I’m nowhere near aroused with how broken Collins feels right now, but her body wrapped around mine like this feels like coming home, and I can’t fucking stop the way my cock hardens beneath where Collins is perched on my lap.
“Look at me, Stardust.” When she hesitates, I gently shift my hips, unintentionally causing her core to rock against mine.
Her eyes dart up and lock onto mine. The soft gasp that escapes her is music to my ears. Licking my lips, I grip the back of her neck in a soft but firm hold and pull her closer until our mouths are a hairsbreadth apart.
“Show me where you think he ruined you, and I’ll show you a fucking masterpiece.” My words dance across her skin on a breath. Canting my hips just enough to let her feel what she does to me, I nudge through the water droplets that fall between us and allow my lips to brush against hers in a barely-there kiss. “If my cock isn’t still as hard as a goddamned rock by the time you’re done, I’ll admit defeat.”
I pull back and rest my head back against the tiles and wait. “Go ahead, Stardust,”I challenge, “Prove me wrong.”
Collins is in full control here. My hands rest lazily at the junction of her hips, but I don’t dare touch her skin or expose her body beyond the now thoroughly soaked gown that covers her core. I won’t push her, I won’t ask for details, but I want to prove to her right here and now that she’s a fucking vision with or without her new scars.
She’s the embodiment of strength, resilience, and beauty that has nothing to do with her outward appearance. Though, she’s still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.
I can tell she doesn’t believe me, like I’m joking or speaking in hypotheticals, but quickly realizes I’m not when I continue to sit here with her under the spray, on the hospital bathroom floor, waiting for her to try and prove me wrong.
Chapter 12
Collins
“HE RUINED ME.”
Ihad to pee. That’s it. But I was too stubborn to wait for Creed to come back and help me, not that I thought I needed it. Therapy had cleared me to get up and move around more but said that it probably wouldn’t hurt to have somebody with me at first, just for safety’s sake.
But Creed had pissed me off, and I didn’t want to wait around to ask for his help. He’d lied to me about going to see Riley. I could tell in his tone two nights ago that he was giving me a roundabout answer, and I don’t think he fully understands the gravity of my need to lay eyes on Ri.
He may have had the perfect reason as to why I couldn’t see him, but he didn’t give me one at all. His avoidance is what pissed me off. I can’t possibly start to heal until I see for myself that my Riley’s heart is still beating. Because if it’s still beating, then I have hope that everything will be okay, at least someday.
From the time I woke up, I had almost professionally avoided looking at the severity of my injuries. I didn’t want to see the marks cut so deep into my skin that the evidence of Guy’s torture would forever haunt me. I’d childishly hoped that if I ignored them long enough, maybe they’d fade or go away entirely and I wouldn't have to bear the pain of seeing what he did to me.
After emptying my bladder, I’d made the mistake of catching my reflection in the mirror when I was washing my hands. It’s the first time I’ve seen my face and body in over two weeks. It’s a fucking meticulous nightmare. I’m covered in bruises, bandages, and healing cuts that were made with near surgical precision.
I tried so hard to look at them with indifference. To not feel the bile rising in my throat or the phantom pain I felt every time the coolness of the blade pressed against my skin. The way Riley moaned, cried, and begged for the blade to be turned onto himself instead.
I’m not entirely sure when I blacked out this time. But coming to, I realize I’m straddling Creed’s thighs and we’re both sitting under the tail end of the showerhead spray.
Creed’s words echo around me, sparking something inside of me.
Show me where you think he ruined you, and I’ll show you a fucking masterpiece.
The way he’d said it as his lips ghosted across mine had my body practically singing for him.
“Go ahead, Stardust.”He rocks his hips up again, the proof of his arousal pressing against my core. His ice blue gaze never once falters from mine as he challenges, “Prove me wrong.”
I start to shake my head, but Creed gives me a gentle, encouraging squeeze on my hips. It’s not a demand, but an invitation for me to take back some semblance of power. I don’t even know where all of my injuries are, but I guess we’ll find them together.
For the first time, I look down at my arms with intent. Most of my left forearm is wrapped in gauze that’s now soaking through from the spray of water peppering down on it. With shaky fingers, I peel the tape away, slowly revealing the wounds beneath.
The cry that skates past my lips is silent, but my right hand rushes to muffle the nonexistent sound anyway. There are two small cuts with four stitches each sitting about midway down my forearm, but it’s nothing compared to the six massive incisions he’d run vertically, down to my wrist, purposefully avoiding the main vein that flowed down the center.
It’s red and angry where it’s been stitched and glued, but the lines are disturbingly clean. My once flawless skin is now marred beyond healing and unrecognizable, and that’s just my forearm. I’m terrified to look anywhere else, especially my shoulder that’s fucking screaming in pain beneath the wrap with the smallest of movements.
When I finally gather the courage to look at Creed, I’m taken aback by the look on his face. He looks surprised at first, but then it morphs. Where I thought I’d see anger or malice or even a small part of me expected disgust, there’s an odd mix of shock and…is he fucking smirking??
“What the fuck, Creed?”I whine. The fuck is wrong with him? “Why…why thefuckare you grinning right now? Look at what he did to me!”I hate that the words are brokenly squeaking out of me like I’m some timid little mouse. They make me feel fucking frail.
Creed’s face sobers fractionally as he cups my elbow gently with one hand and ghosts his fingers over the marks in my arm with the other. He’s not actually touching the wounds, but I can still feel the electricity of his touch nonetheless. “Baby, take another look. Do you see what he did?”
I open my mouth to answer, but he barks a laugh that startles me. He looks devastatingly handsome with the way his eyes twinkle in amusement and his smile grows sinister as he dips his chin toward my arm again. “It’s me.”
