Chapter 11

What the old woman had said to me stuck in my memory. I kept trying to think of what I would have to deal with. It was all that I could think about as I went to the hotel. Before I fell asleep, Zak commented something on how I was deep in thought. I tried to snap out of it, but it is weird when someone just tells you something like that on the street.

As we went ot the bar to get some interviews done, I was still thinking about it. Billy and I didn't have to do much, so we sat at one of the tables. Who was "he"? Who is coming after me? What trouble? If it is with the credit cards, then yeah, that would be trouble. But there was no way that they would even be able to find me. Who would I push away?

"Are you okay? You look like your head is going to explode." Billy said. I looked at him as I came back to the real world.

"Yeah, it feels like it." I told him.

"Ooh, rough night. I didn't think that Zak would be-"

"No! No! Not like that! I have been thinking! There was none of what your dirty little mind was thinking of." I told him. He smiled at me and looked suspicious.

"So you mean that you Zak haven't done it yet?" He asked me.

"Why is there a 'yet' in that? What makes you think that we would ever?" I asked him. He chuckled and looked at the guys.

"I am not sure. I think it is just how the two of you are. You both seem to want to be near each other. You two will stand next to each other, I watched the two of you this morning as we walked around. It was like you were holding hands, but you weren't." He told me. I shoook my head and stirred the spoon that was in my coffee.

"I have no explaination of why that happens." I told him quietly. He then got up and walked around the table and got in my booth. He was sitting between me and the guys.

"Are you attracted to him?" He asked me quietly as he put his arms around me. I knew that I would be able to tell Billy this. He seemed to want to be my friend just cause he can. 

"I guess. I mean, physically, yes. Mentally, not yet. Emotionally, I have no idea." I told him. He was smiling at me really big by now. 

"Why are you smiling at me?" I asked him. 

"Because you have no idea what is going on and it is bothering you." He told me. He was surprisingly right. I slapped him playfully. 

"There is no reason to make fun of me or what is going on. So what do you think?" I asked him. He then looked at the others. They were talking about something and the cameras were down. 

"I think that you should watch what he does. I know that Zak isn't going to hurt you. He is like a little bunny rabbit. Just go for it." He told me. I sighed and looked at them again. 

"Why? What do you think that would do?" I asked him. 

"Why not? There are many women that like him. I think that you need to let him know about your past too. If you want to tell me, I will listen, but you have to do it on your own time." He said. I listened and understood what he meant. I smiled at him and kissed his cheek. 

"Thanks, really." I told him as I got up. 

"See, there is another thing that the two of you have in common. You are both old school flirts." He joked with me. I rolled my eyes and went to the bathroom. 

"I like Billy. He is pretty awesome. So what are you going to do about the Zak thing?" Leonard said as I went into a stall. 

"I will deal with it later. We are working right now." I told him.

"Did something happen on your walk? Cause I think that something did." He said as he poked his head under the door.

"Damn it. Yes, something happened. An old woman told me something and I am trying to figure out what she meant. Basically, something is going to come back from my past and I will need the help of the others. That and she wants me to trust Zak." I told him. I then left the stall and went to the sink.

"Oh, so you met and oracle. That is pretty cool. I have only seen two in my life. They are usually really young, though. Like kids. But that is still okay." Leonard rambled.

"Thanks, so can you shut up for a while?" I asked him. He sighed and shoook his head.

"You are the only one that can see me, what else am I supposed to do?" He asked. I then left the bathroom. I was really hoping that the door would slam on him. It didn't, though.

"So what are we doing now?" I asked as I went to the table. All the guys were there and they were looking at me. There was something that was different about Zak.

"Well, we have the lock down tomorrow. So I think that we can get a few drinks." Nick stated. I smiled at him. I hadn't had a beer in a while.

"That sounds nice." I told them. We then went to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks. I got a beer and sat between Zak and Aaron.

We drank for a while. I only had three beers. Aaron had left us to go talk to some women in the middle of our time there. Nick and Billy talked about random things. I was paying attention to the bar tender. He was telling me about some things that he had seen around the town. He seemed to be intune with what was going on.

"Hey, would you like another drink?" A man asked me. I looked at him and he seemed to look nice. He was a smaller build than Zak, or even Nick for that matter. His jet black hair was messy and he had on a sweater. He looked to be harmless.

"Sure. What's your name?" I asked him. He ordered the drink for me.

"I am Ian. And your's?" He then asked me. I smiled at him and I could hear Zak shifting around in his seat.

