Finding Home || bxb

39

"Who was that?" Roman asked. When I turned around, I saw how Roman had turned his head and was watching Henry as he walked away.

"No one," I replied not very convincingly.

"Well, that's a lie," he said as the light turned green and he started driving again. The atmosphere in the car had suddenly turned very tense. Roman's jaw clenched and his forehead was tight with concern.

"It doesn't matter who he is," I replied.

"It does. You just... shut down. You don't even seem excited anymore."

"I am excited."

"Is he someone you slept with in the past or something?" he asked making me all the more frustrated.

"I haven't slept with every guy I've ever laid eyes on you know," I replied pissed off.

"I didn't say that."

"You implied it."

"I didn't imply anything. I just don't understand why you won't tell me who he is!"

"Because he hurt me and I'm sick of everyone having to deal with how shit my life is," I replied getting worked up.

I didn't look at Roman and instead stared out the window. He was right. I wasn't excited anymore. But I soon felt his hand come to rest on my knee.

"Baby..." he said softly trying to gain my attention which I refused to give him. He soon pulled onto the side of the road somewhere he could safely park and called for me again. "Your life isn't something for us to 'deal' with. Your life is precious and we're glad to be in it. And if you were hurt by someone, I wanna know because I want to be able to protect you or at least give you some comfort. Please talk to me. How did he hurt you?"

"You know that time I was going home from yours, like before Christmas. It was the first time you invited me over and I met your friends," I said quietly turning to look at him at last. It was hard for me to keep eye contact though, so I settled for staring at his hand that was still on my knee.

"He's the one that fucked up your ribs?" Roman asked. I could only nod. He's physically abused me in other ways throughout my time in the children's home with him, but I always tried not to let it get to me – worse things have happened – but if I was being truthful with myself, then of course everything Henry had done to me had hurt.

"Okay. Well, don't let him ruin our date. I've got some rollercoasters to take you on. Weren't you excited for that?" Roman asked gently trying to bring my spirits back up.

I looked up at him through my lashes. I was a little confused looking at him. His eyes and mouth didn't seem to be matching in emotion. His lips were pulled up in a smile as he tried to cheer me up, but his eyes were menacing and filled with fire.

"I'll buy you lunch to make you feel better," he suggested but it only made me frown as I found my confidence to stare at him head on again.

"Fuck no. I'm buying you lunch. We agreed!" I argued. Roman just chuckled.

"Fine. Fine."

——

"That. Was. Sick." I was still catching my breath and calming down from the immense exhilaration I just felt.

"Yeah? You were screaming so much so I wasn't sure if you hated it," Roman said.

The place was teeming with people despite it being winter and still fairly cold. I could only imagine how packed it was during the summer months. I definitely wanted to come back then so my hands didn't feel like they were going to fall off from frost bite as we waited in line for the rides.

"Course I was screaming. It was terrifying, but like in a good way," I said. We'd just come off the ride called SAW with its 100 degree drop. I felt like I was going to get pushed out of my seat by the wind and remember holding onto Roman's hand for dear life.

"Wanna go on more?" Roman asked.

"Fuck yeah." I kissed him on the lips and ignored it when a woman yanked her kids away from us when they walked past. Though I think Roman noticed and he didn't look so happy about it.

"Hey," I called for him softly. "Don't worry about anyone else. It's just us and this is our day. And we're allowed to be ourselves." Roman nodded, though I could see there were some emotions at conflict inside of him. He kissed me though and took my hand and didn't let go as we carried on walking to see what we wanted to go on next.

In the end, despite a few disturbances to our happiness, we had a great day. Roman started off reluctant to go on anything too expensive as I was paying, but then I told him I wouldn't have sex with him if he didn't start choosing rides that he just wanted to go on without thinking about the price. Well, after that he seemed pretty happy to go on anything and my inner child was beaming at finally experiencing something childlike in fun after so long.

I don't even remember the last time I had fun like this. I was glad I got to share this day with Roman. And his parents had been right, Roman was having me stay over while they were away this Friday night. It didn't take a genius to guess what we would be doing.

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Definitely stay tuned in for the next chapter 👀