Desire Ch. 1 - Packing

[itztigress3]

Chapter  1 - Packing
POV: Zac
Word Count: 2935

Disclaimer: Not a major one other than the usual I am not affliliated or associated with Hanson or anyone in their family/friends. Also, there is alternative universe aspects to this story. I tried to maintain as close to real Hanson timeline as possible but sometimes that is simply not possible and maintain my ideas, so AU for that aspects! Also, AU for things like social media. Instagram did not come out until like 2010 and this story is set in 09'. So, little AU there. Otherwise - enjoy!!!!!

March 21, 2009; Saturday

Our bedroom was a complete mess and trying to find anything was virtually impossible. We had only been living together only four months, most of that time was spent with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then New Years was another big holiday. While we had taken January to unpack, we really got nothing done at all. Added, it was now almost April and we still had not completely unpacked but that was due to various factors.

“Emily, do you have any idea where my brown belt is?”

“There is one I put up earlier, could have been that one.”

She walked to the closet, a very large one now since we renovated and returned with a brown belt, the exact one I was hunting. She handed it to me and I rolled it up and laid it with the pants it would be worn with.

“When is your flight?”

She paused and looked panicked. “Four I think…Craig is picking me up. When are you meeting Taylor and Isaac?”

“There coming here and should be here by three.”

Taylor, Isaac, and I were on our way to Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas for the annual Fool’s Banquet song writing event. However, Emily was spending the week in Georgia, she would be helping Christina finalize and plan her wedding to George.  It would be the first time that she and I would be apart since my divorce was finalized last March. I was nervous for her being alone in Georgia without me. She was staying with Aaron and would be with Christina and Amanda the whole time, but it didn’t settle my nerves.

She went back to packing her own suitcases, carefully selecting cloths that matched, fit well, and then she would methodically fold them together and put them in the suitcases. I had watched her pack up most of the apartment when her lease ran out in May of last year. She was methodical, careful, and organized. I was there mostly to help move the boxes and because there was no other way she could be in the apartment without a panic attack. Apparently, I was the only person on the planet that made her feel safe enough to be inside the apartment. I would be lying if I said that didn’t inflate my ego at all.

“Baby, if you don’t stop watching me you’ll never get packed.”

“I love watching you though.”

“I know you do, but when they show up packed and ready, you will be scrambling and end up leaving behind most of what you need. Like socks and underwear, as you have not packed any of those.”

I looked down at the suitcase and sure enough, neither was present. I walked over the drawer and grabbed a handful of each and tossed them into the suitcase. She giggled and walked to me, her hands slid across my sides and locked behind me against my lower back.

“Baby, it’s only seven days. We spent three months ignoring each other and before that it was four years, I am sure we can both live a week without each other. A week will not kill us.”

I frowned down at her. “I know it was four years and three months but baby you were hurt badly in that time. I was not there to stop them or help you. I do not like that you’re going alone without me.”

She kissed me, lavender and vanilla scents filled my nostrils and I relaxed some. They were my favorite scents still.

“I am staying with Aaron; Christina will be with me most of the time except the two days Amanda is with me. They assured me that Dad will not be around while I am there. I will even be home before you. Meanwhile, I have no idea who you will be with this week. What if they hurt you?”

I kissed her forehead. “You’ve heard of a few of them. Casey, Jacob, Kent, and Alex will be there for sure and you have briefly met them all. Taylor sent out the invites and he sent them to I think 25 people or something, only those confirmed but others could show up. They’re not going to hurt me Emily.”

She tightened her hug. “They could. You could argue with them and get knocked out. I’m sure Ike wanted too last week.”

“Oh he did, but I won’t irritate anyone of them.”

She smiled and looked around. “We really have to unpack when we get back. No more excuses.”

I looked around at the boxes scattered everywhere, not much had really gotten unpacked in January, mostly just cloths and a few odd and ends. The walls were still bare, tables had nothing on them, the kitchen was a disaster zone officially declared by Isaac last week, and at this point the two spare rooms were just dozens of boxes. Neither of us had realized we had so much stuff until we moved.


“It’s not my fault breaking the bed in was far more important than unpacking plates.”

She smiled. “But um...I can’t keep washing the sheets and putting them back on. We hosted Thanksgiving with paper plates and cups because we couldn’t find anything else. You are lucky I didn’t buy a paddle and wear your butt out when you volunteered to host it.”

