“What happened to it being fine because you were with me today?” he teased.
Eri shrugged. “It’s my birthday, so I’m being selfish.” She draped her arms over his shoulders. “I do want something else.”
Elias raised a brow at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer, careful of the fresh tattoo. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I think we both know, but first, I need to tell you something. In case I have the same reaction as before, you’ll know why.”
Elias released her and led her into the living room. He sat on the couch, pulling her down beside him. It was quiet between them for a moment, and he studied her. He could tell that whatever she wanted to tell him wasn’t easy for her to start.
“You know you can tell me anything, and if you aren’t ready right now, then you don’t have to,” he told her. While he wanted to know, and had all but asked her the last time they sat on his couch like this, he wouldn’t force her to tell him if just starting the conversation was this hard for her.
He ran through the possibilities of what she could want to tell him, and he felt a pit form in his stomach because there were only a few things he could think of, and each one was terrible.
“I know, but I want you to know.” She took a deep breath. “Two years ago on Valentine’s Day. I went to a party. It was advertised around campus as a singles party where you could meet people. Avian was studying, and the couple of other people I hung out with at the time were in relationships, so I went alone. Everything was fine. I was having fun, and then this guy approached me. He seemed nice enough.”
The pit in Elias’ stomach grew because he had a sinking suspicion of where this was going, but he said nothing. Allowing her to continue.
“We talked for a couple of hours before I got ready to leave. Once we were outside, he asked me to come back to his place with him, and I told him no. He didn’t like that answer and started ranting about how women always led men on. How he’d brought me all these drinks, and wasted two hours of his life with me flirting with him. How I was nothing but a tease, and I owed him because I led him on. Which I hadn’t.”
Elias hadn’t thought she had. Some men had the audacity to think that a woman holding a polite conversation with them, or being nice, meant they were flirting with them or showing interest when they weren’t. However, if the woman wasstandoffish or shot them down quickly, then she was a bitch, and the man could get violent. It wasn’t all men, but enough of them for women to be wary in both circumstances.
“He hit me twice. It disoriented me, and he dragged me to the back of the building, where hesexually assaulted me.”
He understood why she’d called Valentine’s Day a useless holiday. Something so tragic and life-changing had happened to her on a day that was supposed to be celebrated by lovers. Elias could also understand why she’d been overwhelmed when they’d been intimate. Why she’d left. She’d said her last experience with intimacy hadn’t been great, and he now knew that it was derived from the pits of hell. It had been taken from her in a twisted and tainted way.
Every fiber of his being was straining to keep himself under control. Furious didn’t begin to describe the way he felt.
“At some point, a girl came out back to smoke, and she hit him with a nearby two-by-four until he was unconscious, then called 911.” She paused briefly. “That event is what caused my sleepwalking. When I have a nightmare or dream of something strange, I seek out protection and comfort.”
He could understand that. They likely triggered a similar emotional response, but he also understood that she was telling him she felt safe with him even before they started dating, because she sought him out the night she’d first stayed with him. He had every intention of her always feeling that way.
“What happened to him?” Elias asked.
“He was arrested, and he took a plea deal.” She released a breath. “So, now you know.”
Elias took her hand, kissing the knuckles. “Now, I know. And it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make me want you any less. Theonlything it does is allow me to see how strong you are. Thank you, baby. For telling me.”
She nodded before leaning in to kiss him. It was soft, tender, and slow. Elias followed the movement of her lips and then allowed her tongue to coax his into mirroring her movements. This kiss was different, and he could feel her pouring everything she felt into it. Like telling him, letting him in was a weight off her shoulders. When her free hand came to his lap and shifted over his dick, Elias grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
“No, Amate.” He didn’t miss her intake of breath, and he realized he needed to elaborate quickly so she wouldn’t get the wrong idea. “I can’t give you what you need right now, because I’m pissed that some man had the audacity to do that to you, and I can’t guarantee I won’t inadvertently throw that anger into sex, and I would never do that to you. I would never hurt you.” He gave her another soft kiss. “Why don’t you go into my room, choose something comfortable to change into, and I’ll order food and snacks, and we can spend the night watching movies.”
“Can we watchThe Powerpuff GirlsMovie?”
“We can watch whatever you want, baby.”
She smiled at him. That smile that always seemed to feel like he’d been taken by surprise, kicked in the gut, before she headed down the hall to his bedroom. Elias pulled out his phone and ordered some of her favorite snacks before ordering food from the truck they’d gone to the first time.
When she returned, it was in one of his T-shirts. Elias would have thought she was tempting him until she sat down, tucking her feet under her, and he found she’d swapped her denim shorts for a pair of his boxers.
“I chose something for you to change into. It’s on the bed,” she told him.
Elias put his phone on the table and went to his bedroom to find she’d laid out a pair of gray sweatpants for him. He chuckled before changing, then grabbed a throw blanket from the hall closet before returning to the living room.
Eri already had the movie ready as she lay on the couch waiting for him. He joined her. Settling between her legs and laying his head on her chest. Her free hand drifted to his back as she started the movie, and Elias breathed in the scent of her perfume as he continued working to calm himself down.
23
Eri opened her front door to find a grinning Avian on the other side. Her friend held a bakery box with a gift bag on top and a balloon.
