Don't Steele My Heart Chapter Four

“Okay class, welcome back. I hope everyone had a pleasant summer vacation. I've had most of you last year, and I've heard we have a new student this year” the teacher walked in and wrote his name on the chalk board, Rick Graves.
“For those of you who don't know, my name is Rick Graves. You can call me Rick or Graves. Mr. Graves was my dad so please refrain from calling me that” he said and a couple of the kids giggled
Mackenzie was standing next to the desk, and looking around the room at the artwork on the walls. When Graves gestured for her to introduce herself she stepped forward, “Hi, my name is Mackenzie Henson, uh I mean Steele.” she forgot they had changed her name on all the paperwork, “and I just moved here from Orlando, Florida.”
“Thank you Ms. Steele, please take a seat and we will get started by painting whatever pleases you. I need to see what you all are at in your skill level and what you prefer to use when you create art” Rick showed them the supplies in the room and let them at it, walking around the room to observe
“Psst! Mackenzie!” someone whispered behind her and when she turned she was surprised by who she saw
“Aaron, I didn't know you went here.” She was really glad to have someone she knew in at least one class
“You didn't exactly ask either haha” he started laughing as he moved his stuff to sit next to her, “did those new paints work for your landscape?” he asked, continuing to draw an outline that resembled a face
“Oh actually I never got to that part, I've only been trying to sketch so I can decide what to paint and what I'm thinking of leaving out.” she said, embarrassed by her original reaction to seeing him, she brushed the hair from her face and grabbed her pencil brush and started drawing  
“So did you forget your undercover name or something?” he asked, with humor in his voice
“Oh yeah that, great first impression right?” she looked over at him, “its sort of a long story but my last name recently got changed and it is still new to me” she smiled at him then continued painting
“No I get it, being the wife of Lucas Steele isn't exactly something you want to just blurt out any time someone asks you to introduce yourself” he laughed at her face, “yeah I think everyone at this school knows who you are, being the first new student here that we haven't heard of from their family name you know what I mean?” he had paused his drawing
“Yes, Mr. Waters, everyone knows who Ms. Steele is and I don't mind talking but you have to be working so pick that pencil back up if you would good sir” Rick said coming up behind him, making him jump
“Yes Sir, sorry.” he laughed it off and continued to draw
“Anyway, I promise to bring in my masterpiece once I finish it so you can see and tell me yourself if the paints helped to create what I envisioned” Mackenzie said, touching him on the arm
“Sounds like a plan” Aaron said smiling, and then it was a comfortable silence for the rest of the class, with a little comment here and there
“Alright class,” Rick stood at the front of the class and got everyone's attention, “now I want you to turn to the person next to you, and show what you have so far”
“Okay,” Aaron said, turning to her, his canvas had been turned away from her so she couldn't see what he was working on, “let's see yours first”
“Alright, well I wanted to to show my feelings the first time I saw my new home.” She turned the canvas so he could see it. It was the Steele Mansion, the edges had a smudged look and some of the lines had been left out on purpose, and the door was the most prominent thing on the drawing.
“Very good Mackenzie, I can sense how nervous and timid you were the first time you saw the building,” Rick walked up behind her, “I love the way you smudged some lines and left some out, shows how there are still things unclear or even missing from what you know about what is now your new life. Good Job, A+” he said as he walked to check Aaron's canvas
“Wow, have you shown this to her yet?” Rick asked him, Aaron shook his head, “well go ahead and do that now, I wanna know why you drew what you drew.”
Aaron turned the canvas around to show Mackenzie and she gasped, it was a portrait of her, drawing just as she was in class. He had been drawing her the whole time she was doing her work.
