Zack pulls me into him; one hand caresses my cheek as the other sits comfortably on my waist. His hot breath lingers in the air between us. My eyes scan his face; his green eyes look brighter than usual tonight. He leans his head down slightly and his hair falls into one of them.

Before I can stop myself, my hand is reaching up, brushing it away. My hand travels to the back of his head and I hold it there for a second; then two, three, four.

After the fifth second, I pull his head down until his lips touch mine. My hand that rests on the back of his head runs down his neck and towards his shoulders. His hand that once caressed my cheek now makes its way down my arm and finds my hand. As Zack laces his fingers with mine, he deepens the kiss. My hearts races and a sense of hunger fills me.

Zack tugs at my shirt and I allow it, raising my arms. The kiss breaks just long enough for him to remove my shirt and then we’re kissing again. His arm wraps around my waist and he leads me blindly to the bed. I fall onto it and then immediately start to undo his pants as he pulls his shirt from his body. Once his jeans fall to the floor he steps out of them. I tug my leggings from my hips as he crawls between my legs, helping push my leggings down the rest of the way before he reconnects our lips.

I breathe a moan as he caresses me, grabs me and nibbles my lip. My hands rub his back and sides as he presses his hips into mine. I wrap my legs around his waist pulling him closer to me.

“Sheridan,” Zack half-moans, “you’re amazing, you know that?”

I chuckle as he moves his mouth to my neck. “I’m sure you say that to all the girls you get in your bed.”

Zack laughs against my throat. “Nah, just the pretty ones.”

I laugh too but there’s no need for a reply. Zack doesn’t say anything else either but continues to kiss down my body. Chills hit me every time his lip connect with my skin – my collarbone, my chest, the top of my left breast, right under where my bra sits, my thorax, navel and lastly, my lower abdomen. My breath catches in my throat as I feel his fingers find the elastic waistband of my panties.

“Are you sure?” he asks.

My hands find his. “Yes,” I tell him as I use his hands to push down my garment.

Slowly, he pulls them off. I watch him as he pushes his boxers from his hips. I pull his lips back down to mine as soon as I can. I feel him pressed against me, he grinds against me for a few moments before gripping my hips and pulling away. He runs a hand through his dark hair before guiding his dick towards the opening of my vagina. As soon as I feel him begin to push into me, panic hits me.

“Stop,” I tell Zack. “I changed my mind.”

“What’s wrong?” he asks. He doesn’t keep pushing into me but he doesn’t pull away either.

“I just…I can’t…I’m sorry,” I tell him. My hands rest against his chest, pushing him but he doesn’t budge.

“Is this about Eli?” he asks with a sigh. I nod and he groans. “Sheridan, I told you, Eli is a good guy. He would never do something like that, you must have just dreamed it.” He starts pushing into me again but I push him away, far enough for him to pull out.

“I didn’t lie! Get off me!” I cry. “Why don’t you believe me? Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

Zack sighs. “Sheridan,” he grips my wrists and throws them from him as I hit his chest. “Calm down.” My eyes lock with his and I feel safe. “It’s okay,” he tells me and for a second, I believe him. Then he begins to push into me again.

“No, stop,” I yell, attempting to push myself away from him.

Zack covers my mouth. “Shh,” he coos. “Everything is okay, You’re okay.” And then he pushes himself completely and forcefully inside me.

I wake in a cold sweat. My tank top clings to me like my fingers cling to my sheets. My chest heaves with every shaky breath I take. I pull my knees into my chest and cry into them.

It happened again, yesterday, downstairs. Eli attacked me and there was nothing I could do about it. I know that’s why I had this dream – no, this nightmare. What I didn’t know was why him – why Zack? The one person that made me feel okay, like things were going to be okay. Why did my subconscious have to turn him into that, into some kind of monster?

After a few minutes, I begin to calm down and relax. I glance at the clock and sigh, it’s still early but I know I won’t be able to go back to sleep. I slowly climb out of bed and walk to the bedroom door. Eli’s bedroom door is open and his bed is empty. I close my bedroom door and lock it before grabbing some clothes to change into.

The hot water relaxes my tense muscles. I allow it to run over me for several minutes before I even think about washing my hair. As I run the shampoo through my hair, I think about Dream Zack running his hands through my hair. I quickly allow the thought to run down the drain with the suds from the shampoo. Of all people, I had to have a sex dream about Zack? I didn’t even like him like that.

Still, I could still feel his lips on mine…or, well, Dream Mine. I silently wondered if they were that soft in real life before quickly pushing that thought from my mind, too. I try to think about other things as I finish my shower and get ready for the day.

When I walk into the kitchen, I'm surprised to see Eli and my mother sitting at the table. I hadn’t seen her in days and from the looks of it, she just got home from whatever bender she was on. Dad always said she liked to party. I guess I just thought she would have outgrown it by now.

