Enjoy!


Book Thirty-One: The Locker Part Five

"So how are your parents?" Dwight asked Mercedes when they finally sat down for dinner.

"Great! Dad's been asking about the two of you… my mom has been asking about Sam." She replied happily. Dwight reminded her of her dad, he was a big man but as soft as they come, he was very kind and could see the immediate resemblance between him and Sam.

"Yeah, I've been asking him to make sure to ask about rescheduling dinner with you guys and I also want to thank you for helping my son." Dwight said with a warm smile.

"No problem! It was my pleasure." She said looking at Sam before they all began to dig in on the meal he cooked. The conversation flowed and they talked about a great many things, Sam let slip that she could sing and Dwight made her promise to sing for him one day which she did.

"You know my family throws an annual Christmas party, I know it's a few months away but I'm sure they'd love if you two came. It's a whole thing… my parents are a little cheesy but it's in good fun, my sister and her husband are expecting their first around that time too so we're hoping for a little Christmas baby!"

"What is she having?" Sam asked.

"We don't know… she doesn't want to know she wants it to be a surprise but I think it's a boy." Mercedes answered with a bright smile.

"We did that with Sam." Dwight said, chuckling.

"Wait so you didn't know what I was until after I was here?" Sam asked surprised.

"Yeah, it was actually very exciting… we had a little bet going on too. Your grandmother won of course." Dwight replied with a light laugh just as Sam was about to reply there was a knock on the door and Dwight excused himself. Sam and Mercedes talked about random stuff enjoying their meal when they could hear his father and another voice quietly arguing.

"No, I want to talk to him!" Mercedes and Sam both jumped when they heard a woman's voice and Mercedes looked at Sam, noticing his smile faded and he looked slightly pale.

"Sam are you okay?" She asked before hearing Dwight and the woman arguing again.

"You should go… like now. It's my mom… she's still not-"

"SAMUEL!" Sam winced slightly when his mother yelled his full name.

He reluctantly started to get up before Mercedes grabbed his hand and tugged him out the back door. She didn't say a word as peeked her head out the gate to make sure they could sneak out and when she didn't see anyone she walked them out slowly. Her car was still parked there but she knew they would know they quickly walked to her house instead of walking through the front she took them through the garage and up the backstairs.

"Merce baby is that you?" Mercedes froze placing her hand over Sam's mouth who shot her a confused but also amused look making her roll her eyes.

"She's at dinner with the Evans, I'll go down and check to see what that was, okay?" Keith said to his wife making Mercedes' eyes grow wide, she wasn't sure why she was doing any of this because she could have simply walked into the house with Sam in tow but it was too late she was invested in sneaking in so she shoved him into her closet with her squeezing in then slowly closing the door.

"What the-" Sam was cut off by her hand covering his mouth again and he rolled his eyes before giving a 'really' look, she licked her lips nervously moving her head closer to the door to see if she could hear her father walking by and when she heard his heavy boot she started pushing Sam further into the already crowded closet until they were hidden behind an old bookshelf.

The both tensed when they heard the door open and Mercedes squeezed her eyes shut when the light came on, she slowly opened one eye only to be met by Sam's amused expression. When the lights went out and the door closed she let out a heavy breath and a relieved laugh before feeling Sam's hand cover hers and gently remove it from his mouth.

"Sorry..." She said finally with a laugh.

"I'm not sure I ever want you to sneak me into anywhere after this." He said jokingly. "Is it okay to leave this closet or do you have some more 007 stuff to try out first?"

"Ha ha, I panicked okay. Besides, my parents would have asked why we weren't at dinner and then they would have called your dad."

"So sneaking me away to your house while leaving your car at mine was a part of this super efficient plan to… keep our parents from finding me?" Sam asked, growing more amused by the second.

"MERCEDES JONES!"

"Shit!" Mercedes said placing both of her hands on her face nervously before moving Sam aside and weaving through the random piles of junk before reaching a small door, she looked at waved him over and when he got to her he shook his head.

"Get in!" She said softly hearing footsteps and she started to push him until he finally complied and got down going through the small door, Mercedes heard the door knob and quickly followed closing the door.

"Follow me." She whispered getting down and crawling until reaching a small hatch that she lifted and ushered him in, she eased down and smiled triumphantly after turning on the light and Sam shot her a shock yet impressed look.

"So you are 007..." He said looking around at the small room.