“I remember when you first walked into the paint store the day I first met you, how unsure you looked but you had a mission and you were so determined to find just the right stuff to make what you had envisioned done. And then I decided that after watching your expression while you were drawing this whole time that you don't get to see how you look when you are working. You had a calmness about you, like you had found a way to tap into your own soul and that's what was drawing. Your soul. And I felt like that part of you needed to be captured.” Aaron explained, blushing red and trying not to make eye contact
“Aaron this is very good, I love your reasoning and I do believe that you have captured a rare and beautiful moment,” Rick said as he watched Mackenzie look at the drawing, “a true artist at work.”
Mackenzie looked up at him and smiled, “art is the one thing that made sense to me. The colors and lines and lights and darks. It was the one thing in my life that I could count on. It was always there.” She said, as she reached out and lightly touched the cheek of the girl in the portrait, “this is really amazing Aaron. Thank you.” She smiled at him
“Okay class,” as the bell rang, “I'll see you all tomorrow, if your pieces aren't finished, finish them up tonight and the final products will be posted in the lunch room for the rest of the student body to see in a couple weeks” Rick said, then dismissed the class
Mackenzie and Aaron walked out of class together and met up with Monica at the end of the hall, “Hey, Monica this is Aaron. I don't know if you two know each other or not”
“No I don't think we've ever really met, Aaron Waters” Aaron held out his hand to Monica, who took it
“Monica Erikson, nice to meet you. So you guys have art class together?” she asked, walking in step with them as the exited the building
“Yeah, and we met this weekend at the mall. The same day I met you and the other guys. Aaron works at the paint and art store at the mall” Mackenzie said, shifting her bag again
“Oh really? What's it like working at the mall?” Monica asked him
“It's alright, I love painting and art so it's sort of a dream come true. I'm hoping to go to art school after I graduate since my sister is taking over the family business” Aaron said, shrugging
“What family business?” Mackenzie asked, looking between Monica and Aaron
“Aaron's family owns the Waters Paint Company, the largest manufacturers of paint and paint related products in the United States.” Monica said, matter-of-factly, “sorry, I make it a point to know all of the kids from major companies” she said laughing
“Yeah, that's my dad's business, I just work at a paint shop he owns and plan on going to art school. My sister is more business savvy than I am anyway.” Aaron said looking at Mackenzie
“Wow, and here I am just married into all this. Makes me feel kind of like an outsider” Mackenzie said, looking at the ground as they neared the gym
“Don't worry about it girl, if your married into it, you are basically a part of it” Monica said, “Hey Lucas, how was gym?” she asked as they neared to where he was standing
“It was gym, how was clothes design?” he asked, looking at Monica. Mackenzie and Aaron just catching up to them
“Same old, same old. Learned how to drape probably so the fabric doesn't get cut to short, you know that sort of thing.” Monica said, checking her hair in her hand mirror
Mackenzie and Aaron finally caught up to them, “hey Lucas, this is Aaron. He's in my art class.” the boys shook hands
“Lucas Steele, nice to meet you.” He said, looking between Mackenzie and Aaron and noticed how close they stood next to each other
“Nice to meet you too” Aaron said with a smile, completely unaware of the looks Lucas was giving him, “oh, I have to get to class. English is next and its quite a ways, so I'll see you tomorrow Mackenzie. Nice to meet both of you.” he said with a wave and was already walking to the English building
“Okay kids, my turn for gym. Catch up with you guys later” Monica said as she walked inside
“Alright, what's your next class?” Lucas asked, waiting for her to get her schedule out
“Umm, it is Algebra. Yuck, not my favorite subject” Mackenzie said, sticking her tongue out as they started walking to the math building
“I don't think math is anyone's favorite class, except Jake's.” he said laughing, then turned serious and glanced over at her “how was art?”
