Chapter 16 #2
I nodded. The position did provide a little bit of relief, but it was only when his arm came around my shoulders that I was able to relax.
That shield feeling I’d felt when I’d danced with him last night returned.
Tears filled my eyes. I didn’t have the strength to hold them back and they dripped onto his shirt.
I sniffled. “I’m sorry.”
His hand squeezed my shoulder gently. “It’s all right. Cry as much as you need to.”
Wyatt held me as I cried until I eventually fell asleep. A hand gently shaking me and calling my name woke me. I opened my eyes and saw that it was dark outside the window.
“Lottie,” Mac said from behind me.
Wyatt groaned under me. I lifted my head and saw that he also had fallen asleep. I sat up and turned to face Mac, who was standing on my side of the bed. The TV in the room was on, but the volume was low, and I noticed the bedside lamp had been turned on.
“Your phone keeps ringing.” She held it out to me.
I looked over the notifications and saw that I had a lot. Most were from earlier today when my phone had been dead. There was a text from Prue telling me not to come home because Clay was there.
If only I saw that beforehand.
I also had missed calls from both Roe and Wyatt at the time I’d left the diner. They had texted me, too.
Roe: Please answer. Wyatt filled me in on what happened.
Wyatt: I’m sorry for what went down at the diner. There’s a lot of Reid’s past you don’t know about, and the topic of abuse is a hard one for him. Please answer. I need to know if you have a way home. You shouldn’t be walking on this side of town.
Roe: Lottie, please pick up the phone. I need to know you’re alright. We’re currently driving around looking for you.
Roe: I know you said to stay away from you.
Roe: I don’t know if I can.
Just after I read that last text from Roe, my phone started ringing and Prue’s name popped up on my screen.
I hit answer and brought the phone up to my ear. “Hello?”
“Charlotte, where are you?”
“I’m at a hotel. The one Grandfather owns,” I replied.
She sighed. “You are such a stubborn girl. I told you to go to your father.”
“I’m not ready for that.”
“Fine,” she said. “I’m heading to you now.”
“Is he—?” I paused when I remembered there were people in the room with me. “Is he gone?”
“Yes, but I don’t think you should come back to the house until he leaves to join your mother. I’m bringing things you will need for the next few days.”
“How—?”
“I’ll answer all your questions when you finally meet with JJ and find your father. Until then, you’ll get nothing from me,” she said, sounding angry. “I’ll leave your things at the front desk. I’ll be in touch.” She hung up and I was left just sitting there in shock at her ultimatum.
Mac held out her hand in front of me with two pills in her palm. “Here, you should take these for your pain.”
I took them and she handed me a bottle of water to wash them down.
“I also got you bandages for your elbow. They’re in the bathroom,” she said as she wrung her fingers. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital? You don’t have to tell them anything. They can just look you over and if you ever want to take action later there will be records—”
I took her hand, stopping her. “I know you’re trying to help, but I’ll be fine.” I always was until the next time they hurt me.
“If you tell them—”
“Please, Mac,” I begged. “Believe me when I say that what you’re suggesting won’t work.”
A chime sounded in the room, breaking the tension. Mac closed her eyes before nodding. “Okay. That’s my ride. I have to go.”
I squeezed her hand. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
She looked reluctant, but said, “I won’t.”
“Thank you for all your help. I’ll pay you back, I promise.”
“You don’t have to.” She squeezed my hand back just before pulling away and leaving.
Wyatt had stayed quiet while watching us. I shifted in the bed so I was lying on my side facing him. He was now leaning up against the headboard.
“I know we haven’t known each other very long.” He rubbed the side of his face. “But I like you. I won’t judge or shame you. You can tell me what happened, because from what I’ve seen and heard you say so far, I’m already speculating quite a bit.”
I mulled over his words with a tight chest. I had told someone once.
Someone who could have—who was supposed to help me.
When I had been twelve, Mother had gotten drunk and angry and she had hit me so hard with a gin bottle that it had cracked my skull.
Prue had been the one to take me to the hospital.
According to her, Mother had stared at me where I had fallen to the ground for a whole minute, watching the blood seep from my head with a smile on her face.
After hearing that, I had stopped holding onto any expectations that Mother would change.
It had been a turning point in my mindset.
So when the doctor had come in to ask me what had happened, I’d told the truth.
At first he had seemed to feel sorry for me and promised to help me.
He had explained that he was going to inform the police.
A half hour later, Mother had showed up instead.
She’d had me discharged, and as I’d been rolled out of the hospital in a wheelchair, we had passed that doctor in the hall.
Mother had thanked him for his help while staring at me with this triumphant expression.
The doctor had smiled at her like she had made all his dreams come true.
He hadn’t spared a glance in my direction.
I had later found out from Prue that Mother had paid him off and that Prue had almost been fired for taking me to the hospital in the first place.
“I could tell you everything, Wyatt, but I’m afraid of the fallout of what you will do with that information.”
He sat up, ready to argue, but paused when he saw the tears filling my eyes.
I blinked a bunch of times, trying to hold them back. “You’re thinking that Reid was right. That I’m weak.” My voice cracked as I spoke.
Wyatt scooted over to me and pulled me back onto his chest. “No. I don’t think you’re weak.
He wasn’t right. He was projecting his past shit and what you said made him look at it from a different perspective,” he explained.
“Reid lashed out because he wasn’t ready to give up the anger he’s been holding onto for a long time. So don’t listen to him.”
I didn’t understand, but I didn’t want to question him about Reid.
Wyatt held me again until I calmed down. He held my hand, and with his other, he repeatedly ran his fingers through my hair right above my ear. I listened to his heart and found comfort in its steady beat.
“You’re the second person I’ve ever cuddled with.” I didn’t know why that random thought popped into my head or why I had to voice it.
He went still. “Who was the first?”
“Roe.”
He relaxed at my response. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever cuddled.”
“I thought you fell in lust all the time.”
His chest bounced as he tried not to laugh. “I may enjoy the company of the ladies, but I normally leave right after.”
I could see why. “Cuddling feels…intimate,” I said as I rubbed my thumb along the back of his.
“Yeah,” he agreed simply.
“You’re good at it despite it being your first time.”
I could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. “Of course I am. I excel at many things.”
I felt the urge to smile, too, but my mouth didn’t move. “Do you have to leave soon?” Before, I had wanted to be alone. Now I was scared to lose what I felt lying in his arms.
“I was thinking about staying,” he said. “If you’re okay with that?”
“We have school tomorrow.”
“I’ll leave early enough to swing home and change,” he said.
I nodded against his chest. “Okay.”