Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

111 - Colby

I almost felt blessed when I woke up and Rebecca was still lying on me. During the day, she'd moved to my side and let me hug her from behind, clutching her tightly to my body. She was still fast asleep and I didn't want to leave her or move anyway. So I got close instead, hiding my face to the best of my abilities in her hair, pulling her in, curling my legs to follow the contours of her position.

I could have sworn, just as my breathing got deeper, that I heard something move in the room. I didn't open my eyes, hoping that if someone was there I could catch them in the act. Although my anger was slowly building at just the idea—not only would they ruin my 'morning' but they'd be in my room, which wasn't allowed either.

It was the little sounds like a tiny brush of a foot on the floor, fabric rubbing together, and there was a scent that wasn't supposed to be in here. No... three scents?

Keeping my eyes closed, I focused on identifying the scents so I knew who to kill later. The first one I found was Jake's, then Tara's, then, unsurprisingly, Kevin's. Trying to kill all of them now would be slightly useless so I growled quietly in warning. All sounds stopped, including, for a moment, Rebecca's breathing. But she resumed right after.

There was only the sound of one pair of fast footsteps darting out of my room, then I heard Kevin downstairs say, "good luck, Jake and Tara."

"Don't tell him it's us, you moron," Tara growled back, right next to the bed. I still didn't want to move away from Rebecca.

I growled again, this time much louder. Jake moved toward the door but I heard Tara get in his way. I took the second of distraction to finally open my eyes. It was pitch black outside, the two suicidal members of my clan standing at the door communicating with their eyes. Tara won and she started to turn to me.

Carefully, I zipped out of bed and right at them. Jake moved in front of her automatically, trying to block my blow but it didn't work. He hit the wall with a gentle thud before Tara did—I didn't want to wake Rebecca up. Tara snarled at me to push me back but of course, I completely ignored her as if she didn't exist. She got physical.

Tara caught me so off guard that she managed to slam my back against the wall with her forearm to my neck, holding me there as Jake recuperated. I started to push her off when she zipped to the bed and leaned down next to Rebecca. I growled softer this time, worried my girlfriend would wake up.

Tara glared at me. "I'm making sure she's alright, Colby. Back off."

A feeling of calm sank over me; calm that didn't belong to me. My head turned to the door where I could smell Kevin hanging around outside. I growled at him then forced Jake to join him, shutting the door harshly on his behind.

Tara was brushing Rebecca's crazy, curly hair back from her face, which I secretly wanted to do. She examined little things that I might have never thought to examine like Rebecca's shoulders and her legs. She glanced up at me before she carefully lifted Rebecca's shirt to reveal her hip. I wanted to chop off my own hands when I saw the bruise forming.

Tara stared at it. I thought she was soaking it in; letting herself get angry to make the attempted shit-beating more powerful, but she said nothing about the bruise and covered her back up. "She looks fine. I know you don't want to hear this, but you did a good job not to hurt her, Colby."

She was lying. Outright lying so the others wouldn't hear that I'd hurt Rebecca again. I wanted to kick myself.

"Considering Jake's first try," Tara continued, motioning to herself, "you definitely did a good job. It's going to be a pain to get rid of those hickeys, though. Go lighter on her, you fuck." I almost found myself smiling. Tara gave me a knowing nod and flew completely out of the room.

I despised that I had marked Rebecca, especially as the bruises were an almost-perfect replica of my hand, which meant that my grip had just been that tight. The worst part about it was knowing that Rebecca herself wasn't going to care; she would brush it off like she brushed everything off. She'd look at the bruise then try to jump me again, as if I was going to let that happen any time soon.

I needed to work on my strength.

What I didn't expect while I was distracted, staring at the bruise, was for my predictions to come true. I was so focused on the blue and purple mix that I didn't see the gorgeous brown eyes staring at me, or process the sound of fabric shifting. It was only when the bruise moved that I reacted, looking up.

Rebecca was awake and looking at me, sitting up in my bed. Her hair fell around her face in beautiful curls, the shirt she wore—my shirt—riding up around her hips. She looked cautious for a second, but then she held out her arms for me. In silence, like we did most things in my house.

I didn't move to her like she wanted me to, planted in place. She frowned at me, a million words passing to me through her eyes—words she didn't want to say out loud. I knew Rebecca well enough by now to hear all of those words but none of them convinced me to get any closer to her.

Thing about Rebecca: she doesn't wait around, and she isn't afraid to do things herself.

Despite what would be my protests had we been alone, she slid out of bed and up to me so fast that I couldn't get away, which was obviously her intention. Her hands touched my chest first then slid up and around my neck, linking at the back. She was only partly pressed against me, enough to make me feel comfortable. So I wrapped my arms around her waist and dropped my head. Our foreheads met, eyes closed.

For a few moments, we were just there in the middle of my room. It felt like that first hug when I went back to her in her office; we just existed and enjoyed each other's embrace rather than talking or escalating the situation.

It felt good. Really fucking good.