“It was great. I love the teacher Mr. Graves. He had us draw whatever we want so he could see what we liked to draw and what our skill levels were and then said to finish them tonight and they would get hung up in the lunch room for everyone to see” Mackenzie explained as they walked inside the math building together
“Sounds fun I guess” Lucas said, he didn't know anything about art, they walked to her classroom and stopped just outside “well guess what, I'm in this class with you.” he said with a roll of his eyes and he stuck out his tongue
“Well at least I won't have to suffer alone” she laughed and they walked into class and after some questions about their marriage were able to sit and learn algebra
The rest of her classes went much the same way, some questions then the class would get started. Lunch was a new thing for her, high class food like fish and steak but other than that it was just like any other school. At the last bell, Mackenzie made her way back to the parking lot to Lucas's car. She waited there for him since the car had been locked with the top up.
Lucas was surprised to see her leaned up against his car, headphones in her ears and she was picking music on her phone. She jumped when he suddenly appeared beside her. “Jeez, you scared the hell out of me” She took the headphones from her ears and put them in her purse
“Sorry, but you were in your own world.” Lucas unlocked the car and put the top down, putting his stuff in the backseat he waited for his friends to show up
Mackenzie put her stuff next to his and got in the passenger seat and started texting her mother, telling her about her first day of school.
“Hey guys, what's the after school plan?” Monica asked, walking up with Jake hand in hand
“Maybe we should go to the mall” Sophie suggested, glancing at Mackenzie who was sitting in the car
“Nah, we did that yesterday.” Chad shook his head, leaning against the back of Lucas's car
“What if we go to the beach?” Jake said, arm around Monica, holding her close and kissed her cheek
“Ooo, that sounds fun” Sophie and Monica said very excitedly
“I don't know, I'm kind of tired” Lucas said, arms crossed, glanced over at Mackenzie who had turned in her seat to watch them
“Come one dude, you love seeing the babes in their bikini's” Chad said, elbowing him and pointing to Monica and Sophie
“That sounds fun, but the beach is always packed” Lucas said
“What about the pool at the house?” Mackenzie asked, looking at Lucas, “you said it was a heated pool and that you always have extra bathing suits in the changing rooms for visitors”
Everyone looked at her and nodded, “Sounds like a plan!” Monica said, then they all got into their own vehicles and started towards the Steele house, with Lucas following behind
“Sorry, I didn't mean to volunteer your pool” Mackenzie said, feeling like she just saddled him with everyone at his house
“No it's fine. It is your home too.” Lucas said, one hand on the wheel and one hand on the shifter
Mackenzie continued texting her mother, telling about all the events of the day. Lucas was able to steal glances at her without her knowing. With the top down he could smell her shampoo, it was a cucumber melon scent mixed with a her perfume. It was an intoxicating smell, it smelled so good together. Lucas had to shake his head to clear his thoughts about grabbing her hair and smelling it.
When they finally arrived, everyone was already in their bathing suits at the pool, Lucas and Mackenzie had to go up and change. Lucas went into his closet and grabbed his swim trunks and after changing into them, he heard a knock on the door. “Come in” when he turned around he saw it was Sophie.
“Why aren't you downstairs with everyone else?” he asked, looking at her in that pale blue bikini he had come to know so well
“I wanted to be alone with you.” Sophie walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his bare chest
“Sophie, I can't” he said, grabbing her arms to remove them from around him
“Why not? It's not like you love her, or that you've even slept with her. Everyone is busy, can't we foul around a little?” She asked, standing on her toes she kissed him on the lips
“Sophie” he said against her lips, then put his hands in her hair and kissed her again
She led him back to his bed to which he tossed her onto it and got on top of her and started kissing her again. As he kissed her neck and between her breasts he suddenly got a thought. Mackenzie smiling at him in the car this morning. The banter about driving a stick. The smell of her hair. Lucas stopped and sat on the edge of the bed.
“What's wrong?” Sophie asked, kneeling down behind him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders
“I can't do this Soph, I'm married now,” he said as he got off the bed and began to pace the room, “whether I like it or not she is my wife and I can't do this to her.”
