Page 57 of Love Me Gently

There was a thundering. A shout. I jolted up in the bed in the small dark room and panic clawed its way up my throat.

Oh no.Oh no, no, no, no.He was not supposed to see me like this. Not supposed to?—

The thundering stopped and the light switched on, blinding me so badly I shirked back from him, closer to the white wicker headboard, and squeezed my eyes closed.

This was bad. So very, very bad.

He wasn’t supposed to know I did this. Wasn’t supposed to know I came here…

Howpissedwas he going to be?

“I thought you left,” he finally said. And there wasn’t anger in his tone, something that sounded more like relief.

I forced my eyes to peel open and stared directly at him.

Cole had both hands braced against the sides of the doorframe, confusion making his brows rise and thewhat the hell is going onexpression on his face was clear.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I clambered out of June’s bed, and stood, patting down the rumpled covers as I rushed to get away. “I’ll just… “I’ll…”

I’d go back to my hole. Go back to ignoring him. Go back to living in fear and waiting. There were a million things I couldjustgo do so easily, but as I stood in that tiny little beautiful room, with the fluffy pink bed coverings on the beds and the ladybug nightlight and books on the shelf, all I wanted to do was collapse and cry.

Colehadthis. A beautiful life with everything he’d always wanted. The career he dreamed of. Girls. I’d thought it so bizarre the day he told me he wanted daughters and not sons. How something about being agirl dadmade him excited.

I sold my soul, my morals, and my body until I was a shell of a human being, nothing like the girl he remembered, and Cole had everything he always wanted.

In a way, I’d given him that.

“What are you doing in here, honey?”

“Don’t,” I rasped. “Don’t call me that. Or Trina. I hate them.” I shook my head and edged away from him. Desperate to flee and hide, but he was standing in the doorway now and I was stuck with no escape.

“Why are you in June and Ella’s room?”

I shrugged. No answer I could give could make sense other than it feltsafe.Clean.I never should have put my dirtied body in it.

The bright-colored, daisy-shaped rug beneath my feet blurred. “I’ll go back to my room.”

There was a beat… then… “We should talk about this.”

“It won’t happen again.”

He was never supposed to know I did this in the first place. Wandered through his home, soaking up everything I could see, hints of treasures of pure beauty.

“I’m not mad you’re in here. I’m curious as to why.”

Because it was pretty and clean and beautiful and had pops of vibrant color that made me, in glimpses, remember the little girl I used to be.

I’d never intended Cole to find out I did this. I’d never fallen asleep before.Thiswas a mistake I’d ensure I never made again.

I shrugged and kept my blurred vision on the adorable little rug. It was so soft and thick my toes wanted to curl into it. “I’d like to go back to my room now.”

Another heavy, weighted silence hit and then there was the ruffle of something. I glanced up, hoping he’d backed away, but that wasn’t what was happening at all.

Cole was moving closer, slowly, and I had nowhere to go to get away from him. He stopped in front of me, chin dipped down.

It was the care in his eyes, the cautious way he held himself back even while being so close that had a sob lodge itself in my throat. He wasscared, and I’d done that to him.

“You can talk to me. You can tell me…”

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