Forgiven (20 page)

I nodded and headed into Angie’s room. I wasn’t leaving her side. I pulled off my t-shirt and jeans and crawled back into bed with her. She was still curled up on her side. I carefully lifted her sprained wrist and laid it across my chest as I pulled her to me. She whimpered in her sleep and it felt like the knife was being twisted deeper into my gut. I leaned down and kissed her forehead.

I was suddenly exhausted. After the day I’d had, I wasn’t surprised and I still had a lot to deal with. I decided to close my eyes and sleep—I was going to need it.

It was hot, why was I so fucking hot. I opened my eyes and didn’t immediately recognize where I was. As my eyes adjusted, I realized Angie was asleep in my arms. When I saw her arm, the memories of yesterday came flooding back.

The thought of her being hurt by someone who was supposed to take care of her made me want to puke. I looked down at her sleeping profile. She seemed so peaceful, and I hoped I had something to do with that.

I felt her start to stir and pulled her tighter to me as her eyes fluttered open. Even with the bruises, she was the most beautiful thing in the world—not to mention how fucking sexy she was.

She took a minute to wake up fully and recognize where she was. She looked up at me confused, “Caleb? What are you doing here?”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Taking care of you.”

She sat up quickly and winced as she put pressure on her wrist. “But you were supposed to be going with Andrew and Josh to the coast.”

“You didn’t honestly think I would leave you alone after what happened, did you?” I asked incredulously.

“You didn’t have to stay. It’s bad enough Em is going to miss her cruise because of me,” she frowned.

“Emily isn’t going to miss her cruise, because I convinced her to go last night, after you fell asleep. I knew you would be upset that she missed her trip,” I assured her.

‘Yeah, but now you’re going to miss your trip. I would have been fine by myself,” she sighed and looked down.

I put my finger under her chin and tilted her head up until she was looking at me. “There is no place I would rather be than with you.”

She smiled at me and I realized that was all I needed…to make her happy.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I couldn’t believe he’d actually stayed. I’d expected him to run away after he found out about my dad—so far, every time things have gotten emotional he’s bailed. Yet here he was, lying next to me. He’d given up his spring break trip…for me.

I leaned into his shoulder. “Thank you for staying with me.”

He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “Always.”

I felt the tear roll down my face, onto his shoulder. He tilted my face up to his. “Hey, why are you crying,” he said as he gently wiped it away.

“Besides Em, I’m just so used to being alone when it comes to dealing with my dad. I guess it’s just nice… to not be alone.” I tried to smile up at him, but winced as my lip stretched.

Caleb got up. “Let me get you something for the pain.”

I started to move off of the bed. “I’m alright, I can get them.”

He walked back over to me and sat me back down. “You stay right there, and let me take care of you.”

He walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later with a few Advil and a glass of water. I took the pills from him and swallowed them down. Hopefully they would help the swelling go down on my wrist. I needed a shower, but it would be difficult with only one hand.

“I’m going to get a shower.” I stood up and started walking to the bathroom before I realized that Caleb was following me.

I turned to look at him. “Where are you going?”

He tilted his head to the side. “To help you get a shower.”

“Ca…Ca…Caleb” I stuttered.

He grabbed my good hand. “Look, it’s not like I haven’t seen you with your shirt off before. Besides, you really think that this is the last time I’ll see you naked? We
are
dating after all,” he reminded me with a smirk.

I couldn’t argue with him, but it still made me nervous as hell. I’d never been fully naked in front of a guy before—Caleb was the first guy to take my shirt off.

I think he saw I was nervous, because he put his hands on my shoulders. “Angie, we’re not going to
do
anything. I just want to help you get your shower so that we can get some more ice on that wrist.”

I felt the blush move up my face. “Okay.”

Caleb led me into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He took the hem of my t-shirt between his fingers, he was so gentle, even easing my arms out so as not to hurt my wrist, as he lifted it over my head. He slowly unwrapped my wrist, and when he unsnapped my bra I heard him suck in a breath. I shimmed out of my pajama shorts and panties, before stepping into the shower.

I felt him step in behind me and without even turning around, I could feel the heat pouring off his body. I turned to face him, but quickly looked away from his obvious arousal. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Sorry baby, you are just so fucking sexy…I can’t control my reaction to you.”

He stood back up and grabbed my body wash and the sponge. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He washed my body, before moving onto my hair. I don’t even remember a time when someone else washed my hair for me. After my mom left, I was forced to do all of this for myself. I was getting used to the idea of someone taking care of me. I was glad I let Caleb shower with me. When he washed my hair, he took the time to massage my scalp and it felt wonderful. It left me feeling more relaxed than I had in ages. Plus, I never would have gotten my hair washed with only one hand. After he finished washing me, he soaped himself up before rinsing off. I couldn’t help but stare at him. He had the most amazing body, all lean muscle, and the tattoos on his arms were so, so sexy.

He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, before wrapping a towel around his waist. Grabbing another towel, he wrapped it around my shoulders, and helped me step out of the tub. He picked our clothes up off the floor, and we headed back to my room to get dressed.