“Wait a minute,” Sophie began as she climbed off the bed and walked up to him, “you mean to tell me that because of this stupid arranged marriage we broke up and just because there is a ring on your finger you can't be with anyone else? What are you going to do for the rest of your life? Not have sex? You and I both know you won't be able to do that. What, you expect her to not have sex with anyone else either?” Sophie started to get angry, and paced back and forth, “I don't care about her, that girl is not for you. I am the one for you. If it weren't for her we would still be together right now and probably still on that bed with little to no clothes on.”
“I know Sophie,” Lucas started, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking at her, “I still care about you but I can't just ignore the fact that this girl has come here and married me and left her whole life behind for me. I won't be that type of man to take that for granted.” He said, letting go of her shoulders and walking out of the room
Sophie stood there completely shocked, how could he do this to me? I've given him everything. I've taught him everything he knows about girls. How can he just write me off because of some girl who isn't even attractive? she muttered to herself, then remembering that Mackenzie slept in the room right next to Lucas's she decided to go over there
Knocking on her door Sophie waited, Mackenzie opened the door holding the straps to her bikini and was tying them. “Hey Sophie, what's up?” she asked
“I need to talk to you” Sophie said, walking into the room and shutting the door behind her
“About what?” Mackenzie finished tying her bikini and sat at her vanity and watched as Sophie paced the room, “is something wrong?”
“Damn right something is wrong. Did you know Lucas and I were together before you came along?” Sophie asked, pointing a finger in her face
“No, I didn't know anything about Lucas, not even what he looked like until I showed up here.” Mackenzie said, watching her as her face got redder and redder
“I think you should just go. Leave this house and never come back. Give up this marriage and leave Lucas and his family alone. Lucas doesn't want you here and neither do I.” Sophie said, going to look out the window
“I'm sorry but I didn't come here to make him miserable. I didn't have a choice in the matter. I was just doing what my parents and Mr. Steele agreed upon. I didn't have any expectations on the matter. If you and Lucas want to be together that is your business but leave me out of it. But I'm not going to give up being his wife because you want me to. If he or his dad want me to leave then I will leave, but I'm not going to let some snotty rich girl blame me for something I didn't do.” Mackenzie left and went down to the pool with her book and towel, leaving Sophie in her room
“Hey sexy, I love that bathing suit” Chad hollered from across the pool when he saw her come in
“Give it a rest dude” Lucas said, splashing water on him from his spot in the inner tube
“Hey where's Sophie?” Monica asked, sitting on top of Jake's shoulders
“I have no idea” Mackenzie said, sitting down on top of her towel and started reading her book, just then Sophie came in with a smile on her face and jumped in the pool and swam over to Lucas and hugged him
“Soph what are you doing?” Lucas asked, watching Mackenzie out of the corner of his eye
“Nothing, just fooling around. Hey, lets play chicken!” Sophie said, trying to get him out of the tube
“Yeah that sounds like fun” Chad said, getting into the pool and swimming over to the side Mackenzie was on, “you should definitely play”
“No thanks, I'm at a good part in my book. Plus I don't like to play chicken” Mackenzie said without looking up  
“Fine, I guess couples then” Sophie said, after finally convincing Lucas to let her get on his shoulders
“Okay Chad, you are the referee” Jake said, making sure Monica was seated securely then put his hands up to hold her legs
“Okay fine, ready, set, go!” Chad yelled, sitting on the edge of the pool so he would be out of the way
Mackenzie watched them play, keeping most of her attention on Lucas and Sophie, a few times Sophie would run her hands though his hair and play with his ears and even rub his back. Mackenzie started to think that just maybe she should leave and never come back. Its not like he is ever going to want you like he wants her. She thought to herself. Then they got exhausted and got out of the pool and came over to sit around her, Martha had brought in food earlier for them.
“Maybe next round you should play Mackenzie” Sophie said, taking a drink from her soda
“No thanks, I'm not really in the mood for swimming” she answered, giving her a sickly sweet smile. Martha came in just and walked up to them.
