The Last Snow: A Mother's Love

“Ugh.” I groaned, rolling over in my bed.

My alarm kept screeching at full volume, as I tried to get the energy to get up and turn it off.

Stupid Kuza had moved my alarm clock across my room so I had to actually get up to turn it off.

Which meant my snooze button and I were taking a break from each other, which was a true tragedy.

I pulled my blankets up over my head, and tried to drown out the loud alarm, but no matter how much I rolled over, tried to tune out the noise it, but it unfortunately did nothing.

That’s when my door popped open.

I instantly recognized it as Ashley, he walked right over to the alarm clock and shut it off. Considering he was still in just boxers and a blank tank top, it was obvious that the alarm had just pulled him from his sleep.

“That is annoying as shit.” He grumbled.

“Sleep’s worth trying to drown it out.” I softly chuckled.

“No it isn’t.” He said, shaking his head at me.

“So I’m just going to assume you’re not going to leave me alone until I’m actually up.” I told him.

“That would be correct.” He stated, grinning at me.

“Just let me get dressed, and I’ll be there.” I groaned, pushing the blankets back and hopping out of bed.

“If you think for one second I’m going to trust you to not curl up back in bed, you’re crazy.” He told me.

I groaned, but still made my way to the closet. I could feel his eyes on me, and since this was the last day of my ‘freedom’ I wasn’t really in the mood to let Ashley have a front row view to me changing.

I quickly slipped into the closet, and attempted to get myself dressed in the dark. I heard Ashley grumble something to himself, but I ignored it, and finished getting some clothes on.

“Now do you trust me?” I asked.

“About as far as I can throw you.” He snickered.

“Ouch, that’s mean.” I scolded him.

“So is leaving your fucking alarm clock blaring for the rest of us to wake up to.” He replied.

“Get over it.” I whispered, slipping past him.

“Excuse me?” He said, raising his eye at me.

“I’ll see you later.” I lied.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He growled, heading back to his room.

What a sweetheart.

Today was going to suck, that was the reality of things.

They had given me three weeks to adjust to being in this new house, and to also get used to being around everyone once more. As it was obvious my relationship with most of these guys were built on hate and anger.

Not exactly what anyone would consider a healthy relationship.

I wasn’t scared of them hurting me, or trying to mold me into some stupid little mindless slave.

I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to get myself out of here, especially as Bianca’s first birthday has come and gone so quick. I knew that acting out now would only negatively affect everyone.

That all basically boiled down to the fact that I didn’t have a plan.

Not even half a plan.

Now that was something I was scared of, especially because I knew tomorrow was going to change the dynamics, as I was really going to have to bite my tongue and play by their rules.

What sucked about today was the fact that all of them were going to be as giddy as little kids on Christmas Eve. They were finally getting their new shiny toy that they’ve been waiting literally years for.

Ugh, just thinking about it made me cringe.

I made my way down the stairs, and out to the path that connected this house to the main house. I took a much longer time walking to the main house than usual, I needed every single one of those seconds to keep my cool, and think of what in the hell I was going to do starting tomorrow.

I reached the main house, and I entered in the back door, making my way to the kitchen.

Thankfully Tyler was there, but unfortunately so was Ricky, Chris, Jared W., Gabe, Ronnie, and Thrasher.

Ugh. Just ugh.

“Morning.” Tyler cooed, handing me a cup of coffee right of the bat.

“Good morning.” I replied, smiling back up at him.

I took my coffee, and took a seat down at the island on one of the high stools.

That’s when I noticed that Chris was actually cooking breakfast.

Holy shit, if he was cooking that meant he really was trying to appease me. I started to panic a little bit, and looked around the room at everyone as a crazy idea popped into my head.

I knew I couldn’t outrun everyone in this room, except for Jared, what he lacked in speed though was quickly made up by his strength.

“What are you thinking about?” Jared chuckled, seeing my intense eyes on him.

“Nothing.” I shrugged.

“That is not your nothing look.” Ricky stated.

“Fine, I’m trying to figure out if I could fight you, and win.” I said, realizing half way through my sentence how stupid that sounded.

I put my head in my hands as they all let out a few little laughs.

“And?” Jared asked.

“And what?”

“Can you take me in a fight?” He questioned me, without maintaining a straight face.

“That would be a negative.” I sighed.

“Don’t get cold feet now.” Ronnie cautioned me.

“You do understand how serious things would get if you did try anything, correct?” Ricky asked.

“Yes, yes, I know. It was a stupid thought, ok.” I admitted.

“She knows better than that.” Chris cooed, coming behind me and slipping his hands around my waist.

Just his presence behind me was enough to get chills. I wasn’t scared of what he was going to do to me, but did it freak me out? Fuck yes. There is a huge difference between being scared, and creeped out.

Or I was going to tell myself that until I was fully convinced.

I took one last look around the room, and noticed that everyone was in good spirits, smiles and positive tones of voice. Which, while that was a good thing, it was so unusual to me. I didn’t like it.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” I told Tyler, getting off the stool.

“You’re leaving?” He asked, his smile turning upside down pretty fast.

“Everyone’s just a little too excited about tomorrow for my comfort.” I whispered to just him.

“Yeah.” He chuckled.

“The only person who gets away with that is you, when you’re happy I know it’s not coming along with some form of malice.” I whispered back, nodding back over to Chris and Ronnie.

He then shot me the trademark ‘Really Bella?’ look.

“Just be good, and don’t fight anyone.” He said, laughter interrupting the last couple of words.

“Yeah, yeah.” I playfully grumbled.

