Heart of Gold

Chapter Seven
Hannah’s POV

It was already eight o’clock at night. Trip was supposed to call me when he got to the dorm room he was being assigned to. He hadn’t called yet, but he was supposed to be there a few hours ago. I was really starting to worry. Suddenly there was a click from near the front door. Now I was really starting to worry. This was a relatively safe neighborhood, but I didn’t want some criminals to come into my house.

I went to the door seconds before the door started to slowly open. There stood my son I sighed in visible relief.

“What in God’s name are you doing here!? Aren’t you supposed to be at the university?” I asked before I noticed another figure walking through the door behind Forest. It was an exact replica of Trip. They were the same height, and had the same eyes, and hair. I knew who it was immediately; mama didn’t raise no fool.

Zackary Baker was now standing in the doorway right behind his son.

“Hey mom; hope I didn’t scare you too much, but uh look who I found!” He said in that innocent sweet voice in which he could get out of anything if he polled on me. He was still my baby boy and I would give him anything he wanted, or defend him from harm. I would do anything for my son, and keep him away from things that could hurt him.

I knew I couldn’t do it forever, I mean look at who he brought home with him, but I was still going to try. “Trip Forest Baker! How could you bring a stranger into our home like this!?”

“He’s no stranger mom; he’s my father,” he told me.

“Of course I know it’s your father! He’s still a stranger to you! You don’t know anything about him!” I scolded my son. “You’re eighteen I just didn’t expect this kind of behavior from you.”

“Well why not? I never knew who my father was!”

“Of course you knew who he was! Besides the fact that you look completely alike; I’ve told you who he is, and I’ve told you why he hasn’t been around!”

Zacky was silent until I spoke my last words. “Wait! What have you said to him!?”

“When he was younger I always said that you had an important job that kept you away.”

“When I was older I realized it wasn’t just your job keeping you away.”

“Then I couldn’t hide it from him anymore, so I told him you didn’t love me anymore.” Zacky looked at me with sad eyes.

“Which we all know isn’t true now.” Trip said as Zacky and I kept eye contact.

I snapped my head in his direction, “What are you talking about!?”

“I’ll just let him explain some things to you,” he said then walked out the front door and into his car, and drove off. Now it was me and Zacky, all along, which hadn’t happened since I threw Trip’s baby picture at him. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“So why are you here exactly?” I asked him as I closed the door and headed for the living room. As we walked Zacky’s eyes explored everything in his sight. I could only imagine what he was thinking of my small two bedroom house that his son and I have been living in since Trip was five.

“You have a nice place here.”

“You could say that, but you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here Zacky?” I asked softly.

“Well when Trip came by the house earlier this afternoon he told me about himself and he told me about you, how you’ve been doing. He said you missed me,” he explained.

“What an ass that little boy is. Well if that’s all you came here for I sure enough have had my dose of Vengeance so you can leave if you want.” I said as I sat down on the couch. He followed me to my surprise.

“So you don’t miss me?” His green eyes locked with my blue ones. I couldn’t lie to that face.

“Of course I miss you, Zacky; you’re the father of my baby. How could I not miss you!?”

“What if we never had Trip would you miss me even if we had no connection to each other?” Our eyes were still locked on each other.

“Of course, Zacky you’ll always be my first love. No matter what you try to do about it.”

There was a moment of awkward silence until I broke it.

“So even if I hadn’t gotten pregnant you still would have left me?” I asked him, tears threatening to build up.

“No Hannah; fuck! I should have never even left. I feel so stupid for missing my son’s whole life, and missing out on raising him.” He paused again. I didn’t feel like breaking it this time so it was about two minutes before he spoke again, “If I hadn’t left we could have been married with four kids by now.”

I laughed, even though the pain of hearing this cut me deep. “You, Zacky Vengeance, would be sitting at home taking care of four kids as they ran around the house playing and getting into trouble? I don’t think you know what you are getting yourself into. It was hard enough raising Forest as it is. He’s just like you in every way.”

“No, I know of one thing he got from you.”

“And what’s that?”

“Sensibility, he’s a smart kid. Do you know he’s taking a year off of his studies to become a starving artist?” He asked me.

“I had no clue, but I’m going to kill that kid.”

“Don’t be too hard on him. That’s what the band and I had to do and look where we are now.”

“I’m only giving him one year, because after that he’s comin’ home and going to school!”

Zacky laughed, and reached over and wiped a stray piece of hair way from my face, like they do in all the cheesy movies when someone’s about to get kissed. It was still just as romantic in the movies as it is in real life. “I’ve missed you,” he sighed out, dropped his hand, and looked away.

“Why did you leave then?” My voice had gotten really small.

