TOUGH LOVE • MICHAEL GRAY FANFIC

12

There was time when the two of us were too scared to do any of this shit. A time when all we did was talk, and laugh, and play around with our friends. A time when we denied each other because we were lost children who didn't know anything better than to ignore our true feelings. But now, all has changed, and I feel alive. His hand is on my thigh as he drives with his eyes on the road. His mind is racing, this I can tell. And I wish, oh God, I wish he'd tell me everything. But I'm certain he would, but he doesn't know how.

I have my hand on the back of his neck, seated right beside him. I desperately want to love him, but I don't know how. It's like he's slipping from my reach, how do I help you Michael? What can I do to help the chaos in your mind?

I press my lips together, desperate enough to ask him what's wrong before he speaks.

"What did you say to him when he asked you to join us?" He almost whispers, his voice deathly cold.

I shake my head, moving my fingers getting lost in his hair. "I said no."

Again, silence fills the car. And I wonder if he's going to tell me that he can't simply go on vacation with me, but instead, a deep breath comes out of his mouth and he squeezes my thigh.

"You're the only person I trust, June." He swallows, looking at me. "Tommy, he never told me that he threatened you like that..."

I don't mean to be rude, but I told him so. I told him they weren't good people, family or not. For goodness sake, some people are related to disgusting human beings, that doesn't mean you have to stick by their side at all costs. One look at Polly and I knew something was so off, all of them are in this world so far gone.

I run my fingers over the side of his face, feeling him for the first time in days. I tell him from my heart. "I was worried, something would happen to you." Gently running my knuckles across his cheek, I can feel something inside of me warm up. "I missed you so much."

He catches my hand and kisses my fingertips. "I was scared something would happen to you." He pauses and takes a deep breath. "I killed him, June. Killed him for us."

I take part ownership, and my heart hurts. He got rid of Hughes, the words sink in, holy shit. His expression changes, beginning to remember it, he stops kissing my fingers and freezes.

"Was it fast?" I breathe.

"No." He squints his eyes, "It was a fight. I froze with my gun at his head, all I could see was us as children, and him ruining our lives."

I stare at his profile, "Michael-"

"I just felt so much hatred for him. Like a power was given to me, I nearly lost my mind. Ended up blacking out, and the next time I saw him, he was laying under me with a knife in his neck." His words float.

I hold my bottom lip with my teeth, he blacked out? He must have been filled with so much adrenaline, that's what happened to the war vets. I swallow. "Then it was over?"

He nods, biting down. "Then it was over."

I lean over and kiss him, he lets go of the wheel and presses his hand to my cheek, kissing me back. Our lips lock, a need in his kisses take me back. Michael desperately steers the car to the side of the road. There is so much emotion inside of me that pours out into his mouth. He reaches for me completely when we're at a halt, my hands pulling off his coat urgently .

"I need you, June." He growls into my mouth.

And I cant help but push myself against the passenger door to pull off my stockings. He grabs my hands, "No. Keep them." He fumbles to take off his pants. Pulling them down with intent. "We don't have much time."