the next close thing to Jeff and he was having some difficult times to wrap his head around things ever since that night. He was extremely supportive and with the recent passing of another friend- we had each other to be strong with and I cant tell you enough how I appreciated this, it took me about 2 months to seem normal again but with his help it had been such a load off.

“Hey how are you doing?” Zach asked

“I'm doing well enough now, thank you” I smiled

“I know this might seem too soon but I was wondering if you would like to go out sometimes?” he asked but he was too nice to say no to and part of psychotherapy was that I had to accept the past event and let it be the past, I had to move on from what made me suffer and not look back to it.

“yes, I would like that” I felt ready but terrified.

Hi prominent smile caused me to smile as well and I stocked off to first period, I liked to get there before the class even begins but I bumped into a nerve wracking clay Jensen, his scars seemed to be healing but with a lot of time- his breathing was rapid and heavy, he had the look of derange in his eyes and he had bloodshot eyes.

“Are you okay Clay?” I asked concerned

“No, No I'm not- I have been going crazy with all these tapes and wondering when my name will come up” he stated but I had no idea what he was talking about

Furring my eyebrows in confusion I spoke up “What? what tapes?”

“You haven't heard them yet? your name appeared to be in it but only once, would you want to listen?” he answered

“Of course” I replied concerned but at the same time I didn't know what to expect and I am not sure of what or how to feel.

“You’re going to tell me this one’s no big deal but let me tell you about being lonely. Humans are a social species, We rely on connections to survive Even the most basic social interactions help keep us alive. Statistics prove the subjective feeling of loneliness can increase the likelihood of premature death by 26%.  If it sounds like I’m quoting from a school textbook I am.  Too bad nobody bothered to read it.  And let me tell you  there’s all kinds of ways to feel lonely

but let me tell you about that one specific lonely eyed boy I am talking about, my friend Kat had told me about me he was so sweet once upon a time, so sweet.

well, Zach Dempsey. Welcome to your tape”

I was so confused of how this was related to me but I kept on listening in hopes to gain more content

“See Zach, you didn't take rejection all that well now did you? I saw how nice you were to me but I didn't want to be your rebound after you couldn't get the girl you wanted and Y/N if you’re listening to this tape then here you are, sorry Zach but she has to find out the truth eventually and here it is- my truth; See Y/N, Zach had always had a crush on you but he never said so to spare his friends feeling and I know you are probably wondering how this is relevant to my death which is what I will explain.

It was once specific afternoon after Zach had tutored you, I saw how he looked at you during your sessions and after you were done- I noticed how he admired you from the hallways but always had to turn away whenever Jeff said hello to him.

See, I confronted Zach on having a crush on you and he admitted to it but then had this wild thought that he should ask me out because he was lonely and I rejected him- he had negative comments to say and his anger couldn't be controlled and I already had so much going on in my life that his negative words was another sign that lead me to doing what I did, it was because of you that he had his outburst but don't get me wrong, you are not on this tape for me- you should know the truth just like everyone should, you were genuinely nice to me  and your kindness helped me live for another day but sadly I couldn't stay anymore but thank you and I am sorry.

As for you Zach, I needed you to be true and you failed me and now we will see how things turn out for you, well others will see”

The tape ended and I was in tears at this point, clay watched my features change and now I understood how he felt and what he had been going through while listening to this heartbreaking message from Hannah.

I had so many mixed emotions but I know that I couldn't go out with Zach anymore, I feel like I don't even know him at this point.

I spotted him with his clique as they spoke and laughed with whatever joke one of them made.

“Hey Y/N!” he smiled but then it dropped as soon as he noticed my tears

“I am not going out with you” I spat and earned some ‘ooh’ noises from his so called friends.

He pulled me aside and away from everyone “Why?” he asked shooting me a saddened expression, Hannah was right, he had loneliness hidden behind his eyes.

“I heard your tape and I cant believe all of this happened, I didn't even know and Jeff was your close friend! Hannah tried to help you and you brought her closer to her death!” I cried and he tried to get me to lower my voice but no one had paid any attention to us.

“Please don't do this, I didn't mean to do anything to her but I saw you with jeff that day and something inside of me snapped, I regret the words that left my mouth but I cant change anything” his voice cracked “The only person who would know how to help me right now is Jeff and he isn't even here anymore, everything in my life always turns to fucking shit and I end up lonely all the time, I am never fucking loved and you cant make me feel any worse then I'm already feeling right now. I'm fucking sorry” he broke down and I felt remorse course throughout my entire body and chills running up and down my spine. I had no idea he felt this strongly about everything.

