Thrust

Chapter Two- Attention

For the majority of this day, I managed to keep myself contained in the four walls that made up my bedroom while dissecting the details of the night before. In my attempts to remember how I loathed Shane in years of having silently begged in speechless desperation for him to just wink at me or press his hand to the curve of my back for comfort, I now found his scent embedded in my sheets. While hearing him and Brennan rise, ascend and descend the steps to and from my brother's room, I was made aware of his presence remaining within my home as I wished for more than anything that he would return to his own residence. This was because my desire and my head held a war of hearts and minds to what I wanted and what I needed.

"Maddie!" Brennan called from the first floor as I leaped to my feet in remembrance of the pizza I ordered half an hour ago finally coming to the door. In my attempts to refrain from facing Shane as he now seemed in want to torture me in place of tease me as he had before, I would race down the steps and quickly pull my cash from my pocket before finding a nameless figure standing with my taco pizza.

"Hey..." he spoke while offering a kind smirk.

"Hi..." I spoke with a sheepish smile as I could witness both Brennan and Shane look at me with indifference.

"How are you doing?" My eyes pinched to a concerning focus as he let out a nervous chuckle. "I mean to ask, are you better?"

I nodded. "Thank you."

"I hope this doesn't sound too forward but I would really like to take you up on a dance...if you're willing?" I blushed as I had been asked to dances in the past, but this invitation was not just to refrain from spending a cliche high school night alone. This was someone who wanted me, even if for a night, I was able to place my insecurities aside for his interest. But as I could feel my cheeks redden, I felt Shane's eyes now narrow to me.

"I never do this...but...You are my type down to the tone of your voice and meeting you here again...I would kick myself if I didn't at least ask..." Although my heart would leap in excitement, my reservation battled to accept. It would be Shane's presence that would actually push me forward as I saw the envy rage in his eyes usually left distracted somewhere in his thoughts.

"Here's my number..." I wrote on the receipt from the pizza order as he offered me his name and an extension of his hand.

"Chase."

"Maddison." He smiled in approval before we arranged to meet on my doorstep that night at seven. I agreed with a nod before the door widened at my side. Holding the door a victim to his weight, Shane pulled it further to reveal himself to Chase.

"Problem with the pizza?"

"No." I answered with clenched teeth.

"I'll see you tonight..." Chase spoke before taking his leave as I pressed my hand into Shane's hard chest and forced him from his stance so I was able to close the door. But upon doing so, I would be left with feeling his heart race beneath my palm.

"You're going out with that d**k?"

"You don't even know him!"

"Chase Mathers, part of some fraternity and believes because his pops was on a 90s show that he's hot s**t-"

"Why do you care?" He answered me with a tension of his jaw matching the narrowness of his eyes as I realized my hand was still on his chest as his eyes fell to the placement of my touch. His angered expression now altered to intrigued and victorious as I quickly retreated.

"Because you deserve someone better than him." He would answer while lowering himself close enough to me to tease a kiss as before pulling the pizza into the direction of the living room as I stomped off to my room. Although I was half starved and more angered than at peace, I was desperate to keep the effect Shane had on me as common knowledge. I did not want him to understand the race of my pulse whenever he was near or the vivacious x-rated dreams I held in my usually chaste concoctions developed while reaching a close slumber. I wanted a life separated from him and I knew ro do that this date would have to be a success.

Pulling my focus to my reflection and using my cell to video chat Jocelyn, I would come up with an outfit in perfect synchronization to my new persona of both confident and sensual. Settled on a short black skirt with tights and a low camisole and bubblegum pink sweater dropped beyond my shoulders, I finalized the edge of my cat eye and applied the final layer of gloss before descending the steps a handful of minutes before the time agreed upon.

"Do you need any money?" Brennan asked at my side as my eyes quickly darted to analyze the scene for Shane. But instead of finding his ripped jeans crossed on the couch or his gaze finding me through a cloud of thick tension, only my brother was present.

"No, thank you." He nodded as I would set myself on the chair matched to our gray and white kitchen. I distracted my mind while lying in wait with the beads of my bracelet and the hand of the clock as a handful of minutes coming to a pass would force my insecurities into ignition. With every set of headlights crossing our street and shadows passing our door, I could feel the butterflies develop within my gut. But rather quickly, I found these butterflies to turn to moths as a handful of minutes now bled into an hour...then two.

That hope I had that this male attention now meant I held some form of worth would adjust to regret to allow my self esteem to rise so highly as I realized I had been stood up. A portion of me continued to wait for a text of explanation or a sound of steps approaching the deck just outside of my front door. But with a total of three hours elapsing into self evident neglect of a heartless date, I gave up this kind hearted patience.

