I felt the sun shine on my closed eyes. It was too bright. I rolled over to face away from the sun and hit a warm body. I opened my eyes and came face to face with Theo.
Images of last night came flashing across my mind.
I slept with Theo. I smiled to myself. I thought I would regret it, but I felt great. He really did make me forget for a night.
Roe was coming back. I was going to have to go back to her. I was going to live in hell once again. I wasn't ready for that.
I looked at Theo's sleeping form and smiled wider. He said he loved me. It's been so long since someone has told me that, since someone has meant it.
I said I loved him back. I meant that too. I really did love him. He saved me from hell, even if it was for just a little while.
I reached out and pushed back some hair that fell onto his forehead. He stirred slightly and then groaned. I looked over at the clock by my bed. 8:43. I needed to get up but I really didn't want to leave the comfort of the bed.
I kissed Theo's lips and he stirred. His eyes snapped open and he kissed me back. "Good Morning." I greeted, pulling back.
"Morning." His voice was husky, filled with sleep. I laid on my back and looked at the ceiling. I sighed and thought about last night.
I had acted like a baby. I only cared about myself. I had forced Theo to sleep with me so I could forget my problems.
"I'm sorry, Theo." I said not looking him in the eyes. He sat up and looked at me.
"For what?" There was slight panic in his voice.
"I made you sleep with me. I acted like a child last night and I'm sorry." Tears welled up in my eyes.
"No, don't be sorry. I wanted to." He wiped a stray tear away with the pad of his thumb.
"Do you regret it?" I asked and sat up to face him, ignoring the slight pain in my lower region.
"Not one bit. Do you?" He asked.
"No. I'm glad it was you." I said truthfully. I thought about what Chad could've done to me if Theo didn't save me that one day. I'm glad Theo took my virginity. It was way better than having a slob take it.
"Have you slept with anyone else before?" I asked.
He sucked in a breath and nodded. A sudden pang of jealousy rang through my chest. I already knew he had slept with other girls. I don't know why I asked.
"If I'm being honest, last night was amazing." I said. "You know, the sex, not the bad news about Roe." He smiled at me. "If sex is like that for everyone, why do people leave the house." I said jokingly. He chuckled at my remark.
His silence worried me. Did he not enjoy it?
Of course he didn't. My subconscious sneered. He's slept with countless girls that are way better than you.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked searching my eyes.
"What did you think about last night?" I blurted out by cheeks tinging red and a deep blush creeping up my neck. I didn't look in his eyes, afraid of his answer. When he didn't answer I looked over to him. He just looked at me with a grin on his face.
"Paige, last night was the best night of my life." He said and leaned over and placed his lips over mine. He lifted me up and placed me on his lap so I was straddling him. I pushed him back and kissed up his jaw to his ear. My blush faded and relief washed over me.
"I love you." I whispered in his ear. I felt him smile and leaned back to look at him.
"I love you, too." He reached up and kissed me more. Hmmm, I could go for another round right now. Morning sex, I've heard that's good.
He ran his hands up and down my sides and the flipped us over. He kissed down the valley of my breasts.
We both froze when we heard a knock at the door. "Paige?" I heard Hailey call. How the hell did she get in. Gina must have let her in.
I pushed Theo off me and ran to my chest of drawers. I pulled out a fresh pair of underwear and through on a long shirt.
I looked over and saw Theo laughing as he put on his boxers and his t shirt. Hailey knocked again. "Paige? Gina said this was your room."
"Yeah, give me a minute." I called and rushed over to Theo. I pushed him behind the door and then I threw it open to reveal Hailey.
"Hey, you were supposed to be at school two hours ago. You and Theo didn't show up so I just came over to see you."
"Yeah, I just slept in." She nodded and pushed past me and into the room.
"Wait! Hai-,"
"Theo! Oh!" She looked back at me surprised. Theo walked out from behind the door. "Oh, you two did the nasty." Then she busted out laughing.
My cheeks were stained red and I just looked at Theo. He just shrugged. "I knew you guys were together. You cant keep that a secret from me. Well, I'll go and you guys can get back to, yeah." Then she left. I heard her say a quick good bye to Gina as she slammed the front door shut.
"Well, that wasn't weird at all. I said sarcastically. "We should get dressed." Theo agreed and went back to his room. I sifted through the closet and found a peach dress I bought right after I came here.
I slipped it on and put my hair in a messy bun, pulling some strands down to frame my face. I looked in the mirror. I felt different but I didn't look different. Maybe a little sore.
I put on some makeup and went downstairs. Theo was on the couch watching TV and Gina was scrolling through her phone in the recliner. "Good morning, Gina." I greeted.
"Good morning, Paige." I could feel the tension crackling around us all. She had news on Roe, but she didn't want to say. I could see it in her eyes.
"What about Roe?" I asked getting it out of the way. It was going to be brought up some way or another. Theo shut off the TV and Gina put her phone down. I took a seat next to Theo on the couch.
Gina looked pained to talk about it. "She is at home. She told me that she was going to send some guy to pick you up, Rich maybe."
"Rick?" I asked. That was Hailey's uncle.
"Yeah. That was his name." She said sadly.
Theo slammed his hand on the coffee table causing Gina and I to jump. "Do something, Ma. They cant take her."
"I'm sorry, son. The police will be involved if we keep her here. Unless she tells the authorities what happens at her house, she will have to go back home. I'm so sorry, honey." Gina said placing her hand on my thigh in a comforting manner.
"Paige, please. You have to tell the cops what's going on. I don't want you to go back there. I wont let you go back there." He said firmly. Tears poured out of my eyes.
