Read My Lips: Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Zach’s p.o.v

I couldn’t help but feel bad as I watched Maisie turn around to enter her house. I knew that sooner rather than later, I was going to end up being the one who broke her heart.

It sucked knowing that when I met her, she had no friends but now she had five and I knew she trusted us all. This whole business with Max was going to ruin everything; her trust, our friendship and most importantly, our relationship.

When she found me earlier fighting in that alleyway, I really wasn’t sure what to think. Then stupidly, I’d told her that he owed me money. That was only partially the truth. I sort of liked to fight, I had to fight and I was earning money from doing that.

See, I sort of had a… manager (I guess you could say). Bets were set up to him and if I won (which most of the time I did) then I’d get most of the share of the earnings. It benefits my family greatly though considering it was only me and my mum.

My mum didn’t know that I fought. I knew that if she ever found out that she’d flip shit. And my mum was freakin’ scary when she was angry. You didn’t want to get on the bad side of her.

Anyway, I walked off from the direction of Maisie’s house. I knew that I wouldn’t have any run-ins with any of the fighters or the people who placed bets. I was safe from now. So, like every night after I fought, I headed home. I knew that my mum wouldn’t be in since she had to work.

The house was empty when I arrived home so I went straight upstairs. After collapsing on my bed, my eyes slowly shut and before I knew it, I was out of it.

Maisie’s p.o.v

The day of my operation approached faster than I had expected. Before I knew what day it was, I was sat in the hospital with my parents and Zach. Like he had promised, he was with me whilst I waited.

“Everything will be ok, you know that right?” Dad asked, sitting on the chair that was beside me.

I nodded. “Hopefully everything will be.”

Truth was I was absolutely terrified. I’d never had an operation in my life so I had no idea what to expect. The doctor had greeted us when we had arrived and he went through everything that was going to happen. So now, we were waiting for the preparation in order for the operation to continue.

My dad shortly left to go to the café with my mum so that left me here with Zach. He moved onto the chair beside me and wrapped his arm around me as he pulled me into his chest.

“Don’t be scared, you’ll be perfectly fine. I’ll be here when you wake, I promise.” Zach whispered before leaning forward and pressing his lips to my forehead.

I smiled up at him as he pulled his lips from my forehead. “Thank you.”

He just smiled in reply before pulling me back into his arms. I snuggled into his chest as his arms tightened around me as we waited for the doctor to come.

It’s not long before the doctor arrives. After hugging my parents and Zach one more time, I leave and follow the doctor.

----

When I wake up a few hours later, my parents are in the room along with Zach who’s sat in the chair beside my hospital bed.

My head was aching slightly making me feel somewhat dizzy. Also, where I’d had the operation, i felt slightly uncomfortable but that was apparently normal.

My mum’s the first one who notices that I’m awake. As if by instinct, she rushes up to my bedside and wraps me up in a delicate hug before pulling away to look at my face. “Are you ok?” She asks stroking the side of my face.

“I fine.” I said my voice croaky. I didn’t really expect to be so tired after an operation but I just wanted to sleep. I was completely drained.

“I’ll go and get the doctor.” She smiled as she leant down to plant a kiss on my forehead. My dad copies her actions before they both rush out of the room to find the doctor to inform him that I’ve woken up.

Once they’ve left the room, I turn my head to face Zach. “Hi.” I smile tiredly.

“Hi, baby,” He smiles bending over to kiss me. I smile against his lips before he pulls away. “I told you I’d be here when you woke up.”

“I know, thank you.” I smile, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. Even though it’s only been a few hours, it feels so good to be back in his arms again.

After pulling away from Zach, I had to lie back down in the bed after a wave of dizziness washed over me. I lifted my hand to head my head, unsurprisingly, there were bandages there. I had been told prior to my operation that I’d have to expect dizziness, nausea or discomfort once I’d woken up.

Zach’s face appeared before me making me jump slightly. “Are you ok?”

“Just dizzy, can you get me some water please?” I croaked lifting my hand to my throat. It wasn’t going to do anything but my throat hurt too much.

“Sure.” Zach pressed his lips to my forehead.

He then stood up from his seat beside the bed and went to the drawer’s beside my bed. After filling up the glass, he returned to his seat beside me and helped me drink it.

“Is that better?” He asked, stroking my hair as I lay back down. He placed the glass on the table before turning his attention back to me.

“Yeah, thanks.” I smiled slightly. My throat still felt dry and itchy but it was better than when I had just woken up. Right now though, I just wanted to sleep. But I knew I couldn’t because I had to wait for the doctor to come back in.

My mum and dad came barrelling into the room, the doctor following closely behind them. I could tell already that this was going to be boring.

My doctor basically just gave me instructions on caring for the stiches that I had received from my operation, as well as washing my head, showering and my diet. It was what I expected, oh, and it was boring.

“You’ll have to return next week to have your stiches removed and to have the implant inspected and then you don’t have to return until we turn them on.” The doctor smiled.

I turned to look at my mum. “Will she be able to hear when they are turned on?” My mum inquired from her seat beside me.

“She should be able to, yes. But she will have to return after for another check-up after the first turn on.” She informed my mum.

After the doctor told us some more information, she left leaving me alone with my parents and Zach.

“How long I have to stay here?” I asked, fiddling with the blanket in front of me. The sooner I got to go home the better to be honest.

“Tonight and maybe tomorrow but you can go home after,” My dad spoke up from beside my mum.

I groaned in reply before shuffling further into my bed. Could I not just go to sleep? The thought of Zach took over my mind, there was no noise coming from him, it was like he’d vanished or something.

