Done Being Friends (19 page)

He could feel Faith take in a jagged breath in his arms. “Don’t run from me Faith. Listen to me, please.”

Faith kept quiet, and Zac took her silence as consent. Not wanting any of the housekeepers to come in between their conversations, he stepped into her room and closed the door behind him.

Then taking her hands, Zac made her sit down on the couch. Throughout it all, Faith kept her eyes to the ground. Not once did she look up at Zac who had knelt in front of her.

“Your room is so much nicer than mine,” he commented, hoping to lighten the tension she was feeling.

“We can switch if you want,” Faith’s voice was barely audible.
 

“Faith,” Zac couldn’t stand the way Faith was behaving. Lifting her chin with his finger, he brought her gaze up to him. “Faith, I do not treat you like any other girl.”

Immediately, she looked away from his face again. Cupping his hands on her cheeks, he gently turned her face and waited for her eyes to return to him. “Faith, there has never been any other girl. I love you. I always had. I would have stepped up earlier, but Dylan...”
 

He let his voice trailed off, not knowing what to say about the whole Dylan situation.

“No, it was all me. I was a coward. I didn’t dare to tell Dylan that you mean more to me than anything in the world, and I kept stepping back to give him a chance. But that night at the hospital, when I saw you in his arms and I finally realized there was a real chance of losing you, my heart just broke into a million pieces.”

He paused, making sure that Faith was still with him, not lost in her thoughts.

“I turned and walked away, but after driving for hours, I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I cannot let you be with another man, Faith. That was when I decided to fight for you. I love you. I love you, Faith. I love you so very much.”

Faith only looked at him, not knowing what to say.
 

Zac looked at Faith and waited, patiently, for her to say something, but she continued to look at him without saying a word.
 

“Faith,” Zac said with uncertainty growing within him. For the past week that Zac had been with Faith, he thought for sure that she loved him too. He was confident that when he did find the perfect time to tell her his feelings, they would live the happily ever after, but every second of her silence doubled the uncertainty in him.

Closing his eyes, he placed her hands on her lap. He was about to stand and leave when Faith raised her hand and caressed his cheeks.
 

“Zac, I cannot make you happy. I’m such a boring person; you will never be happy with me.”

“Faith, my angel, my love, I
am
happy with you. You smiles brightened my day and a single hug from you make me want to conquer the world for you.”

Faith smiled then, and said softly, “I don’t need the world Zac, I already have what I need.”

Zac leaned in, slowly, making sure that he wasn’t scaring Faith, and giving her the chance to stop him if she had wanted to. When Faith closed her eyes, Zac kissed her. This time, he kissed her slowly, gently, letting the idea of him loving her sink into her. Then ending the kiss with a gentle peck on her lips and forehead, he held her shoulders. “I love you Faith, always have and always will. I’m sorry I took so long to step up.”

Pushing her hair behind her ears, he continued. He needed her to understand. “You know the family I grew up in, you know how my father was. I can never hurt you that way. I cannot endure the thought of us ending up like them.”

Faith considered his words. She did know that his father had slept with every woman who came along in his life and had never really viewed Zac’s mother as more than another piece of furniture in the house.
 

Each time his parents interacted, it always ended up in a screaming fiasco with both parties yelling at each other until one of them stomped away. Other than that, they would be be playing catch and mouse the whole day, except that no one was truly catching. At the rare times where their paths did cross, they would pass each other like strangers passing one another on the street.

When Zac was ten, his mother up and left without a word. Zac cried for days while his father reprimanded him for being a cry baby, giving him long lectures on how guys had no reasons to shed tears.
 

The lectures, of course, did nothing to sooth his feelings or tears. When Faith found out what had happened, she begged her mother to fetch him over to their house and let him stay with them. Her mother agreed and his father seemed more than happy to be relieved of him.
 

Though Faith’s mother could be pushy at times, Zac had never felt more loved than he had when he was in their home. Everyone in Faith’s house treated him like family.

