Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
She nodded. “They came, and he smoothed it over with them. Told them I was being some raging bitch and made him mad. He left and they left, and then he came back an hour later to apologize.”
“What did you do?”
“I let him apologize, then told him to go find somewhere to sleep that night,” she said, sighing. “He told me to get a sleeping bag from the house. That he would sleep on the lawn or in his truck since he couldn’t afford a hotel and didn’t want to use my money. I should have known what he was going to do right then.”
“What did he do?” I asked.
“He forced his way in the house after I walked back in to get the sleeping bag,” she said, shrugging. “He knocked me over, and I hit the ground hard. He jumped on top of me and grabbed my throat to choke me. I thought I was going to die. I squirmed away from him, and he immediately started apologizing again, saying he didn’t mean it. That he thought I wanted to have rough sex. That I was the one at fault.”
“Did you leave?”
“He did,” she said. “I barricaded myself in my bedroom and called the cops again. By the time they got here, he was gone, but they found him at a hotel a couple miles away. They arrested him for assault and asked if I wanted to press charges. So I did.”
“Good,” I said, shaking my head. “I am so sorry you went through all that.” I realized my fists were clenched, and I forced them to unclench. I didn’t want to upset her or think that I was violent too.
“I had to go to court right after to testify against him and get my restraining order,” she said, her breath hitching. “But I thought I was pregnant. I had been having symptoms for a couple days and was pretty sure I was. Until that fight, I thought we would overcome anything. That we would have a baby, and everything would be wonderful. But as I sat there in court with a test in my purse, I didn’t know how I felt.
“I went home right after and took the test. It was negative. I just sat there numb. I didn’t know what to think. Even the idea that I would be raising his baby made me sick. Yet, it made me sick to let go of it. To know I wasn’t pregnant was worse. Somehow it was worse.”
I held out my hand to her, and she took it, and I guided her over to the couch. I sat down on it and motioned for her to get in my lap. As she did, I pulled the heavy blanket on the back around her and curled us into it. I wiped away tears from her face with my thumb and kissed the top of her head. Then I ran my fingers through her hair as she began to sob in earnest.
“Shh,” I said. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I promise you; I will take care of you.”
That only seemed to make the tears harder for a while, but eventually they began to die down as I patted her rear end and kissed her head repeatedly.
I never saw myself in a situation like that one. It was messy and complicated and so very dramatic. And yet, now that I was there, now that I knew her… I had to help her. I was going to try and continue to get her better and feeling strong again. She deserved that.
She deserved so much more.
It was dawning on me that I wasn’t just feeling protective of her because of her story. It wasn’t just the story. And it wasn’t just that she was a good person. There was something more there, something much deeper than all that. Something I had never experienced and thought, in some ways, I never would.
It hit me pretty hard, like a brick to the chest. I sat there, stroking her hair, whispering to her that she would be okay, that I would protect her, and I knew I meant it. I really would protect her. I really would do anything to make her feel safe and okay again. I took on that responsibility willingly, happily.
Our night had been incredible. There was no denying that, nor would I want to. It was the best night I had ever spent with another person, and there was nothing that could take away from that. Yet, what had happened that morning was more important. More impactful. More real.
As I sat on her couch, holding her, watching the sun gleam off her gorgeous eyes as it streamed in through the blinds behind the television, I knew my feelings for her were much deeper than the lust I had for her before, the curiosity about her that intrigued me. I was absolutely falling for her.