I kissed her forehead. “So, maybe that was my whole intention?”

Her hands moved and landed on both sides of my ass at the same time. “We need to get unpacked and settled.”

“Ok! Ok! When we get home we will focus less on breaking the bed in and more on unpacking. Although, we should continue to break in rooms like the kitchen, the den, the hallways…”

She giggled and for several moments just rubbed my ass before she pulled away to finish packing. I watched her for a few moments before finishing my own bags. We took them down stairs when we were done and I managed to get her pinned in the hallway and was about to work on breaking in the hallway when the doorbell rang. They had arrived two hours early, sometimes their timing sucked totally. She let them in while I composed myself in our bedroom and as soon as I was downstairs Isaac looked at me.

“You still haven’t unpacked everything?” Isaac asked.

“Sue me, we’ve been busy.”

“You took the whole month of January to unpack.” Isaac said.

“We unpacked some stuff.”

Craig laughed. “I got the feeling they spent most of that time unpacking each other. But seriously, you two need to unpack soon because this place looks empty.”

“We can’t unpack each other Craig, we can only undress. We actually did get a lot done in January; I mean really we had three suits each for most of the end of December. So, we unpacked the required items.” Emily said.

“Exactly.” I said.

The three of them looked at me and rolled their eyes.

“Are you both ready to go?” Craig asked.

“I am. I have everything I need.” Emily said.

“I am.”

We loaded the bags into the car and I kissed her many times before watching Craig drive off with her. I hated this feeling, being without her and not being close enough to help if it was needed.

“Are you ok?” Taylor asked.

“Yeah. As she said, we’ve been apart before and this won’t be the last time either. I mean, I can’t expect her to always be with us.”

Taylor smiled. “It really doesn’t get better Zac; it’s like leaving a piece of you behind. We completely understand this feeling.”

I smiled at him. “I know, but I also have that whole fear she’ll be hurt. The last time we were apart, she was raped and beaten. She’s going home to be with her brothers but I also know her father is there. Taylor, you heard what George said last year.”

He frowned at me. “I did hear what he said Zac, but I also heard him tell her that all five of them would kill their father if he hurt her like that. Besides, if it is true then Emily is way beyond his preference age. She isn’t going to be alone Zac, you have your phone and she has hers, I am sure you will talk to her daily and you can text all the time.”

“Yeah, I told her yesterday I was calling before bed, when she got up, and maybe every hour.”

He laughed. “Every hour might be excessive. You will survive Zac. Once we get there and the groups get to writing together it should be easier.”

“I hope so.”

Our flight to El Paso and the drive to the ranch itself were eventless; I took some pictures of the landscape to send to Emily. We were the first to arrive, we always were. We spent a few hours getting our items inside and into our own rooms, Taylor and Isaac were sharing this time and I had my own room. Isaac and I went to the store and got basic stuff and then put that up. Taylor had greeted the few that had arrived while we were gone and we said heys when we got back. Having the others guys there to joke with and listen too helped. So the first full day was OK, I missed her like hell though and especially that night.

The second day I was in the kitchen getting a bottle of water when I heard her high pitched voice squeal my name and I groaned about the time her arms wrapped around my waist.

“Zaccy!!!”

I pried her hands out from around me. “Hi Gabby.”

“Oh my god! I am so glad you are here! We were worried that you wouldn’t show up.”

“I’m kind of required to be here as we’re hosting.”

“It’s still nice to see you honey.”

Hearing her call me honey felt wrong on so many different levels so I turned to her.


“Please, do not call me honey. Zac is fine.”

She looked at me confused for a moment. “Ok, how are you? I heard about your divorce.”

“I’m fine, really.” I wished I could tell her about Emily, how happy she makes me. But, we did agree it was better not to say just yet.

Julie was the next person who squealed my name and almost knocked me down when she jumped into my arms. Jacob just stared at me as I tried my best not to let her simply fall to the floor but also not touch her at all.

“God you’ve changed! Your hair is longer and nice jeans.”

“Thank you.”  I wouldn’t tell her Emily had bought these for me and the reason I had them on, was it reminded me of her, because she liked when I wore them and her hands often didn’t stay to themselves.

Taylor greeted them both and I shot him evil looks because he had to have invited them. He smiled at me and walked back toward his group, I swear he did this on purpose. I did not want to deal with these two. Gabby pulled Julie in and stuck me in the middle between them to take a picture.