“Mackenzie, your mother is on the phone. Sorry I can't switch it to a portable but you can talk to her in the kitchen” Martha said smiling at everyone
“Oh Okay, guess I'll be back then” Mackenzie got up and walked away, not knowing there was a quite a few eyes checking out her backside



Martha walked with her for a way until they were completely out of everyone's ear shot, “Mackenzie, I lied. Your mom isn't really on the phone.” after Mackenzie stopped and looked at her as she continued, “truth is, I went into your room to collect your laundry and it appears something happened to your stuff.” Martha brought her upstairs to show her.
Her room was completely messed up. The paint she had bought was all over her bed, walls, carpet, vanity, clothes, and the drapes had been torn from the windows and her perfume bottle had been smashed on the floor. And the toilet had been stuffed with paper and was over flowing and the shower was running and there was water all over her floor. Mackenzie stood in the middle of her room and covered her mouth, tears starting to stream down her face.
“It's okay dear, we can clean this up for you. And I'm sure the paint will come out of everything.” Martha walked over and hugged her close
“Sophie,” Mackenzie was crying so hard so couldn't breathe, “did this.”
“Sophie? Why would she do this to you?” Martha asked, making her sit on the vanity stool, the one spot in the room that wasn't covered.
“She said.....I made them break.....up. That.......I should just......go away and........leave them alone, then I.......went downstairs and…...left her in here alone” Mackenzie continued to cry and look around the room in despair
“You look at me.” Martha shook her until she  finally looked at her, “ I don't care what Sophie said, you belong here. We all love you sweetie. The young master cares for you, I know he does. This is your home and I will not allow you to be treated this way.” Martha said, marching from the room, determination in her step
“No Martha don't!” Mackenzie raced after her but it didn't help, Martha threw those doors open and walked right up to Lucas and slapped him
“What the hell Martha!” he rubbed his face, glaring at her then noticed Mackenzie come in, tears streaming down her face, having calming down a little
“I want you to come with me Mr.” Martha grabbed him by the arm, and gently pushed Mackenzie back up to her room where she showed Lucas what had happened
“How did this happen?” he asked, looking from Martha to Mackenzie, who stood in the doorway covering her mouth and crying
“Apparently you have some unfinished business that has hurt your wife” Martha said, one hand on her hip, the other gesturing to the mess in the room
Lucas walked over to Mackenzie, “who did this?” she only shook her head and cried harder, he looked back at Martha then gently took her by the arm and brought her to his room and sat her on his bed
“Hey, Shh, it's okay. I'm going to take care of this. Calm down.” he said, brushing her hair from her face and wiping some of her tears that only got replaced by more, “stay here, don't go anywhere until I come get you.” when she nodded her understanding he went back into her room
“Martha, who did this?” he asked, touching the paint on the bed, it was still wet
“She said it was Sophie. Apparently she came in and told her to leave and that she was the reason you and she broke up and that she should just leave. Then Mackenzie went downstairs, I'm assuming she said something back to her then I came in here to check for laundry and I found it like this.” Martha said, going in and turning the shower off
“We had a fight just a little before this must of happened. This is my fault. Martha,” he turned and looked at her, phone in hand already dialing, “will you tell my friends that they need to leave and I will see them tomorrow. I need to fix this.” he was already on the phone before Martha even left the room
After numerous calls, and repair people coming in the room was almost finished being clean, the clothes and the drapes and bed sheets where being washed and Lucas had made a call to the perfume shop in the mall about the shattered bottle and they were going to bring a new bottle over right away. Then came Lucas's last call, he asked Martha to make sure the cleaners got all of the paint. Then he dialed.
“Waters Paint Shop, where we have everything you need for every project, this is Aaron how can I help you?” Aaron rambled off his required phone pitch
“Hey Aaron, its Lucas. I need a huge favor. It's for Mackenzie.” he said, waiting for a reply
“Anything. What do you need?” Aaron asked without a second thought. Lucas told him what happened and asked if he knew what she had bought and Aaron said he did, and he would bring over a replacement for everything that she had bought. All on him. With that he hung up.
