“You…” was all I was able to utter at first. “You… lost?”

At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying. Well, maybe I did at first, but the general shock that I felt confused me so much that everything blanked. I just didn’t know what I was supposed to say to him because I didn’t even know what he had said to me.

“The game, Maxynn,” Zach sighed, and I could tell he stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “I lost the game. I love you.”

All I could do was stare at him at first, because this was the last thing I ever expected to hear from him. Zachary Deveraux had actually lost the game. After all the times we had both said we weren’t going to lose, it happened. We had both lost the game.

“You love me?” I asked, just to make sure I wasn’t hearing things.

He grinned at me. “I love you.”

“Zach,” I sniffed, feeling more tears escape from my eyes. “I… I love you, too!”

He looked genuinely shocked, but this didn’t stop me from wrapping my arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly. Sid was still unconscious, and since I no longer heard grunts from fighting, I assumed that Tommy was unconscious as well. That meant we were going to have to get out of there as quickly as possible, before they woke up.

But even though I was thinking this, Zach and I still didn’t move from where we were, and Johnny and Logan both didn’t interrupt us like I thought they might have. We just continued to stay in the same spot, just holding each other as if we were never going to see each other ever again.

Zach then pulled away from me as he suddenly said, “Let’s get married.”

This time, all I could really do was just stare at him because I really thought that I had heard him wrong. The last thing Zachary Deveraux would ever do was ask me to marry him, especially at the age that we both were.

“What?” I gulped, not able to say anything else but that for a few seconds. “Are you serious? You have to be joking with me. Zach, we’re still in high school!”

“So?” he shrugged, suddenly picking me up from the chair and throwing me over his shoulder before turning toward his two best friends. “Johnny, Logan! We’re getting out of here before these goons wake up!”

I didn’t protest as the three of them began running, me bouncing up and down on Zach’s shoulder, but I was still in shock from what he had just said to me. I didn’t even know if I had even given him an answer yet or not.

Zach nearly threw me into the back of a car, him getting in right behind me while Johnny jumped into the driver’s seat and Logan jumped into the passenger’s. It felt like an action movie, and I would have thought that it was so cool if I hadn’t just been terrified for my life. Before any of us could even say anything, Johnny sped right out of there without a second thought.

I was now finally able to breathe, everything that had just happen leaving my mind for only a few seconds. I was finally able to calm down, and it felt amazing to be able to do so.

“How did you guys even know where I was?” I asked after Johnny slowed down just a little, now that we were far away from the warehouse and safe from harm.

“We knew because Kate told us the van had an S on the back of it,” Logan informed me with a shrug as he repositioned himself in the passenger’s seat. “We knew that there was a warehouse with an S on it, so we went there hoping that that’s where you’d be, which it was.”

I bit the inside of my lip before saying, “What the hell is that S supposed to mean?”

Johnny shrugged. “Nothing comes to mind for me.”

Logan nodded. “The same with me.”

I now turned toward Zach, hoping that he’d somehow know what the S was. I wanted him to fix all of my problems like he always seemed to do, but he only continued to sit beside me as he tried to think of what the S could have possibly meant.

“The only thing that comes to mind when I think of S is Aveline,” he shrugged, as if that was going to answer all the questions I had. “Other than that, there’s really nothing else that comes to mind.”

My eyebrows furrowed at him, but both Johnny and Logan only laughed. It was obviously something that they all understood, but I couldn’t help but feel confused about it. What did Aveline have to do with the letter S?

Sensing my confusion, Zach laughed and wrapped his arm around my neck. I only continued to sit there, waiting for him to tell me what he meant.

“It’s Aveline’s favorite letter,” Zach shrugged.

I made a face at him. “And why would S be Aveline’s favorite letter?”

Zach took a deep breath, and I had a feeling he was about to tell me a story. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, since Aveline was obviously going to be in it.

“I met Aveline when we were in kindergarten,” Zach now begun, and I didn’t know if I wanted to hear this or not. Aveline wasn’t exactly my favorite person, and this story was going to be about her relationship with Zach. “We didn’t become friends until freshman year, but she’s liked me ever since we met. She used to be shy back then, so she never came up to talk to me and she thought, for some reason, that my name was Sach and not Zach. She thought that from kindergarten all the way up until we started talking in freshman year. So her favorite letter became S because she thought that was what my name started with.”

All I could do was stare at him, almost utterly repulsed by that story. “That was the creepiest thing I have ever heard in my entire life,” I had to say, unable to hold it in.

