Whispers of Hope- Book # 3 (Mated Hearts Series) Complete

Chapter 3 (Marissa)

Whispers of Hope

2011 Copyright All Rights Reserved

***Edited by MidnightStorm***

Chapter 3 (Marissa)


I was running. I had no clue as to where I was going, I was only certain that I needed to escape the sight of Zach’s lips pressed so intimately against another’s. I thought I had prepared myself for rejection. I knew that it was a distinct possibility, but I was fooling myself. I was in no way prepared for what I had just witnessed.

Cutting around the corner, I spotted the girls restroom. I pushed the door open with force and turned to lock it firmly behind me. With my back pressed up against the door, I let out a ragged sigh. All of the emotions that I had been holding in started to pour out of me.  I pressed my hands to my face as I sank to the floor, letting the tears fall. At that point, I couldn’t have stopped them even if I wanted to.

I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t do this anymore, and now look at me. Blubbering like an idiot.  Pushing myself up to stand, I wiped haphazardly at my cheeks. I’m done, I thought to myself. I was so tired of longing for someone that I would never have. So tired of wanting something that was obviously too far out of my reach.

I shuffled over to the sink and gazed at myself in the mirror. The reflection showed my red, swollen eyes and blotchy, tear-stained cheeks, a byproduct of my broken heart.

It was time to move on. Time to accept the fact that Zach had done so as well. Determined to not let him see me in this sad shape, I had to steel myself against him. Still staring at myself in the mirror, I reached for a paper towel and washed my face. I could do this. I was determined to make it through this day and not let Zachary Martin see how much he truly affected me.  

Opening my purse, I carefully touched up my make up, wiping away all signs of my emotional breakdown. With one final look in the mirror, I felt satisfied with the reflection staring back at me.  I wasn’t overly beautiful or anything, but I knew I wasn’t an ugly duckling either.

“Alright, Marissa Mae Combs. Suck it up and let’s do this,” I whispered to my reflection. It was time for me to regroup and definitely time to move on. Tossing the used paper towels in the trash and feeling much more in control of myself, I unlocked the door and stepped back into the hall.

I took a deep breath of air as I glanced at my watch, and saw that it was about time for the bell to ring, signaling the end of the first class. Pulling out my schedule, I opened it up to see that gym was next.

Oh joy, I thought to myself, this day just keeps getting better and better as the minutes tick along.

I knew exactly where to go and headed for the gym, inhaling more deep breaths to maintain my composure and confident stride. As I turned on the final hall leading to the gym, the bell rang.

The halls instantly filled with people and I picked up my pace because I did not want to risk running into a certain blond male with the most dazzling blue eyes that I had ever seen.

“Ugh,” I groaned. I have got to stop thinking about him.

“Marissa.”

I turned around just as I hit the locker room door to see Amy coming towards me. Her handsome companion was nowhere to be seen, but she did have two other very pretty girls by her side.

I waited for her to reach me and offered up the best smile that I could muster.

“Hi Amy,” I replied when she finally reached me.

“Hey, you have gym this period?” she asked. Something seemed slightly suspicious about the way she was looking at me. Almost hopeful. She was way too excited to just be going to your average everyday gym class.

“Yeah,” I told her, waiting for the rest of it because I had a feeling that with the looks that I was getting from all three girls, there was definitely something to do with this gym class that I was in the dark about.

“Great,” she replied. “By the way, this is Tabby and the blonde over there is Liza. They’re my cousins. You may remember them back from freshman year,” she explained, eyeing me very carefully.

I had to think for a moment. They did both look slightly familiar, but the problem was that in freshman year I was only interested in one person and now I refused to even mention his name.

Then it clicked. “Tabitha Levins,” I said. “Yeah, I remember you. We had Art together." Tabby gave me a sincere smile. “That’s right. You made that clay sculpture of the Eiffel Tower that everyone fell in love with.”

