AN: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for me to update! I was at a friend's house over the weekend, and I went to San Diego with a few friends on Monday. But here's the update, I hope you enjoy it! PS: Some Zoey/Bruce fans may not like me halfway through this chapter, sorry! Don't kill me! –Runs and hides-
Chapter 10
As Zoey sped through Gotham, emotions were hitting her like bullets. She had lied about the orthodontist; she had just wanted to get out of Wayne Manor. She had been so looking forward to returning to Gotham, but now, all she wanted to do was run. She hated Gotham; she hated the fucking city and every single person within the boundaries of it. She just wanted to get out as quickly as possible, but there was still work to be done.
Like she'd done so many times before, she bit back her emotions and drove to Flame. The club was, of course, empty. It was only afternoon and the club wasn't supposed to open for at least six hours. She was thankful for the calming sight of the empty club. Once she locked the door behind her she ran up the stairs and retrieved her black Macbook. There was so much she wanted to do, but she didn't even know where to get started.
Well, if you REALLY want to leave Gotham soon, might as well put the club up on the market.
As she was logging on to her email, her cell phone chimed.
I know you're running
From me, but we need
To talk, whether you
Want to or not.
Zoey rolled her eyes, Like hell I HAVE to talk to him!
She didn't respond to the text, she didn't do anything but type away at her computer. As the minutes ticked by slowly, she began to have a weird feeling in her stomach.
"Zoey!"
Zoey's eyes lit up as she heard the voice and the door to Flame slammed shut. A young African American woman with shining black hair and friendly dark brown eyes ran over to her and embraced her. Zoey felt herself smile, but she didn't know how she managed it.
"Hey, Brianna," Zoey said as the woman released her. Brianna Nichols was the manager Zoey had hired right before leaving Gotham. She hadn't known Brianna very well, but she'd gone with the good gut feeling she'd gotten when she met her, and she didn't resent the choice at all.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?!" Brianna demanded.
"Because I didn't know myself," Zoey said. "When was the last time I actually spoke to you?"
"About three weeks ago," Brianna said after thinking for a moment.
"Exactly, I didn't know how long it was going to take me to get back home," Zoey said. "It took me a week and a half to actually find a way."
"Oh, I forgot, you weren't traveling with your wallet or any ID, or anything normal," Brianna rolled her eyes. "You're really insane, do you know that?"
Zoey shrugged, "I've been told. I need to tell you by the way, that I'm selling the club."
"WHAT?!" Brianna exclaimed. "Why are you doing this to me?!"
"It's not about you, Bri, and you know it," Zoey sighed.
"Then what is it about?"
"Did you know Bruce was engaged?"
Brianna's face instantly turned guilty. Zoey inhaled and exhaled slowly, shaking her head, "If everyone wouldn't have been so goddamn afraid of me and just told me that there was no reason for me to come back, I would have just stayed where I was."
"Oh, Zoey!" Brianna said. "Don't say that! I missed you!"
Zoey snorted, "Bri, I love ya, but the only reason I came back to Gotham other than to get my braces fixed was to see Bruce. Now that he obviously doesn't want to see me, and I'd have to live here seeing him with another woman, I want to be anywhere other than here."
"So you're going to sell the club, and then what?" Brianna inquired.
Zoey shrugged, "I'll see where life takes me. Actually, now that I think about it, there is one other thing that I need to do now that I'm back in Gotham."
"What's that?"
"You don't want to know."
Zoey left the club and drove back in the direction of Wayne Manor. But instead of taking a certain turn, she turned in the opposite direction. It took her up a long and winding road. The road ended in front of a black rusted gate. Zoey got out of her Range Rover and shivered as a cold wind hit her. She walked up to the gate, it was padlocked just like she remembered, but that wasn't an issue. She climbed the gate with ease and flipped herself over it. In front of her was a mansion as big as Wayne Manor. At the moment it wasn't looking nearly as nice as the majestic Wayne Manor however; the lawn was badly overgrown, and the entire mansion just looked entirely spooky.
