Betrayal for the Better- Chapter Six

This chapter is for Rozu, because she's in London so I don't have a beta reader! Hope you have a good time Nessa! :D


Mary-Lynnette had always hated funerals, so going to her mother's was even worse.

Jeremy stayed by her the entire time, just to make sure she wouldn't hit her head if she passed out or completely collapsed from sobbing so hard.

She managed a brave smile while greeting people as they entered the church that sad Wednesday afternoon, but it completely faded during the ceremony.

Stupid preacher, why does he keep saying her name? Mary-Lynnette thought angrily as she listened to the monotone.

Next to her, Mark was clinging to Mary-Lynnette's arm and she felt him blinking rapidly on her shoulder.

Mary-Lynnette had borrowed Rashel's graduation dress and had a pair of black legging under it with a pair of black boots while her brother and father wore black tuxedoes.

Mary-Lynnette surveyed her surroundings again, trying to find something to distract her, and her eyes nearly missed a shadow in the back of the church. She narrowed her eyes and she detected just a hint of light blonde hair.

Ash, her thought was confirmed when he leaned into the light a bit and Mary-Lynnette's eyes locked with his for a moment.

Mary-Lynnette turned back around, trying to suppress the newly formed tears in her eyes. He had come, he had actually come. And Mary-Lynnette had the hunch he came only for her.

After a few more minutes of listening to the ceremony, everything fully hit her. Everything that she was losing, everything that she would never be able to do with her mom, everything that were just memories now that could never be recreated, everything that she wanted to tell her mother that she never got to. 'I love you' seemed like such a meaningless saying without hearing the reason behind the saying, and now her mother would never know how much she truly meaned to Mary-Lynnette.

Mary-Lynnette had to get away, she couldn't take it anymore.

She stood up and exited the pew and ran down the aisle and bolted out the first door she saw. She didn't stop running until she was out under the pouring rain of Oregon's gray sky. She sobbed in the rain, feeling more lost then she ever had before, feeling helpless and exposed; feeling alone.

Suddenly she felt a strong, warm arm wrap around her shoulder. Mary-Lynnette turned toward the figure, somehow knowing it was Ash, and continued crying.

Ash led her under the awning in front of the church and sat her down on one of the wooden benches.

"P-please just te-tell me its all a nightmare!" Mary-Lynnette sobbed.

"I'm sorry." Ash said huskily, and Mary-Lynnette could've almost sworn he was crying too.

"Bu- but it c-can't be real!" Mary-Lynnette claimed.

"It's real." Ash said sadly.

"It can't be!"

"I'm sorry," Ash repeated.

Mary-Lynnette pulled her knees up to her chest and snuggled closer to Ash, longing for the strong, warm arms that made her feel centered even when her life was spinning around her.

Ash held her until Mary-Lynnette's bawling turned into the steady streams that had been falling all day

"We'd better get inside." Mary-Lynnette said thickly.

"It's almost over anyway." Ash said and, as if on cue, some people wheeled the casket out from the double doors of the church and loaded it into the back of one of the special cars used for transporting caskets and such.

Mary-Lynnette turned away, not bearing to see.

"Hey, you okay?" Hannah asked, making Mary-Lynnette jump.

"No," Mary-Lynnette laughed without humor.

Hannah smiled sadly and the rest of Mary-Lynnette's friends behind her looked very concerned. Hannah held out her arms for her friend.

Mary-Lynnette hugged Hannah tightly and started crying again on her shoulder and felt Hannah's own tears on Mary-Lynnette's shoulder.

When Mary-Lynnette and Hannah released each other, Mary-Lynnette turned back to Ash, only to find him gone.

Jeremy appeared in her line of sight as he approached her. "We should probably get going." He said, sounding concerned and a bit conservative- no business-like.

Mary-Lynnette sighed, took his hand, and they started toward the limo that was going to take Mary-Lynnette's family to the cemetery.

Of course the burial wasn't any more fun than the ceremony.

"May Adelyn Annette Williams- Carter rest in peace," The preacher snapped his book shut.

"Is it finally over?" Mark asked irritably, just wanting to get away.

"Yes, yes it is." Mary-Lynnette replied and put her arm around Mark's shoulders.

The limo took them home and Mary-Lynnette climbed the stairs, her feet feeling like cinder blocks, and finally flopped down on her bed.

"Hey Mare, I'm going out!" Mark called from downstairs.

"Drink responsibly!" Mary-Lynnette replied, though she highly doubted he would.