“Bye, Bells.” Everyone else called as I left the kitchen.

I stopped in the hallway, and tried to think about where a nice quiet place would be, with very few if no people were going to be.

I didn’t really fancy spending my day stuck in one of the bands bedrooms, so I took a chance and headed over to far left of the house where there was a man cave. It wasn’t like the usual dingy gross man cave- it was actually pretty nice and looked visually appealing. To get down there I walked down a tiny little staircase that put me in the entrance.

Straight ahead thermanye was a bar with four stools next to a little island, and the back wall of the bar had tons of bottles of liquor lined up, and my own little touch had some cute little potted succulents along the counter as well.

Then to the left of the bar there was a large black couch that was facing a rather large TV along with a few different gaming systems. There was also a pool table behind the couch, so overall it was a pretty nice room to relax in, and this early in the morning not too many of the guys were in this room.

As of right now it appeared to just be Vinny, Josh Manuel, and Elliot. No one too irritating.

“Well, hello there.” Elliot greeted me.

“Hi.” I softly greeted them.

“What in the heck are you doing down here?” Vinny asked, knowing that I normally didn’t hang out in this room.

“I’m hiding from everyone else.” I admitted.

That got a laugh out of all of them.

“Aww, I’d gladly hide you, Bella.” Someone cooed, walking down the stairs.

I saw who it was and let out a little groan.

“Yup, that’s a no.” I stated, getting ready to leave.

“Oh come on, stay for a while.” TJ chuckled, standing in front of the staircase.

“No fucking way.” I whispered.

“Last time you get to say that.” He growled in my ear.

“Please, move.” I softly pleaded.

TJ finally gave in, and stepped to the side.

“Aww, you’re leaving so soon. You just got here.” Vinny whined.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” I responded back to him.

Once I saw him nod his head in agreeance, I made my way back upstairs. Well, there went that plan.

That left one room where I knew absolutely no one would be in.

The supply closet.

It was back all the way across the house, but I didn’t mind, I would at least be getting the peace of mind I needed to really think things through, and enjoy some quiet.

Once I arrived at the closet, I snuck in and took a seat right between the vacuum and the stockpile of dryer sheets. It was by no means cozy, but I’d deal.

My mind was racing as to what exactly tomorrow was going to bring, and about an hour into my brainstorming I realized there are simply far too many possibilities to try and predict which one would actually happen.

All I knew is that I just had to stay mentally strong, not let them get into my head, and stay true to myself.

I finally convinced myself that I would be able to face anything tomorrow, and as soon as that happened I rested my head back against the wall. I could relax for now.

Time passed on, and every second I slipped deeper and deeper into this relaxed state until I slowly drifted back to sleep.

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11 Hours Later -
7 pm

I didn’t know just how late it was, for all I knew it could have been 2 pm or 2 am.

I had fallen asleep for a little while, but otherwise I’d just been sitting and relaxing, enjoying the peace and quiet.

My head quickly turned to the door as I heard the door knob turn.

It was dark, so I couldn’t see who it was when they first walked in. That changed quickly when they popped the light on.

“Son of bitch!” Andy screamed.

“Sorry to scare you.” I apologized.

“What in the hell are you doing in here?” He asked me.

“I needed some peace and quiet.” I admitted.

“Oh, Bella.” He sighed, shaking his head.

He went over to me, extended his hand, and helped me up to my feet.

“Thanks.” I grunted softly, stretching my sore muscles.

“Come on, go grab yourself some dinner. Tyler left a plate in the kitchen for you.” Andy told me.

“What time even is it?” I wondered.

“7pm. You’re going to want to get to bed early though, for your sake tomorrow.” He answered.

“How fucked am I?” I whispered.

“It’s just Chris tomorrow, just play by the rules and you’ll be perfectly fine.” He assured me.

“Just Chris? Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I asked him.

“It could be just TJ, or just Ashley, or just me.” He chuckled.

“Alright, I get your point.” I conceded.

“Perfect. I’ll let you eat in peace, and I’ll see you sometime later, alright?” Andy stated, pulling me in for a quick and unexpected hug.

I didn’t return the gesture, nor did I pull away from it.

He left, and I sat down to quickly eat and then retire back to my bedroom.

A million things started to rush through my head again, but I had to just keep pushing them out over and over again. What good was it to get myself worked up?

Once I finished my dinner, I got up, did the few dishes that I had dirtied, and got ready to head back to the building with everyone’s bedrooms.

“Bella!” Someone called to me, down the hall.

I turned around and saw Chris jogging towards me. Great.

“What’s up?” I wondered.

“I just wanted to catch you before you went to bed. I need you in my office at 5 tomorrow morning alright? You can still sleep in the other house if you please, but I’d be safer and sleep in your room here to make sure you’re on time.” Chris stated.

My stomach churned, and reality came more clear than ever. This really was happening.

Words were having a very tough time forming and escaping my mouth, which left me only able to give him an affirmative nod.

“Don’t be afraid.” He cooed, stepping forwards and placing a hand gently on my cheek.

“I’ll be there at 5.” I whispered, stepping away from his cold touch.

“Good Girl.” He smiled.

I took that as my cue to leave. I all but ran out of the house, and sprinted to my room in the other building.

I took deep breaths, and reminded myself that worrying was going to get me nowhere.

I just had to go with whatever punches life was about to give me.

Notes

Oh dear, this is just what Bella had feared...what in the world is Chris going to be up to?

Do they have a solid enough plan to break Bella?

Is there a chance she's already broken?