Til Death Do Us Part || Tate Langdon

stay here

      Your first mistake was driving straight there, not to Delaney's and having her drop you off. You thought it'd be careful enough to park in front of Constance's house rather than Tate's, and you even sat in the driver's seat for a couple minutes checking your surroundings. You gripped the steering wheel and exhaled deeply, contemplating what you would say to Tate, and if he'd even want to see you after your reaction. He was sensitive after all, and you'd yelled at him to get away from you and disappeared for over a week. You stepped out of your car, and took a long look at the second floor window he always stood looking out of, and glanced over your shoulder one more time before heading down the sidewalk to the house.

   Your second mistake, was looking back instead of keeping on when you heard your Aunt's voice call furiously from behind you.

   "You lying little whore!" She'd growled, and came rushing toward you from a few yards away. You were only frozen for a couple seconds before taking off again.

   "Tate!" you called out for whatever reason.

   "He's not gonna help you," Thea panted as she chased you. "Get the fuck over here!"

   One foot in front of the other carried you as fast as possible toward Tate's front door; you were so close you thought you'd make it in to safety, but, Aunt Thea managed to tackle you to the ground just as you passed the threshold of the front gate. You felt all 300 pounds of her, your attempts to squeeze from under her were futile. You scratched and pushed where you could, and called Tate's name again.

   "What'd I tell you?" She grabbed you by the hair and forced you to look at her. "I raised you, you ungrateful little bitch."

   She banged your head against the concrete.

   "I told you to stay the fuck away from him, was it that hard?"

Another bang against the concrete, you could feel blood moving over your scalp.

   "And I told you you wouldn't like what would happen if I caught you here!"

She bashed your head again, and when she lifted it, you could see the front door fly open and Tate come racing down the steps. His eyes were black and he had a downright murderous look on his face as he stomped toward the two of you. You weren't conscious to see him reach you; when he was only a couple feet away, your head was pounded to the ground once more, and for the second time on his lawn, everything went black.

*****

      You gained consciousness again, and blinked awake to realize you were lying in Tate's bed, and it was sunny out.

   "Y/N," he stood from where he sat on the end of the bed as soon as you moved. "You're okay."

   He came over to lay next to you, and left a trail of kisses all over your face then down over your shoulder. "You're safe," he assured you, and took your hand in his.

   Your lips parted to speak, but you squeezed your eyes shut at how dizzy you still felt from the night before. You always knew Thea hated you, but not enough to physically hurt you. Not like that.

   "W-Where's...?" you stammered.

   "My mom came out and talked to her," he read your mind. "She got her to fuck off, and I brought you in here. I tried to clean you up a little, but... I probably wouldn't touch the back of your head for a while."

   You began tearing up remembering it, and realizing it had really, really happened.

   "Hey," he cradled your head to his chest. "I'm here now, nobody's gonna hurt you."

   You looked up at him graciously, and brushed a blond curl from his eyes, "Can I stay here?"

   He kissed your forehead. "Do you even have to ask?"

   You relaxed into him again and asked, "Do you think she'll come looking for me?"

   "I won't let her."

You decided to trust him, you didn't have many other options. You remembered all of a sudden that this was the first time you two talked since he'd shot himself in front of you, then stood up like it was nothing. Constance confirmed everything he said: you were snuggled up with a ghost.

   "I'm sorry you ever felt alone enough to hurt yourself that bad," you told him sincerely. "It makes me hate myself for not being there."

   He pulled you as close as possible and replied, "Don't hate yourself. I chose this, you came back, and I love you."

   "I love you too," you happily sighed, then remembered another bit of info from a previous conversation. "Tate?"

   "Yeah?"

   "Is that why you said you can't get me pregnant?"

   "Yeah," he smirked with a small laugh. "Being dead has its few perks."

   You nudged his shoulder playfully with a falsely offended smile. You didn't know how long you two laid there just tracing each other's features and melting into one another.

   A few days went by, Tate gave you another pair of his clothes each time you showered; you'd even let him in with you the last time. Sometimes he actually managed to make you forget you were here in hiding from your aunt, missing work again and again. It wasn't like you could go back there, though, she would definitely think to look for you there. You wondered if she was having a change of heart and felt remorse for what she did, considering Christmas was two days away.

   But when Christmas came, there was no sign of her. Your phone was long dead at this point, meaning you couldn't even check to see if you had any messages or missed calls. Constance was nice enough to visit you guys for the holiday, and even brought a few things.

   "I hope these are your size," she handed you a clear trash bag of various items of clothing. "They're from the thrift store, some are old things of mine I've outgrown the style of."

You'd been hiding out with Tate in this house for almost a week, and while you both loved you wearing his clothes, you did miss having your own. He and his mother exchanged a few unreadable glances as you dug through the bag. She handed him a few old looking records for his record player upstairs, and he seemed happy while looking through them. She sat on the couch across from you two with a cup of cinnamon tea telling the few happy stories of Tate's childhood, and you all watched out the window as cars passed and neighbor's multicolored lights twinkled.