The days stretched into weeks and months. His father never bothered to visit him except when he went to Faith’s house for the weekly poker match that her father held. Even then, Zac’s father barely spoke to him.

When Zac eventually went home, Faith’s grandmother had insisted on keeping his room the way it was so that he could stay over whenever he wanted. Faith’s father had smiled broadly, telling him that he would be missed, that he should keep the keys and to come back whenever he wanted.

Ever since the day his mother left, he had never heard from her. Zac had tried searching for her, and he knew that secretly, Faith had hired someone to do that for him. Still, both their efforts had failed terribly. His mother had simply disappeared, and she must have been determined never to go back to them.

Faith took his hand and ran her thumb across his knuckles. “That will never happen to us.”
 

“The thought of it was too much to bear. I will not be able to live with myself if I cause you to hate me. I love you. I want to hear your laughs and be the one receiving your smiles. I don’t ever want to be the one who make you cry or to break your heart.”

Faith shook her head at his silliness. “Zac, don’t be silly. You will never do anything to hurt me. You have always protected me, and I’m sure that no matter what happens, you will continue to do so. You are
not
your father.”

Lifting Faith’s hand, he laid gentle kisses on her knuckles. “Yes, I will protect you always. I love you, Faith.”

Faith smiled. “I have always loved you too, Zac.”

With that, Zac let out a sigh of relief and beamed like a child who had received the best Christmas present. “I was getting a little worried there.” He laughed and pulled her into his arms again.
 

“And yes, I know you’ll always choose me, even if I was being unreasonable. As would I,” Faith said.

Brushing her hair with his hand, he kissed her forehead and held her silently. There was nothing more to say then. He simply held her and felt his heart swell with so much joy he thought he wasn’t able to contain it. He was right; she loved him too.
 

“Zac, I won’t sleep with you.”

Her soft voice seemed to quiver as she spoke.
 

“Faith, I’m not going to force you. You are not a one night stand. I didn’t intend to force you into anything,” Zac said, amused at what Faith had just said.
 

“No Zac, I...” Faith bit her lips and looked down on the floor again, sighing softly.
 

“Faith, is something wrong?” He lifted her face; he couldn’t bear not looking at her face.
 

Sighing heavier this time, Faith cringed her eyes and spoke. “I’m not the kind of woman who sleeps around, I don’t...I never...I...” Then she bit her lips again.

Zac cocked his head to the side, trying to grasp what Faith was talking about, and then it hit him. “Faith, you have never slept with anyone? But I have seen you date...” His brows narrowed as she opened her eyes, again keeping her gaze on the floor.
 

“Date, yes. Sleep around, no.” By then, her face was flushed red, and she still didn’t dare to look at him.
 

“Love, you shouldn’t be embarrassed. Actually, I know it is completely old-fashioned, but I am ridiculously happy that it is so.” He lifted her chin up and kissed her.
 

“I guess you will not be breaking the date-yes-sleep-around-no rule for me?” Again, Zac had cocked his head to the side, but he was teasing her this time round.
 

“That’s right. That’s what I was trying to say.” Faith looked at him, observing his reaction.

“That there will be no sleeping around.”

“Yes.”

“Damn.”
 

Faith sighed and bit her lips again while Zac laughed. “Love, I was kidding. I don’t care. I won’t lie that I find you attractive, but I respect you and your decisions. I will wait.”
How hard could that be? We have known each other our whole lives, and I have managed to keep my hands off you till now.

Looking at Faith with the widest smile, he kissed her forehead and sat onto the couch with her. “And my love, unlike what you think, I don’t mess around with half the women that you see on the magazines and all. I barely know them, and I have never gone out with most of them. It’s just some garbage that the magazines run.”

Faith smiled. “You don’t need to explain. I trust you.”

“I know, but I want you to know. You never asked me about them, so I never explained. All those women, I assure you, meant nothing to me. I need you to know that.”
 