Thinking back, I remembered making that sculpture. I spent almost a month perfecting it. I made that sculpture because my biggest dream was to go to Paris. Once upon a time Zach had even promised that he would take me there for our honeymoon.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Tabitha asked. She had her hand on my shoulder and it was a soothing gesture. It was really sweet of her considering she knew me no better than a hole in the wall.

“I’m fine,” I told her.  “Just thinking about the past and sometimes, the past just needs to stay where it belongs, you know what I mean?” I looked up at the three girls and straightened my stance.

“You got a point there, sister” the other blonde spoke up.  She held out her hand to me and I took it without hesitation. “I’m Liza Sparks, by the way. We never had any classes together, but I remember seeing you around. I have a feeling that we‘re going to be good friends, though,” she said, offering a smile of her own.

I was genuinely surprised by the hospitality that these girls were showing me, but it felt good. It felt good to talk with people from my childhood and rekindle some of those friendships, and with Liza it looked like I was even making a new one.

“That would be nice,” I whispered.

“Come on,” Amy said. “We need to get changed before Coach Creer has one of her conniptions.”

I followed them into the locker room and met with Coach Creer. I also remembered her from freshman year. She looked like one of those she-men and always smelled like onion bagels. Neither of those facts had changed. She, unfortunately, still looked like a she-man and still smelled like onion bagels. I was issued a uniform and handed a lock for my locker. Leaving her office, I went to change my clothes and by the time I was finished everyone else was already in the gym.

Still feeling a little on edge, I walked out into the gym. My class was over by the bleachers pulling out the badminton equipment. I immediately spotted Amy, Tabby and Liza and ran over to their side.

“Hey again,” I said to them, bending down to help out by picking up a couple of rackets. “So, I guess we’re playing badminton today, huh?”

Amy stood and looked at me. “Yeah,” she replied and then stood on her toes to look over me. Then she started leaning to the left like she was trying to see something.

Turning around I spotted exactly what, or shall I say whom, she was looking at: Zach Martin. The hopeful looks she was giving me earlier suddenly all made sense. Sorry to tell you Amy, but it's not happening, I thought to myself.

“Damn,” I muttered.

Tabby was standing beside me, looking off in the same direction and replied, “Double damn.”

We both looked at each other at the same time. She raised her brow and I quirked my lips before we both burst out laughing. Looks like we had something in common.

“Which one?” I asked while trying to stifle my giggles.

“The brown-haired one with the blue-edged socks. Let me guess yours, the infamous Zach Martin?”

“That would be correct.” I told her. “Just minutes ago I made a vow to myself that it was time to move on and that I would never waste my time thinking about him again. Now look, he is standing over there, looking as pretty as he pleases without a care in the world. Why is life so unfair?” I asked while shaking my head.

“Hey, at least yours doesn't follow you around and beg like a little puppy. If you figure out the answer to the life isn’t fair question, feel free to let me in on the big secret, because I am getting desperate.”

We both erupted into another round of giggles. “Will do,” I replied.

“You girls going to join us?” Liza asked. She was standing over by a net holding up the birdie, ready to play.

“Sure,” Tabby said. “Marissa and I will be partners and you and Amy can be partners.”

She turned and held up her hand for a high five. I slapped it and she whispered, “You ready to kick some blonde ass?”

“I heard that,” Amy called and again we all laughed. I haven’t laughed this much since, well since--and I stopped in mid-thought to look back at where Zach was rough housing with a couple of guys--since Zach, actually.

“Come on,” Tabby said as she gently pulled on my arm.

I let her lead me to the court, shaking away all of those earlier memories.

This has to stop, I told myself. With my mind now refocused, I turned to the game.

“Play ball,” I yelled, determined to revamp my spirits.

“Alright, you heard the girl,” Liza said. “Let’s play.”

Liza tossed up the birdie and let it fly. The game was on. For twenty minutes we played and with these girls I found it so easy to just have a good time.

“Heads up!” Amy shouted just as a basket ball came flying over my head. I ducked in the nick of time to avoid being beamed in the noggin.