"Might as well get this over with," Zoey sighed as another wind whipped her hair around her body. She walked up the large steps to the front door of the mansion. There were cobwebs over the corners of the door, but Zoey paid them no attention. She picked up the filthy doormat and found an old skeleton key. She put the key into the lock and the door swung open with a loud creak.
The smell of the musty house hit her as she walked in and closed the door behind her. She put her hand over her mouth to avoid getting the smell into her mouth as she stood in the foyer, deciding where she wanted to go first. She decided to go up the steps in front of her. Mice scrambled as they heard her footsteps, and Zoey had to stop herself from cringing. Once on the second floor, she stopped, trying to remember….
Third door on the right, Her mind told her. She walked to the third door on the right and opened the creaking door slowly. She found herself staring at a picture above a huge bed. The picture was faded slightly, but it still showed the four subjects brilliantly. She walked slowly to the picture and examined it; two parents, two children, all of them smiling, entirely unaware that their peaceful family would soon be torn apart.
"Raina," Zoey said quietly as she looked at the blonde girl in the picture that was standing beside a five year old, herself.
The picture was of her family. It was the last picture that was taken of all four of them before Raina had died. Everything around her was hers. The house was her parent's house, but legally she didn't own it as no one had ever recovered her parent's will. The house had remained abandoned since her parent's death. But she had a different reason for 'breaking in' to her own house. She looked around the room and found what she was looking for. She pulled the carpet up, beginning in the corner. A few feet closer to the bed, a safe was revealed. Zoey smiled at her brilliance. She'd remembered about the safe that no one had ever been able to find.
The safe was, of course, locked, but that was no matter for Zoey. Zoey placed her hand on the lock and felt the heat begin to radiate from her palm. Within minutes, the thick metal of the vault door melted away. Zoey smiled as she carefully lifted the contents of the vault out. There was a lot of money, some jewelry that was near scalding hot when she picked them up, and….
"The last will and testament…." Zoey's voice trailed off as she read the papers that she pulled out. "Finally!"
A few days crept by. Zoey was busy as hell doing various things; calling lawyers, meeting with potential club owners, getting her braces removed and fitted for retainers…. For the first time, she'd actually forgotten about Bruce Wayne as she was so busy. She'd forgotten anything that didn't have to do with her current goal of getting out of Gotham as quickly as possible. Everything was going smoothly except for finding a new club owner. Zoey had gotten some nice offers, but she hadn't liked anyone who she'd met so far. She wanted her club to be in good hands.
The morning of another meeting, she was sitting in front of her laptop eating her breakfast when the door to her club opened. Zoey looked up and saw her worst nightmare walking towards her. She jumped off of her stool and ran towards Bruce as he walked towards her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Zoey demanded. "I have a meeting in here in five minutes with a potential club owner!"
"I know," Bruce said, his eyebrows rising slightly. "You have it with me."
Zoey immediately shook her head, "No. I can tell ya right now that I am not selling you this club."
Bruce shook his head, "As interested as I am in buying your club, I came here for another reason as well."
"I'm really not in the mood to talk, Bruce," Zoey said instantly. "I've barely slept this entire week."
"I know."
Zoey's glare turned icy, "You've been watching me?"
"Maybe," Bruce said. "Why haven't you been returning my calls?"
Zoey sighed, "Bruce, why are you trying to kill me?"
Bruce gave Zoey a confused look, "Kill you? I think that's the last thing I'd ever try to do to you. What's going on, Zoey?"
"You're getting married, Bruce," Zoey said. "You're freaking engaged to another woman! Why are you trying so hard to talk to me?"
"Because I still care about you, Zoeynyx."
"Don't call me that, please," Zoey growled. "I'm not the same person that I was before I left. I'm stronger, smarter, and more able; the last thing I need is your pity."
"You've always been strong, smart, and able," Bruce reasoned. "All the traveling did was pull it out of you. It hurts you that much to talk to me?"
"It's not the talking that hurts, Bruce," Zoey said, shaking her head. "It's knowing that you're with another woman, loving her like you used to love me."