"No, me and Mia found this when we were little and never said anything to our parents." She said smiling at the expression on Sam's face.

"So we're gonna just sit here until your dad stops looking for you?" Sam asked watching her sit down on the floor.

"No, he's not going to stop I'm just buying us time until we can sneak into your dad's basement."

"There's no way to sneak in without him seeing us." Sam said jumping when he heard her phone start to ring. She looked at it ignoring it before turning it off and shooting him a mischievous smirk.

"My dad… he's gonna be pissed." She said with a soft laugh. "But it'll get him out of the house and us a chance to get back to yours." She added sitting down and sighing.

"So until then?" Sam asked sitting down next to her shooting her an amused look. He looked around the small room noticing two bean bag chairs, a table and a few books.

"We can have wild crazy sex until it's time to go." Mercedes said with serious expression that made Sam blush before she starting to laugh. "I'm kidding besides… you have a girlfriend."

"So if I didn't?" He countered smirking at her and for a brief moment they had a silent stare off before she looked away.

"That's for another day..."

"I mean you're the one that brought it up so, I would like to know that answer."

"No, sex has already gotten me into enough trouble as is and I don't need that kind of stress." She replied and he shot her an amused look.

"So hypothetically speaking, if I wasn't involved and you didn't have a negative view on sex… would you?"

"I never said I have a negative view on it and you're cute I guess so sure why not?" She said shrugging before noticing Sam moving closer. "Ah… what are you doing?"

"Testing a theory." He answered, wrapping an arm around her to stop her from moving before leaning closer and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. He had to bite back the moan that threatened to come out because of how soft her lips were and when she kissed him back he couldn't help smirking which grew before she pushed him away.

"What..." Mercedes started but trailed off shaking her head.

"As I thought." Sam joked with a smirk and she shot him a disapproving look.

"I never said I wasn't attracted to you Sam but you willingly doing that while you have a girlfriend will never be okay." She said, making his smirk fade away.

"I just-"

"Sam if I wanted to kiss you I would have… how are you going to explain that to your girlfriend? Let me guess you were just going to keep it between us right? I'm no one's secret, never have been and never will be, come on let me get you back home." She said getting up and walking to the other side of the small room, opening the door and crawling out with Sam right behind her.

They walked straight out the room not saying anything to each other, both lost in their own thoughts before being stopped by her mother.

"Explain!" Loren said, looking at both of them angrily.

"He… his mother showed up." Mercedes said before walking passed her mother and straight upstairs leaving Sam down there feeling like shit.

"Come on sweetie, let's get you home and you can tell me what happened." Loren said to Sam with a warm smile and he just nodded.


"Sweetheart." Loren said knocking at Mercedes' door before walking in seeing her daughter doing her homework rather angrily.

"Did his mom leave?" Mercedes asked, scribbling down notes.

"Mhm, his dad was very upset that you two left the way you did and-"

"And so was I! You know you can't just do things like that!" Keith said coming into the room, noticing that his daughter was visibly angry.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" Loren asked and Mercedes just shook her head.

"I'm sorry for doing that but he seemed scared so I just figured… I don't know what I figured but you can ground me I don't really care." Mercedes muttered, finally looking at her parents and they could tell something was bothering her.

"Baby if something is bugging you, you know you can tell us."

"How about I leave you two to talk?" Keith suggested before starting to walk out.

"Wait! Daddy can I talk to you… alone?" Mercedes asked, shocking both her parents and Loren felt a little saddened that she chose him over her but she gave her a small smile before walking out and closing the door.

"What's up pumpkin?" Keith asked, sitting down on Mercedes's bed.

"Why are guys so stupid?" Mercedes asked and his eyes grew wide for a brief moment.

"You're going to need to elaborate because technically I'm a guy." He answered with a light chuckle that seemed to make her smile.

"You promise not to get upset with me?" Mercedes asked moving to sit by her dad and he let out a deep breath and nodded.

"I promise."

"Okay, so Shane and I are on a break because he didn't use protection and Sam went with me to the doctors to make sure I wasn't pregnant which I'm not but still. Well when we were hanging out I don't know maybe I was sending signals… okay so I probably was but it wasn't intentional and then Sam kissed me but he has a girlfriend and it pissed me off that he would do that you know?" Mercedes said finally taking a deep breath and Keith just looked at her completely dumb founded, angry and he had the strongest urge to cry.