"s**t!" I heard Brennan exclaim from up the steps. "Are you f*****g kidding me Shane?! He...Well I don't care your reasons...Yes I'll be right there..." My brother would descend the steps in rapid succession before he would pull his keys from the holder just beside the door.

"Is everything okay?" I attempted to question out of curiosity in place of genuine concern as Shane was the type to need a helping hand more than he was that for others, but Brennan's tone seemed different this time.

"Shane got arrested..."

"For what?!"

"You..." My face showcased my confusion as I followed behind Brennan as he slipped into the car lying otherwise dormant in the driveway.

"What are you-"

"If this is because of me, I deserve to know why..."

"I don't know whatever the hell is going on with you two but I...I don't need this...I just...I don't." He would start the ignition and force Escape the Fate to play loud throughout the speakers as I attempted to speak to him, only to be ignored. Although there was a pain in Brennan's expression, I was far too wrapped up within my own thoughts to question him further.

The drive to the police station was a handful of minutes from our house as this small town deep within the forgotten edge of Ohio.

"Stay in the car." My brother ordered as I nodded in agreement before playing with the stations on the car and becoming invested with the social media apps on my phone before spotting a bloodied figure with dried wounds now approaching the descent of steps leading to an exit to the lock up. It would take a moment of analysis before deciphering that this had been Chase.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Chase's muffled voice asked as Brennan wouldn't answer and would instead just stare in my direction.

"What did you do to him?!" I yelled to Shane once noticing the small knock on his lip and the collection of scabs now forming on his knuckles.

"I told you, he was a dick..."

"So you decide to use him as a punching bag?!"

"Enough! Can you two stop bickering for two seconds today?!" Brennan snapped as we would both oblige to his request before pulling into the driveway. But as the car would find a ceased ignition, my brother would turn to both of us.

"Whatever the hell is going on, fix it! I am tired of picking up after both of you!" He expressed as he would take possession of the keys before leaving us alone as we sat in complete silence.

"You didn't even know his name when you gave him your number did you?" Shane finally broke this silence in a tensed set of lips as I glared in the rear view mirror to meet his gaze.

"The prick's a bad guy...he uses girls for two minutes of satisfaction and disposes them to the side the second he fills a condom; if he is even decent enough to wear one-"

"You don't have to be so vulgar-" he suddenly turned to face me.

“I’m sorry...Do you want me to tell you that he wants to bring you flowers? That he wants to hold your hand and take you slow dancing? Because the only thing he wants with you is to get your clothes off and once he does that...you’re as good as nothing to him...You want to know how I know? Guess where he was while you were sitting waiting for him?”

“I’m not listening to this-” As I attempted to leave the car, he would hit the overall lock that kept me imprisoned in the vehicle. “Let me out!”

“He was shotgunning another girl...you know what that is? He was taking the good ole mary jane and sharing it with someone who wasn’t you that was very intimate in opposition to supposedly being on a date with you...I asked him about it and he said you were ‘just some kid’...I lost it-”

“I didn’t need you to defend me. I am perfectly capable of doing that on my own-”

“I knew that you would be sitting back here asking yourself what was wrong with you...Counting the minutes as evidence and reasons as to why, but still waiting for the small chance that he would show up with a believable excuse because you want to see the best in people-tell me I’m wrong…”

“You’re…” I couldn’t as I held many strongsuits beneath my own alabaster skin currently glazed in a thin layer of tan from the summer’s kind rays.

“You’re cruel.” His brows rose to my words.

“You’re selfish...You’re...impulsive and arrogant! There is a reason people like you never leave Ohio...Because you do everything leisurely with only two ambitions; getting high and having s*x…” My cheeks colored crimson to the words spoken that had built over the last few days of elevated pain.

“You are jealous of guys like Chase because they just get things handed to them and they deserve it-” He suddenly pushed himself from the passenger side of the car as I threw my hands up in defeat.

Abruptly, the door at my side came open as he climbed into the car with one foot resting on the floor of the jeep and the second remaining flat outside of the car.

"You told me last night how badly you wanted me...how you always have...You went into details I didn’t know you even could...and yet, I didn't lead in my morality just to have someone as unworthy as Chase get to have you-"

"Nobody "gets to have" me..."

"I’m going to make sure of that.” In anger and ominous foreboding, he would pull himself finally from the car and leave me at one with my confusing arousal brought forward by his dominant presence. I wanted to continue my loathing to him, but there was something Shakespearean in the way he defended me to a man he hardly knew as he was aware how I remained back here; completely despondent and blaming myself. I also hated how right he was and blushed at the feeling of my panties dampened by his body so close to mine and my skin yearning to touch his own; even through anger, lust would reign supreme over all else.