“What the hell?” I squealed as I spun around. The minute I was fully turned, I instantly regretted it.

Zach stood there, holding the ball and smirking at me. “Oops, my bad,” he replied, mockingly placing the tips of his fingers to his lips.

I was drawn to those succulent lips. I could still remember the way they felt against mine. Firm and soft all at the same time. It was a feeling like no other.

“See something you like?” he asked, still maintaining that famous smirk of his.

I grunted in response and turned around. I was so not going there.

“I share you know. There is plenty of the Zachanator to go around, if you’re interested,” he yelled out as I started to walk away.

I paused for a moment and glanced back at him. “You wish!” I shouted over my shoulder and continued to head back towards Amy and the other girls.

“Your loss, Missy,” he shot back with a laugh. He used my nickname and that felt too personal.

Pausing once again I turned back to look at him one more time. He had changed. This was not the same Zach Martin that I had fallen in love with three years ago. This was some egotistical jerk who had developed a severe God complex.

Zach took two steps forward and narrowed those gorgeous blue eyes at me. “Having second thoughts, babe?” he asked.

For several seconds we both just stood there with our eyes locked on each other. And for the briefest of seconds I thought I saw something else in his eyes. Maybe a longing, the same longing that has plagued me for the last three years.

He took another two steps closer to me so that we were now standing toe to toe. Our eyes were still locked together; I could almost feel the thrum of electricity arcing between us. His lips curled up into a genuine smile, one that reminded me of the Zachary that I knew before, and it was like there was an air of magic surrounding us.

Zach leaned into me so that his mouth was just a breath away from my ear. I stilled with the knowledge that he was so close to me. My heart began to beat a tattoo in my chest and my breath hitched in anticipation.

Then the boy had to go and open his big mouth, wiping any traces of that magical moment away.  Leaning into to me even further, he whispered at my ear, “I can so make it worth your while, babe.” Before he pulled away he took a small nip at the tip of my ear, causing me to jerk in reaction.

“You ass!” I shouted at him.Everyone around us stopped what they were doing and silence filled the gym. Before I could even think to stop myself my hand lifted of its own accord, sliding smoothly and sharply across his face.

His head whipped to the left and for a moment he kept looking in that direction. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest as he slowly turned back to me. All signs of his playful manner were gone. He glared at me, cold and hard.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” he stated in a dangerously cool voice.

I should have shrunk back or retreated in some manner, but I was now pissed and something deep down in me wanted to challenge him.

“You should’ve kept your teeth to yourself,” I retorted. Placing my hands on my hips, I took an imposing step forward as I dared him to say something else.

“Mr. Martin, Ms. Combs, I saw your little incident and the both of you can share two days of detention starting this afternoon!” Coach Creer yelled.

“No can do,” Zach said, still keeping his eyes locked with mine. “I already have detention this afternoon with Mr. Brewer.”

You could hear Coach Creer’s sigh all the way across the gym. “Fine, starting tomorrow,” she said with a finality. “Class dismissed.”

Everyone started scurrying off to the locker rooms but I felt rooted in place. Zach stayed in his spot as well as we continued our stare showdown.

Breaking the silence, Zach announced, “This,” he paused to wave his hand between the two of us, “is by no means over.”

I raised a questioning brow at him. Waving my hand between the two of us in the same manner that he had just previously done, I replied, “This is never going to get started.”

He chuckled at that statement and had a look of total confidence on his face. “That’s what you think,” he muttered.

Before I could protest he turned around and jogged away from me.

I watched his retreating back and shook my head.

“More like that is what I know,” I mumbled.

Before I turned to go change myself, I took an extra second to appreciate his fine rounded ass. I was a female, and it would be a crying shame not to notice how perfectly the black gym shorts fit his ass. Just a second longer, I thought to myself before he punched open the locker room door and disappeared. "Perfect," I mumbled with a grin that went from one ear to the other. "A perfect ass indeed.”