“I made some pancakes,” she told me, pointing to a plate stacked with circular, black, objects. Eli is eating a bowl of cereal.

“Sorry,” I tell her, grabbing a banana from the counter. “I’m running late.”

“For what? School doesn’t start for two hours,” Eli raises his brow.

I didn’t owe him an explanation, not after what he did to me. Not after what he does to me.

“Well?” My mom piped up; it’s just like her to have his back.

“I have to go to work,” I lied. “I picked up a short shift before school.”

“Your brother is graduating from the academy today at two. I’m going to come by and pull you out of school after lunch, so be ready,” she tells me.

I suppress a groan. After today, Eli will officially be a police officer. I wasn’t sure how that would affect my life, but I knew it wouldn’t be for the better. Well, unless he got shot and killed. Here’s hoping. “I can’t go, I have an important test in my last hour, half of my grade,” I lied again.

“Oh, come on, little sis,” Eli grinned. “I’m sure they’ll let you take a make-up test.”

When I don’t reply, mom speaks up again. “Okay, well we will take a lot of pictures.”

I nod unenthusiastically before turning on my heel and leaving with my book bag slumped over my shoulder.

The walk to the café is relaxing. It’s still early and not many people are out in the neighborhood yet. As I approached the businesses, however, the streets got busier. When I enter the café, Drake is at the counter filling or refilling someone’s coffee. I approached him with a smile which he returned promptly.

“Sheridan, what are you doing here this early?” He asks.

I shrug. “Got up early and have some time before school. Do you need any help?”

Drake takes a second to think about it before replying. “Sure. Clock in and grab an apron.”

I nod. “Thanks,” I tell him and do as I'm told.

For the next hour and a half, I serve anyone who enters the café but I'm still not able to shake my dream from my mind. I hated this. I knew it was just a dream but it makes me feel weird. Thinking about Zack in a sexual way just felt wrong. I barely knew him and we were just friends. I haven’t even hung out with him or the others since the Halloween party a week ago unless you count work – which I don’t.

The first few hours at school are easy enough. Again, I try to keep my dream from my thoughts but it finds the cracks and seeps through, no matter how much school work I submerged myself into. The dream was just a dream, but it was based on true experiences. There was no “just don’t think about it”. It was life. It was my life.

Once the lunch hour hits, I decide to go outside, away from people. Once the small crowd of students that decide to leave campus for lunch disperses, the grounds are quiet. I decide to sit on the front steps before pulling out my calculus notebook.

I’m halfway through reading my notes on the fundamental theorem when the school main door is swung open with so much force, I think the glass is going to shatter. Before I can turn to see who was so angry and disrupting my study time, they are briskly walking past me.

Immediately, I recognize the mess of dark hair. “Zack?” Zack stops with his back towards me. His fists are clenched and shaking, but other than that, he doesn’t move. “Hey, are you okay?”

He still doesn’t move for several seconds and then finally, he turns. As soon as I see his face, an audible gasp escapes my lips and I immediately try to hide it by covering my mouth with my hand.

“That bad, huh?” he asks. It sounds funny.

I furrow my brows and remove my hand from my mouth. “What happened?”

Zack shrugs. “It’s nothing. You should see the other guy.” He’s making jokes but I can’t seem to find them funny. Not when he looks like this. His lip is busted, swollen and bleeding, making him sound funny. His eye looked like it was swelling, and blackened. He had a bloody nose, a bruised cheek, multiple scratches and a gash across his eyebrow. I wasn’t sure if it was possible for the other guy to look worse, whoever he was.

Zack notices my silence and shifts his weight from one leg to the other. “I’m going to head to the beach, maybe grab some beer. You want to come?”

“Uh…what about school?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Well, I’m suspended.”

I nod. I could have guessed that. “Okay, but I’m not.”

“Okay,” he says and turns to walk away. He takes one step before turning back around to face me. “You could skip.”

Suddenly, I remember the way Zack's lips felt on mine. The way his bare chest felt against mine. I remembered the way he felt against under my fingertips. The way his lips felt on my collarbone, my breast, my thorax, and my lower abdomen. I remembered how he pushed inside me even though I told him not to.

No. It was a dream. It was a dream; it wasn’t real. It was a dream; it wasn’t real. It was a dream; it wasn’t real. It was a dream; it wasn’t –

Zack is still looking at me and I realize I still hadn’t answered him. I take a deep breath. “I know,” I reply but I don’t know if I’m replying to him or myself.

Zack nods, waits for a second and then turns around and begins walking away. This time, he doesn’t turn back around. This time, I follow him.

Notes

Thank you guys so much for reading! You are the best! I've already got the next chapter written so an update next week is guaranteed. :)

Thanks to AvengedLover, DaphneG and MeRi for commenting!

Title credit: She Wants Revenge "Tear You Apart"