"I am Lea." I told him. The bartender handed him the drink, then Ian handed it off to me.

"So, Lea, what are you doing in a town like this?" He asked me. I smiled at him and took a sip from my drink.

"I am here on business, what about you?" I asked him. He smiled at me. He had a really nice smile.

"I live here." He told me. There was something about him that was making me really concerned.

We sat there and talked about little things. Nothing was really important. I was sure that I was getting woozy, but I wasn't sure what it was from. As the night went on, I realized that something was wrong.

"Excuse me, Ian, but I have to use the restroom." I told him. I was surprised that I could talk. I was probably talking really slow. I walked to the bathrooms and went in. I stood by the sink and turned on  the water.

"He drugged you. You need to get out of here." Leonard told me. I sighed and looked at him.

"I can't.... It is hard to even walk." I told him. He sighed and the door opened up.

"Lea, come with me." Ian told me. This is what I was feeling. He was going to hurt me and here it was.

"No, please. Don't. Not to me." I begged him as he started to pull me out of the bathroom.

"Come with me." He told me. I couldn't walk very well so he was basically dragging me. I couldn't even think of anything to do to stop him from dragging me out.

"Woah, where do you think you are going?" I heard someone ask. The voice was so familar. I looked slowly to see that it was Nick.

"We were heading out, now weren't we?" Ian asked. Before i got to say anything, Ian had me closer to him. 

"No, I don't think that my sister would go with someone like you." Nick said to him. Someone then grabbed me and pulled me away from Ian. I knew that It was Zak, by the way that he was holding me.

"She was with me. She wanted to come with me." Ian said. Everything was starting to get really fuzzy and blurry by now. It was long before I completely blacked out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As I opened my eyes, I felt that I was in a bed. I looked around the room to see that it had a glow to it. It was still morning and I was in my hotel room. Zak was in his bed and he was still sleeping. I sat up and I felt like my head was going to screw off.

I groaned as I got out of my bed. I saw that I was just in my t shirt, bra, and underwear. I gasped and looked at Zak. He wouldn't. I then began to start to cry as I remembered and tryied to remember what had happened. I had perfected the silent cry, by now. I slid down the wall by the bathroom and brought my knees to my chest. 

That man wanted to use me. He drugged me and wanted to use me. He was so nice to me, too. I then started to think about how I woke up. Would Zak do that to me? All of this just made the tears come out even more. 

"Lea, where are you?" I heard Zak moan. I looked up at him and he sat up at the same time. 

"What is it?" He asked me. He then got out of his bed quickly and came to my side, on the floor. 

"Lea, please tell me what is wrong." He asked of me. I sighed and tried to cathc my voice. 

"I don't know. What happened last night. Tell me what happened." I sobbed as I looked at him. I was able to wipe some tears away, but they kept coming. 

"That man drugged you, wanted to take you out of the bar, you fainted, the bartender told us that you were going to be able to sleep it off. So I brought you here." He told me. I sighed and looked at my jeans that were folded on the dresser. 

"Why am I not wearing pants?" I asked him. He sighed and put his hand on my head. 

"I thought that you would be more comfortable not sleeping in jeans. I didn't mean to scare you." He told me softly. I then chocked on a sob. 

"Did you really think that I would take advantage of you?" He asked me quietly. I looked back at him. There was so much pain behind his eyes. 

"I am not sure what I am thinking." I told him. He sighed and got up. He then picked me up, against my will, and placed me on my bed. 

"Just calm down. You are okay. Nothing happened last night. No one touched you." He whispered to me. I looked at him and held his hand. 

"Zak, I am sorry for being such a mess. I really don't mean to be." I told him.

"It is just that you have a past. We all do. I get it. Just do what you need to do." He told me. I could still tell that he was hurt a little from me thinking that he would take advantage of me.

"Please don't be too upset. Most men that were in my life, hurt me in some way." I told him finally. I said it quietly, but he heard it. He looked at me and I knew that he wanted more.

"Like what?" He asked me.

"My father hated me. I knew that he did. It was obvious. My uncle also hated me too. He was more verbal about it, though. Then there was my fiance. He was something else. He was so nice and sweet to me. When I told him, he went the other way. He kept me in a basement and tried to fix me. But usually it was just him abusing me." I confessed to him. I was glad to get that off of my chest. Zak then knelt on the floor so that he could look at me better.

