Cherry Swirl (Rated R)

27: Devils Food Cake

*A/N: Sorry for no update for so long but this is a new chapter for a new year... Please enjoy and don't forget to commen, vote and share! Have a great new year guys and I hope you spend it with the ones you love x

27: Devil's Food Cake

There was a pregnant pause between us as I tried to take his arm, he shrugged it off with a huff and I rolled my eyes. Something darkened within me, hanging over my head like a black rain cloud was the fate that maybe this would end us, he seemed so mad at me.

"Aurora, I'm going upstairs, I'm not feeling so well. Please feel free to close early." I tell Aurora, shy but very beautiful with a wise face, I guess I wasn't the only one who had to be a grown up before we were ready.

"Thank you. I hope you feel better." Her eyes flicker from me to Grayson then back with concern in her eyes. I give her a half-hearted smile and turn back to Gray who stands there staring straight at the wall, big breaths puffing his chest, grabbing my bag he follows me outside and up the stairs to my apartment.

As soon as the door closes behind him I see the green leaflet fly past my head. "Now fucking explain!"

The hairs prickle on my skin, my neck and back stiffens and my hands fall to my side almost soldier like as I feel his presence behind me.

"Talk! Scarlet, you wanted to explain so explain!" he growls, low but loud; the voice vibrating the air making me flinch.

"I was abused as a child." It comes out so easily. It's on a sigh, and my shoulders relax just for a moment before I tense up again. "Back then it wasn't classed as abuse. I got no help. After the accident I was getting nightmares, things I had to bite pillows to stop myself from screaming. I didn't want to be in my head anymore." My jaw trembles and my lips wobble as I try to hold back the tears, my mind taunting me as I look down my arms covering myself in shame. He wasn't going to want me now, he wasn't going to love what I once did to my body, what had once happened to me and what it left behind- he wouldn't want me. How pathetic.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gray's voice is low but softer in tone, as I feel him move, I look down until I see him sit on the couch almost right on the edge.

"Because it's an ugly part of me." I admit it, it's more than ugly, it's a black mass in my chest that burns a destructive fire from within; it builds and build up taking over my thoughts.

"Nothing about you is ugly to me. Don't you understand that?" he growls.

"No I don't. Because no one has ever seen me that way, no one has ever cared for me, I was constantly used for something. When my dad died all I had was Riley, her dad agreed to keep my financially stable, to wipe the records clean and he holds it over my head. He thinks that I owe him something because he gave me a roof over my head. But the whole time I had to look after myself, I did it all and it was hard. So god damn hard. He was the one... he was the one who found me." The tears slip free, even when I swore I'd never cry over it ever again.

"Baby, don't think like that please, he has nothing on you. You own Cherry Swirl, he has nothing, if he even threatened to hurt a hair on your head I will... I don't know what I'll do." He holds my shoulders, I feel the grip tighten but he's not hurting me in fact it's oddly comforting.

"You don't need to do anything. Just let me talk." I sigh not meeting his eyes. "He found me all cut up, everything, it was once. A call for help he called it. I didn't get any help but his silence... I haven't been able to look at myself since, I see the scars even if they aren't there, I still feel the beatings and I feel the pain." It's then that I looked up.

His face scrunched in pain but his eyes hold tears too. "I never want to let them hurt you. Ever. I never want to hurt you. I can't do it to you."

"Never. You could never hurt me." I whisper softly, my hand coming up to cup and stroke his cheek.