"LO!" He shouted standing up and shaking his head trying to grasp all she'd just told him.

"Daddy no! Don't call her… ugh! I should've just called Mia." Mercedes said, grabbing her teddy bear and hugging it groaning when her mom walked into her room.

"What's wrong?" Loren asked, seeing her husband visibly distraught about something and pacing.

"Nothing." Mercedes mumbled looking at her dad with pleading eyes not to say anything.

"Nothing… I just need a second." Keith said before walking out of the room and they heard him running down the stairs before the front door opened then closed. Loren looked at Mercedes with a concerned look that grew when they heard Keith shouting "WHY LORD!" Mercedes groaned again before burying her head into her teddy bear feeling bad that she chose to say anything.

"I'm going to go check on him and when I get back I want some type of explanation." She said to her daughter who just muttered okay.


"Keith, why are you out here shouting?" Loren asked once she made it to her husband who was still asking 'Why Lord'.

"I… she… I can't tell you." He answered and the look that crossed his wife's face scared him slightly.

"Oh you will tell me or you both will regret it." Loren responded placing her hands on her hips and he couldn't help but smirk.

"I promised her I wouldn't say anything or get mad so I can't break that promise." Keith explained.

"Oh you have lost your ever loving mind if you think my baby is going to keep a secret from me!" Loren said, shaking her head and Keith knew then what this was about and couldn't help but laugh.

"Lo are you jealous she chose me?" Keith asked, still laughing.

"Shut up… and no, now tell me what she said."

"Uh-uh I will never break her promise and I think she knew that when she asked to talk to me."

"Oh go to hell! I'm going to ask her!" Loren said turning around and right as she reached the door she was lifted off the ground then spun around.

"No, let me… she trusted me for a reason." Keith said kissing his wife before placing her back down and walking inside then back upstairs to Mercedes. He took a deep breath before walking back into her room where he was met by her doe eyes filled with tears.

"Oh pumpkin, I just needed a moment to process what you told me because… it was a lot." Keith said, sitting down and pulling her into a hug.

"Daddy I swear I wasn't okay with him doing that and I told him as much but he seemed more upset that I wasn't pregnant. I know it was a lot and I'm sorry but I really needed to talk to you… it's been a long day for me." Mercedes said sniffling.

"Why didn't you just come to us with this?"

"Daddy look how you reacted to me telling you, now imagine mommy's reaction. Mia was about to beat Shane's a- butt for it."

"I'm half way tempted to do a drive by in my squad car myself. Mercedes I can't tell you have to handle your personal life but I can say this, no real man would ever do that to someone they truly loved. I know you two think forever is right around the corner but the fact that he was willing to deter your dreams will never be okay and I as your father don't see him fit to be your forever after doing that." Keith replied and Mercedes understood what he meant.

"I just… I don't understand why this happened."

"Like you said guys are stupid and I personally am okay with you not dating until after you're married." Keith joked, making her giggle.

"Not going to happen but thank you for the advice and mommy you can come in now." Mercedes said, shouting the last part so her mother could hear.

"I wasn't eavesdropping but I am going to kill Shane!" Loren said and Mercedes threw her head back letting out a giggle.

"I think I'm going to take daddy's advice and end things." Mercedes said.

Keith just smiled happily knowing that he wouldn't have to worry about her dating anyone but he still intended on paying Shane a visit.

"Well… I'm here if you need to talk, you know." Loren reminded her and she gave her a warm smile.

"I know mommy, I'm going to finish my homework then get some sleep…" She said giving both her parents before they walked out. She waited a few minutes before texting Sam.

MJ:Hey.

SE:Hey…

MJ:I'm not mad, well I was but I'm not anymore.

SE:Thank God, I was plotting sneaking in and forcing you to listen to my long apology.

MJ:Ha! You would willingly sneak in after today?

SE:I just didn't want you to stay upset with me.

MJ:I'm not but it can't happen again Sam, you have a girlfriend.

SE:Yeah and you have Shane, I shouldn't have overstepped.

MJ:Yeah… Shane. I'll see you tomorrow. We can ride to school together since my car is still at your house.

SE:Okay sounds good. Night Mercy.

MJ:Good night Sam.

Mercedes felt better about clearing things up with Sam but she knew she would have to break things off with Shane and a piece of her was saddened by that fact because she really did love him. She had a lot to think about but she knew in the end that she was going to break things off with him and move forward with her own dreams.


Shane full of shit