Belonging to Lust

Chapter 114: I Lied To You

Once the cops and miscreants had been handled with and left, Heath drifted inside to look for Zaiyia only to spot her outside on the back patio. Running a weary hand through his hair, he dumped himself into one of the seats at the head of the patio table. “They're all gone now. They flung those trouble-makers into the backseat of their cruiser to take them downtown to the station.” He awaited her to respond to with some sassy remark, but she appeared lost in her own thoughts. Tilting his head to the side a bit, he leaned forward to get a better look at her face. “Baby, you okay?”

Zaiyia shook her head from her thoughts, catching his question loud and cleard but knowing what he meant. And no, she was not okay. How could she be? The predicament she's been wrestling with for so long has finally made it to not only her front door, but inconvenienced her Heath. This late afternoon, spying those three girls demolishing Heath's truck with him still in it with their hoodies supplied with rocks was an eye-opener for her. Her life at school had gotten to a point where she wasn't undergoing as much bullying as she previously had before. They couldn't mark her nor could their little henchmen's boyfriends due to Principal's Quinn continual protection and supervision in the fashion of teachers, janitors, lunch ladies and security guards. Could that have made her bullies resentful to the point where they felt like they had no choice but to take it from the school grounds to Heath's property? Because that's exactly what they did! It all started with them lobbing a brick through Heath's living room window, then they spray painted his car while he was finishing up at work, and now they defaced his vehicle with him in it! Those rocks could have damaged him! What about the next time they came for him, how much devastation will they put him through then?

She was conducting a great battle within herself, Heath could determine that through her troubled brown eyes. The brawl that took place a few minutes ago had severely afflicted her more than she had let on and it was upsetting him. Reaching out, he planted a large hand over her dainty one to obtain her attention, his brows furrowed with concern as his green eyes examined her face keenly. “Zaiyia, look at me!”

“Huh?” Zaiyia whispered, her somber brown eyes scouting his.

“I've been trying to get your attention for a minute now.” Heath briefed her, his eyes locked on her face, trying to decipher her emotions.

“I-I'm sorry, I...I didn't hear you.” Her voice was breaking now that she could see him up close. He had a few light wounds that weren't at all calamitous, but her eyes still flooded at the sight of the one by his brow. Her hand tightened into a fist with profound contrition as she resisted strongly not to weep in front of him for what she transported to his home.

“Are you okay, Zaiyia?” Heath inquired though he had his answer. She was may be refusing to shed a tear in front of him, but he could still recognize that she was troubled about something.

There was no halting it as her eyes overfilled. With a shake of her head, she dropped her gaze to their hands joined together. “N-No.”

Desiring to console her as she broke down, Heath got up to hustle his chair closer to hers so when he took a seat again he'd be able to hold her tightly. “Come here, baby.”

Clashing for the last bit of control, Zaiyia leaned against him and turned her face into his shoulder to release her tears. She wouldn't bawl her pain out, just cry a little because she required some form of self-restraint left. How could she have the right to lean on him for comfort when she's the reason all of this had happen in the first place. Not Alice White, but her. If she had only sought help before, this wouldn't have happened. It was her fault, solely her fault for all the lacerations, bits of blood, and fury Heath had gone through.

“Shh, it's gonna be okay, Zaiyia.” Heath soothed, skimming her long braids aside from her face as he felt her arm wrap around his arm, and her other hand grasp the sleeve of his shirt. Relaxing his cheek on the top of her head, he closed his eyes and inhaled her scent as he tenderly rocked her in his embrace. “I got you, I'll always have you, don't ever forget that.”

“N-No, Heath! Don't say things like that, I don't deserve it.” Zaiyia renounced, relieving her emotions back under control before forcing him off of her to look him in the eye through her dimming vision. “Heath, I...I lied to you.”

“You lied to me?” Heath echoed with a frown of confusion as he flicked a stubborn braid aside from her face. “About what?”