Logan snorted. “Agreed.”

I didn’t even know that Zach had known Aveline for that long. Kindergarten was a long time ago, which meant that Aveline had been a crazy fan of his for a while. It just made me want to punch her in the nose again.

And why wouldn’t Z be her favorite letter now, if she was so in love with Zach? I didn’t even think I wanted to know the answer to that question. I didn’t think I wanted to get into the mind of Aveline Rake anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter.

“Does anything come to mind when you think of the letter S, Maxynn?” Zach asked me now, obviously wanting to change the subject before we could continue talking about Aveline. “Something has to stick out to you about it. Come on, just think.”

So I did. I closed my eyes and thought about it. My middle name started with an S, Todd’s last name started with an S, Kate’s favorite letter was S because she thought it sounded silly, my mom’s maiden name started with an S…

Wait a second.

I gasped, which caught the attention of all three boys in the car with me. I blinked, it all making sense to me now. All of this had something to do with my mother, and her maiden name started with an S…

“Maxynn, what is it?” Zach asked, his hand immediately moving to my arm to make sure I was okay. “What did you remember?”

“My mother’s maiden name,” I blurted, a million things rushing through my head. “My mother’s maiden name starts with an S. Her maiden name is Santos.”

Johnny blinked at me through the mirror. “Do you think that has something to do with it?”

“My mother never got along with her family, especially her parents,” I began to explain, everything suddenly coming back to me now. “She was always defiant, and she left right when she was eighteen to marry my dad. Her parents never liked him, and they didn’t like the fact that she had gone off and got pregnant with his baby. I never met anyone from my mom’s side of the family, because my parents didn’t want me to. My mom said that her family could be really scary people when they wanted to. She said they could even be dangerous. I never took that seriously, because I thought she was just trying to scare me, but what if she was actually telling the truth?”

The car went silent, and I said nothing more. I thought I had lost my voice, not because I had talked too much, but because I was in shock. Could that have really been the reason why I had been kidnapped and almost murdered? Was that why my mother had died? Had her own family killed her?

I couldn’t help but shake, absolutely terrified by what I had just discovered. That was it. That had to be the reason. My mother’s family was tired of her not doing as they said, so they killed her. And now they were going after me, and maybe even my father as well.

“Shh,” Zach shushed, his grip on me tightening now as he pulled me toward him. My eyes met Johnny’s in the mirror, but I quickly darted my eyes away so I didn’t have to look at him. I still felt ashamed after everything that had happened, and even though we had made up, I didn’t know if Johnny and Zach had or not.

I had to calm down and not jump to conclusions. Just because my mother’s family didn’t like me, my father, or my mother didn’t mean that they wanted to kill me or my mother. Just because their last name started with an S didn’t mean anything…

But I couldn’t help but feel scared. I honestly really did think that they had something to do with this, and I could hardly believe it. They had never even come into contact with me before, and they hadn’t even ever tried. Could they really hate me so much that they wanted to kill me after they had killed my mother? Was my father next?

Johnny and Logan dropped Zach and I off first, and I nearly wobbled all the way back into the house, Zach nearly having to carry me inside. But, just in case someone was in the living room, I straightened myself up and forced myself to walk normally just as we opened the front door.

I wasn’t surprised when I saw that everyone who lived in the house was in the living room, and I was glad I was forcing myself to act normally. I didn’t want them to think that anything had gone wrong at all.

“Are you kids alright?” Brianna asked when she saw my ripped shirt, her face etched with worry. “What happened, Maxynn?”

“I, uh…” I blinked, not knowing what I was supposed to say to her. “I got caught on something at the beach, and it completely ripped my shirt open.”

I didn’t know if we were going to tell them the real story or not, since I really didn’t want to scare them, even though this was definitely something to be scared about.

Everyone was in the living room, and even though I wanted to go upstairs right away, Zach wouldn’t let me. He had a look in his eye that told me he was planning something, and I already didn’t like where this was going.

Steve shut the TV off when Zach stepped in front of it, and all I could do was stand there behind him like I frightened little girl. I had no idea what he was doing, and I hoped he wouldn’t say anything about the kidnapping. It was better if they didn’t know.

“I’d like to ask for permission to marry your daughter,” Zach suddenly yet calmly informed my father, and I nearly fell over right where I was standing. Not only was he asking my father this, but Zach’s entire family was also sitting there, and they definitely heard!

“What?” Brianna squealed, looking like she was about to have a heart attack. “You… You want to marry Maxynn?”