“Come on Zaccy, smile!” Julie said.

I gave them a forced smile, just to get them to leave me alone. I saw Casey grin from the corner of the room as I wiggled my way out from around them. I sat down at the counter between Casey and Alex; it prevented them from flanking me but not from sitting across from me.

Julie and Gabby had been to several of the writing trips we have taken, both ones we hosted and ones others hosted. Don’t get me wrong, both of them were not bad looking women. But, I had witnessed their behavior over the last few years and they were not relationship material. They had both tried to get Taylor and Isaac into bed with them on different occasions, both had declined because their wives were their heart, soul, and reason for living most the times. I had seen them try with other men, some of them fell and some did not. Casey had denied them both more than once.

So, why would I personally dislike them to the point of wanting to hide in my room? Because, while they went after other men individually; they both would come on to me at the same time. The first time they came on to me I was married to Kate and unwilling to cheat on her despite the problems. I had politely turned them down, giving them the same reasons Taylor and Isaac had given. They backed off for a whole two days, before trying again. Julie went as far as to try and undo my pants that time; I had bolted and locked myself in the room the rest of the night. The third time they tried I told them there was no chance in hell I was going to be sleeping with either of them and they needed to leave me alone. They did, until last year because we did Fool’s Banquet in January and by then news had spread of the divorce, twice they tried, twice I rejected and told them to leave me alone.

Now, here I was dealing with them again. I had asked Taylor months ago not to send invites to either of them this year to pick other people, evidently he didn’t listen. I knew neither of them would maintain privacy and they often bragged a lot about who they’d been with or shared pictures of the porn variety. They had not even been here 15 minutes and they had already chosen me apparently. Julie came around and went to put her arms around me and I stopped her. Listened to her questions about how I was after the divorce, if I was putting myself out there yet, and if I was happy. Evidently I bored her quickly with simple answers and both of them declared they were going to greet the other participants before settling in their room. They left the room and then Alex turned to me.

“Damn Zac, I need to borrow those pants.” Alex said.

“Um, why?”

“Well, if they attracted them both that quickly, I am all for another round with either of them. Dude, you’ve been divorce a year now, I am sure you could use some form of release, if you catch my drift.”

He winked at me and I understood his meaning, but I didn’t say anything, instead finished my drink.

“Alex, you are talking to the king of prude here, guaranteed he won’t take either of them up on any offer.” Casey said.

I looked at him offended. “I am not a prude.”

He smiled. “Yes, you are. I mean really, Alex has known you since you were 14 and I met you when you were 16. You’ve asked us some questions when you were a teenager and before you got married, mostly stupid shit to get us off your back. But, you never really talk about it.”

I could already feel the heat in my face. “It’s not important to me.”

He patted my back. “You are a prude, but we love you anyway.”

Other’s came into the room and Julie and Gabby were among several men already flirting and touching. I was positive that over the next 6 days they would have sex with at least two of the men present either individually or even together. Casey had told me last year that Kent had actually slept with them both at the same time. But, even thought they were standing around other men, they were watching me. I was their focus again. Sadly, I would be disappointing them.

Why? Emily. I loved her with every fiber of my being and I would not want to hurt her. I also knew what would happen if I was stupid enough to have sex with one of them, Emily would walk away from me and she would not come back. There would be no excuses, no apologies; nothing would bring her back to me. Sure, there were other trivial reasons like they did nothing for me and I didn’t do one night stands, but Emily would always be the number one reason why I would not stray with them or anyone else. I loved her and losing her would be…indescribable.

Just thinking about her walking away made my chest ache and I excused myself from the room and went to my own bedroom. I made sure the door was locked and then I sat on the bed staring at her picture on my phone, taken last week, until I was sure that her plane had landed and that she and Aaron were at his house. Then, I called her and prayed she answered, but I didn’t need to pray, she would always answer for me.

“Baby, you couldn’t even make it 12 hours without calling?”

“No. I could not.” Just hearing her voice, knowing she was OK was enough to settle my nerves.

“Well, don’t feel bad about that, I was just fixing to call you as well.”

Ok, that sentence alone made me feel so much better. I talked another 15 minutes before hanging up. I loved Emily; I would do anything in the world she asked. The week would fly by knowing that I would be back in her arms soon.