Ethereal Love (Book 2 LS Series)

Chapter 38

Michael's POV

I jump as Skipper's thin arms latch tightly around my neck, still reveling in the fact that she knows I exist. She's shaking vibrating almost, sticking onto me like glue to paper.

What's really scaring me is the fact that she's covered in blood, blood that isn't hers. If it was, she would've died from blood loss half an hour ago. But then the question poses itself: Whose blood is this?

"Skipper! You're covered in blood! What happened to you, sweetheart?" She only stares up at me, exploring my eyes with her own. Then she looks away, furrowing her eyebrows. "I... Can't..." "Tell me, and I can help you. I promise, there's nothing I can't take. You helped me through my bullshit, I'll help you through yours." She almost smiles at me, and I feel her arms tighten around my neck.

"Please... Just don't let me go." She surprises me again, burying her face in my chest. "Never leave me." What? Never? Does that mean she wants me back now? "Oh... I promise, I won't, baby. As long as you want me, I'll be here." I promise her, and she sighs with content, closing her eyes. She just made this moment perfect. Or... Maybe it's her boobs pressing into my chest.

Prince clears his throat, standing in the doorway. I wink at him, but he just narrows his eyes at me suspiciously. "Are you ready to talk?" "Yes." She answers quietly, completely unlike herself.

My eyes drift between her bloody hand in mine, and her cleavage bubbling out of her button down. I know I shouldn't be thinking about her that way at this moment, but I'm just so giddy to be touching her again.

We make the unspoken decision to talk in the kitchen, due to the size of the blood smear on the couch in the front room. Prince offers Skip a glass of water, which she gulps like she'll never see another one in her life. I ignore the red smear her lip leaves on the rim as she quietly sets the glass down, and stares at her hands.

She has a lost look in her eyes, which breaks me. Something I always admired about her was her strength, it was always prominent in her eyes. Without it, she's like a shell of the girl I once knew.

"Skipper?" "Yes?" She swallows. "Are you going to begin now?" Her pupils dilate, and she looks away. "I suppose I don't know where to start."

I zone out, staring at her as she speaks to Prince. She's like a house of cards, if I blow on her the wrong way, she will fall into hundreds of pieces. I hate the way her lip trembles as she speaks, I hate the smears of red on her cheeks, I hate the red in her hair.

But when she describes the 'British man with weird blue eyes, and slicked blonde hair,' I feel like throwing up. I met that man... And I told him things about her. I swear, if he did something to her... But he was just a man sitting in a coffee shop, right? "No..." I mutter, instantly blaming myself for whatever she's about to tell us. I can't ever tell her we met...

I am lost in my own self-hating thoughts again, knowing that I tie directly into what has happened. The next thing I hear? "He raped me."

A thousand bombs go off in my head as I jump to my feet, instantly enraged, and ready to kill this man. "What!?" My voice is like crushed ice. "Michael, please sit," She whimpers in her voice like a kitten, while a pair of tears emerge from her empty eyes. I ignore her, pacing back and forth across the kitchen floor. "What? He... Oh, fuck." It's all I can say.

I tug at the roots of my hair relentlessly, knowing that if I hear another word, I'll go ballistic and end up destroying this entire room. He... raped her? He raped my baby? Images of his hands sliding up her legs fill my mind, her unheard screams ring in my ears. No wonder she's been acting so weird lately...