"Lea, I will never do any of that to you. I could never ever hurt you." He told me. The fact that his hand that was free was in a fist, yet the one I was holding was calm, was enough for me.

"I am trying to get that. I really am. It's just new to me. I am sorry." I told him. I then let go of his hand and he grabbed both of my hands.

"Don't be sorry for what other people did to you. You didn't ask for any of it." He told me. I sighed and looked at him.

"What did he do to make you this broken?" Zka whispered as he moved some hair out of my face. I felt another tear leave my eye.

"Everything. He did everything to me. He hit me, yelled at me, and used me. I had to live in the basement for over two months. Every day, he would yell at me and tell me that I was a nasty piece of trash. I was able to escape one day. I had enough and I broke the door down. It took a lot of my energy, but I made it out." I told him. A tear fell out of his eye. I didn't think that I would ever see a man cry. I sat up and looked at him.

"Why are you crying?" I asked him. This was really something that I had never seen before.

"Because you didn't deserve that. You still don't." He told me. I couldn't believe that he was being this nice to me.

"Zak, it happened. It is my burden that I have to carry for the rest of my life." I told him. He shook his head and stood up.

"You shouldn't have to, though." He told me. I sighed and stood up.

"At least you now know why I keep retracting from you. I don't want to give you the chance to hurt me." I told him. He nodded his head and closed his eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that. I can't really let any guy near me, at least not in that way." I said as I tried to make it better. 

"I get what you mean." He told me. He then started to walk to the bathroom. I really messed it up. He would probably hate me now.

"Zak, wait." I told him. I walked to him as he turned around. I then wrapped my arms around him to give him a hug. He hugged me back and I felt so warm. I felt like I could trust him with my life and everything else. Nothing was going to hurt me when I was with him. 

I then looked up and I saw that he was looking at me. I then decided to take the shot. I got on my toes and I pullled him into me. I kissed his lips. It took him a moment to realize that I was kissing him, for him to respond. He kissed me gently. He wrapped his arms around my waist and he pulled me into his body. I felt like this was right. It was a weird feeling for me.

"Zak, I want to. I just need time. I need time to get used to it." I told him once we broke the kiss. He understood what I meant, but he didn't let go of me.

"I will be able to give you all the time that you need." He told me. I smiled at him and kissed his cheek. I could hear Leonard freaking out and throwing a little party in the backround. 

"How are we going to do this?" I asked Zak. He looked above my head and started to think. 

"You choose the pace that we go at. I get that we won't tell anyone. that is a given. But I am willing to wait for you to get more comfortable with me." He offered. 

"Gosh, it sounds like rehab. But thanks." I told him. He then let me go and I went to my bed and I picked up my pants. 

"Did you only mess with my pants?" I asked him. He looked at me strange. 

"Yeah, why?" He asked me. I knew that asking him that would lead to questions. 

"I just am not ready to tell you somethings about me." I said. That was the bast thing to say at this point. He nodded his head and walked into the bathroom. 

"Are you really going to try with him? He really trusts you." Leonard told me as I put my jeans on. I sighed and looked at my little demon friend. 

"I am going to try. I still have to remember what that old woman told me. I need to make sure that I can trust him." I explained to him.

"Just get in bed with him and everything will be better. He looks like he has a package." Leonard said suggestively. I sighed and shook my head.

"Do you only think about sex?" I asked him. HTis was like the tenth time that he had told me to get in bed with Zak.

"I could check it out for you. I could even draw it out." He offered. I looked at him with wide eyes.

"Okay, no. No looking. No drawing." I told him sternly.

"What good is it to have an invisble friend, if you cant benefit from it?" He asked me. I sighed and put my hands on my face.

"You are impossible." I moaned. I then laid back on my bed and tryed to think of how I was going to do this.

"You are going to have to tell him about your scars, sooner or later. Both kinds. Yeah, I saw the one on your back." Leonard told me. Of course he would have seen it.

"Are you gay?" I asked him randomly. He looked at me and smiled. Zak must have walked in the room at that time.

"Umm, I don't think that I am. Do I come off that way?" Zak answered. I looked at him and smiled.

"I wasn't talking to you." I told him. Zak knew that I wasn't. I saw that he hadn't freaked out or gotten mad. He just simply smiled and went to his bed, like it was normal.

"I like to think of myself as interested and invested." Leonard finally said. That would make sense.

So I have decided to keep Leonard. I just really like him, now. He is coming in handy. So if you don't like him, I am sorry. :D