Chapter 8 Sophie
EIGHT
SOPHIE
I’m awakened by warm rays of sunlight and frown because my window faces north and the sun never shines into my room. But then I realize that this is not my room at all. I’m not even in our house. Because I ran away. Because I got into a vehicle and—
Cole.
He took me with him after he stopped Mike and his friends from doing something to me, and we almost got caught by the police. Like a tidal wave, the memories wash over me, and my heart stutters in my chest.
Blinking, I open my eyes and realize that I’m lying in a huge bed.
As I take a deep breath, the scent of leather, tobacco, and campfire hits my nose.
It’s a nice, warming mixture, and I wonder if this is Cole’s bed and if he smells like that.
Closing my eyes again, I breathe in deliberately, as if I could keep the scent inside me forever that way.
Then I lift my eyelids again and continue to look around.
The bed stands in an insanely large room with unusually high ceilings and bare brick walls.
My view is of an open kitchen with black cabinets and countertops, and a massive wooden dining table.
The windows extend from floor to ceiling and are so old that the glass is dull.
Pipes run just below the ceiling, and I wonder why they're exposed and not hidden in the walls like they are in our house, when I hear a door open.
Sitting up, I turn my head as Cole steps through a door across the room, holding a towel in one hand and a T-shirt in the other.
He’s wearing jeans that sit so low on his hips that I can see the waistband of his underwear, while his upper body is bare.
Spellbound, I stare at the countless images that cover his skin and move as he lifts his arm.
My question from the previous day is thus answered. The tattoos are everywhere.
His shoulder tenses while the cords of muscles on his forearm dance under his inked skin as he rubs the towel over his jet-black hair. On his abdomen, I count six clearly defined ridges and discover a V of muscles that disappears under the fabric of his underwear.
I don’t know if all men look like that, but Cole’s body is so impressive to me, it makes my stomach flutter. I think I understand what the women in the books mean when they talk about how attractive they find their beloved. I feel strangely warm, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.
"Good morning."
Cole’s words snap me out of my amazement, causing me to lift my gaze.
He’s standing just a few feet away from the bed, hanging the towel over one of the chairs by the dining table.
His eyes look almost silver in the sunlight streaming through the windows, but the expression on his face instantly makes my heart beat faster.
He does not look happy.
"Did you sleep well?"
I nod and swallow down the lump that has formed in my throat as I watch him put on his T-shirt. "Did you sleep in the bed—"
"No." He interrupts me in a harsh tone. "I slept on the couch."
I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed by his answer.
"Are you hungry?" Cole turns away from me to walk to the kitchen. "I have coffee, too, if you want some."
Since he’s no longer looking at me with those piercing eyes, I relax a little before I free myself from the blanket and stand. "I don’t know if I like coffee," I confess while looking around again.
Against one wall is a row of metal lockers, some of them dented, with patches of rust here and there, and next to them is another door.
To my left, a staircase leads down, and in the back of the room, in front of one of the windows, is a large table covered in green carpet with colorful balls on it.
Right next to it stands a motorcycle, and I wonder how Cole got it up here.
"You must know if—"
I turn back to Cole and see him pause before he looks at me with his brows drawn together. "You’ve never had coffee before, am I right?"
Shaking my head, I return his gaze until he closes his eyes.
He mutters something incomprehensible that sounds like he’s cursing and rubs his forehead with one hand.
When he looks at me again, I can’t decipher his gaze.
Nevertheless, I walk toward him after he has turned around again to take two cups from one of the upper kitchen cabinets and put them in some kind of box with buttons.
"What is that?"
"A coffee machine." Cole pushes one of the buttons, and the machine lets out a hell of a noise, which makes me flinch. "Don’t worry. It just grinds the coffee beans." He grabs a box of sugar cubes from another cabinet. "Didn’t your mother drink coffee?"
I shake my head again as I watch the first dark drops fall into the cups. "No. Just tea."
Shortly after, the machine finishes and makes a few more strange noises before falling silent again. Meanwhile, I breathe in this new scent that now lingers in the air and decide that I like it.
Cole drops two cubes of sugar into one of the cups, stirs it with a spoon, and pours some milk into it that he had taken out of the fridge. Then he hands me the cup, and I take it cautiously.