“I'm sorry you have to go through this right now and I understand what it’s like to lose Jeff, he was my boyfriend and he left me and that night I regret going home and leaving him there but everything happened- I know he is in a good place but I still know he deserved so much better, but Hannah was only trying to help you and she needed helping of her own and she tried to reach out to you because you connected on feeling lonely and she hoped you would at least try to help her back- I think the only way to make up to her about this is to tell the truth and come clean before you suffer further from any of this.” I tried to calm him down

“You’re right and I need to tell the truth about this because it is eating me up alive, I owe this to her and we all received an interrogation slip to talk about her and it was picked at random, I am nervous about it but I know now what to do- thank you” he positively responded and it made me smile.

“I will meet you up tonight for that date and help you prep for your interrogation that's coming up soon” I smiled back as I engulfed him in a hug, he wasn't a bad guy to be honest, he just didn't know how to respond to someone reaching out to him but I'm glad I could have a positive impact and change on him.

[fanficimagery]

Anonymous said: The recent fic is so cute btw! can you do one w/ cheerleader y/n +jeff everyone knows about them. A cheerleader is still making subtle moves despite y/n politely confronting her and jeff politely brushing her off. Jessica + Sheri are y/n's support when it gets toxic in practice/games. Justin & Zach is also friends with y/n bc of jess and knows the situation. Once the jocks are together and some cheerleaders approach and the girl is at it again. Justin helps by passively trying to make her stop.

Author's Note: Can you tell I was in a foul mood when writing this? I skipped passed polite and went straight for the jugular. Sort of o.O I'm so sorry, anon. I really shouldn't let my moods get the best of me.

JEFF X READER

"Alright, girls, that's it for today. Great job!" Sheri applauds you and the other cheerleaders on a job well done. 

Everyone's tired and sore, but the workout over learning a new routine feels good in a way that really shouldn't and leaves everyone smiling. You and Jessica bump shoulders as you sidle up to one another, linking arms and skipping over to Sheri.

"Hey, Sheri-berri, we still on for tonight?" You ask.

"I don't know, Y/N, are we?" She smirks. "You're the one who always cancels when Jeff shows up."

"Which is like.. all the time," Jessica grins.

"It is not!" You deny, laughing and shoving Jessica away from you.

"Is too."

"No. It's not."

"Yep. Sure is," Sheri smirks. "I never delete our group chat, so I can bring up and count how many times you've canceled if you'd like."

You scowl. "You guys are assholes."

"Ooh. Who's an asshole?" Arms wrap around you from behind, a chin settling on your shoulder and you cringe.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Jessica snorts.

"Babe, nooo," you groan and try to wiggle out of Jeff's grasp. "I'm all sweaty."

"Mmm. Just the way I like you then." He nips there at the crook of your neck and you squeal.

Jessica and Sheri just smile at the two of you, chuckling as you manage to break free and you two start trading swats back and forth as squabbling children would.

"You guys are too cute," Jessica coos. "Now knock it off."

"Seriously," you reach in to pinch Jeff's side before ducking out of reach. "No. I'm all gross."

"Well, she's not wrong," a voice chirps. Your playful mood instantly vanishes and you glance over at Letty, another fellow cheerleader as she saunters by with a few of her friends. "Jeffrey, cutie, when you're ready for a real good time give me a call."

Jeff snorts and clamps his lips shut, glancing up and away from the meddlesome girl as you sneer and take a step in front of him as if shielding him from her view. 

"Really, Letty? Did you have to go there?" Sheri sighs. "You've been politely told to back off how many times now?"

"Five," you huff. "And don't mind her, Sheri. All skanks need to get dick somehow, even if it means moving in on another girl's boyfriend."

Letty and her friends gasp, eyes wide in disbelief of what you've just said. "Sheri!" She complains. "Did you hear what she said? As Captain, you should hand down some form of disciplinary action."

"Oh, blow me," you scoff. Jeff barks out a startled laugh, draping himself along your back while simultaneously walking you backwards and away from any sort of confrontation that might break out.

