FicWad

HURRICANE

CHAPTER SIX

Jared walked into the house and slammed the door shut. He stormed to his room and slammed his bedroom door as well. He threw his keys on his armchair and collapsed onto his bed. He thought over his and Skyla's fight about Shannon; he knew that Shannon and Skyla had had sex, and he wasn't going to believe anything Skyla said. He laid on his back and looked up at his ceiling fan, mulling over whether to get a bottle of water and come back to his room or to get a bottle of water and go to the living room. He decided on the living room, deciding he needed to be near some people.

“Hey Jared,” Emma said. He walked over and sat down beside her.

“Hey,” he said. He looked around. He didn't see Shannon anywhere. “Where's Shannon?” he asked.

“I don't know. Last I saw him he was heading toward the garage,” Emma said. She got up and headed outside to sit by the pool. Jared followed her.

“Did you ask him where he was going?” he asked her.

“Not really. I just figured he was going to get something out of his car,” she said.

Jared sighed and headed to the garage. He noticed that Shannon's Jeep was gone, and he looked in his Cobra for Skyla's purse. It was still there, with his BlackBerry and wallet inside. He hated going through a girl's purse but... Jared unlocked the door and grabbed her purse, unzipping it and grabbing his wallet and BlackBerry. He put her purse under his arm and walked upstairs to his room.

“Now I know why Shannon split. Him and Skyla went off somewhere,” Jared said. He collapsed onto his armchair and fell asleep.


*


Skyla woke up the next morning and discovered Shannon was laying next to her with his arms around her. Even though they had the blanket across them, his body warmth and the blanket together weren't enough for the cold sea breeze. She shivered.

“Hey,” Shannon said as he woke up. “Are you cold? You almost froze last night so I brought you in here with me.” He grabbed another thick blanket and put it over her.

Skyla rubbed her arms and shivered again. “Thanks. Where are we?” she asked him, looking around.

“About an hour and a half away from our house in L.A.,” he told her. He grabbed her hand and lead her to the living room. “While you were asleep, I stocked up on some food and other things we might need while we're here. Would you like a bagel?”

Skyla nodded. She headed over to the couch and plopped down. She listened as Shannon made them each a bagel in the kitchen, smearing it with cream cheese when it was finished.

“Here you go, my lady,” he said as he handed Skyla hers. She tore off a half and bit into it.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, mouth full of bagel. She giggled as she realized it came out sounding more like “fanks.”

Shannon smiled as he bit into his bagel. He chewed thoughtfully before he asked Skyla, “Want to see the widow's walk when we're done?”

Skyla looked at him as she took another bite. “Okay.”

Skyla ate four more bites before she laid down her bagel. Shannon grabbed it and finished it for her, mumbling something about “...going to waste,” and proceeded to lead her up the stairs. He reached back and grabbed her hand.

“It's going to get dark so hold on tight to my hand, okay?” he told her. Skyla shuddered.

“Okay.” She felt a sudden gust of wind come through a broken window on the third floor. “How many more floors until we get to the widow's walk?”

“Just one more staircase...” Shannon said. “Go ahead of me. That way in case something comes I can scoop you up and run.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked him.

“Well, first of all, this old beach house was abandoned until I decided to buy it. Second of all, I have no idea what type of critters live up here.” Shannon grabbed her by the waist and led her to a separate door at least thirty feet away from a window. “Over here.”

“What's this?” Skyla asked. Shannon opened the door to reveal a small staircase leading up to a door surrounded by gray-colored light.

“After you,” Shannon said with a gesture to the door. Skyla glanced at him with a look of fright and slowly began ascending the stairs. “Skyla, if you trip on the stairs and start falling, I'm right here,” he kept telling her.

Sure enough, Skyla tripped on one of the last few steps and fell in Shannon's arms, her face inches from his. Neither one of them blinked nor breathed in those few seconds she was in his arms. Shannon set her back straight on the stairs.

“Umm, so hold onto the railing as you're going up or you'll fall again,” Shannon told her.

“But I'd rather hold on to you,” Skyla whispered. Shannon's head snapped back to look at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

When they reached the widow's walk Shannon and Skyla held onto each other for dear life as they walked to one side of the walkway.

“You can see for miles up here!” Skyla exclaimed. She peered out across the ocean at the rising sun, and thought about how eerie it must look for someone to be on the widow's walk in the light from the rising sun. She watched as Shannon hesitantly threw a small piece of a bagel off the widow's walk and together they watched it fall to the sandy ground below them.

“I'm heading back down. You coming?” Shannon asked her. He leaned against the door leading back inside the house.

“Umm, yeah,” Skyla said. “Just looking at the sunrise.”

Shannon smiled. “Come on. You look like you've seen a ghost,” he told her. He picked her up and carried her down the stairs, first the small flight leading from the widow's walk to the attic and then the flight leading from the attic to the third floor. He set her down for a few minutes so he could catch his breath; he put his hands on his knees and looked up at Skyla. “Just two more staircases to go.”