Taking a deep breath, Zaiyia lowered her eyes back down to stare at his chest rising and falling beneath his shirt. “Do you remember when I told you I didn't know those kids that threw those rocks through the window of your living room?”

Heath's face slacked as he began to assemble together just what exactly she deceived to him about. Hardening his features, he extracted his arms from around her to put space between them by leaning back in his chair. Clenching his jaw, he retorted back. “Yeah, I remember.”

“I-I lied. I had an idea of why that had happened.” Zaiyia began shakily before rectifying her sentence. “No, what I meant to say was that I KNOW why that had happened.”

“Because of you?” Heath calculated tightly, earning a nod from her. Sighing loudly, he averted his eyes across his lawn to the guest house beyond. His eyes blindly browsed the structure as he fought to curb his fury. She was already in tears, he couldn't bring himself to take it out on her. “So, let me guess, you want me to sit my happy ass down and forget about pressing charges while you handle those two idiots yourself, am I right?”

Zaiyia shook her head intensely, her eyes locking on his briefly. “No, no of course not! If you want to press charges on those bitches then press charges, I won't stop you. But I do still plan on getting to the bottom of this bullshit once and for all.”

Rolling his eyes to himself, Heath decided to humor her outrageous plan. “And how do you plan on getting to the bottom of it this time, Zaiyia? You've probably told everybody that a million times and nothing has yet to come of it but my truck getting fucked up! Nothing you've said you'd do has worked thus far!”

His rage was absolutely rationalized considering the situation they'd just gotten out of due to her ignorant ways. She always said she'd take care of this and that, but never really went through with it. It was all an evasion just because she was going through her own matters that she never thought it would alter the people she cared about around her. She earned his fury. But still, it stung to have him talk to her this way. Averting the sight of him, Zaiyia let out a shaky sigh as more tears poured. She want him to see them and then try and soothe her even though she didn't deserve an inch of it. “Y-You're right. I haven't done shit since all this bullying started. All I ever did was make it worse. I never did try to stop it from continuing.”

“Excuse me?” Heath questioned, his voice strained and his mind dumbstruck. Was she saying this entire time she hadn't been trying to stop the bullying wrought upon her? “What did you just say?”

Groaning that she had to restate her admission, Zaiyia blurted. “I didn't do shit about the bullying! I just let it flourish and fester to what just happened today!”

“WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!” Heath yelled at her, not believing that she had allowed this spectacle to go on til it resulted in his truck being tarnished. “AND WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU PUT YOURSELF INTO THAT AMOUNT OF DANGER?!”

“BECAUSE I'M CURRENTLY SUFFERING A FUCKING DEPRESSION, THAT'S WHY!?” Zaiyia yelled back, her fury rising at being hollered at which served to oust her heartache.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO BE DEPRESSED ABOUT?!” Heath thundered. “BESIDES THE BULLYING, WHICH YOU'VE MADE WORSE FOR YOURSELF, YOUR LIFE IS DAMN NEAR PERFECT!”

Zaiyia scowled him right in the eye for thinking that her life was superb. What the hell did this man know? Nothing, that's what! “It's NOT damn near perfect!”

Because her voice depressed, his did too. However, his fury never trembled. “Then what the hell do you mean by t-” It slowly dawn on him by the sorrow in her scowl, the passion behind it. Her life wasn't perfect because of the bullying, it was because of something else, something forbidden and so wrong that they had engaged in together. Something that they can't ever keep, or be. Sighing forlornly, he looked away. “Zaiyia, I tol-”

Zaiyia cut him off, not preferring to go into it and reopen festering griefs. “Chasity has been trying to help me with the bullying all this time, but I always rejected her help before. Now, I plan to take it.”

“Do you mean it this time?” Heath challenged, also dropping the previous topic. Her nod didn't lessen his doubting. “Swear to me you mean it. Swear on your mother's life that you'll end it this time.”

“I swear on your life.” Zaiyia promised instead, loving him more than her own deadbeat mother. The softening in his green eyes assured her that he believed her to do the right thing this time, and the right thing she planned to do.