Held (Gone #2) (9 page)

Obviously Chester hadn't told her about Macy being vegan. Her stomach rumbled.

"Is that a yes?" Rebekah smiled again, showing off her perfectly straight teeth.

"Sure."

"Oh good. Today we get to take it easy because your dad and I got married last night. We don't have to go to work or school."

Macy nodded. "Okay."

"Take a few minutes to wake up, and then come out for something to eat. I'm looking forward to getting to know you." Rebekah left the room, closing the door behind her.

She sat up and stretched, smelling food. Her stomach growled again.

Would it be okay for her to go into the rest of the house wearing the green pajamas? Rebekah hadn't put her hair up, so maybe it was okay to be lax.

She had to go to the bathroom, which was nothing more than an outhouse in the back yard. Macy would definitely have to wear white to go out there because the fences between houses were so low that if anyone was in their own yard, they would see her.

Smelling the breakfast, she decided to wait. She was hungrier than anything else. Besides, wearing her pajamas in the kitchen would be a good way to test what she could get away with inside the house.

A noise outside her room startled Macy. "Is she up?" asked Chester.

Rebekah said something, but it was too muffled for Macy to understand. "I'm up!" she called.

"Hurry up, Heather. It's time for breakfast."

Macy made her bed, knowing that having even the slightest mess in her room sent Chester over the edge. She held the bear from home, whispered
I love you
to her parents and brother, and then looked around for a good hiding spot. If she pissed him off, Macy didn't want him hiding the bear again.

There weren't many spots, but she had brought some of Heather's stuffed animals. Maybe if she put the bear with those, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that one and the others. She could hope. That was all she had.

She opened her door. Chester stood looking at her. He was wearing his white clothes.

He stared at her pajamas. "In the future, you're to get dressed in appropriate clothes before leaving your room. Technically, we shouldn't even let you sleep in those, but I suppose no one else will know. Just like how you have your hair down."

Macy looked at the pajamas. They had a high collar and covered her from ankles to neck. How were they inappropriate? Because they weren't white and uncomfortable?

She nodded.

Chester put his hand on her shoulder. "Let's see what Mom has made."

Macy held back a cringe. How was she going to get used to calling Rebekah
Mom?
Not only was she not her mom, but she was so young, barely older than Macy.

They went to the living room which was toasty warm from the fireplace. "I told Heather that she can wear these pajamas for now, but after today, she has to put on her white clothes before coming out here."

Rebekah turned around and smiled at Macy. "I don't mind her wearing those. They look comfortable." She looked at Chester. "But if you don't want her wearing them, it's your call."

Macy wanted to throw up. She was going along with his head of the household crap, too.

"Are you ready to eat?" Rebekah asked her.

"Yeah."

Chester squeezed her shoulder, but not too hard. "No informal speech in the community, Heather."

She looked at him, confused. What had she said wrong?

"No 'yeah' or other slang. A simple yes will do."

"Don't feel bad," Rebekah said. "It takes a while to get used to living here after being in the world. I still slip up once in a while, and I've received my true name. Grab a plate from the kitchen. It's almost done."

Arguing

Alyssa put the ferret back in its newly clean cage. She hated cleaning it, but she wanted it to be nice when Macy got back. Macy loved the little guy, and even Alyssa couldn't deny how cute he was. The irony was that she had been close to threatening to get rid of it because Macy hadn't been cleaning the cage. Now here Alyssa was cleaning it herself without complaint.

Ducky ran around, checking out every inch of the multi-level cage. Alyssa sat on the bed, watching. After a few minutes, she looked around the room and noticed that it was getting dusty. Macy couldn't come back to a room full of dust. Alyssa grabbed a clean rag from the pile of cleaning supplies on the floor and got to work.

When she was about halfway through the room, she heard the door creak open. She turned around to see Alex watching her. He looked pale and scared.

Alyssa's stomach tightened. "Is everything okay? Is there news about M—?"

"No, but I need to talk to you."

She had never seen him so worked up before. "Sure, honey." She set the rag down. "Have a seat."

"No, I mean with Dad too. He's in the living room."

"This doesn't sound good."

Alex didn't say anything.

"Let's go." They walked in silence downstairs, Alyssa's mind racing with possibilities. When they got to the living room, Chad was sitting on the couch, but he wasn't alone. Zoey and Valerie were sitting on the two recliners.

Her heart picked up speed. She looked at Chad. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Valerie said. "No one will tell me anything."

Alex and Zoey looked at each other, and then Alex sat on the love seat with her. Alyssa sat next to Chad.

"Why are we here?" Alyssa stared at Alex.

Zoey took a deep breath and sucked her lips inside of her mouth. A nervous habit Alyssa had seen since Zoey was little. Alex took Zoey's hand and Alyssa looked at Valerie.

Alex sat taller. "We have something to tell you guys. Please hear us out, and don't start yelling."

"I don't like the sound of this," Alyssa muttered.

Chad took her hand. "Just tell us what's going on."

"We want you to keep an open mind, Dad."

Alyssa could feel Chad tense up next to her. "It's getting less open the longer you stall."

"I'm pregnant," Zoey said.

"Oh, honey," Alyssa said. "I'm so sorry."

The look of shock on Valerie's face was crushing.

"Who's the fath…?" Alyssa's gaze wandered to Alex and Zoey's intertwined hands. "Alex?"

Alex nodded and then put his arm around Zoey. "We're in love."

"No." Alyssa covered her face. "No, you're not."

Chad sat up straight. "Is this true, Alex?"

