Page 82 of Rough
“Oh my God,” Remy breathes out, shoving past me, dropping his tray on top of her dresser before hurrying to her side. “Bets, darlin’, what’s wrong?”
His words get Wilder and me moving, and we set our own trays down before rushing to them. She hiccups another cry and turns her face from us, burying it in her pillow.
When Wilder crawls in behind her, I let my knees hit the foot of her bed and crawl up toward her. I press my hand against her body, but she wrenches it away and curls further into herself. I meet my friends’ panicked eyes, and we are at a loss for what’s going on right now.
“Country,” I call to her. She shakes her head quickly, hiding as she covers her face with her hands and just fucking sobs. “Betsy,” I say more firmly, gripping her ankle to keep her from pulling away. “You gotta tell us what’s happenin’ right now.”
Remy is brushing her tussled hair from her face, trying to cup her cheeks and turn her toward him, but she wrenches away. “I j-just need a-a minute!” she cries out, scrubbing her face free of the tears that keep pouring from her eyes.
We all stay silent, giving her a moment to collect herself as she sucks in gasping breaths, stroking her gently to keep our hands on her. After what feels like an hour, she breathes in shakily and lets her hands fall away, staring at the ceiling.
“Baby, what was that?” Remy asks, now lying next to her, his hand continuing to move over her hair. She lets her head turn to the side to look at him, her eyes still brimming with tears.
“I-I woke up and you all were gone. I th-thought you didn’t s-s-stay.”
Her words come out broken, but they hit me in the gut, nonetheless. With sorrow filled eyes, I find Wilder’s who seems just as devastated by her confession.
With a choked cry, she squeezes her eyes shut and continues to explain with a more restrained voice, taking control of her emotions. “I thought ya’ll left again,” she whispers. “Left me behind.”
My fingers dig into her skin, and she looks down her body at me. “We were makin’ breakfast for you,” I rasp out, not sure what to say or how to explain that we didn’t leave her. We didn’t. Icouldn’tleave her. It killed me to do it the first time. There’s no way I’m going anywhere now, especially after yesterday.
“Iseethat,” she cries out, then laughs without humor at herself, swiping again at her eyes. “I just didn’t know when I woke, and I… I lost myself.”
Is this how she felt the first time we left home?God, the thought eats away at me, hating the idea that she was this distraught after we disappeared. My chest tightens and I know it’s exactly how she felt. Flashes of her face that night at the bonfire, the night before we left, flicker through my memory. She was so hurt that we hadn’t even told her our plans, showing up at a party planned by others without ensuring she was included.
Christ, we fucked up so badly.
Crawling over her, I shoulder my way between the other two until I’m lying above her. “Country, look at me,” I beg, hating that she’s hiding herself from us. There aren’t many memories of her crying in front of me and I’ll be honest, I fucking hate everything about it.
When her wet eyes find mine, she gives me a self-deprecating smile. “Ignore me. I can’t b-believe I reacted this morning like an idiot.” She waves her hand to let us know she’s okay, but I grab it and pin it to the mattress. Settling more fully over her, I kiss her lightly, then tuck my head into her neck.
“I’m sorry, Country. I didn’t know… I didn’t realize that us leavin’ hurt youthisbad. I swear to you, we aren’t goin’ anywhere.Nowhere!You hear me? We’ll say it over and over again if you need to hear it.” I internally promise myself that she’s not waking up alone again. One of us has to stick with her every morning until this fear of hers is gone.
Kissing her again, I do everything I can to show her that my promise is worth her weight in gold. Fuck moving in to Remy’s childhood home. I’m staying right here with her, and I’m fairly certain that the guys will insist on the same.
Wilder pushes my shoulder gently after a while of me kissing her, and when I release her lips, he takes my place immediately, whispering similar promises, followed shortly by Remy and his own murmurs.
The two of them go on for a bit, losing themselves to each other, so I catch Wilder’s eye and jerk my head to the door. He may not know what I do, but I’d bet my life that Remy’s been waiting for her his whole life. Most likely, it’s why he didn’t take her yesterday when the two of us did.
While the two of them are lost in each other, we slip from the bed and grab two of the three trays before leaving the room, shutting the door behind us. Silently, we make our way back to the kitchen and sit at the table to dig into the food Remy cooked.
Wilder is grinning like a fool, knowing exactly what the two of them are about to get up to. My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it when he lets out a quick laugh. Raising a brow in question, I sip my coffee and wait him out.
He matches me with his own look, then rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on. You know.”
“Know what?” I do know, but I’m not sure if he’s referring to the same thing.
Pointing his finger at the ceiling when we both hear a soft thump, his smile stretches from ear to ear. “Our boy is finally becomin’ a man.”
I scowl at him. “Don’t be an ass.”
“I’m not!” he says, his smile falling away. “I’m fuckin’ thrilled for him, forbothof them. He’s been waitin’ for her forever and I think it’s awesome.”
My phone goes off again, but I leave it in my pocket. He looks down to where the sound is coming from but doesn’t ask. I relax, happy that he wasn’t teasing to make fun of Remy for waiting until now to have sex. Remy never came right out and told us, but the girls he dated certainly bitched about not getting very far with him. Plus, he’s always been adamant he was waiting to find the girl he wanted to marry.
He couldn’t have picked a better one, in my opinion.
Once we’re finished eating, we call Lucy and head outside to give them some privacy for an hour or so.
