Chapter Five
I woke up feeling delectably warm and comfortable. A smile made its way to my face when I knew it was Tate's sweater I was cuddling against.
"'Morning," he murmured, tightening his arms around me.
I sighed happily and snuggled closer. "Good morning." Indeed it was. I would never leave here willingly.
"I'd love to stay like this with you forever, but..." He paused and sounded embarrassed as he continued. "You're not wearing pants and I have a bit of a problem..."
My mind blanked when he said that I wasn't wearing pants. Why wasn't I wearing them? When did I take them off?
As I shifted my position, the soreness between my legs brought back the memories of last night. Fear jarred me. "H-How did I get into my room?" Didn't he leave me in the basement?
"I found you just outside in the hall. I was worried when you didn't come in." He stroked the bare skin of my lower back. "Did... Did something happen?"
I couldn't look at him as what happened last night played out in my head over and over again. I felt as if I cheated on him. "Tate... Promise me that you would never leave me - no matter what."
"I promise," he stated with no hesitation. "I would never, ever leave you." He kissed the top of my head.
He was too good to me. The guilt was going to eat me alive. Did I dare tell him that I actually... liked what the rubber man did to me? What if he breaks his promise? I wouldn't even be able to blame Tate for leaving me.
My heart raced as I tried to form some kind of coherent explanation for him in my head. "There's this man who always appears in this house at night - usually when I'm alone," I whispered. "I-I don't know who he is, but... He's raped me." Tears began to well in my eyes. "And... And I didn't want to, but I liked it. Tate... I liked it. I'm a whore... A slut... A no g-good..." I sobbed as the gravity of the situation finally set in.
As I shook and cried, Tate hadn't said a single word. I was afraid that this was it. I was going to lose him forever.
Gathering up my courage, I looked up at him. I couldn't see his expression, so I waited with bated breath. "Tate...?" For a second, his visage was completely clear to me. His chocolate brown eyes were rimmed with red. He had a frown on his face that set his beautiful lips into a firm line. Just as quickly, when I blinked, he was but a grey shadow, once more. "A-Are you angry with me...?"
He fervently shook his head and his grip on me tightened almost to the point of being painful. "No. No. No. No," he chanted and buried his face into my hair. "Not your fault." He took a long moment to calm down. "I would never leave you, Madi. I love you. I love you."
His words made my lips tremble and I burst out crying, again. I felt as if I didn't deserve his love.
"I love you, too, Tate," I wailed. He was too good for me.
The rest of the morning seemed insignificant. Mom had left and Violet was at school. Dad was actually supposed to be seeing Tate in half an hour, so he had disappeared to make himself more presentable and to enter through the front door instead of leaving from his daughter's room. That would've been an interesting sight.
When I went downstairs, instead of finding Tate, I heard a banshee screaming for mom. I could recognise that voice anywhere.
As I turned the corner, I could see her form storming towards me. "What are you doing here?" I growled at her. I was not in a particularly good mood and there was so much pent up hatred and anger inside me.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see Ben approach us. "Madi, go back to your room."
I snarled at him. "Why? So you could fuck her in our new house? Did you want to christen it with this whore? Wasn't abandoning us to go to Boston enough?!"
"I'm not a whore!" she shrieked. "I fucking matter!"
"Of course, you do," I sneered. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have to scream it for everyone to hear... Oh, wait..."
Hayden let out a wild cry and tackled me to the hardwood floor.
I cursed and tried to push her off me. "Get your crazy bitch away from me!" I screamed at the useless father when I noticed that he was standing motionlessly by the arch.
He snapped out of whatever he was in and pried the deranged woman off me. "Hayden. Hayden. Shh..." He tried to calm her down. "I'm sorry, alright? We'll go eat steak. We'll go, now."
I glared at him. That cheating no good bastard. "Take your STDs away from here." With that, I stomped upstairs in a fit of rage. I slammed the door shut, collapsed on to my bed and screamed into the pillow.
Just when I finally found one shred of happiness, he goes off and tries to fuck everything up, again! Wasn't it bad enough that he went back to Boston for her? Now, he was taking her on dates in LA! How could he do that to mom who had been nothing but lenient with him - so much more than he ever deserved!
After my tantrum was over, I decided on a warm bath to relieve the tension and soreness in my body. The soft pressure enveloping me had to be one of the most relaxing feelings - second only to being in bed wrapped in Tate's arms. I smiled. I wonder where he went. The crazy bitch ruined his session, which I'm sure he was more than happy about.
