Innocence Auction (Book 1)

Chapter 15

Amabella

The next morning I woke to the sunlight filtering through the window. I opened my eyes and went to stretch to find I could not move my body. Panicking I looked around to see what was preventing my body from moving. My eyes landed on Abel's sleeping form and I gasped. 'Did we have sex last night?' I thought as I wriggled free of his arm. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light and I climbed out of bed, the thoughts of last night came crashing down. My mother was dead. And I had ended up in Abel's bed because he had been the one I had called in my grief-stricken state to take me home. I sighed and headed out of the bedroom in search of coffee. 'What have I done?' I thought miserably as I entered the kitchen and was thankful to find Abel had a coffee maker.

Memories of yesterday played on a sad and depressing loop in my mind as I waited for the coffee to filter. Images of my mothers still and cold form were embedded in my brain. Like a horror movie stuck on repeat, only less gruesome and more heart-wrenching. I poured myself a cup of coffee a moment later and hoped getting lost in the taste of it would clear my mind. Sadly, it did not. I had finished several cups of coffee and still the thoughts remained deeply rooted in my mind. Tears formed in my eyes and I could not help but wonder how I was going to survive this. I knew I needed to head home, to check on Emilia and get back to normal life. But I could not bring myself to leave. Did not want to face the outside world. I was much more contended living out my nightmare in my head, in the comfort of Abel's home. Where no one could stare or take pity on me or ask me questions I knew I did not have the answer too. I sighed and put the cup in the dishwasher and for a moment I considered going to bury myself back in Abel's huge bed. Until I remembered Abel was still in it. I may have been emotional and not thinking straight last night, but I was slightly more rational now and if I chose to go back to bed with him, that would not be fair on Ace. Ace. I had not even replied to his message, nor had I rung him and told him what had happened. Not that he had known my mother. But he was my boyfriend, he should have been the guy I had leaned on last night. But I had not. I had been too hurt by his absence and instead landed in bed with his best friend and business partner. I sighed again. I was in deep shit. I was not even sure how I was even going to begin to explain this to Ace. I could barely explain it to myself. And it was the worst timing. I had only just apologised to Ace for being kissed by Abel. He had forgiven me luckily. But this time it was all me, and I knew he probably would not forgive me. Even if I tried to blame his absence and my grief.

A noise from the bedroom had me coming out of my depressive thoughts and looking to the door. Abel came out a moment later, his hair was messy and his grey sweats hung low on his hips, giving me full view of his impressive torso. I blushed slightly and looked away. "Good morning" He said softly as he approached the kitchen counter I was leaning against. "Morning" I mumbled before slowly moving away, putting some much-needed distance between us. I did not know how to react around him. Last night had been easy, I had been a mess so I had just reacted on those terms. This morning was different. Plus I was not sure what Abel thought about all this. Had I sent him mixed messages? Confused him with my actions? I did not know but I did not have the balls to ask either. "I'm just going to go get dressed, then I will get out of your way" I say, pointing to the bedroom. Though I had no clean clothes to put on, so I was not entirely sure what I was planning on getting dressed in. 'If I had been thinking rationally, I would have washed my clothes last night' I thought as I headed towards the bedroom. I could feel Abel's eyes on me as I walked and it caused a blush to form on my cheeks. "I have laid you some of my clothes out on the bed. They probably won't fit very well, but they will cover you enough until you get home" He says softly and I nod and thank him before closing the bedroom door between us.

On the bed, Abel had laid out a pair of grey jog pants and a white vest. I knew they would be miles too big for me, but I appreciated the gesture. Afterall he could have kicked me out, or not have even come for me at all last night. So I had a lot to thank him for. I headed to the bathroom to change and one look in the mirror had me cringing. My eyes were still puffy from all the crying I had done yesterday and started to do this morning. My skin was paler than usually and I had dark circles under my eyes. My hair was a mess, wild and all over. 'Wow. I'm sure Abel must have thought he'd woke up next to a yeti' I thought miserably as I quickly dressed and tried to run my fingers through my hair. The clothes as expected were a little big, but after tucking in the vest and rolling up the waistband on the joggers, I could pass as somewhat normal.