"Keep walking, Letty," Jessica muses. "Or else there's gonna be a bitch fight and no one's gonna really fault Y/N for smacking you around since you keep hitting on her boyfriend. Give it up already. Jeff isn't interested in anyone that isn't his main squeeze," she says while gesturing towards you.

Letty glares at Jessica, but ultimately looks back to your Captain. Sheri has trouble herself to keep from laughing, but in the end all she does is shrug her shoulders. "If I punish Y/N, you'll be punished alongside her for intentionally riling her up."

Annoyed because she didn't get her way, Letty huffs and actually stomps her foot before continuing on. You sag against Jeff, your annoyance still too high to properly speak with your friends. Jessica and Sheri fall against each other, cackling, once Letty is out of the gym.

"Aw, man, what'd we miss?" Zach complains as he and Justin come up to you guys. He takes one look at you and it's like a light bulb goes off over his head. "Wait. Don't tell me. Letty."

Your glower turns to him. "We do not speak that name." Zach smirks, knowing full well something happened.

"Y/N put the verbal smack down on Jeff's biggest fan," Sheri tells him. "It was golden."

"Dammit," Justin chuckles. "We always miss the good stuff."

"Yeah, well stick around, babe," Jessica says. "I have a feeling Letty's only going to keep coming back for more."

A couple days later, you're sitting with your friends plus some of the other jocks outside during lunch. Justin and Monty were curious as to what the new cheers sounded like, and they had somehow managed to wrangle you, Jessica and Sheri to give them a preview. Zach catcalled and Jeff only encouraged them.

So as you three gathered around, a few of the other cheerleaders lingering around outside ran over to join you. You clapped and cheered, and you and Sheri threw in a few somersaults and cartwheels for good measure. 

The boys applaud like crazy and even as you retake your seat, you can't stop laughing at the impromptu pep rally you basically put on for those sitting outside. As you re-settle next to Jeff and Jessica next to Justin who was sitting next to you, Zach snorts and gestures to your right.

"Head's up. Here comes drama."

You groan aloud, but don't bother looking in drama's direction. "Keep her away from me. I've already been verbally reprimanded by the Cheer Coach since Letty and her petty squad narked on me. One more strike and I'm benched for the next game."

"Jeffrey..!"

"Fuck cheer," you grumble the moment after the sound of Letty's grating voice. "I'm gonna knock her into next week."

You move to stand, but both Jeff and Justin grab you by the shoulders and push you back down.

Letty and her usual squad of three other cheerleaders walk up to the group outside. Sheri's the only one to greet them with a smile, Monty too but that's because he's Monty, and you clench your jaw to keep from saying something you shouldn't.

"Jeffrey, babe, I'm still waiting on that call," Letty smirks.

"You know what!" You snap, but Jeff laughingly clamps a hand over your mouth and Justin stands up next to you. 

"You know what, Letty?" Justin says instead. "Desperation isn't a pretty look on you. You've known for months now that Jeff and Y/N have been together, and yet you still try and throw yourself at him. Why?"

Being addressed by Justin has Letty gaping and it takes her a few moments to gather her wits. "Everyone knows it won't last. I'm just trying to let him know I'm available."

"Justin," you grit out. "Get her away from here before I drag her around school grounds by her hair."

He laughs, but he moves away from the table and Jessica takes his seat. "Calm down, girl. Justin and Monty are steering them away."

Then when Justin and Monty's combined voices get further and further away, you relax just a bit and sag against Jeff. He laughs. "Why do you let her get under your skin so much? You know I'm not going anywhere."

"I know," you mumble. "I just really, really dislike her." The rest of the table's occupants all chuckle and you groan. "Ha ha. Laugh it up, but the joke's on you guys. Now you all have to feed me to put me in a better mood."

[anaboo-thewriter]

Stay

Summary: You go to the hospital after Jeff’s accident

Pairing: Jeff Atkins x Reader

Warning: complete angst

A/N: Inspired by the song Stay x Zedd and Alessia Cara. Also, JEFF DESERVED BETTER! Please feel free to leave feedback through comments, ask box or personal message. :)

12:37AM

You burst through the hospital doors in a panicked state. When you reached the nurses station, your legs felt weak and you were out of breath. It was only 30 minutes ago that you were enjoying yourself at Jessica Davis’s party with your boyfriend before he went on a beer run. Now, here you were in the hospital hoping that Jeff was okay.

