“You will?” I ask in surprise. I find that hard to believe after the way he’s been with me lately. Admittedly, he’s kind of redeemed himself after tonight though.
“Of course I will. Despite what you think, I do care about you, Angel,” he answers as he looks up, locking his eyes with mine. What he says surprises me. I wasn’t expecting him to say that. He seems sincere, and it fills me with happiness.
Maybe after tonight, things might be able to go back to the way they used to be. I can only hope. Minus the sex part of course. Even though it was wonderful, I’ll never walk that road with him again. Once bitten, so they say. I desperately want our friendship back.
Once my hand is cleaned up and my wrist bandaged, he looks up at me again. “How’s that feel?” he asks.
“Great,” I whisper, suddenly feeling shy and completely exposed by the sympathetic look he’s now giving me. I’m still mortified that he saw what happened between Riley and me earlier. I hate he had to see that. I drop my head, looking down at my hands nervously twisting together on my lap.
“Thank you. You didn’t need to do all this. I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than being stuck here looking after me. Like being back at that party with all those girls.” I see him flinch at my words. I hated seeing him with the girl grinding against him. I know I have no right because I was there with someone else as well.
“Hey,” he says as he gently places his finger under my chin, raising my head so he can look at me. “I’m exactly where I want to be,” he says with sincerity, as his eyes search mine. “As for that girl at the party, she means nothing to me. Fuck, I don’t even remember her name,” he chuckles.
I’m not sure why he feels the need to clarify that with me, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me happy. I didn’t like the way it made me feel seeing them together.
He’s still kneeling in front of me, his eyes glued on mine. My heart starts to race as I look into his beautiful blue eyes that I’ve missed so much. He’s giving me one of those intense looks again. I wish I could get inside his head to know what he’s thinking when he looks at me like that. There’s just something about that look I love.
Something passes between us. I can’t explain it, but a sense of calm settles over me. All the uncertainty I’ve been feeling about us the past two months vanishes. I get this overwhelming feeling that things between us are going to be okay.
He exhales, finally breaking our eye contact. He looks down at my legs before reaching for the zipper of one of my boots. It makes me jump. “What are you doing?” I ask in horror as I quickly pull my leg away from him.
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t think. Your knees are all grazed. I thought I’d take your boots off before I put the Betadine on. I don’t want to ruin them.”
“Oh,” is all I say. I feel silly now for the way I just acted. “Sorry. I’m a little jumpy I guess.”
“Don’t apologise. After everything you went through tonight, it’s understandable. I didn’t think. It’s my fault.” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry.” He shifts back. I can tell he’s feeling uncomfortable now. That’s the last thing I want. I’m thankful to have him here, thankful for everything he’s done for me tonight.
I lift my leg up to him. I don’t want him to think I’m scared of him because I’m not. Being with him actually makes me feel safe. I know he’ll never do the kind of things Riley did to me.
He takes my leg gently in his hand, looks up at me and smiles. I really love his smile. I’m so glad he’s with me now. I couldn’t ask for a better ending to such a horrific night.
••••
Chase
Fuck I’m happy to be here with my sweet-cheeks. I’ve missed her so much. Of course I’d never admit that out loud, but I have. More than anything, I wish I could undo what that fucker did to her tonight. But if any good can come out of it, maybe it can help close the huge gap which has formed between us and our friendship over the past few months. I’ve missed hanging out with her. Missed having her in my life. I’ve always loved being around her, near her.
I hate seeing all these marks on her. It really fucks with my head. Even though they all appear to be superficial, it’s the internal damage from the attack that worries me most. She’s doing a good job of playing it down, making me think she’s alright, but when I attempted to remove her boots just now, my suspicions were confirmed. She’s far from okay.
Even her smiles don’t reach her eyes. That’s one thing I used to love about her. Her smiles usually light up her whole face. Not tonight though. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen one of her signature smiles in a while. That makes me feel like shit. I’m sure it’s because of what I did to her that day when I walked out of here. Not to mention the way I’ve been treating her ever since.