Craved

Chapter 15.

Alison POV. 

I was beyond furious. 

How could my best friend be so abrupt and cruel, especially now? 

I loved him more than life itself, but his words made me feel otherwise. 

“Woah, who pissed you off?” Zari asked when I stepped inside. 

I shook my head as a response. 

“Not today?” she asks. 

“Not today,” I confirm. I didn’t want to talk about this just yet. 

She looks over my face and I try and hide the fact that I needed to burst out in tear. She seemed to have wanted to continue our conversation but decided otherwise. 

“I’m here if you want to talk,” she finally said.  

Emmett’s words played over and over again in my head.

I knew it was ridiculous but the thought of Zac being addicted to me and not actually loving me made me feel sick. Him not loving me was the worst thing that could happen right now. 

Zara let me do the orders on the computer at the front of the store, while she stocked the shelves, but the tears in my eyes made the screen glary from time to time. 

The bell chimed signalling someone’s entrance in the store, and I look up when I smell rain. Zac steps into the store in haste and is by my side in moments. Looking at him was like taking a fresh breath of air and I tried to supress a soft happy moan. 

His hands grip my face and his lips are on me in moments. His lips move against my own effortlessly and I moan from the taste of him. He pulls away just as abruptly as he walked into the store but kept his hands on my face. 

“Are you okay?” he whispers, and I nod my head in response. “Come on,” he says and takes my hand in his own.

“What are you doing?” I asked, when he drags me to the front door. 

“We’re going away on a vacation,” he says. “Just the two of us.”

“Zac, I can’t. I have work.” I gesture to the room as if it wasn’t apparently obvious that I was at work.

“I’ve already called Owen and Stevie Rae, and they said it was fine.” 

“You did what?” I was appalled. As much as I wanted to go away with him, I needed to work. 

“I called them, I’m sorry, but I thought we could use a vacation.” 

“That’s not your decision, Zac!”

“I know, I’m sorry, but it’ll be just for the week.” He takes both of my hands in his own and pulls me closer to him until I was compressed against him. His hands cup wither side of my face and his eyes wander over my face as if it’s the first time he is seeing it. 

“I just need you,” he confesses, and I feel my heart swell. “I just want it to be the two of us, right now and get away from everyone else and their shitty opinions.” 

“Where would we even go?” 

“My family has a vacation house a couple of hours away, I thought we could go there,” he says and shrugs. 

“I don’t even have any clothes!” 

“I’ve packed some in the car,” he says. 

“But I-”

“Just don’t think,” Zac says, cutting me off. “Just don’t think and come away with me.” 

His thumb brushes back and forth on my cheek. 

“It will be just the two of us, together, we do whatever we want and be as loud as we want- Hell! We can throw plates at the walls if you want.”

I chuckle, imagining the both of us throwing plates at walls.

I have to admit, a getaway with just Zac sounded amazing, and the more I think about it, the more I was convinced that this was what I needed- what we needed. 

“Are you sure Owen and Stevie are okay with it?” The last thing I wanted was for my bosses to be upset with me. 

“Owen is an old friend of mine, so he was sweet about it, and Stevie Rae took some convincing, but it was fine in the end.” 

I began nodding my head. This is what I wanted. 

“Okay.” 

“Okay?” He smiles broadly. His eyes searched my face as if he was making sure what I was confirming to. 

“Okay,” I say, nodding my head. 

“Okay!” he practically shouts and then he wraps me in his arms. His enthusiasm was intoxicating, and I felt my own smile broaden. 

“Zari!” I shouted. “I have to go!” 

Zari stepped out from the back with several books in her hand. 

“Owen just called me,” she said with a smile. 

“Okay, great!” I said and smiled at Zac. “Let’s go?” 

“Let’s go,” he smiled which made me laugh. I let him pull me the rest of the way outside and together we slipped into his car. Not soon later he was driving off. 

The electricity in the car spiked as per usual, and I sucked in a breath. Being close to him eased my anxiety from this morning. 

“I’m going to get a coffee; would you like one?” He asks, already pulling into the drive through of Starbucks. 

“Yes, please,” I smile at him. 

I greedily sip at my warm coffee, and the feeling of the warm liquid down my chest and the electricity in the car was a heady mix. 

After almost thirty minutes of us sipping at our coffees while Zac drove, I finally plucked up the courage. Whenever Zac wasn’t sipping his coffee, his hand was on my thigh. 

“Did you want to talk about what Emmett said this morning?” I asked. 

“Not really,” he responded almost immediately. 

“I didn’t believe what he said…” I responded anyway. Even despite the electricity in the car, I could still feel Zac’s tension. “… About the addiction side of… of it,” I tried to spit out.

I watched his jaw clench, and his hand tightens on the steering wheel. 

“Did you hear me?” I grip his hand on my thigh. “I don’t believe him,” I repeated.  

His hand grips my hand more firmly. 

“Thank you,” he says between his teeth. 

I pull his hand up to my mouth and gently kiss the back of his hand. 

I look out of the side window, listening to the music from the radio play softly in the background. 

“The last thing I wanted was for you to think that I didn’t love you,” Zac whispers and I have to strain my ears to hear him. 

I hated that it was a thought that did cross my mind.

“I know,” I smile. I knew he loved me. All the things he has done for me that show me his love. He shows me his love for me every time he looks at me.

I bring his hand to my mouth again, slowly kissing the back of his hand, while I watch him. 

His Adams apple moves as he swallows and his breath hitches when I graze my tongue over his skin before kissing it. 

“I wouldn’t do that,” he breaths. “We still have a couple hours before we’re there and there’s no private areas along the highway for me to f**k you.” 

His words travelled straight to the pit of my stomach and goosebumps formed on my skin. 

I could hear my own breathing spike from his words. 

“Why would you say that?” I said both meekly and quietly, and I watch as his smile grows. 

“Sorry,” he laughs. He draws his hand away and rests it on my thigh again. 

“Change of subject, shall we?” he says, the smile was still evident on his face. “How did you sleep last night?” 

“Good, how about you?” 

“Not that great, the girl that I’m dating snores,” he jokes, and I swat him on his arm. 

“I do not!” I squeal and laugh. 

I watch him laugh and try and commit the image to memory. He was so beautiful that it hurt sometimes. 

Once our laughter died down, he impishly keeps looking at me from the side of his eye. 

“I love you; you know?” He practically whispers. 

“I know,” I nod my head, sighing and finally easing back in my seat.