End Game

End Game - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

            I open the door all the way and Zane walks in. He goes straight to the couch and plops down. I walk to him and kneel in front of him to look at his face. It looks even worse than I thought, and I immediately stand up to get something to clean it. Before I can even move, Rayanne is already coming out of the bathroom with our first aid kit.

            “Here. I figured you could use this.” She hands me the kit and takes a seat on the other side of the couch.

            “So Zane, while Hannah cleans you up, wanna tell us what the hell happened to you.”

            I knelt down in front of Zane, got all the cleaning stuff ready, and prepare for his answer. I already know this fight has to do with what happened with Jason.

            Zane looks at me and his eyes are dark and sad. “Hannah is it true?”

            “Is what true Zane, because I don’t know what you think you know?”

            “Did he try to hurt you?”

            I am staring at Zane, like really staring at him, and the look in his eyes is so sad. He is worried about me. It is written all over his face. At this moment all the bullshit I had built up in my head about him leaving me two in a half years ago just disappeared. As much as I wanted him to stay and save me, that was, and is never, his job. I had to do this, but with him in front of me now, looking sad and close to tears because of what happened to me, is amazing.

            “Yes, Zane….”

            Before I could finish my sentence, Zane was up and jumping off the couch yelling.

            “I am going to kill the fucking bastard Hannah. No one has the right to hurt some one like that, and no one has the right to hurt some one I fucking love!”

            I immediately jump up, grab Zane’s cheeks in my hands, and stand on my tiptoes to look him in the eyes.

            “Look at me Zane. Really look. I am okay. I am pretty sure I broke his nose, and I made damn sure that his balls would be sore for at least a week.”

            I could hear Rayanne in the background laughing at that. Zane looked at me, and tried to give me a small smile, but it seemed to cause him some pain.

            “Are you sure Hannah? He didn’t hurt you?”

            I moved Zane and I back to the couch, so he could calm down and I could finish cleaning his face.

            “No Zane. He tried to make me do something I didn’t want to, and I made sure he knew how much I didn’t want to.”

            I started cleaning the cuts on his face and I almost couldn’t contain the nervous shaking that was for some reason taking over my hands. I have never in all my years of being friends with Zane been this close to his lips. I know that with everything that happened tonight I shouldn’t be over come with the need to want to kiss Zane more than anything, but guess what, I am.

            Zane leaned forward, pressed his forehead against my forehead, and held my cheeks in his hand. He let out an immense sigh. I swear I thought he was going to kiss me, and boy did I want him to. I looked into his eyes and I could swear, or maybe it is wishful thinking, that he wanted to.

             He whispered into my lips. “Hannah, I am so fucking proud of you. That asshole deserved what you did to him.”

            He leaned up and kissed my forehead. Yes…my forehead. Okay, so I guess his desire to kiss me was all in my head after all. Oh well. I felt devastated, but also so comfortable at the same time. Him holding me so closely made me feel safe.

            “What are you going to do about this Hannah? Are you going to report him to campus police?”

            “Ray and I were leaving to go just before you got here. I have to be honest though, I am a little afraid that he could end up getting me into trouble. I mean, he didn’t really get a chance to do anything to me, and I sure as hell beat the crap out of him.”

            “Well Hannah, even if he can’t get in trouble with the police, I am going to start to make sure that he is at least kicked out of the frat.”

            “You can do that Zane?”

            “Hell yeah I can. Trust me, I have more pull than he does”

            I sat down on the couch and put my face in my hands. I have no idea what to do. I want to make sure he can’t do that to anyone else, but I don’t want to get into trouble.

            “I really don’t want to go to the police, but I don’t want him to do it to anyone else.”

            “Can I be honest Hannah? Even if you went to the police, most likely he won’t get into trouble. However, if I get him kicked out of the frat, people will wonder why, and word could get out about what happened. I know Jason, and his rep being ruined is the worst thing that can happen to him…in his eyes at least.”

            I leaned in, hugging Zane, and started crying. I’m not sure if I was crying because of what happened, or if it was really feeling the love from both Zane and Rayanne. I never felt I was really worth feeling love like this. I have second-guessed how Zane, and even Rayanne, really felt about me my entire life. Being away from my mother, even for just a month, has finally started breaking down the hard walls. I have always thrown up around people who treated others with kindness and love. I never felt worthy, but maybe it wasn’t me that wasn’t worthy. Maybe it was my mother who wasn’t. She isn’t worthy of my need to have her love.

            “Shhh. Hannah Banana Split, it will be okay. I promise I wont let anything like this happen to you again.”

            Zane was rubbing his hand through my hair and kept telling me it would be okay. I just laid there, my head against his chest, and before I knew it I was asleep.