Misery Company

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Mackenzie was hanging out with Megan in her room that night after a pizza dinner the little girl had successfully begged for. With Mac on her side Dean caved quick and ordered a large pie with extra cheese. Now they put together a puzzle that needed nearly a day of work. Mac wasn’t sure if she was fooling her ‘fiancé’ it was rather obvious she was avoiding bed.

“Hey.” Dean swept into the room and lifted Megan in his arms. “It’s time for bed.” 

“Five more minutes?” Megan whined.

“I gave you five minutes three times now.” He laid her down and pulled the covers up. “I’ll come back to check on you.” He took Mac’s hand and led the way back downstairs. “You could back me up with her.”

“I could but I enjoy watching you get bent out of shape. You can’t say no to her, it’s funny.” It was the only time she didn’t resent being near Dean, he was rather sweet with his daughter.

“It could be that you’ve always loved to torture me or you are freaking out about sharing a bed with me.” Dean said, hitting the nail right on the head.

“I’ve been giving that some thought. Once we close the door we don’t have to put on a show for Megan. One of us can take the floor.” Mac explained easily after practicing it all day. She did not want to give Dean any reasons to make fun of her or make this worse then it had to be.

“If you want to.” Dean said, disappearing back upstairs to say goodnight to Megan.

“Always the gentleman.” Mac grumbled and headed to bed. Alone in the bedroom she gave it some more thought. Sleeping on hardwood floors didn’t seem appealing and in a way Dean would win if he saw her uncomfortable. In high school or in their twenties Mac still couldn’t stand to let Dean Chandler win. She fluffed up her pillows and laid down.

IIII

Dean gently closed Megan’s door then checked the locks on the front door. He took a moment to consider the mess he was walking into. He knew Mackenzie was nervous but he refused to give up his comfortable bed because of her quirks. Sharing a bed meant nothing; it wasn’t as if they were going to have sex. That thought made him freeze. Thinking about Mac and sex was a bad combo.

Groaning he shook his head and walked to his bedroom. He had an early start tomorrow; there was no time to obsess about Mackenzie Ashby and what and what wasn’t happening.

As he shut the bedroom door he saw that she didn’t choose the floor to sleep on, instead she was curled up on the left side of the mattress. The bed suddenly looked very small.

“I left you your side.”

The sound of her voice brought him back to present time. “Whatever.” Shutting off the light he pushed his legs forward and laid down beside her. “I hope you don’t snore.” It was easier to crack jokes and make her uncomfortable then to face his own rapid heartbeat.

It wasn’t that easy with Mac; she sat up and looked down into his eyes. “And if I do? The way I see it; you need me and whatever I do or don’t do in this bed you have to deal with it.” she always had something up her sleeve waiting to dish back whatever anyone sent her way. She smirked. “No come back? I thought so.” She laid back down and adjusted her blanket.

Dean smiled in the darkness and admitted only to himself he had missed Mackenzie and only what she could make him feel. He regretted deeply how he hurt her and how he had left without being able to talk to her one more time. Now here she was, in his bed of all places. He thought about their encounter in his bathroom years ago before she had learned to hate him all over again. He had wanted her so badly, nothing else mattered and then it was all ripped away. The question he asked himself now; did he still want her? The crush he had years ago was it truly gone? And most importantly how did Mac feel about him?

He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep but he couldn’t forget she was lying beside him. Dean was no saint but he had never shared a bed with a woman this long, they had never spent the night and it had always been at their place. He never wanted Megan to get the wrong idea if a woman hung around too long. His love life or lack of was always hidden from his daughter. Mac was the only one he trusted to get this close.

He realized something else was keeping him awake, “You’re fidgeting.”

“I thought we covered this, whatever I do you have to deal with. I move in my sleep.”

“You’re not sleeping. I think you’re moving because you’re nervous as hell.” He said, grinning in the darkness.

“Nervous about what? It’s not like we’re accidentally going to have sex in your sleep, it doesn’t work that way.”

Dean’s grin turned into a full blown smile, he wasn’t the only one who thought about sex. “I wasn’t talking about sex. This could be very embarrassing for you if something was to happen, let’s say I touch you by mistake or you touch me.” He was enjoying this; he had always loved seeing her get bent out of shape, it also felt like coming home.

“Not happening although I might knee you in the balls, by mistake of course.”

Dean turned on the lamp beside his head then glance over to see Mac’s face. She was trying to hide her smile. “We could just get this out of the way.” This was dangerous, he knew that but it was too much fun.

He watched as her blue eyes widened. “Get what out of the way?” she turned slightly to her left, lying on her back as she looked up to his face.

“Well you know.” He touched his fingers to her cheek.

She slapped his hand away. “You are such a jerk, really.” She sat up quickly and there was no mistaking the fact she was jumpy. 

“Relax Mackenzie I’m just messing with you.”

“I know that and that’s why you’re a jerk. I’m here trying to help you and you have to play these stupid little games.” She sighed heavily then whipped around with a hard look in her eyes. “You take the floor.” She pushed him hard, hard enough that he half fell to the floor.

“Damn it!” his head hit the carpet hard and his legs stayed in the bed. “Always with the abuse.” He suddenly remembered the first time she punched him in high school leaving a black eye he had to explain to his father. He had made up some stupid story. No way was he admitting the girl next door hit him.

“You deserve it.” she said smugly, looking down at him from the bed.

Dean mentally groaned. She had just pushed him off the bed which really hurt and instead of getting angry he noticed how pretty her hair looked around her face, a little messy from having been in bed, his bed.  He couldn’t let her know that, he couldn’t make the same mistakes of the past. No this time Mac would never know he had any sort of crush on her. “I’m not taking the floor.” He pulled away the tangled sheet from his legs.

“And neither am I.” to prove her point she turned back over and laid down. “Kill the light.”

Never backing away from a fight Dean did turn off the lamp and laid back down next to his bride to be. He didn’t want her to suspect he felt anything then annoyance and gratitude but that didn’t mean he was going to let her win the next battle either.