Faith nodded. “I believe you.”

“Goodnight my love,” Zac kissed her on her lips and stood up. “Sweet dreams, I will be dreaming of you.”
 

Then he gave her another quick peck simply because he couldn’t get enough of her before he walked out of her room.

Zac took his time to take the short stroll back to his room, reminiscing the sweet kiss he just had. His heart was still pounding with the joy of what had happened. The kiss that he had been dreaming of for so long had finally happened.
 

His smile broadened as he thought about Faith’s confession. She had never slept with anyone. Zac knew it was silly, and nobody really put a big deal about it anymore, but he was elated to hear the news, that she would be his and no one else’s.
 

Slamming onto his bed, he laughed. If he had known the joy he would have gotten from kissing Faith and telling her how much he loved her, he would have done it years before. He reprimanded himself in his thoughts, for being a coward for so long, allowing Dylan to manipulate his gratitude.

Dylan.

Zac hadn’t forgotten about Dylan being a total jerk to Faith just a few days before. He had kept his promise to Faith and stayed out of Dylan’s way. Angry as he was, he still couldn’t help but feel a little guilty toward Dylan.

How strongly could he have felt about her if he could just leave her to a mob of reporters on her own?

Right, there was no need to be guilty. If it were him, he would still have gotten Faith into the building safe and sound before crawling away to nurse his pain. He would have put Faith first, not his bruised ego.

Despite everything, Zac felt that he should be the one breaking the news to Dylan rather than letting some magazines do so. Faith and Zac had glossed a couple of magazines; after all, they had been inseparable for the past week. The photographs and news were nothing but made up rubbish, so he hadn’t bothered.
 

Now that things were different, he had to tell Dylan personally. It just wasn’t right to let him find out about it through another person, much less a gossip magazine.

Dread. Zac mused in his head an image of what would happen and he shook his head. Who knows, he might find it in his heart to feel happy for him. They were, after all, supposed to be best friends.
Get real.

Dylan would be angry; he definitely would be, but Zac had faced him once over the issue and he would do so again. Faith was worth it.

Just like that, Faith was back in his head and Dylan was pushed away to a corner of his mind, shelving it for later.
 

Chapter Eleven

Faith sat up in bed and closed her eyes to the rays of sunlight that had filtered in through her curtains. She was tossing in bed last night, thinking about the kiss she had shared with Zac, every single one of her thoughts was about him.
 

She had drifted to sleep with a smile on her face and was again smiling as she opened her eyes slowly, letting them get adjusted to the light.

She kept quiet, hoping to hear any noise from the hallway to let her know if Zac was awake and as eager to see her as she was to see him, but there wasn’t a single noise. Getting out of bed, Faith took extra effort in picking something to wear for work and putting on her make up. She couldn’t decide if she should go over to his room or simply wait for him in the kitchen.
 

As she opened her door, she gasped and stopped in her tracks. A bouquet of calla lilies laid on the floor. Amidst the flowers, a cream-colored card was slotted right in the middle.
 

She smiled blissfully as she picked up the flowers and opened the card.
 

Can’t wait to kiss you again.

Try as she might, she couldn’t wipe off the smile on her face. She placed it on the desk in her room before heading downstairs to the kitchen. She was sure that Zac would be waiting for her there.
 

When she entered the kitchen, Zac walked over and kissed her. He didn’t care about the audience of the maids and George. He placed his lips on hers and pulled her close into his arms. Kissing her slowly, knowing that all along, all their eyes were on them.
 

“Hope you liked the flowers,” Zac said, his voice deeper than usual.
 

Faith chuckled. “Yes, they are beautiful. Thanks.”

As Faith sat down, she knew that everyone was focused on trying to pretend that they were busy and had seen nothing. Faith would have felt embarrassed, but joy seemed to have invaded every single cell of her body, leaving none for embarrassment.