Ever Victorious (A Michael Jackson Tale)

Too Late

Michael's P.O.V

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

The figure I was looking at matched the guy in the photo I had seen before. It was Craig.

He had a sneer on his face that I was itching to wipe off, my blood was boiling and I felt that same urge to protect Maria as I had felt the first time, but now he was standing in front of me, I could.

"The hell are you doing here Craig" My voice was thick and venomous, I was shocked at how I sounded so different.

His gaze snapped to mine.

"I wasn't speaking to you Twinkletoes. Now you better hop skip and jump back to your hole in Hollywood and stop stealing my things"

"She isn't a thing, she's a young woman who doesn't belong to anybody. And I'm not going anywhere so you better leave"
We held a stare for a long while as he advanced towards us. I didn't move an inch.

"Now now, calm yourself down little missy. You're right, she is a young woman, very young, younger than you anyway. But she belongs to me. So are you gonna leave quietly or am I gonna have to get rough with you? You think I'm scared of you just cuz you're some sorta popstar? I ain't afraid of some lowlife that has daddy issues and goes around the place like he's normal without protection. Without your bodyguards, you're nothing. Nothing but a lil' sissy who can't put up a fight. I can snap you in half if I need to, and I wouldn't break a sweat. I'm not gonna ask you again sunshine, get your coat and get out of here before you get wheeled outta here on a stretcher"

I didn't flinch, I just stayed still.

"You've got some real talk in you but I'm not moving until you get out of here. I'm not scared of you. You can hurt me all you want but you're not laying another finger on Maria. I know what you did to her, you're not going anywhere near her again do you understand?"

This time he laughed. It was like those evil laughs you get in the movies. But this was all too real and despite my defiance I knew I would never be able to take him down if it really came to blows. I felt Maria step out from behind me and I grabbed her arm, pinning her to my side.

He looked between the two of us and smiled wickedly, it turned my stomach. I now knew why Maria was so afraid of him and it had started to really bother me.

"Look man, I don't know what game you're playing but it sure ain't worth laughing about. Just leave her alone, she doesn't want you and there's nothing you can do to change her mind. You came around too late, she's not interested in you."

He laughed again and the anger inside me was coming to a head. If he hadn't suddenly shut up I probably would have done something I would have regretted.

"But you see it is funny because you don't understand just how wrong you are. You say you know what I did to her? More like what she did to herself. You don't know anything about her"

My fists clenched. "And I'm guessing you do?"

"Yeah I do. Maria and me go way back, back to our university years. See, Maria was a new student and she was homesick. We were in the same English class together, you should read some of her stuff, she's very good, shame really that you'll never get the chance"

"I'm fully aware of her talent, I don't see what any of this has to do with you" I caught Maria giving me a suprised look out of the corner of my eye, I had forgotten that she didn't know I had read her work.

"Just shut up for a few minutes will you? I'm not done. Anyway, Maria has a bad habit, don't you darling? See, she likes to drink. She drinks when she's stressed and by her being away from home and having plenty of opportunities to go to parties and drink, it became a bit of a problem. So I was being a good friend abd I stepped in to help her. I helped her quit drinking and we got close obviously, so we were in a happy relationship for about two years."