"Okay." I said.
"So you are going to tell someone?" I nodded and Theo breathed out in relief. He pulled me into a hug.
"What do I say?" I asked.
"You tell them what is going on and you say you don't want to press charges because then Roe or Chad can come up with a lie and press charges against you. Say you want to live here. We have more than enough space."
I looked at Gina and she didn't reject. She just looked reassuringly. "Okay." I said again and Theo kissed my forehead.
Gina's phone rang. She picked it up and answered. She rolled her eyes and hung up. "The hospital called. I'm needed, you guys be good." Then she grabbed her jacket and left.
Theo pushed me down and put his knees on either side of my hips. He bent down and was about to kiss me when my stomach growled. We busted out laughing and he got off me. "I guess I am hungry."
When I walked past Theo he slapped my butt and turned the TV back on. I went to the kitchen and looked around. They had no breakfast food at all. I went back to the living room and stood in front of Theo. "We need food. Let's go grocery shopping."
The store was almost empty. A few shoppers with whiny infants and some old people in wheel chairs were still bounding in and out of aisles. "Okay, you get the eggs and milk and I'll get the bread and cereal." He nodded and walked to the cold aisle.
I went to the bakery to pick up a loaf of bread. Toast and eggs had always been my favorite breakfast food and cereal is Theo's favorite. On the way here we couldn't decide so we are getting both.
The smell of fresh bread filled my nose. "Hmmm." I hummed.
"Hi, how can I help you?" A nice lady with long blonde greeted.
"Can I get a loaf of the white bread?"
"Of course." She went to the backroom. I bounced on the ball of my feet, waiting for her to return.
"I told you that was her." The blood drained from my face as I heard the familiar voice whisper.
I slowly turned around and met the nightmare I had been trying to escape. "No." I breathed. I saw Roe smirk. She looked horrible. Her cheek bruised and her left arm in a sling. Chad didn't look any better. His lip busted and his eye swollen shut. They had a matching bruised cheek.
"Ma'am? The bread?" I looked back at the girl with my loaf of bread.
"Oh, she wont be needing that." Roe said and grabbed my bicep with her good arm. I stayed frozen in shock.
"Is everything alright?" The lady asked.
"Yes. We've just been looking for our niece forever." Chad answered. A shiver racked over my body. Roe walked towards the exit and I followed without hesitating. My body had shut down. My brain stopped working and all I could do was follow them.
I saw the piece of shit truck sitting in the parking lot out front. Roe threw my arm to Chad and he gripped me tighter. That would leave a bruise.
My mind kept screaming at me to fight back but my muscles were locked up. Roe opened the door and Chad threw me in the back seat. They got in the front and started the car.
When they pulled out of the parking lot, tears started to pour out of my eyes. I wiped them away quickly.
"Why cant you leave me alone? What did I do to you?" I sobbed. Roe just turned on the radio and turned it up loud.
I cried harder as we drove further away from my happiness, my freedom, my love.
When we pulled up to the apartment, the old home Chad cut the engine and the radio shut off leaving us in a silence.
Roe got out of the car with Chad and started to walk to the apartment complex. Then I saw Roe hit Chad and point back at the car. He rolled his eyes and came back to get me out of the car. He jerked my arm and pulled me out and to the building.
We went up the elevator in silence and when we got to the apartment, Roe unlocked the door and Chad threw me into the room. I fell to my knees and he kicked my stomach. I gasped for the air that he knocked out of me and curled into myself.
"You stupid bitch. You think that you can just have your little boyfriend protect you?" He kicked again. He gripped my hair and pulled my face up to look at him. "Look at what your pussy of a boyfriend did." He pointed to his eye.
"He didn't look like a pussy when you were passed out beneath him in the ring." I said and spat in his face. Rage filled his eyes as he wiped the spit from his cheek and he slapped me again.
He went to slap again but Roe stopped him by putting her hand on his shoulder. "We don't want bruises on the face." Chad let go of me and let me fall to the ground.
"You are a coward." I said, my voice cracking at the end. "Theo won. Since you cant win against him, you have to beat up defenseless girls! Fuck you." I flinched away when walked towards me.
"Stop." Roe stopped him again. "You better shut your mouth before I let him go at you." She hissed at me.
"What did I do to make you hate me?" I said, tears falling from my eyes. Roe rolled her eyes and went to walk away.
There was no way she was going to get away with not answering.
I grabbed her leg and she pushed me off and kicked me. I fell back to the ground. "What did I do?"
"You and your perfect family ruined my life!" She put air quotes around family. What was that supposed to mean? "They took you from me!" She said and ran her hands through her hair and tears welled up in her eyes.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You think the people that died in that fire were your parents? They were people just watching you while I was in rehab." I furrowed my brows and crawled backwards.
"Those people deserved to die! They took you from me and then forced me to go to rehab." She wiped the tears from her face.
"Does that mean...,"I trailed off not wanting to believe it.
"I'm your mother?" She cackled like a psycho again and then gave me the answer that crushed my life. "Yes."
"No. You're lying. That's not true. My mom was your sister. You are not my mother." I sobbed.
Roe shook her head and tsked at me. She gave me a Cheshire grin and nodded. "I am your mother. I birthed you, but the heroin....hmmm it got the best of me. They took you away while I was in rehab and gave you to that family until I was fit to take care of you. I escaped the rehab facility and came for you."
"D-did you burn down the house?" I asked horrified.
She bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I needed you back and I wasn't clean yet. Believe it or not, I love you, Paige."