Zach looked back and smiled at me. “Very much so.”

Even I couldn’t believe that he was actually saying this. Even Ethan looked like he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, and that was definitely a first for him. Elizabeth looked just as excited as her mother was, and Steve looked like he could have fainted.

But my father was the one who mattered right then. He just stared at Zach for a moment, as if trying to figure out if he was just pulling his leg or something. I continued to stand there, awkwardly covering myself when I realized that my bra was showing.

“You want to marry Maxynn?” my father asked now, even though Brianna had just asked it as well. Zach only nodded now. “Why do you want to marry Maxynn at such a young age, especially when both of you are still in high school?”

Zach took my hand now, and I continued to stay silent as he said, “Because I’m in love with her.”

Both Elizabeth and Brianna squealed, which caused Zach to roll his eyes at the females of his family. I could have squealed as well, but I was way too shocked to even respond in any sort of way.

My dad looked at Zach, and then to me. He noticed that I looked like I was about to faint, and I didn’t know if it was because Zach wanted to marry me or because of what I had just gone through. It could have even been worse.

“What about you, Maxynn?” my father asked me now after a few moments of just staring at me. “Do you want to get married? Do you want to marry Zach?”

Brianna looked at me with wide eyes, as if pleading me to say yes. I gulped, not able to find my voice at first. For the entire time I had been living here, all of these people thought that I had hated Zach, and it had been the truth for a little while. For a long time, I couldn’t stand Zach and everything about him disgusted me. But now… everything was different.

“Yes,” I nodded, feeling tears brick at the back of my eyes. “I do.”

My father smiled at me now, which I wasn’t expecting in the slightest. I honestly didn’t think he’d say yes to Zach and I getting married, even though we didn’t need his permission since we were both eighteen.

“Then yes,” my father smiled at the two of us now. “I give you permission to marry my daughter.”

Brianna screamed, jumping up from her spot on the couch and crushing me in a hug before Zach could do so. She seemed to be even more excited than I was, but I wasn’t really surprised. Brianna had always been like this; it was surprising to me that Elizabeth was almost just as excited, which I had never seen before.

Steve clapped my father on the back, both of them looking happy for us. After Brianna let go of me, I immediately wrapped my arms around Zach’s neck while his wrapped around my back while he spun me around.

“Aren’t you happy, Ethan?” Brianna cried now, tears streaming down her face. I was surprised, because I didn’t think she’d be happy about two kids that were still in high school getting married. “Maxynn and Zach are going to get married!”

Ethan didn’t look happy, and there was suddenly a different look in his eye. I had never seen this kind of look, even when he’d glare at me nonstop. Something was off about him, and it worried me just a little bit.

“It’s like Beauty and the Beast,” Ethan blinked, looking completely bored as he looked from Zach and then to me. I knew that something bad was going to come out of his lips next. “Except he’s the beauty and she’s the beast.”

I was expecting as much from the little brat, but I wasn’t going to let his attitude faze me. Zach and I were going to get married. I didn’t know when, but I didn’t care. What had happened earlier that day didn’t even bother me anymore.

“We have to celebrate!” Brianna told me now, wiping at her eyes so she’d no longer be crying. “I’ll make whatever you two want for dinner tonight, okay? Whatever you want is fine with me! If you want to go out, that’s fine too! Let’s celebrate!”

Zach and I weren’t about to decline an offer to go out to eat. So we agreed, and then I quickly went upstairs so I could change into a shirt that wasn’t completely ruined. But as I was changing, I heard my phone vibrate from where I had left it on my dresser that morning before we went to the beach. I continued to smile like an idiot as I checked who the text message was from.

My smile immediately deteriorated when I saw that it was from a block number.

Tell the cops, or anyone for that matter, and your little lover boy will die with you.

My stomach turned, and I had no idea what to do. Telling anyone was definitely out of the question now, because there was no way I was going to let Zach get hurt, especially after we just got engaged. I just couldn’t let that happen. He had protected me, but now it was my turn to protect him.

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Man, it's weird writing threatening things like this. I haven't written anything threatening like this in a story since There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate, which was pretty much a year ago.

I'm so glad I finally got this chapter finished. I've been so swamped with school right now that I barely had enough time to write this and do all my homework. >.<

Please NOMINATE Ethan for Funniest Character! He wasn't in this chapter very much, but he's going to be in the future ones more for sure!

This is for the Watty Awards 2012! Please COMMENT, VOTE, and SHARE! Thanks, guys! <3