“Are you tired, honey?” Mum asked whilst already pulling the covers up to my neck and tucking me in.

Instead of replying, I just tiredly nodded my head as a reply. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was the feeling of lips been pressed to my forehead and then sleep took over.

Zach’s p.o.v

Whilst Maisie’s parents exited the room and left to go to the café for food, I stayed in my seat beside her bed.

I held her limp hand in mine as I stared at her. The thought of breaking her heart soon destroyed me. I wasn’t heartless enough to do it before I knew if her operation was successful or not so having to keep the whole deal a secret for weeks was going to slowly kill me.

Honestly, I didn’t know if I could do it or not.

But if it was the only thing that was going to keep her safe then I had to at least consider it. I couldn’t get her hurt. She’d been through enough in her life, been hurt would only add to it.

My thoughts were disturbed by her parents returning to the room, coffee in both of their hands.

“Why don’t you go home and get showered? She’s woken up now; she’s only sleeping so you won’t miss anything.” Her mum smiled, walking over to my chair and placing her hand on my shoulder.

I thought about it for a second before deciding to just go and get cleaned up. “Ok then. Call me if there’s an emergency.”

“Will do.” Her mum replied before I stood from my chair. After placing a lasting kiss on Maisie’s cheek, I left the room.

The walk home didn’t really take that long. It was surprising to arrive home to my mum already been there.

When I’d entered, she was relaxing on the sofa which was unusual. “Why are you home?” I asked, leaning up against the doorframe.

My mum turned around, almost as if she was shocked that I was here. “My boss gave me the rest of the day off. He noticed how tired I looked so he told me to go home.”

I raised my eyebrow in suspicion. What kind of boss does that? “Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure. Now stop questioning me,” She demanded before turning back to face the TV. Weird. “How’s Maisie?”

It was nice knowing that my mum cared about my girlfriend. “Yeah, she’s fine. She woke up before but she’s sleeping now so I’m just changing before I head back over there.”

“That’s good, are her parents there?”

I stared dumbly at my mum. Why wouldn’t her parents be there? “Of course they are. They were the ones who told me to go and change.”

My mum nodded. “Well go get changed then.” Her new attitude was weird.

I turned around in shock and headed up to my bedroom. Just as I had pulled out a fresh pair of clothes to change into, my phone beeped.

As quickly as I could, I grabbed my phone thinking that there was going to be something wrong with Maisie or something. But it wasn’t.

Usual fighting place. It’s your first official fight. Come prepared. M.

I didn’t want to go. I wanted nothing more than to get showered, changed and head straight back to the hospital. But I knew if it was Max who was texting me, I couldn’t do anything I wanted.

Throwing my clean clothes back, I put my hoodie on and grabbed my phone before running back down stairs.

“Where are you going?” My mum called from the living room. “There’s no way you’ve had time to shower and change.”

I panicked; thinking of excuses on the spot wasn’t my strongest point. “I have to do something quickly. I’ll be back soon.”

And with that, I slammed the door shut and ran. I ran to the dark alley way that I had grown to hate.

When I’d arrived, Max was stood in the corner with a cigarette placed in between his lips. There was a crowd of people waiting for this fight. And of course, there was my opponent.

Fabulous.

Ignoring everyone else, I made my way over to Max. “What the fuck do you want?” I snapped.

“You. Fight. Now.” He demanded pointing towards my opponent. There was no way I was going to be able to fight him.

His muscular body had him hunched over, tattoo’s covered up most of his arms and he had a shaven head. I was tiny compared to him. I mean, come on, I was only seventeen.

I’d fought many people in my years of fighting but none were anywhere near as big as he was. They were smaller, younger weaker guys. This one, however, was big, definitely older than me and most definitely not weak.

I was in for it and he knew it. Everyone watching this fight knew it. And I guess my opponent did by the cocky smirk he wore on his lips. With that, I knew I was going down. But not without a fight. I’d be damned if I let him win straight away.

“So, bets please!” Max announced, pushing past me and making his way to the crowd waiting for this fight.

Why were they even watching? Did they know that whoever I was fighting was going to ground me into the floor without battering an eyelid? For the first time in my life, I was kind of terrified.

Mainly because I wasn’t sure whether I’d make it out of this alive. I didn’t know if I was going to be injured or beaten to death. These thoughts soon vanished when Max entered my mind again. He wasn’t going to let me get killed.

He needed me. He needed me fighting for him so he could get some money to feed his drug and alcohol addiction. This was the only way that he was going to be able to get the money he needed for it- because no one else was stupid enough to fight for him. No one but myself.

After collecting the bets from the bystanders, Max returned to my side.

“Now I know what you’re thinking,” He started, pocketing the majority of the money. “I can’t fight him, he’ll kill me.” He mimicked.

“You don’t say? Have you seen the fucking size of him?” I almost shouted, pointing in the direction of the man.

“Oh shut up. I’ve paid him to let you beat him because it means that I can keep the money from the bets.” He grinned, looking insanely proud of himself.

“What? You can’t do that!” I shouted. I was losing my patience.

“Listen, maybe I can’t but I will. Now shut your mouth and go fight!” He pushed me into the centre of the circle so I was facing my big ass opponent.

Great.

“And fight!” Someone shouted in the distance before a fist slammed into the side of my face.

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Short, I know. I didn't have any idea what to write and blahh. I hate this part. I hate how I had to change p.o.v's quite a lot. I hate p.o.v changed too ._.

But i'm seeing Divergent tomorrow and i'm really excited! Anyway, I hope you at least enjoy this part more than I like it.

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