Chapter 1
From Zoey's Point of View
I watch Alice run around with the other kids. She is so pretty. I mean she is absolutely gorgeous.
I run over to her, "hey Alice. You're really pretty. I like your hair."
She blushes, "thanks. You're really pretty too. You have nice eyes."
We run around on the playground together.
As we grow up, we become best friends. She comes over to my house a lot and I go over to her house just as much.
It was all okay until one day when we were sixteen. I sat with her in the front yard, playing in the grass.
I look over at her and with full honesty I whisper, "I love you and I want you to be mine."
She gasped a little, "but I am a girl. The Bible says that's wrong."
I take her hand softly, "well I wasn't raised with a Bible, but my dad said that isn't true."
She stares at our hands, "we can't hold hands."
She pulls her hand away and that is the last time we are allowed to hang out.
I bounce up to her at school, but she looks away. I link arms with her for class, but she pulls her arm away.
She shakes her head, "my parents don't want me to hang out with you anymore."
I step back, "you told them about what I said?"
She nods, "yeah, I did."
I stare at her, "fuck them, Alice. They don't matter if you feel the same way I feel."
She gathers her things and looks into my eyes, "I don't know how I feel but if my faith says it's wrong, I just won't feel that."
I stand there, shocked and hurt. I am her best friend, and she will just throw that away because her parents don't like the idea of me.
I write her little poems each day and slip them in her locker. I take the time to write them out every day. I think about her gorgeous golden hair, her pretty eyes that I get lost in from across the room.
I turn 18 and it's Alice. Alice is my mate and she rejects it. I don't know what to do now so I go about life. Still being available for her but from the distance.
For a long while, she dates this man. I give her that. I let her make her decisions even if I don't believe that is the best for me or her.
I feel sick at the thought of it.
There's a knock on the door and I open it.
There's Alice. She stands there crying.
I stand still unsure of what to do.
She flings herself into my arms, "he hit me."
I slowly wrap my arms around her and hold her.
She cries into my chest and I just hold her.
I don't know what to say or do so I just keep her close.
Her phone rings and she answers, "hello."
There's a gruff sounding guy on the other end, "you better get your ass back here right now and clean up this fucking mess."
She stutters, "yes alpha."
She leaves without saying another word to me. I sigh softly. I'm a game piece to her. Someone for her to run to but not someone for her to love.
It's several months and she repeats her actions again.
She explains this time, "he just gets angry when he drinks."
I swallow, "then he shouldn't drink."
She stares up at me, "Zoey I can't tell him what to do and not to do."
I try not to look sad around her. She leans into me.
After several minutes she turns her face up to look at me again, "you know Zo... you really are pretty."
I shake my head, "I am not pretty."
Her phone rings and she leaves to take care of the man child again.
It's a few months again and then the same thing.
I am swinging on the porch swing this time though, reading a book by the porch light. She comes up the stairs and flings herself into my arms.
She's getting skinny. I gently hold her and she cries into my chest, harder than the times before.
She sobs, "Zo... I don't know what to do."
I just hold her quietly.
She looks up at me and rests her hand on my cheek.
She stares into my eyes, "Zo... you know your lips look really soft. I bet they feel very nice to kiss. And your hair, I'd kind of like to run my fingers through it. And your skin is so soft. I bet you're nice to touch in other places."
I look away, "you shouldn't say stuff like that Alice. Not while you have a man at home."
Speaking of that devil of a man, her phone rings. She hurries off when he tells her to get home.
I brush my fingers over where her hand was.
After several more months, she comes back again, this time clutching her stomach.
I stand up from my porch swing, "are you okay Alice?"
She looks down, "I think I need to go to the hospital Zo."
So I take her, not asking questions.
She's pregnant but he hit her in the stomach and shoved her down the stairs which has killed the baby.
She avoids my eyes once the doctors go out.
I stare at the floor, feeling sick to my stomach.
She speaks after what seems like forever in the silence, "Zo... I don't want to go back to him anymore..."
I keep my eyes down, "you shouldn't after what he's done."
She whispers, "I'd like to stay with you Zo..."
I fold my hands, still looking down, "you can if you want."
She is quiet for a while and then she looks at me, "can I hold your hand?"
I hold out my hand and she takes it.
After a surgery to remove her unborn, now dead child, she comes to my place to recover.
I avoid her for the most part but I do make sure she gets food.
After a few months, she's starting to look like herself again, not the skin and bones hollowed out version of herself that she was before.
She decides to pursue a psychology degree which is what I'm currently studying.
I offer her support in that decision but I still keep my distance.