Bruce's expression softened slightly, "Who said I used to love you?"
"Don't even start that with me," Zoey's voice sounded strangled for a split second. "You are not about to use that 'L' word around me; not in this situation; I can't handle it."
Zoey sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. As she did so, Bruce caught her wrist and turned it over, examining Zoey's arm. A series of scratches were visible along her right arm.
"Did you have a run in with a weed whacker?" Bruce inquired semi-jokingly, but was really trying to be serious.
"Maybe," Zoey could play games just as well as he. She tried to pull her wrist back, but Bruce pulled her back stronger. "Ouch, goddamn it, Bruce! Let me go!"
"Tell me those marks aren't what I think they are and I will," Bruce responded. "Have you been doing this to yourself?"
"Maybe," Zoey rolled her eyes. "Let me go."
"Zoey," Bruce said seriously. "Why?"
"If you really have to ask me that, maybe you don't care about me as much as you insinuated to," Zoey's eyebrows rose as she pulled her wrist back again and it slid out of Bruce's strong grip easily. "Any other things you want to give me a headache over?"
"If you're going to be like that, Ms. Smith, then yes," Bruce was getting a headache of his own. "I came down here for the purpose of purchasing your club."
"This is bullshit, Bruce!" Zoey snapped. "Why are you such a jerk?!"
"I'm the jerk?" Bruce laughed. "Who disappeared for a year and a half without a trace?! Zoey, for all I knew you were dead!"
"Yes, Bruce, someone like me, who's survived hell literally, would be killed by living abroad on the streets."
"You're not invincible, Zoey, you're human!"
"Says the person who flies around Gotham stopping criminals nightly!" Zoey exclaimed. "I'm more invincible than you are, without a fucking doubt!"
"Your powers are only as strong as you are," Bruce snarled.
"What are you trying to say, Bruce?" Zoey inquired. "I've been shot twice, I've been hit with fireballs and energyballs countless times in my life, I can withstand almost anything that gets thrown at me…. Goddamn it. Bruce, I fucking hate you."
"Why, because someone else is where you're supposed to be?"
Zoey stiffened slightly, "Huh?"
"I was going to ask you to marry me before you left, Zoey," Bruce said. "Are you happy now?"
"Get out," Zoey snarled. "Get the fuck out of my club. I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you, I don't ever want to hear the fucking sound of your voice again!"
Bruce left without another word. He was fuming, but Zoey had walked right into that one. He hadn't been planning to tell her the truth, not for a while when things had settled down between them. But the fact that he still got pissed when she said that she hated him, told him something; he still had feelings for her.
Forcing those feelings to the back of his mind, Bruce sped through town in his Lamborghini. He arrived at Wayne Manor minutes later, happy to see Bailey's Volkswagon Beetle waiting in the driveway. He walked up the stairs to the mansion and looked around for his fiancée. He found her, a smirk on her face, in his bed only half dressed.
"Hey, Bruce," Bailey's long red hair fell over her black bra as she sat up. "I was wondering when you were going to come home."
"I had to go meet someone in town," Bruce said, a smirk coming to his own face as he kissed Bailey gently on the lips.
"Tsk," Bailey smirked. "Why did you do that?"
"Because I didn't know you would be coming to see me with only half your clothes on," Bruce laughed, his hands traveling along Bailey's thin frame. He felt chills erupt over the small woman's body as he began to kiss a trail down her body, taking an agonizingly long time to do so. Bailey pulls Bruce closer to her body as she lies back down on the bed and kisses him heatedly. Her hands begin working his belt and his pants soon drop to the floor. Within minutes Bailey is squirming in his hands, begging him for more as he makes love to her; thrusting in and out of her with alternating rhythms. As the both have amazing ends, Bruce stops himself from collapsing on Bailey, his arms shaking slightly as they support his weight.
"I love you, Bruce," Bailey whispered quietly only breaking their kiss for a split second.
"I love you too," Bruce responded. "I love you so much, Zoey."
Bailey broke apart from him quicker than lightning, Bruce's own eyes widened.
"Zoey?!"