Aren't you happy here? Don't you want to stay here forever?
Yeah. This was wonderful. I don't ever want to deal with any of them. I just want to stay here with him.
Forever.
I smiled. Forever.
A hand reached into the water and tilted my chin upward.
"Don't die. Don't die!"
Two arms lifted me up and dragged my body to the cold tiled floor.
"Madi, don't leave me!"
I choked out a mouthful of water before slowly opening my eyes. "T-Tate...?"
"Madi!" he sobbed and held me close to him, rocking back and forth. "I was so scared. You can't die! You can't!"
Blindly groping for the back of his head, I managed to bring him even closer to me. What happened? One moment I was flying so high and the next, I nearly died.
"I'm okay. I'm okay," I mumbled into his neck. I could still feel him shaking, or was that me?
"Why?" he whimpered. "Why would you do this to me?"
I shook my head. "No... No, I would never... I would never want to leave you. I don't know what happened." I was still breathing heavily as I tried to explain something that I didn't understand. "I guess... I guess I might've accidentally dozed off..." It slowly dawned on me that I was so close to losing everything. Even with Ben's infidelity, I still had Tate... As long as I had him, I'd be alright.
We stayed in the same position until I began to shiver from the cold. He gathered me up in a large towel and carried me into my room. Gently, he sat me on the edge of the bed and wiped me down. I stared at my lap, not knowing what to say to him.
When he finished with my hair, he knelt down and pressed his forehead against my knee. His shoulders shook and he cried. As he did, I could feel my own tears returning.
"I almost lost you." he whispered. "Why...?" His voice trembled.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," I sobbed. "I don't know what happened. I was careless."
"Did you want to leave me? Did you?!" he shouted.
I jumped at the sudden change in demeanor. "No! You know that I would never willingly leave you! I don't know.. I don't…"
He stood up abruptly and pushed me down. He hovered over me and I could feel his tears fall on to my face. "I love you. I love you…" His lips crashed down on mine in desperation.
I let out a cry of surprise at how aggressive he was, but soon, I bit and sucked his lips with the same passion. "I – I love you, too," I panted as we briefly separated before he consumed me once more.
His hands were everywhere. I moaned and arched against him. He was crazy to think that I would ever give this up for anything.
He hastily took off his shirt as I worked on unbuttoning his pants. The articles of clothing disappeared somewhere in my room.
I whimpered as he wrapped his lips around a perky nipple. "Tate!" My vision began to flicker from colour to black and white. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to focus on the sensation of Tate, but when I opened my eyes again, the flickering was making me nauseated. I held it back as long as I could, but not long after, I pushed him away and emptied my stomach on to the hardwood floor.
Hands grabbed at my hair and held the tendrils away from the filth. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," I heard Tate cry out as if it was his fault.
I sagged against him. "I don't know what's wrong with me." My vision was still completely distorted. "Just hold me, Tate."
He complied, slowly laying me down. As he got up, I looked at him curiously. He disappeared out the door for a short moment and returned to clean the mess that I had made.
When my heart stopped racing, my vision slowly became encased by the fog, once more.
Tate slipped into bed and wrapped his arms around me.
"Sorry," I quietly apologised. "I didn't mean to ruin the mood."
"No, it's my fault," he mumbled. "It was a bad time.
I shook my head fervently against him. "I wanted it, too. It's just that… my eyes were going crazy. I thought I was going to pass out." I snuggled closer. "I'll probably have to ask Henderson about it."
When mom came home from grocery shopping, I noticed that Ben was working on the lawn. What was he doing? Where did the crazy bitch go?
"How was your day, honey?"
I stared blankly at her and shrugged. What was I to say? Ben brought the home-wrecker here. She attacked me. I nearly drowned myself in the bathtub. I nearly had sex with Tate, but then I puked everywhere instead. "Wonderful, mom." Idiot.
Without giving her another chance to speak, I disappeared upstairs and bumped into my sister. "Hey, Violet. When did you get home?" It felt like forever since I had spoken to her.
"I know about him," she said. "They're going to kill you if they find out."
I pursed my lips. "What do you want, Violet?"
"Cover for me when I need you to."
"You can't keep skipping school," I sighed. "You only have a few years left, then you'd be free to do whatever you want."
