Page 60 of Hurt Me Not
When she was done, she climbed out and picked me up, drying me with a soft towel before she took me to bed, laying me down beneath the covers. Then she lay down beside me.
“Take your time. Rest. Breathe. I'll get you some water soon.”
I nodded, but my eyelids were already fluttering closed.
I knew I needed to talk to her about it, but my energy was waning.
“Emerson…”
“Shh, Pearl. I got you.”
I couldn't bring myself to ruin the moment. A selfish part of me just wanted to be there with her and forget about everything that happened.
Her hands were running through my hair carefully, undoing any knots she came across.
That was the thing about Emerson. No matter how much she destroyed, she was always there right afterwards to put it back together. She didn’t hurt me—she healed me.
I grabbed her hand and forced it around me so she was still hugging me.
Her words came back to me and gave me hope of more.
You have no reason to be jealous, Pearl.
I love you, I wanted to say. Something I would say if I weren’t the same Pearl I’d been in high school. Emerson said I wasn’t, that I’d changed, but I felt that was a lie. Because I was still scared.
Scared that once I told her how I truly felt, she would leave me, and not all the money in the world would stop me from feeling how I did before. Useless. Ignored. Unseen.
I've loved you since the moment our eyes first met in the hallway. I’ve loved you even though your words were cruel and harsh and you told me I wasn’t your type. I've loved you through high school. Through graduation. And even after, I never forgot you.
I wanted to tell her everything, but the words died on my lips as sleep took me. I allowed myself to bask in the warmth of her hold and let go.
Chapter 14
Emerson
I’d never been the type of person to look at someone's phone.
To be honest, before now, I never really cared enough about a person to worry about what was on their phone.
With Pearl, I wasn’t worried about her cheating. Something just feltwrong.
It was late into the night, and she was in my bed after our session together. I could have woken her or taken her to her room, but I needed her here, so I went downstairs and brought up water, her bag, and her phone instead.
But even with her lying beside me, for some reason, I still wasn't able to go to sleep. My mind was just thinking too hard about too many things.
My father, for one. He was out and obviously a threat, which was why I’d asked Jax to come here. I probably shouldn’t have trusted anyone with the information I gave her, but at this point, I was getting desperate.
She said she owned a security company, but it was much more than that. She would make sure we were safe, no matter what it took.
I held Pearl a little tighter.
I wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her.
As I leaned closer to her and inhaled her scent, now mixed with my shower gel after the bath, I felt the stress starting to fade to the recesses of my mind. I was almost asleep when there was a vibration on her bedside table.
I ignored it. It sounded like a text message or a notification or something.
But then there was another one.