“Ma’am, are you alright?” examined one of the nurses.

“I need to see a patient who was just admitted here,” you panted tears nearly streaming down your face. “He was just in a car accident. I need to see him, I need to know if he’s okay,” You were starting to get hysterical as your life was just turned upside down with a text from Clay.

Two Days Before the Accident

It was only a couple of days ago that you and Jeff were on a date together at the Crestmont to enjoy your time together before the start of the school year. The two of you did everything but watch the movie. Stealing kisses and giggling as Jeff constantly poked your side. The two of you had become so disruptive that you were almost kicked out. Once the movie was over, Jeff hooked his arm around your neck bringing you close to his side to whisper in your ear. “You almost got us in trouble,” he chuckled

You gave him a playful slap on his chest. “You started it,” you laughed. Before Jeff could say another word, Clay Jensen, his tutor from last year, caught his attention as he was cleaning off the concession table. Clay was always so sweet and helpful when it came to Jeff and his studies, without him he would not be on the baseball team or would have gotten the scholarship.

“Hey Clay, you coming to the party this weekend?” Jeff called to him.

Clay stopped what he was doing and immediately became more reserved. “Um, I don’t know, I have some work to do,”

“Nope,” Jeff stopped him before he could come up with another excuse, “I won the bet, so you’re going to the party,” Jeff was not taking no for an answer. “Plus everybody is going to be there, including Hannah Baker,” he whispered Hannah’s name as she was making her way to concessions.

Clay’s cheeks turned to a shade of pink at his embarrassment. You knew he and your boyfriend would go back and forth with their bets. It only made the two of the better, for Jeff academically and for Clay socially.

You reached over for Clay’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to calm his nerves, “Come on Clay, it should be fun,” you smiled.

He relaxed under your touch with a sigh and only a little bit of hesitation, “Fine, I’ll go,”

Jeff gave him a playful punch on his shoulder, “You won’t regret it man,” he smiled.

12:54AM

They finally took you into the intensive care unit after what felt like hours. Your eyes burned from the crying and your lungs felt like they were on fire as you tried to maintain a consistent breath. The room was filled with monitors that beeped every second at a consistent rhythm. You looked to your boyfriend, his head covered with blood stained bandages and tubes inserted in his mouth helping him to breath, the only things keeping him alive at this point.

When Clay texted you that Jeff was in the accident you didn’t believe it, but when you saw a police car fly by the party, you had to see for yourself. You ran as fast as your legs could carry you to the scene and your heart dropped at the sight. Jeff’s car was completely closed off on the driver’s side and the other car totaled in the front where they collided. You just knew it wasn’t going to turn up well in Jeff’s favor. You surveyed the area to see a broken wooden post and in front of it the fallen stop sign, the stop sign that could have saved his life.

You slowly walked over to Jeff’s side, grazing your fingertips against his cold lifeless arm. You pulled up a chair next to him and held his hand in both of your small ones. Guilt fell over you as you should have been with him to get more for the party, but he told you to stay.

You could remember his voice clear as day, “It’s only a beer run, babe,” he said with a smile, “I’ll be back in 30 minutes tops,” Then he pressed a kiss to your lips and was gone with a simple “I love you”. You never thought that moment would be the last kiss he would place on your lips, or the last “I love you” he would say.

One Day Before the Accident

“Jeff?” you said softly. Jeff and you made yourselves comfortable on his couch after you had dinner with his family.

He hummed in response, taking his eyes away from the television. His smile was like something crafted by God himself, so perfect and so pure.

“What are we going to do once you graduate?” you were saddened by the harsh reality. He’ll be gone to college and you’ll still be in high school. The thought troubled you to no end.

“We’ll figure it out, babe,” he reached for your hand and placed a lingering kiss against your knuckle. You swore you felt butterflies, but the anxiety didn’t go away, and Jeff took notice as his brown eyes bore into your soul.

“If you think I’m leaving you for a college girl, then you are worrying your pretty little head over nothing,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess,” you conceded with an eye roll, but he knew you better than that.

“Look,” he started, “I’ll visit you as much as I can during the school year, go on dates, go to a couple of college parties and when you graduate, we can go to the same school,”

“What if I don’t get into the same school as you,” you doubted

“Then we’ll figure everything out. Nothing is going to break us up,” His smile was reassuring, bringing you a sense of peace. The two of you were going to be together forever.  

