The Cost of Freedom Is High

Same Place, Different Emotions

Opening my eyes, I felt incredibly dazed and confused.

Suddenly though everything clicked.

"I did it!" I quietly cheered, realizing that I had passed and was now lying down on the couch in the living room of the mansion I had been in before with all of the bands.

Looking around I saw that no one else was in the immediate area.

Slowly I got up and tip toed to the kitchen. The clock informed me that it was 4 am. No wonder everyone was not here, they were fast asleep.

Deciding that it would be a good idea to make my way up to one of the band's rooms, I made my choice and came to the conclusion that I'd find my way up to MIW's room and bunk with Chris for the night.

Getting up, I set forth to do just that.

I made my way up the stairs that I hadn't been on in what felt like forever and walked straight to MIW's room.

It was weird to see everyone again, especially passed out in their beds.

I snuck past everyone else's bed, and stopped at the edge of Chris'.

Taking a few deep and calming breaths I was able to calm myself down enough to the point that I was no longer shaking and had the balls to slowly sneak into his bed.

"What the hell?" He grumbled, turning around to face me.

"Hi." I whispered.

"Bella." He cheered quietly.

"Miss me?" I chuckled.

"It was definitely weird without you here." He admitted.

"Well I'm back." I quietly said in a sing song voice.

"I'm glad, nice job on passing William's testing." He congratulated me.

"Let's not ever talk about that again." I stated.

"Let's just go to bed for now, okay?" Chris suggested.

"That sounds fabulous." I replied.

He put an arm around my body, pulling me closer to him. Finally, my back was against his chest and his arms were gently embracing me.

"Goodnight." He whispered.

"Night." I whispered back.

And with that I passed out in his arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Next Morning -

"Chris?" I grumbled, waking up to realize that he was out of bed.

"Guys?" I asked, now realizing that they were all out of their beds.

I slowly crawled out of bed, and made my way out of the bedroom, and around the round hallway that led me to the staircase.

As I approached Asking's room I noticed that their door was open and decided to make a little stop in.

It was weird now to feel excited to see them when before I left I wanted to kill them. Amazing what two guys could do, although I know deep inside I miss and don't hate all of these guys now because I realize how much I hated Michael and DJ which made me long to come back here.

Silently taking a step into their room, I found that everyone but Sam and Danny were still in the room.

The other three were asleep in their beds.

James was closest to the door on the left side with Cameron in the next bed over , and across from James' bed on the right side was Ben.

I went over and crawled into Cameron's bed, based on the fact that there was more room for me.

"Cameron." I cooed, somewhat laying down while my head rested on his shoulder.

"I'm sleeping." He groaned, turning away.

"I'm awake." I chuckled, giving him a little shake.

"Wait, Bella?" Cameron muttered, finally opening his eyes.

"Yeah, what other girls do you have walking around in lingerie?" I asked him, jokingly.

"I thought you were Ben." Cameron laughed.

"And Ben's been in your bed lately?" I questioned him.

"We were all very lonely with you gone." Cameron replied.

"Okay, gross. I don't need that visual." I stated, sitting all the way up in his bed.

"There's some clothes for you in the closet just beyond the beds, pick something out and then go downstairs to the kitchen." Cameron instructed me.

"Okay." I said.

I walked straight into the walk-in closet and found one whole wall with clothing for me, and of course the undergarments. Right now I was in a pair of black hot pants and a thin black tank top.

My butt was still in a lot of pain from yesterday, and the fabric from what I was wearing was burning my skin.

I was hoping and praying for something cotton.

Looking through the stacks of clothes, and everything on hangers I finally came across something cotton. It was of course just black lingerie, but I didn't care. I'd much rather prefer that than being in pain from the fabric rubbing up against my raw ass.

I switched into the new lingerie and walked back out to the staircase.

James and Ben must've been woken up by Cameron and I because they were out of their beds and the bedroom door was still open.

I made my way down to the kitchen and screamed when suddenly from behind arms wrapped around me and threw me up and over their shoulder.

"Still easily terrified." Craig chuckled.

"You scared the shit out of me." I gasped, catching my breath.

"I missed you." Craig told me, pulling me in for a hug.

He crushed me into his tight embrace and only let go once I started to lose my breath.

"Between you and I, I missed you as well. You're not a psychopath and I appreciate that." I whispered back to him.