“I freaked out, wasn’t ready. I don’t know, and I don’t care why I left. All I know is that it was the biggest fucking mistake of my life.” He was getting angry now.

“How was it a mistake? You have the band, and a beautiful house I bet, and a girlfriend; that doesn’t seem like a mistake.”

“Like I said before, if I had stuck around I would have been able to raise my baby, create the band that it is today, have a nice house, and a beautiful wife.”

“You really would have married me?”

“You were the only one I wanted, you still are.”

“After all these years? Why didn’t you just come back before?”

“I didn’t know where you were, or if you had moved on; which I hear you’re a music producer now, that’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah it pays the bills.”

“Why don’t you live in a bigger place?”

“Why would I need to?”

“I guess you’re right; you always thought like that.”

It was pretty silent for a few moments and I checked my watch to see that it was already eleven at night. “It’s getting pretty late; you can stay here for the night and leave tomorrow in the morning after I make you some breakfast. If that’s what you want.”

“That sounds really good. Thank you for everything. Hey, is Trip going to be okay?”

“Yeah he’s probably just at his girlfriend’s house for the night.”

“He’s got a girl?”

“Yup he’s a little heartbreaker, just like his daddy.” I could feel the pain rack through me as Zacky looked me deep in the eyes again. I cleared my throat before speaking, “I’m sorry I don’t have any extra clothes for you, um you might be able to fit in Trip’s clothes. You could sleep in Forest’s room, or in mine, but I hope you don’t take the couch. It’s awfully uncomfortable and you probably wouldn’t sleep to well on it.”

“Whatever is fine with me.”

“Well then you can take my room, because I just put down new sheets and it’s a lot homier then Trips room. He’s kind of a pig.” I lead him down the hallway and made him wait by my bedroom door. “It’ll just be one second, let me find you some clothes.” I went into Trip’s room and went through his almost empty drawers. Finally I found some pajama pants and a clean cotton shirt. I gave them to Zacky then pushed open my bedroom door.

The walls were a vibrant red and my room looked like it was decorated by professional designers. Zacky whistled, “Nice.”

“Yeah I like it so you can go ahead and get yourself comfortable on the bed. I’ll be right out; I just need some pajamas.”

I walked to the closet and grab one of my many silk nighties. I closed the door to my walk in closet and just decided to change in there. I pulled on some white cotton boy short underwear with no bra under the nightie. I quickly walked from the closet and into my room again to see Zacky already in the pair of pants I got him to sleep in. His toned, tattooed chest was bare, and I gulped loudly as I watched his arm flex as he flicked the blankets back so he could crawl in under them. Before he sat on the bed he looked up and saw me. I smiled shyly.

“I hope this is good enough for tonight.”

“Yeah, definitely; this is fine, thank you.” His smile made his green eyes sparkle. I nodded my head as I walked forward toward the bed. I grabbed my favorite pillow and started to fluff it. Zacky just looked at me scratching the back on his neck.

“Um, di-did you want to sleep in here, with…..with me. Just like old times?” He asked as he looked down at his bare feet.

“Well I’m not sure that’s….a good idea.”

“We could lie at completely different sides of the bed and not even touch if that makes you feel better,” he suggested.

“I guess…we could do that.” I said not really sure why he wanted this.

“Cool, okay,” he smiled and then got comfortable on the bed.

I three my pillow to the head of the bed and pulled the covers back. I lay on my side so I could face him, and he did the same. “I miss this; I miss you,” he whispered.

I gave him a small smile, “I miss you too Baker. We….we could like, I don’t know, cuddle? Like we used to, for old time’s sake. If you want,” I told him.

He smiled as he made his way over to me, “But this is all we are doing, got that!?” I told him sternly.

“Yes, ma’am,” He smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his chest. “You know if you didn’t want this to go any farther you should have rethought the silk.” He whispered in my ear. I giggled softly and his grip on my hips tightened.

Zacky looked in my eyes deeply, as he had a serious expression upon his face. He licked over his lip piercings, “You know Hannah I still love you.”

“I still love you too Zacky. I wish we could have what we would have had, but I wouldn’t trade my son for anything in the world.”

“I know; that’s why you never gave him up, even when I foolishly asked you to.” He licked over his lips again, but this time I couldn’t take my eyes away. Apparently he noticed…

“You know we could kiss like the old times too if you’d like.” He whispered huskily and then his lips attached to mine. The kiss was incredibly mouthwatering, intense, and passion filled. I couldn’t break away from him even if I wanted to. I knew in that instant I knew that this was where I was meant to be. I just hoped he felt it to, and that we would stay together for as long as time gave us.