"Hey, Mary-Lynnette," Her dad said, opening her bedroom door, "I don't want Mark to do something he'll regret, so I'm going to go with him."

"Drink responsibly." Mary-Lynnette repeated weakly.

He dad gave her a sad, weak smile and shut her door.

Mary-Lynnette heard the front door close and started drifting.

"Hey Mare." Jeremy greeted her from her doorframe.

"So many 'Hey Mare's' today." Mary-Lynnette joked half-heartedly.

Jeremy smiled at her and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I look like crap, right?" She asked.

"No, just troubled." Jeremy frowned.

Mary-Lynnette snorted sarcastically, "Right."

Jeremy gave her a small smile and Mary-Lynnette sat up.

She grabbed his face between her hands and brought it close to her and said, "You know I'm really upset right? Well I think I need something to take my mind off of it."

Jeremy put his hands on Mary-Lynnette's. "What do you have in mind?"

Mary-Lynnette kissed him fiercely and tugged Jeremy closer to her.

"Are you sure?" Jeremy murmured against her lips.

"Yes." She needed to feel contact, just something to make her feel loved and wanted.

She already knew there would be a difference between sleeping with Ash and sleeping with Jeremy, but she didn't know how dramatic that difference would be.

Mary-Lynnette turned away from Jeremy and stared at her dark blue wall while she thought.

Why couldn't he be fierce? Why couldn't she get the response from him that she wanted? How did Ash do it?

Ash… Should she…? No, one night was bad enough, she didn't think she could handle another one… But she wanted- no, she needed one.

Mary-Lynnette turned her head toward her pillow and made up her mind as Jeremy started playing with her hair.


Friday, the day before Bunny's party, Mary-Lynnette stopped by at Burdock farm.

"Hey, Mary-Lynnette, how are you feeling?" Rowan Redfern asked as she answered the door.

"Hey, Rowan, I'm good." Mary-Lynnette replied.

She and Rowan got along very well every since the Redfern siblings came to town when Mary-Lynnette was seventeen.

"So what brings you here?" Rowan inquired with a warm smile.

"Well I need to tell you something." Mary-Lynnette sat on one of the overstuffed couches.

"Shoot." Rowan sat across from Mary-Lynnette.

"I slept with your brother."

Rowan stared at her for a few moments then shook her head. "That bastard." She muttered, shaking her head.

"I know, but…" Mary-Lynnette trailed off.

"But what?"

"But I want to know where he is."

"He's in his room."

"And that would be…?"

Rowan sighed, "Upstairs, first door on your right. Kestrel and Jade are out for at least another hour and I'm going to go grocery shopping and I won't tell anyone." Rowan stood and grabbed her purse and an umbrella from near the front door.

"Thank you, Rowan!" Mary-Lynnette hugged the older girl before running upstairs.

She hesitated when she reached Ash's door and was about to knock when it swung open.

"Whoa, hey, Mary-Lynnette." Ash said, leaning against the door jam, after nearly running right into her.

"Hey." Mary-Lynnette replied, the sight of his pale, angular, perfect face making her feel breathless.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked, not sounding rude, just curious.

Mary-Lynnette just replied by kissing him.

Ash wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his room, shutting and locking the door behind them.

"Any reason you want to come and throw yourself at me?" Ash joked, letting his hands roam her back.

Mary-Lynnette shivered and said, "I need a distraction."

Ash grunted and pulled both of their shirts over their heads in one smooth motion. He pulled her closer and together they tumbled onto his bed and Mary-Lynnette surprised herself by straddling his waist.

Ash broke away from her lips and was about to say something but Mary-Lynnette silenced his with a kiss. "Yes, I'm sure." She said, looking him in the eye.

Ash smirked and Mary-Lynnette found that it didn't annoy her.


Hey! Sup everyone?

Wow, I was crying while I was writing the funeral… I know, I'm a sap!

And I was seriously thinking about changing the rating on this to 'M'… But then I thought against it. So sorry if you were hoping for a lemon, maybe later, but not yet.

Oh, Mare, you're turning into quiet the Smart Hayley… But I made her like that because well can you blame her? It's Ash freaking Redfern! And I would need something to take my mind off of my mom's death too, if that ever happened…

Sorry if there are a lot of mistakes! And sorry to Rozu because it really, really does not feel right posting this without the beta read, but I couldn't keep this from my readers! So I'm really, really, sorry!

Please R&R!

Thanks!

BookVampire