He chuckled and then said "Go into the kitchen and help them with whatever they need help with."

"Okay." I replied.

I walked into the entrance and Craig yelled to me "Love the outfit."

I blushed, rolled my eyes, and made my way finally into the kitchen.

In the kitchen I found Balz, Robert, Max, Tyler, and Sam.

"Look who's back!" Balz exclaimed.

"Holy shit." Tyler exclaimed.

"Is that good or bad?" I wondered.

"It's fucking sexy." Tyler replied.

"It's good to know no one's lost their sex drive." I muttered with a slight chuckle.

"And you're still funny. Go ahead and start chopping everything over there up." Tyler instructed pointing to a cutting board filled with vegetables.

Making my way over to the cutting board, I just put my head down and did as I was told to.

"Hey Bella." TJ cheered, coming into the kitchen.

"Hi." I replied.

I still was a bit timid towards TJ, that was a fact.

His hand came down on my ass, as more of a playful tap, but it hurt like hell especially after it had been beaten raw.

"No!" I yelped.

My hand unconsciously reached out and my fingers dug into his wrist and pushed him back a bit.

Uh oh.

"What was that?" TJ asked, obviously pissed off.

"Shit, I'm sorry. It's just my ass is beyond raw, it's split and that just hurt like hell." I apologized.

"It's fine, I understand. Let me see it." TJ replied.

"Wait, here?" I wondered.

"Yeah, just bend over." TJ told me.

"Haven't heard that before." I chuckled to myself.

Balz let out the cutest little chuckle and it made me laugh a little bit as well.

I put my hands against the counter, and stuck my butt out a little bit.

TJ tugged the underwear down just enough to see some of the damage done to my ass. That's when I realized I hadn't even seen it.

"Holy fuck." TJ gasped.

That wasn't good.

"Oh shit, and we thought we got her ass red." Ricky stated, walking into the room with Ryan behind him.

"Some of the skin is split, did William cane you?" TJ asked, after pulling my underwear back up.

I turned around and admitted "I don't know, hand, paddle, whip, after a while everything kind of blended together."

"Come on, you deserve a break." Ryan told me, and then walked in front of me with his back facing me.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" I wondered.

"Jump up, duh." Ryan scoffed.

"Well then sassy pants." I giggled.

I jumped up, wrapped my arms around his neck, and my legs around his waist.

"Still got a bit of spunk in you, huh?" Ricky said as we made our way down the hallway.

"Yep, sorry. It's the one thing you can't punish out of me." I told them.

"You wouldn't be you without it." Ryan stated.

"Aww, thanks for noticing. By the way where are we headed?" I asked.

"Lounge room in the basement." Ricky answered.

The rest of the little walk down the stairs and into the lounge room was quite easy, and it was silent.

Ricky opened the door and we were greeted with Chris, Danny, Thrasher, Ghost, Vinny, Cameron and Ben.

They were all sprawled out a bit either on couches or on lounge chairs.

"We're going to go back up, but just as a little cautionary thing her ass is really in rough shape. Just so that you know." Ryan told them as he set me down on Danny's lap who was on the couch next to Chris.

They left and I rested my head back against Danny's chest, and attempted to move my legs in a fashion that got my butt a bit in the air so it made the pain a bit less.

"Come here." Danny grunted, picking me up and turning me on my stomach so that I was lying down with my head rested in the crook of Danny's neck.

"Thanks." I thanked him.

"No problem. It's nice to have you back, especially this relaxed already and after what you just went through." Danny replied.

"You know I was beyond pissed off at all of you originally, but as time went on I kind of found myself wanting to come back." I said, letting it slip.

It was going to come out one way or the other, so why not tell them the truth.

"Oh, I'm tearing up over here." Chris said.

"Whatever." I scoffed, extending my legs and laying them across his lap.

"You still look exhausted sweetie, go ahead and take a little nap. One of us will wake you up if it gets late enough." Danny told me.

"Please tell me if I fall asleep I won't wake up with Michael and DJ." I pleaded him and Chris.

That got everyone in the room to let out a chuckle.

"I promise. You're back where you belong now." Danny whispered to me.

I closed my eyes, and after minutes of him gently stroking my hair and embracing me tightly I fell asleep.

For once in a very long time, I felt ... safe.