Lucas took a deep breathe and went back into her room to check the progress. Martha was hanging up the clean drapes. Lucas went over to help her. “I think what you are doing is great.” Martha said, causing him to pause, “I think she is going to really appreciate all this. You should have seen her face when I first showed her the room. It was like her heart had been ripped out of her chest.” Martha said, smiling faintly at him then continued to hang up the drapes
“Lucas” hearing his name cause him to look at the door, it was Aaron. Finishing hanging up the drapes, he climbed off the ladder and met him in the hallway
“Thank you so much, you are a life saver.” Lucas said taking the bags and looking in them, “I appreciate this really, you have no idea what she looked like when she saw what happened. I can't even begin to describe it.” Lucas said, leaning against the wall, then reaching in his pocket he tried to hand Aaron money
“No, thanks.” he put up his hands, and shook his head
“You can't just take the stuff, your dad will be furious.” Lucas said, trying to give him the money again
“I took care of it myself. I may not have known her very long but she is very special and I would do anything for her. Plus I know how much she wants to make her landscape exactly how she imagined it. And if I can help her do that by replacing what Sophie used to maliciously hurt her then I have done my job as her friend.” he stood there, looking into her room, which was just being finished being cleaned
“I know this is none of my business,” Aaron started, looking at Lucas, “but I hope you aren't going to let Sophie get away with this.”
“I never planned on letting her.” Lucas said, thinking to himself that he has no idea how he is going to punish her for what she did
“I hope you don't bring the police involved.” Aaron said, glancing at him, “because you know that her dad will just pay the fees and she would get off with a slap on the wrist. I want her to really pay for this.”
“So do I” Lucas said, looking back at him, they then said their good byes and Lucas paid the cleaners and made sure the room was exactly how it was supposed to be, then went to his room to get Mackenzie.
He opened his door and walked over to his bed and saw that she had crawled under his blankets and from the tear streaks down her face, had cried herself to sleep. He didn't want to wake her so he left, closing the door lightly behind him. He found Martha down in the kitchen, “She fell asleep so I'm going to let her sleep there for the night. It's late anyway. Can you tell me where the extra sheets are? I'm going to sleep in one of the guest rooms for the night.” After getting the sheets he went upstairs and went to bed.
Martha looked over at Edna, who was removing her apron and preparing to go to bed as well. “It was a really remarkable thing he did for her today Edna.”
“I know, the young master has feelings for that girl, he just doesn't know it yet.” Edna said, smiling tiredly and leaving Martha to finish her duties and go to bed.


Mackenzie woke up to an unfamiliar beeping, looking up she saw the alarm clock and reached up to switch it off. Rubbing her eyes, she propped up on her elbow and realized she had fallen asleep in Lucas's room. But where is Lucas? She asked herself. She got out of bed, stretched and figured she might as well go and see if she could scavenge anything out of that disaster zone that was her room
When she opened her door, she burst into tears. Her room was perfect. Clean and untouched. Like nothing ever happened. Flowers by her bedside, the drapes were clean and open letting the gorgeous sunshine in and brightening her room up. On her vanity was her perfume bottle, she could tell it was a new bottle since her old one was only half full. She looked in her walk in closet and all of her clothes were clean and hanging up. She grabbed her clothes for the day and got dressed quickly and grabbed her purse, finally noticing that her bag with her paints was by her vanity completely untouched. He must have gone out and replaced what Sophie had used. She thought to herself.
She went down to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast, she found Martha in the kitchen, baking a pie. “Hey Martha, have you see Lucas?”
