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HURRICANE

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Skyla!” her mother called after her. She ran up the stairs after her. “Please, be reasonable, honey! If you act like this to them, how are you going to act towards your father?”

Skyla crossed her arms. “I'm just... angry at them. They never cared about me until I got pregnant; I wanted to come home from day one and I couldn't. But...” she sat down on a comfy chair and sighed. “I know they really care about me, but I don't want them to come out here.”

“But they seemed really concerned about you. Did you not tell them you were leaving?” her mother asked her. Skyla shook her head.

“No, but I kind of wished I did, now.” Skyla went back to her room and called Shannon.

“Skyla!” he asked her. “Thank God you answered. I was getting worried.”

“Listen, where are you?” she asked him. She curled up on her bed and held the phone to her ear. “I can tell you one thing: it's different without you guys here, that's for sure.”

“Really? It's the same with you. I'm on my way there to try and make you come back. You left so suddenly, even Jared is upset.” Shannon was quiet for a few minutes on the other end.

“Are you still there?” Skyla asked.

“Yeah. I was just thinking,” he admitted. “I'll be to your house in a little bit, okay?”

“Okay. See you later,” she told him as she hung up her phone. She laid back on her pillows and rubbed her tummy. “Just a few months along and I'm already showing.” She got a text message from Shannon on her phone and looked at it. He was at the Chattanooga Airport and was about to leave to come to her house. She sighed and called him.

“I'll leave the door unlocked, okay?” she told him as she headed downstairs.

“Okay, cool. I'm a few minutes away. See you soon, alright?” he told her.

She unlocked the front door and headed out into the blistering heat. She sat on the front porch and waited for Shannon.

When he finally arrived, Shannon grabbed Skyla and hugged her. “Don't you ever do that again!” he told her. He hugged her again and followed her inside. “Same room as last time?”

“You bet. Just don't steal me,” she told him. He followed her up to the guest bedroom.

“So why did you come back to Chattanooga?” he asked her.

“I needed to be away for a few days,” she explained. “But I wish I could come back now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I miss you all. And I think it's crucial for me to be near you guys until I have this baby.” Skyla placed a hand on her belly and rubbed it.

“Listen, I wish you could come too. We all miss you,” he told her. She motioned for him to follow her into her bedroom. She ran downstairs and told her mom her and Shannon were going to talk for a few hours.

“I'm heading to the store, but I'll be back soon. Need me to pick anything up?” her mother asked.

“Not right now,” Skyla answered. She ran back upstairs to her room and shut the door behind her. “Sorry, my mom is going to the store and she wanted to know if I needed anything,” she explained.

“It's okay.” Shannon laid back on her bed. Skyla had already stripped her room of her 30 Seconds to Mars posters and pictures, and he was looking at a poem she had written that was painted on the wall. He sat back up and looked at her. “Jared said some horrible things about you earlier when we were trying to figure out which place would be best to hide you.”

“Really? Like what?”

“He called you a whore.”

Skyla looked at Shannon. For some reason, she wasn't surprised about him calling her a whore. She looked at Shannon. “What did you do?”

“I punched him.”

She gave him a little smile. “Oh, really? And what did he do?”

“He tried to punch me back, but he hit me in the gut.”

Skyla gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

Shannon pulled her down beside him and hugged her. “You're welcome.” He grinned at her.

Skyla shook her head and laughed. “If I were you, I would've done the same thing. So, is Jared coming out here?”

Shannon shrugged. “I don't know. Don't really care. All I know is I wish you would come back with me.” He pulled her in close and gave her a hug.

“Shannon, I wish I could just go back with you but I want to spend some time with my family. I haven't seen them in awhile and I want to spend some time with them before I have to go back with you.” Skyla curled up next to Shannon and wrapped her arms through his. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed deeply. “I wish Jared would leave us alone. I loved staying with you. And it isn't his business what we do,” she said sleepily. Shannon pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. He got an idea.

“Why don't we just spend time together anyways?” he asked her. He got off of her bed.

“What?”

“Listen, the worst Jared could do is punch me. Why don't we just go together anyways?” Skyla thought she saw a glimmer of evil in his eye, and she immediately disagreed.

“No! Do you not realize how big of a risk that is?” she asked him.

He grabbed her by her shoulders and caused her to flinch. “If I didn't know then why am I asking you, practically begging you, to do this for me?” he whispered. He looked in her jade-green eyes as he pulled her closer. “You already told me that you made a mistake in marrying Jared. So why not prove everyone wrong and show them that we're meant to be together?”

“Because I could get hurt too. You aren't the only one he could punch,” she told him. “He almost never lets me out of his sight.”

“Well, he will have to deal with it.” Shannon grabbed her hands and pulled her up off the bed. She gave him a seductive smile and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I guess he will.”