1:06AM

The memory was so pure and innocent that it brought the last bit of tears you could possibly muster.

“Jeff,” you pleaded with Jeff’s lifeless form, “I need you to stay with me, honey, please,” The thought of him not being in your life was a hard pill to swallow and it was inconceivably hard for you to process. His smile, his eyes, his love was all snatched away from you. Your heart virtually ripped from your chest, all because of somebody’s careless mistake.

You pressed a kiss to his hand before pressing it to your forehead and sobbed, choking out an “I love you,” one last time. As if on cue, the slow, rhythmic beeping of the ECG stopped and played a long, drawn out beep, the sound of Jeff’s heartbeat coming to a stop. It was over for the two of you. Jeff Atkins, the love of your life, was gone forever.

[obsessing-stressing]

Fun House: Chapter 3

"All right, let's make this simple. Get in and get out. Is everyone ready?"

When everyone confirmed, we busted into the mayors home, taking every guard we could find. One of my boys kicked in the kids rooms and I could hear the girls screaming. I stopped and went into the room. Jeff was new, a lot of these guys were. He didn't get the memo, I guess. His blood splattered on the walls and the girls. He body slumped on one of the girls and I dragged him off.

"I guess he was a little excited. I just needed to remind him that we we're here on a job."

"He's dead."

The oldest replied through snot and tears.

I looked at Jeff and nodded.

"Oh yea, he is. I can't have a guy like that running around rampant. Though cute, you're both way too young to play with."

I winked and left them to Mr. Pearson. One of the only guys I know I can trust to get shit done. One of the goons who recommended Jeff apologized profusely, but I was not in the mood and shot him in the face.

"Remember people not just anyone can join my gang."

We entered the mayor's room only to find it empty. He had made it to the safe room. What kind of man leaves his kids?

I knocked on the steel door and pressed my ear to it.

"Open this door or I'll huff and I'll puff and blow it down."

I turned to the men and waited for my applause. They seemed way too energetic, but I might just be that funny.

"I have called the police!"

"Okay and we have your kids, so"

"Please don't hurt them!"

His wife yelled on the other side.

"Ah. Hello Mrs. Morgan! Now I don't wanna hurt the precious gifts of life, but I really need to talk to your husband. Now, if he's not out in 5 seconds I will have to cut of little Jessica's ear."

I turned towards the girls and rolled my eyes when they started crying.

"I'm really not going to do it. Just need your dad to think so."

I put my finger on my lips to keep them quiet. I turned back to the door and began to count. When I was on count four I was really afraid I was going to have to maim this child to get my point across. I could hear Mrs. Morgan screaming. Before I got to 5 he finally came out. I pulled him and his wife out of the room and sat the whole family on the bed. Mr. Pearson told me we only had three minutes before the cops came.

"Did I bring the machine gun?"

"Yes sir"

"Then we have at least 10 minutes to play. Okay everyone we're going play a game. It's called why did daddy rat me out to the Bats? I thought we had an understanding Joe. You tell me when it's the best time to hit a bank and I'll leave your happy little family alone. You got me locked up for 10 years."

"I'm sorry, please don't kill me."

"Shit man, your wife and children are right here. They don't matter?"

"If you want them you can have them!"

The men gasped in feigned shock. A person sacrificing others to save themselves was nothing new.

"Ah. Oh my goodness. What! What! You're just going to? Wow!"

I was so struck by his blatant disregard for his family I had to sit down. I waved the gun back and forth between him and his family trying to think.

"I get it!"

I shouted standing up.

"You're cheating on her, right and you think if they die then you can live happily with sweet Becky with the good hair. Well let's see what she has to say about the matter."

I waved one of the guys over and he brought a large pink box over. I opened it and asked her how she felt.

"Wait, she can't respond because she's dead!"

I showed him her head and he began screaming.

"She wouldn't tell me where you hid the money. Ya know the money you siphoned out when the Bat was busy with me."

"I don't know what-"

"It's under the toilet."

Mrs. Morgan cut him off.

I sent one of the boys to look and sat down next to her.

"It must suck knowing that he was trying to sacrifice you and your babies, huh?"

"If I shoot him and blame it on you I'll tell you where the next shipments will be for the next six months."