“He spent the night in one of the guest rooms. You were asleep when he went in to check on you after everything was done. He called everyone. He got the perfume place to bring over another bottle and he called Aaron about your paints. He was furious about what happened.” Martha said, sitting down next to her
“I can't believe he did all that for me” Mackenzie said, picking at her muffin
“He did, I don't know what he's going to do about her though.” Martha said, getting up when Lucas came in
“I went in my room to get my clothes and I noticed that you were up. I assume since you are dressed that you've been into your room.” Lucas said, walking over to the counter and grabbed a chocolate chip muffin
“Yes, and thank you so much for everything you did.” Mackenzie got up and gave him a hug, after a minute he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her
“Well, we are going to be late if we don't head out now” Lucas said, and Mackenzie said good bye and followed him out to his car
Getting in the passenger seat, she checked her phone and texted her mom back, as Lucas started the engine he turned to her, “Don't worry about Sophie. I'm going to take care of it, okay?”
Startled, she looked and him, then finally she said, “okay, I won't say or do anything.”
“I've been dealing with her drama for too long,” Lucas started as he pulled out of the front gate onto the street, “she has her temper tantrums and there are times where she took it too far. Like yesterday. What did you say back to her by the way?” Lucas asked, glancing over at her
She turned her body to face his, “I told her I was sorry but I didn't come here to make you miserable. I didn't have a choice in the matter. I was just doing what my parents and your dad agreed upon. I didn't have any expectations on the matter. If she and you want to be together that is your business but to leave me out of it. But I'm not going to give up being your wife because she wanted me to. If you or your dad want me to leave then I will leave, but I'm not going to let some snotty rich girl blame me for something I didn't do.” Mackenzie said exactly what she had told Sophie, she wasn't going to sugar coat anything
“Wow, I don't think she's ever heard anyone have the guts to stand up to her like you did. She doesn't take rejection well and it wasn't just what you said that must of pissed her off. I said some things to her that may have had something to do with why she confronted you.” Lucas said, completely focusing on the road
“Well, what happened? What did you say?” Mackenzie asked, and after he didn't answer she poked him
“Well she came into my room, and said she wanted to be alone with me,” he paused and glanced at her
“You can tell me everything, I'm not going to get mad” She said, patiently waiting for him to continue
“Okay, she kissed me and I hesitated, then I kissed her back. Before I knew it were were on my bed and I was kissing her neck and moving down,” he glanced at her and after a hand wave to go on, “as I was kissing her I suddenly got this flashback....of yesterday morning, on our way to school. Of you smiling and laughing about the whole driving a stick thing and I remembered the smell of your shampoo,” he paused and took another deep breathe, “when I stopped and sat on the edge of the bed and told her I couldn't do it she got mad. I told her I couldn't betray you like that. We were married and I wasn't going to take for granted that you came here and married me more for my benefit than yours. I told her I couldn't. She got mad and started asking if I was ever going to be with someone else while I was married to you. And she said that “you think she's not going to sleep with anyone else while married to you?” but I still couldn't do it. Then I left. That's when she must have gone to your room.” He stopped and waited, he waited for her to yell or scream
“Well, we never really did discuss that.” She started
“Discuss what?” He asked, turning his head to look at her then back at the road
“Whether we would see other people while we were married, because fact it this isn't a normal marriage and we don't sleep in the same bed or anything” She pondered this, then Aaron's face popped into her head
“Its a valid discussion. Because before all this Sophie and I were together, even after I went to military school, I would visit her and she would visit me. But I won't get back with her after what she did to you.” Lucas said, tightening his grip on the wheel just thinking of what she did pissed him off
“If being with Sophie makes you happy I won't object. As long as you are happy. So, should we say we can be with other people? As long as it doesn't mess with our marriage status it shouldn't matter right?” Mackenzie said, looking at him
“I guess that could work, if anyone asks, we have an open marriage” Lucas said and started to laugh
“If its okay with you then its okay with me” Mackenzie said, holding out her hand, Lucas gave her his hand they shook on it as they pulled into the school parking lot