Wounded Hearts Will Conquer

Chapter 18 - Never Changing

Chapter 18
Bailey
Never Changing

I was in a state of pure euphoria for days after Evan’s confession. We’d spent the remainder of the morning making out on my bed before we fell asleep next to each other for the major portion of the afternoon. Both of us had confessed that we hadn’t slept a wink the night before, so it was expected that we’d be tired eventually. I woke up later in the day with his arm planted firmly around my waist like he was afraid I was going to leave him before he woke up.

At this point, I wasn’t planning on leaving him for a long, long time.

“Five more minutes,” he groaned in my ear when I tried to get up.

I smiled at his protest and kissed his cheek before removing his arm. He growled in response and pulled me back down. I giggled like a school girl as I tried to move out of his grip.

“No,” he simply stated, smiling with his eyes still closed.

I rolled my eyes at his boyish traits as I let my head hit the pillow once again. I let my eyes run over his face as he slept, noticing all of the things I hadn’t before. It was my first time properly getting a look at his face other than when we kissed, and I was surprised to see a light dusting of freckles across his nose and under his lids. I ran my eyes down to his full lips and went to lean in for a kiss before his words stopped me.

“Done checking me out yet, creep?” he smiled, opening his eyes to take me in.

I pushed his shoulder roughly and couldn’t help but smile back. “I was not.”

It was his turn to roll his eyes now. “Oh okay.”

“You know,” I said, completely ignoring his teasing. “You’re sleeping in my bed and my mom still doesn’t know who you are.”

He widened his eyes at the mention of my mom and looked almost frightened at the thought.

“She scares me,” he admitted, playing with the hem of my shirt.

“She does not,” I scoffed.

“She does too. She looked like she wanted to throw me in the oven instead of your dad’s breakfast.”

I giggled at his idiocy and flicked him in the nose. “She just doesn’t know who you are.”

“Did you really cry like that over me though?” he asked, concern wavering in his features.

I lowered my eyes, not confident enough to look him in the eye. “Not really.”

He brought a hand to my cheek gently, trying to pry my eyes back to his level. “I promise to never hurt you like that again. I’m trying here, Bails. But I never want to see that look again on your face.”

“What look?” I questioned.

“That look of pure disgust with me,” he mumbled, looking away from me now.

I placed a hand on his that was on my cheek. “I know you’re sorry.”

“You sure? I mean I was an ass to you, I deserve to,” he continued, but I cut him off.

“Stop it!” I scolded. “You said sorry and you’re forgiven. With a confession like that earlier, how can I not forgive you? You’ve been through so much; it’s easy to see now why you blame yourself so quickly all the time. I’m not going to give up and leave like everyone else, Ev.”

He grinned widely at my statement and pulled me to him for a quick but passionate kiss. I’d never experienced such a kiss before. Who knew that a kiss so small could speak so loudly? After he kissed me, he pulled me to his chest closely, running a hand gently up and down my spine.