Skyla held her arms out to him and he picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder as he carried her down the staircases. When he got to the first floor, he set her down on her feet outside the room she slept in the night before.

“Here you go,” Shannon told Skyla. He opened her door for her. “See you in a few.”

“Yeah. Okay,” Skyla said. She walked to the bed and began straightening the blankets up.

“Wait.”

Skyla turned around and saw Shannon walking toward her. “Wait for what?” she asked him.

Shannon grabbed her. He pushed her down on the bed and kissed her. “That, maybe?”

Skyla looked him in the eyes. She felt guilt, love, joy, passion, sympathy, sadness, and a ton of other emotions wash over her like a wave. She gave him a small kiss and waited as he helped her off of the bed. She sighed. “You know I love you, but I'm-”

“Stuck in a loveless marriage.” Shannon ended her sentence loudly as he stormed out of the room.


*


Jared woke up with a start. He was reminded of the haunting fact that his captors can find him, and he needed to escape for a bit. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and headed to his Cobra. He spun his keys around his finger and ignored the fact that Shannon's Jeep was still gone. When he opened the driver's side door, he tossed Skyla's purse in the backseat and climbed in. He sighed and started his Cobra. He thought about the last time they were together in his Cobra and smiled, then sighed again.

“Maybe she was right. Maybe she wasn't doing anything with him. And I'll keep saying that to myself until I believe it,” Jared said to himself. He drove past the river park and kept going. He didn't know where he was going.

“She wasn't doing anything with him,” Jared said. He was twenty miles away from the river park and he turned around on the side of the road. “She was right.” He headed back home.

Suddenly he heard his BlackBerry ring for a new text. He looked at the sender and saw it was Emma; he read it quickly and replied. He then remembered that Shannon had bought an old beach house about an hour and a half away and decided to go see it, but wanted to see if Emma wanted to come with him. He decided against asking her and kept driving around until he found the right place. The whole time he was milling over an idea of what to say so he could see Skyla; he then remembered he had her purse and came up with the idea to apologize to her and give the purse to her.

When he approached the beach house, his stomach began churning. He had a sinking feeling that his plan to give Skyla her purse back wouldn't work; he held up a fist and knocked on the door. As he heard the footsteps coming closer to answer the door, his heart began racing. Suddenly the door was thrown open and Shannon was standing in front of him.

“What do you want?” he asked coldly.

Jared held Skyla's purse out to him. “I'm bringing Skyla her purse; she left it in my car.”

Shannon grabbed it and slammed the door shut in Jared's face. He instinctively reached up and rubbed his nose, then knocked again. Shannon opened the door again, more angrily this time. “What?”

“Can I talk to Skyla?” Jared asked him desperately. From where he was standing on the washed out front porch, he could see Skyla on the sixth stair from the bottom of the staircase, looking at him solemnly. When Shannon turned around to go ask her, Jared mouthed, “Please?” to her.

Skyla looked from Jared's anxious expression to Shannon's disgusted one. She briefly heard Shannon ask her something about if she wanted to talk to Jared, and all Skyla knew was she had nodded yes.

“Why?” Shannon asked her. “He yelled at you. Are you really going to talk to him after he yelled at you? After he accused you of something that never even happened?”

“Yes,” Skyla told him. She shouldered her purse, walked down the stairs and crossed the living room floor to the front door. She set her hand on the doorknob and looked back at Shannon, who was glaring at her fiercely. Skyla nodded a goodbye and headed out the door. Shannon waited until she had shut the door all the way before throwing a vase against the wall.

“Hey, Skyla,” Jared said. He held his hand out to her and she grabbed it, stepping down the porch steps carefully as Jared led her. “So, what has Shannon told you?” Jared asked her.

“Nothing much, actually.” Skyla and Jared walked toward his car, Skyla looking down for four leaf clovers the entire way. She plucked one and placed it behind her ear.

“I want to explain everything to you back at home, if you don't mind,” Jared told her. He brought her around in front of him and raised her chin up to look in her gorgeous eyes. “Hey, look at me. I'm sorry I acted like that, alright?”

Skyla looked at him and sighed, honestly ready to forgive him. “It's okay,” she said as she gave Jared a hug. “Just wait until we get back home and you can explain everything to me, okay?”

Jared nodded. He looked at Skyla and noticed the four leaf clover behind her ear; he held her door open on his car and helped her get in. “Hope your clover brings you tons of luck,” he told her with a wink. He shut her door and walked around to his side of the car and looked down, only to find a five leaf clover. “Think this one will bring me a bunch of luck, too?”

Skyla giggled from inside Jared's Cobra. “Maybe! Now come on!” She watched as Jared threw open the car door and jumped in. They cracked up.

“Where to, miss?” Jared asked her after he had regained his composure.

“To the moon,” Skyla whispered as she kissed him.