He looked at the ground and nodded. "What were you thinking? Didn't you use protection?"

Alex narrowed his eyes. "You never even gave me the sex talk, Dad."

"Don't blame this on me!" Chad stood up. "Talk or no talk, you've had health classes. We signed the waivers for you to sit in on those discussions."

"How could you do this?" Alyssa asked, her eyes filling with tears. "Alex, you're just a baby yourself."

Alex's eyebrows came together. "Obviously I'm not, Mom."

Alyssa looked at Zoey. "And you!"

Zoey's eyes widened. She scooted closer to Alex.

"We invited you into our home and cared for you like a daughter—this is how you repay us? By taking advantage of our son? He's only thirteen. Thirteen!"

Valerie stood up. "She hardly took advantage of him. I'm pretty sure that he knew exactly what he was doing. Zoey didn't force him to ejaculate into her."

"Mom!"

Chad stood between Valerie and Alyssa. "Maybe we ought to sleep on this and discuss it when we're not all in shock."

Alyssa stood up. "I don't see what that'll accomplish. It's not going to change anything." She looked at Zoey. "I know you could have had an abortion without telling your mom. Are you planning on keeping the baby?"

"I'm not having the procedure."

"So, you're going to raise a baby at sixteen? I suppose you're going to want Alex to pay child support."

"What? No."

"Of course he will," Valerie said, stepping forward. "He did this to her."

"Okay, okay," Chad said. "What we all need is a break. We're too upset to discuss this right now."

Alyssa glared at him. "What does that have to do with anything? We don't need to be calm—it's not going to change anything."

Valerie moved around Chad and stared at both of them. "How could you two allow this to happen? I trusted you to take care of my daughter. Not only did she run into an intruder here at your house, but Alex and Zoey slept together right under your noses."

"Oh?" Alyssa narrowed her eyes. "Like it couldn't have happened at your house? If you were so worried about it, why did you even have her stay here in the first place?"

"I thought she was safe!"

Alyssa took a couple steps closer to Valerie. "She never once got hurt, not even when someone broke in."

"Hurt? What would you call this?"

"Look, Valerie, you've left her over here plenty of times over the years. She's been spending the night since preschool, and you've always known we have a boy here. It hasn't been a secret."

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would let
this
happen."

"Let it happen?" Alyssa clenched her fists. "What exactly were we supposed to do? Stay awake all night to make sure they both stayed in their own rooms?"

Chad stepped between them again. "Clearly, no one saw this coming—"

"Except your son!"

"And your daughter." Alyssa raised her fists. "Stop talking about Alex like he's some kind of monster. He's only thirteen. You think he would turn down the advances of a girl so much older than him? He's the—"

"Oh, would you stop with the 'he's only thirteen' crap, Alyssa? He knew exactly what he was doing to Zoey."

Alex stood up. "Stop! Would all of you just stop?"

Everyone stared at him.

"Zoey and I have been in love for a long time now. Like, way before Macy even disappeared. We didn't tell anyone, not even Macy. We saw each other right under all of your noses and no one thought anything of it, of us spending so much time together. I'm not sure why. I guess because nobody thought I was good enough for Zoey. But she thinks so, and you know what? I love her. She wanted to keep me out of this and not tell anyone it was me. But you know what? I told her I wouldn't do that to her. We love each other and you guys better get used to it."

Alyssa's mouth dropped open.

"You—" Valerie started.

"And that's not all," Alex continued. "Yeah, we made a mistake the first time we did it. We should have used protection, but it just happened. We were so stressed about Macy being gone and we weren't thinking."

Valerie glared at him. "I hope you enjoyed it, because you aren't going near her again."

Zoey got up from her chair and grabbed Alex's hand. "That's where you're wrong, Mom. We didn't tell you to get your permission to keep seeing each other. We told you to let you know what's going on. We could have dealt with this all by ourselves, but since I'm not having an abortion, we thought you needed to know."

Alyssa sat back down on the couch. "Where did I go wrong?"

Zoey looked at her. "I'm really sorry about this, Mr. and Mrs. Mercer. Really. You guys are already overwhelmed with everything about Macy. I know because it's killing me too. And Alex." She held up his hand. "I don't want you guys having to worry about the news finding out about this. I won't tell anyone else that he's the one."

"You think they won't figure it out, Zoey? They park across the street and have seen you come into our house countless times."

"But that doesn't mean they'll figure it out. I'm Macy's best friend; they'll probably think I have a boyfriend somewhere else."

Chad shook his head. "Alyssa's right. We appreciate you trying to protect us, but even if it was another boy, they would still speculate."

Valerie's eyebrows came together. "She's trying to protect you guys, but who's protecting her?"

"Mom, would you shut up?"

Fury covered Valerie's face and she slapped Zoey across the face.

Zoey's mouth dropped open. She put her hands on her face. "Mom!"

Alex jumped toward Valerie, but Chad blocked him. "Like I said, we all need to calm down before we discuss this. We're only going to say or do something we regret later."

"What's there to discuss?" Valerie yelled. "We're never speaking to any of you ever again. Come on, Zoey, we're leaving."

"I'm not going anywhere. You hit me!"

"That wasn't a hit. You're so dramatic. That's your problem: you think everything's worse than it is. It was a slap, and you're not injured. We're leaving."

"No."

"No?" Valerie asked.

"You heard me. I'm staying here. At least you don't have to worry about me getting pregnant."

Valerie gasped. "How dare you? I was never worried about that from the start—not here." She glared at Alex. "We need to go home and talk about getting that procedure done."