HIS CLAIM

35

"Breathe, Elsa. You're going to pass out." He said softly and I took a shaky breath, not realizing I had stopped breathing altogether.

"She's home early, and - and you're here!" I suddenly realized, now feeling the blood drain from my face.

"I need you to calm down, baby." Nicholas placed his hands on my cheeks and I immediately held onto his arms as I felt myself panicking like the day before she left. I closed my eyes and focused on steadying my breathing to calm down my hammering heart. I kept listening to his soothing voice, focusing on the way his thumbs were lightly caressing my cheeks and slowly calming down.

"I'm okay." I let out a breath and opened my eyes again. The thought of dealing with my mother so unexpectedly made me already feel exhausted because I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

I groaned as I plopped down on the bed again, wondering why she was home so early and if she had calmed down. Or if we were going to fight again. All these thoughts were starting to give me a headache.

"She's going to freak out if she sees you here. How am I supposed to sneak you out when you're a giant?!" I wanted to cry at how overwhelmed I felt at the moment and feel like this was mission impossible.

"She already saw me." He didn't look concerned at all.

"She..what?" I blinked at him a few times.

"Your mother came in to see if you were here. I told her to be quiet so you could sleep."

"She saw you and you told her to be quiet...?" I said slowly as I registered his words in my mind. At this point, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. My mother saw me in bed with the man she despised... And it was not like it would take a genius to figure out what we have been doing since we were both naked under the blanket.

The thought of that alone made me completely mortified and just added to my already chaotic thoughts.

"I wanted you to get as much sleep as you could. I knew you were tired." he was still not bothered at all by the fact my mother was home.

I sighed and got up from the bed, thinking I might as well just get this over with and face her. Rip it off like a band-aid. Except that I knew this band-aid was placed on a very hairy place and it was going to hurt like a bitch.

"Nicholas !" I hissed lowly at him as he followed me to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and turned to scowl at him. He just crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, looking at me with a smirk.

"Yes?"

"You can't keep doing this!" I gestured to my neck and chest. They were once again covered in red marks. For some reason, he liked to do this to me which was annoying only because it was a pain to cover up until they faded.

"Since you don't want to wear a ring yet I have to be creative." He shrugged and looked at my neck and chest with a satisfied look, making me gape at him.

"You're seriously unbelievable!" I huffed before getting in the shower. He chuckled as he joined me.

I made Nicholas stay in the room as I slowly made my way downstairs to talk to my mother. He wasn't happy about it, insisting to be with me in case something happened. I had to explain that it would only stress me out, even more, and I was aiming for a calm conversation.

I felt the nerves building up fast and I had to remind myself to take deep breaths so I wouldn't feel sick.

I also made sure to wear a turtleneck to hide the embarrassing red marks. It was one thing she had seen me in bed with him but not hiding the marks would only make it embarrassingly worse. She knew what we have been doing but it didn't mean I had to flash it to her.