"Why don't I just beat it out of you?"

"Do what you want I just want to kill this bastard."

She held her head up high and looked at me. Her double chins jiggled with each shaky breath. It was gross.

I left with the locations of each point of entrance for the bank trucks to go. I should have told her that they change the routes every three weeks, but when I heard the shot ring out I could only laugh. I told Mr. Pearson that he could tell the men to retreat and lay off the cops and we headed home.

[xladyxfatex]

Chapter Thirteen (FMITN)

After returning home to shower, Balor heads to the Hardys’ home to inform them of the deed. To say Matt and Jeff aren’t a bit disgusted by the actions Balor made is an understatement, though beyond understandable as to why he did what he did. Jessica spends the night sleeping, not waking till early morning. A small cry leaves her as she tries to move, only to be stopped by an awoken Jeff. 

“Lay still little one, your injury is still healing.” Jeff runs his fingers through his sister’s hair and explains to her what happened. He doesn’t tell her that Finn is Balor, or what Balor did, he’ll allow him to make that choice. Over the course of the next week and a half, Jessica heals and Finn brings her her school work. He eventually does tell her whom he really is, that he knows what she is and what he did to the demon who caused her pain. Though shocked by the revelations put before her, she still accepts Finn as he is, and only refers to him as Balor when they are alone with her brothers. She’s grateful to have such a wonderful friend and her amazing family. Matt and Jeff had called out of several shows to help take care of Jessica while she healed, but now they had to return to work. Before leaving the three, Matt, Finn, and Jeff went out. Jessica’s birthday was this coming Saturday and the brothers were going to have to miss it due to work. They knew buying her a gift wouldn't make up for their absent but it was something they chose to do regardless. 

Matt chose a charm bracelet, and a ballet shoe charm, Jeff decided on a wolf charm and Finn wanting Jessica to embrace her inner witch chose a cauldron. Once back at the house the guys packed while Finn sat with Jessica. She knew her brothers were leaving again, that didn't make it easier. Matt and Jeff once again asked Finn to stay with Jess which after the attempt on her life he was more than happen to stay. Sadly though this time they’d be gone almost two months, before they could return. Meaning they’d be home just in time for Christmas. They hated being away from her, but Finn knew her truth, how they never did find out, and being the Demon King they knew she was safe. That night before the brothers left they sat to have dinner together, and all three presented Jessica with their gifts. 

Jessica loved her charm bracelet and charms, and eagerly put it on, she held her brothers tight knowing she wouldn’t be able to for a long time. Finn patted her shoulder and she looked up at him with a smile, she knew what was coming. They left and soon began a new count down of when they’d return.

~* 4 months later*~

Thanksgiving came and went and only Jessica and Finn were there, Christmas came and the guys were home, they spent three weeks together before they left again for another three months. They apparently were doing really well, and had been receiving offers from scouts. 

February came and it was one day after getting home from school that Jessica saw the package in the mailbox, she grabbed it and ran ahead of Finn, locking herself in her room. She threw the package on the bed, and paced back and forth. Her brothers wouldn’t be home for at least another month, and if this is what she thought it was, she’d need to get it opened and started fast. Besides, they wanted her to go to college right?  Biting her nails and spiralling in thoughts and was brought out by a knock on her door. 

“Now Jessica, you either open this door and tell me what that was about, or you know I can find a way in there. But I’m only going to count to three before I make the choice for you.” Finn said from the other side. Huffing Jessica opened door, and pointed to the package on her bed. Finn raised his eyebrow awaiting an explanation. Fiddling with her fingers Jessica spoke in a soft voice.

“That’s from the college I applied to for early acceptions. Its kinda too big to be a rejection letter don’t you think? If it is what I think it is, I kinda had hoped Matt and Jeff would be here to see me open. But I can’t wait to open it, I’ll need to do so much more if I was chosen to go.” She sighed, it was big moments like this she wished her brothers would be around for, not traveling and wrestling with their small promotion group. Finn hugged Jessica tight.

“I know you wish they were here mo cheann beag (my little one), but remember they are doing what they do to support the three of you. When your dad disappeared they had no choice. I know for a fact they wish they could be here to see this.” Releasing her he looked into her eyes to see she understood, she may have only been 16 but she was more reasonable than not. Taking a shaky breath she walked to her bed sat, and opened the package. Reading over the contents a smile graced her face and her eyes lit up. Not only did she get in, she got in to both programs and because of her grades was offered a full scholarship so long as she kept a 3.0 GPA she’d be covered. Tears brimmed in her jade eyes as she jumped up hugging Finn. He didn’t really need her to tell him what was in the contents it was clear she had gotten in. 