"Why sugar and milk?" When I lift the coffee to my nose to smell it, the scent has changed a little.
"Because it’s pretty strong and would probably be too bitter for you." Cole reaches for the other cup and takes a sip.
"How do you drink it?"
"Black."
I frown and tilt my head.
"Without anything. Black, see?" He holds out the cup for me to look inside.
"Black," I repeat softly before looking into my cup, whose contents are rather light brown. Then I take a small sip myself. I can taste the milk and sugar, as well as the bitterness Cole was talking about. I even think I detect a fruity note, but I can’t pick it because the sugar is too dominant.
"So? How’s your first coffee?" Cole watches me while sipping from his cup.
"It’s… not bad," I answer before tasting it again. "But I’d like the next one black, too."
Cole turns away for a moment and chuckles while shaking his head slightly. When he looks at me again, though, his face is sincere, and I fear that I don’t want to hear what he’s about to say next.
"Why did you want to run away so badly?"
I gulp and look down into my cup.
"Sophie."
His insistent tone gives me goosebumps, but I don’t move.
When I don’t answer, either, I hear him exhale loudly.
Shortly after, I feel his fingers on my chin.
With gentle pressure, he forces me to lift my gaze and look at him.
My skin tingles instantly where he touches me, and I almost forget what he asked.
"Talk to me, little darling," Cole asks gently when our eyes finally meet.
"I just wanted to… get out. To go away."
He lowers his hand. "Why? Didn’t your mother let you out? I mean… you had to go to school and all that."
I shake my head. "She taught me at home."
"So you’re telling me that you’ve only ever been in that house?"
"Yes," I say barely audible.
Cole averts his gaze and curses softly. "She’s locked you in all these years?" I can hear that he’s having a hard time believing that.
"She didn’t lock me in. She just… didn’t let me out," I state, feeling an inexplicable urge to defend my mother’s behavior.
He grimaces and scoffs. "Well, that’s pretty much the same fucking thing, you know?" Then he empties his cup and puts it down in the sink with such force that I wince. "So what are you going to do now?"
I lower my eyes again as I quietly speak out what suddenly seems terribly childish. "I want to know if the world out there is truly as bad as my mother always says it is."
Cole moves a few steps away, running his fingers through his hair and snorting audibly. "You want to know how the world is truly like? What do you have in mind? Do you have an I-will-explore-the-world plan where you check off what you’ve done with little hearts?"
His hard voice is almost condescending. I squirm inwardly as my cheeks grow hot, but I don’t know what to say.
"You must know where you want to go. What you want to see and experience."
In the corner of my eye, I can see him pacing up and down the large room, but I don’t dare look at him directly. "I…"
"You what, Sophie?"
Cole comes to a halt right in front of me, so I force myself to lift my gaze and look him in the eyes. I regret it immediately because there’s a storm raging in them that almost scares me.
"You have to tell me what’s on your mind, darling, or this won’t work out," he clarifies while holding my gaze with his.
In an uncertain voice, I speak the first thought I can grasp. "I want to be free." My fingers clutch the coffee cup so tightly that they gradually go numb. "To make friends and…"
"And?" Cole urges when I fall silent again.
"I want to know what it’s like to fall in love."
He looks at me emotionlessly for a moment before laughing mirthlessly again while turning away.
I follow him with my gaze and flinch when he whirls around after a few steps.
The hardness in his eyes almost causes me physical pain, but I’m petrified, even as I see a young woman coming up the stairs in the corner of my eye.
"Make friends? Fall in love?" The mockery in his voice tugs at my heart. "I hope you don’t think you’ll find any of that here. If you want to braid pigtails and hold hands, I’ll have to disappoint you because you won’t get that with me. At all."
While I can’t move, the woman walks toward us and interferes. "Stop it, Cole."
Ignoring her, I return Cole’s gaze as the first stupid tears run down my cheeks because he’s so mean and heartless all of a sudden. "Why not?"
"Why not? Jesus fucking Christ. Isn’t that obvious?" he barks at me while taking another step forward so I have to look up at him.
"Cole!" The woman’s hand lands gently on my back as she silences him with a hard tone. "That’s enough."