Strong Enough 2

Chapter 28

Mya'sPOV

I wake up with a terrible headache. I roll around a little. Why is my pillow so hard? I reach my hand back and try to fluff my pillow. It feels weird. It feels like a person...

I look up to see that I'm laying on Tai's stomach. He looks down and puts his hand on my forehead. "You alright?" I nod and he helps me sit up.

I try to stand, but my legs feel wobbly. Tai holds me up while I get use to standing. Why do my legs feel like this? I walk slowly to my bathroom. I splash water on my face and look at myself in the mirror.

I look terrible! My brown skin looks somewhat....pale? My eyes are slightly red and.....there are red marks all over me!

"Tai," I say in a shaky voice. He rushes into the bathroom. His worried expression fades and his head drops when he sees my body. "What is this?" I ask, motioning towards the marks. He grabs my hand, leads me to my bed, and sits me down.

He tells me what happened last night: the party, Danny drugging me, and Marlon's unexpected bravery.

"Why would Danny do that? He wouldn't."

"He did," Tai tells me. I start to pace the room. Danny is my friend. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me, and he especially wouldn't try to rape me. Right?

I take a quick glance at Tai while pacing the room. He has large, dark bags under his eyes. I'm starting to believe this whole Danny thing because Tai doesn't go without sleep for nothing.
"You need to get some sleep," I tell him.
"No, I'm fine," he says, standing up. I push him back onto the bed. "Get some sleep," I say again. He slowly lays back and is asleep in a matter of minutes.
I walk into the living room to see Marlon on the couch, unwrapping his hands. I sit down next to him. "You okay?" he asks. "Yeah. You?" He nods and starts to rewrap his hands. I lean back on the couch. I know now that everything Tai told me is true, but I don't want to believe it. I trusted Danny and I can't believe he'd do something like this.
"Thank you," I say to Marlon. He leans back and smiles. "No problem. You know I'll always have your back," he says. "And by the way, I told Gabby everything."
"Uh oh. What did she say?"
"Well she said a lot of 'things', but let's just say that she's ready to commit murder," he chuckles and I laugh. "I'll call her later so she knows that I'm okay," I tell him.
I walk into the kitchen. I'm feeling lightheaded so I think I should eat something. I grab a bowl, milk, and a box of Lucky Charms. I go to grab a spoon when I hear something...
I can hear Marlon's voice. He's cursing loudly. I walk back into the living room to find Marlon screaming at the top of his lungs at Danny, who is leaning against the door frame. I walk up behind Marlon and put a hand on his shoulder. He automatically relaxes. "I got this," I tell him. He nods and gives Danny one last death glare before walking away.
"What's his problem?" Danny asks when Marlon is out of sight.
"You know damn well what his problem is," I say as calmly as I can.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb!" I'm yelling now and my blood is boiling. "I know what you did. You drugged me and you and your stupid friends tried to rape me!"
He just stands there, dumbfounded. "Well?" I say, growing impatient. "I'm sorry."
"Why did you do it?" I ask. He shrugs. "I don't know. I- I'm just stupid."
"Yeah. You are."
"Well I guess I'll leave you alone," he says. He walks away and I close the door.
It takes everything in me not to run behind him and stomp him into the ground.
...
Tai ends up sleeping half the day. When he finally wakes up, he comes in the living room and sits down next to me. He keeps his distance, but I can feel his soft, dark eyes on me.
"I'm sorry," we both say at the same time. "Why are you sorry," I ask him. He looks down. "For a lot of things..."
He takes a deep breath and tells me everything that happened after our fight. He tells me about the girls and this one girl in particular who he can't remember the name of.
"Are you mad?" he asks when he finishes. "Kinda, but you didn't do anything with her, right?"
"No. I couldn't. All I could think about was you."
He scoots closer but hesitates to touch me. I lay my head on his chest and he pulls me to his lap. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding when he wraps his arms around me.
"I missed you," he whispers into my ear. I grab his face and my lips crash into his. I hear him groan as I pull on his ear. He pulls me close- so close that there's barely any space between us. He flips us so that he's hovering over me. I trace his jawline with my finger. He bites his lip. "I guess you missed me too huh?" he chuckles. I nod and our lips meet again.
I missed this- this fire, and I don't want him to stop. I know it's only been a couple of weeks since I've had this, but it felt like a lifetime.
Tai is going absolutely crazy right now. The kiss went from sweet and gentle, to passionate and rough. He's already ripped his shirt off and thrown it across the floor. He leaves kisses along my jawline and starts to move to my neck. He kisses my neck gently, but I flinch when he gets to a certain spot.
His eyes go wide. "I'm sorry. I forgot." He rubs the red spot on my neck. "It's okay," I tell him. He stares at the mark with his face set in a deep scowl. I lift his chin so that he's looking at my face. He smiles.
"I'm sorry hedid this to you," he says. "I would murder him, but I don't wanna go to jail." He chuckles.
We lay on the couch and just talk for the rest of the day.
Tai's POV
"Can I go to sleep now?" Mya asks. "No. I want you to stay up with me," I tell her. She makes a weird noise and buries her face into my chest. I chuckle, "You're such a baby." She swats my arm. "So what do we do now?" she asks. "Umm...how bout another movie? An old one this time." She nods and we search for a movie.
We spend about ten minutes looking until we come across The Princess and the Frog. We gasp at the same time and rush to go play it.
...
About thirty minutes into the movie, Mya falls asleep leaning on my shoulder. I lift her up and lay her across my lap. She buries her face into my chest when I kiss her head. I can't help but stare at the marks on her neck and thighs.
I wish I would've been there sooner. Better yet, I wish that our fight never happened. If we didn't fight that day, then she wouldn't have these marks. She never would've went to that party and everything would've been okay.
I'm staring down at Mya while stroking her hair when I hear a knock on the door. I pick Mya up and place her on the sofa gently. Then I walk to the door and look trough the peephole.
"Of course," I think to myself.
"Why the hell are you here?" I ask as I open the door and come face to face with Danny.
He sighs. "Don't worry. I just came to give this to Mya." He hands me Mya's clothes that I assume she was wearing that night.
"Well thanks," I say while closing the door. He stops the door with his foot. "I really am sorry for what happened," he says. "I'm stupid for doing that to her, especially because she trusted me. I let my friends talk me into it. I was dumb enough to cave in. And I'm really sorry that I broke you guys up. I saw that you had something special, and I got in the way of that. I'm sorry." Before I can say anything, he turns and walks away, disappearing down the hall in seconds.
I turn back to Mya after closing the door. She's now sprawled across the small sofa with one arm and leg hanging off. Her mouth is slightly open and she's snoring quietly. I smile down at her while lifting her up and carrying her to her room. After I set her gently in her bed, I lay next to her and wrap my arm around her waist. She grabs me, pulling me close while snuggling into my chest.
I missed this feeling-this warm feeling she gives me when I'm around her. Sometimes I get this feeling while only thinking about her.
"I love you," I whisper to her, knowing that she probably cant hear me. Her legs wrap around me tightly and I drift off to sleep.