That afternoon they worked in the ring, ate dinner, Jessica did her homework, showered and went to bed. Shifting from human to demon, Balor decided this was information the brothers needed to know. He grabbed the letter reading for the first time himself and smiled, he didn’t know about the full scholarship and he knew for a fact that Jessica was too smart to let her grades fall below anything less than a 4.0. Traversing through the shadows he quickly found his way to where Matt and Jeff were.

“Matt, do you smell…burning leaves and leather?” Jeff asked and Matt took a deep breath. “Alright Balor, why are you here? Is Jessica okay?” Jeff always worried about his little sister asked looking around the room at all the shadows. A laugh broke out as Balor stepped forward.

“The little gem is perfectly fine. I thought you might want to see this letter she received today. Honestly she was torn about opening now or waiting another month for your return.” Balor grinned which to be perfectly truthful freaked both Matt and Jeff out, they would never get use to the Demon King's stretched jaw and razor sharp teeth. Taking the letter from his hand, Matt began to read the letter out loud,

“Dear Miss Hardy, It is a great honor to welcome you as the newest student to Attwell Mystical University. Given your desire to not only study sports journalism, but culinary while hoping to continue dance, along with you 4.0 GPA which you’ve held since your Freshman year we are beyond pleased to extend a full scholarship for your four years attending our university, under the understanding that you cannot drop below a 3.0 GPA. Once again we’d like to congratulate and welcome you Attwell Mystical University.” Matt barely finished the letter without crying and Jeff and Balor were grinning. Balor cleared his throat.

“Our little gem will be on her own starting next year, lucky for us I have a few loyal demons whom will also be going to AMU for different studies but none the less will be able to befriend and watch over her when we cannot. Bayley is a bubbly thing that loves hugs she’ll be great to watch over Jessica, and Ricochet well he’s athletic, loyal and a wonderful little listener. I’ll start by introducing the two to her starting next week, so they can know one another. It won’t work if Jess doesn’t trust them at least a little. I have to get back, she may wake and not see me.” Balor took the letter back and went back into the shadows, making his way back to the Hardys’ home.  Once home he placed the letter back where he took it from and then went to bed himself. Being in a human body was beyond exhausting for the Demon King.

[atlanticcanada]

Drivers and businesses in N.B. feeling effects of gas price hikes

Drivers and businesses in New Brunswick are beginning to feel the effects of rising gas prices beyond the pumps.

“I don’t like the price,” said driver Nancy Hallett.

New Brunswickers woke up to an 11-cent gas hike Thursday morning. The increase comes only a week-and-a-half after the federal carbon tax went into effect.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do in the summer time when it does up, because I travel back and forth to the cottage and I’m a senior,” said Hallett.

Mike Cassidy has a fleet of 200 vehicles including maritime bus, municipal and school transportation.

He says the 11-cent increase will cost him an additional $3000 per week. Increases to Cassidy’s fleet gets passed down to customers through fuel surcharges on ticket prices.

Cassidy did add they do tend to see more people taking the bus over time when fuel prices rise, saying people would rather pay the nominal fuel surcharge on a bus ticket then try to afford filling their own gas tank.

“If prices increase, I probably won’t be able to take the bus anymore to go up and visit friends,” said bus passenger Alex LeClair.

The rising fuel costs and carbon tax are affecting New Brunswick businesses as well.

“Goods and services that come into New Brunswick go out of New Brunswick. Things that are manufactured here, it’s all going to filter down from that cost of the carbon tax being added,” said Fredericton Chamber of Commerce CEO Krista Ross.

New Brunswick minister of Environment and local government, Jeff Carr, says the PC’s plan to address things that the Liberals did not last year.

“The old Brian Gallant plan did not address large emitters, so we are going to have the plan that does look after the larger emitters. It looks after consumers as well,” said Carr.

If Ottawa accepts the plan, cost to the provinces large emitters could be recalculated, retroactive to the start of 2019.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jessica Ng

from CTV News - Atlantic http://bit.ly/2X1Ck01