i am so sorry it took so long! to explain, i will tell you what happened. band got CRAZY! then, when it settled down, i lost my jump drive. then, when i found that, i had no internet. then, when i got that back, i was busy helping my friend's mom and older sister with their college math. so . . . here's the next chapter! :D i promise to update as much as humanly possible! or as quickly as i can get stuff written.
here ya go! the song from chapter 3 was Rooftop to the Streets by Tonight Alive. :) they're AMAZING. just like VersaEmerge. And Paramore. who are doing just fine without the Farro brothers. :) however you spell that . . . .
so, please R&R. you still don't HAVE to, but . . . it makes me happy. :)
oh. special thanks to Sierra156, the beta for this series. :D i feel bad, 'cause when i was looking back, i realized i had another beta . . . but i'm not sure what happened to her.
Sierra156, i will NOT lose you. promise. we have too many PMs going for that to even be possible. XD
Don't point your finger baby
This isn't the best time for you to test me . . .
. . . Don't be so quick to blame a friend
When the smoke is cleared, there'll be nobody left . . .
. . . I'm alright with being a thief
From the top of the world
We'll let them know
That your biggest fear is letting go
From the top of the world
We'll let them know
That your biggest fear is letting go
"Mrs. Morrow?"
Elliot's soft murmur startled me, enough that my half-asleep daze ended with me wide-awake, fully alert and making the first move towards my 9mm.
She was happier to see him after school than she was to see me. So, when he directly addressed her, she was absolutely thrilled.
"Yes?"
The fact that we were together as a couple made it one hundred percent better, because for whatever reason, she loved that nowadays, whereas before I left she told me to get as far away from him as I could.
Parents.
He let me go so that he could turn around to look at her. "I was wondering . . . I know she's grounded, and I hate asking, but I really need her to come with me. I'm meeting my real parents tonight, and I'm scared, to be one hundred percent honest with you."
"Of course, dear," she said gently, placing her hand on his shoulder for extra comfort that he didn't really need. "Anytime you need her support, she's allowed to go with you. If she's good, maybe you can even go on a date now and then."
I was gawking at the two as he smiled happily and she beamed at him. Mom . . . my mom . . . was letting up on my grounding. For Elliot.
I still had to know why the sudden change, all of why anyways. It was still freaking me out a little.
But instead, I stood from the couch and took the first step towards my bedroom. "Well, at least give me time to go try and look at least halfway decent."
"You already look beautiful," he protested softly. "Iggy, please? I've been away from you long enough. I know it'll only be a few minutes, but still. That's one hundred and eighty seconds I'm losing. No more than absolutely necessary."
I heard Mom squeal, like a teenager reading a romance novel at a romance part, but I rolled my eyes and did my best to keep a straight face. I was smiling anyways, though, because I just couldn't help it.
"Okay," I muttered, feeling defeated. It was a fight I had no desire to fight, or really even win. "Well, let's go then. Who knows how long we'll be there?"
"Just have her home sometime tonight!" Mom called after us as we began descending the stairs.
As soon as the door closed behind us, I pinned him quickly against the wall—before he could grasp what was happening.
Not that he would've stopped me, because that grin on his lips proved he didn't mind this position at all.
Because I could, I decided to kiss him passionately. Three years is a long time to date someone without making out, so that's what we did. Quite intimately too, because his hands began to roam before either of us had a clear grasp on what was really happening.
He sighed deeply and pressed his forehead against mine. "We should be careful."
"Mmm," I murmured in agreement. "What did you do to my mom? Did you brainwash her?"
Now, he looked truly innocent. "I can't do that, Ig."
"Well, I didn't know if you had acquired anything new that you could do while I was gone," I said honestly. "You definitely got a billion times sexier."
He grinned wildly, and in those eyes, I saw a spark of desire that quickly spread to a raging inferno burning deeply inside of him. "I can't say all of the sexy changes you've gone through. Not without wanting to do things I can't. But you've definitely gotten more beautiful . . . and man, have I missed you."
"You never cheated," I whispered, finding myself as lost in his eyes as he was in mine. "Not even those last three months with no reply to your last letter. I'm curious, by the way. What were you gonna tell me?"
"Later," he promised, shaking his head softly. "Right now, to my parents' . . . ."
Before we could knock as we approached the massive black door, it was pulled open. Standing there was an absolutely beautiful blonde with bright purple streaked hair and bright purple eyes to match the streaks. She was skinny with a decently large blessing of women parts.
Not quite 32-D like me, though. And that's afterthe SEALs.
Her eyes widened. "A girl? I thought . . . Ari! Seth! He's here. With a guest."
In three seconds, two people were standing there—a man and a woman who didn't look much, if any, older than us.
The woman had long, curly midnight black hair, and her eyes were that bright, neon electric blue color that Elliot's were. To make her already glow-in-the-dark eyes pop even more, she had bright neon electric blue streaks in her hair. She was tall, slender, and had her own supply of lady curves—poor thing was much larger than me. Definitely skinny and muscular, though.
Then, the guy, he was tall and definitely muscular. Like, probably built the same way Elliot just naturallywas—although I'm not sure his was so natural. Elliot never worked out. The only thing strenuous he does is band. Which, yes. Is very freaking strenuous, okay?
Eh hem. Sorry about that. Back to his dad, I think?