I felt his eyes on me the whole time I was pulling clothes out of my dresser. The blush worked its way up from my toes all the way to my head. I still wasn’t used to having a guy see me naked. I got my panties and pants on without a problem, but my bra and shirt were another story. Caleb saw me struggling to snap my bra and walked over to take it from me. “Here let me help.”

He slowly helped me get my shirt over my head and gently pulled my arms through. He looked up at me, “Let’s get this wrist rewrapped and put some ice on it.”

We moved out to the living room. He went to get some ice out of the fridge, wrapping it in a dishtowel. He sat down on the couch next to me, and held the ice to my wrist.

“This isn’t your first time dealing with a sprained wrist,” I guessed.

“Not exactly,” he said shaking his head. “I’ve probably had at least three. By tomorrow, the swelling will have gone down and it won’t be as painful to move around.” His fingers lightly grazed my knuckles.

“That’s a start, now I just have to worry about the bruises.” I sighed. “I’m hoping by next Monday they’ll be light enough for me to cover them with makeup.”

There was a sadness in his eyes as he looked at the bruises. He ran his lips lightly over the side of my face. “No matter what, you’re still beautiful.”

I smiled at him. The ice had started to melt through the dish towel, so Caleb got up and dumped the remaining pieces and the towel in the sink. He walked back into the living room, sat down next to me again, and helped me wrap my wrist. “Angie, how would feel about staying at my place for the rest of the week? That way we can have privacy, and you wouldn’t have to worry about anyone on campus seeing you until next Monday.”

I hadn’t thought about that. I really didn’t want anyone to see me if I could avoid it, but was I comfortable staying at Caleb’s? We’d slept in the same bed twice and showered together, and Caleb hadn’t tried anything either time. He always let me decide how far to take things, so surely it wouldn’t be any different at his place?

I looked over at him. “Are you sure I won’t be in the way?”

He pulled me to him so that I could rest my head on his shoulder. “How many times do I have to tell you? I
want
to take care of you.”

I nodded my head. “Okay.”

“Well let’s go pack you some clothes for the week and get the hell out of here.”

I smiled at his enthusiasm. I knew he was trying to make me forget about everything for a while, and I loved him for it. I needed to get my mind off of what happened and work on moving on. I’d been doing it alone my whole life, but now I had someone to help me.

We packed up my clothes and headed out to the car. Thankfully it was spring break so there was no one around when we walked outside. When we got to Caleb’s apartment, he carried my bag inside while I followed behind.

He put my bag in his room, so I sat down on the sofa and waited for him to come back out. “Baby, do you need anything? I was going to run to the grocery store if you don’t mind. We didn’t expect to be here this week, so there’s not really anything to eat.”

“No, I’m good.”

“Are you going to be okay for a little bit?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. I might watch TV or take a nap while you’re gone,” I assured him.

He bent down and kissed the top of my head, I don’t think he wanted to kiss me on the lips for fear he would hurt me…at least I hoped that was why. “I’ll be back soon.”

He grabbed his keys off of the counter and out the door he went. I turned on the TV and lay down on the couch to watch some crap reality TV. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep again.

When I woke up, I was a little disoriented. The last thing I remembered was watching TV, but now I was in bed. I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. Realizing I was in Caleb’s room, I heard the door open and looked up to see him standing in the doorway. He smiled at me when he saw I was awake, and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

“How was your nap?” he asked, as he picked up my wrist to look at it.

“Good, I guess. How did I get in here?”

He shrugged. “When I got back from the store, you were asleep on the couch but you didn’t look very comfortable, so I carried you in here.”

I sat up and wrapped my arms around his waist and cuddled into his embrace. “What did I do to deserve you?” I mused.

“I think you have that backwards.” He squeezed me tighter. “Are you hungry?”

I thought about it and realized I was starving. I nodded. “How long have I been asleep?”

“A while, it’s about five-thirty.”

I pulled away from his embrace. “Holy shit, how did I sleep that long?”

He cupped both sides of my face and I saw that the sadness had returned to his eyes. “I think that your body was trying to help itself heal.”

I felt the tears building up. “You’re probably right.”

He kissed my forehead and stood up with his hand out. I put my hand in his and he helped me up. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat. I made dinner.”

He led me out to the kitchen, where he already had dinner waiting on the table. I had to smile at how thoughtful he was. It was a new feeling for me—to have someone taking care of me for a change.

We ate dinner and talked about the most trivial of things. Caleb hadn’t mentioned my dad again, and I was thankful for that. I wasn’t really sure if I was ready to talk about everything. I’d told him most of the story last night, but I was sure he had questions—ones he didn’t want to ask until I was ready.

When we finished dinner Caleb still wouldn’t let me do anything, so I sat and waited for him to finish cleaning up while I iced my wrist again. Once Caleb had put everything away, we decided to watch a little TV. Even though I had slept most of yesterday and today, I found myself nodding off against his shoulder.

“Come on, sleepyhead, let’s get you to bed,” he said as helped me up off the couch.

I yawned. “I don’t know why I’m still so tired.”

“I think you’ll feel better in the morning. You just need a good night’s sleep,” he assured me.