There was silence after the loud, crashing noise. More noise follow as we heard things crashing down. Eventually, the noise stopped.

I shuddered in fear as I look up at Michael, "What do you think that was?" He looks at me, holding me tightly, "Stay here." I shook my head, "I'm not letting you go there alone." He whispers, "Marina, you could get hurt." I grumble, stay my ground, "I'm not gonna let you go by yourself."  He finally gives in and pecks my lips quickly as we both slowly walk to the kitchen. I exhale deeply while squeezing Michael's hand as he does the same and we walk into the dismantled kitchen.

Glass was everywhere, the cabinet doors were broken off with some of the cabinets on the floor. The site of the beautiful kitchen was a massive room of debris. Michael's eyes widen, "Who would do such a thing?" I looked over to notice the back door was open. This wasn't an accident, it was intentional. I walk against the broken glass as my heels crushed the pieces, looking around the room. Michael walks with me and sees a note taped to one of the cabinets.

He grabs it, noticed that some of it was marked with blood as it he opens it, reading the message.

Welcome, welcome to my little game. Like your new kitchen? Take it as a gift from me to you. Jackson, you have something that belongs to me and that I want back and I won't stop until you lose it all. The kitchen was just a little trial run, next time it might be someone you love. This game is between me, you, and Marina, tell the police or anyone else, and I swear I will kill your girl instantly. Trust me.

I read the note as well and trembled at the thick ink on the paper, "But who would do such a thing! And what is this person talking about that you have something from them?" He shakes his head in confusion, "I don't know, Marina, but I can't risk you or my family getting hurt." I could tell he was afraid, afraid of the things this mysterious person was capable of. But, he kept a brave face on for me. Eventually, his eyes filled with tears as he hugs me tightly. I could feel his fingers combing through my hair, "I couldn't bare you getting hurt, but what if this guy hurts you...or my mother or my siblings?" He was mentally frustrated with the situation, and I look up at him, "Take a deep breath. Let's clean this up before anyone comes home then we can talk and get a plan."

He nods in agreement as I wipe his tears from his face and we got to work and cleaned all the glass up and started on assembling the cabinets back on the walls with the screwdriver. Hours later, Michael's mother was home and watched us as we fixed the cabinet's door hinge on the cabinet.

"Hey you two, you guys fixing the kitchen up? I knew one of those cabinets were making a squeaky noise, who knew Michael needed a girl to motivate him to fix it."

I couldn't help but laugh as Michael rubbed the back of his neck shyly as he lied, "Marina is a really motivator for me. We knew this kitchen needed a little fixing up." She walks over to grab a glass and frowns, "Where's the glasses?" I bite my lip as Michael was about to speak and I sigh,

"Katie, I'm so sorry, I accidentally pulled this shelf down trying to get a um..plate and the glasses fell."

She looks at me speechlessly then at Michael as I look away embarrassingly. Michael intervenes, "No no, mother. It was me, it was my fault. I was so careless." She frowns, "Michael Joseph Jackson, how dare you let Marina take the blame for your careless mistake! It's one thing to mess up but to let someone take the blame is unacceptable." He bites his lip as he turns to me, "Sorry," and then he turns back to her, hugging her tightly, "And I apologize for this mother."

Momma's boy.

She sighs, "I'm just happy none of you got hurt." He nods in agreement before looking at his watch, "Oh mother! Your favorite show if going to be on soon, c'mon." He grabs her hand and walks her to the living room. I stayed in the kitchen and did the finishing touches to the cabinets by wiping them off, cleaning them up.

Eventually, Michael came back and frowns, "I hate that I have to lie to her." He looks away, full of guilt as I rest my hand on his shoulder, "You are lying to protect her from what this threat is. Remember that." He turns to me and smuggle a smile, "You're right. Did you finish?" I nod, "Good as new." He pulls me in and kisses me deeply, "Thank you for this, I know today was rough, but we did it." I smile widely while nodding.

One kiss from Michael seem to make everything a little better. I know we have bigger issues to deal with, but having him here with me was too good to be true. I lean over and kiss him again. His soft, warm hands cup my face as our lips moved in perfect sync with one another. His tongue slip into my mouth as I allowed him to explore every crevice. His hands moved to my face to the buttons of my shirt, unbuttoning them one by one.

"My, my, boy. You have some nerve to not only be making out in MY kitchen, but be stripping some girl in it."

We both broke away to be looking at a disgruntled Joseph.

I blush as I try to cover myself by holding the two pieces of my shirt together. Michael couldn't help but blush as well, completely embarrassed by the fact that his own father caught him.

Joseph raised his eyebrows, "Boy, you know better than that. What the hell is the matter with you?"

Eventually, I rebuttoned my shirt and smile superficially as I extend my hand out to you, "Hi, um, Mr. Jackson. We've met before in the hospital, Dr. Hathaway?" He looks at my hand, ignoring at while chuckling, "Ah the doctor who smart mouthed me at the vending machines." I raised an eyebrow speaking in a practical tone, "Mm. So you do remember."

"I see you're more than a smart mouth; you have one of my boys wrapped around your finger. Michael, you're by far the most foolish and pathetic son I've had."

Before I could strike back with a response, he walks out the kitchen and I turn to Michael, "How do you let him speak to you like that?" He sighs, "You get use to it. I've been dealing with for 25 years of my life. He isn't really worth my strength or my breath." I look away while folding my arms, "I just hate that he UGH!" I growl angrily.

He's so lucky he's Michael's father. He's the type of guy I would just want to strangle until his head pops off his body. Michael couldn't help but chuckle, "You know, you're really sexy when you're mad." I stay to calm down while biting my lip, "Oh really? I'll show you some mad, I'm still upset about how you made me take the blame of your actions."

He looks at me, confused then caught on to what I was talking about and decided to play along, "Well baby, I didn't want to get in trouble for breaking those glasses." I pout as I picked my bottom lip, "Well, I'm still not forgiving you!" He groans, "Baby, let me make it up to you." I smile widely, "Really?" He nods as we walk up the stairs to his bedroom and whispers, "I'm going to make it up to you real good."

I pull him into the room as he closes the door behind himself as we both laid on the bed and began to make out sloppily. My pager began to go off and Michael groans as he slide his body off mine, "No, no, no, no..." I laugh as I reach for my pager on the floor from yesterday and glances at the number as I reach over to the phone on the nightstand and call it.

"Hello? Yes? I'm on my way."

I hang up and pout, "I guess we are going to continue this tomorrow night?" He frowns, "Tomorrow?" I sigh, "I have to pull a 24-hr shift tonight." Hearing that made him even more upset as he grabs my arm, stopping me from leaving, "Ugh, don't they have other doctors that can do that, I wanna be with youuuuu." I giggle happily at the fact he wanted me to say with him. I've never been with a man so clingy.

"Mm, Michael, you know if I could stay I would, but you made me take a sick day and now I have to make it up. And don't you try to visit me, okay? I can't get distracted with you and those luscious lips."

He cracks up before nodding, understanding where I was coming from, "Alright, alright. Go. Please be careful though, especially with this guy out here." I mumble, "I promise, okay?" He finally releases me from his grasp, and I blow him a kiss as I run out of his room.

—
Totally not jealous of Marina. Nah. But who is this perpetrator who's watching the two of them? What is his intentions and who will be his next victim?

Continue reading to find out!

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-lcgendxry ♥︎