Chapter 16 Heath
HEATH
All I want is you, Heath.
The string holding my self-restraint is close to snapping after hearing those words.
She wants me.
She wants me.
In the sense that I take off her clothes and see her like I’ve never seen her before. The pale, smooth skin that I know would blush under my touch. The body that would shake because of my kisses. The sounds that would escape her mouth because of me.
Those thoughts alone make me want to throw caution out of the window.
But only one thing stops me.
Rose.
She’s been through so much, especially with her dad. He abused her for months and I know that has left emotional and physical scars on her. She felt fear and panic and shed so many tears.
Now all I want to do is protect her and show her happiness.
That matters to me far more than my own desires.
I feel like I’ve finally found someone who understands me and makes me feel whole. She fills my emptiness with herself. Like a bright ray of sunshine, she casts away my darkness. Just being with her is enough for me to feel better.
I like her. I like her a lot.
But there are times when my chest expands with so much care, worry and fondness that I fear that my bones will break and everything inside of me will come out.
Seeing that will scare her.
The absolute fucking last thing I want.
Placing my arms around her waist, I envelope her in a hug that brings her close to me. My nose buries in the crook of her neck and her I breathe in her flowery scent. Lavender. The sweet fragrance causes blood to race through my veins. The familiarity of it is now something I’m accustomed to.
Rose turns cardboard in my hold, and then softens.
Chase Atlantic plays in the background as I keep her in my arms. The safest place for her.
When I saw marks on her body, fear in her eyes and tremors in her hands, all I wanted was to take her someplace she would be safe.
Unknowingly, I’ve shaped myself to be that someplace for her where the danger—her dad—can’t get to her.
I know I’ll do anything to put myself in harm’s way so it can’t reach her.
“Are you feeling better?” she asks.
Her voice.
Fuck. Her voice weakens me.
I like it when she speaks to me in her gentle and sweet voice laced with worry—for me.
“I am,” I answer honestly. “I told you. I needed you tonight.”
“You have me.”
How fucking grateful I am.
“I’m sorry for making you sneak out and be with me right now.”
“It’s fine.” She blurts, almost immediately, not making me feel guilty for a second.
A vague thought crosses my mind. A thought that Sebastian planted in my head.
“We haven’t gone out on a date yet,” I grumble in her neck.
“Date. We. No.” Hope fumbles over words pulling a chuckle out of me.
“Sorry…” she whispers. “I thought since we’re already dating, it doesn’t matter.”
Now I feel like an asshole for making her lower her standards. She reads words on papers and feels things. For fuck’s sake, she’s in love with guys who are purely fictional but to her they are real.
I’ve read the books she reads and I know how grand gestures are a big theme in all the romance stories.
Rose is a hopeless romantic. I want her to experience all the romantic things with me.
Everything she has read about, I want to make it come true.
I don’t want her to lower her standards and settle down for bare minimum. Instead, I want to set the bar so high that it makes it impossible for her to even think about those fictional men let alone love them.
My chest constricts as I utter my next words. “That night I came to your room to ask you out on a date.”
Rose pulls back and stares at me in shock.
I fight the urge to not tug her back into my arms.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I arch an eyebrow. “Because I was fucking nervous.”
“You get nervous?”
“Only around you.”
Even in the dark, I know her cheeks are painted in that beautiful hue of red that is my favourite.
“What about butterflies?”
“You mean those tiny insects in my stomach?”
She nods.
“I get them because of you.”
Her cheeks redden further. I just know it.
Leaning forward, I find her lips in the dull light of the screen and kiss her softly. My movements are slow as I devour her.
After a second, when I know she’s breathless, I pull back but not before stealing a peck.
Fuck. I can’t get enough of her lips.
Kissing is not supposed to be this addictive.
“Go out on a date with me,” I rasp.
She pants as she catches her breath.
“Okay.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“I’ll be fine wherever you take me.”
I smile. “I’m fine right here, right now. All that matters to me is you’re with me.”
“I feel the same.”
I give her waist a squeeze. “Tell me the place, Rose.”
“Bookstore.”
“A place you haven’t been to before.”
“Aquarium.”
“There is an aquarium in the city.” I tell her. “We can roam the place and then have a nice dinner at a restrauant.”
She clutches my hoodie tightly. “I won’t be able to go with you. My parents will find out and…”
She doesn’t need to end that sentence. We both know what would happen.
“I’ll take care of everything. You don’t have to worry about anything.”
“But how?”
“I’ll figure it out and text you the details.”
“Heath—”
“It’ll be okay. I’ll make sure that you have fun.”
I know her head is running at hundred miles per second, but so is mine. Now that I have her permission I will find out what to do about this matter.
Since it’s getting early, I drive her home fast and ask her to text me once she’s in her room.
Hope: I’m in my room.
Heath: No one woke up?
Hope: No.
Heath: Are you sure?
Hope: I heard them snoring.
Heath: Be safe for me.
Hope: Okay.
Heath: Text me if something happens.
Hope: I will.
Hope: Are you okay now?
Heath: I’m okay.
Hope: I wish I could do more like you do for me.
Heath: You gave me a boner so I think you did a great job.
Hope: Oh my God. Please kill me.
Heath: I can’t. We have a date.
Hope: I’m sorry about the…
Heath: Don’t think about it.
Hope: It’s hard not to.
Heath: Want me to distract you? I’m parked close by.
Hope: You should go home. We have school in three hours.
Heath: I’ll come pick you up.
Hope: You don’t have to. I’ll walk.
Heath: I don’t want my girlfriend to walk.
Hope: It’s fine. I don’t mind.
Heath: I fucking mind.
Hope: I just don’t want my parents to see you.
Heath: I’ll park around the block.
Hope: Okay, if it’s not too much trouble.
Heath: It’s not.
Hope: I finished the book you gave me.
Heath: What did you rate it?
Hope: Five stars.
Heath: Why five?
Hope: Because it was perfect.
Heath: Here I thought perfection doesn’t exist.
Hope: That’s because you haven’t met Jack.
Heath: For fuck’s sake.