Accidents Happen

Chapter 13

(Skylar's P.O.V)
The closer Claire gets to the building, the more nervous I get. I look out my window and try to think postive, knowing this could be the last time I ever come here.
"Do you need me to go with you?" Claire asks curiously.
"No. We got it." Ricky says, getting out and opening the door for me.
"You didn't have to do that." I smile at him.
"But I did." He smiles, shutting the door and grabbing my hand in his, leading me to the door, then opening it. His hand never leaves mine and truth be told, it made me feel a little better about everything. I follow him up to the meeting room and he opens the door slowly.
"Ah, Ricky, Skylar. I was starting to think you wouldn't show up. And what's this?" Simon asks, pointing to our hands.
"She needed a little assurance." Ricky says as we sit down, his hand leaving mine.
"So. I've called you into discuss the contract you broke. Remember that, Skylar?" He asks smiling evilly at me.
"How could I forget?" I snap at him, leaning my head against my fist.
"It says here that you signed the contract, agreeing to be seen with no one else but the lead singer." He reads off the paper.
"Yeah? And?" I ask looking at him.
"You broke the deal." He sighs, putting the paper down.
"A deal that I didn't want to be part of in the first place!" I say, started to get angry.
"Calm down, a little girl like you doesn't need to get so angry." He laughs, glaring at me.
"I'm not a little girl." I mumble to him, shifting in my chair.
"Right, right. Well I have here, another contract." He says sliding it to me.
"Sign it." He orders me and I read the top.
"No." I say firmly, staring back at him.
"I said sign it." He says, raising his voice slightly.
"And I said no. I'm not letting you drop the boys just because I made a stupid mistake." I say, Ricky looking at me.
"A stupid mistake?" He asks me.
"No. I didnt mean it like that." I say, feeling a little piece of my heart break from the look on his face.
"Aww. Relationships are no game for children to play." Simon sighs, happy with the problem he's just caused.
"You haven't even been married before." I snap at him.
"Right. And here's this contract. Sign this and you'll be free to go." Simon says, sliding another one over to me.
"No. Sky, don't." Ricky says taking it from me.
"Ricky, if he wants my job, he can have it." I tell him, looking him in the eyes.
"I can't let you do that." He says firmly, ripping the contract in half.
"I don't even know why I signed you boys in the first place." Simon says, the bubble of anger I was holding back, just bursted.
"You signed them because they're talented, you ass." I snap at him, a surprised look coming to his face.
"Sky." Ricky whispers, warning me that I might've gone a little too far with it.
"Sign this contract and the fake relationship will go away." Simon says, sliding yet another paper over to me.
"No." I say, reading the fine print.
"No?" Simon asks me.
"That's what I thought I said." I say, crossing my arms and leaning back in my chair.
"No one has ever told me no." Simon chuckles, scooting his chair back slowly.
"Hmm probably because they too afraid." I say, watching him closely.
"Your, friend hasn't even stood up to me. Is that because he's too afraid?" Simon smiles nastily.
"No." I snap, looking away briefly.
"Uh huh. I see. So tell me, Skylar. Why won't you just sign this contract?" Simon asks, leaning against the front of his desk, contract and pen in hand.
"Because I'm not your puppet." I state, standing up and staring at him.
"But he is." He smirks, looking over at Ricky.
"No. He's a person. And he just so happens to have feelings." I snap, standing up to the man that most people fear.
"You're gonna wanna back down." Simon says, his voice becoming deeper and his eyes changing a shade, now filled with anger.
"I'm not going to, because I'm not scared of you. All you are is an egotistical, big headed, garbage dirtball." I say, crossing my arms and smiling cockily at him. He takes a deep breath and moves so quickly I don't have time to react before I'm slapped and my cheek starts to burn something awful.
"Sky!" Ricky says, running over to me, pushing me out of the way and getting hit with Simon's fist.
"Sky, get out of here. I don't want you to get hurt." Ricky says, anger burning in his eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere." I say, looking behind him and seeing Simon pick up a chair. I jump in front of Ricky, grabbing the chair and pushing back as hard as I can, moving Simon back quickly and making him trip over the other chair in the room, landing on his back.
