𝓣𝓻𝓾𝓮 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓞𝓯 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 {Eddie Munson}

25) '𝓲𝓽𝓼 𝓸𝓴𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓬𝓻𝔂'

{ continued from last chapter}

-Eddie POV-
Ariel let out son that she was obviously holding in. She had tears rushing from her eyes, but a look of angry confusion on her face. "I'm sorry Eddie." She bit her lip and tried to wipe her tears away, but they were too quick to fall for her to simply wipe them away.

"Sweetheart, what are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong." I spoke softly, in attempt to calm her down, I looked at the cut on her thigh again, then I noticed how shaky her legs were.

" Come here." I guided her to the couch, and I sat her down. I realized she needed to calm down first, before she explained why she was here so late, crying and injured.

I reached to cup her face, and she flinched, so I put my hand down, " I won't hurt you, you're safe here, I promise." I cooed to her, she nodded, still trying not to cry.

I slowly wrapped my arms around her, giving her time to push away if she didn't want me to hug her.

" It's okay to cry, angel, just let it all out."
I cooed, she sobbed into my chest, and I hugged her tighter, she suddenly pushed me away from her,

" I'm sorry I keep coming to you every time I have a problem, I'm- im sorry that- I- that I always have an issue, and that you always have to help me, I- I —" She sobbed again trying to cover it up, but just working herself up even more.

Her hands begun to shake and she started hyperventilating, she was in a state of panic and anxiety. I leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear, "You're okay, calm down, it's all okay." I shushed her again, and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. She quickly threw herself at me, hugging me as her tears fell onto my shirt, causing a small spot to soak.

"Breathe, baby, deep breaths." I spoke slightly louder than a whisper, she followed my instructions, I felt her body relax in my arms, after a few minutes, her tears stopped falling.

She pulled away again, It hurt seeing her upset, in a sad and fearful expression. She didn't deserve this, she was too sweet for this shitty town, she was too sweet for this world.

" I'm sorry I-" I shushed her, and cupped her face, I did it like I hugged her prior, giving her time to push away, also moving slow to not startle her. 

" Sweetheart, don't say that word. Please, you did nothing wrong, you don't have to apologize for anything, at all. I promise." I ran my fingertips over her cheek, my thumb wiping her small tears.

"Do you want to talk about what happened? If you're not comfortable, that's okay." I asked, very eager to know what the hell had happened, but I also didn't want to force it out of her. I wrapped my arms around the beautiful girl sitting beside me. She breathed in deeply, then nodded.

She started to explain what happened,
" I followed your advice- I told my mom about the nightmares, and she knows who-what is causing me to have them, and it started an argument. I didn't think it would because before I went to therapy for it, and I was getting better." She looked at me, and I nodded for her to continue, I rubbed her back, to comfort her.

" Then, my dad came in, and started- he started yelling at me, then Steve came downstairs, and- my- he—" She let out a small sob, I moved closer to her, hugging her tightly at my side.

" My dad threw, he threw a bottle of fucking whiskey at me, and it cut me because it was already broken!" I felt my mouth fall open.

- Ariella POV-
I told Eddie, my voice cracking, his face dropped, his look of concern mixed with a new look of sadness, then anger. Anger a mutual feeling at the moment.

I explained the rest of my story, " Then I ran, I just ran, I didn't know what the hell to do. I knew if I stayed it was going to be worse. So I left. I ran." I looked down at my lap, I felt tears well up in my eyes as I thought of my dad. Tears of fucking anger. I'm mad at myself, I'm mad at my dad, and the rest of those assholes people call 'family'.

" Ariel, that's not okay." Eddie moved to face me, lifting my chin with his finger. He stroked my chin with his thumb, lightly brushing my lip. His eyes glossed over, he blinked it away.

" Why are you crying?" I asked, trying to sound kind, but I just couldn't. He shook his head at my question " I'm not." I could hear the sadness in his voice. " You just don't deserve to be treated like that. I just really care about you, you don't deserve that." His voice wavered towards the end.

" Eddie you don't have to feel bad it's not your fault." I felt a tear roll down my cheek, he leaned over and hugged me, tight. I felt so safe like this, I never wanted him to let go.

We stayed silent for a few minutes, he was first to speak, " Let's get you cleaned up, okay?" The sad tone of Eddie's voice didn't leave, he took my hand, and lead me to the bathroom.

He lifted me by my hips onto the counter, I winced from where the other cut was. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry. Are you okay?" His concern from earlier rolled back onto his face. I shook my head; and he started running the sink water.

" Where all are you hurt?" He questioned scanning over me, " My leg, one on my hip, it's more of a bruise though, and a few on my wrist." I told him and he pulled out a first aid kit out of the cabinet.

He put the first aid solution on a cotton ball, " It might burn a little, okay? If it hurts too much, just tell me." He said slowly, " Eddie, it's really not that bad, it's just a few cuts. I've had worse injuries from sports," I told him and he gave me a look to tell me that it wasn't an answer." Okay." I said scared that when he cleaned it, it would sting. It was a childish, but reasonable fear.

He softly ran it over my thigh, I felt it sting, I hissed in pain, he lifted it off, " No, keep going." I told him, it wasn't that bad, after a few minutes I got used to it, I noticed how hard he was focusing, his tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth, he looked so cute.

" You know, that's probably gonna leave a pretty ugly scar." I said, breaking him from his focus as he cleaned my wound.

He put one of those big ass bandaids over the cut. It wasn't big, but it was more long. " Wrist, please." He said softly and I stuck my wrist out, he cleaned the small cuts that were scattered on my wrist from the glass of the bottle. He finished in about 5 minutes this time, considering it was smaller.

" Are you comfortable with showing me the one on your hip?" He asked, he was so sweet. " Mhm." I unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down a little, exposing the skin that was red, probably from me bumping into the wall when I tried to run out.

" Sweetheart," He softly gripped my wrist, moving it and he look at my stomach, " There's one on your stomach too."

" No, that's been there." He chuckled softly, " I've said it before, I'll gladly say it again, you're a bad liar Harrington." He smiled up at me, I felt my face turn red from embarrassment,

" Please don't lie about being hurt; You understand that I'll always help you, right, love?"  I looked into those eyes that I loved staring at so much, " I don't want to be too much, you've already done-" I told him, he soothing shushed me again before I could finish,

"Darling, you're never too much, ever." He told me the same words he told me before, his gorgeous puppy dog eyes looked into mine,

" Never too much, ever. Understand?"