‹ Prequel: Bound to You

Blanket of Fear

Chapter Twenty-Three

The next morning when Eliza woke up, Zacky was still sleeping next to her, much to her surprise. No one had come in to interrupt the two of them and taken him away to talk about Sean, and no one had come telling him that he needed to do something. She had forgotten what it felt like to wake up in his arms, and she felt amazing to feel her back pressed against his chest. She heard him shift slightly and make a small snoring sound when she turned around in his arms so that she was facing him, and then chuckled when his wide, green eyes opened to look down at her.

“What time is it?” He groaned, trying to look over her shoulder to see the alarm clock that was sitting on the night stand. She turned her head and saw that it was a little after eight. That meant it was much later than it normally was when she woke up.

“After eight,” she murmured, pressing her lips against his. She blushed when she felt Zacky’s hands trail down her bare stomach, reminding her of all the different ways he’d touched her the night before.

Eliza wasn’t stupid. She knew he’d had some reason to distract her with sex. Lately, the two of them only did that when neither of them was preoccupied with something, and that was pretty much never. She had been able to tell by looking into his eyes that something had been on his mind. Something that wasn’t her body. And in a way, it worried her.

She knew that if anyone would tell her something, it would be Jacoby. She knew that if Zacky wasn’t saying anything, Matt, Jimmy, and the others wouldn’t tell her either—if they even knew what was going on. She also knew that Matthew wouldn’t have any idea what was happening, and that Johnny was on the outs. Joel and Benji were more loyal than anything to Zacky, and she knew that if he’d asked them to, they wouldn’t say a word. Jacoby, on the other hand, wouldn’t have a problem. Any time she needed to know something, or felt like she needed to know something, Jacoby was the one who filled her in on things.

“Don’t,” Zacky whispered softly, shaking his head as he held his hand to the side of her face, kissing the corner of her mouth gently. Despite the tenderness of his voice and the softness of his touch, Eliza could see the seriousness in his eyes, and she knew that once again, he’d seen her thoughts. She frowned, shifting on the mattress.

“Why don’t you ever tell me what’s going on? This is all about me anyway,” she muttered under her breath as she looked down at her boyfriend. Something about his demeanor had her much more worried than she normally would feel. Whatever he was holding back this time was big. It was an instinct; an instinct she knew would ruin every illusion she had in her mind right now, and she wanted to know.

“Because this is for your safety,” he told her firmly, giving her another small smile. “Babe, really. Don’t worry about it. We’ve got everything under control. All you have to worry about is getting some clothes on before I decide to ravish your body again.”

Eliza sighed, and then shook her head as she stood up, pulling up a robe off of the ground as she looked down at him. She knew that he was deliberately lying to her, and it hurt. She thought he should be able to trust her at this point. She had no doubts in her mind that Leana and Val knew what was going on, so she didn’t know why she shouldn’t know, either.

“I just want to know what’s got you so…tense,” she muttered, taking in the way he was laying on the bed. He was trying to give her the sense that he was perfectly calm, but even if they’d only known each other for months, rather than years, she could see through the façade. He was anything but calm right now.

“I don’t want to shatter your ignorance, alright? Your shoulders aren’t big enough to carry this,” he told her, shaking his head as he sat up. “Just don’t worry about anything. And don’t go looking for answers either, baby. Jacoby won’t tell you anything. I just…I just want the next few days to go as smoothly as possible, alright? I want you to be able to pretend that you’re living a normal life with a normal boyfriend, even if it’s just an illusion. Alright?”

“No,” Eliza told him, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s not alright, Zacky. I don’t want to live a lie. Whatever’s going on, I want to know about it. I don’t want something to hit me when I never had a chance to see it coming.”

“This is for you, Eliza. You and all the others that we’re trying to keep safe. For once, you’ve got to stop thinking about how you feel about me holding back. You’ve got to trust me on this, even if you never trust me again after this.”

Eliza sighed, pushing her hand back through her hair as she glared at him. She had never understood Zack’s logic when it came to holding things back. In a way, it really pissed her off. She knew that whatever he wasn’t telling her was important. She knew that it would change everything. And Eliza had never been the type of girl to run away from things. She preferred to face them head on, and right now, Zacky wasn’t giving her an option. That made her wonder how much he truly trusted her.

“I don’t care if it’s for me,” she told him, shaking her head. “And don’t feed me that other bullshit about the others, like you’re going to. They all know, and I’m the only one in the dark. You treat me like I’m some kind of criminal!”

“That is not how I treat you, Eliza,” Zacky frowned at her, honestly upset by his words. She might not know it, but she’d just landed a low blow. He’d never felt quite good about how he’d come to know her. He knew that in the beginning, kidnapping her had been wrong. He’d thought they’d gotten past that, but with her words, he had to wonder if she really had gotten over being taken from her normalcy.

“Yes it is,” she hissed at him, pointing at the door. “The only ones you’re not telling anything to in this house is Johnny, Leigh, and Matthew. You don’t trust any of them, and you’re lumping me with them. I’m not stupid, Zack. If you don’t trust me, then just come out and fucking say it.”

“Would you stop and listen to me for just one minute?” He asked her, crossing the floor so that he was standing in front of her. He grabbed onto her shoulders so that she was facing him, and then frowned down at her. He understood where she was coming from. He honestly did. She felt like she was trapped, and she felt like she was never going to know any kind of normal life again. To her, life was one big clusterfuck, and he felt responsible for that. But he also knew that right now, it was for her benefit that she be kept in the dark.

“I don’t want to listen to you say anything,” she told him, keeping her eyes on his. “Not unless you’re planning on telling me what’s going on.”

The room was silent for several minutes, and Zacky lowered his eyes to the floor, honestly debating whether or not he should just blurt it out. He knew that it would be wrong of him to do so; it would be jeopardizing her life. But he also knew that she hated being treated with kid gloves. But in the end, he decided that no matter how much she disliked it, she couldn’t say a word to him.

“I can’t tell you, Eliza,” he told her with a firm voice. “You can hate me if you want. You could break up with me if that was really what you thought would make me tell you. But I’m doing this for your own good. I can’t tell you.”

“Fine,” Eliza said, glaring straight into his eyes with anger as she turned on her heels, walking out of the bedroom. She almost felt bad for ruining the blissfulness of this morning, but she didn’t care. He’d done it to himself, he reassured himself. He wasn’t being fair to her in this relationship, and even if she loved him, she couldn’t put up with how he was treating her. Not when it made her feel like some kind of trash.

Zacky watched as she walked out of the room, knowing that he needed to send someone after her to talk. He thought about sending Jimmy, but he knew that wouldn’t make Eliza feel any better. He finally decided that he’d have Leana talk to her and see if the small brunette couldn’t convince her that this was all for her own good. Leana herself didn’t know anything, but he also knew that the little woman would know enough not to ask questions. Leana had been through this before, and he thought that, perhaps, she could help Eliza come to terms with not being on the inside on everything that happened.
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I have a new full-length story coming out within the next week. It's going to be called Take Me Away. It's different from most of my stuff, but I'm super excited about it, and if you have time, I'd really appreciate it if you'd check it out.

Also, I've come across a story here on Mibba that I think you'll all enjoy. It's by Colleen (Saint Rev) and it's called Four AM.