At any rate, he was muscular, and he had really, really dark brown hair—practically black, but not quite. His eyes were an interesting, intriguing emerald color, like nothing I had ever even seen before.
I was absolutely astounded at the sight of them, though. This woman was quite clearly his mother, and it seemed appropriate to assume this man was his dad. She looked just like Elliot, and even more beautiful in person than she was in her pictures. And I was more beautiful? How?
Elliot noticed my breathlessness and grabbed my hand for comfort.
And I thought I was here to comfort him. Gah.
"Um . . . this is Iggy. She was, um, in the SEALs the past few years. But she came back today. She's the only one I've trusted enough to tell her my secret."
His mom nodded. "Come on in, you two. We have a lot to talk about and not much time to talk about it."
His dad looked curiously at me. "I'm Seth, by the way. This is my wife, Ari, and my sister-in-law, Sam. Her husband is—"
"Done!" a male voice called from somewhere in the back of the house before making his way into the room. He had curly blonde hair, warm chocolate brown eyes, and a muscular build of his own. Was that just something this family liked to keep within the bloodline? Well-endowed women and muscularly built men?
Apparently so.
"Whoa! There he is. For sure. And this is . . .?"
"I'm Iggy," I answered in a respectful, easy to hear tone. "I'm Elliot's, um . . . ."
What were we? It was something I never really thought about, because letters didn't require a public title. We could say whatever we felt and just know, no titles needed.
But now . . . ?
Elliot smiled down at me. "She's my girlfriend, for now."
I cocked an eyebrow at him. "For—"
I should've expected it when he interrupted me quickly, that he was gonna say, "Later." Then he went on to add, "There's a reason I needed you to come with me here. Besides just the whole 'support' thing."
"Right," Ari said quickly. "Um . . . best way to say this? You two have to, erm, mate . . . before his seventeenth birthday . . . or he dies."
Seth sighed. "Hon, I'm sure there was a better way to tell them than that. Look at the poor girl. She's freaking out now."
"I . . . I . . . ."
Elliot sighed. "We'll be right back."
He pulled me outside, still hyperventilating and freaking out.
"Baby, listen," he said gently, pulling both of my hands into his. "I know you promised Ember and most importantly your dad that you would wait until marriage, but I have less than a month. Who else is there? No one else I would want either. Ig, we've spent three years apart, and we still care for each other deeply. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say the feelings have only grown stronger."
"Well, yeah, but—"
"I can't do this with anyone else," he murmured. "I want it to be with you. I wish things were different and I had known . . . I don't have any options, Ig."
"I can't," I moaned, voice pleading as my eyes began to water. Not because I'm weak, but because I knew what I was about to happen. "Look, El, my dad? He's watching me."
"Don't you get it?" he asked bluntly, now growing rather irritated with me. "I'm going to die, and you're really just gonna let this happen?"
"Elliot, hang on," I pleaded. "That's not fair. I never said I wouldn't. If you would let me explain—"
"Explain what?" he yelled angrily. "You're supposed to be my best friend!"
"I am!" I screamed right back at him, aware that we were now face to face, glaring our equally terrifying glares of ultimate doom. "If you would just shut up and listen to me, you wouldn't be yelling at me right now."
"What is there to listen to?"
I grunted. "I can't have sex before marriage, Elliot. I can't. Even if I wanted to—"
"So this is about marriage?" he interrupted, yet again. "We are seventeen, or about to be. Marriage isn't even legal!"
"Is too!" I insisted. "All you have to do is get guardian permission!"
And I knew—he knew—that wasn't happening for anti-marriage Gavin and Katharine. I knew it before I said it, but I wasn't really thinking, I guess.
He was silent as he looked down at me—glared, really. "Thanks a lot, best friend and girlfriend. I can see how much you care."
As he walked back inside, I stayed out to boil and let out some anger. I was fuming, even screaming a little.
I was surprised when Ari came outside, looking sheepish as she approached me, her shoulders shrugged and her head tucked low.
"Please don't," I whispered, and that was when the first tear betrayed me. In the SEALS, they had trained the tears right out of me when it came to fellow SEALS being hurt or killed, or pain—not that I ever cried for pain to begin with. But this was different . . . completely. The most important person in my world was beyond mad at me. So mad that I wasn't sure what was gonna happen from here.
"I'll do it, okay?" I finally continued, after she simply cocked an eyebrow at me. "Break my promises and go against everything I've lived for my entire life. He's right. This is life or death for him."
She shook her head. "No, Iggy. Don't. You have to stand up for yourself and stand your ground. Compromise. Trust me. Things go much smoother that way."
"He never plans to marry, though," I said honestly. "His adopted parents trained that into him by the way they treat each other."
She nodded and instead of saying anything, she just looked up at me with a questioning look.
It made me think, which was probably why she looked at me this way . . . it practically made you take time to step back and think a little.
Why was I with Elliot if I was so pro-marriage and he was so against it?
And my answer was simple. Because I love him. We both knew, although we would never admit it out-loud, that the future would either bring a compromise, or we wouldn't make it.
Unfortunately, though, that future time, which we had both thought would be so far away, was now, when the end could also mean the end of Elliot.
"Once he calms down, we'll talk," I finally decided.
She seemed to knowwhat was going through my mind, and I have no idea how. When she saw my fear, she gave me an encouraging smile and said, "If it's meant to be, it will be."
Wow. This was something I had heard before, but she knew just when to say it.
I love his mom—his real mom.