She took my hand and dragged my into my room – somewhere that I had never been to before. It was dark and I could tell that there were numerous objects scattered around the floor. "You don't understand! I don't get along with anyone. I get into trouble because those assholes won't leave me alone!"
I frowned. "Does mom know? About the bullying, I mean."
She shrugged. "I think she knows a lot. She just doesn't want to do anything about it." I couldn't help, but agree with her. Mom seemed to like going with the philosophy of "ignorance is bliss."
Talking to Violet, I realised how much I actually enjoyed her company. I remembered a time when we were like best friends, but somewhere along the way, our interests clashed and we grew distant. My blindness tore us apart further, as did Ben's infidelity.
…
Tate was sitting on Madi's bed when the door opened and he looked eagerly at the door like a puppy. He had become far too attached. She was only supposed to be a way for him to satisfy his needs.
"What are you doing here?" demanded a shorter girl. Violet – Madi's little sister.
Tate smiled at her, trying to look uncertain. "Sorry. Go lost. I was looking for the bathroom."
The blonde didn't believe him. Smart girl. "I won't' tell on you if you help me with something." And rather devious.
That was when he spent the next half an hour listening to the girl's problem. He quickly devised a plan that would keep the Leah girl from bothering her again. He made Violet also promise that she wouldn't tell Madi whatever he was going to do. The girl didn't seem interested in the details and quickly complied.
When she left, he heard her speak with Madi before their voices disappeared into the girl's room. He made himself invisible and appeared in the dark room. He had been here several times before, all of which was before he had met his Madi. At first, he thought that Violet was perfect for him. They had the same interests and habits, but when he set his eyes on the older sibling, it was as if she had put a leach on him. They always said that opposites attract and he always thought that it was bullshit… until now. She was everything that he wasn't – studious, kind, by the books.
Before he died, he absolutely hated people like her. They were the annoying teacher's pets who would remind them that they had forgotten about homework or wondered when the next pop quiz was going to be. They were also always into the mainstream shit that irritated him.
He growled and glared at the side of Madi's head, but almost instantly, his gaze softened. He could never bring himself to hate her. She was perfect. She was perfect for him. She was his. But what was he going to do? If she stayed in this house, the other spirits were bound to get her killed and she'd be cursed to stay in this house… But she'd be his forever.
His mind was a raging war of what's right and wrong. Why did it have to be like this?
In his frustration, he threw a nearly mug against the wall startling both of the girls. He left before they could suspect that anything was suspicious.
Once he returned to Madi's room, he burrowed his face into her pillow. He loved the scent of her. He also loved the way her hair becomes a sexy mess in the morning.
God, he loved her. He wanted her to stay with him forever, but what was he going to do? What was he going to do? Maybe if he was able to keep her in the house as long as he could. He'd need to find something that would keep her here. He had several ideas, but none of them were guarantees.
He gritted his teeth and tugged harshly at his hair.
The anger and frustration dissipated when the door opened, revealing his beautiful Madi. He smiled. His.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Oh, Tate… You've dug yourself into such a difficult position. Sometimes, I wonder if I'd like him as much as I do if he was normal and not psychotic.
Thank you NameWithNoMeaning, erudite huntress, bittersweet S, and guest (Laurel) for reviewing!
NameWithNoMeaning: That's alright, I'm just glad to hear from you again. I hope everything alright with you. Tate's in quite a bit of trouble now.
erudite huntress: I am wondering this as well. When Moira died from the shot, her older self appeared to be blind through that eye. In terms of Tate, it's difficult to truly understand him because he's not always sure what he's doing in certain moments. I personally believe that there is something about the house that makes the residence embrace the darker side of themselves. Hayden had mentioned that dying had made her more sexually active (I'm uncertain if this is just an excuse for her or not). Thank you for reviewing! I've been able to get a grasp on myself, again. I've also been writing a lot more for this story and a couple of my other ones.
Laurel: I also believe that rape is unforgiveable. I'm glad that I'm not Madi nor Tate in this situation. I, too, absolutely adored Tate, but since he had raped Vivien, I thought it wouldn't be too out of character for him to do what he did. Thank you for reviewing! I am indeed feeling better now.
bittersweet S: I'm glad that you enjoy this story! I also apologise for the shortening of your name. Fanfiction isn't allowing me to post up the entire thing for some strange reason.
Thank you to everyone who has favourited and followed this story.