"Don't touch him." I snap, glaring down at Simon.
"Sky, please don't scare me like that." Ricky says hugging me tightly.
"I'm okay. I promise." I smile at him, kissing his cheek gently, not sure if he's hurt or not.
"Oh, Skylar. You really shouldn't have done that." Simon says, picking himself up off the floor.
"Babe, move. Now." Ricky says, pushing me behind him.
"You can't protect her, Ricky." He says chuckling.
"I will." Ricky says confidently, even though he's clearly terrified.
"Ricky." I whisper, making him look at me briefly before he looks back at Simon.
"We can settle this a different way." Ricky says, Simon looking at him.
"And how?" Simon snaps, glaring back at Ricky.
"A simple talk would be just fine." Ricky says, smiling at him.
"I have nothing left to say." Simon says, glaring at me.
"Why can't we just work this entire thing out?" Ricky asks looking at him.
"Because she had to go and make it difficult." Simon states, pointing at me.
"She made it difficult because that's just who she is." Ricky smiles at me.
"And I love how stubborn she can be. She doesn't give up if she wants something. Yes, she can be a pain in butt, but if you look past that, she's a pretty awesome girl." He smiles, making me blush slightly.
"Why do I care to hear this?" Simon groans, crossing his arms.
"Because then maybe you'd understand what it's like to be in her position. This isn't easy for her. Or the band, because every single move she makes impacts us somehow." Ricky says, Simon's face shifting from anger to somewhat calm.
"She has to worry about everything she says or does. I don't get why she has to be forced to do something she clearly doesn't want to do." Ricky explains, and Simon seems to start understanding. The look of evil comes back to his eyes and I pull Ricky back by his shirt, making him look at me.
"We need to go." I tell him, making him look at me.
"I almost..-" I cut him off, shaking my head.
"We gotta go. Now." I say, giving him a look and he nods, grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door with him. We both run down the hallway, out the front doors and get into the car.
"Drive." I tell Claire, making her look at me.
"Oh hey, Simon." She says, slamming on the breaks.
"No, you have to drive." I say, just before glass goes flying everywhere. He pulls the lock and opens my door, grabbing me by my jacket and dragging me from the car. I do my best to fight him off but he doesn't give up, only using his other hand to grab at my throat.
"Get off of her!" I hear Ricky yell, using his body weight to move Simon off of me.
"Don't do it, kid." Simon snaps at Ricky, tightening his grip on my throat. Ricky pushes him as hard as he can and it causes him to stumble, giving me enough time to pull out of his grip, coughing and gasping for air.
"Don't touch my girl again." Ricky says, glaring at Simon. Ricky comes over to me, wrapping his arms around me tightly.
"You're okay." He says softly, hugging my tightly.
"That scared me." I admit, still shaking a little.
"It scared me too, trust me." He says, holding out his hand, that was still shaking slightly. I hug him tighter, leaning my head against his chest, too scared to let go just yet.
"You okay?" Ricky asks softly, lifting my head slowly.
"I think." I say, nodding slowly.
"Skylar, the cops just got here." Claire says, making us both look at her. A tall man in a police uniform walks up to us.
"I'd like to talk with both of you. If that's okay?" He asks us.
"Sure." I say, Ricky and I following him. Another cop pulls Simon to his feet, his hands cuffed behind his back. He jumps at me and I practically jump into Ricky.
"It's okay." He says, putting his arm around me tightly.
"Okay, tell me everything that happened." The officer says to us.
"Skylar and I were here for a meeting and he first came at her inside because she refused to sign a contract. Then I tried to talk it over with him and she told me we needed to get out of there and we ran out to the car and her manager stopped and that's when he broke the window and took her from the car." Ricky says, the officer nodding and writing notes on his small pad of paper.
"Skylar, would you like to make a statement?" The officer asks me. I shake my head and look at the sidewalk.
"Thank you." He says to us and we nod, staying put as he leaves.
"Come on, let's go on a walk." Ricky says softly, leading me down the sidewalk away from everything. I follow him, leaning my head against his shoulder.